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

Alright, Dylan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

For the last 12 months, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living as an independent artist. However, it has not always been like this. As an engineering student, I loved using my imagination to create one of a kind projects but I was suddenly removed from the classroom due to COVID-19. In April 2021, I created my first mosaic as a way to continue my engineering education because online education was not meeting my expectations. With little to no expectations, I started a new social media account as my way to show some love to the professional athletes that I admired. Tons of professional sports teams loved my work and constantly asked for videos for their channels. As a result, I continued to perfect my artistic craft and content creation strategy. One of my major milestones that convinced me to be fully committed was my collaboration with the NBA during 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend in Cleveland. I was the sole creator/artist there that was able to share my work while being surrounded with the top NBA Partners and Sponsors (Meta, AT&T, Wilson, KIA, etc.). From that point on, I have been a full-time artist working with countless professional sports teams and organizations consistently. I do think one of the major differentiators from other artists and myself is my business background and ability to sell.

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

My name is Dylan Sadiq, better known as The College Cuber. I create life-sized mosaics of my favorite professional athletes out of hundreds or thousands of Rubik’s Cubes. My artwork has unified fans from every league, in-person and on social media. My “artistic” ability is rooted from my engineering education where I am familiar with imagining, designing, and creating solutions to unique problems.

I am most proud of the high-profile clients that I consistently work with although my social media following is relatively low. I primarily work with professional sports teams and athletes. I offer 3 main services to my clients. When my clients are looking to celebrate a milestone or increase engagement, I create a unique piece of content for their channels. I also offer live, interactive art performances where I create my artwork throughout the course of an event. All of the fans in attendance can experience the artwork come to live as well as learn about my process and story. My final aspect of my business are my commissions which are unlike any other artist because of their ability to be revised in the future. My cubes are framed, not glued, which opens the opportunity to change the design at any time.

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

I have been able to build a social media audience more so through the clients I have worked with. Since my clients love to share our collaboration, it has built my social media audience over time. As much as I know social media presence is crucial for a business to grow, I would suggest to treat your creative business AS A BUSINESS FIRST. There are too many artists that know nothing more than how to create art which restricts their ability to grow. Once you are established as a small business, a social media presence will skyrocket your business.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It is so important to know that there are highs and lows in any business AT ALL TIMES. Even if you are doing everything right, things will still go wrong. The only thing you can get good at is how quickly and efficiently you will react to things going wrong. For example, I worked with the Tennessee Titans who commissioned 2 pieces of artwork for their corporate office. After spending countless hours and thousands of dollars to create these works, they were damaged in shipment. This was absolutely heartbreaking and such a hard time for my small business. I decided to just take the loss and replace the works all on my dime. This showed my resilience as a business and my determination to keep my clients happy. I know that this was a learning experience for me and helped me grow as a business in the long run.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thecollegecuber.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollegecuber_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecollegecuber/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-sadiq-34a25b19b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecollegecuber
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJsL8KQcu9jvlhIlSSRm5A