We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cole Connor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cole, thanks for joining 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?

Earning a living from creative work is a hell of a journey. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of work. For the first 5-6 years of my career as a creative, I don’t think I felt like there was really any other way to survive other than working serving jobs and doing art OR going to college to do some career I didn’t want. I didn’t register that I could get creative with my passions and start to make money with them.

At 23, something clicked with me. I did some internships and really studied the successful people in my town. I realized that if they can do it, I can too. I studied business and entrepreneurship and thankfully found a way to make money as a creative. For me, it was photography and videography. I initially started just to save money and learn how to make my own content for my music.

I learned so fast and found a niche in real estate photography. I was able to build a 6 figure business in just a few years on the east coast, and eventually move over to LA with a great portfolio. I honestly just feel very lucky to have this. I don’t have to get a job I hate. I control my destiny. It’s beautiful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in the woods of Dalzell, SC where I spent most of my time adventuring, reading, playing sports and writing.

At 15, I found a desire to want to start making videos and write and at 17, I figured out how to turn my poems into rap songs.

I didn’t really know what I was doing with either, but I just had a gut feeling to keep doing. After injuring my ACL on the football field, I went all into making music.

I went to Clemson for a year before dropping out to further pursue it. Rap and women were all I could think about. I made mixtapes and found a little success locally and on blogs.

At 20, I made a big leap and moved to Columbia, SC for more opportunity. I connected with my mentor, hip-hop artist and entrepreneur, FatRat Da Czar. We were apart of the collective, NewSC, with other talented Columbia artists.

I dropped two solo albums and participated in 2 albums with NewSC from 2013-2016. My 2016 album SODA was one of the FreeTime’s top SC albums.I performed at SXSW, Spartanburg Spring Fling and Love, Peace & Hip-Hop festivals as well as opened for artists such as Ghostface, Mobb Deep, KRS One, Kid-N-Play, Slick Rick and Jack & Jack. All the while, I was struggling to make money with various jobs I tried over the years.

Investing in my dreams became pretty difficult as I spent more and more time in music, and at 23, once I realized I could learn a skill and make money off of it as an entrepreneur, I quit working as a server, pizza delivery driver and part-time social media strategist for a Columbia based PR firm, to found Apollo’s Bow Strategies, a marketing agency with a niche in real estate photo and video.

I struggled for about 2 years before being relatively stable, but I fell in love with entrepreneurship and making money to fund my creative ventures.

My focus shifted out of necessity to making money, and I released less music.

Over the next 3 years, I grew my business to six-figures, hired people, starting releasing music again and started a Youtube channel to record the journey and teach other creatives along the way. I also started to do small film projects as both director, editor and actor.

The more I fell in love with the arts, I felt in my gut I needed to move to a city like LA to surround myself with creative people and resources to make my goals and dreams happen.

In 2020, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my dreams of music, acting and film. With the pandemic and some internal business corruption, my business fell apart, and I had to start over in a way. It was devastating.

I moved to Beaufort, SC to begin again where my mother and step-father lives. I restarted my business, and it grew so much faster than it did the first time around. I found success, kept doing YouTube, making music and by 2021, I launched the Creative Survival Guide, a course/coaching program and community designed to help creatives go from starving artist to creative entrepreneur.

I also decided with my partner to move to LA again and give this things another shot. We moved in August 2021. I struggled for the first year to feel settled and stabilize my business, but the second year has been so fulfilling.

In 2022, I quadrupled my real estate marketing business, Bow Los Angeles, and launched the production company, Apollo’s Bow, where I’ll be focused on telling stories to challenge the norm and inspire. I took acting classes, met amazing people, grown my YouTube channel significantly and started working on new music.

And finally, 2023 is the year I’m really seeing all the work start to come together. I’m working on organizing the Creative Survival Guide to help all types of creatives, telling the stories I’ve always wanted to tell with Apollo’s Bow, auditioning for all types of films and working on some really exciting things with music.

My motto is “No Niche”. I can’t pick just one creative outlet, and honestly, I don’t want to. I feel excited about what’s to come. LA is a big part of that. It’s scary coming somewhere new and starting over. You feel isolated. I did at least. I’m just thankful to have a great support system, friends and the will to keep pushing. I’m proud that I even got this far. It’s wild.

Obstacles:

Ha. It has not been smooth. There have been too many obstacles to name, but to name the biggest, I’d have to say there’s always a struggle of balance, money, mental strength and being open to love and relationships. Particular to me, I had some major setbacks in momentum a few times, but I like to believe they were necessary for my growth. Leaving school was tough. I separated from the collective which was tough. And a partner I had join my business ended up stealing the business from me at one point. That was tough.

I really have to believe that these things happen to make me stronger and help me appreciate where I’ve come from. The obstacles make the wins feel so special. What I’ve found is that no matter how low I get knocked down, I always come back stronger and move “up” much faster than I did before.

I could write a book on all the obstacles, but ultimately, we just keep going and keep creating. I won’t stop.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I feel like every day I’m unafraid to dive into my deepest thoughts, the darkest places, and the brightest ones too. I crave growth and learning. Some days I want to just be still. Some days I want to sail around the world. I embrace the ups and downs. The most amazing thing is I get to soak in what it is to be human, and then create art that tells that story. And the reward is not just creating it, it’s also when you see another person be inspired by it. It’s special.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Ethan Hawk has a great quote about art. “Do you think human creativity matters? Well, most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about poetry, right? They have a life to live and they’re really not that concerned with Allen Ginsberg’s poems or anyone’s poems—until, their father dies; they go to a funeral; you lose a child; someone breaks your heart. And all of a sudden you’re desperate for making sense out of this life. ‘Has anybody felt this bad before? How did they come out of this cloud?’ Or the inverse—something great. You meet somebody and your heart explodes—you love them so much you can’t even see straight. You’re dizzy. ‘Did anybody feel like this before? What is happening to me?’ And that’s when art’s not a luxury—it’s actually sustenance. We need it.”

Just swallowing that quote, and admitting that art is important. Going out and seeing more shows. Creating yourself. I think we are all artists really. So if we just encourage the child in us more, I think it would make our creative ecosystem thrive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coleconnor.com/
• Instagram: @thecoleconnor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmqe0lYOIUKfOkV-xXCxmYA

Image Credits
Larry Frazier Christo Dimassis Richardson Reigart