How I Made Over $70,000/Yr Starting a Design Consulting Side Hustle

Well, I wish I could tell you it started after I wrote a business plan and thoughtfully scoured the waters for potential clients before jumping in, but I can’t.  What I can tell you is my thoughts of starting my own design firm and being my own boss have always been in the back of my mind.  What is the next best thing when you have these thoughts?  The best thing I thought was to look on the internet for any other one man design firms close to me that I could call and talk to.  I found the perfect one.

It was around 5 pm on a Wednesday night that I called up Lance, a gentleman who owned a one man consulting firm around 80 miles from me. I asked if he had a few minutes to discuss his triumphs and struggles with me. That call lasted more than an hour and I was scared and exhilarated by what he told me.  He told me that he loved being his own boss and that he never regretted a single minute of being on his own.  He discussed the difficulty of getting clients to pay on time was a struggle along with consistent clientele.  I discussed my background, past projects, and aspirations to become my own boss too.  Right before we ended that phone call he was intrigued by my background and experiences and said he could use someone like me as a sub-consultant in the future…  So, it was that early evening cold call to a gentleman (who I had never met yet) that would become my first client and mentor for starting a side consulting design business.

I finally got started on my first few projects in late fall of 2014.  My total side consulting business gross income came to be $3750 for 2014, all from projects through Lance.  I used this money to  reimburse my savings for insurance premiums, start a simple website, buy a domain name with a professional email address, new design software, and a new Brother’s laser printer/scanner.  The lady reviewing my taxes told me that I needed to charge more for my side business with my expenses totalling $3622.

In 2015, my side business starting to expand.  My total gross income increased to $18,971.  A third ($5,925) came from Lance and the rest came from multiple other inlets.  I determined that the best thing for a long term business was not to put all my eggs in one basket.

In 2016, I almost doubled my income and business once again to $32,964.  No income came from Lance as he actually left the consulting business and started working for another engineering company.  I also learned that not even all multi-million dollar companies pay their bills and was owed an additional $10,000 for two other projects.

In 2017, I had a goal to double my side business income once again.  Through networking and retirements, I was able to gain a few more repeat clients. I ended up getting so much work coming in I had to actually start turning down projects.  I didn’t even do any marketing since April.  My adjusted gross income for 2017 came to $72,064.

My goal for 2018 is to increase my side business income by 25% to $$90,000.

In the post below, I review a few tips and tricks I have learned along the way.

how-to-start-a-design-consulting-business-side-hustle

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