We’ve seen way too many talented creatives quit because they couldn’t make it work financially. No doubt, the financial challenges of pursuing a creative or artistic career are daunting, but we felt there wasn’t enough discussion around how to make it work. So, we connected with artists and creatives who’ve been able to earn a full time living from their creative work and asked them to share their stories with our readers.

Andre Johnson

One of the first things my mentor, who also taught me how to DJ, told me was to hold on to my full time job as long as I could. I started DJ’ing about 6 years ago as a hobby. My original goal was to be the opening DJ at events for friends. As I became better at DJ’ing that goal shifted. I took on more bookings and decided I wanted to DJ full time. At the time I was an Associate Property Manager, overseeing luxury Coops and Condos throughout the city. My work was fulfilling, but time consuming. Read more>>

JJ Curry

It was always a goal to get the point where “I could pay my bills by telling jokes.” At the end of 2019 I went full time in comedy. Probably the worst year of my professional career but I did it. All i did was set monthly goals of how much money i need for this month to be profitable. It involves alot of planning ahead and learning that No are very common. Read more>>

Aitina Fareed-Cooke

Back in 2012, I made the decision to obtain a DBA for my photography business. It all started when people who knew I was a photographer began to demand my services. At the time, I had no idea what running a business entailed, but I was determined to work hard and learn so that I could grow and develop within the creative field. There were a lot of roadblocks and frustrating moments along the way, but I believe that those experiences added value to my journey. Read more>>

Brian Somerville

I have worked as a creative for the past 20 years and I’ve been able to earn a consistent full-time living for the past 10 years. My journey has never been a straight path. It’s taken me all those years to collect contacts, clients, and collaborators to build a career as a creative. That career has consisted of fabrications, commissions, collaborations, restorations, and the sale of my own personal artwork. Read more>>

Breanna Bloomquist

As I was dabbling into the world of photography, I worked a full-time job, 5 days a week, and I was attending college full-time. I tried to get clients on the side whenever I could. I shot for almost free for the first two years as I was self-taught and started my career with a point-and-shoot Olympus camera. As I bought new gear and educated myself in Photoshop, I began to gain more confidence as a photographer. Read more>>

Marc Bosserman

I have been able to earn a very decent living as a musician for many years now. And I can say with some certainty that if you are going to make it as an artist you’re going to need to be a rebel and/or be a little crazy. And you’ll need to be fiercely independent. My story starts when I was about 10 years of age. Various people told me that being a musician was going to be a terrible job. Read more>>

Michael Kushner

I’m a multi-hyphenate. According to my podcast and my book How to be a Multi-Hyphenate in the Theatre, a multi-hyphenate is an artist who has multiple proficiencies which cross pollinate to help flourish professional capabilities. I’m a photographer, performer, producer, podcaster, writer, and educator. In doing those things professionally, I am able to stay creative and earn an income based on my artistry. My photography business helps me as I write projects and audition. It all feeds into itself and helps my overall business and artistry grow. Read more>>

Ximena Zermeño

Choosing a creative path for my professional journey has been an incredible blessing. After spending more than a decade as a lawyer, I longed for a significant career change that would allow me to pursue my artistic vision while supporting my dreams and lifestyle. Read more>>

Kindal Tate

Yes I’ve been able to earn a full time living with music and I honestly feel super grateful for it everyday. Like all artists I worked a 9 to 5 back in 2021 at a grocery store bagging groceries and quit top of 2022 after my grandfather passed away. His passing had me realizing that life is about purpose and he spoke about that to me often. Plus if I was going to make pennies getting bossed around by grumpy managers and customers I might as well take a chance making pennies doing something I love. Read more>>

Jeff Gavin

Hi there! Well first, thank you so much for having me for another interview. I love your publication & all the efforts made to expose artists & entrepreneurs on a local level. I love this question because I feel at this point in my life I can finally say that yes, I make all of my money entirely in the music field, which has essentially been my goal since child hood. I would not say the journey has been easy by any stretch of the imagination, & to this day is a constant grind to keep the dream alive. Read more>>

Ashley Gearing

I have earned a full time living from my work by creating my own opportunities. For many years I worked as a recording artist for two major labels. I felt underserved and in a way taken advantage of because they were using my likeliness and talent but I wasn’t making any money, the company was. I decided to pursue an independent career and created my own touring llc with my bandmate. Read more>>

Sam Kiste

Have I been able to earn a living from my creative work? I have. Basically since the beginning of starting my business in 2016, I’ve been able to make a living and support my family with the money that my business has brought in. I have always been a very determined person and have always strived to work hard until what I want comes to fruition. I have been creating videos since before I was 10 years old and have always thoroughly enjoyed it. Read more>>

