Licensing instead of Freelancing
A scalable way to profit from your visual work, without selling your time.
Last week, I shared how I illustrated The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher. That’s one way to earn money from visual work, getting paid to create illustrations for a specific project.
But there’s another way: licensing your art so people can buy the right to use what you’ve already made.
My friend (and one of my first ever Explain Ideas Visually students!) Roberto Ferraro has a great system for this.
A few years ago, Roberto was just getting into visual thinking. Today, he's built a library of 1,000+ illustrations, grown a large following across LinkedIn, Instagram, Substack, and is well known in the visual creator space.
When I interviewed Roberto earlier this week he told me he doesn’t take on freelance clients at all. Between his full-time job, family life, and other hobbies, he realized he didn’t have the time or desire to take on custom projects.
But as more and more people started reaching out, asking to use his visuals or hire him, he saw an opportunity. Rather than say no, he created a licensing system.
People can still use Roberto’s visuals for free if it’s for personal use and has been attributed correctly.
If someone wants to use his illustrations for commercial purposes, they can purchase a license. If people reach out asking to work with him, he points them to his licensing page.
He doesn’t actively promote his licensing offer, but when someone uses his visuals for commercial use without permission, he’ll send them the link. Most people either buy the license or take the post down. No hard feelings, just clear boundaries.
And Roberto gets to stay focused on what he loves — creating new visuals on his own terms.
Here’s how his system works:
He posts his visuals regularly on LinkedIn and Instagram and other platforms.
If someone wants to use one of his visuals commercially or in a book, they can buy a license.
Light edits (like changing colors, adding a logo, or changing text) are totally fine under the license.
He keeps making new visuals, which just feed back into the system.
This system gives him:
Creative freedom. He focuses only on the ideas he wants to explore.
Time freedom. No meetings, no timelines, no chasing feedback.
Scalability. One image can work for 20 people, not just one.
If you want to listen to the whole conversation, you can watch it on YouTube. Here's what we covered with all the timestamps.
00:00 - Intro
03:50 - Early days of visual content creation
08:50 - How many visuals has Roberto created?
09:35 - Roberto's visual creation process
15:50 - How Roberto is using AI in his process and repurposing his content
26:00 - Sharing the same newsletter in Substack and LinkedIn
32:05 - Licensing business and unethical use of copyrighted visuals
41:50 - Thoughts on visual content creation niche and future
49:55 - Constraints push us to produce new concepts
51:35 - Roberto shares how he gets so much done
Where can I learn more about Roberto Ferraro?
Here you can find his newsletter on Substack!
Check out his website with everything he offers.
That’s a wrap!
As I mentioned, Roberto was one of the first students in my Explain Ideas Visually Course & Community. A few years and 1000+ students later, I'm still giving feedback, answering questions, and teaching everything I learn and continue to learn with this craft. I would love to see you inside and see what you create.
Have a wonderful weekend,
– Janis Ozolins / ozo.art
thanks Janis! 🙌
When would you say it’s time to start licensing your work?