Creative Entrepreneurship

Are You Ready to Quit Your Day Job for Freelance Design?

It’s exciting to have dreams of quitting your job and embracing freelance design. The big question is: when is the time right? It’s easy to want to quit your job after a stressful meeting or designing the exact same pattern for the 100th time; however, that is not the best way to get into freelance design.

We are all passionate about an exciting and creative industry, but we must remember that to have a successful business, it needs to be profitable. Some solid footwork and thought into how to run a freelance design business is necessary to enjoy its creative aspects.  As with ALL industries, it takes time to develop high-quality products, find the right market, and consistently market products in the right way.

Preparing for Freelance Design

Quitting your job to launch a freelance design business seems effortless, but it’s rarely the reality. Bold moves are important, but thoughtful preparation is crucial.

Let’s explore how to prepare and make your dream a reality. Taking these initial steps will increase your chances of landing freelance jobs in your niche.

Financial Security: A Freelance Design Foundation

First, build a financial safety net of at least three months of living expenses. You might need to save more if you have additional responsibilities, such as dependants. 

When I left my design job, my savings made a big difference. Freelance payments can take time and more savings means less financial stress. It will take at least thirty days to be paid for your new freelance projects, and many times, projects take weeks, even months, to finalize.  The more money you save, the better off you’ll be. Trust me, this is not a step that you want to overlook or take lightly. 

Start Small, Dream Big: Freelance Design Beginnings

Start freelancing part-time on evenings and weekends. This lets you build your venture while maintaining financial stability.

Freelancing as a side hustle builds confidence and a steady client base, reducing financial uncertainties when your big moment arrives. You can offer production preparation services, such as repeats and colorways, work remotely for other studios, and take on smaller projects from those in your local community.

If you are freelancing as a side hustle, be aware of non-compete clauses and contracts that you may have signed and consult with an attorney if you have any questions about your obligations. 

Know Your Market: Making Freelance Design Work for You

It’s also important to have an understanding of the freelance design market by doing thorough research. This helps align your business efforts with your skills, life goals, and market needs.

Consider which freelance projects you would like to work on as you grow your business. If you prefer to drive the creative direction, working with a large design team might not be an ideal situation for your personality. If it takes you fifteen hours to create a print selling the rights to your work through a print studio may not be your best option.  Licensing, on the other hand, may be perfect. 

The longer I work in this industry, the clearer it has become that we each have our own place within it.  There are countless markets, sales options, and acceptable styles.  Sometimes it just takes time to find your “design home.”

Landing Your First Freelance Design Clients

Freelancing requires much more than a typical 9-5 job.

Running your business means managing several design jobs, acting as your manager, handling HR, accounting, and, of course, marketing. 

See also

Here’s a checklist for thriving in freelance design work:

  1. Create a portfolio or online store to connect with potential clients, agents, and product designers. Having an active freelance design presence on your website will make you easy to hire, compared to having to rely on agents and freelance job boards where it takes time to hire through those venues.
  2.  Networking and attending events can lead to valuable opportunities. Get out there! Be seen! Use your local contacts and networks to start small projects that can led to something bigger in the future.
  3.  Bring visibility to your business by being active on social media, advertising through directories and networking with potential clients and others involved in freelance design. Social media, like Instagram, is key for freelance designers. Use relevant hashtags to increase your reach. Consider content marketing and blog posts to build authority. Consistently create valuable content. 
  4.  Learn proper invoicing procedures and acceptable payment terms for design projects.
  5.  Exceed your first client’s expectations to ensure repeat business. 

 

Freelance Design: Platforms and Pricing

Several online platforms connect freelancers with clients:

  • Upwork: A large marketplace with many freelance design jobs and various other categories. It’s a good starting point but be prepared for competition.
  • Toptal: A great freelance marketplace where you can even take advantage of potential clients by being at the top of their job seekers list. Focuses on experienced freelancers. It’s a good long-term goal; build your portfolio.
  • We Work Remotely: Specializes in remote design jobs. The right freelance project or freelance job could launch your freelance career.
  • Authentic Jobs: A job board with many job opportunities focused on creative and design roles. The perfect spot to look for that perfect freelance design project.
  • Behance: Showcases creative work and connects talent with potential clients. It’s a great platform to build your personal brand and attract clients.
  • Pattern Observer Directory: We launched this directory in 2024 to help the Textile and Surface pattern design industry connect in an affordable, accessible way.

Finding your freelance design niche takes time. The longer you work, the better you’ll understand your work style, pricing, and market.

Research how established freelance design professionals position themselves and set their rates before deciding on your own.

Conclusion

Freelance design involves hard work, planning, and creative talent. This includes taking that first freelance design project, such as creating simple repeats, preparing files for production printing, and editing existing designs. 

Financial preparation, building client relationships, knowing your worth, and having an understanding of the market is vital to a thriving career.

If you see a freelance design business in the future, start planning for that new chapter in your life. It’ll make it much easier to know when it really is time to quit your full-time job and launch that freelance design business you have been dreaming of.

