This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
When you need to get something done and you don't have the skill to do it, what is the best path forward? Is it better to learn that skill, at least to a basic level, or get some help from a professional? Of course, the answer could be it depends. Depends on the skill, depends on what you're trying to accomplish. But let's get specific because today's caller runs an online health coaching company. Her course content needs detailed illustrations and she's not an artist.
So what should she do? I'm going to answer her question in some detail and for any other listeners in a similar situation. I'll also give you a couple of options and tips for solving this problem. Should I hire a graphic designer or learn to do it myself? Hi, my name is Alyssa and I am from Cedar Hills, Utah. My side hustle is an online health
coaching company called Run Life. I and another coach teach courses on weight loss, race training, weight training, and overall wellness. Our course content is developed in-house and we often find the need for custom graphic design. For example, illustrations of the body with certain muscle groups highlighted, progress charts, meal plans, and worksheets. The problem is that I am not skilled at graphic design. So my question is, should I put in the time
and money and learn to design myself or should I contract out my graphic design needs? I want to leverage my current skill set, but my path to income has a huge hurdle when I think of paying someone else to do all my design work. Thanks so much for taking my question. Talk to you later, Chris. Thank you so much, Alyssa. So glad you're out there. Now, when I think about this question,
it sounds to me like the design and illustrations needed here are pretty important. Like they're not secondary or supplemental. It seems like kind of critical to the whole process. And I don't think it's the easiest thing to learn to draw parts of the body with different muscle groups highlighted, you know, all those things that you mentioned. In fact, it sounds pretty hard. It sounds hard to me at least. Even though I know it's a hurdle to think about
paying someone else, in this instance, it seems like the right approach. So since you're just getting started, hiring someone from a platform like Upwork or Fiverr might be the best bet. And that can be very affordable. I'm almost certain that you can find someone on a low budget there. And to do so, like here are a couple of tips about this, go to one of those sites, let's say it's Upwork and search for design, or illustration, whatever you want to look for, you'll have the option to only work with freelancers in the US or throughout the world. And if cost is a big concern, you definitely want to be open to
working with someone from anywhere. You can list your project for bidding, or you can look through lots of profiles and portfolios to approach the person directly. And in this case, I would suggest the first option like listing your project, you know, opening it up for bids. So write a detailed description of what you're looking for, the more specific the better, we'll come back to that. Then after a few days, you should have a number of project bids. And there you can look through and see someone's portfolio, you know, begin
communication. And you've already set up front what your budget is, that person has bid a specific amount. So all that should be pretty clear. The best case scenario here is that you'll find someone you can work with for a long time. And this isn't totally unusual, like I know people that have found somebody through this pathway or platform and then, you know, gone on to work with them for months or years. However, even if that doesn't work,
you should be able to solve your pressing problem without spending a lot of money. Here's one more thing that might help. Instead of trying to learn graphic design, which is a profession of its own, I mean, this is what people go to school for for years, you know, learn to improve your visual literacy, learn to be able to communicate better in terms of your preferences, what you're looking for, the better you can communicate both your initial direction and any feedback, the better results you'll see and also the lower cost you'll have. This is something that I have had to improve on over the years, because I'm not a designer. And in the beginning, I would look at something someone had done. And I
could tell, you know, maybe it was on the right track, but it needed some more work, or it was the wrong direction entirely. And I knew that, but I wasn't good at communicating why. And the more you can improve that, as I said, the better results you'll see. So over the years, even though I haven't developed any real graphic design skills, I've been able to improve in terms of my ability to communicate what I like and don't like what I would like to see and so on. And that will definitely help. Now, last but not least,
even though I always say it's good to start by spending as little money as possible. In the long term for a lot of businesses, I do think it is important to invest in quality design and web development. It can make for a much better user experience, at least over time, and it allows you to level up. So consider that as your project gets going. All right, thank you, Alyssa, and good luck. Listeners, if you have a question, just come
to www.sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch or develop their projects. This has been episode 1138. Tomorrow, I've got another Throwback Thursday/Where Are They Now? segment, so you don't want to miss it. Be sure you're subscribed. My name is Chris Guillebeau and
this is Side Hustle School.
