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

Megan, appreciate you 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?

Being a full-time creative artist is definitely not for the faint of heart. You really have to love what you’re doing and you have to be able to push yourself through on those days when you want to just curl up in a ball and give up. People say you’ll never work a day in your life if you love what you do, but that’s just not true. It’s nothing but hard work and dedication when you are trying to earn a full-time living as a creative. I am blessed to be able to make money doing what I love, but I do work my butt off, and there is always an area of uncertainty. You really have to believe in yourself in order to make it work.

I am a full-time fire performer and part time singer/songwriter. Singing and making music is my true passion, but it’s very challenging to make money as a musician releasing original music. Most of the money I make is from dancing or singing covers. I also run a design business & shop on the side that helps me get through the slower months.  You really do have to be creative and resourceful to make it in this industry. Is it worth it though? Totally.

Megan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a solo artist, releasing music under my birth given name, Megan Morrison. Last year I released my first solo rock album titled Appetite for Freedom, as well as a music video for my song Devil Said Roam. I have a passion for singing rock music, but I also love electronic music. Last year I released a track titled Shadows on The Wall on the Anjunadeep label. It was a collaboration with Wild Dark and 16BL and was supported by Above and Beyond, which was really cool. I love that I have two totally different styles of music released because some days I feel like rocking out, and other days I feel more mellow.

Besides doing music, I am also a full-time fire performer. I perform anywhere from 3-6 nights a week, mostly in Miami. It’s a really fun way to make a living and I absolutely love doing it. Is it dangerous? Yes, definitely. It took me many years to get where I am today as I performer and I still have so much to learn.

I used to be a full-time bartender and I only performed part time. It was fun at first and the money I made from bartending was much more consistent than performing. I started bartending when I moved to NYC to pursue my dream of being a Broadway singer. It’s a tough city to be an artist in and you have to make money somehow. Eventually I moved to Miami for a change of scenery and I continued to bartend, but I really didn’t enjoy it anymore. It wasn’t until the spring of 2020 when everything shut down that I had time to really examine my life and figure out what I wanted to do. That’s when I started my design business, 9 Lives Designs. With all the free time I had in those few months when the world shut down, I was able to start my website and make a business plan. Once places started to open back up, I was offered my old bartending job, but I decided that chapter of my life was ready to come to a close, so I graciously declined and took a leap of faith. Later that year I started fire performing full time, finished recording my album and had a design business that was actually starting to profit.

When I look back, I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself for taking a chance and betting on me. I’ve been a fully self-supporting creative for over 3 years now.

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

If you didn’t know me that well, from the outside, ten years ago my life probably looked pretty great. I was making a lot of money bartending at a prestigious restaurant, modeling part time, singing in a badass grunge rock band, I bought a house and I was engaged to be married to the love of my life. Life was pretty sweet, but I was secretly battling alcohol addiction and was on the losing end of the battle. I had lost my dad five years earlier to the same thing and was heading down the that same road. Fast forward one year, I just had my dream wedding and I was struggling to stay afloat. A few months later I ended up in a rehab center. That year was the hardest year of my life, but something shifted in me and eventually after two tries, I came out of rehab sober and a changed woman. I had a totally different outlook on life and I was ready to kick ass.

I jumped right back in to performing and filmed a music video with my old band, Dorothy’s Surrender. I also jumped right back into bartending, which was challenging, and I don’t recommend it for anyone trying to get sober, but the mental shift I had was so drastic, that I wasn’t even tempted to drink. I told myself that if I ever was, I would walk out of my shift and that would be the end of bartending. I finally started to value my life and respect myself. I am still sober today, eight years later.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

It didn’t take long for my sobriety to start to define who I was. This new person I became started to reflect in the music I was making and in my stage presence and I wanted to share it with the world. I decided to not recover in private and I got really open about it through my songwriting and on my social media channels. I started speaking in treatment centers with the hopes of inspiring others to join me on this road to spiritual freedom and self-love. My happiness and new found love for life was inspiring me to help others who were struggling with addiction or mental health.

To this day it is my goal to be open and honest about how I am feeling and to reflect that through my art, in hopes of helping someone who may be struggling. No one should feel like they have to suffer alone or in silence.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.morrisonmusicofficial.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganmorrisonmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeganMorrisonMusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MMorrisonMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/morrisonmusic
• Other: https://meganmorrison.fanlink.to/AppetiteforFreedom, https://www.9livesdesigns.co/

Image Credits
Cassandra Trcka, Michael Bauman, Megan Faxel, Sean Pozin