I’ve been making over six figures in my business for 7-8 years now, so I wanted to break down the math and give you tips on how to hit this number as an invitation designer!

A lot of creatives use six figures as a milestone in their business, but keep in mind that this will mean different things in different businesses depending on expenses, amount of work, taxes, and so much more. So yes, six figures is a great milestone, but in this article we are just considering $100,000 in revenue! There are a lot of other financial factors involved. 

The thing is, with any money milestone, you don’t need to overcomplicate it. We put our own emotions onto certain numbers – five figures, six figures, seven figures, etc. But the math is the math no matter what you feel is an attainable or unattainable number. So listen to the numbers and keep it simple.

Breaking Down a Six Figures Year

To make six figures in a year, you need to bring in $8,334 per month for 12 months ($100,000/12). So you can hit six figures in a year without ever having a five figure month! 

Now, let’s break it down by project. If you charge $5,000 per invitation project, then you need 20 clients in a year to make exactly $100,000 (adjust the math based on your average project cost!).

Does 20 clients a year seem like a lot or a little?

Does $5,000 per client seem like a lot or a little (I’d argue it’s fairly average for custom stationery)?

Some other examples:

• 50 clients at $2,000 per order
• 10,000 invitation templates at $10/template (that’s about 28 template sales per day
• 10 clients at $10k per order
• 1 client at $100,000
• $100,000 is about $274 in sales per day or $384 per work day

How to Make More Money in Your Stationery Business

If you’re not there already, there are 2 parts of the equation that you can affect:

First, the cost per booking: If you’re already booking 20 clients a year, but only at $4,000, then what would it look like to add $1,000 to each invoice? Would you need to add Save the Dates or day-of goods? Could you upsell with digital files, embellishments, etc.? Has your expertise reached a level where your design fee could go up a bit to help you hit six figures?

Second, the number of bookings: If you’re already booking 20 clients a year at $4,000, then what would it look like to book 5 more clients a year? Do you have time to serve 5 more clients a year? Can you reach out to new wedding planners for more leads? Can you increase your marketing efforts during your slower times, or add packages for the seasons you’re currently booking fewer clients?

In my brain, it feels easier to charge more per client than to book more clients – but you might have a different feeling. No way is necessarily right or wrong, it’s just about what you want to focus on in your business! 

How to Raise Your Prices

One thing I’ve noticed from teaching pricing to thousands of designers is that almost everyone is charging less than they could. If you already have 20 clients a year, and you increase your design fee by $100, then you’ve got $2,000 more already! Try it out and see how it feels. 

Good times to raise your prices are when you’re feeling overwhelmed with bookings. Also, some people say when 3 people have booked you without questioning pricing, then you have proof of concept and you can try a small raise! This doesn’t have to happen overnight, but those small increases can add up.

I’d also recommend auditing your pricing every year, because pricing from vendors is changing faster than it used to with tariffs, inflation, etc. 

In case you haven’t taken our pricing classes in Stationery School yet – a really basic pricing equation you can follow is this:

Invitation Pricing = (Expenses x 3) + Design Fee

How to Calculate your Design Fee

Your design fee should be the largest fee on your invoice (unless they are doing some crazy production). This is the fee they are paying for YOU and the only thing on the invoice they can’t get elsewhere from 100 other designers. It’s also a fee that people tend not to negotiate.

I used to calculate based on the expected hours that I’ll spend doing design, assembly, and admin and multiply by my hourly rate (more on how to calculate this in Stationery School – hint: it should absolutely NOT be what you want to make divided by 40 hours a week. That will leave you heavily underpaid). 

Now that I have been in the business longer, I simply raise my design fee periodically based on how busy I want to be and how it feels doing this work. Theoretically, this means I’m getting an hourly raise, but I don’t really calculate it hourly anymore. 

Some stationers that are confident in their ability to book higher-end clients will simply charge a design fee based on the profit that they want to make and charge a small markup on production. So if they want $100,000 in profit for 20 projects, then their design fee is $5,000 per project and they don’t mark up the production expenses too much (still enough to pay for taxes, credit card fees, extras, etc. – but not quite 3x). This will often lead to a lower profit margin but a reliable, consistent profit amount. 

Other Ways to Increase your Invoices

Some quick tips for increasing your invitation invoices:

• Show what upgrade options might look like on the proof
• Prepare preliminary designs for day-of goods with invitations (once they see it, they’ll book it!)
• Generally, encourage day-of booking in advance before it becomes a last-minute thought
• Offer 3 “packages” or upgrade options – usually they will choose the “middle” option
• Pre-empt their needs – do they need menus, favor tags, instructional signage, etc.
• Offer digital file licenses for their website, any DIY items they plan on making, etc.
• If you create original artwork, offer add-ons for framed prints, mugs, gifts, etc. using that artwork (who doesn’t want a mug with their fur baby’s picture on it???)

Diversifying Revenue Streams for Invitation Designers

Another way to get to six figures as a designer is to add revenue streams. I happen to love revenue streams that untie your time from your money. If you simply book more or larger clients, you’re still only making money based on your time and energy investment. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate the flexibility that more passive revenue streams offer me – especially during times like maternity leave, tough pregnancies, worldwide pandemics, etc. 

As an example, I sell digital downloads on Etsy and Creative Market that bring in about $800/month. This adds up to around $9,600 per year. If we are operating with the assumption of 20 invitation clients at $5,000 each – this shop allows me to serve 2 fewer clients, or to charge a little less per client. Or if I build that to 20 clients at $5,000 each, then suddenly I’m making $109,6000 instead of just $100,000. 

These small additional revenue streams can add up – it took some time, but over the last 4 years, I have made six figures in affiliate income alone. That’s an extra $100,000 of revenue without actually doing any invitations or customer service either!  

Some revenue streams that work great for stationery designers:

• Affiliate marketing (I bet you’re already doing some of this work without getting paid!)
• Selling digital download elements
• Licensing your artwork to other designers, brands, or individuals
• Education (classes, guides, webinars, etc.)
• Selling tools for DIY couples (guides, templates, supplies, printables, etc.)
• Selling business tools to other designers (calculators, templates, etc.)
• Downloadable templates

I wouldn’t recommend trying to start with adding a ton of revenue streams at once, but start with one that is more low-hanging fruit! If you do custom art and have some already made that you could see others utilizing – then try licensing it or selling digital downloads. Any business could probably add a little revenue with affiliate marketing (here’s a post about getting started with affiliate marketing for you!). 

Any extra income you can make that isn’t tied to your time and energy will free you up to be more flexible with your client workload. And if you decide to take on the same client workload – then it’s just added revenue for you! These days, I do barely any work for my Creative Market and Etsy Digital Downloads shop – and it’s on track to bring in almost $10,000 in revenue this year.

Hitting Six Figures in Your Design Business

Overall, if you’re working toward that six figure goal as a stationer, there are a TON of ways to hit it. Don’t get overwhelmed by your feelings toward that number – it’s just another number. Would $99,000 feel better? Aim for that instead!

Let the math do the talking, and ask yourself what you can do to affect the numbers. How can you book one more client? Can you increase your invoices by $100? How could you add an additional $10 in revenue today? Start small and let those numbers add up! I bet you’ll be on to the next milestone in no time!

If you would like to get there faster and get some help with diversifying, getting clients, pricing, etc. from someone who’s been there – these are all things we have classes about in Stationery School. Use code 2MBOGO50 for 50% off your first 2 months!