Okay, so at the end of the first milestone I set for myself, I can honestly say I hit about 70% of target. So no fresh new tunes for me as a reward!

What went right, and what went wrong.

To have made anything over and above my normal wage is a good thing. It wasn’t as much as I had set as my target, so next time around I will set it a little lower like around $750, so I can potentially hit it. So what went right? Well, freelancing as a designer is very much a case of feast or famine. There are times when you are literally run off your feet and others when you have nothing more than a trickle of work coming in. It’s true if I worked it like a full time job I could earn a full time income from it, but I am trying to make extra money, not add to my risk levels and stress! The freelancing was the bulk of my income, and although I have been making some sales via zazzle, there just wasn’t enough to hit my goal.

What went wrong? Being laid up in bed with a bad back and having a bad tooth requiring a couple of dentist visits kept me distracted from getting more things done. I also found investigating additional income streams took up some of my productivity time that could have been used to either write more posts or simply promote myself further online via social media.

The positives from the research was a much better understanding of fiverr and the potential offers I can make there. Also, short run t-shirt campaigns through teespring look like a potential for not only promoting myself but making a bit of extra cash from. The last item of note was looking at social media and the various ways to build interest and exposure to potential customers/audiences. So places like empire avenue, klout and twiends can help you gain a bit more exposure and give you ideas for channels that you may have left untapped.

Anyone have any additional methods for getting themselves seen online, or methods of earning extra income? Just share it with a comment below!