LIFE
How to make it
doing what you love Steps to move you from starvation to success By Jason Vance
1. Shift your mindset
8 | CONVERGE. sep - oct
2013
2. Don’t give it away for free That’s the biggest mistake I made. I gave too much away, especially to friends and family. Stop doing that right now. The problem with offering free or cheap work is it actually prevents you from doing the thing you most want to be doing. Which is being creative.
Flickr photo (cc) by Sarah Parrot
Jason lives in Kelowna with his pregnant wife and four kids. He spends most of his days dreaming and working on creative side projects. He can also be found doing design and website work as the owner of Red Mill Creative Inc.
So you want to make it as a creative. There’s a reason why they call us “starving artists.” You might not make enough money doing art or being creative. Almost everyone I know is trying to make it as an artist, so you should really just quit now. Go and work for the man. Give up. Because if you don't you'll probably hate everyone and live in a bus by the river. If you’re still reading, you’re probably serious about this. Yes, being a creative can be filled with long hours, late nights, and a lot of hair pulling. But it can also be a fun, rewarding, and flexible career path. Here is some advice I wish I had early on when I started out.
An artist is someone who creates something from nothing. That’s not so different from what an entrepreneur does. If you are going be successful, you need to think of yourself as an entrepreneur as well as an artist. Most artists exchange emotions, sometimes without payment. So take the emotion you are trying to create and give it a price.