Online Side Hustle #3 – Graphics and Design

Quite a few of our readers out there are graphic artist wizards. We know you’re hungry to find a place to sell your skills.  But let’s face it – many Caribbean companies just don’t pay well enough to make graphic and design freelancing worthwhile. Sometimes, it’s a result of their having a limited appreciation of how critical graphic design is to marketing and promoting your business.  Whether it’s an attractive business card or a well-designed company website, the design and graphics can be a make or break in that all-important first few seconds of customer interaction.

Unfortunately, too, many regional employers don’t realize the extent of the talent we have here.  So on any given day, many graphic designers get treated like Good Friday bobolees by potential employers, leaving these talented artists to look for work outside.

Thankfully, side hustling as a graphic designer isn’t so hard because there’s a ready demand for talent in the online world. All you have to do is make it happen. Here’s how.

3 Top Sites for your Graphic Designer Side Hustle
There are hundreds of sites out there that accept graphics designers, but the quality of clients varies significantly, and finding those that offer reasonable rates for good work can be difficult. These are some of the best sites for landing well-paying graphic design clients:

1. Upwork: There is a decent amount of high-quality work for excellent graphic designers on Upwork, but there’s also a fair amount of competition. Freelancers who have been around longer have a better chance of landing higher-paying jobs, but the longer you invest in the platform, the better the returns.
2. PeoplePerHour: This site is for general freelancers and offers a decent platform for hourly work with high-paying clients. The catch is that you will need to have your information verified before working with them, so be warned that it may take about a week before you’re official.
3. AngelList: One of the best-kept secrets of side-hustling online is that hourly work only pays the bills for some of your time, (but then again that’s why you have your main hustle, right?). AngelList is not a job-board like the other two, but a place where startups come to find people who believe in their ideas. Many are looking for talented graphic artists to keep on retainer at desirable rates for part-time work.

It’s important to note that the competition in graphic design is steep. The sites above, though,  provide the best options for skilled artists looking at this online side-hustle. Until someone builds a platform dedicated to Caribbean freelancers, these will have to do.

We’ll focus on operating as a marketing consultant for our next stop on the whirlwind tour through online side-hustling. Stick with us!