Passive Income for Interior Designers: Digital Downloads (Part 2)

If you’re hesitant to start creating digital downloads that require writing like eBooks and how-to guides, there’s good news - you can turn design work that you’re already doing into digital downloads. 

Mood Boards 

Mood boards are a great idea for interior designers to create passive income because they can help attract clients and showcase their design skills. There’s the added bonus of being able to include affiliate links which allow designers to get a commission if a customer buys one of their product recommendations. Here are some reasons why mood boards are a great passive income option for interior designers:

1. Attract new clients: Mood boards can serve as a visual representation of a designer's style. By creating original, captivating, and well-curated mood boards, designers can attract potential clients who are looking for a specific style or aesthetic for their space. This is a perfect option for designers who have a sought-after style.

2. Showcase design skills: Mood boards allow designers to showcase their design skills and creativity, which can help them stand out in a competitive market. By creating beautiful and unique mood boards, designers can demonstrate their ability to transform a space and create a cohesive design concept.

Floor Plans

Interior designers can also sell floor plans to generate another stream of income. Here are some reasons why selling floor plans can be a great source of passive income:

1. Attract a wider audience: While some clients may prefer to work directly with a designer, selling floor plans can attract a wider audience of individuals who may not have the budget or desire to hire a designer for a full project. By creating and selling floor plans online, designers can reach a wider audience and generate income from individuals who are interested in going with their own design ideas.

2. Showcase expertise in a specific niche: Designers can specialize in a specific type of space, such as kitchens and bathrooms or studio apartments, and create floor plans that cater to that specific niche. By doing so, designers can demonstrate their expertise in that area and draw in clients who are specifically looking for that type of design.

Create Your Own or Hire a VDA

As a designer you may already have your own mood board templates prepared that you could easily convert into a digital download for customers. If not, this is a task that could be delegated to a design assistant that is proficient in Canva, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop. 

Creating a passive income stream can supplement a designer's income from client work. By creating and selling digital products, designers can earn ongoing income without the need for ongoing client work or project management. This can be especially valuable during slower periods or when taking time off for personal reasons. Creating digital downloads requires work upfront but pays off over the long term.

xx, Danae

Passive Income For Interior Designers: Digital Downloads (Part 1)

Do you have any tasks that you feel like you’re doing over and over and that you’d like to streamline? Well this task could create a great opportunity for passive income which would create another stream of income for your business.

With passive income, you do work upfront (in this case, it may even be work you are already doing), and earn over time with minimal maintenance. This can provide you with greater financial stability and freedom, as well as the potential to increase your overall income and build wealth over time. A great option for designers to create passive income is through digital downloads. There are many different types of digital downloads you can create easily once and then sell for years.

Here are some ideas for digital downloads:

How-To Guides & Templates

Maybe you feel like you’re constantly getting asked the same questions about paint colors, accent walls, or art ideas.  Moreover, this is a topic that you could explain in your sleep. A great option to convert this into passive income would be to create a how-to guide or template for clients to download from your website – a win win for you and the buyer as they get your professional design expertise and you get paid for it without doing repetitive work. Another great benefit of guides like these is that you can create more than one! 

A simple way to get started with this is to write down common client questions that you feel you’re answering repeatedly or are getting asked on social media. If you have a niche that you are known for you could create a “Getting Start Guide” for clients who are curious about working with you. An even simpler version would be to produce a template with images and graphics on your topic, like how to create the perfect accent wall for example. Selling guides and templates with simple graphics that showcase your expertise is a perfect way to get started with digital downloads.

eBooks

eBooks are another great way to make passive income with your design expertise for clients who like more DIY type projects. An in depth book that could help customers with a bathroom refresh, picking paint colors, decorating for a rental, or how to Feng Shui their space are examples of successful ebooks on the market. Similar to a how-to guide, they get a lot of expert design knowledge and you don't have to do anything but the initial set up.

Where to Sell Digital Downloads

With strong marketing your digital downloads could bring in quite a bit of revenue. There are many places you can post your downloads to be purchased, the first one being your own website. As clients are already browsing your services, having a shop on your site with digital downloads that answer their design questions could be a quick way for you to make some passive income. You could also create an Etsy or Shopify account to sell your products. That way whenever you receive a DM asking a simple design question, you can let the inquirer know that you have created an entire guide that answers all of their questions.

Passive income can take some effort and investment to set up initially, but once you have established your sources of passive income, they can continue to generate income for you over the long term with minimal ongoing effort required.

Let us know if we can help! We’ve got VDA’s on the team that love helping designers create passive income streams. More in this series to come!

 xx, Danae