Earning that first dollar is incredibly special and a moment many never forget. We asked some very talented creatives from the community to tell u s the story of the first dollar they earned from their creative works.

Brandon Fields

I think the first time I earned a bit of money was a local commercial I’d provided voice over for. Up to that point, I’d been performing onstage in college and doing voice over for various Brickfilms online. I’d been studying film and television at Augusta State University (now just Augusta University) and had made great friends. One of those friends from the earliest semesters of college reached out to me and said that he’d needed someone to provide an energetic voice over for Sultry Sounds Auto Sales, which was a locally-based car dealership at the time. Read more>>

Rey Santoya

I made a project four years ago called ‘Koreabu’ and I posted it on Bandcamp. One day, I got a notification that someone actually bought the entire thing. I believe he was an Asian young man. How he was able to come across my work is a mystery but if I had to guess: it was the first song that I titled “For Andrea” but in Korean. I took a screenshot and I have it saved on my desktop. It’s the only dollar I have ever made on my music (so far). Read more>>

Krisiz Jay.

That’s a great question, so the first dollar I ever made off of my craft was in the year 2020 right before the pandemic hit us. It was February and my team and I put together a wonderful showcase that night. The place was teeming I mean it was jam packed wall to wall with people. I was selling my shirts and hoodies inside and everyone was ecstatic about the event and it was all around good fun good everyone. Read more>>

Wendy French Barrett

When I first moved to Nashville, I went to the farmers market every weekend and enthusiastically bought local products to use in my home kitchen. I loved when I could see those vendors show up on store shelves. The first store in Nashville to ever sell my handmade butter was Green Door Gourmet. I’ll never forget their store manager’s face the first time she tasted my 3 most popular flavors (Roasted Garlic Basil, Dark Wildflower Honey, and Lemon Rosemary) Read more>>

Nathan Brooks

So my first dollar earned as a creative was 5 years ago. I had just started Rebel Bred and had some t-shirts printed up for a photoshoot to market the brand on social media and online. I rounded some models up and during the photoshoot all of the models loved the clothing and some of the models asked to put in an order after the shoot. That continued on for months. At the same time, I began to advertise Rebel Bred at the bank I was working and started organizing two launch parties. I felt amazed, first that people really like the creation and second they were willing to pay me for my creation. Read more>>

Samantha Lesan

I was so surprised when she asked to purchase my artwork. I had recently made several pieces intuitively for my own joy and never expected someone else to love them as well. My inquirer was a previous co-worker from a job I had just left and I invited her over to my home to look at my artwork. She quickly was attracted to several pieces in particular. Read more>>

Beau Ward

I performed a personalized poem for Real Housewives of Potomac’s Candiace Dillard for her bridal shower. I was nervous and excited at the same time. This was my first paid gig and to perform in front of a celebrity was even better. She was so down to Earth. They made sure I had everything I needed. It was was a really good experience. Read more>>

Dez Nado

Absolutely, well I don’t know if this is the very first dollar I made off of my work, but I know it’s one of the first for sure: around middle school, I remember downloading music for free was what everybody with internet and a computer was doing, which around that time was not everyone (like it is now). Later on, my dad would give me a few dollars every day to buy lunch, the lunch lady was cool so she started letting me slide and not pay for my lunch, so that few dollars everyday I ended up keeping for myself and paying for things like CDs, new CD players, hot wings and pizza if I ever wanted more food before I got home from school, even some new outfits if I saved up enough. Read more>>

Jack Byron

The first dollar I ever earned for playing music was while I was busking on the streets of downtown Chicago. It was a very surreal experience for me, standing out there, singing and playing from about 12pm-8pm, Monday-Friday, from spring to late fall. I was in the company of the other street artists as well; magicians, mimes, other musicians, the bronze and silver statue people, and of course the homeless folks in the area. We were all trying to make a buck, just trying to get by. Read more>>

Xavier Spencer

Well my first branding deal via social media was with an eye glass company who specialized in making night vision eye wear . The company found me on TikTok and offered me 50% split on how ever many glasses I could sell to my following let’s just say we sold out within 1week 20k glasses at $19.99 each you do the math .. after that day I started to take being a brand ambassador serious now I have over 10k faithful organically grown shopping followers on TikTok … Read more>>

