The strategies a freelance designer used to attract clients and earn $200,000 in her second year of self-employment
By: Adrienne Johnston
Tags: Small Business, Graphic Design, Freelance, Self Employed, Women In Business

The strategies a freelance designer used to attract clients and earn $200,000 in her second year of self-employment Adrienne Johnston May 15·4 min read

The strategies a freelance designer used to attract clients and earn $200,000 in her second year of self-employment

Adrienne Johnston left her six-figure career leading Operations for a wealth management firm to pursue freelance design in late 2017.

In her second year, she earned over $200,000 by establishing trust with her clients and providing a collaborative client experience.

When starting as a freelancer, she recommended focusing on a niche in which you can scale.

She also recommends investing in lead generation strategies that bring clients on auto-pilot and prevent the feast or famine cycle.

Adrienne Johnston decided to make a significant career shift at the end of 2017. After three-and-a-half years as vice president of operations at BIP Wealth — the Seattlite let go of her stable, $130,000-a-year job to become a freelance graphic designer.

While she was well paid and worked with a remarkable team, the role left Johnston feeling both “unfulfilled and drained.”

“It wasn’t the company or team’s fault, I just wasn’t in my zone of excellence, and I constantly struggled to find joy in my work,” she said.

Johnston admitted that she had no idea what her next chapter would look like, but she knew she needed one. One afternoon, she told her boss that she wanted to openly pursue other opportunities and figure out a transition plan that made sense for the organization and her.

Johnston began looking for new opportunities with a four-month transition runway, but none of her leads worked out. Not wanting to dip into her savings, she decided to try freelancing in an area she already possessed skills: design.

“Design had been a hobby of mine for over 15 years. On nights and weekends, I was playing in Photoshop or After Effects,” Johnston explained. “In past roles, I worked in smaller companies where there was always a need for design work that I would take on simply because I liked it. And, being high on the introversion scale, I’d always loved the idea of working from home and making my own schedule.”

In January 2018, Johnston formally began her new endeavor as a freelance graphic designer with no clients, no website, no portfolio, and no experience. She went on to make just over $200,000 in 2019, her second year of freelancing.

Launching her business from ground zero was no easy feat, but she was highly motivated to succeed. In the first few months of freelancing, she used the global freelancing platform Upwork to find new projects and clients.

While she was making more money than she expected out of the gate, about five-thousand dollars a month, it wasn’t enough to replace her previous income. The opportunity was apparent, but she had to figure out how to capitalize on it the right way.

“I started by dissecting my obvious challenges. In my previous roles, I was leading teams that optimized delivery performance, so I instinctively knew where I was going wrong.”

Johnston says she identified three big mistakes she needed to correct in her business:

She was trying to offer a wide range of design services to maximize the number of potential projects she could work on. Ultimately Johnston realized the learning curve was preventing her from delivering work efficiently and reaching her earning potential. As a self-proclaimed introvert, she was relying on freelancing platforms to make introductions on her behalf. Those platforms came with commissions that cannibalized her profitability and competition that positioned her skills as a low-value commodity. Johnston underestimated how apprehensive buyers are when making significant purchases from online service providers they do not know personally.

“Recognizing these inefficiencies and limitations in my current structure, I developed a three-pronged strategy to transform my business from ‘freelancer barely getting by’ to ‘successful business owner,” Johnston said.

The three strategies Johnston says any freelance designer can use to scale their business to the next level:

Niche: Streamline your offerings to have one or two things you do well and can do relatively quickly. She says freelancers may be hesitant to take this route out of fear of losing out on other projects but reminds freelancers to consider the advantages. The opportunities they will be a fit for are the types of jobs they are qualified to do well and quickly, allowing them to earn more in less time. The Right Lead Generation Method: Based on her hesitation with sales and cold outreach, Johnston decided to optimize her site for search engines so that clients searching for her services could find her quickly and easily. While this is a longer-term strategy, Johnston says the investment of time was worth it because now she has five ideal clients emailing her each weekday. Online Presence: While not a huge social media buff, Johnston says she realized it was important that her online presence was consistent and trustworthy. Being active on different social media sites and freelancer platforms enables potential clients to check out her testimonials and previous work to develop trust and confidence in her abilities and experience.

Want to learn more about the strategies Johnston implemented to reach multi-six-figures in her design business? Join her masterclass: How I Built a Six-Figure Design Business.