We think the world needs more artists, more creatives and more folks unwilling to spend their days as a cog in a giant corporate machine. We don’t necessarily dislike cogs or machines but we think the world clearly needs more artists and creatives and so we wanted to try to figure out how more artists can make it work financially since this is one of the major obstacles blocking so many artists and creatives from pursuing their art full time. So, we asked folks who have been able to make a full time living through their creative work, how they did it.

Monica Valli

The past 4 years I have been earning a full-time living off of playing guitar! I was very lucky to have discovered my gift for playing guitar at a pretty young age. I started playing live music when I was 16. Unfortunately, back in those days, I was playing for “experience” and not actually getting paid. It wasn’t until about a year after graduating from college that I actually started making money in the music industry by touring around the country as a lead guitarist. Still, in between tours and musical opportunities I needed to make ends meet and worked at a retail boutique for a few years in Nashville… and absolutely dreaded it but it seemed like the only place that would keep hiring me back after each tour I came off of. Read more>>

Chris Dodson

Back in 2006, I worked a full time job at the local newspaper and played three to four nights a week at the local bars. I accumulated enough clientele, bar managers, musician friends, wedding planners, agents, and internet music services to go full time eight years later. During that eight year period, I networked, took lessons to learn my instrument, learned to do a business from nothing. Read more>>

Julia Martens

Walking into the world of full-time artistry is something that no amount of internet searching can prepare you for. I grew up knowing that I wanted to be involved in the world of art, having invested a lot of my time while growing up by watching YouTube channels of artists who were doing this as their occupation. It was just a vague idea, “I’ll be an artist”, with no real structure behind it. Read more>>

John Murrel III

My career started off wild. I was very well known in social media creative spaces, but then ended up changing that path to start film production. The switch was hard because when it boils down to film production, there is always going to be a trust factor in the mix with your clients. I struggled for a full year trying to sell my services until I realized that I was selling the wrong thing. I didn’t start making really good money until I started marketing my personality rather than just my services. In other words, I would do a lot of work for free and then build my clients off of the free work that I did. Read more>>

Bailey Enlow

Yes! I have been earning a full time living for almost 2 years now. The journey was long and stressful. I worked 40 hours a week and commuted 2 hours a day at my regular job. I would edit photos during my lunch break, answer emails, do sessions in the evenings, and shoot weddings on the weekends. Life was crazy! It took me about 2 and a half years to make the jump to going full time. Covid hit and I was able to stay home with our son for 6 weeks. Read more>>

Sarah Adams

When I first started over 12 years ago I had just stepped away from my career in health care as a nurse to take care of my newborn. At that time, I was charging barely anything for a shoot and share session, I took the photos and then sent them to my client and that was it… a few year later I realized something needed to change, it was missing… and that was the experience. So I spent nearly a year creating what I wanted my client experience to look like, and working on who my actual target client even was, so that I could create my experience to be something that she was looking for and would benefit her in multiple ways. Read more>>

Samantha Van Sickle

One of the most common questions you get after telling someone you work in the entertainment industry is “so what do you do for money?” or “what’s your side hustle?”. There’s absolutely no shame in working hard to keep your dream alive, in fact, it’s inspiring. However, after working for over 6 years professionally in various fields, I’ve discovered something beautiful… There are SO many jobs that need to be filled within the industry, so at the end of the day, your “side hustle” can just so happen to be a stepping stone for your end goals, and in turn, you’re technically making your living with a job that coincides with your creative work. Read more>>

Mau Quiros

I’ve never had a job that wasn’t either music or film, and I made that decision very early in my life, that I would bet for the uncertainty of being an artist, at the beginning it is easier, as you are young and don’t worry about much but not being hungry, but it certainly showed me darker moments later on, mainly because I’ve been a musician all my life, but a filmmaker only for 7 years, and the transition of just making music for a living to creating films, took a period of adaptation and learning that coupled with me closing the music world down for a while entirely, Read more>>

