If you’re a creative person, working a nine to five that doesn’t support that can feel totally wrong. You might be forever doodling away on office note paper, or mentally wandering off during meetings while thinking about a story idea, and it takes a lot of energy (and a few embarrassing moments!) to get you back on track again.
It’s clear something needs to change! And now could be the time to make that change. If you want to make a career out of more creative pursuits, make use of tips like these and turn your dream into a reality.
Practice in Your Discipline
What is your chosen creative pursuit? You might have a few, but what one do you always come back to? Whatever it is, that’s the discipline to focus on.
After all, once you’ve mastered the basics, you can start to diversify. For example, someone who knows how to draw can then learn how to use Adobe and other suites.
The more you practice, the stronger your skill will be.
Apprentice Under a Master
Getting an artistic apprenticeship can be a challenge. Learning from the greats is one of the best ways to refine your skill and network amongst clients and contacts alike, but competition for these positions is rife.
However, in a lot of artistic fields, such as tattooing, apprenticeships are the only way to really get your name out there – no matter how good you are at using tattoo ink already! Working and learning at the same time, under the guidance of someone who knows what they’re doing, will allow you to build a long term career.
So work towards putting together a shiny and professional portfolio, and then look into finding yourself a mentor who’s willing to work with you. Not every great name in your chosen industry will be, but the more you reach out, the likelier you are to find someone.
Think About Ways to Retrain
You’ve probably spent a lot of time (and money) on getting to this point in your career, even if it’s one you don’t like or don’t get on with anymore. If you want to do something more creative, however, you may need to head back to school and retrain in order to stand out as a job market applicant.
To find the time and energy to do that, you may need to give up your current job. That will be hard on your budget, even if you live in a dual or more income household, and you never know how long it’ll take you to get on your feet again after your course is finished.
As such, look into ways to retrain that’ll allow you to keep money flowing in while you make new plans. If this means changing to a part time working structure, so be it! If it means picking up a side hustle after handing in your notice, why not?!
If you’re creative, make sure your career reflects that!
