Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christian Stanley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Christian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

July of 2022 marked a year since I left my 9-5 job and dove into our mural business (C. Stanley Creative) full time. I often get asked by other artists how we made this happen, and it certainly did not occur overnight. In the Fall of 2018 I was selected for my first public art piece, which was an electrical box in Ivanhoe Village, Orlando, Fl. With that ounce of experience in public art, I was able to land a spot at the 2019 Sam Flax Wall Mural Project. In the years between then and now, the projects began to snowball as more people learned about us and my artwork. At first it was one mural a month, and then two… eventually we were getting so many inquiries I could not keep up with them on my own. This summer my wife, Jessica, joined me full time at C. Stanley Creative. The business was something we were both working on part time from the beginning and it is great for us to now both be all-in.

I would love to say that there was a single project that really pushed us into the public eye, but in reality, it has been a gradual climb and we have learned a lot along the way. We have a few things going for us that have helped us succeed. While we are both creative people, we use that creativity in different ways. Mine comes out in the artwork, but Jess is creative behind the scenes in coming up with ideas to help us grow. Having a partner is very valuable.

When we started the mural business, it was for fun on the side. As more and more opportunities came knocking, we began to see a future with it and started taking it more seriously. Our business grew during the pandemic when there was (and still is) so much uncertainty. We decided we wanted to live lives in which we believed in ourselves. When opportunities presented themselves, we did not hesitate or limit ourselves with doubt. It has been a lot of hard work, adapting, and growth, but so far the value that having freedom of our time has been tremendous.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Christian Stanley and together with my wife Jessica Stanley we have built a mural company called C. Stanley Creative. While we are currently based out of Orlando, Florida, we are open to work on a national scale, and have murals in Memphis, TN., Clay Center, KS. and Las Vegas, NV. as well as all over Central Florida. We specialize in large scale original artworks, having completed projects up to 7,400 sf in size.

Feedback that we often get from our clients is that we are professional and easy to work with. Artists have a bad reputation for being flakey or unresponsive, but we do our best to operate in a friendly and courteous way that is respectful to our clients’ time. Our clients’ goals matter to us. We arrive on time, complete projects on schedule, and communicate in a way that reflects that.

We walk the line between being commercial muralists and professional artists. With C. Stanley Creative our clients receive a one-of-a-kind work of art with the clean functionality of a business facilitating the process.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Creatives know the truth: The work we do has value and there is a demand for it. When I began doing mural work more frequently, but was not yet painting full-time, I had a few people within my sphere who would make off-hand comments that were discouraging in nature, or questioning if it was a smart move to leave my job of nine years to lean completely on my own business. It is not wrong to question things, in fact it would be wrong NOT to, but I knew the demand was there and I knew our business model was solid.

Sure enough, I’ve been incredibly busy ever since. Being a muralist, I find myself at the junction of being an artist and a contractor of sorts. The job is very skilled and also physically demanding. It takes a certain kind of person to do the work. Our schedule has been consistently full with businesses eager to create unique spaces for their customers. The need for mural work is out there, and the work has value.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media has been a valuable tool for us. At this point we get about 75% of our mural inquires from Instagram. It makes sense, as it is a miniature portfolio with a massive audience already scrolling through it. We don’t have a huge following, but we have cultivated a wonderful community.

Our one tip for any social media platform would be to keep things positive and “work appropriate”… meaning, we operate our social media as a brand rather than a personal outlet for venting. We don’t want to say or do anything off-putting that would discourage a client from reaching out to us. There is already so much negativity online, and we don’t want to contribute to that.

We are on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok, and we like to have fun with things, but everything is always family-friendly. I have a 3 year old nephew who saw me lip-synch the word “stupid” one day in a reel. His mom called me up and put him on the phone and I got chewed out pretty good. I have to keep things clean with my 3 year old supervisor keeping me in line.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cstanleycreative.com
• Instagram: @cstanleycreative
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cstanleycreative
• Other: Tiktok: @CStanleyCreative