DesignBay15/12/2008
You might have seen our new offer to refer designers and get 1% of their earnings.  This post is an explanation of what it's all about and why you should try it out!

Help DesignBay, Help Yourself
We need more designers!  The more designers we have, the more jobs we will get and the more money you (/our designers) will earn.  You might think "hey this will increase competition for me!" and in some cases yes it will, but there are enough benefits to make this something you should support:
  1. More jobs - as we get more designers, customers become more likely to buy.  When they see "hey 1000 designers!" they will think "that is pretty damn good".  If they see "Wow! 5000 designers!" how will they say no?  More designers = more customers and jobs for you to pitch for.  And don't forget, designers will spread their time across jobs - not everyone can submit for every job, so if we get more jobs the change in the level of competition may be negligible.
  2. Larger budgets - the more designers we have the more attractive our product and the more larger budgets customers we can attract
  3. Increased variety of jobs - the more illustrators, t-shirt designers, packaging designers and specialist designers we have the more likely we will get a variety of jobs!
  4. Fewer customers walking away - the more designers we have the more likely customers are to find what they're looking for and the less likely they will walk away.  Whether it is a multi quote job or a contest, more designers will equate to a higher percentage of converted customers!
Now - the commission / 'honey pot'
You will get commission whenever a designer you've referred sells a design or receives a base payment.  If they sell a design for $500 you get $5.  If they receive a base payment for $20 you make $0.20.  This might seem like pocket money but it is no different from when you start out with AdSense or selling a photo onIstockphoto - you need to build some scale!  Consider this: If you refer 10 friends who each make $800 in a month, you will make $1000 / year extra - for basically sitting on your bum!  If you can refer 50 friends you could make a lot of money and spend your days power-napping or playing XBOX.  

The virtual agency
Here's another way to look at it, by having other designers earning money for you, you have created a small team of people who are working for you!  They are basically your virtual agency.  You sit at the top and take a small part of their earnings.  (Obviously you don't have a consolidated brand and they don't report to you - maybe this is an idea for 2009?).  Anyway back on track ... note that when you refer a designer it does not affect their earnings - they are still working for themselves.  The commission of 1% is paid from DesignBay to you.  Lastly, they don't need to be your a friend.  If you have the name and email address of a designer you think is great - refer them!!!  You have nothing to lose by trying!

In summary, refer designers today!!

If not, let us know why!  Let us know what you think of the offer and let us know whether or not you think this is good for DesignBay and yourself!

Alec

p.s. 
A big thanks to Zenab Bastawala and Roel Boer for being the first designers to refer some friends!

Written by DesignCrowd on Monday, December 15, 2008

DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.