Real Life Advice: How to Use Graphic Designer Friend to Make Money?

ALright so my exstepmom's best friend / boyfriend (strange relationship they have) is a graphic designer and musician buut... he's a naive millennial numale, and so he's been talking to me about doing business, and of course, beCAUse he's a millenial numale, he doesn't know how the internet works and the world of IM, but I do, and we do, so alas, we have a love story...lol

With that being said, my question to you guys is: how do I use him to make some money? (For both of us of course, not gonna comPLEtely exploit him, but hey, I am gonna be the brains behind the bronze, still technically whitehat)

So anyways, my ideas so far are:

• Sign him up on a freelance website / multiple websites and manage his profile for him and doing a 60-40 share (me getting the 40), buy the stupid tests, get some "reviews " up, polish the profile with some word magic, hire a cheap web dev freelancer to make a website with his design, and simply tell him what to design and have him send me the client projects, then upload everything and manage the payments myself, all funded by him

• Have him register a real company (no capital), create an entire brand for the company, social media accounts, customized logos for each platform, content, word magic, "reviews ", some "portfolio ", everything, drop $50 into FB ads, and actually attempt to pull in organic customers

• Simultaneously link the company and the freelance website with everything they come with (sacrificing productivity and all-around expertise for more opportunity and wider market reach)

But that's enough of my novel-ing, what do you guys think? : o

anhero said:

ALright so my exstepmom's best friend / boyfriend (strange relationship they have) is a graphic designer and musician buut... he's a naive millennial numale, and so he's been talking to me about doing business, and of course, beCAUse he's a millenial numale, he doesn't know how the internet works and the world of IM, but I do, and we do, so alas, we have a love story...lol

With that being said, my question to you guys is: how do I use him to make some money? (For both of us of course, not gonna comPLEtely exploit him, but hey, I am gonna be the brains behind the bronze, still technically whitehat)

So anyways, my ideas so far are:

• Sign him up on a freelance website / multiple websites and manage his profile for him and doing a 60-40 share (me getting the 40), buy the stupid tests, get some "reviews " up, polish the profile with some word magic, hire a cheap web dev freelancer to make a website with his design, and simply tell him what to design and have him send me the client projects, then upload everything and manage the payments myself, all funded by him

• Have him register a real company (no capital), create an entire brand for the company, social media accounts, customized logos for each platform, content, word magic, "reviews ", some "portfolio ", everything, drop $50 into FB ads, and actually attempt to pull in organic customers

• Simultaneously link the company and the freelance website with everything they come with (sacrificing productivity and all-around expertise for more opportunity and wider market reach)

But that's enough of my novel-ing, what do you guys think? : o

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For you to take 40% just to manage a profile on a freelance site is straight up robbery.

Crazy question.

Have you talked to him about some kind of partnership where you manage sales and customer service and he does whatever the he'll he does?

joseph15 said:

For you to take 40% just to manage a profile on a freelance site is straight up robbery.

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Right, well, guess I really got ahead of myself, because he really makes me think things like the internet to him is just a magical unknown revelation incomprehensible to anyone but me, how much are you thinking? If I had the talent to graphic design and play music and wanted to hire someone to manage my shit, I'd pay them like...%5-10 based on project value

How much are we thinking here? 20? 15? 10? even lower?

I mean, I am in a country where I'm literally one in a few hundred thousand just because I know how to speak English, create social media accounts and IM just like anyone else in 1st world country's and on this forum, and he, for some reason, really likes me (hope he's not a fagit)...so...

Breakfast1234 said:

Crazy question.

Have you talked to him about some kind of partnership where you manage sales and customer service and he does whatever the he'll he does?

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Actually, the only reason I'm even considering this is because he actually came to me talking and asking about just that, going as far as to ask me to create a landing page website for him and hire web developer freelancers to touch it up for his special features (he apparently doesn't know how to do that) telling me things like "money doesn't matter"; I didn't even know he was an actual graphic designer and musician until like just a few days ago.

So uh...yeah, fucking pretty crazy question indeed I guess, buut...I'm not exactly complaining though lmfao...this chaos isn't as bad as the other chaos in the abyss that is life, because at least it presents an opportunity for me to do something with it.

anhero said:

Right, well, guess I really got ahead of myself, because he really makes me think things like the internet to him is just a magical unknown revelation incomprehensible to anyone but me, how much are you thinking? If I had the talent to graphic design and play music and wanted to hire someone to manage my shit, I'd pay them like...%5-10 based on project value

How much are we thinking here? 20? 15? 10? even lower?

I mean, I am in a country where I'm literally one in a few hundred thousand just because I know how to speak English, create social media accounts and IM just like anyone else in 1st world country's and on this forum, and he, for some reason, really likes me (hope he's not a fagit)...so....

