Design Business
Build a Profitable Design Business
Learn to price, sell and run your own design business, whether you are going freelance by choice, after a layoff or on the side. You leave with your offer, your price list, your proposal and contract templates, and a 12-month plan.
For Working Designers
8 Units
8 Templates
Taught by Design Founders
Learn from Founders Who Built Real Design Businesses
Stella and Arnold share what worked, what failed and what they would do again in their own businesses.
Use Plug-and-Play Toolkits Built from Real Operations
Proposals, contracts, price lists and client templates you can use right away, taken from how we run our own businesses.
Set Up Your Business Right with 1:1 Mentorship
Work through your offer, your pricing and your first clients with a mentor in private sessions.
Choose How You Learn and Pay
Take the self-study course, book sessions as you go, or get both together for less.
Who It Is For
Turn Your Design Skills into a Business That Pays You Well
You already know how to design. This course teaches the other half: how to find clients, price your work, run projects and grow without burning out.
1
Designers Going Freelance After a Layoff
Turn your experience into paying clients while you decide what comes next.
2
Employed Designers Building Something on the Side
Start with your first clients now, without risking the job that pays your bills.
3
Freelancers Who Undercharge
Fix your pricing, proposals and contracts so every project pays what it should.
What You Learn
Learn the Business Skills No Design School Teaches
Pick the Right Business Model
Choose between freelancing, contracting, a studio or a productized service, based on the life you want.
Sell Your Judgment and Direction
Position your work around direction and outcomes, the parts of design clients still pay a premium for.
Price Every Project with Confidence
Know your rate floor and use project, package and retainer pricing, including paid discovery.
Get Clients Through People
Most freelance designers win new work through word of mouth. Learn to make it happen on purpose.
Run a Professional Client Process
Use proven templates for proposals, contracts, onboarding and feedback, so clients trust you from day one.
Grow at a Pace You Can Keep
Build recurring revenue and plan your capacity, so growth does not cost you your health.
Curriculum
What You'll Learn in the Course
Each unit ends with a template you fill in for your own business, so by the end you have a working offer, price list, proposal, contract and plan. Lessons are written guides with worksheets, and every unit includes a recorded founders conversation.
Unit 1
Choose Your Business Model
Compare freelancing, contracting through agencies, a one-person studio and a productized service, and work out how much runway you need.
Project: Your business model and savings target
Unit 2
Position Your Offer
Pick a niche by industry or problem, and sell direction, judgment and outcomes instead of hours of production that AI can approximate.
Project: A one-page offer
Unit 3
Price with Confidence
Set your rate floor, then price by project, package and retainer, including paid discovery and AI-assisted work.
Project: Your price list
Unit 4
Find Clients Without Ads
Turn your network, past employers and agency partners into your first clients, and build referrals that keep coming.
Project: A 30-day outreach plan
Unit 5
Win the Project
Run discovery calls, write proposals that close, handle objections and negotiate without discounting.
Project: A proposal from our template
Unit 6
Contracts, Money and Admin
Cover scope, revisions, usage rights and AI clauses, deposits, invoicing, taxes and the tools that keep it all simple.
Project: Your contract and invoice setup
Unit 7
Run Projects Clients Rave About
Onboard clients, manage feedback rounds and scope creep, deal with difficult situations and collect testimonials.
Project: Your client experience map
Unit 8
Grow Without Burning Out
Build recurring revenue, raise your rates, plan your capacity and decide when to subcontract or hire.
Final project: Your 12-month business plan
Templates Included
Plug-and-Play Design Business Toolkits
Every unit comes with a ready-to-use template built from how successful design businesses actually run. Fill it in with your details and use it with a real client the same week. The templates stay in your course with lifetime access, so you can come back to them as your business grows.
Proposal template
Walk a client from their problem to your price to a signed yes.
Contract and invoice setup
Cover scope, revisions, usage rights and AI use before any work starts.
Price list
Lay out your packages, retainers and paid discovery on one clear page.
Client experience map
Onboard clients, run feedback rounds and keep scope in check.
Who Teaches It
Learn from Founders Who Built Successful Design Businesses
Stella built a profitable online school as a solo founder. Arnold built a creative studio and found his niche. Each unit includes a recorded conversation between them about what worked, what did not and what they would do again.
Stella Guan
Founder of Path Unbound
- Built Path Unbound on evenings and lunch breaks while working at JPMorgan, and ran it profitably from the first year
- Taught design at General Assembly, the City University of New York and the Fashion Institute of Technology
- Won more than 6 international design awards
Arnold Kotra
Art Director and Studio Owner
- Runs his own independent creative studio, now focused on art direction for live entertainment
- Worked with startups such as Aircall, Getaround and Shares before choosing his niche
- Hosted ADPList design meetups while he lived in Paris
Waitlist
Join the Waitlist
Enrollment for Build a Profitable Design Business isn’t open yet. Leave your name and email, and we’ll tell you as soon as you can join.
FAQs
Get Answers Before You Enroll
Do I Need to Quit My Job First?
Is This Only for Freelancers?
Does It Cover Taxes and Legal Setup?
How Does AI Change the Business Side?
Who Are the 1:1 Sessions With?
How Long Does It Take?
Ready to Launch Your Dream Design Career Yesterday?
Your dream design career won’t start itself, but we are here to make sure it happens for you. If not yesterday, very soon.