Lately, I’ve been reconsidering my career paths. I’ve concluded that making my dream career of being a published author my side gig, is not working out. I like to create: writing, drawing, and making videos. Creating as a career, however, comes second to working a stable full-time job. Working as an artist or author does not (yet) pay my bills or put food on my table.

One of the hardest things that creators have to do is make their creativity work for them—hence the term “starving artist.” Starving artists struggle to make a living from the fruits of their creativity and not all make it. Unless one busts their hump ‘round the clock, a day job is necessary for most creators. I, for example, work at a pharmacy to pay the bills. My true passions lie with writing and drawing but they currently don’t sustain me.

Lately, I’ve noticed that I’ve become way too comfortable at my full-time job. Even after I’ve acquired my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts and the loans that came with it, I haven’t done anything with my degree. I’m now settled into my overnight work routine and my debts. Risks now terrify me. Switching occupations, finally stepping out of my comfort zone is what I fear most. This is why I am where I am.

But, for the past few months, I’ve been ruminating and watching tips and guides on how to become self-employed and make my creativity work for me. I realized that there are at least five skills I, and other struggling creative-types, need in order to be successful. Now, some of these are personality traits, but I refer to them all as skills because they take effort to acquire. Like learning to play a sport or teaching oneself how to cook, these traits really need to be worked for. The five skills I am going to discuss are confidence, time management, engagement, self-promotion, and discipline.

Confidence

It’s no secret that the more confident you appear to be the more appealing to others you become. Confidence is extremely important, especially if you’re prone to self-deprecating or self-defeating thought patterns like I am. This goes double if you are a creative type and you’re not confident in your work. Confidence takes time and effort to build but it is a key part of marketing yourself to others. After all, if you don’t believe in your own abilities, why should prospective clients?

I personally don’t feel that my artwork is particularly attention grabbing, especially when compared to the millions of amazing artists out in the world whose prowess far exceeds mine. However, I remind myself that I’m improving my art skill. I remind myself that I have been drawing for a long time, so I do possess an ability that is valuable, and therefore marketable, to others. Everyone needs to find something they like about their work and hold fast to it: only then will they grow to love and be confident about it.

Time Management

Time management is a necessary life skill and something that should be taught as early as middle school. Time management is self-explanatory. I’m particularly talking about learning how to balance various jobs, clients, and personal projects. I, for example, am writing a novel and articles for an internship, but I also draw and paint and would like to start building up a client base for my artwork again. Thus, I would need to learn how to balance writing my novel and my articles with drawing and painting so I am productive without overworking myself.

Time management is one of my biggest hurdles, despite surviving college. Unfortunately, I’m still working on a successful system to balance my work with my personal projects. Nonetheless, I am currently working on different things every day in small bits and pieces. So, during the day, I draw or work on articles, and while I’m at work at night, I write my novel on my breaks. There are flaws in my system to be sure, but it is a step in the right direction. Time management is about balance. Find a schedule and equilibrium that suits your life. Don’t be upset if the rhythm becomes disrupted occasionally. Just be sure to get back on track as soon as you can.

Engagement

The technology of our era allows us all to be connected in ways that our ancestors could never even dream up. Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter—all of these social media platforms connect us in a dizzying web that spans the globe. The social sections of the internet are like a world unto themselves, creating pockets of subcultures like fandoms, fanbases for celebrities, or social-political groups. The internet makes these cultures so prolific, resulting in lots of niches for everyone to fill. If your creative outlet can supply for a particular demand, you can create a niche and attract an audience.

Engagement is a great way to get yourself seen and make yourself relevant to others. So, find a niche that you have passion in and connect with people there. If you have an Instagram or Tumblr account, compliment people’s work, or share it on your own page. If you have a question about someone’s creative process, ask them! They’re more likely to reach back than you think. And if they don’t? No worries! There are plenty of other people to connect with. The ‘like’ feature on most social media platforms has become an impersonal way to connect. Engaging in a community of people who like and create the same things you do takes more than liking their work. Engagement is about forging connections, and that requires some form of communication. “Likes,” while appreciated, don’t exactly communicate much.

Self-Promotion

Self-promotion is a combination of confidence and engagement. You have to trust that whatever content you’re creating is good enough to get people’s interest and, more importantly, that your craft is worth their investment. This requires you to be confident enough to present your work to corporations, independent labels, publishing houses, and other creative entities larger than yourself.

This can be extremely daunting for those that are hesitant to put themselves forward, but with practice comes perfection, and if you start on a small scale, you’ll become comfortable reaching out to big companies for sponsorships and career opportunities. And, depending on your level of success, they’ll start reaching out to you first. Promoting your work on social media is a great way to break into self-promotion because, if you’re on the reserved side like I am, the internet offers an element of distance between what you’re posting or who you’re trying to connect with. It is much easier to post artwork or writing on social media with a self-promoting description than it is to go up to people on the street or talk to a publishing agent for the first time.

Discipline/Diligence

One of the most important skills—especially if you procrastinate—is discipline and diligence. Talent can only take you so far when a part of you is resisting or avoiding making the effort it takes to make a living out of your creative passion.

Until this year, I wanted to become serious about my writing and my artwork, but I wasn’t disciplined. I would create and post one drawing only a few times a year as opposed to once a week, like I wanted. Because I’m not a disciplined person I quickly lost interest in working on another drawing. I would lose motivation—or my muse, so to speak—and since I was only motivated to draw a few times a year, I wasn’t churning out a satisfying number of drawings (nor was I improving artistically because I wasn’t practicing often enough).

The same can be said for my writing. I want to write books but I wouldn’t write daily, or even weekly. I wrote every once in a while, relying on motivation and inspiration, which were temporary. Now, I write every week because I’ve become more disciplined and more serious about becoming a novel writer. I’ve committed to working on the weekend and throughout the week, since drawings take me hours to complete.

I composed this list as a guide mostly for myself, but in this day and age, many people wish to make a living off of their creative passions, rather than work a 9-5 at a job they are not passionate about. I’m just learning a lot of these skills—particularly time management, confidence, and discipline—so I am by no means an expert. When I thought about why I haven’t excelled as a writer or artist in the past few years, why I was wasting time feeling comfortable in my day job, I thought about all of these skills.

Listening to YouTube channels like Practical Psychology (particularly his habit harvester playlist) about tips on how to earn extra income online gave me a few ideas that I translated into these skills—like not being afraid to put your work out there and continually posting even though it doesn’t receive a lot of views or likes.

The most important part is to do this at your own pace—go slow but don’t stop. These skills are also applicable to those who like to create purely for fun and aren’t interested in making a career out of it. If you don’t want to work a regular day job all your life, then don’t! Just be prepared to stick it out until your work takes you to better places! And, if you want to work a regular day job while creating on the side, that’s perfectly fine too. What works for some may not work for others. This is just a small tip list to give you an idea or two on what you need, personally, to get started.