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I Earned My First Passive Income as a Freelance Product Designer
Not the way I expected…
Okay, this is the post I didn’t expect to write.
When I thought about diversifying my income as a designer/solopreneur, I pictured the usual suspects: Figma templates, icon sets, illustrations, maybe even career advice kits or checklists. But getting paid for writing? Nope, never crossed my mind.
I’m a visual person. Writing isn’t something I naturally enjoy, and English isn’t even my first language. I’m from Belarus, lived in Poland for five years, and have never been to the US — even though 90% of my clients and design network are based there.
It takes me a huge amount of effort, endless rounds with ChatGPT, and a human sacrifice (aka my partner, who proofreads everything) just to finish a single post. Even Instagram captions feel like a stretch.
But visual work? I could make illustrations and thumbnails for hours without blinking.
And yet… here we are.
Last month, I earned $350 USD on Medium from a single article I originally wrote for my newsletter.
