Pursuing a creative or artistic career can certainly be fulfilling, but it’s far from certain. Over the years, we’ve heard about the struggles from thousands of artists and creatives – it’s incredibly challenging and it can be tempting to wonder – what if you hadn’t pursued this path. We asked artists and creatives from across the community if they’ve every had those doubts themselves.

Jeff Dose

The question is somewhat funny to me, if I’m being honest, because I can’t imagine not being a creative. I get so much enjoyment from the visual arts and music that I just feel grateful that I get paid to be creative. I’ll admit, it doesn’t come without its challenges however! I went to college for nursing and thought that was going to be my path. After a few years I was working days and nights in a really busy surgical ICU, working with some of the most difficult situations you can imagine. It was super intense (and it was every day). It was interesting, and there was fulfillment in it for sure, but it was intense and really took its toll on me. I knew that if I didn’t find some kind of outlet, I’d be looking at an exit from nursing. Read more>>

Bitter&Broke

Collectively, choosing to pursue music full-time as Bitter&Broke came with a mix of excitement, uncertainty, and relentless self-questioning. In an inflated economy, a hyper-competitive city, and a cutthroat music scene, we’ve constantly had to balance pragmatism with the urge to take wild leaps of faith into the unknown. The idea of a “regular job” is something we’ve all wrestled with at different points—especially when the grind gets heavy, the gigs slow down, or the money isn’t flowing the way it should. But what keeps us here is knowing that every challenge is ours to navigate, and every win is one we built from the ground up. Read more>>

Andrew Ivimey

I am definitely happier as creative then I would have been in any other field, but it wasn’t always like that and has taken a long time to reach that happiness. Both in terms of career success and personal perspective.
Early on in a creative career it can be challenging to be happy. You’re struggling to be good creatively, the pay is bad to non-existent, the time commitment is huge, and you can look around at friends who chose traditional career paths and see them have all the things you don’t. So it’s easy to be jealous of a regular job. But as time passes (often years or decades) you find yourself either making better creations, making better money, having more time, or hopefully all three if you’re very successful. At that point the regular jobs & people you were jealous of in the beginning don’t have any appeal anymore. Read more>>

Cletus Oche

Most of the moments of realization I get that my responsibility and work labels me as an artist is one of happiness and freedom. But on the other side of the coin being an independent creator has its periods of void, times I wanted to get onto something more “secure”, a job that comes with regular pay. You see, sometime in 2022 when my work had little to no audience, the struggle was real both financially and otherwise. At that point, to sit down and draw out ideas was difficult also because of the current outcomes and situation. Along the way, by God’s grace, I was able to forget the pain and stop these fearful projections, some may call it irresponsible and delusional but after realizing that whatever work one does there’s always a risk this was sort of an encouragement. Read more>>

Shane Alexander

I’ve honestly never been happier. After 19 years as a full-time artist/producer and 20 years of touring internationally, I’m very proud to have survived and kept my creative spark intact. I think most creatives that have the burning desire to live a life outside the lines tend to hold onto the dream, even when things get weird. To be honest, the last/only time I seriously thought about getting a proper 9 to 5 was during Covid, when I couldn’t tour and we weren’t doing any in-person sessions. Things got pretty spooky. Thankfully, just as I was really starting to become fearful, I got a national Chevy commercial, which helped pull things out of the fire and back on the road to sustainability. The universe always comes through if you work hard and keep the standard high. Read more>>

Danielle Flicek

I’m incredibly thrilled to be an artist, and I truly believe it’s my calling. For many years, I worked in the restaurant industry, even owning my own restaurant for a decade. While I enjoyed that journey, art always tugged at my heartstrings. No matter how much I tried to distance myself from it, I would often receive requests for commissions, which reignited my passion. Read more>>

María Emilia Hendreich

In fact, I was interested in sharing that, as an artist, I’m also an art teacher, and I was fortunate enough to land a job at the Museum of Fine Arts in my city as an educator. This opened many doors for me and gave me the opportunity to constantly be in touch with the world of the visual arts. Read more>>