The answer is there are none. why?

There is only two type of people who make it onto the Forbes list: people who have their own business and people who inherited money from people who had their own business. So that really breaks down to one type of person: The Business owner. Lets use the freelance graphic designer as an example.

As a freelance designer you’re in the business of providing effective design solutions to clients in need of your services. This might include identity design (logos), print design (business cards, stationary, flyers, t-shirts, etc.), package design, web design, etc. Lets say you are in high demand and have tons of clients, so many that you can’t even design for all of them and due to high demand you even raise your rates. Its a fact that more money changes hands for services than for any other purpose but even being the most in demand designer with the highest rates, that alone isn’t enough to make one rich or wealthy.

This is the case because a freelance graphic designer working alone has no leverage. Individuals and companies become wealthy by having people and money work for them to earn even more money in less time.

So now the question becomes how does a freelance graphic designer gain leverage?
This answer depends on what areas of design you focus on the most. If you’re a web designer you could build themes for different online platforms that need them such as wordpress, shopify or bigcartel ( just to name a few) and sell them through a website of your own. Also instead of just turning down all those extra clients you can refer them to other freelancers and charge them a finders fee or whatever you come up with.

To take this a step further you can become what I like to call a design entrepreneur. A design entrepreneur is someone who turns his or her creative and innovative ideas into products and takes them to market (more details on this later).

In conclusion, in order to become wealthy as a designer you must become a business owner as well. The business you choose is up to you but just remember, there’s only one type of person on the Forbes list: The business owner.