DESIREÉ HENSLEY

I use to sit and watch other content creatives post their videos and pictures and I remember saying to myself “I wish I could do this, I wish I could post content and make money from it”. I then started studying the ways of content creating, and I know that sounds weird but I really did study it. I would watch my favorite creatives, I would look at the kind of videos in my niche, and I would try to figure out what platform I liked the most. Read more>>

Cynthia Oswald

I’ll never forget the day. I was almost 3 years into my new position as “Creative Services” specialist at a high-end printing company. The tension in the office was palpable, as the economy was in a downward spiral, and layoffs were becoming all too common. Despite the challenging circumstances, I had recently fought for a $4,000 raise, believing that my hard work and dedication would be recognized. Read more>>

Rashee Gupta

It was until a year and a couple months into starting social media that I started making money from my blog, Instagram, and from appearances. With TikTok (my cooking page that is) I had my first ad and paid collaboration within a couple months (I think that is because times and platforms had changed significantly). Since then I have worked with thousands of companies on hundreds of campaigns also traveling for many projects and I have indeed been able to make a full-time living from my creative work. That has been such a blessing and incredibly helpful in maintaining work life balance. Read more>>

Megan Bertsch

I have! I often get asked, “So you do JUST makeup?” and I’m happy to report that, yes, I get to do what I love full time. It definitely wasn’t always like that, but I think it happened the way it was meant to. I started as a very young makeup artist working retail or other jobs in my field to make ends meet for years. I also assisted under lots of other artists to gain experience. Read more>>

Kara Greskovic

I’ve been fortunate enough to make a full-time living doing music production for the past three years now. The question I get asked the most is how did I go from doing it as a hobby to creating a full-time living out of it. I started out my business by doing a bunch of projects for free or for a very little fee. All I wanted to do was to get myself out there and prove to people that I can do this! This is the easiest part – it’s all about creating a portfolio and building up momentum as well as connections. I did have a part time job on the side that paid the bills while I built my catalog. Read more>>

Birdie Galbraith

After over 20 years of making my art, I am hoping to either be able to get back into an existing store with my creations, or open my own gift shop Read more>>

Che’Rae Adams

After being a freelance director and dramaturg for most of my career, it has been an adjustment to have a full time Artistic Leadership position in the arts. I have been the Artistic Director of PlayPenn, a new play incubator in Philadelphia, for a year and a half now. Going from constantly looking for the next gig to running a small non-profit has been exciting and challenging at the same time. Read more>>

Blake Pelton

Yes – absolutely. It took commitment and trust in myself. When you work a corporate job (which I did for a bit of time in my early 20’s), it can be easy to get ‘stuck’ on the hamster wheel. The notion that we must keep working so that we can continue working, paying bills, etc is a dangerous trap IMO. It can be incredibly difficult and terrifying to take the leap of faith into the uncertain. Read more>>

Reggie Oliver

Yes! I’ve been making a living as a full time creative for 12 years now. Getting started was definitely a struggle especially with having limited support. however, my love for my art kept me motivated to learn all that I could which eventually allowed me to compartmentalize what I’ve learned and apply it to different areas of this field this far. I owe a lot of my success to “Remaining a student” and always taking time to do my research! I wouldn’t change the timing or speed of any part of my process as it has all happened for me at the appropriate time! Read more>>

Gia Venetia

I’ve been feeling a lot of gratitude for being able to earn a full time living from content creation and companion work. My journey began back in 2017 when I was in college. I was in a few arrangements with older gentlemen who were helping me get through school. However, I had a friend who was a companion professionally and she showed me how much more successful I could be financially if I learned how to market myself and find the appropriate clients. Read more>>

Chris Dodd

Earning a full-time living through my creative work has been a difficult up & down journey for the most part for me. In fact, out of the 10+ years in my industry, I’ve worked either full-time or part-time for most of my journey. In my specific niche as a content creator, I learned really early on when partnering up with brands, most of them just want to throw some free products your way & expect you to create content for them in return. Read more>>

Livi Poppleton-Pitcher

Hi! I am Livi, pronouns She/They. I’ve been so lucky that my job is literally giving people beautiful, angelic, fun, alternative hair. However it’s taken me almost 4 years to get to the point where I get to do alternative hair full time. In the beginning of hair school I didn’t even know that something like what I am doing now was even attainable. Once I was in hair school & I started venturing on social media, I found people that did alternative hair full time & I was inspired to one day be like them. Read more>>

Kelsie Szost

I am a believer that if you passionately enjoy something you do, you do it better. It took me a while to figure out what ignited me as an individual. Through travel and exposure to other cultures, food, architecture and landscapes, I was able to find my passion for design, innovation, art and for progressiveness. These are all things that marketing and software development has allowed me to practice. Read more>>

Consuelo Nikolazza

When I first embarked on my creative journey, the dream of earning a full-time living from my artistic pursuits seemed both exhilarating and daunting. The path was filled with uncertainties, but my unwavering passion and determination propelled me forward. Today, I stand here as a testament to the transformative power of art and the profound impact it can have on our lives. Read more>>

