We think the world needs more artists, more creatives and more folks unwilling to spend their days as a cog in a giant corporate machine. We don’t necessarily dislike cogs or machines but we think the world clearly needs more artists and creatives and so we wanted to try to figure out how more artists can make it work financially since this is one of the major obstacles blocking so many artists and creatives from pursuing their art full time. So, we asked folks who have been able to make a full time living through their creative work, how they did it.
Shane Anderson
We earn a full time living from playing music. This is what we do full time and a question we get asked all the time is… “is this enough to pay for your bills?” The answer is a resounding yes. I feel like if you turn what you love into a job, making money from it only comes naturally to you. I feel you can make more money doing what you love rather than doing what you don’t because you are willing to take more opportunities. More willing to get creative. More willing to put everything you have into it. Because not only is it fulfilling, but you are getting paid for it. It’s still crazy to me that I make money.. and a good amount of it.. doing what I would do for free. Read more>>
Bridget Willard
I started my career with office work, went to college for a teaching degree, and ended up back at the office a year later. But things were changing. I started dabbling in social media in 2007 (Twitter/Facebook) and after the housing crash of 2008/09, I began doing social media for the commercial contractor I worked for in addition to being the office manager. Read more>>
Raoul Morren
Creativity has always been at the core of my journey—whether immersing myself in a creative environment or actively shaping artistic projects. A traditional 9-to-5 never aligned with my unconventional interests; instead, I was drawn to music, painting, travel, and the act of creation itself. These passions mattered more to me than the predictability of a steady paycheck. Read more>>
Heather Nichols
I have been a full-time voice actor for the past 5 years, although I have worked part-time in this field for over 15 years. I spent many years primarily pursuing on camera acting, with voiceover being a secondary focus. My agents at the time asked if I wanted to also be submitted for voiceover work, so I said sure, not really expecting much to come from it. To my great delight and surprise, I very quickly booked numerous national voiceover commercial jobs, and really fell in love with the genre. A few years in, I got quite burnt out on the on camera acting grind. I became a mom, and took a step back from performing for a bit to focus on my new twin sons. Also during this time, I became the head of marketing for a large event production company, which I did for 5 years remotely. However, I very quickly missed acting as it the only thing I have ever wanted to do with my life. I decided to re-visit VO as it was a way for me to stretch my creative muscles while being home with my twins and still working my “regular” full-time job. Eventually, I started booking more and more VO work, to the point where it was very difficult to manage alongside my marketing job. With the support of my husband, I decided to take the leap, and dive into voiceover full-time. I have spent a great deal of time, energy, and money to get my business off the ground, and turn it into a sustainable revenue stream. It definitely is not something that typically happens overnight, but if you are willing to put in the time and work it takes, you can make it happen. Read more>>
Zack Hample
I’ve been a full-time baseball YouTuber since 2017, and I monetized my channel the year before that. I had already made a name for myself in the baseball world as an author and obsessive collector, and thanks to some truly insane luck in 2015 (snagging Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th career hit, which was a home run at Yankee Stadium), I received a TON of media attention. I’d already made a few videos prior to that, but once I got all that attention and the numbers started increasing, I monetized and started taking it seriously. Read more>>
Christopher Dorn
My journey began like many others through sports. I played football for a long time before I ever took training in the gym seriously. Although football involved weightlifting, I never truly enjoyed it. After my time on the field ended, I shifted my focus to the gym as a way to find the next chapter in my life. Read more>>
Divine Media Group
Yes, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it didn’t happen overnight. From day one, I put myself out there, listened to clients, and focused on making them look good. Free shoots helped me build my portfolio and reputation, and over time, my work started speaking for itself. Read more>>
Crys Chen
I have been very fortunate that tattooing has been my full-time job since 2019. I came to NYC in 2016 for college, and quickly found myself in an unfamiliar city alone. At the time, I was working 4 part time restaurant/retail jobs to make ends meet. I continued to draw and practiced in whatever spared time I had. I worked at multiple shops as receptionist, shop assistant, and finally a self-taught artist through a 4 year span. Read more>>
Jordan Hughes
