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.

Hakan Adik

I started tattooing in 2014 in Istanbul. At the same time, I was taking drawing lessons and learning how to paint to improve my skills. Although the first few years were challenging, my passion for this craft and my hard work eventually paid off, establishing me as a recognized artist in the field. I specialized in micro-realism tattoos, which became the foundation of my career. My gallery-style, painting-inspired tattoos were pivotal in shaping my artistic journey. Designs inspired by artists like Van Gogh, Monet, and Dalí helped me gain recognition and set me apart in the industry. Thanks to my creative works, many tattoo pages began featuring my designs, further boosting my visibility. Read more>>

Raphael Ortiz

Moving back to New York in 2010 with 40$ and a dream has pushed me more then I could ever dreamed of, looking back at it now i never would have imagined life being like this . I get to travel the world , make art and live my dream. Definitely didn’t come easy, countless work hours and sleepless nights. Navigating through the scene and ultimately finding the right spot for me was the most difficult of course. I spent so many years just working at different shops until I found a place where I could really become the artist I wanted to be. For me it’s more then just being a tattooer , I’m an artist Read more>>

Chidinma Mordi

I had been working a 9 to 5 as an architect at a firm when I decided to quit and go full time as a self employed artist. I was frankly terrified of the prospects of living and working as an entrepreneur. Although prior to that I was already combining my work as an architect (day job) and my side gig as an artist. However when I decided to go full time as an artist, I received an offer to work remotely as a digital illustrator for Tani Series Limited and I took it. That was January, 2021. Having a soft landing like that helped me ease into my work as an artist and earn full-time off my creative work. I can say having a saving culture and being able to take charge of my expenses helped me scale through the tough months were I made no art sales. Read more>>

Jenn Hurless

Yes, I’ve been fortunate to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it didn’t happen overnight. In the beginning, I took on any and all opportunities that came my way. I didn’t limit myself by niching right away—I stayed open to learning and trying new things, even outside my comfort zone. That adaptability was key to building a solid foundation. Over time, I honed my expertise in social media, branding, and digital marketing. Initially, I wore all the hats, doing everything myself. But as my business grew, I realized the only way to scale was to build a team I could trust to execute my creative ideas. Letting go of control wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. Surrounding myself with talented people who could bring different perspectives and strengths allowed me to focus on the bigger picture. Read more>>

Jaime Reynolds

Yes, I’ve been able to turn my creative work into a full-time living, but let me tell you, it’s been anything but a straight path. It certainly didn’t happen overnight. Back when I was working in event production, my life revolved around constant travel and long hours. Then, I had my first child, and everything shifted. I wanted to be home, to be present. I quit my job and started painting during nap times—mostly to reclaim a little piece of myself. Motherhood is amazing, but it can also feel like you’re disappearing under all the roles you’re suddenly expected to play. Painting became my way of putting myself back together, of pulling threads of joy and creativity through my day. Read more>>

Glory St. Germain

Earning a Full-Time Living from Your Creative Work As a young musician, playing piano was always my passion. At 16, I had a simple yet powerful goal: to buy a car. Like most teenagers, I dreamed of independence, but I didn’t just dream—I took action. I turned my creative work as a piano-playing teenager into my first entrepreneurial venture: becoming a music teacher. That decision changed the course of my life. From the very first day, I knew teaching music would be my life’s work. I wasn’t just teaching notes on a page—I was inspiring young musicians to explore the expressive, creative world of music. Seeing their eyes light up as they composed, played pieces they loved, and developed their artistry was a feeling that no amount of applause as a performer could match. By the end of that year, not only had I paid cash for my first car—a Volkswagen—but I had also ignited a fire within me to build something even bigger. Read more>>

Julia Mckim

Before I became a full-time creative professional, I spent a decade climbing the corporate ladder. I’d be lying if I said I hated it—the job security and the ability to “switch off” on weekends and during paid holidays were undeniably comforting. However, pursuing a living through my passion became my ultimate goal while studying Commercial Photography in Australia.  Despite the challenges and uncertainties, the idea of building a career around what I loved—beauty photography and retouching—was far more appealing than working under a boss on someone else’s terms.  Read more>>

