4 Ways to Earn Money in Surface Design - #3 Indirect Selling
Well, hello there, my friend. Welcome back to this series about the four major ways to make money in Surface Design. Two weeks ago, I talked about Licensing. Last week, we discussed Direct Selling. If you missed them, go back and catch up.
This week we're going to talk about Indirect Selling. You may also hear this referred to as passive income or making money in your sleep.
How Indirect Selling Works
Indirect selling is another way for you to leverage your artwork and put it out into the world but have someone else sell it for you. You then receive a percentage of those sales. How does this work?
You create beautiful artwork which I teach you how to do in my free From Doodles to Dollars® mini-course which is open for enrollment right now. I also go much more in depth in my 10-week paid program called The Pattern Design Academy®. When you know how to create repeating patterns and beautiful illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, you can upload your artwork to print-on-demand sites (PODs).
What is Print on Demand?
There are many companies in the print-on-demand industry. You may have heard of Society6, Spoonflower, Redbubble, or Zazzle. What's amazing is that you can create your own shop on these sites for free! All you need to do is sign up for an account and upload your designs. Then you select the products that you think your designs will look best on, and finally you “publish” them to make them available for sale.
The print-on-demand company does all the production, shipping, and handling for you. Of course, it’s up to you to market your shop. You have to make sure people know that you have a shop up and running. And you’ll need to upload new designs from time to time to have something fresh to offer.
The reason this option is called Indirect Selling, or earning passive income, is because you receive a percentage of the sales from your products. The most important step for you to take if you’re interested in this option is to pick a print-on-demand site that you think will be a good fit for the type of artwork you create. Then upload your designs, pick the products they look best on, and start telling people about it.
Popular P.O.D.s
Go ahead and Google “top 10 print-on-demand sites”. You’ll access a list that will include: Society6, Spoonflower, Redbubble, Zazzle, and others. Download the list and investigate each company to determine which ones offer the products you think you would want to sell. They all offer different options:
· Society6 offers a large variety of products from mugs and notebooks to towels, duvet covers and a whole lot more.
· Zazzle is a little different, with more products that incorporate fabric such as scarves and apparel.
· Spoonflower is very popular, and they are mainly known for fabric. They have different fabric options available. I recommend that you order a swatch pack from them so you can touch and feel each fabric. This is a great option if you’ve always wanted to see your designs on fabric. You can order your own designs and make them available for sale to the general public as well.
Marketing Your Artwork
Marketing and getting the word out that you have one or more print on demand shops up and running is where you’ll need to focus next. Develop a seasonal marketing strategy and plan your communication strategy across social media, your own website and by sending emails to your email list. Take advantage of holidays when people buy more, and update your product offerings to take advantage of these key times of the year.
Create a marketing plan whenever you have a new set of offerings to get the word out across as many channels as possible.
Continue exploring Indirect Selling and make sure you catch up on Licensing and Direct Selling as well. One of these options may seem more doable to you than another. And over time, you may want to explore several of them, to diversify and not put all your eggs in one basket.
Next week we're going to talk about a fourth way to get your artwork out into the world: Workshops (in-person or online) and Online Courses.
Pop over to Anne TV by clicking the image below and watch my vlog.
Enrollment is OPEN to my free mini-course, From Doodles to Dollars®. Discover how to take a doodle or sketch and turn it into a beautiful repeating pattern using the magic of Adobe Illustrator. This is a key skill you need if you’re interested in becoming a licensed designer.
Grab your seat HERE.
Get a free 7-day trial of Adobe Illustrator . Select Illustrator 2021 CC for the version I recommend. It comes with the iPad version so you get both!
Bye for now. And I'll see you next week.
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
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MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
