Emma Kate Baxter graduated from college in 2009 and landed a “great” job in graphic design at a major company.
But there was one big problem. It paid only $37,000 per year.
Speaking to FEMAIL, Emma from Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales admitted it didn’t take long for her to realize she could make more money herself.
A few years later, she made a decision that made a big difference to her future income and lifestyle. She pushed herself to learn how to build websites – and now earns over $250,000 a year while enjoying a flexible lifestyle.
The 36-year-old’s road to success began when her friends and family sent her jobs to supplement her meager income.
Emma Kate Baxter left university in 2009 and landed an ‘amazing’ in-house job in graphic design at a major company
It didn’t take long for her to realize she could make more money herself – now she earns €250,000 a year, is more flexible and works fewer hours
“Within 12 months, I was making more money just freelancing at night than I was doing my day job,” she said.
Emma reduced her hours to part-time before focusing entirely on her own business, which earned between $50 and $60,000 a year.
Within a few months, Emma’s “big money” idea became a reality: she decided to create websites instead of just creating logos and other design requests from clients.
Emma hired web developers to help build her sites while teaching herself to do their work on the side.
As time went on, she had to outsource less and less – and within four years she managed to ‘throw away’ her web developers altogether.
“The tools came for me to create these WordPress sites myself,” she said.
Emma’s job has given her the flexibility to travel the world – and the money to do so
She says she never would have been able to afford her lifestyle if she hadn’t given up her corporate gig
Emma soon realized that she had not charged enough money for her work.
‘I didn’t realize it until my best friend, who had a financial background, quit her job to do the same thing I was doing. She charged double from the start,” Emma said.
‘She had a different understanding of money than I did. I was making $37,000 a year and didn’t realize my worth.”
Within four years, her company was making $120,000 a year.
After a few years of freelancing, Emma had managed to buy her first house on her own at the age of 27. She also went to South America for seven weeks while her company ‘tickled in the background’.
“I felt rich at that moment because I wouldn’t have been able to buy a house and go abroad if I had stuck with my day job,” she said.
Since then, Emma has enjoyed being able to work anywhere and often goes on holiday abroad with her husband, who is a doctor.
It took her four years to “realize her value” and start charging clients appropriately
“I worked a lot while I was getting the business off the ground – probably 60 hours a week – but I was single and didn’t have much else to do,” she said.
Now she works less than half-time – and still makes $250,000 a year – after deciding to teach others how to build their graphic design businesses, just like her.
She offers both mentor and other classes, teaching everything she wishes she had known 15 years ago.
“My students make $100,000 in their first year, which is much more than what I made,” Emma said.
‘I teach them how much to ask and what to offer. They are told step by step what to charge and how to do it,” she added.
The graphic designer said she “learned it the hard way” so her students don’t have to.
“I was losing money on jobs and working with tough clients,” she said.
She also enjoys mentoring people from small towns.
“Just because they don’t live in a city or in America doesn’t mean they can’t charge the right prices and work with the right people,” she said.
‘All I need is my laptop and a good internet connection and I can work for anyone around the world.’
Now she makes $250,000 teaching graphic designers how to build their businesses without making the same mistakes
Some of her students are from South Africa, but work with people in the US and Europe – where the going rate is a lot higher.
Emma says she hated the idea that corporate jobs “have a ceiling” when it comes to income, that you have to work around someone else’s schedule and that you are “stuck.”
‘This is what I like most about my job, it is a lifestyle company. I never have to say no to a lunch with friends, I just work around it.’