Kelly Latham

I have been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work. I earned my BFA from the University of Kansas in Illustration and my MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design in Sequential Art. After I graduated SCAD, I spent the summer doing art tests, and moved back home for a bit while I waited for results from the art tests and interviews. I landed a job as a designer in Atlanta, and moved back across the country. While working full time as a designer, I was freelancing small illustration and comic projects, as well as running an online art shop, mostly for fun. Read more>>

Emily Wilson

I started my career as an artist a little over two years ago. I am now a full time artist and focus mainly on figurative realism! I was commissioned to create my first portrait for $40 and it was the only one I sold that month. The next month I made $200 in sales. The following month I got a hand full of Christmas commissions and I was shocked so many people trusted me with their gifts. I am now working on my third season of Christmas commissions! One year and two months after selling my first commission, Read more>>

Hannah Ziegeler.

I have always felt a true spark in my sole when talking to people about entrepreneurship. In college I was going for a business degree with a concentration in marketing but found myself most inspired by the psychology behind people finding their passions and a way to make that profitable. When I was younger, maybe 16/17 I was already gravitating towards a visual story telling direction. I was so intrigued by photoshop and the pop culture world. Mesmerized by the way a magazine could give such visuals of the celebrities we enjoyed at the time or a movie poster. Read more>>

Becky Tomaino

I have and it’s been a wonderful journey here. Never saying no in the first few years really made the biggest impact. When I started, I was still in high school and in college, I ended up making the decision to bring the majority of my studies online. This allowed me to finish my work wherever opportunities lead me and allowed me to work around my business. Read more>>

Brett Miller

I have, and I see how much more it still has to grow. My life in music is very spread out. I have a lot of different streams of income, each of which has taken time to grow, but certainly is already paying off at this young stage of my career….pun intended. I make money both as a performer and as a songwriter, but from those two exclusive starting positions, it can get pretty chaotic to trace where the money is coming from. Suffice it say, as a songwriter, I mainly make residual income from song royalties, as well as a sizable sum from up-front fees that I’d charge instead of taking a percentage of that song’s pie, being paid to sing, write, or both on other musician’s projects all over the world, thanks to the internet. Read more>>

Heath King

I have been in full time ministry for the last 4 years. I graduated high school in 2018, completed a year of College at Tallahassee Community College and then got the opportunity to travel full time with Eddie James back in June of 2019. The lord has blessed me since to continue doing what I love full time Read more>>

Brian Cirmo

In 2002 I graduated with an MFA in painting and drawing. Unable to support myself off my work, I started working as an adjunct professor at multiple area colleges. Along with being an adjunct professor during the day I also worked the 4 pm to midnight shift as a security guard at a local college. For the next fifteen years, I taught college courses during the day and worked security at night. I had a studio set up in the kitchen of my 700-square-foot apartment and would work from midnight to 2 or 3 am every day and on the weekends. Read more>>

Alexx Bishop

I️ am fortunate enough to be able to say I am a full time artist! It has been a long time in the making, and even has involved moving away from creating art before I️ was able to fully embrace it as my full time work. When I️ was a little kid I️ carried around a sketch book and would constantly be cartooning, tracing, illustrating, and coloring in it. I️ took a drawing class for one semester in seventh grade, and then did not another one until my third year in college. Everything I️ have drawn before and after that is all just the trial and error of self teaching. Read more>>

Found Format

It often doesn’t feel real but yes we are lucky to be able to earn a full-time living doing what we love even though it can be crazy stressful at times. Kyle and I have slightly different stories in how we got into film but we ultimately collided at exactly the right time. I was working as a photographer/videographer at a car dealership shooting all the inventory for their website. It was incredibly monotonous and soul sucking but I definitely felt called to work with a camera in some regards and that monotony pushed me to make big changes. Read more>>

Luis Pereyra

Now I’m living because of my art! I’ve been doing it since almost 7 years ago, when I started to tattoo I did it in Venezuela where everything’s was complicated, from get any supplies and machines to deal with the economic and politic situation, I think one of the biggest step in this career is to just dedicate all to it Read more>>