Nishal Thomas

It all started in the middle of the pandemic when the regular 9-5 wasn’t working out. I had a passion for baking macarons which we decided to manifest into the dream business, I still remember getting the email from a local event planner asking for Christmas macaron boxes for her clients. I was over the moon as she wasn’t an acquaintance. From that first custom request till now, every time I see an email pop up with custom request, I feel a little flutter when I think of how word of mouth has spread the business name, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the wonderful people who help support my business and dream. Read more>>

Beth Aimée

I started dabbling with making jewelry while I had a day job running an art gallery. I mustered up the courage to put a few of my first creations on display in the gallery. Meanwhile, I was ready for a career shift and daydreamed about what to pursue next. I considered my favorite activities (hiking, cooking, art) and wondered how I could make money while doing the things I love. Read more>>

Omari Romain

My first time making revenue for my work was February 19th 2022 for putting together my first show. I’ve worked with Malik English for about two years as his manager. I was still learning the responsibilities of a manager and I wanted to challenge myself by booking my first show. I reached out to a venue manager I knew from Syracuse and we got to work. Malik and I traveled up to Syracuse in the dead of winter for the show. We got DickbyAir to DJ and three amazing opening acts, it was a beautiful night. After the show splits we made about $100 dollars. I remember being handed the money and knowing this is the moment. The moment I decided I want to do this forever. Read more>>

Katie Nowikow

I honestly do not remember who purchased my first piece of art or what that first sale was, I do remember the first time I received positive reactions to my paintings from people who did not know me personally which then led to offering work for sale. I’d started painting for myself, to decorate my first apartment. The first attempts were fails, I had the wrong type of paint for canvas, I seemed to go blank when I sat down to paint, it was a bumpy ride. Read more>>

Kid Kush

The first time I made money from my craft was purely off Spotify streams. It felt nice to see you effort materialize into something physical. You get paid a fraction of a cent per stream with Spotify ,so that just confirmed I was doing something right to make something. Read more>>

Hanah Tremblay

The first dollar I ever earned as a creative was at a farmers market my freshman year of college. The story is actually pretty ironic and I laugh about it often. My first year at Flagler College I was in a super small dorm with a couple girls and we didn’t have much room to store anything – especially not my buckets and buckets of paint and all my canvases so I had to leave most of it behind when I moved in. Read more>>

Christopher Gaines

The first time I got paid on record was for set decorating. A local production company was in need of a PA, and called upon me. Naturally, I jumped at the chance, once I got there (early) they asked me if I would help with Set Dec and eventually I was the sole person on set able to do the job. Thus, you have a promotion and a call back for the future. The name of the song is called Jealous, by MicahBlu, I’ll never forget the song and director Rodger. Great experience. Great people. Read more>>

Lauryn Kimble

I’m a model. But I am also a freelance hairstylist. I started taking clients at the age of 16. I remember being in high school working my first job and doing hair as a side hustle. My first client was my dear friend turned sister (Shoutout to Courtney). She took a chance on me when nobody else would. I’ve been her hairstylist ever since. I remember her paying me for the first time and me feeling somewhat unworthy. I was so used to giving services for free because I felt I wasn’t good enough to receive compensation for my work. I was a work in progress nonetheless. Looking back, that was the push that I needed to keep going. Read more>>

Logan Renee

My first coin! Let’s talk about it. Let’s be very, very clear. I went years without being paid as a creative.
When I finally decided to take styling seriously, I would intern with those in my area I admired. I worked on fashion news segments, fashion shows, and photo shoots here and there. It wasn’t until I started posting “outfits of the day” that I got noticed. I’m not much of a social media person. Read more>>

Dennis Vogen

The first dollar I can remember earning from being creative involves several layers of theft. When I was a kid, I got pretty good at drawing characters that people knew. The Lion King had just been a huge hit over the summer, and I had been sketching the stars of the film to much acclaim from my classmates. Some of the other kids even wanted to purchase the pieces of paper I had drawn upon. Read more>>