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.

Sabrina Kaufmann

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always loved to draw and write stories – my dream was to become a famous writer like JK Rowling who inspires and makes people travel to amazing worlds where anything is possible! While the format changed to manga after I discovered manga, my passion for sharing illustrated stories pursued me during my whole childhood, where I kept filling blank pages. Read more>>

Ari Okin

My freshman year of college, a turf field awaited me outside my dorm hall. Here, I met most of my friends, got much of my homework done, and scouted for every outwardly musical person I could find. With every strum of a guitar on that field, I showed up to introduce myself and play with the strummer. I was eager to find a band to sing with, as I had always wanted to play with a band, ever since I was just a few feet tall. To my luck, more and more instruments began to appear upon the turf: saxophones, flutes, basses, and of course dozens more guitars, were accompanied by eager musicians. Read more>>

Nevaeh Newnham

My first dollar earned as a creative was at my first event vending! I had never been a vendor at an event and this had been something I wanted to do since I was little. Me now being older, I knew that I could take this responsibility on my own. My first ever sale was one of my crochet bats! I was ecstatic and even got a little teary eyed. This was the first time I felt confident about selling my creations and continuing this into the future. The customer also saw my creation online and looked for my booth specifically! Read more>>

Tatiana Denisova

I sold my first painting when I was 11 years old in Israel. I sold it for $850, which was a huge amount of money at the time. Since then, I have exhibited my artwork worldwide, sold numerous paintings, and completed many commissions. I also create murals and ceiling paintings. Read more>>

Joshua Hauke

This is a story about bubble gum, “RainBlow” bubble gum to be specific, not money. And, how my art helped me line my cheeks with it. After all, everyone knows the only thing better than having money in your pocket is having bubble gum in your mouth.

When I was younger, around second or third grade I discovered that I loved to draw. My favorite thing to draw at that time was cartoon characters. Unfortunately, back in the day the internet wasn’t around to look up references and cartoons were only on during certain times a day. This meant that if I wanted to get better at drawing them, I had to be home at the right time. Read more>>

Ellie Oliver

So, I sing and write music for my band Old Feelings. It’s me and my incredibly talented friend Nam Le on the guitar. I bring him an idea and he makes it sound so much better than anything I could ever come up with. We met through a mutual friend and have been creating acoustic folk music since 2022, I think. But, before releasing our first EP last June, we had our first gig at The Republic of Pie in North Hollywood in May of 2024. It’s not so much a venue as it is a coffee shop. So anyone who happens to be there is forced to listen to your thirty minute set, whether they want to or not. You get assigned a time slot, you set out this metal box that has a piece of paper that says “Tips” taped to it, and then you just do your set and call it a day. Read more>>

Tasia Mccauley

I came back to social media (Instagram) in 2021, 4 years after having my daughter. So much had changed about the platform. I found myself in training, both as a new mother and learning the ins and outs of social media. I never thought that I could make money from this. I mean I saw people doing it…but me?! No way! This was just for fun. I’ve always enjoyed styling and wearing cute clothes so to post the outfits on IG was just “something to do.” Read more>>

Wicked Wren

When I moved to LA, I was an intern. A man asked me to do a run to Trader Joes and buy peanut butter. As someone who enjoys peanut butter, I said, “fine by me”. The man requested “about 20 jars” and I was on my way to the Culver City TJs. I had never been inside of Trader Joes in my life, but there’s nothing about the store that really feels like a grocery store. It would be like if a lemon lacroix tried to tell you they were a lemonaid. TJ’s kinda more of a grocery accessory store. This is besides the point. Read more>>

Theosis Santos

The first time I actually received money from my Art was selling prints on this bridge in Philadelphia at the end of South St. I was inspired by a movie with Jean Michel Basquiat called, ‘ Downtown 81’. In the movie, He needs to make money and He walks through his neighborhood with a painting in hand on his way to downtown trying to sell it. Seeing his determination — insanely inspired me to say I can do it too. So I made some prints at Staples then I put them on a presentation board and I walked through my neighborhood and took the train with my pieces in hand. I made like $65 dollars the first day just from prints I was selling for $5 dollars. I remember someone saying they were too cheap and I needed to raise my prices I believe they bought one for $10 dollars. Read more>>

Andrew Vick

I had been photographing friends’ weddings for a while, and photography was starting to feel like more than just a hobby. After spending time abroad, I found myself more focused on capturing the perfect image than anything else. That passion led me to enter the Edina Art Fair, where I displayed some of my travel photos. Read more>>

Laine Comley

I’ll never forget the first time I actually made a check doing what I love. Read more>>

Huda Umair

As I was exploring the freelance journey on social media, I started affiliate marketing on the side too. Honestly first time I earned as a paid marketing was $80 after 3 years of promoting my link and discount code. It was as demotivating as it sound, but its not solely about the dollars only. I was in the process of learning a whole new world of digital marketing that includes Pr marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, Ugc, SEO, Videography/photography skills and what not. Read more>>

Ivy Dey

When I was in college, I worked on a dance project for the 50th anniversary of a school. I choreographed three songs for different grades, and the students were high schoolers. I worked really hard on that project, and when the performance finally happened, it went so well! Everyone praised me and the effort I had put into the project. The principal of the school even came up to me and handed me money as a token of appreciation. At that moment, I felt like I had won the lottery! I didn’t have any plans for what to do with the money, but I was on top of the world—it was such an unforgettable feeling. Read more>>

Morgan Delaney

My first paid gig was significantly meaningful because it came with a lesson.

My music education started when I was 20, which, to be honest, is quite late. Most of my peers began their study of music (whether in lessons or the like) in elementary school.

In the Spring of 2018, I enrolled at my local community college in a few music classes. One of them was a commercial music ensemble, which is essentially a Pop-Rock band. I was the only singer in my ensemble, which was a huge learning experience since that was truly my first time leading any sort of band. It was beyond fun, but also humbling. I was honored to be playing with people who had dedicated most of their lives to their instruments, while I was barely stumbling by. Read more>>

Marica Villeneuve

I was 13 years old when I first earned money for my artwork. A fantastic person who started off as my elementary school choir director and grew into a very good friend – along with her husband – to me and my family, had commissioned me to make a painting of their house. I was so honoured by their trust, and to be so fairly compensated for my hard work (even at such a young age) meant a lot to me. I really pushed myself to do the best that I could with their painting and I can honestly say that I’m still proud of it to this day. This commission instilled a lot of confidence in me and taught me a lot about selling art. Read more>>