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.

Destiney Powell

Yes I have been making a full time living from my artwork for 9 years. The journey to full time income started while I still worked my corporate job. I knew I wanted to pursue my creative career seriously so I created a business plan and began implementing it day by day. I used to bring my sketchbook to work and draw at my desk during breaks and lunch. My coworkers started to notice and commission portraits. Within a few months I was matching my income from the job. I would paint at night and work my job during the day and set monetary goals to achieve. Once I started to exceed those goals I knew it was time to pivot and implement the next part of my plan which was to create a body of work to submit to shows. I participated in local events and festivals to get my work in front of people and posted online every day on instagram and facebook. I basked 2 jobs for a year to begin earning from my craft and learning how to run a business as well as manage a creative process. Read more>>

Annika Rhea

Earning a full-time living with your creative work is not easy, but with persistence and the right strategy it is doable. My advice is to have a job or additional income source when you’re starting out to remove the pressure of making money with your art right away, that way you can find yourself creatively and have the time and space to explore. I began making money as a professional artist after I created my first intentional series of paintings and exhibited a few in a group show in 2011. With the money that I earned from my first painting sale, I got a tattoo that says, “Fortes Fortuna Juvat”, or fortune favors the bold. I got it to remind myself that if I hid as an artist, I wouldn’t be able to progress and the more that I put myself out there, the more I would receive in return. With that mindset, I began to create and show my work as much as possible. This helped me to set deadlines and put myself in the position to network with buyers. Read more>>

Stephanie De Landre

Yes i have been able to earn a comfortable 6 figure income from my creative work as an independent pro wrestler. I made it happen by understanding the importance of marketability ie. choosing a ring name that fans could abbreviate into a simple 3 syllable chant to yell at live events (SDL), understanding my target audience and developing attractive and unique branding (DSL by SDL) and always educating myself on social media trends & all things business. My mentality was the same at day 1, but the more you grow the more you know, so there have been ideas that have yield less than ideal ROI, but in every failure there is a lesson, and a fear of failure is the incorrect mindset for an entrepeneur. Read more>>

Lorena Russi

My path to working as a full time creative has been a long twisting road that makes no sense, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m a failed pro soccer player who, after teaching and working as a university mentor in Cambodia, went into comedy writing, full time…you know, a tale as old as time– And what I learned throughout that process of being surrounded by all kinds of artists from all over the world is to BE an artist, is a life long practice. There’s ebbs and flows and your value as a creator has no correlation to who is handing you a paycheck. The funniest people I know don’t get paid to work in comedy, and I know several people who get paid to do comedy that don’t make me, personally, laugh. And most importantly, my opinion doesn’t matter more than anyone’s else’s. What I’m saying is that, both art and commerce are subjective so you have to create work that allows you to sleep at night. When we die, God isn’t going to be like, “by the way I love your IMDB page.” Focus on your art. Whatever that looks like. Read more>>

Gregg Binkley

When I moved to Hollywood from Kansas I wasn’t sure what I needed to do to be a successful actor, but I was determined to make it happen. I wanted to prove that I could do it long term, and fortunately I have been able to be a working actor for over 30 years. When I first arrived I wasn’t sure what classes to take or how to go about pursuing an acting career, and I certainly made mistakes along the way. But my vision never wavered, and I kept following my instincts and kept investing in my craft and career and eventually I discovered great teachers and met agents who wanted to represent me. As I continued to grow I became more confident that I belonged and eventually I achieved my main goal which was to be a series regular on a national network show – for me that was a four-year run on the hit Fox TV show, “Raising Hope.” I previously was the spokesman Del Taco in a six-year commercial campaign and I have also played recurring characters on 12 television shows. After “Raising Hope” ended, I went through a period of less work and so I decided to review how I had succeeded. I thought if I taught those lessons to other actors that I could help them succeed and perhaps reignite my fire too. In 2017 I formed my “Working Actors Workshop” and I have loved seeing the actors grow. The class is what I would want in class – one that gets the actors prepared to work and also pursuing work. In 2024 I released my book “GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER: Finding Success in Acting and Life” and I’m grateful that Bryan Cranston endorsed it, and many actors have enjoyed reading it and practicing the lessons. Read more>>

Russell 2.0

Yes, I am blessed to but only because I co-wrote a Grammy award winning song at age sixteen. Had it not been for that, and my ability to play basketball, the journey would’ve been a bit more difficult. In saying that, writing one hit song, did not set me up financially for life. Therefore, many times along the way, I would take normal jobs just to live and fund my musical career. Being an artist, is just like any profession, it requires extreme work ethic, discipline, ambition, desire, etc, to be successful. I recall every job that I had to do, from shoveling snow, to being an executive in the automotive industry. It’s a bit of a cliché, but when a person invest their own, hard earned money and time, they tend to pursue their goals more serious. Read more>>

Vanessa Camargo

I’m blessed to be able to make a full-time living with my creative work, and I have been working from home for almost three years now. It has been a journey that I have been able to take thanks to my organizational skills, planning, and creative ideas. Working remotely for different companies has given me the flexibility that I always wanted. I have long been a firm believer in the power of social media and its infinite potential, but I had not been able to dedicate all my time to it until I was presented with the opportunity to be able to stay at home and develop a career in it. Of course, it was not easy at the beginning. Also, when you work from home, you need to have a lot of discipline and organization since these are keys to success. It is very important to set clear goals and create a method to maintain discipline. Read more>>

Erica Simpson

I was very young just out of school. I was employed in a good job with a great salary at the time. I had basically no overheads and barely any financial responsibilities. Life was nice but I am a creative. I left the job. Why? because I was constantly bored and was always thinking of the what colour combination to mix-up for my fabrics and T-shirts that were waiting for me at home. That 8-4 was not my thing. My parents were mad with me for a while. I had a plan you see. I always do. You see I bought up all the raw materials and recourses need to “open up my business” and still had a little nest egg stashed away for the rainy day. Read more>>

Rachel Tash

yes, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work. I attended film school and learned filmmaking from various angles, by studying, picking up a camera, making a short film, learning how to edit, screenwriting class and such. It was in film school that I learned the basics and then built upon those as I started my career. There really is no fast track in entertainment no matter what side of the business you are in. You need to start at the bottom, put in the hours, work hard and then you will start to move up. Read more>>