Graphic design is a hobby for some, a side hustle for others, and a long-term career for the rest. If you’re hoping to make the most of your skills as a graphic designer, it’s time to step up your design game. Read on for Jeffrey English NYC’s best tips to make six figures as a graphic designer.

1. Set Specific Income Goals

The first step to making six figures through graphic design is creating a plan to do so. It’s easy to talk about how you hope to make more money from your designing efforts but you’re less likely to achieve this if you don’t have a specific idea of what your goals and how you will achieve them.

Experts like Jeffrey English NYC propose setting daily or weekly targets to help you focus on achieving your goal. By breaking down this six-figure dream into palatable short-term goals, you’ll be able to better monitor your day-to-day progress and make adjustments as needed.

2. Increase Your Productivity

Productivity requires an intense amount of focus. When working in graphic design, it isn’t uncommon for the mind to drift to other distractions. To really make the most money possible from your skillset, you’ll need to improve your productivity. Fight the natural inclination to disengage when working to make sure you work to your fullest potential on all projects.

A great way to increase productivity as a graphic designer is to time yourself when working on projects. Set the timer for 10 or 15 minutes increments to keep yourself focused on completing your tasks in this period of time. This way, you’ll be able to complete the most work during your working hours.

3. Choose Your Niche

Graphic design is a varied field with clients searching for almost any type of design. Though most graphic designers take on a wide variety of clients, this isn’t the best way to be productive. After learning what type of designs you’re best suited for, you’ll be able to put your skills to work. Finding your most profitable niche as a graphic designer will help you to complete your projects in record time, allowing you to focus on your specialty and decline projects that aren’t as cost-effective.

4. Take on More Clients

Making more money as a graphic designer means avoiding complacency at all costs. Whether you work with a design agency or you work for yourself, it’s easy to fall into the same routine, working with the same clients, and working on the same types of projects. Though this may be enough to sustain you at your current income, to earn more money from graphic designing, you need to do more.

To earn six figures this year, you’ll need higher-paying clients. Start making plans to get more work and adjust your schedule accordingly to make sure you can handle this new onslaught of work.

5. Steadily Raise Your Prices

If you’re working as a freelance graphic designer, don’t be afraid to raise your prices over time. While you may need to set the bar pretty low if you’re just starting out and attracting new clients, as you gain more experience and develop better relationships with your clients, you deserve to earn more money. If you hope to make six figures working as a designer, you’ll need to charge higher rates.

Jeff English NYC recommends starting with your loyal clients. If you’ve been consistently supplying them with good work, they’ll be more than happy to meet your new price points. After setting these higher rates, make sure to stick to them when searching for new clients.

6. Expand Your Skillset

Though it’s important to find your niche, don’t take that to mean you should limit your skillset. Graphic designers often have a variety of skills that range from basic design to coding, when development, product design, and more. Though you needn’t be an expert in every design-adjacent field, it helps to keep expanding your knowledge to make yourself a more valuable asset to clients. According to Jeff English NYC, the more skills you have, the more you’ll be able to diversify your clientele. Likewise, you’ll be able to charge more for your above-average graphic design skillset.

Making a living as a graphic designer isn’t as challenging as you think. With the right strategies, consistent clients, and the skills to match, you’re not far from building your dream career with your design skills