The world needs artists and creatives. Unfortunately, being needed doesn’t often easily translate into financial stability. The struggle is real for so many incredibly talented artists and creatives and so we think it’s important to hear from creatives who have made it work – there is so much to learn from the folks we’ve featured below.

Mariya Bentz

Yes, I have been lucky enough to work for myself for the past 4.5 years from my creative work. I had to put in A LOT of work initially- I worked the side hustle in addition to my full-time job (while having a 1 year old), but the hard work paid off. Some major steps and milestones that helped me reach this goal where: – Attending networking events, meeting various business owners, and letting everyone know about how I could help their business. Read more>>

Erica Lambart

There is always a way to earn a living from creativity… it just might not always be the path you expect or for the pay. As an artist with a college degree companies are all to eager to hire unpaid interns or to pay just above minimum wage in our capitalistic society. Being creative and learning how & when to pivot your creative drive can help to develop a career, but with in creative fields it often is a lateral pay move for different creative experiences & all too often creative types burn out from working full time artistic jobs for companies. Read more>>

Nikia Yancey

Yes! I can happily say that my craft allows me to be able to support my family. I’ve always been a creative at heart and was able for years to work a full-time job while hustling makeup artistry on the side. More recently, I worked in property management for about 8 years and was able to mostly work creatively on the weekends/days off etc. I can honestly say I was miserable punching in and out daily, wearing uniforms I hated and feeling financially and creatively frustrated. However I couldn’t see a way out and didn’t yet have the confidence to step out on faith. Read more>>

Red Milk Crone

I have, yes, but it is hard and many full time jobs put together. It isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It’s a job replying to emails, being the shipping department, applying and submitting to several things a day, never exhausting your creating stamina, supplying quotes, social media manager, copywriter, and several more I can’t think of off the top of my head. But it’s all worth it. To be able to be your own boss is a very hard life task. Being able to reach beyond my reach is what I find most difficult. Read more>>

Molly Reed

As of this year, I am finally a full time performing artist & instructor of my craft! I feel so grateful that I am able to do what I truly love full time, but it definitely didn’t start out that way, especially in such a niche market. My journey began in 2015. I had recently dropped out of college for Art Education and I felt lost & unsure of what I wanted my path to be. I knew that I was called to pursue a career in the arts, but I had no idea in what avenue. Read more>>

Christopher Montgomery

I’ve been a full-time photographer for two years now. I started photography as a hobby in 2015 taking photos on my phone. I took it seriously in 2017 when I bought my first professional camera. Even at that time, I had no thoughts of doing it full-time. I just fell in love with the craft, because I was able to use my gift of seeing. Photography was never even actually on the radar when I got my first camera. I got it to work on a film project with some college friends. Read more>>

Derik Scott

Yes, it has been a long and obstacle ridden journey, starting from when I first got Inspired to pursue a creative field. I first held a camera in a creative role when I was in college, working as a video producer for a summer camp. It was a role that was randomly sprung on me because they needed someone to do it. That happenstance started my love for photography and videography. I learned as much as I could and made what I thought at the time to be masterpieces (oh to be as confident as I was back then). Read more>>

Melissa Oesch

I have been an artisan full-time for over 12 years now. I lovingly call it my “all the time” job. I create handbound journals and sketchbooks out of reclaimed leather and added leather bags about 7 years ago.  I first started on Etsy, but it was very much something on the side for the first few months to see if anything would sell. I had been working full-time on an organic vegetable and flower farm and with winter approaching, I had to find another means of income. I decided to pursue journal making more fully to see if it could sustain me. I began being more active with my Etsy site and looking for small local art festivals to sell at. Read more>>

Peelander Yellow

It was hard to make my full time art, music life!!! but never give up to do it, I tried to do have fun with people with music and art. I think big point is “communication!!!! If never forget about this word, we can do work with art and music on my way. Read more>>

John Crum

I loved to draw at a very early age. Being somewhat introverted, I found it helped me connect with others and to share ideas and to fit in. Throughout school, my creative ideas and drawing skills connected me to teachers, clubs, and other students, I remember the moment I decided to become an artist full time. In the 1960’s, like just about every other kid, I was in a garage band. We had started playing gigs around town, at one moment, the band started dabbling in things that made me uncomfortable. I realized then, do I really want to have other people controlling my life? That’s when I decided to go away to art school and be in control of my own destiny. Read more>>

