Premium Designer Academy

You’re a talented designer pouring your creativity into every project, but your income isn’t reflecting your true value. Late nights juggling multiple clients, struggling to set the right prices, and feeling lost in a sea of competition can be incredibly frustrating.

It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way.

Imagine transforming your design business into a thriving, profitable venture where you attract high-paying clients effortlessly. No more burnout, no more undervaluing your skills. Just a clear, actionable path to scaling your income to $10k-$20k/month and beyond. You deserve to be recognized and rewarded for your talent.

Introducing The Premium Designer Academy

In just 12 weeks, The Premium Designer Academy will guide you through a transformative journey designed to elevate your design business:

→ Clarify Your Niche: Discover the specific market that needs your unique skills and where you can truly stand out.
→ Create High-Ticket Offers: Develop irresistible packages that reflect the true value of your work, making it easier to attract premium clients.
→ Master Premium Outreach: Learn proven strategies to consistently connect with and secure high-value clients who are ready to invest in your services.
→ Automate Lead Generation: Streamline your processes to maximize efficiency and ensure a steady flow of quality leads without the constant hustle.

Why Choose PDA?

→ Personalized 1:1 Coaching: Get tailored guidance that addresses your unique challenges and goals.
→ Templates and Resources: Access tools that make implementing strategies straightforward and effective.
→ Supportive Community: Join a network of like-minded designers who are on the same path to growth and success.

Don’t let another day go by feeling stuck and undervalued. It’s time to take control and build the fulfilling design career you’ve always dreamed of. Join The Premium Designer Academy and start your journey to business success.

Connect with me to learn more or book a free clarity call.

Founder

Huw Davies Consulting

I'm the Founder of Six Figure Designer, helping Solopreneur graphic and web designers to achieve their business goals without stress. 

With my guidance, I have helped many clients grow their yearly revenue by 40%. I offer personalised coaching and mentoring to help you get seen and get organised so you can build a profitable business that makes you happy and fulfilled.

Online Business Coach, Brand Strategist & Mentor for Graphic Designers

adplist.org

Giving back to the graphic design community through mentoring.

Mentor, Visual Communication Design

New Co. Brand Design

Helping entrepreneurs grow their business online. 

Branding | Shopify | Email

Book a FREE 30-minute Strategy Session.

Working as a freelance senior graphic designer - short-term and long-term contracts - with various well-known brands in Melbourne.

- 7-Eleven Australia (6-month contract, in-house designer, brand and packaging specialist)
- Glanbia Performance Nutrition (3-month contract, in-house designer, brand and content specialist)
- Stanley Tools (3-month, freelance, brand and marketing specialist)
- Moose Toys (4-month, freelance, brand and packaging specialist)
- Officeworks (4-month, freelance, brand and marketing specialist)
- many others...

Freelance Senior Graphic Designer

BNI Yarra

A referral networking group of business professionals. 
We meet every Wednesday from 6:45-8:30 am via ZOOM. Visit today!

*all members of the BNI Yarra chapter contribute their time and energy on a voluntary basis. We all work together to build and grow our networks, leading to more referrals and closed business for our businesses.

President (volunteer role)

Feast-or-famine months wear down good designers. 
I teach a simple LinkedIn system that helps freelance creatives — graphic, product, web, UX, motion, and brand — land their first (or next) $5K client in 60 days. 

Most do it working just a few extra hours a week.

I spent two decades inside agencies watching studios charge five times my freelance rate. The fix wasn’t more effort. It was packaging the value — not the hours.

After years of testing, I boiled everything down to four moves:

1. Position yourself as a specialist clients remember — not a spare pair of hands
2. Turn your LinkedIn into a client-facing offer page that pre-sells you
3. Post short insights and start low-pressure, value-first conversations
4. Guide those into a simple sales call — and close at $5K+ without discounting


This system works across every design discipline:

- Riley jumped from $70/hr to a $10.5K brand strategy project in 7 days
- Amanda doubled her rate and booked a $5K branding gig in 60 days
- Taskia flipped an $850 website into a $7.5K retainer

Who it’s for:
Designers who’ve done at least one paid project and now want consistent premium work — without cold pitching or race-to-the-bottom job boards

What to do next:
Send me a DM with “First 5K” and I’ll reply with a short case study and the link to apply for the next 60-Day Sprint cohort.

Huw Davies
Premium Designer Academy
40+ designers served · $500K+ in client wins

#DesignBusiness #LinkedInForDesigners #PremiumClients #FreelanceDesign #UXDesign #BrandStrategy #MotionDesign

Huw Davies

3 weird ways designers actually get clients on LinkedIn 

(that no one talks about)...

All things I've seen work with my clients:

1. Comment on your ideal client's posts BEFORE you DM them
Stop commenting on other designers' work and start commenting on startup founders, CTOs, and marketing directors.

Why? When you DM them 3 days later, they recognise your name. You've "warmed them up" by showing up in their world first.

It's the difference between a cold DM and a familiar face.

2. Post the "unsexy" business stuff, not just pretty pictures
Everyone posts portfolio pieces. Zero context. Zero results. Just "here's another one for the folio."

Instead, post about:
• How your rebrand helped a client close their Series A
• The 3 mistakes most startups make with their website
• Why most SaaS companies fail at brand consistency during growth

Decision-makers don't care about your kerning, they care if you understand their business problems.

3. Send 5 DMs every single day even when you're booked
Most designers only reach out when they're desperate, then they panic, then they send shit messages.

Designers making $10k+ monthly? They're in DMs every day. Building relationships.  Starting conversations. Staying top-of-mind.

Your pipeline today = your income in 60 days.

These aren't "sexy" tactics.

No one's going to teach you this in a $2,000 LinkedIn course. But they work.

Because they're not about gaming the algorithm. They're about building real relationships with decision-makers.

—
Want the exact system for turning LinkedIn into a client acquisition machine?
Comment "SPRINT" and I'll send you the details 👊

DESIGNERS & CREATIVE PROS: Booked out but underpaid? Build $5k+ offers, attract better clients, and systemise your business on LinkedIn | See if you’re a fit 👇

Designers: your income isn’t inconsistent because your work is bad.   

It’s inconsistent because your lead flow is bad.  The reality is:  

You post a project → get a couple inquiries → disappear into client work   
Project ends → pipeline is empty → panic   
You say yes to the next random, underpriced job “just to pay rent”  

This is feast-and-famine, and it has nothing to do with talent.  

What I’m seeing on LinkedIn right now (and what I’ve been testing in my own business) is this:  

LinkedIn has gone from a social graph (“my network sees my posts”) to a content graph (“whoever posts what performs best gets the reach”).  

And what performs best?  

Not portfolios.
Not “here’s my latest logo, thoughts?”  

It’s lead magnets + how-to content.  

In my own testing, the stuff that actually turns into booked calls looks like:  

1. Positioning the profile correctly      
• Headline: “I help [specific niche] get [specific outcome] with [your service]”    
• Banner and About section point to one clear offer      
• No random links that distract from booking a call    

2. One simple lead magnet      
• Example: “LinkedIn Client System for Freelance Designers: how to get 3–5 leads/week without Upwork or job boards”      
• Worth at least $100 to your ideal client (this is what I’m seeing work best)      
• Posted weekly with a “comment [WORD]” CTA    

3. A basic DM habit      
• 10–20 messages/day to people who view your profile or engage with your posts
• Casual opener: “Hey, saw you’re also a [role] – what’s your current plan for getting clients from LinkedIn?” 

When designers actually run a version of this for 30–60 days, they go from:  

“I hope a referral shows up” to “I know roughly how many leads I’ll get this week”  

The game is not finding the one perfect post. 

The game is building a simple system that spits out leads every day so you never have to panic at the end of a project again.  

Over the last few months I’ve been using a version of this system myself, and I’m now turning it into a concrete checklist and training specifically for freelance designers and creative service pros.  

I’ve just finished the first version:  

Feast-to-Flow: the 30-minute-a-day LinkedIn client checklist for designers.  

Inside you’ll find:  
- The exact profile layout I’m using   
- 5 plug-and-play post templates for designers   
- The DM scripts that consistently get replies   
- A one-page tracking sheet so you actually see progress  

I’ll be rolling this into my paid coaching offer, but right now I’m giving the checklist away free while I’m finalising the training.  

If you’re a freelance designer or creative service pro and you want early access,  

Comment CHECKLIST and I’ll send it to you.

Last year, I spoke to a designer who was ready to quit freelancing.

She’d made just $1.2K that month.

Was refreshing job boards daily.
No replies. No traction. Just… noise. You know how it goes…

She told me:

“I don’t want to go back in-house. But I honestly don’t know how to make this work.”

We stripped everything back.
Simplified her offer.
Cleaned up her positioning.
Set a weekly system for connecting with leads.

Week 3 — booked her first $4.5K retainer.
Week 6 — added another $5K project.

She messaged:

“I feel like I finally know what I’m doing.”

That’s what the Sprint is for.

If you’re a creative stuck in that freelance no-man’s-land,
→ this is the system I wish I had when I started.

DM me “sprint” and I’ll send the details.

Donna Smith

You’ve always had ideas about your own digital projects, but you never learned to code. 

Read my About section.
Read a couple of my posts. 

Read your mind. Are you still afraid to do this even after reading my story?

If yes, maybe it isn’t meant to be. 

If you’re ready to take the leap, I’ve got good news. 

You’ve already taken the hardest step. You decided you’re going to do this. 

You’re going to bet against the odds. 