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16 Comments

  1. Starting your own business holds many risks in it. It is no different that working full time freelance. If you are lucky enough to have an opportunity to experiment with your freelance endeavors, do so before you leave your day job. Finding a market will come, and clients will appear and go, just as is when you work for someone else. But, working for someone and operating own business is completely different area. It takes more than just being a professional in your own field to succeed. You have to be all at the same time, manager, payroll, HR officer, sales and even an accountant for some things. By my experience getting knowledge in these fields is a must, while you work on polishing your creative skills. Also, definition how much to charge clients is a tricky one for creative businesses. There is so rule. No one actually can tell how much your work should worth. Research how muc other freelancers (the ones who are established in the field, or at least work for a year or two) charge, than base your calculations on that in order to calculate costs and benefits.

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Starting a freelance design business: Jessica Stuart-Crump | PATTERN OBSERVER PATTERN OBSERVER

  3. Hello my name is Antonio

    i was wondering if you could steer me in the right direction. what im hoping to do is design some sheet sets and have them manufactured and find a distributor. previously i was able to have a company apply my design onto a pair of shoes they had for sale basically custom design. it seems to me in my thinking if i could establish a business relationship with a manufacturer of sheets that could efficiently apply my design print to the product i pay for the sheets and the cost of applying the design then ship to my business.

    please advise

    thanks in advance

    Reply

    1. Hi Antonio, we don’t know of any companies exactly like this, but there are plenty of manufacturers who could print the fabric and then you could have them sewn into the final product. Best of luck!

      Reply

  4. Hi, I am starting my career very late as a Textile Designer for fabric and wallpaper and I am findng it difficult to get my foot in the door, where can I find textile design agencies? Can you possibly give me any names of agencies I could contact? I would be so grateful for any help or advice, It seems impossible to find agencies on-line.. Thank you very much

    Reply

    1. Hi Laura, sorry we missed this! Our Textile Design Lab members have access to an extensive Resource Guide which lists textile design studios, agency directories, job boards and lots more. You can learn more about membership here: http://textiledesignlab.com/ Another great way to get started would be to search the exhibitor lists of some of the major print shows like Printsource, Surtex or Indigo. Best of luck in your search!

      Reply

  5. Hi, im a fashion designer and Communication Designer (From the FIT) I do have experience using all the design softwares and hand paint, sketching and airbrush. I feel like I want to do too much and I find hard to concentrate in just one niche. I was wondering if you have a guide or steps to make my design get into one direction that could be profitable. And how many pieces do I need to have to put together a portfolio to present it to the studios.

    Best

    Giancarlo

    Reply

  6. hi, i have just resigned from a full time job but have always had the skills and talents in hand drawing and designing, i want to direct my creative talent into textile and wall paper design. I know i have an unrelenting interest in home decor designs which includes bedding, fashion pieces, wall paper. please could you give me the necessary steps to follow to in order to achieve these aspirations please. thank you

    Reply

    1. Hi Joye, sorry we missed this! Have you checked out our How to Sell Your Artwork e-course? https://patternobserver.leadpages.net/how-to-sell-your-work/ This is a great first step to learning some of the options available as a textile designer. I also encourage you to check out our Textile Design Lab e-learning community at https://textiledesignlab.com which contains courses such as The Sellable Sketch, The Ultimate Guide to Repeats, Five Days to a Better Business and others that are very helpful to learning the ins and outs of textile design and building a design business. In the Lab we also offer a forum for personalized feedback on your artwork, design tutorials, guest expert trainings on a wide range of topics, an extensive resource guide and lots more helpful content. We hope to see you there!

      Reply

  7. Hi, i’m a textiles print student and i will be graduating next year in June with a bachelors degree. i’m starting my own online business with my boyfriend and i am thinking to also sell my canvas paintings that i’ve done over the years. My question is, is it too risky to start my own business without a full-time job? And also do you have any suggestions as to how I could build up my portfolio as a freelance textiles designer?

    Reply

  9. hi, i m a fresher. do i need to get some in house design experience before jumping directly into my own freelance business?
    thanks

    Reply

    1. Getting an internship and/or working in-house is a great way to gain experience and contacts within the industry before forging your own business. There are definitely designers who freelance right from the get-go and that’s great too, it just tends to be more of a learn-as-you-go approach. Since it can take a while to get a steady business going at first, it depends on your financial situation, how much you’re willing to do in terms of marketing yourself and the business side of things, etc. There’s not really one right choice, it’s different for everyone! 😉

      Reply

  10. I really enjoyed this article. I found it on Google. I can’t wait to check out all of the links. Well done, I am inspired! Please keep it up.

    Reply

  11. Hello!

    I’m a print designer from İstanbul/Turkey. I have 5 years work experience as a print/artwork designer in textile industry in İstanbul and i decided to sell my works to abroad now. And i want to ask your ideas about this stuation, how or where can i sell my works?

    Thanks,
    Best regards

    Reply

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