How I Became a Full-Time Artist

I’ve jumped around from job to job for a long time. I used to be a hairdresser, a cashier, a barista, a dog daycare attendant, and a dog walker. The one constant in my life was art. I've always wanted to be an artist and I started selling my art in 2019. I just recently decided to take the leap into being a full time artist. It's not easy, but I literally cannot see myself doing anything else. Dog walking was the most fun job I've had and it hurt to leave, but it was hurting even more not putting my everything into my business.

Before taking the leap, I worked part time, and used all my job money for any bills, while any business profit went right into my savings. Eventually I was able to pay off my car, and that was my turning point for being able to do this. Now, instead of a car bill, that money went into my savings as well, and I felt comfortable enough to just go for it.

I jumped into this journey head first, but I did make a plan for myself to accomplish it. Hopefully sharing this plan will help more artists jumpstart their own art journey!

The first thing I had to do is identify my current income. All my art income, and income from my day job. I used data from three months back to find my average income.Then, Identify my expenses and budget. After going through my bank statements, again, three months back, I found my average expenses for my bills. Once I found these numbers, I began budgeting, and planned to adjust spending where necessary. Switching from going to Dunkin every day to buying iced coffee with my groceries saved me about $50/week. I also was getting way too much takeout, and swapped to making my favorite take out meals at home. Now that extra $50+ i had per week went towards business supplies, or stashed into my savings. I still enjoy getting take out from my favorite local restaurants, and get the occasional Dunkin, but definitely not as often.

I was dog walking at the time, and at this time in my journey, I decided I was comfortable enough to quit and go full time. My original plan was to slowly start taking days off from work, and focus solely on my business on those days. I was going to track my income every month and reassess my revenue and expenses. From there, I would decide to take more days off from dog walking, or keep it the way it was.

Now that I've jumped into full time, my days look like: learning about digital marketing, writing, honing my craft, creating a community. Writing this all out makes it seem simple, and the core of it is, but it takes time and hard work. I'm still learning about this journey every day and I'm glad to have people like you along for the ride!