Redbubble Is Paying My Electric Bill

No one is more surprised than me

Like many people these days — the economy being what it is — I’ve been exploring different side hustles, looking for the one that’s going to lift me out of mundane near-poverty and soaring into Instagram-worthy riches.

Ha.

Well, I may not be getting Instagram-rich, but I seem to be doing well enough at one of those side hustles that it’s been enough to cover my electric bill for three months.

It’s Redbubble.

And hey, what’s working for me a bit could work for you.

How It Started

I make decent enough money as a freelance writer — more than I expected I’d be able to if I’m honest.

At the same time, given how expensive everything is these days, I’m always on the lookout for a manageable side hustle.

I’ve never been able to get the knack for affiliate marketing. I’ve never taken an online course, so I’ve no idea what I’d even need to do to create one — let alone sell one. I don’t care for the race-for-the-bottom bidding on sites like Fiver, and cribbing relaxation videos on YouTube seems like an odd combination of dishonest and not worth the trouble.

But I do like the idea of coming up with designs for t-shirts and other swag.

I already had some good ideas, like my Life Is Godot brand (a parody of the Life Is Good brand) and “Klaatu… Barada…Nietzsche!”

I whipped these up in Photoshop one day, set up an account, and uploaded the images. I then assigned them to products ranging from t-shirts to throw pillows.

I didn’t get a lot of traction at first. I promoted some of my designs on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and made an occasional sale during the first couple of months, but not enough profit to even buy a cup of coffee.

Over the next year, I added more and more designs. Each time I had an idea, I jotted it down and then created it on my computer that evening and uploaded it soon after.

I got more nibbles and a few more sales. But nothing that made the process noteworthy.

So why continue?

Why I Continued

Because it was easy.

A lot of people use Canva for their designs, and with good reason. It’s free, it’s powerful, and it can save in a number of different formats. I use Adobe’s Creative Suite because I had it already as part of my past freelance work in book design. That, and I already knew how to use the software well.

Coming up with ideas and turning them into designs was pretty effortless and took only a negligible amount of time out of my schedule.

And I figured the odds were with me. Using Redbubble cost nothing, so anything I managed to sell would be a net profit. And, as I said, the time cost was not a concern. I could design and upload something in less than half an hour. Sharing the design on social media took less than a minute.

After a year and a half, I was making coffee money. Not Starbucks coffee money, but solid Dunkin’ coffee money.

I added some more designs over the next couple of months when I remembered. I have about forty or so up now.

Four or five months ago, I noticed that designs in specific categories were beginning to sell more often — four or five sales a week.

That’s not bad for someone who was barely trying. I celebrated the promotion to Starbucks-level coffee and added another random design.

That new one hasn’t sold, but some of my old ones have suddenly picked up serious steam.

Now I sell a few dozen products per week. T-shirts earn me around $3. Sweatshirts get me a little more. Stickers only make me a few cents.

But it all adds up.

I seem to be doing rather well now selling designs related to vintage records, computers, and philosophy.

Who knew?

But without really doing anything special, I’m now making enough money to cover my electric bill (around $120 a month).

It may not seem much. It’s not Big Money.

But you know what?

For something I’ve not put a lot of sweat into or even spent a lot of time promoting, it’s actually quite good.

And with just a little work, I can make it better.

Where To Go From Here

Redbubble is not the only game in town. Not by a longshot.

There’s Zazzle, TeePublic, Amazon Merch, Cafe Press, Printify, and a whole lot more.

In just about all of these cases, I can reuse designs I created for Redbubble (they belong to me, after all), and they won’t cost me any money to join.

That means using the same products I have on Redbubble to reach more eyes, more customers, and, fingers crossed, more sales.

And it’s not going to take a lot of time. If I spend a couple of hours some Sunday morning while everyone else is off at church, I can add another sales channel. In a month, that quadruples my potential market.

It will take a while to get traction on those other sales sites, but all it’s really costing me is a little time.

Mind you, I’m not trying to create an empire here in t-shirt and novelty design. I’m perfectly happy writing for a living.

But I’m intrigued that an easy side hustle like this could end up netting me enough money to cover something like, say, a car payment. That will be one less bill off my mind.

I just have to remember to set some of that aside for taxes.

What Does This Mean For You?

It depends on how much work you want to put into it.

I didn’t put much effort in, but it took about two years before I saw any significant return.

If you put in ten times the effort I did, will that make you ten times the money?

Maybe. Maybe not.

There’s an element of luck, I think, in people seeing your designs on Redbubble and other platforms. The best way to counter that is to have a lot of designs. Like… ten times the number I have. Probably more.

And you have to have good ideas. A lot of my designs haven’t made a cent. Some have made a decent amount of money. I have no idea what makes one design resonate with a customer more than another. My personal design philosophy is to only design something I myself would wear.

But I also have hideous taste. Your results may vary.

Am I recommending Redbubble and similar sites as a viable side hustle?

Sure. Why not?

If you can come up with a halfway-decent design and can upload it, then go for it. There is no loss aside from however much time it takes you.

Is it a guaranteed moneymaker?

Ha!

No.

But what is?

The only way to lose the game is not to play.

Personally, I’m having a little bit of fun, and expanding my game could be even more fun.

You do you. If you enjoy the idea of t-shirt design, then give it a go. If you find you hate it, then stop and find something else.

I hear there’s money in affiliate marketing.

Good luck!

About John Teehan

John lives in Rhode Island with his wife, son, and dog. He specializes in tech, health, business, parenting, pop culture, and gaming. Visit wordsbyjohn.net for more info and rates. Twitter: @WordsByJohn2.

Do you like poetry, short fiction, and general oddities? Check out my new book, Life Among Psychopaths: an unexpected potpourri, now available on Amazon. (Or you can buy a t-shirt at my Redbubble store.)