Randy Hoexter

I have made my living as a professional musician since the mid 80s. I think one of the keys to making that happen was making an early commitment to doing whatever it took to be one of the “real” career survivors. I wasn’t interested in being a weekend warrior, rather I wanted to be one of those who actually knew what they were doing, and was in demand. I made several decisions in those days, some of which still apply all these years later: First, I was going to make a priority on learning my craft. This would mean I would choose opportunities based on what I could learn, Read more>>

Jason Smith

The ability to bet on yourself takes a lot of courage! Since the age of 6 years old I have loved the art of making music, but I had to pay some serious dues in order to make a full-time living doing music. I started tinkering with keyboards as a child playing primarily by ear, I would try to play every tv sitcom theme or anything I heard on the radio. As I grew older I played saxophone in the school band, but piano was always my first love. Things got really serious when I joined the military in 1997 and auditioned for the US Army Band. I really begin to see how much knowledge I has missed out on in my younger years. Read more>>

Alexandra Williams.

I am so blessed to be able to call my work my full time job. I had to take the leap for myself about a year ago, I’d like to say I haven’t looked back but I’ll be real – it takes a lot of commitment and determination to work for yourself. I wouldn’t trade it for the world though. I used to sit around at my 9-5 bored out of my mind until I picked my camera up and decided I could turn this hobby into a career. I worked alongside my 9-5 for three years, until I finally decided it was time to take the leap for myself. Read more>>

Phillip Istomin

It took me close to 10 years to get to a point where I didn’t have to stress about when or where the next job would come from. Now, I don’t believe that this would be the case for everyone. Some people are more extraverted and perhaps have better social networking and marketing skills. Others might specialize in an area that has a broader appeal. But I knew from very early on that my main goal would be to try to connect to a very niche audience. The challenge was to figure out a way to get my work in front of those people. Read more>>

Kiara Ross

I think the hardest thing as a creator, outside of creating itself, is finding consistent work and thriving financially in that craft. I’ve been working full time as a production assistant and I’ve recently starting transitioning into being a full time actress and I have already noticed the struggles on constant auditioning and booking. Having a savings account is always a must. Read more>>

Demi Grace

Finding an agent that really believed in me was the first step to becoming a full time creative. However, the inevitable was wearing multiple hats. I am a model, singer, dancer, occasional actor, etc, etc. These are the things that afforded me the opportunity to earn a living as a full time creative. At first, giving opportunities to one form of art over the other felt like I was sacrificing one art for the other; but over time I learned that there is strength and freedom in embracing all of your gifts. Perspective is key. Read more>>

Greg Murray

I graduated Loyola University Chicago in 2004 with a business degree and spent 10 years working in corporate Human Resources. I basically spent 10 years pretending to like what I did for a living. Financially, I did pretty well during that time. Mentally, I didn’t. I tried to force it and am so lucky I got out from under the mounds of paperwork, pointless meetings, office politics, etc…. Read more>>

Adonis Blackwood

I have definitely been able to create full time and earn a living doing so. I use a multitude of platforms and methods to do this. I rent my camera equipment on sharegrid.com, I am monetized on Instagram which gives me access to reels bonuses, subscriptions, badges etc. It definitely did not come easy though, I had to invest in equipment that would provide the type of quality that I know the people in my niche would like to see. I also had to put in a ton of practice to be able to create quality content. Remember quality over quantity, that will certainly set you apart. There is no specific way to speed up the process nor should you try to, don’t cut corners, be true to yourself and what you do and you will be fine. Read more>>

Max and Courtney Smith.