Sydney Smith

I first picked up a camera when I was in middle school. I started photographing my friends’ sporting events and posting them on social media to share with families and athletes. The more I did that, I knew I found something I loved but never thought I could make a living doing it. I didn’t pursue photography naturally in college. I majored in Sport Management at Cazenovia College and with encouragement from my professor, Dr. Trachsler, I was able to obtain photography related internships all while completing my degree. My internships were some of the best experiences I had in college because they helped me understand that there was a way into a creative profession without having a specific degree in the arts. Read more>>

Ariel Serene

I am so lucky to be able to say that yes, I am currently making a living from assistant directing in film. It still feels so strange to say that, and it definitely was not always this way. I began working in restaurants at 15 years old- I actually dropped out of high school to work full time to be able to support myself. But, throughout the entirety of my youth I was reading and writing. Literature transformed my perspective, it gave me purpose. I knew I wanted to spend my time on Earth telling stories and this is what led me to film. Read more>>

Meghan Chou

The first year after college I was DEAD BROKE and not sure if I really had the stomach to pursue a creative career. I assisted on a handful of commercials in Ohio and suffered a terrifying car accident at work. I took some time off afterwards to figure out if this was something I really wanted because the hard truth is: if your heart is not 100% in the game, this industry will spit you out FAST. Now, I’m fortunate to earn a full-time living from my creative work. I have the privilege to turn down jobs that don’t inspire me and to donate my time to passion projects with small budgets. How did I get here? I hustled. When I began my career, I took every job I could get, no matter the position. I’m exclusively a Production Designer these days, but when I started, I gripped, I taped Broadway concerts, I catered non-profit events – anything even remotely related to what I really wanted to do. Read more>>

Ornella Torralba

Earning a full-time living from my creative work has been a rewarding journey, but it wasn’t like that from day one. My first two jobs were not related to my creative skills, but they taught me discipline, adaptability, and problem-solving, which later became invaluable. After those early roles, I shifted fully into the creative industry and have remained there ever since. Read more>>

Robbie Christmas

I’ve been earning a full time living from being an acoustic singer-songwriter for about 15 years now. I had decided pretty early on in my life that I wanted to be a musician. Around 9 years old. I spent the next several years just learning, soaking up as much music and art as I could. It wasn’t until college that I had an opportunity to start performing and actually getting paid for it. I got asked to play some music for an Irish Pub. It was a weekly 3 hour gig. I had a binder full of songs that I was learning but it wasn’t nearly close enough to cover 3 hours worth of material. So I had to ramp up the amount of songs that I knew. Read more>>

Troi Williama

My creative work involves curating social media strategies, content creation, and short-form video directing. My journey of becoming well-versed in social media began over a decade ago, in 2013, during my first year of university. I studied public relations, which focused on journalistic expertise back then, but eventually, my university began incorporating the study of online media platforms as a means to push out messaging. Because I was a student leader, the Vice President of Promotions for the Student Activities Council, the President of the Students Activities Council, a Resident Advisory, and the Managing Editor for the university newspaper, it was a no-brainer when they invited me to be a part of a team called “The Social Squad,” a group of students who engaged in university social media takeovers to cover university events. That was my most simple and basic introduction to running and managing social media platforms in a way that worked to engage people and invite them onto a journey. Read more>>

Stevie Heptig

I have been very fortunate with my career. I signed my first professional performance contract in 2017 when I was 20 years old, to be a singer in a show touring the Dominican Republic. Since then, I have performed on many contracts throughout the world as either a dancer, singer, or actor. I have worked in NYC, LA, Las Vegas, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Guam, and multiple cruise ships sailing to Alaska, the Caribbean, the Baltic, the United Kingdom, and more. Read more>>

Germarius Major

I am blessed to earn a full-time living from my creative work. It all began with having a vision and goal and then making an intentional decision to invest in that goal every chance I could. It wasn’t like this from day 1 but I put the time and effort in to be able to live this life everyday. I continued to work my 9-5 everyday job and squeezing in my creative work and passion either after work hours, on the weekends, or even holidays. My first objective was to eliminate as much debt as I could to allow myself some breathing room if I decided to peruse my passion full time. Once I eliminated debt I used my regular job to invest into my passion. Read more>>

