Getting started sounds so easy – but for millions of aspiring artists and creatives, the uncertainty of the path forward presents a very real challenge. So, we wanted to gather some artists and creatives we admire to open up about their experience and how they think about whether they should have started sooner or waited for a better time.

Damien James

Well this is an interesting one for me Because I really did start down my path as a creative really early in life by the time I was 13 or 14 years old I was in orphanages and foster care so I would use writing songs as a way to escape my reality and I got really good really fast at the recording part But I felt like I was too young and delusional to really understand what I should be doing from a business perspective and really had no mentors ahead of me to tell me to use the very beginning stages of the Internet to kinda get myself out there I know I would’ve been at least sign to some label or something but now That used to really bother me but now I subscribe to the belief that you are right where you are supposed to be in life and I had to learn a lot of stuff and grow as a musician in order for my experience to shape out the way it needs to Read more>>

Thomas Flynn II

I’ve been painting since 2011 – so over 11 years and I graduated art school (The Savannah College of Art and Design) with a BFA in Painting in 2016 – but I didn’t commit to my art as a full-time artist until late 2021 when an unexpected job offer moved my wife and I to Austin. It was then that a now-or-never moment dawned on me, and I decided to take the plunge. The last 7 months have been a whirlwind of trial and error building a sustainable business model, while staying true to the artistic integrity of the work and myself as an artist. Read more>>

Dawn Trimble

Answering this question would lead one to believe that I have wished my creative career to have started sooner. In all honestly, I firmly believe everything concerning my fine art career happened in just the right season. For years prior to the pandemic, I worked as a professional interior designer within corporate interior design firms. While I have a passion for architecture and design (this was my educational background), sitting behind a desk for hours on end drained me of my creativity – it simply was not for me. Read more>>

Miguel Hernandez

In 1995 at the age of 15 I was introduced to the 1200 Technics turntables not knowing it would be a tool I would be using till this day. Took many years of bedroom djing learning how to mix. Djing small parties before landing any real gigs. If I could go back and tell my younger self something… it would be to don’t get discouraged when the NOs are more than YESs, when it comes to losing gigs. Read more>>

Samantha Armstrong

Looking back, I think the timing was absolutely perfect….It is what I needed when I needed it. I have always said, things always happen for a reason, and the timing of when I decided to plunge into my new business endeavor was actually what kept me from going insane. Read more>>

Cory Pearman

I didn’t start playing music until I was 30 years old. My girlfriend at the time had an acoustic guitar, taught me a couple chords and then showed me a website where I could learn all of my favorite songs at my own pace. It took a while to get good enough to be able to play for other people, but ever since my very first show, I wished I would have learned music at a younger age. I was gifted a Fender Strat when I was about 12 years old, but I was racing dirt bikes at the time and thought that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I wish now that I would have at least started learning the guitar then while I was racing. I would be a much better guitar player now than I am. Read more>>

Darcie Shively

I’ve come to stop seeing myself in terms of a fixed, linear path in life and that has been life changing. I’m an artist, a weaver, a mom, a business owner, and most importantly, I make a lot of time for downtime now. That’s when I feel most creative. Granted, this is on the heels of “paying my dues” for a couple of decades, but that’s ok too. As many kids do, I loved making art as a child, but when college came along I felt like I had to work towards a “real job”. I grew up in a pretty traditional upbringing and didn’t necessarily see a creative path for myself back in the early 90s. Read more>>

Jennifer Ward

No, I would not go back and change a thing. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t experience the things I did that led to this point in my life/career. After High School and before going to culinary school, I actually went straight to the workforce to try other things before picking this career path. I wasn’t sure that being a chef for a career was what I really wanted to do (and if we’re being truthful, it was huge a lack of confidence myself). Read more>>

Sam Purpose

I have always love hip hop music but I never knew it could touch the hearts of man-kind until I was introduced to Christian hip hop by a friend of mine. I started pursuing music as a career in my early thirties. I was married with no children yet but I was struggling trying to find a job to provide financially and I was limited in my driving privileges because of my condition with epilepsy. If I would have started sooner and invested in my craft earlier I probably would have gotten the chance to travel more go to conferences to increase my understanding of the music industry as a business. Read more>>

Diane Wilkes Tribitt

This is an interesting question and I had to think about how to respond. As I look back on my journey from where it began to where it is today, I’d say I started my creative career exactly when it was meant to happen. The cliche that experiences are your greatest lessons, is very true; especially given what I do. I started writing as a child. I’ve always loved to write for as long as I can remember. I believe even at a young age, I found comfort in putting my feelings on paper. It gave me an opportunity to express my hopes, fears, frustrations, pain, and sometimes unrequited love on paper, in a private medium for my eyes only. Read more>>

Jake Anthonyx

I started recording and releasing music when I was about 12 years old. It’s 10 years later and I’m finally now starting to gain some traction and attention towards my art. So it’s not that I wish I started earlier, it’s that I wish I knew what I was doing earlier. In early 2021, I changed my artist name to Jake Anthonyx. I was going by the name Jacob M0 for years but I knew that I was ready to evolve and change the way people viewed my music. I deleted all my past work and started fresh. Since then I’ve been doing everything in my power to make sure everything that I do makes sense and I took the time to learn about different forms of marketing that have advanced my career. Prior to last year, I was just releasing music hoping to magically blow up. Read more>>

Samantha Nimerov

This question comes to me often from within- why didn’t I dive fully in to my creative pursuits sooner in my life? Often times I feel regret for not doing so. But then I look back and trace my path up to the present moment and realize it just couldn’t possibly have gone any other way. I WAS committing to creativity, even if it didn’t seem obvious at the time; and every decision and step I took was what needed to happen at that time in my life. Read more>>

Queen Cole

I have always been a creative. Hosting/coordinating events and even making gift baskets for family, friends, and for a brief time as a business. At that time I was working a full time job, a busy mom, and wife. I was spread thin and life was fast. Fast forward to now I’m a solopreneur, single woman with young adult children. I trust that Gods timing is always right. I have deadlines, obligations, a narrow perspective (compared to Him) and those previous creative times I count them as practice! Read more>>

Kayla Hawk & Ciara Ray

We honestly think we started it at the right time, and everything that has occurred with the business is as it should be. There are so many outside factors that have contributed to where we are today. We’ve seen lulls in business and major growth spurts too. We think there are ebbs and flows in life, with our personal and professional growth, so we don’t believe starting sooner or later would have benefitted us. We are trying to thrive from exactly where we’re at, and we’re adapting as things change around us. Read more>>