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.

Gabriel ‘G-Rod’ Rodriguez

It has been said many different ways but I will share the most succinct quote of them all which is “Do what you love and the money will follow.” By Marsha Sinetar and that’s what I have been doing since I started my journey as an action actor. I think far too often people finish their education with either a high school diploma, college degree or a pricey degree from a prestigious university like Harvard, and their main focus is making money. Read more>>

Gabe Treiyer

Certainly! As a session musician, my journey towards earning a full-time living from my creative work has been a testament to perseverance and passion. It was not an overnight success story, but rather a series of significant steps and milestones that propelled me forward. Read more>>

Charles Chessler

I started out life as an actor. From the time I was 14 years old it was all I wanted to do. In the late ’90’s I gave it up because I had a mound of debt and it just wasn’t fun anymore. I worked my way out of debt as a cater-waiter and eventually became a personal trainer. But, there was an enormous creative void. Read more>>

Kali J

Yes. Fortunately, I’m lucky enough to make a full-time living from my work as a songwriter and artist. It’s been a journey for sure, but I knew it was what I wanted to do and I made sure I did everything in my power to make it happen. Writing for sync (with a focus on advertising) is often described as a 5 year journey (in terms of building up enough momentum to go full time). I was lucky enough to reach that goal in 3 years and I’ve been doing it full-time ever since. Read more>>

William Alonso

Historically we know that the vast majority of artists, if they wanted to make a living from art, had to move in many aspects of their profession. From commissions for patrons and potentates, to teaching art classes or writing to create documents that could well be books or artistic guides. This as some facets of the many more possible. Read more>>

Dario Rodriguez

It is something that feels very gratifying today that it has been achieved, after going through several jobs or various ways of earning a living, making that leap as a tattoo artist was difficult, and of course, like all beginnings, it was not easy, but with a little desire, discipline and perseverance it has been achieved, we have already been earning a living as a creative for 3 years, and I can say that it feels incredible to be able to enjoy what one does every day. Read more>>

FOR3ST HILLS

While we do work on our music full-time, both members of our band have also always worked various side-hustles and other jobs; both to help us pay the bills, as well as to help us continue learning new skills to broaden our minds! We have our hard work to thank, because without the various jobs we’ve worked over the years, our band would not have been able to purchase and build out the tour bus we’re currently working on. Read more>>

Kiley Ames

There have been a couple of times throughout my career that I’ve been able to make a full time living from my creative work, but not the majority of the time. When I’ve been able to, it has been through a residency where I was able to sell a lot of work following the residency, I’ve sold work through exhibits, or received a grant. The first 8-10 years and the majority of the time, I’ve had secondary income. I was made aware early on of different ways to achieve more financial stability through grants, residencies and exhibits…it just took some time to get them. Read more>>

Steve DeMott

A lot of time people think there’s magic involved in making a living in the creative field. I approached it like starting a business. I created an LLC & then began networking with people & businesses that were likely to need my services. It didn’t happen all at once & it required a lot of perseverance. I also don;t believe in the “plan B” mentality. If you give yourself a way out, a parachute, you will pull that rip cord the minute things get rough. Read more>>

Vetty Soto-Melendez

The phrase ” struggling artist” is real! If you really devote yourself to your craft, you invest soooo much into yourself before you see any type of payback, I mean I have whole heartedly done everything in my power to get to this point. It’s modest, my bills are paid on time, then I’m back to managing my money to reinvest in myself. Although I have learned, I am very much not motivated by money but peace and interest in any project I’ve been doing, Read more>>

Bo Li

To answer your question, I have been able to earn a living from my creative work, although most of my income comes from working for someone else, not necessarily in a creative capacity. So while I can make a living using my skills, it’s not exclusively in the creative field. Read more>>

The BLK LT$

As a full time creative, its a blessing that I am able to support myself while being able to work on my craft. After years of studying, practice and trail an error working on my own music, I am now able to lend my talents to others thru songwriting, production, vocal. production and engineering. Everyday I work with someone else it pushes me to grow and expand which in turn helps me to get better when approaching my music. Read more>>

DJ Phonixx

For me I never saw it as earning a living. I always saw it by doing what I loved and money will come later. It is still a wild ride for me, as I continue to help touch peoples lives with just music, seeing peoples smiles, seeing their happiness makes me truly happy. Read more>>

Nathan Brown

I got to walk away from my day job of 15 years as a concert promoter and festival producer to go full time as a mural artist. Honestly, the main takeaway that I learned pretty quickly once I transitioned into a full time artist, was that if I wouldn’t have had all the business experience I had from my previous work, along with all of the connections I made over the years, I’m not sure if I would have been able to make the crossover full time. Day one I sat down and built a portfolio site with any and all mural work and commission paintings I had done over the years. I knew that social media platforms come and go, so my site was going to be my go to. Read more>>

Analicia Benavides

Two years ago, I never thought I had what it took to be a graphic designer working on tight deadlines. Everyone that knows me, knows I like to take my time when making art or designing things, so it was scary to think I couldn’t meet those standards. There was also a lot of unknowns that made me fearful and holding myself back. Luckily, I had my fiancée who reminded me that I had already went to school for all this, and I have my bachelor of fine arts degree for a reason. Sometimes you just got to take the plunge and figure it out as you go. That’s exactly what I did. Read more>>