Wy Mac

Earning a full-time living from my creative work has been a journey—definitely not something that happened overnight. It took time, trial and error, and a lot of perseverance to get where I am today. When I first started, I was fresh out of cosmetology school, working for companies like Drybar and juggling my passion projects on the side. I was performing whenever and wherever I could—like being on *Ireland’s Got Talent* and singing at NFL events in Las Vegas. Those experiences were pivotal, but they didn’t pay my bills – in fact they didn’t pay at all! Read more>>

Dr King

I was a school teacher and going to grad school full time. I wasn’t happy. A friend recommended me for a gig in Japan singing at a club 6 nights a week. I quit everything and jumped on a plane and took a chance on myself. That one decision taught me to believe in myself and trust my gut. After my contract was up in Japan, I moved back home to Cleveland. Nothing was going for me there. A friend asked me to come to NYC with her to audition for The Voice. I auditioned and made it a few rounds but was then cut. That time in NYC reminded of being in Japan. I thought to myself “I could live here”. Two weeks later I packed 2 bags and took another chance on myself. Read more>>

Meghan Melia Kindsvater

I was working full time and in school for my MBA when I first started taking pictures professionally. I had been a hobbyist photographer and as friends and family took notice I was asked to do portraits or cover birthday parties and then finally a wedding. After that first wedding I was asked to do a few more, and within three years had to resign from my job to focus on photography full time. When I first took the leap into entrepreneurship I knew that I would be able to financially support myself for a year. And if I needed to go back to work after that first year that I would. Thirteen years later I am still successfully self employed and passionate about the industry.  Read more>>

Irene Rofail

Earning a full time living from creative work took time, I only really became fully self-employed as a creative about 6 years ago. I did a variety of jobs working in everything from property management, to selling spices and tea’s, to video and photo editing for a few local studios. Meanwhile always trying to keep working in my field, I created logo designs and graphics as a freelancer, but I wasn’t earning enough income to live off of that. I eventually was approached by a recruiter to interview for a job as a graphic designer at a larger company in the area, I really felt good about finally getting a full time job as a creative. Read more>>

James Mitchell

Fortunately I’ve been able to pay the bills through my creative work. Originally I split time as a musician and illustrator / graphic designer in my twenties. Eventually I ended up building furniture and fabricating objects for other designers as well. I’ve been doing this full time now for about ten years and the last three of those years have been solely dedicated to getting Studio Big Moon off the ground, which is my furniture and fabrication studio. I felt a lot of the usual obstacles that other artists and craftspeople feel at first like finding my niche and establishing the right price points. Read more>>

Joseph Raymond

Started working in a makeshift art studio AFTER work all day from 10pm-1:am creating art to sell until 4 years into it and multiple art shows later my sales from art exceeded my regular job. I then decided to go full time artist and I’ve never looked back! Read more>>

Felipe Zamudio

At first feel, earning a living from creative work is one of the most liberating experiences one can have. You don’t have a boss. You don’t have to clock in. You don’t have to come up with small talk in the elevator every morning when you arrive to the office. The lack of expectations of you is where the catch is. I have never been a perfectionist in anything I have pursued in my life. Although, being a freelance creative will at least have you walking towards that path, and the more that you are passionate about your work, the more you start to sprint. A major milestone of being able to make a freelance career work is to understand two things. Read more>>

Frank Marquette

In the early 1990s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was struggling as a freelance graphic artist and raising three daughters. My wife encouraged me to scratch my creative by auditioning for a local theater group. I was cast, and after my first performance I was asked to audition for a murder mystery dinner theater company. Dinner theater? How does one perform for an audience who are indulging in food and drink, and possibly heckling the show? Well, I was cast and in a very short period of time I was driven by the idea of turning my passion into a beneficial and profitable venture. Read more>>

Seth Mosley

Yes, I’m grateful to say that I’ve been able to earn a full time living since leaving high school in 2005. I started songwriting and producing with a little studio setup in my parents basement when I was in high school where I started recording records for my friend’s bands. One of those projects was heard by a studio owner in Columbus, Ohio, and he liked what he heard and ended up hiring me full time to help run his studio for a couple of years. Read more>>