Yes, you can learn to code. 
Yes, you can build your own software. 
Yes, you can save time and make money by doing this.

Yes, programming is hard. 

Hard, not impossible. 

It’s also something that will set you free. You will never have to ask anyone’s permission to create something. You will do it. It isn’t going to be shiny and amazing at the beginning. Of course there are going to be a lot of mistakes. 

But over time, you’ll get better and better. 

You can only find your style by doing the thing. 
Not by reading articles, not by watching YouTube videos. 

Only by writing code. 

So what’s keeping you from starting today?

Only you can answer this.

Chief Motivational Officer 

You are a non-technical SaaS founder with a plan. 

Technically not a founder, because you have only an idea. And you haven’t brought this idea to life. Yet. But you can’t wait much longer. 

You need someone to create an MVP of your SaaS for you. 

So you can validate the idea and start moving forward.

Am I correct? 

If you’re still reading, my guess couldn’t have been too off. 


I’ve built 2 MPVs for clients in the past. You can look at my recommendations for a review of client #1. Client #2 wanted to remain anonymous. You could be #3. 

You can also check my Featured section to see what projects I’ve built in the past. 

If you’re interested in me building your MVP, send me a DM.

Let’s see if your idea really is as good as you think.

SaaS MVP Developer

SkillSnippet - Microlearning Platform

Hand on your heart. When did you stop learning new things?

When you stop learning, you stop making progress.
When you stop making progress, you’re stagnant. 
When you’re stagnant, you’re not moving. 

And when you’re not moving, you’re as good as dead. 

I’m a fan of life-long learning. That’s why I created Skill Snippet. 

It’s a microlearning platform designed to help people quickly gain practical skills. You can start by giving something 15 minutes a day. Or half an hour. 

If you feel like it, give it an hour every day. 

Can you imagine where you’ll be in a year?


Click on the link in my Featured section and sign up for the Beta testing list.

Maker

SaaS landing page boilerplate (Next.js)

Are you an Indie Hacker at the start of your career? Have you developed a project? Want to put it out there for the world to see? Great! 

I’ve developed and launched a FREE Next.js SaaS landing page boilerplate. 

You can: 
- quickly build a responsive landing page
- modify the code however you want
- save time releasing your project

Not bad, right?

The template includes:
1. SEO page optimization
2. basic deployment scripts
3. responsive UI components (React-Bootstrap, React-Icons)

Check it out on the link in my Featured section.

If you need any instructions on how to deploy it/set it up, my DMs are open.

And don’t forget to star the repo if you find it valuable!

I’m 49 years old and I started programming 3 years ago. You think it’s too late to start? Well I don’t think so. 

Learning to code when you’re older is tough. Especially when you don’t have a clear idea about what you’re trying to build. 

You feel like: 
→ you will never learn to code
→ you should have started sooner
→ you’ve missed out on so many things
→ you will never be able to build the products you want

You know what? It’s normal to think like this.

Programming is difficult, yeah, but it’s not impossible.

You will gain the ability to build whatever you want. Your life will change.

I went into programming because I had so many ideas I wanted to build.
Some people told me I should find someone who will build the projects for me. But that wasn’t an option. My mind was full of ideas. I knew I wouldn’t build them unless I learned to code. 

When I first started 3 years ago, I didn’t know anything about code.

→ HTML? 
→ Python?
→ JavaScript?  

I didn’t know what language to learn.

I had no idea:
→ what these words mean
→ what I should even start with
→ what a large or small project is
→ how to think about what I wanted to build

Anybody can learn to code if they build knowledge over time.

Some people disagreed with me. They said it’s something you can or can’t do. They wouldn’t try it, because they thought they wouldn’t understand it. It’s definitely an issue of confidence. People feel like they can’t do it.

You can learn anything with enough dedication.

People see code for the first time, it scares them away. Happens all the time.

It’s hard at the beginning. It’s scary, and you might want to give up.

Have you ever seen a page of JavaScript? Exactly, it’s overwhelming.
You don’t know where to begin. So you don’t start at all.

Another problem is with people wanting to learn it fast.

They watch YouTube videos about others building a $1M SaaS platform during a weekend. Or 10 different tools in 10 weeks. Of course there are cases like this, but for most of us, it takes time.

Everyone has their own pace. It took me two years. Why?

The first project I attempted was too complicated for me. So don’t start too big.
It comes down to learning the basics. A simple to-do application means you can apply that knowledge to something bigger. 

Interested in seeing what projects I’m working on? Check my Featured section. 

Need any help with starting your programming career? Send me a DM!

Struggle to find ideas for your first project? Happy to help :)

Want some of my motivation? You’ve got a taste.

taplio

The Battle

Huw Davies

Donna Elizabeth Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

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Performance ScoreHuw Davies's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Huw Davies

Donna Elizabeth Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Huw Davies's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreHuw Davies's LinkedIn Performance