We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caroline Lampinen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caroline below.

Caroline, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been one of the most interesting investments you’ve made – and did you win or lose? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

I quit my most recent full time W2 job in October of 2021, leaving to be self-employed. I expected to have to work half time in education consulting or writing (my previous field) to sustain what I really wanted to do for the other half – artwork. I managed to land a big education contract immediately, which floated me financially until my artwork took my full attention about six months.

Five months into self-employment, during which I shared a very small 10×10 room with my partner while we both worked from home, I decided it was time to get a studio. I knew I wanted it to be walking distance from my home, in my neighborhood of Pigtown in Baltimore which I LOVE, and I knew my budget. Beyond that, be it a closet or a warehouse, I just knew I needed my own space.

After reaching out to my local main street director (https://www.mainstreet.org/) and sharing my parameters, she put me in touch with a very cool, massive building about a 10 minute walk from my house. I met the owner/developer and property manager for a tour, and immediately knew it was perfect. I started renting immediately, and that space has transformed not just my job, but my life.

As my business has grown to accommodate a number of large murals, AKA a number of ladders and gallons of paint and tubs of supplies, having a studio has been invaluable. It also makes me feel so much more legitimate as a business – when clients need to drop off or pick up materials, or have brief meetings, they come sit on my pink couch and chat for a few. On top of that, I’m on an open concept floor with a number of other small, local businesses with owners that are super different from me. The networking and community is so incredible, and I am always wishing I could spend even more time in my studio!

I went into it with six months of rent saved, hoping I would outlive that. I’m currently in month seven of renting and have no intention of leaving!

Caroline, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a self-employed artist that largely is hired by other businesses to create bespoke murals, window splashes, and chalkboards. I am particularly drawn to and love lettering and temporary work (windows and chalkboards). I have always loved change, and my seasonal window clients are some of my favorite work – being able to have the exact same canvas every three months and create wildly different images gives me SO much satisfaction and joy… and does the same for THIER clients and customers!

I have a degree in graphic design, which is the foundation of my understanding about type, layout, hierarchy, and visual language. From there, I spent over a decade in the education industry working from Arizona to Maryland and so many places in between, in many schools and classrooms and communities. This experience gave me so much knowledge about language, working across lines of difference, and confidence to throw out the idea of “good art”. Good art is never an objective opinion – it is always shifting based on who is looking at it, when, and with what lens.

I am so proud of my first name-brand project, which was installing windows at two locations of a local running store sponsored by Saucony. I am a distance runner with three marathons under my belt, and having running and window painting combine was a wild experience for me!

I want people to know that I am looking for quarterly window clients in the DMV that want seasonal windows: summer, fall, winter, spring with a lot of freedom given to me to get to know them and their audience, and then go wild with a paint brush! While I can certainly be highly collaborative and thrive taking direction, my soul and whole art heart is touched when a client gives me total creative freedom or a general direction.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am forever learning that me and my artwork are worthy. It’s so cringey and painful to write, but my undergrad experience in graphic design wounded me in a way I didn’t own up to for a solid decade.

I walked out of undergrad feeling that everything I did was too messy, too “unconsidered”, and that I would never make it as an artist. My design professors spent a lot of time trying to convince me I wasn’t worthy of my degree (something I took to the director of the college, who advocated for me and ensured I walked across the stage to receive my BFA), and treating me like a trouble maker when I had different ideas about art and presentation than they did.

I was in a really vulnerable place in my life and took their opinions seriously. It took me SO long to unlearn those beliefs and to start doing what felt right anyway: freehand artwork that centered lettering. I started by doing specials chalkboards in a bowling alley I served at, and I now make my entire living doing the type of artwork my professors would never “approve” of… and that is FABULOUS!

The bottom line is to, as cliche as it is, do what feels right to you, and to speak it into existence. I started to talk about how much I loved doing chalkboards, and word got around. So far I have gotten almost ALL of my work due to referrals of people who believe in me and my work, and I can’t help but wonder where I would be if I hadn’t believed my professors as much as I did at the time.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

As a former sixth grade teacher, when people ask why I left or what I love most about being self employed, the first thing I always say is, “I just cannot live my life based on a bell schedule.”

I love young people and I love teaching, but I am someone that does NOT thrive in structure! I find intense joy and reward in the fact that I set my own schedule every single day, and that I answer to no one but myself. If a client isn’t right for me, I can walk away. If I need an extra hour in the morning before painting a window, I take it. If I need a break for a coffee or a water, I leave the job site!

It’s totally wild to me that educators have so little autonomy over their days and their literal bodies. When I was teacher I was told it was illegal for me to leave my students alone in the classroom without an adult. As someone with a tiny bladder who runs marathons and thus drinks tons of water, not being able to use the restroom when I *needed to* was unacceptable. We have to do better for our educators, and I’m sad that this is such a huge perk of my current life.

Also, listen, I can never put into words what it feels like to be painting for three hours on a ladder and suddenly pause and say out loud “I am getting paid to do this.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.okayeverything.com
• Instagram: @okay_everything
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okayeverything/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinelampinen/