Earn by Making CAD Designs

If you can visualise something in your head and draw it in CAD software, you can contract yourself out to many technical businesses.

• Earn by Making CAD Designs
• The Big Takeaway
• Business Model Breakdown
• Software
• Service
• Income
• Simple finances (per billed hour)
• Time to hit milestones (using €50 net per billed hour)

In the Netherlands, the school system works in an interesting way. When I was 14, I already had to choose the direction I wanted to take in my career.

What’s interesting is that you have to make that choice with very little life experience. At that age, you play sports, play games with your buddies, or build simple stuff like huts or swords (at least, that’s what I did).

I was not particularly focused on planning what I was going to do for the next 55 years.

Anyway, I chose the metal direction and started learning how to weld, drill and use an angle grinder. Practical skills like these are incredibly valuable when you think about it.

Two years later, I started learning the theoretical side of things: steel structure load calculations, material know-how, and technical design in CAD software.

So since I was 16 years old, I have been designing technical projects in AutoCAD and Inventor.

I learned it in school and later got employed by a large greenhouse supplier as a draftsperson. I still create technical CAD designs, but now on a contract basis for technical businesses.

I can say I have 18 years of technical design experience. That sounds immediately credible to clients.

The Big Takeaway

The best way to start your own business is to begin with a service you can deliver really well. When you build on skills you already have, it gives you trust, you create faster wins and you show up with real credibility. This makes landing your first clients much easier. Once you have cash flow and basic business experience, you can expand your offer: improve your process, raise your rates and gradually pivot into new services or products from a stable base.

Business Model Breakdown

Here is a simple breakdown of how this business model works. The numbers below are fairly accurate, but they will fluctuate depending on your location, your niche and demand.

Software

AutoCAD or Inventor

Service

Design steel structures, systems, pipework, carports, tables, or whatever else clients want. Create technical drawings to present to the client. Get approval on the design and let them build it, build it yourself if you have the skills, or outsource the work.

Income

Start by charging an hourly rate. As you gain experience, consider retainer work or fixed-price projects.

Simple finances (per billed hour)

Time to hit milestones (using €50 net per billed hour)

A carport design I made for a client.