Daisy Ralston

I have been able to earn a full time living from my creative work, mostly because I have been able to reduce my living expenses dramatically. This gave me room to experiment with both visual art and building a business. Day One to Now has changed quite a bit. Day One I think I was somewhere in Chile, Covid vacation gone wonderfully wrong, I had just put my portfolio together online and I wondered what people thought of my work. Read more>>

Cheryl Lipstreu

Yes I have. It wasn’t easy in the beginning but with patience, persistence and the pursuit of making my dreams come true I’ve been able to establish myself as not only a working artist, but a successful entrepreneur and small business owner. I made my art career happen by simply not giving up. I always knew as a small child that I wanted to be an artist for a living and with the right determination I set my mind to doing exactly that. I believe if you can think it you can make it happen. Read more>>

DJ RNB

I have been a full time professional DJ for 7 years now. Before then I was doing small house parties, but In may 2015 a local DJ “DJ Delliman” let me open up for him at his sunday night residency. Even though It was unpaid, that gig gave me the confidence that I could really do this. I put in my 2 week notice at my 9-5 job the next day. Now as a veteran I wish I knew the knowledge about marketing and branding then I could definitely have sped up the process. Read more>>

Jarek Eldridge

I have been doing social media influencing full time for four years now. I was lucky enough to see the potential TikTok had early on and obtained a first movers advantage in the space. At the time, there were no musicians or singers on TikTok. People would just lip sync or dance to the sounds that TikTok uploaded to the platform. I noticed that a few people were blowing up from original audio/sounds from their own videos so I decided to try out a remix of one of my favorite songs/trends at the time, Boys by Lizzo. Read more>>

Nate Sprankle

I have. From the beginning, I approached the process with a business mindset as it needed to be financially viable to be worthwhile. I focus on producing the highest quality pieces in the most efficient manner possible. This includes everything from marketing to milling to assembly to tracking revenue. Operations run smoothly now overall but it hasn’t always been that way. It took a long time with thousands of hours of work through never-ending trial and error and research to get to this point. Read more>>

Mariam Mohamed

Thankfully, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work. I would be lying if I said the income from my writing was consistent because it’s not. You see, some months you do well with book sales and paid author visits, while other months you don’t. This is where social media comes in handy. I’ve noticed the more I post and introduce my work to my audience on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and Tik Tok there is incline in sales. After 4 years I was finally signed and currently, am under a fantastic managing company that introduces new clients to me, which helps. Read more>>

Hillary Parnell

I have learned over the course of my career that the key to earning a living from creative work, is to get CREATIVE! There are so many more opportunities within every industry to utilize creative talents. Artists have so many options other than simply creating their art and hoping someone buys it. Personally, as a dancer, I chose to open a dance studio, then built two other companies that serve the dance community and now I am a business coach in the dance industry. But I just as easily could have gotten into dance photography or cinematography, apparel or costumes for dancers, physical therapy for dancers, or writing curriculum. Read more>>

Nathan Harlan

I am happy to say that I am now a full-time musician, though it hasn’t always been that way. Many years ago, I had a band that was on the cusp of something big – we were touring, opening for bands like The Strokes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Joan Jett; playing ACL Fest, Minute Maid Park; getting songs in commercials, and putting out records – I was finally able to quit my job at the sandwich shop and pay my bills playing music. Read more>>

Emily McClure

Working as a full time creative, requires focus on business to be successful. While I might be strong in the creative area, I have forced myself to learn about budgeting, when to upgrade gear, how to network authentically and why taking care of clients one at a time matters. I started 14 years ago in weddings shooting with a friend which led to family photography. About 5 years ago, I had two family clients ask me to take a headshot for them, and I graciously declined initially. Then I decided to give it a go, how hard could it be?! That makes me laugh now, because headshots have their own set of tricky things to manage. Read more>>

Isaac Jones

I have been doing music since I was in my teens and traveling the country doing shows at small venues. It was not until 2013 that I really was able to start making any real money from shows. Because my music has always been uplifting messages and clean lyrics, I was getting more opportunities to do events hosted by large organizations that catered to a wide range of people (including children). That is when I found my niche. Between doing those events and getting work writing commercials and jingles In 2013, Read more>>

Caitlyn Mims

I can officially say my hobbies led me to my career. Many people I believe would agree that before you give your art a chance, any creative career feels out of reach. I will never forget the day my mind shifted on this topic. I was laying on the floor of my college dorm discussing what I wanted in life with my roommate. She asked me, “At the end of the day if it did not feel impossible, what would you pursue?” Read more>>