Yes! we’ve been able to make a full time living from wedding filmmaking. So we actually haven’t been in business very long. I was a worship pastor since 2014 and my wife was a youth pastor. We shot a few weddings here and there when we got our hands on our first camera. We fell in love with it but had a hard time seeing it be a full-time thing. Plus it was very hard to do as pastors working full time ministry. Read more>>

Era Bayrak

Modeling should not be thought of as a full-time job. I am currently a freelance model because I can find my own job and I do not want to give credit to the agency. I stopped working for the last three months due to my tendon problem. But now I’m better and I’m back again with very nice projects and shots. Read more>>

Jessica Goldstein

I have been fortunate enough to be able to earn a full-time living from my creative work by being a tattoo artist. The beginning of my journey started when I was 16 years old which is pretty uncommon. I was offered a tattoo apprenticeship at the time because the owner of the shop saw potential in me. I’m immensely grateful for that, because even at that time I had no clue what my potential was nor the amount of hard work, perseverance, and consistency it’d take to get to where I am today. Read more>>

Yakou Nguessan

Yes, I have been living full-time from music, and I still do. It’s not easy though. I think the passion is the first drive that keeps you focused. Also, you have to be willing to give up on some materialistic things, but all of this will pay off in the long run. Of course you need to have, knowledge of your craft and improve it all the time. Read more>>

Richard Bantigue.

First, I want to thank you for this opportunity for allowing me to share my story. I became a full-time artist in 2020 and very grateful to have my dream job as my main source of income. I knew my goal was to become a full-time artist and the pandemic accelerated that process. Towards the last semester of college, I knew that I need to find a job or at least find a supplementary income to help pay the bills. I’ve done a few commissions here and there while I was in college so I know that if I could just get more exposure for my work, then I can keep capitalizing on that. Read more>>

Miles Squiers

Yes! I’d love to discuss this. I wanted to first say that my parents are why I do and love music. As recently as this year I’ve been able to make an almost full-time living off of my creative work. From signing synchronization and licensing deals to work with as many up and coming I can, my days are filled with creativity. It’s taken about eight years to get to the position where I’m making money off of this profession. As many of my peers know, getting one yes takes 1 billion “no’s” to get your foot in the door. Read more>>

Denise Browning

I was born and raised in Brazil. Before marrying an American doctor and immigrating to the United States in 2002, I worked for several years as a lawyer. Back then, it had never crossed my mind I would be earning a full-time living as a food blogger abroad. I always loved to cook (and eat) although I had not much time to do so in my country. I vividly remember that I used to observe my maternal grandmother when she was cooking. With her, I learned simple food can be as good as any elaborate dish depending on the quality of the ingredients and how well you are able to cook them. Read more>>

Marcus Money.

I’ve been creating music for roughly 23 years now. It took 19 of those years (1999 to 2018), before I was making a full-time living from it. The story of that journey could take a book series to go through, but basically I was always fascinated with rhyming, documenting back to 5 years old, where I would do my classroom journaling in rhyme form – about things like “Ninja Turtles that wore the color purple”. Read more>>

 

Christina DeNeé

Creating a full time living wasn’t an overnight process however, I do believe what set the pace was not my ability or opportunity but my mindset, faith and vision. I am the child of two artists and musicians, and come from a long line of entertainers. However, born in the early 80’s the blue collar former plant town of Buffalo, NY- doing those creative things as a FULL time living was never something that was encouraged in that culture. But, working hard absolutely was.  Read more>>

Gisela Amador

2 years ago I had a retired Marine general pull me aside and ask me if I had ever thought about helping businesses start and market their services or product. I was already doing it for my cleaning company and helping my close friends with their graphics so it was refreshing to hear. After that conversation, I wrote down all my skills and started to create systems that started from the intention to the visuals of companies and personal brands. After the first two months, I really got to see the potential of this venture. Read more>>

Justin “Zeph” Griffin

As of 2 or 3 weeks ago, I started working full time in music; I’ve worked in customer service for over 11 years while pushing my music career; if there anything I learned over time, It’s honing in on the value your product or brand brings to the table. The industry is saturated, and many people are selling similar products that you do. So how do you stand out? Value. I defined my strengths and weaknesses, identified my talents, and honed in on what makes me valuable. Read more>>