Looking to start a graphic design side hustle? Any insight, advice, or knowledge on where to start?

[Cheyfox]

I've been toying around the idea of starting a graphic design side hustle. I currently work in a rock quarry that is about a two-hour roundtrip daily drive for me. I have been volunteering at my church with the Media team. I have purchased an Adobe CC subscription and have been going through as many tutorials as I can. I used to design and build personal websites, but that was back in the mid-90's. I am looking for any insight, advice, or knowledge on where to start with graphic design for a side hustle. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[cmgap]

Does your church need any design work or a web site? Anything that you can do for them can be used to build a portfolio to build up some street credibility so that others will know what your capable of will help you as you look for work.

Even if they don't 'need' anything directly you could think of them as a client and create self-assignments using the techniques you've learned doing the tutorials.

Take your favorite tutorial and come up with a project from start to finish.

Hope this helps you to get started with building a portfolio. By the way - take a look at behance.com and portfolio.com - both are included in your subscription.

[Cheyfox]

Thank you.

[Erik_Lord]

Agreed with the previous reply - the first step is always to put together a portfolio so you can show examples of you work. Doing so for your church, or whatever group, organization, etc. that you have insight and experience with is good. Maybe your employer also needs help with fliers, posters, or their website that you can volunteer your services for.

Once you have some decent examples (and even including just 'art' that you like, if it applies)....then knock on doors. Maybe visit other churches - asking if they need any help with their website or fliers (i.e. I help my church design their twice-annual charity auction/potluck fliers - very simple, but being able to give them a nice layout as a PDF for the printer is appreciated)....

Side-hustles take a lot of work and networking, don't expect paying jobs quickly...but you may get lucky!

[enirtal]

I've done a bit of freelancing on the side and it's more of a "when the opportunity arises" type of deal (I also do unpaid work for my church on occasion, or friends and family as they need) but I've found that putting it out on social media and offering a deal, or even posting on Craigslist can get you some small starter jobs where you can build a portfolio up and see how you like working for other people. The work will always be different so it can be exciting, but depending on the client it can also be frustrating - ie. they don't know what they want, they ask for a million edits, etc.

The nice thing is, you can try it out for a bit, see how the workload is with your normal job, and how long things take you to complete! That way you don't have to dive into getting a small business name or do separate taxes (unless you happen to get a big job where they want to pay you loads of money, which has never been my case). You can also gauge what styles or types of work you like to do if you want to branch out from website design. I love creating logos and designing flyers, handouts, business cards, etc - but some work I'm "meh" about. The nice thing about being your own boss is that you can decide if you'll enjoy a project from speaking with the client - and if it seems like misery, you can politely decline.

Hope that helps!
Jordan

[JDev112]

The best options for you to try are some freelance websites like Fiverr and Upwork, you will be able to make a handsome amount on regular basis, if you have, what it takes , I know many people who are successfully earning from these platforms. All the best.

Thanks