Dina Konovalov

Graduating from college with photography degree I was naïve in thinking that I can apply for jobs and work full time just like everyone else after school. At first, that’s what actually happened – I landed a job for a dot.com company that used photographers to shoot around the city. This was a great school for me on getting the ropes of digital photography world that was just evolving at the time. Read more>>

Chad Wesselkamper

I am truly grateful to earn a full-time living from performing, teaching, recording, and composing music. This process has taken years to facilitate but through a dedication to my craft along with forming important relationships, I am able to work for myself while earning a living doing what I love. Over the past couple years I have grown a deep appreciation for the city of Houston. Read more>>

Azizi Donnelly

The short answer is NO i have not always made a full time living as a model and actress. I’ve been modeling since I was 17 and now I am 27 and am making a full time living! it’s taken ten years! i say that to be fully transparent not pessimistic, in fact I am an extremely optimistic person! You really need to be to make it in this industry for the long term. Read more>>

Molly Healey

I do now. It was a slow process of playing shows and also operating my own private studio of music students. I graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, but in my early 20s, I was working full time at a travel agency and doing music on the side. I decided after having my baby at the age of 27 that I wanted to go back and get my masters so I could teach in the schools. But I learned quickly that classroom teaching was not my forte, no pun intended. I went back to work as a server and started building my private studio. Read more>>

Gage Jaeger Johnson

Dancing became a passion that quickly took over my life. Although it began as a hobby I watched as dance seeped into almost every aspect of my being. This eventually led me to pursue a career as a dancer and choreographer. I started with gigs for conventions, hair shows, and small performances in my first couple years dancing. As I developed my art I started to become a creator which led me to be hired for competitive choreography. Read more>>

Nishant Patel

Yes, I have been creating content for over 8 years, and it took a long time before I switched to it. Currently, there are so many influencers and creators on all different topics, so it’s difficult to reach your targeted goals, but if we plan it steps-wise, then it’s surely possible. Read more>>

Frank Deimel

It took me quite a while making a living with creating and establishing my own guitar line. Luckily repairing guitars was my earlier profession along with designing my first own line of guitars, and Berlin was so helpful as it had as many bands as bars almost in those years. But I never doubted to get there where I wanted as other luthiers on whose shoulders I stay, made it too. Read more>>

Isabelle Rizo

Earning a full time living solely from creative work was a process. As soon as senioritis hit in high school I knew I wanted to always be learning and having a sustainable life. The first few years were all about education – going to the library and learning about digital media, marketing, sales, design, etc. I also interviewed others that lived non-traditional lives to make their income. Read more>>

Dejan Zdravkovic

I have been sculpting professionally since 2015, when I founded an art company, called Dejan-Art. Its main activity is artistic creation (original and custom-made sculptures and paintings). In the beginning, I only did commissioned sculptures made of fiberglass. I got orders once every few months, these were usually advertising sculptures and mascots. Read more>>

Christina Linhardt

Yes, i have been able to earn a full time living from my creative work, mainly because i have multiple employable skills. I remember in college (USC) the Chairman of the Vocal Arts department warning me not to have too many fingers in different pies. Early on, several well intentioned older friends warned me not to be “a jack of all trades, master of none”, however that is how i have been able to stay afloat. Read more>>

Raman Bhardwaj

I am a full-time independent artist earning my livelihood by painting murals, creating book illustrations, selling fine art paintings, creating commissioned portraits, airbrush art, logo designs, animations et al. I have been in this profession since last 20 years. Read more>>

Celli Villarreal

It was certainly a huge leap of faith and practicing radical acceptance for whatever the journery had in store for me to commit myself full time self-employed as an artist and esthetician. It has been the best most life altering decsion I ever made and I plan to keep riding out this artistic life eternally. Read more>>

Danielle D’Ottaviano

Yes, I’ve been pretty lucky to make a full-time living from my photography. It all started with my love for capturing moments and telling stories through my camera. I was always carrying around my film camera when I was younger, you know, like a typical artsy person. Then digital cameras came along, right around the time I had kids. It was the perfect escape for me, someone who definitely didn’t want to go back to being a chemist in some 9-5 corporate job. Read more>>

Rajesh Solanki

At this point, I have not been able to go full-time work. But what I have seen is that I have consistently been able to increase my income year to year. This past year was my most successful financially. I am not sure that there is anything I would have done differently to speed up the process. I think all the mistakes I made along the way got me to the point I am at now. Read more>>

Nico Riccione

I worked full time as an illustrator for a few years. It was for a web3-infused app company called Dreamr. I got the job through a series of odd jobs actually. I used to customize sneakers, and I had made a pair of air force 1s for Charlie Jabaley. Dreamr had partnered with Charlie to sponsor a tour he was doing to make a bunch of people’s dreams come true across the United States. Read more>>

Kate MdIntyre

Earning a living is the most difficult part of being an actor. At the beginning of my career, it was a crazy balancing act: how can I get away from the office for auditions? Do I have enough sick time to take a day off to shoot something? How do I deal with getting fired multiple times? Read more>>