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.

Alex Davis

Last year I self-published my first book and sold it in my personal online store. The first person to purchase a copy was a friend from back home in Georgia — her name is Jessie — and I remember thinking, ‘wow’ I am officially a published author. It didn’t matter to me if she was the only person that would buy the book, I published and sold a book! It was something I had wanted as a child and adolescent, so to make it happen in my own way, on my own time, was so fulfilling. Read more>>

Erin Lockwood

I’m the matriarch of a (budding) YouTube family. We hope to make our channel our main source of income within the next 2 years. But making progress hasn’t been easy—and we still have a long road ahead. In a way, I’ve been a creative my entire life. First, and starting at age 17 months, I spent my days training as world-class figure skater. In college, I traded performance art/sport for journalism and writing. Read more>>

Shaylin Wallace

The first time I received my first commission was my senior year of high school. I started being a freelance artist/graphic designer. I designed a book cover, front and back for an author. It was a very interesting experience since I never really made anything for someone else, let alone get paid to make artwork for someone else. I felt very nervous and under pressure to make sure I brung my clients idea to life. Read more>>

Jaimie Muehlhausen

In 1987, I had just moved to California to try to find work as a graphic designer. My dad was in the convenience store business, and I had grown up working in 7-Eleven stores since I was 16. So when I heard that a family friend was getting a 7-Eleven franchise just north of San Diego and was looking for someone to manage the store, I used it as my opportunity to head west from Oklahoma. I had met a lady at a dinner party back in Oklahoma who was the creative director for OP, a huge beachwear brand at the time, and I contacted her when I got here and let her know I had made the move and was hoping to find a way out of the 7-Eleven store and into graphic design. A few months later, Read more>>

Mike Vinn

It’s May 2006. I had been running around doing open mics for almost a year and a half, was part of an improv troupe and studying theater at Grossmont college. I had been primarily living off of the GI Bill and doing odd jobs because anything steady I was picking up kept scheduling me on the night of the Comedy Store’s open mic, which at the time was the only comedy club in town so there was no way in hell I was missing the Store’s mic. The semester was over and I hadn’t signed up for summer classes so I wasn’t going to be receiving the GI Bill for a few months. Read more>>