I QUIT My tech job to be a full time artist

In this video I share what I am doing to start my business, how the plan is going, and hopefully by watching this you can get inspired to do something similar with your art practice.

I’ve been an artist for many years but in May I decided to come out of hiding and take my work seriously again. I am about 4 months out (October 2023) from quitting my old retail job to focus on art full time and I love it. I’m teaching art again with full autonomy to build the courses I dream about. And I’m getting regularly excited about all of the different things that I can offer and build.

I’ll start with a general update for you and bit about my first market and then go into what I’m doing to get ready for Makers/Craft/Artisan Markets in the Bay Area this spring. Next up, I'll share where and how I am teaching and tutoring, and the ways I’m approaching commissions and selling my paintings.

I’ll go into detail on how I’m using Substack to combine a space for patrons to support me, and keep up a writing habit, plus a few more things. I spent a few months working to estimate and track realistic income streams and create goals that really allowed me to make the jump away from being a W2 employee into the world of freelance and full-time artist life.

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my old Real Estate Pitch -- if you want to check it out! https://melmitchelljackson.com/home-portraits-bay-area-re

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The book I recommended! Finance for the People by Paco de Leon (this is an affiliate link to my bookshop store)

Like the music in the background? It’s by my amazing partner Wesley Jackson. I used clips of his instrumental work in this video. Wes is working on finalizing a new record right now but check out his archive of great stuff. 🎶 Check out his music on Apple Music