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.

Lenzi Holmes

I wish I could tell you there was a magic potion to all of it but truly, I feel like it was hard work and favor. When I started my career 8 years ago, we had the goal for me to pay my student loan and now here we are and I am a main provider for our family and because of my job we get to travel across the country because of a camera! Read more>>

Saraphina Violin

When I first decided to be a full-time musician, I was already studying for my undergraduate degree in classical violin performance. Up until then I had always thought I would be a classical performer. Studying classical performance at a prestigious university in Toronto, Canada, I hadn’t given much thought to what type of performance I would be doing- I was studying classical performance and that’s all I’d always known. Read more>>

Sarah Zimmerman

I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to currently earn a full-time living from my creative work. I have had a ton of support along the way. Not just from friends and family but also from an incredible online community of crafters, crocheters, and fellow bloggers. I started crafting and crocheting as a hobby but it quickly turned into a passion and a business. It took me a few years to really find my niche but when I learned more about the technical side of a website management and growth through social media channels, I was able to see a really profit from my work. I began teaching and collaborating with larger brands. This elevated m business to the next level and gave me additional sources of income. Read more>>

Meredith Comfort

Yes, I do earn a full-time living from photography, and it is something I am very proud of! I started doing the photography on the side during the recession around 2010 to make ends meet. I discovered that it was my passion and my dream of working only as a photographer was born. My husband and I started it together shooting weddings in the beginning. The wedding clients came back over the years for family photos and baby photos, and it slowly grew from there. A major milestone in the process would be having our first kiddo, Finley, who is now ten. Read more>>

Amber Miller

ABSOLUTELY! I earn 4x my corporate job salary with my content creator/lifestyle blog/influencer marketing business on social media. There’s no denying that influencer marketing is lucrative. This industry is BOOMING and it is only continuing to expand. To put it in perspective… in 2021, the social media influencer industry soared to $13.8 billion. This year, the market is projected to expand to a $16.4 billion industry – INSANE! However, this was never my intention when starting this business. Truthfully, I had zero idea what I was even doing half the time. Read more>>

Thomas Green

It took some time, a few years from my start to earn a full-time living from what I do for a career. I had a corporate job for years in the resturant industry. I actually was a full-time college student pursuing a hotel and restaurant management degree. I thought this was what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life. I enjoy people, catering to the needs of others, to be selfless. My late grandparents and family taught me that. From day one as being a creative it wasn’t easy, but I knew it was a way. Read more>>

Deborah Mouton

Being a full-time artist was an absolute dream for so long. I tried it in my early twenties. But the life of crashing on people’s couches and floors while I lived out of a suitcase in and out of the US, quickly lost its luster. To really live and thrive as a full-time artist takes planning. I started working a full-time teaching job, gigging on the evenings and weekends. Then, the dynamics began to shift. I found myself having to take off time for work for special events, or managing business calls on my breaks and prep periods. Read more>>

Adrianna Kenebrew

Because I am a collage student I’m currently only doing photography part time. I started out small, and sometimes offered free sessions or giveaways to build confidence and showcase my work. The more I learned about photography and pricing strategies, I was able to raise my prices, and build clientele. A major milestone for me, was realizing that my time was valuable and my prices needed to match the value of my time. Read more>>

Zebulon Thomas

Yes, I started as a videographer and I made a name for myself using a Glidecam Camera Stabilizer. I used YouTube to create creative commercial videos for companies and brands that gained them exposure and profitable business growth. I quickly became one of the nations most requested commercial videographers. I am a word renowned Glidecam Master Operator hand selected by Glidecam Industries, Inc. Read more>>

Macy Mariano

Yes, I have been able to earn a living from my creative work! I first started as an aspiring model in Miami. I tried in Miami and NYC to find representation at the time, but no one took me in. I started to see how others were partnering with companies on Instagram and decided to merge into that industry. Six years later, I have worked with many notable brands such as Revolve, H&M, Pacsun and more! The rest is history. Everything that I know now is self-taught. It has all been from experience. From making media kits, emailing, creating content, to knowing how to negotiate with brands; I have accumulated this knowledge by routine experience in the influencer marketing industry. Read more>>

Stephanie Trucco

The first few years of my social media career were honestly just fun and games (and fulfilling a childhood dream to be famous). Being in quarantine due to Covid-19 in 2020 honestly was a big game-changer for me. Seeing how fast things can change made me realize how fragile 9-5 day jobs really are, it opened my eyes to the possible journey of passive income & financial freedom. Due to the lockdown of 2020, I was out of my day job, not knowing what to do next or how to make my ends meet, I sat down and decided to get to work on my own brand. Read more>>

Lauren Garvin

Being a full-time artist has been one of my goals for as long as I can remember. For years I worked a full-time job and worked on my creative outlets on the side as much as possible. This was fulfilling, and equally exhausting! I remember at one point hearing a friend tell me I was essentially working 3 jobs and going to school all at once when I was expressing my burnout and wondering why I wasn’t moving further along. Read more>>

Marian Liebowitz

I build bridges between performers, venues, and resources in order to provide maximum enrichment for communities worldwide. I have been earning a full-time living from my creative work for almost 40 years. I spent 35 years as a Professor of Music, during which time I also had an active “side-hustle” as a clarinetist. Initially I performed in various orchestras, then founded a chamber ensemble. Eventually, fueled by winning a competition, I became a soloist. Read more>>

Kathryn Ray

I have been able to earn a full-time living from my work, thankfully! I have lived solely off of my business for the past 6 years. I started my business in early 2015 and went full time in summer of 2016. My income range has always changed and has never been consistent, but generally sloped upward throughout my years of experience. Some of the biggest steps were trusting myself to make it happen and knowing I wanted to give it a try (working for myself I mean). Read more>>

Pete Klockau

I started designing my own products under The Black Lagoon Room name around 2017 – I had left my long-time job in the music industry, which involved a fair amount of illustration and graphic design work, I was bartending at a craft cocktail Tiki bar at night, but was looking for a more creative outlet that might make a few extra dollars on the side. Read more>>

Sunita Ritesh

“What do you do for a job? I am an artist That’s good! but what do you do for a living.. like money wise? ” How many times have we all heard this conversation, which basically leads us to believe that artists or creators cannot make money. Lot of times, it is true though! People will bargain and heckle you to lower your prices and do it cheap for them. If you accept, then the consequence is compromised quality of work and the artist making no money. This is a reality for a lot of artists and creators. When I started out 3 years back, I was advised by couple of ‘well wishers’ to start working for free first to build my portfolio. Read more>>

Toshe Phillips

I have been able to earn a living full-time as a creative. Today, I serve as the Brand Director for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. This opportunity came after 5 years of producing the organization’s photos, videos and graphic design projects. And as the keeper of the brand in mind, people called me the “brand police” so the move into my current role made sense. Prior to this role that has allowed me to express multiple creative fields, I held positions that focused on one at a time. Read more>>

Jessica Langley

I’ve been earning an income as an artist/creative since I graduated. I knew that having an MFA would allow me to at least teach as an adjunct in higher ed, and I’ve been able to squeeze by with minimal income. I graduated and immediately lived in Iceland on a Fulbright grant and another scholarhip, so I felt like that investment in an MFA immediately paid off. From then on, I have been piecing together various forms of income teaching part time, Read more>>

Michelle Carmen Gomez

I consider myself lucky because I have always known that my purpose is to create in service of others; I’ve always been able to distill concepts, ideas and inspiration through imagery that held, in reverence, the notions of authenticity and truth. From the beginning, being an artist has felt like a mission, not a hobby; the experiences that inspire and motivate me are those that promise self-exploration and self-expression with the purpose of inspiring others to ask different questions and explore other perspectives. Growing up, I was always sparked by images that moved me and challenged me and, from the beginning, that’s what I set out to do in my work. Read more>>