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Well if you don't think he's going to find out and you just want to make money, then you can take even 40% - just hope he never wakes up. In general though something like that is worth probably 10%-20% like you said. I thought 40% was too much because I believed this was a good friend of yours but I guess not

anhero said:

ALright so my exstepmom's best friend / boyfriend

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aaaah Westerners

anhero said:

for some reason, really likes me (hope he's not a fagit)

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i can only think of one person you could ask about that

Have you looked at his art portfolio?
Listened to all his music?
Does he have any brandable characters, is his style unique? Would you have to teach him contrast, color relationships and use of color for call to action in web design not to mention all the technical nuances. He might be better suited for helping companies Brand their own products and services e.g.. mascots logos, picture ads etc. Web design might not be his strength sounds like its surely not yours. Find his niche while your breathing in his previous work. good luck and thank you for being my 100th post!! Watch it go blue baby.

joseph15 said:

Well if you don't think he's going to find out and you just want to make money, then you can take even 40% - just hope he never wakes up. In general though something like that is worth probably 10%-20% like you said. I thought 40% was too much because I believed this was a good friend of yours but I guess not

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eh, not too worried on him "waking up" because I just need to get some cash rolling, we don't really have any much in common he's not exactly a "good friend" but that doesn't mean I mean I have to be a complete ass

FreakenSEOsmh said:

aaaah Westerners



i can only think of one person you could ask about that

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I actually live in a 3rd world islamic country, but my entire family is comprised of just westerners yeah, and got a nice chuckle @ asking

wedosystems said:

Have you looked at his art portfolio?
Listened to all his music?
Does he have any brandable characters, is his style unique? Would you have to teach him contrast, color relationships and use of color for call to action in web design not to mention all the technical nuances. He might be better suited for helping companies Brand their own products and services e.g.. mascots logos, picture ads etc. Web design might not be his strength sounds like its surely not yours. Find his niche while your breathing in his previous work. good luck and thank you for being my 100th post!! Watch it go blue baby.

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Not sure yet, I haven't gotten back to his request, as for his "music" it's pretentious hipster very cringe and a bad attempt at glo-fi, but he can actually play the guitar, and I know he can graphic design, but I still have to evaluate it for a market, thanks for reminding me

also congrats on going blue, you're officially hardcore

...now get a profile picture : p

Alright guys so I checked out this guy's experience an he's been in the business for 27 years and has been graphic designing well, since the dawn of time basically, he worked for advertising agencies that handled the big boys (mcdonalds, coke pepsi etc.) making designs for them in a country I'm not going to mention

The only way he used to make money was work for actual companies; should I approach him about this freelance thing? What do you guys think? How much % should I take?

That sounds lazy, mate. Haha! But if you've agreed with your friend about this and it's going to be like a partnership thing, you can go for getting commissions as he signs up as a freelancer. But if he finds out that he can do everything on his own, that's going to be useless.

Your not really "the brains behind the bronze" if you dont know what to do or have a plan.

Have you ever sold a service online?

Do you understand how to market online?

Do you have any cash to spend on marketing his services?

If the answers to any of those questions is no, your just wasting everyones time, until ypu sort that.

At which time i suggest you do an online campaign in your own country first, as he seems to have a decent local portfolio.

anhero said:

Alright guys so I checked out this guy's experience an he's been in the business for 27 years and has been graphic designing well, since the dawn of time basically, he worked for advertising agencies that handled the big boys (mcdonalds, coke pepsi etc.) making designs for them in a country I'm not going to mention

The only way he used to make money was work for actual companies; should I approach him about this freelance thing? What do you guys think? How much % should I take?

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mcdonalds, coke pepsi ?
If True, he might not work as Freelancer!

How great can he make an exact replica of a high value currency note?
just kidding, of course!

Is he any good graphics designer, at all? Can he turn a plane paper into an exotic scenery, or a eye-catching unique logo, or turn a line into a jewelry design? Or an image of a plain handkerchief into a great piece of modern dress? Or cut out unattractive backgrounds? Or create attractive new backgrounds? Or can he do a simple graphic job within a given time-frame, and still make it look like a masterpiece to the job giver? Can he create a simple logo at least? Or a magazine cover image? Is he a master in PS/Illus/CorelDraw/AE/Animations/etc/etc.? Can he at least copy a good logo in Illustrator on his own?

CAN HE WRITE A SUPER GOOD/GREAT JOB PROPOSAL and provide a great sample portfolio PERTAINING to the job requirement? Can he stick to a given deadline/time frame, and still come up with something great that will satisfy the customer 200% (in an graphically artistic way, strictly )? Can you do these things successfully as his marketer? Unless these can be done professionally, I don't think he can or you can or you both can succeed online in this field irrespective of whether he is God-Mode or not in this graphics and designing field. You got to be absolute pro, because the competition will be gigantic and those on top will be willing to kill your chances, whatever you have, in the beginning at least.

Or can he turn you into the most vivacious glamorous beauty on e-paper?

That last one... he must be having a few samples in his portfolio? If not let him create a good one in 2 hours from now as his first test sample... I'd love to see it, first!

Seriously, how good is he? And good a marketer are you?

P.S.:
Does he use Astute Graphics plugins for Illustrator? The latest ones that are compatible with Illus cc 2018?
If he does, can he give me the activation codes? lol.

One simple way can be to use the stuff he already did before, and put it on Shutterstock and similar services. You cannot place there graphic design work he already did for commercial clients (with logo or brand elements), or designs that can be easily found online.

However, just ask him to export and prepare parts of the design - a shape, a silhouette, button... whatever - you get the point. Get up to 2000+ illustrations/elements on Shutter and you can get steady passive income