Earning that first dollar is incredibly special and a moment many never forget. We asked some very talented creatives from the community to tell us the story of the first dollar they earned from their creative works.

Jackie Rivera

I was very into tactile lettering in college and my very first professional commission came when I was around 20-21 years old. I dreamed of working on cool campaigns like the artists I admired, so when a tableware brand called Cheeky hit me up to make some tactile artwork for them, I was ecstatic. I was very intimidated by this project because I was still in college and had never worked on any professional projects with an art director or creative team. Plus, tactile lettering required photographing it, and I was not a photographer. Needless to say, I was very nervous about taking this on but felt like I couldn’t say no to the opportunity. Read more>>

Drew Dost

I first began taking art seriously when I was a junior in high school, and I was very fortunate to have a lot of people at my school who were supportive of my passion. One of my charcoal drawings (a realistic close-up of a pursed mouth which I did for an art class) was displayed for an event at my school and it caught the eye of one of the administrators there. She came up to me and asked if the piece was for sale, and I was so caught off guard since I hadn’t expected anyone to be interested in purchasing my artwork. I said that it was available, and she asked how much I would charge for it. I had no clue how to price my work appropriately, so nervously I told her I would sell it for $50. She gave me the kindest smile and told me that she was going to give me $150 and would not take the drawing for any less than that. Read more>>

Jonathan & Jeff

Our first major partnership was with a company called Nasdisc. Unfortunately, they are no longer in business but they were one of the first brands to really invest in us as creators in the TikTok vinyl record space (also lovingly known as vinyltok). The funny thing is that they didn’t reach out to us… I actually reached out to them and pitched Jeff and I as long-term partners. At the time, we only had about 4,000 followers and their other partners had at least 10,000 followers. I have always been a believer in advocating for yourself and not waiting around for opportunities to come to you because, quite frankly, they may never come. This is especially true depending on your niche and how saturated it is. My motto with brand partnerships has always been: “The worst they can say is no.” I’m so glad they said yes because it really opened a lot of doors for us and the money we made helped us invest even more into the hobby. Read more>>

Yasir Degrate

The first dollar from my craft? Man, that hit different. I was just in 10th grade, minding my business in class, when I got pulled out to perform my poetry and sing during intermission at this cosmetology hair show. They handed me $50, and it felt like a million to me back then. Imagine it—Friday and Saturday nights, a young kid standing up there, feeling the energy from the crowd, and thinking, ‘Alright, maybe this is what I’m built for.’ The second night, something wild happened—someone from the crowd booked me for my first real show with adult poets. They handed me $250 to do a 25-minute set, and that’s when I got hooked. It was like getting invited to the grown folks’ table, and the support from the crowd just sealed it for me. I knew this was the start of something. That first taste of being valued for my words, my voice—it made me realize I had something special to share. From then on, I knew there was no going back. Read more>>

Christine Winship

I started small, doing commission work of people’s pets. It was fun, as I love animals, and people love talking about their animals. I had done a few, with a makeshift setup that my father helped me put together. However, some days, it was a little exhausting and soul-crushing that after putting your entire display together and sitting for hours, no one would make a purchase. One sunny day at a small-town arts festival, someone came into my booth and loved “Beau’s muffin,” a watercolor that I had done a few years previously. It was of Beau, my mom’s dog, resting his golden retriever head on the table with a corn muffin in front of him. In the painting, I captured the yearning in his eyes… waiting for Mum’s “okay” to eat the entire corn muffin. Read more>>

Tomoyo Yamada

My very first pay check as an artist came from a production of The Merry Widow, an operetta in Japan. At the time, I had just graduated from university and was preparing to start my Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts the following year in Canada. I wanted to keep my creative momentum going, so I sought out projects that would allow me to stay immersed in the arts. One of the most pivotal moments came just before graduation, when I had the opportunity to be part of a Les Misérables production. It was there that I began to form meaningful connections with a wide range of artists — from professionals to fellow students — and that’s where I first realized how crucial relationships are in the arts community. Those connections eventually led to my first paid choreographer/dancer contract for The Merry Widow. Read more>>

Logan P. Mccoy

Back in the late nineties and early 2000s, getting a record deal was the main goal for a lot of rappers. So they would pay for studio time to record demos and then send them to record labels or hand them out for free hoping to get a record deal. That strategy didn’t make sense to my friends and I; especially after all the horror stories we´d heard about record deals. Naturally, we decided to record our own music in my makeshift home studio, reproduce and package them, and then sell them ourselves on the streets of New York. That cold day in October when I convinced a stranger, who’d never heard of me to buy my music without hearing it; that was the first time I made money with my music. That opened up a whole new world to me. On that day I was conceived as the “artist as entrepreneur” type. I’ve grown a lot since conception and I’m still growing. That first sale was the spark to my (still burning and hotter) fire. Read more>>