Sally Bass

I started out making jewelry over 30 years ago. I started out smaller, and worked my way up into more ambitious and creative endeavors. I am now very fortunate to be in the position to earn a full time living from my jewelry. My work has been on runways, and on television shows. I feel like I am constantly learning, as the world evolves around us constantly in terms of how business works. I never thought I would have as much of a social media presence as I do, but it was necessary and is now an important part of my brand. Read more>>

C.J. Peterson

Right now, the author portion of what I do is not self-sustainable. I supplement it with speaking opportunities and we have a publishing company – Texas Sisters Press. I receive speaking opportunities from podcasting and other networking/speaking opportunities. They all weave together to allow me to do what I do full-time. This all did not happen overnight. I have been published since 2012. The journey through the years has been trying at times. Read more>>

Jorell Elie

As a blossoming and rapidly growing industry, tattooing has seemingly become a mainstream way to express your individuality. I have been fortunate enough to transform this trade into a career, The idea of being able to be compensated for something you truly love is not something I had drawn up for my life. It is truly an honor to bring my client’s visions and ideas to life! Read more>>

Emily Ernst

I’m so glad you’re asking this question, which can be rather taboo. Yes, and no; for about five years now I’ve only worked in theatre only, but my work is about 50% creative and 40% arts admin and 10% teaching. I’m freelance now. It took a lot of work, but I love making my own schedule and doing something different every day. And no, it was not like this even remotely for the first decade out of school. Read more>>

Alondria Williams

If someone would have told me 7 years ago when I first started freelancing, that I’d be where I am now I wouldn’t have believed them! Being able to make a living from my passion is a blessing that I am always amazed by! It definitely takes discipline to properly manage my finances. Which I’ll admit, for years I struggled to get a plan/budget that actually worked for me. Read more>>

Alex Walls

I have been fortunate enough to earn a full time living from playing music for the last 6 years now. It definitely didn’t happen over night but I started off going to local jams around town and sitting in with bands, just networking and meeting as many people as I could until slowly but surely people started to hire me. Read more>>

John DAddario

It all started 20 years ago in South America, all the way up to North America, Europe and Asia. I’ve traveled so much that the amount of cultural information in my head was unbearable and the only way to take it out was through art or tattoos. I was just a 12 year old boy when I got the first handmade tattoo machine in my hands. The feeling was out of this world. It all started as a hobby but I was asked about tattoos every single time while I was traveling so this thing just took over my life. Read more>>

Erkan Yavas

As a DJ or producer, earning a full-time living from my creative work requires a combination of dedication, persistence, and a strategic approach. To achieve this, I believe in following these key steps: Firstly, it’s crucial to define my brand as my name and develop a unique sound that sets me apart from others in the industry. I take the time to explore different genres, experiment with my style, and refine my artistic vision. This helps me establish a recognizable brand and sound that attracts a dedicated fan base and potential opportunities. Read more>>

Desiree & Brandon Ragoza

We currently work full-time together doing what we love together. Our concept started at a time where it seemed like it would’ve been impossible to make a full-time living with everything shutting down (2020). Both of us had a numerous amount of years of experience under our belts in our profession of being a DJ and guitarist, Once the lockdowns began, that was when we had decided to play together and just see where it would take us. Read more>>

Jack Brunson

My business started as a “side hustle.” I was working at a pretty prominent luthier in Murfreesboro — Mario Guitars / Guitar Mill. I got a job there right after college, and worked there for 7 years. Somewhere around 2-3 years in, I realized that I should start using the skills I was gaining to buy some broken guitars with the intention of repairing and “flipping” them. Read more>>

Beth Crowley

Being able to be a professional, full-time singer/songwriter was not something I set out to do from the beginning. It started out as a hobby, then became a hobby that I was able to make a little bit of money from. As time went by and I could see that I was consistently making enough income to cover both my living expenses and fund my music projects, I finally decided to quit working part-time jobs and devote my full attention to music. Read more>>

Michael Mund

I don’t make a full-time living as an artist. I have been working for 17 years as a specialized educator in a center for disabled adults in parallel with my artistic activity. It has also been 17 years that I have had the chance to exhibit my works. It obviously started with small exhibitions before now giving way to larger exhibitions, larger projects. I hope to one day be able to become a full-time artist. I think it’s a finality, a fulfillment of the work provided during all these years. I don’t know if there is a way to speed up the process but I think hard work is the key to success. Read more>>

Libby Meredith

When people think of sound designers, they often may think of people who work on video games, movies, or tv shows. I have spent my career so far as a sound designer in some areas that may be less thought of: casino gaming, and higher education. My first job as a sound designer was with a small casino game company. Before this I had never really thought about making sounds for casino games as an option, but I was happy to have the work, Read more>>