Anastasia Gordeeva

Ballroom dancing is a moderately-priced niche hobby in the United States, making it an interesting market for the professionals. Typically, ballroom dancers are able to make a living teaching others to dance in the form of private lessons and sometimes group lessons. Professionals will always start by teaching students the basics, whether it’s for a wedding dance or just to learn the skill for future events. Because it is such a niche hobby, we are able to succeed in our professions by having returning customers who take regular weekly lessons, and through client referrals to grow our student body. Dance studios that have a physical location have the added advantage of visibility. Read more>>

Cameron Cody

Growing up in the “Deep South” of Middle Georgia, our faith and the church community was an integral part of my childhood. I was exposed to a variety of music but I took a strong connection to the traditional piano and organ music. My parents and I learned that I was able to play by ear on an old piano we found at a garage sale some Saturday morning. Soon after, my mother found a piano teacher and I would begin my piano lessons for many years. I would play for special church or school events but I had my first real “gig” (as we call it in the music world) was when I played for our Sunday church services. Read more>>

Laurin Collar

The number one question I get: How do you monetize @thecollarfind? Becoming a full time influencer takes time, persistence and determination! Simple answer: I have cultivated a group of loyal followers that look to me for finds, ideas, and recommendations. I work with businesses I trust to share about their products with my followers. This saves the consumer time and helps the business gain exposure to a new group of potential customers. Read more>>

Aleigha Reott

I think the best way to talk about where I am now is to discuss how I got here. I grew up in a very creative family near Raleigh, NC. Art has always been an essential part of my life! I received my MAEd with concentration in textiles and my BFA in metalsmithing from East Carolina University (GO PIRATES!). I taught elementary school art in the public school system in North Carolina. My husband and I moved to Georgia in 2012, where I also taught in the Marietta school system. I stepped away from teaching the school system, then started and ran painting events as MsPinkATL/PaintNiteATL for nine years. Read more>>

Payso Best Ever

I approach it by having no fear my grind as a musician is selling my records I understand that people work hard everyday to earn a living they put in labor and are not afraid to go out and do it so how could I be afraid of a no if a person has a way to listen I have a way to make a living Read more>>

Hannah Aslesen

For the last four years I’ve been fully freelance, meaning I earn a living from a combination of acting, writing and teaching. The process was gradual; I had a “normal job” when I first moved here working in aftercare at a school. From there I just started taking on as much outside work as I could in my free time. And I’m talking ANY work; washing ambulances, kids birthday parties, Bat mitzvahs, donating plasmas…you get it. There was about a year where my week and weekend days were packed with gigs and in the evening I would perform and pursue creative endeavors. Read more>>

Ethan Milner

It has been a blessing to achieve full time status as a creative! My journey started back in 2015 when I decided to take a videography class in high school. I had always had a big interest in Youtube and felt like the class would be a fun choice for an elective. Fast forward to graduation and I had developed a bit of a hobby for making videos. During this time I had found a creator on YouTube who I was fascinated and inspired by, his name was Casey Neistat. Neistat was known for making cinematic vlogs about his life as a creative living in New York City and traveling around the world. I fell in love with the lifestyle he had and the inspiring life lessons he shared in his content. Read more>>

Timisha Thirkield.

My name is Timisha Thirkield and I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. At The Age Of 25, I Founded Mimi’s Designz Company in 2016 two months before my 26th birthday. I stepped away from my current dream job of teaching due to lack of interest. I decided to step out on faith and take up the career of my other dream job was graphic designing and animation. I graduated from Atlanta Technical in 2014, and I wrote a book for my health and safety children class called “BJ Learns To Make A Fruit Pie” and I illustrated the entire book on Microsoft Word and I knew then that I wanted to take up graphic designing down the road. Read more>>

Terrell Sass

A major factor that allowed me to make a living full-time from my passion was the fact that I diversified what I do within my passion. I don’t just play drums or piano. I also produce music and I’ve been blessed to be on three different Grammy nominated projects. Some as a musician and some as a producer. When I initially moved to Atlanta, my main focus was getting out there as a musician so I was putting in the hours necessary to become well-versed in all genres. Once my networks started to grow and I began to be more exposed to the sessions side of playing music, Read more>>

Michael Rohner

I had no idea how to make a living as an artist. Like, no idea. People who saw my work would tell me I could make a living off of it, but they may as well have told me I could fly because I didn’t know the first thing about making that happen either. Now, there were art <i>jobs</i> such as graphic design, story boarding, animation, etc…, but those felt antithetical to why I liked to draw and be creative in the first place; I knew I would grow to resent the thing I loved most if I traded in my creative autonomy for a salary. Read more>>