Easy ways to supplement a freelance designer’s income…

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about different sides and aspects I can add to my website and my business.  As it stands now, I have about 8 employees (PT and FT).  And we all work REALLY REALLY hard and love it .. but I’d like to find ways to bring in money without having to work QUITE so hard doing it.  The main way i’ve contemplated this is by utilizing ecommerce on my website.  The different ideas i’m considering are…

Templates:  To me this seems like somewhat of a slam dunk.  There are so many customers out there who have small budgets.  By providing our own templates, this gives those customers a chance to get a nice professional website without paying all the costs.  And this would, in theory, mean less work in the long run because people could just download the code and graphics and leave me out of the equation.  Of course, there is a bunch of work involved in the beginning… that would entail of course designing and coding the templates themselves. 

Stock Photography/Illustrations:  This has been very lucrative for many artists and photographers out there.  However I also feel that competition has gotten a lot stiffer.  Submitting your work to multiple stock engines is definitely a key to success for the work.

Merchandise Sales:  Coffee Cups, Business Card Holders, Calendars, TShirts… whether you sell on your website or somewhere like cafepress or even deviantart.  This seems like it would be fun, but harder to compete.  I’d love to know how other’s have done using this method to add to their revenue. 

 These are just a few methods out of many… I’d love to know what other’s have implemented to supplement their income…and of course the varying successes of those methods.

 J.

www.jwdesigncenter.com