As a creative, it can be surprisingly difficult to make money with your craft. There you are with an incredible skill that sets you apart from the rest, but turning this into a career can be tricky. As a writer, artist or musician for example you might feel like unless you get a big break you’re likely to be working your day job forever and having your passion as something that’s simply a hobby. However with the accessibility of the internet, there are increasing opportunities where you can use your skills to pay the bills. Here are a few ideas!
Musicians
If you have a love and passion for music, you don’t have to wait to get snapped up by a recording artist and become a star to do well. You could create tracks, one of which could be picked up by a producer to be used in film, tv or advertising. If you’re a bit of an audiophile (check out the explanation for this to see if you match up!) chances are you’re big on sound quality and details so your music will already be of an excellent quality. You could sell your music downloads, you could even play live gigs if you’re good and this is your kind of scene. Venues are always in need of bands for live music and you could be paid well for this. Another option would be to teach or tutor. You could offer singing lessons or instrument lessons to children or adults. Have a professional website created and turn it into an exciting business.
Photographers
Gone are the days when you have to hope one of your masterpiece photos sell and earn you a decent amount of money. You don’t even need to shoot weddings or portraits either, there are other options. Thanks to sites like Shutterstock you can make great, regular income from your photos as a photographer. You can upload your photos and you get a small amount of money every time someone downloads one, which means once the pictures are on the site you can continue earning from them with no additional work. You do need to know what kind of things people are after, for example flowers and landscapes are ten a penny. But pictures featuring people in different scenarios do very well, be aware anyone featuring will need to sign a model release form.
Artists
Again, no need to focus on one huge masterpiece and hope that it sells. There are plenty of smaller projects you can take on as an artist which can all combine to earn good money. You could upload things like illustrations and sketches as clip art on sites like Etsy. Every time someone downloads it you get some money so again once the work is done you can continue earning. You could use your drawings to make things like art prints and posters, greetings cards and more and sell these online or open up a shop or stall.