How my money comes in as a Lingerie Design Consultant
If you are anything like me, I’m always curious of how people earn their money and from what parts of their business. And let’s face it it’s often not discussed.
This isn’t my original idea I have seen this being done on You Tube, mainly by people who are content creators, but as I teach people who wish to enter the world of freelance design design as well as people wanting to start their own business, I thought it might be a helpful reference.
Now my business has been going for nine years, and in that time, money sources have ebbed and flowed depending on my personal circumstances, for example money coming in from clients was it’s lowest in the year 2016-2017 when my second child was born, as you know you can’t keep two people alive and well, with no child care and spend your time smashing out lots of work with clients.
So this analogy of money is coming from the year 2022. My income now comes from five sources:
Client work - this ranges from me working with start ups drawing up lingerie technical drawings, writing spec sheets, producing patterns, mentoring and also helping designers set up their freelance business.
Website - this covers the books I sell, ebooks and physical books, people booking in one off talks needing help, and design sheets such as automatic specs sheets and costs sheets.
Amazon - I sell some of the physical lingerie design books on there, so this ticks along in the background.
Lingerie websites - I stock some of my books on a couple of websites that sell lingerie fabrics as well, as the shipping to other countries can be a right killer. Currently the books are stocked at Madalynne Intimates, Bwear and Boobytraps.
Etsy - I sell some ebook versions and some of the books on here as well as technical drawings.
So last year you can see that my income came from the following:
Client work: 58% - depending what else I’m working on this usually fluctuates between 40-60%
Website: 32% - again depending if I have launched a new product this usually fluctuates between 30-50%
Amazon: 5% - this is pretty low however it sits in the background and I don’t have to do anything for this, again depending if I have launched anything new this sits between 5-10%
Lingerie Websites: 3% - again this is quite low, but as I’m selling at wholesale price it always going to be. Also I have only a hand selected stockists that can offer the books in a country I am not, this usually sits at 1-3%
Etsy: 2% - Another low one, but again it’s ticking away in the background, and what I find that is people can come from there having found me and then come onto my website. This usually sits at 1-3% each year.
These figures are pretty consistent each year, the only times they have been all over the place is either the following year after each child (but life is isn’t it?) And also lockdown, if you started a business in lockdown and it rocketed but the following years it hasn’t done as well as it was in lockdown, don’t despair. I have spoken to lots of start ups that have faced the same problem, people had more time to shop, go on the internet and they weren’t spending their money on day-to-day life.
I think having sources of income come from different places works well, the initial output of work is high for the books, courses, and design sheets I sell on the website but then it becomes a steady stream of selling each year. Also people will always be in different stages of their design path, so being able to offer books at a lower price than consulting is a great way for people to start.
If you wish to watch the video of me explaining the sources of income please click below.