We recently connected with Sarah Miller and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I have one of the coolest and cutest jobs ever. I open my email to an inbox of adorable dog and cat pictures every morning. I get to watch my favorite TV show New Girl for the 10th time while I paint. I get to work from home with very flexible hours. My customers are always incredibly nice to me. And yet I STILL fantasize about having a regular job every single day. I get lonely being the only person at my job and I wish I could share the responsibility and bounce ideas off of a friendly coworker. I wish I could slack off for an hour every now and again or take a vacation and still being getting paid. When I started doing this at 21 I didn’t care about all these things, but now about to turn 27 wish I had a salary, 401k, and affordable health insurance. This year I’ve felt like I’m a pivotal point where I can still start over in the corporate world or really double down with this business as my future. I’m still not sure where I land and it’s been causing me a lot of stress! I simply cannot confirm that the grass is greener for the self employed.

Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Sarah Miller and I have been a full-time custom watercolor pet portrait artist for 4 years. I started painting pets for my fellow college students at Georgia College & State University for only $8 each, and I never stopped. As a self-taught artist I continued to approve by practicing and now my most popular portraits sell for $195! I used to be SO annoyed that I had to go to soccer practice and my business school classes when I could be painting. I worked very hard in college to have the customer referral base to take it full-time when I graduated. My motto is that I will always paint every pet as if it were my own. What makes my process extra special is the email exchanges between my customers and me. I will cry alongside my grieving dog owners, and “awww” at all 50 pictures of your cat on your camera roll. More than just sending me reference pictures, I encourage everyone to tell me their pet’s adoption story, favorite toys, activities, and quirks. It helps me capture their unique disposition in the painting.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I started painting pets around 2018, we were in our “Girl Boss Era.” Like I actually called myself a Girl Boss and had no idea I would be cringing a few years later. I was listening to podcasts like The Skinny Confidential, which told me if I wasn’t hustling every single minute of every day I wasn’t good enough. I almost gave myself arthritis trying to paint until 10pm during the week. Then when covid hit in 2020, we all had an excuse to take a breath. I was surprised to find this excuse to not put work above everything was incredibly relieving. Unlearning the hustle culture has been so healing for me to prioritize my life. And I don’t think I can go back to my old ways anymore.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My main source of new customers is from Instagram. In 2019, I was posting almost every single day and I was VERY slowly gaining followers. But my big break was when Jonathan Van Ness from Queer Eye tagged me in a post with a portrait of his cats I had painted in the background. My instagram started blowing up and I was getting tons of orders! It was the best feeling in the world and gave me the momentum to keep going for a few months. I think growing a following on Instagram is harder than people think and getting a boost from someone with a huge following is the only way I made it in front of 9,812 followers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarahpaintspets.com
• Instagram: @sarahpaintspets
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarahpaintspets

Image Credits
Rare Love Stories