It definitely was a snow-ball effect, i.e. was a slow build overtime before really gaining momentum. I starting offering photography services for local distilleries and local beverage brands, as well as the occasional bar or restaurant. As i got going, these clients figured out I was not only really good at photography, but also understood cocktails and recipe creation. So I was then able to bundle recipe development for their products along with creating the marketing assets. This business grew alongside creating social media content on my blog and Instagram @highproofpreacher, where I eventually started doing sponsored brand work as well. However, I never wanted to be fully reliant on social media related work, since it could be so volatile and inconsistent, so I’ve always been anchored to offering professional photo, and now video work, to clients unrelated to what I do on social media. Read more>>
David Gnozzi
I picked this topic because I feel there is a misconception that if you’re not among the top 1%ers in the field (in this case the music industry) you “didn’t make it”. Some people even think you can’t make a more-/than-good of a living or even make money at all if you’re not among the absolute top of the world. And this way of seeing things happens especially in the music industry. Read more>>
Alison Stroming
Yes I have to earn a full-living and I am so grateful to be able to work and support myself. As a professional ballerina I have had the opportunity to travel, perform, and work with some incredible artists and brands. Most of my jobs now come from social media and I am so grateful to have a platform. The journey of a dancer is challenging, but rewarding. I have devoted pretty much my entire life to ballet but all of the training, dedication, and years of hard work have paid off. Of course there was rejection along the way, and a lot of dream companies and roles I had hoped to dance but it all works out in the end. However, my passion for dance has turned into other side projects within the dance community including teaching dance, choreographing, and designing and starting my own dance wear brand, AS Dancewear. Looking back, there are a few things that might have sped up the process if I were to do it again including investing in learning more about the business early on to have the right knowledge and skills can help avoid common pitfalls. I continue to push myself everyday to learn and grow but, I am fortunate to be at a point where I am able to do what I love full-time and make a living from it. Read more>>
Jessie W
In 2018, I was a stay at home mom of two teenagers. I was watching some other moms on YouTube, sharing their recipes, cleaning tips and tricks , while also making extra money from being part of the YouTube Parnter Program. I don’t do anything half hearted so I research how to make money on youtube. At the time you needed 1k subscribers and 4k watch time hours before I could apply to be monetized. I started posting videos of myself cleaning and cooking with 0 subscribers. It took me 6 months to gain a following and meet the criteria. Once I was monetized I also started getting brands wanting to send me things to promote on my channel. I remember quoting a food subscription service $100 to promote on my channel and being so excited that they accepted my rate. Things after that kept getting better and better. I gained more followers and worked with so many amazing brands. I was able to still stay home with my kids, flex my creativity in my videos and earn an income at the same time. I wish I started my youtube channel earlier than I did. If I was to start my channel now with the knowledge I’ve gained over the past 5 years, I would make sure to network more with other content creators and always keep an eye on trending topics to stay relevant. Read more>>
Jenna Paulette
Yes, it took a long time but I and thankful to say yes. I finally got my publishing deal after being in town for 7 years. Then came some brand deals, then my record deal and now my clothing brand Cowboygirl with Ely Cattleman at Boot Barn. All things that I had a vision for when I had nothing, so I would eat my hot dogs and PB&Js and put in the work day after day. I’m so glad I did and I’m so grateful to be making a living doing what I LOVE. Read more>>
Tate Kenney
Earning a living as an actor is a full-time job on top of a full time job. I am constantly working long hours on set, usually on location, while auditioning and submitting myself on lunch; constantly looking for work while I am at work. I am always reading the trades and casting breakdowns to know what’s being cast and what I might be right for/who I know in casting or production to reach out to, all while maintaining my physical health & mental well-being. It is in constant flow, like the tides- and I have learned from being in New York City for 10 years that there are periods of feast and of famine, so to speak, and how to maximize both. Read more>>
Th3beardedbaron
Hello there, yes I’ve been able to make a full time living from my creative work. I’m a horror variety content creator, so anything that goes bump in the night, generally we are there. I started off doing streaming as a hobby of mine while I was a software developer outside of Atlanta. I remember the person that introduced me into streaming, he was my supervisor at the company I worked for and I remember him telling me all about his son “chocotaco”. Well chocotaco is a very big streamer in the pubg community and I remembered thinking “wow I can’t believe people watch folks play video games, I’d rather play them instead.” So I did, I started up my channel and within 3 weeks of streaming almost everyday, no one had shown up lol. It wasn’t until I started playing an older game (left for dead 2) that people started showing up to my live streams. From there I switched to a more popular horror game called dead by daylight and streamed that game for 3 years. During that time two things happened, Covid hit and I got really burnt out of playing dead by daylight for over 3000 hours lol. Read more>>