If you’re starting your own design or freelance business one of the things that is really important is thinking about creating multiple income streams for your business.

Why it’s important to create multiple income streams

Having more than one income revenue source will give you an income safety net so that means if something goes wrong, sales are down or you lose one particular job or income streams, then you have others to rely on.

So I highly recommend thinking about ways that you can give yourself some security setting up different ways to earn income in your design business. That way if something unforeseeable happens you will be ok and your business will keep ticking away nicely.

When I first started working from home in my design business I was burnt by not setting up multiple income streams for myself. At the time I had a small baby at home and one regular client who gave me consistent work. It was actually the perfect amount of work for me and fit in beautifully with my life at the time. As I didn’t really have any time for more work, they were the only company I worked for.

After working this way for approximately 3 years (and another baby later), they had to unfortunately close their doors and I immediately lost my job. At the time it was a real scramble for me to have to go and find more work and replace my income. So I wish at that time point I had set up in place some multiple incomes for myself.

Different options

There are lots of different options for creating multiple incomes in your business.

A great way is to create a list of clients or companies where you think your work would fit and approaching them directly with your work.

You could think about selling your designs in different ways. For example, being open to not only licensing your work both exclusively and non-exclusively but also being open to selling your designs outright.

Commission or freelance work can be a really fun way of creating designs or you could upload your designs on to print on demand sites.

Another option is to create products with your designs on it. You could either do this through a dropship company or you could create your own shop and product yourself.

There are so many different options for setting up multiple income streams, you just want to think about the ways that work best for you. Some will suit your work or will resonate with you while others may not.

As a side note, I would also recommend starting with one income stream to begin with so you’re not overwhelming yourself. You can then gradually add in more and more revenue stream options as you feel comfortable.

Making sure you’re not relying on income from one company or from one source of income is really beneficial in the long run so something you should think about when you’re setting up your business.