The world needs artists and creatives. Unfortunately, being needed doesn’t often easily translate into financial stability. The struggle is real for so many incredibly talented artists and creatives and so we think it’s important to hear from creatives who have made it work – there is so much to learn from the folks we’ve featured below.

Laurel St. Romain

I am finally earning a full time living from my creative work, an accomplishment I still find hard to believe. When I started Dead Flowers in May of 2018, I knew I was taking a huge risk. I had no experience whatsoever in floral design, but I did have experience in fashion and the arts. I understood the principles of design, and decided to rely on instinct rather than education to lead the way. Read more>>

Helena Martin

I always wanted to be an artist but was afraid I’d become the “starving artist” stereotype and disappoint my parents. I hedged my bets and got a degree in medical illustration, hoping that it would secure me a steady job while allowing me to be creative. I got a job a medical animation studio doing 3D work right out of college. However, I was frustrated with my life and wanted to have more freedom artistically. Read more>>

Brittany Branson

I entered the wedding and events industry at a particular time/during a particular year that heavily encouraged creatives to quit their jobs and pursue their wedding businesses full time. Looking back, that was such toxic advice. It was a fad in the wedding education space purely driven by ego. Unfortunately, I followed it. If I could go back in time, I would absolutely tell myself that there is no shame in keeping a full-time or part-time job while building up my creative business. Read more>>

Joe Desiderio.

My work is considered photography, but it’s become so much more. More on that later. I received my first “real” camera from my parents for my 16th birthday, MANY years ago! My uncle was a studio, family photographer and I learned about lighting, posing and “editing” by spending hours with him in his studio. I knew immediately that his choice of photography wasn’t what I envisioned for myself. Read more>>

Scott Elam

I earn my full-time living as a creative now but I haven’t always. I worked for 6+ years in higher education – Northwestern and then Vanderbilt. And for a long time I worked behind the scenes running the training center at The Second City in Chicago. The first time I was able to say I was working full-time as a performer was when The Second City hired me to work on cruise ships in July 2012. Read more>>

Hassan Khan

Currently, I make a full-time income doing YouTube, but it always wasn’t that way. YouTube was a fun hobby for me, and I was trying to get a full-time job as an on-air sports personality after graduating college. After two years, no one gave me a chance, yet I was still making YouTube videos on the side. I noticed some videos were getting more and more views, which made me think to myself that I could make a living if I put all my effort into it. Now, I get to be an on-air sports personality while working for myself. Read more>>

Sarah Kleist

For the first year-ish of business, I was *not* charging industry standard rates. I was *severely* undercharging. In fact, I’d be working like 14 hours a day on people’s websites, and still not paying my bills. It was wild. One day, I had the bright idea to go into an internet rabbit hole and see what other people charge. I was flabbergasted. It was like, 4-10x higher than what I charged at the time. And as someone who grew up lower middle class, with artist parents, who became an artist herself, my money mindset was absolute trash. So I automatically assumed “these people must have way more experience than me, blah blah blah.” Read more>>

Skylar Marie Coffee

First and foremost, I would like to thank you for having me in your magazine. I’m honored! Yes, I have been able to earn a full time living off my career as a social media influencer. Like most influencers, I earn my living off promos for various companies and brands, tiktok, Instagram reels, YouTube, and collaborations, as well as various bookings, music videos and more. Read more>>

Charles Riley III

I haven’t necessarily made a full-time living off of my artwork just yet, but the return, thus far, has shown a lot of potential. In November I was selected to be a vendor at one of the most popular art shows in Dallas, TX, Art Overdose DTX. I had attended the show earlier in the year, but this was my first ever art show as a vendor so I had no clue what to expect. Read more>>

Summer Rose

I have been a full time freelance artist for film and photography since 2019. I have worked hard to build a network of people from other creatives to producers looking to hire to make this happen. I used to go from my old job to shoots just to really be spending my free time making stuff I could be proud of. Making art and having connections with other creatives is everything to me. Read more>>

Pablo Olguin.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved the visual arts and drawing. I bit the bullet and pursued an art degree even though my parents thought I would be better off with a more substantial one. Towards the end of my college career, I decided I wanted to work in the gallery/museum field, while working on my own work. I wanted to move to NYC and because I had graduated debt free because of my hard work and being full time job- I took the chance. Read more>>

Kelly Swanson

I never planned on being where I am. My only goal was to get married and have kids. I was the shy picked-on kid, bullied, and retreated into myself and a world I created in my head. The stories I wrote charmed and inspired me. I literally changed my life by changing the story in my head. The stories tumbled out of my head and onto paper. Still just for me. Never thought anything would come of it. In the meantime – just find a job until you find a husband. No interest in a career. Read more>>

Crystal Newson

Earning a full-time living from my creative work has been rewarding, fullfiling, and at times very scary-but I wouldn’t be myself if i wasn’t living out my dreams. I caught my frist dollar as a choreographer at 18, and i remember sitting at the meeting in complete shock that I was actually able to get paid for something I would do for free, becuase thats how much i love the art of dance. Starting out was not easy, and I honestly had no clue how to nagivate in this world as a free-lancer but I didnt let that stop me, Read more>>

Yvonne Byers

You always hear the phrase “starving artist” but being a tattoo artist, I feel like I’ve found a way to deviate from that stereotype. I definitely had to grow into that mindset, as I was once stressing my body out doing landscaping for several years and working so hard just to scrape by. Though I loved working outside I had to shift and finally quit my full time gardening job not knowing what I would do next, but I just knew I had to focus on art. Read more>>

Johanny Navarro

I have been a full-time composer for a year. Even though I have been a professional composer for 7 years it was inconceivable to live only as a full-time composer. I had to teach, play, perform, etc… all those years. I’m not saying it was a bad thing but at some point was overwhelming. The burnout of the emotions, the stress, all of those things affected my writing and my creativity. But then work started to appear. Read more>>

Jossy Maness

My journey started with an apprenticeship, learning about color, cut and styling under some of the best stylists in nashville at a salon called Trim. After graduating from their program, I spent a year on the floor, building my own clientele. But felt like I still had a lot more to learn, so I decided to move to New York City and complete another apprentice program, strictly focusing on color. Read more>>

Thomas Spake

As I reflect back to the beginning of my pursuits as a glass artist, I can’t think of a time when I didn’t think I could make it as an artist. I knew that I might have to struggle, scrape and crawl to achieve my goals. That was certainly true. In the beginning I worked for other glassblowers, absorbing what knowledge I could about the different glassmaking techniques and processes, gaining experience on maintaining and building glass making equipment, and trying to get a grasp on the business side of running a creative calling. Read more>>