Editor’s note: guest post by Leanne Regalla

Do you ever feel like you’re selling your creative soul for a measly paycheck in a “safe” job?

Maybe you never finished writing your book because you just knew you couldn’t pay the bills with it. Or you set aside playing that instrument when it came time to start really making a living. You think you could have gone farther with your photography, but you know that you’d just end up investing way more money on the equipment than you’d ever make from it.

Most of us have a story like this.

After all, art is a lot of work. It requires putting yourself out there and being open to criticism. Why go through all that hassle when (conventional wisdom says) artists are always poor and struggling?

My Unexpected Quest

I thought the same things many years ago, when I started learning music as an adult. I knew in my gut my job wasn’t the best fit, but it was pretty good and I thought it was too late to change careers. I immersed myself in music simply because I loved it. Honestly, I didn’t expect any returns at all and certainly not financial ones.

I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Since I took that first step, I’ve successfully started part-time careers in teaching music, writing songs and performing, coaching, and most recently, blogging. I also finally got to the point where the income I generate from these activities could replace my full-time income.

It took time. I made mistakes. I invested a great deal of time and money and wasted some too. But over time the benefits far outweighed the costs, and many opportunities came from sources I never anticipated.

You don’t have to feel trapped. You have many more options than you realize.

The surprising truth is that opportunities pop up all over once you get started. Here are just a few examples of the benefits I’ve experienced from pursuing a creative career, and you could too.

1. Tax benefits of creative work

Once you start treating your hobby as a business, you can write off many of the expenses you incur in the course of doing work you love. That includes equipment, supplies, networking lunches, training, travel, and much more.

I was able to write off most of my lessons, workshop and course fees, materials, and related travel expenses while I learned the ropes in new industries and applied what I learned in my businesses.

Think of it as a cash-back bonus for being the artist you already are and doing what you love.

2. Creativity spillovers into other areas

Creativity is really a way of life. It doesn’t stay confined to your studio when you are writing, designing, sculpting, or marketing. Your ideas, inventive solutions to problems, growing resume of experiences, and newly acquired skills flow over into all areas of your life. Everything you do benefits.

Let’s say you become a whiz at writing newsletters to market your wares. That skill can easily carry over into your day job and increase your value to your current employer. You could also help peers with your new knowledge as a freelancer.

Training skills are definitely transferable. A Train-the-Trainer session that I initially dreaded taking at my full-time job gave me many super ideas to strengthen the career and music workshops I offer.

3. Surprising job and gig offers

When you are inspired and passionate about your work, everyone notices. Your excitement attracts both people and offers you never expected. Folks see that you have something going on and they love to be part of that momentum.

When I promote my teaching studio, I often get more offers to perform. It seems counterintuitive, but the visibility keeps me on top of peoples’ minds.

Each time I expanded into new areas in my music career, I’ve gotten more excited about life in general. Colleagues sensed that passion and offered me both full-time and part-time jobs. This is common. You’ll find that some offers are tempting, some are not, but it sure is nice to be in demand!

4. Partnership and collaboration opportunities

Once you go public with your art, writing, or music, other people start to see what you are doing and how you can work together. They propose ideas for collaborations and new projects.

Just by setting out as a solo musician and teacher, I’ve gotten opportunities to be in bands, to collaborate on songwriting, writing and instructional products, to head up festival committees, and even to be on a foundation board.

If you had asked me when I started, I never would have anticipated I’d have had these all these great experiences. You’ll never know unless you take the steps.

5. Fan funding options

Fan funding, also known as crowdfunding, is huge right now. It has plusses and minuses but overall there are many advantages for artists. If you grow your platform through helping other people, they will likely be very happy to return the favor with your latest project – whether it’s a book, e-book, live production, CD, exhibit, or video.

These campaigns are a lot of work to do well. You’ll need to do your research and keep up the momentum and the communication. But the results will be well worth it. Your backers become part of your support team.

I recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for a music festival and may use the experience I gained to record my next CD. If you have a dream project and even a start of a fanbase, it pays to test the waters.

6. Charity sponsorships

Businesses commonly sponsor the performing arts and related events. Charity sponsorships, although lesser known, are growing quickly.

Performers develop very loyal and trusting fanbases and charities are happy to pay artists to take a few minutes out of a show or presentation to raise awareness and leverage the trust they’ve built with their audiences. This form of outreach is more effective than any other advertising the charities do, including print media, radio, or TV. Anyone who is regularly in front of groups – speaking, performing, or teaching – can apply, and the income potential is significant.

My musical mentor has headed up these programs for 20 years and is pushing the $1B mark for monies raised for charity, with artists from all levels and walks of life. The only requirement is that you be in front of people 20-25 times per year, either performing, speaking, or teaching workshops, etc. You could be in coffee shops, schools, libraries, festivals, or stadiums filled with tens of thousands.

Today’s audiences are socially conscious and often want to help. Charities value the relationships you’ve built with your fans. You can do good in the world and supplement your income. Everyone wins.

7. Becoming a certified teacher

Your mentor or coach may train others to do the same work they do. If you are a star student and advocate, you may benefit from being certified to teach their method. You have a trusted credential and exposure to their audience of already engaged fans.

Adding a proven, world class performance program to my regular music lessons was great for my program offerings as well as for my students. I receive a commission on top of my regular teaching rates, but most importantly I represent a successful approach that I practice and strongly believe in.

If this idea appeals to you, start doing some research in your field and studying with people you admire.

8. Grant opportunities

I am learning more about these as a I am preparing a proposal for a non-profit community arts program. There are grants and residencies available to individual artists if you are willing to do the research, put in the work to craft an amazing proposal, and prove that your art fulfills a need in the community that foundations champion.

Grant writing is a skill like any other. It takes willingness to learn and hone your craft, but it’s well worth the effort.

The bottom line?

You don’t have to know where all your money will come from before you even begin. As a matter of fact, NOT starting is what keeps you from finding the opportunities! Inaction and indecision are the culprits that leave money on the table.

There are truly as many ways to fund a creative career as there are people in the world.

Be open. Apply as much creativity to finding ways to get paid for your work as you do to actually doing your art.

Take those steps. If you’re at all serious about making money with your art, you won’t need to sell your soul forever just to keep a roof over your head.

Leanne Regalla spent over 20 years in corporate America. Twelve of those years she pulled double duty as a part-time entrepreneur, much to the dismay of her black lab. Leanne is now a self-employed writer, musician, and coach who is on a mission to help creative people of all types how to pursue their art without going broke, living in their cars, or starving to death. Grab insider tips on building a solid income here The Rebel Artists’ Mastermind – 12 Top Experts Speak Out On Making Audacious Money From Your Creative Career.

A couple of weeks ago, I got caught telling a whopper set of lies.

I was waiting for my daughter to get out of school, when another mum asked, “How are you doing?”

“Good,” I said breathlessly, “but crazy busy!”

(Lie #1: I certainly was busy, but I was not well at all.  My back pain had returned in spades and the stress was so bad I’d started getting recurrent cold sores in my mouth.)

“I’ve got a launch coming up, I created a new product, and I’m wrapping up the book chapter I’ve been writing on contract.  And of course the hubby’s been out of town a lot, so doing most of the child care. But,” I sighed, “I just have to get through April and things will slow down.”

My friend cocked her head and asked, “Haven’t you been saying that since October?”

Lie #2, that I thought everything would “slow down next month,” was the worst of all, because at least part of me believed it.  Indeed, I’d been engaged in a vocational sprint for more than six months, where the finish line always remained just a few steps ahead of me.

In my last update on my no goals experiment, I shared 3 strategies for de-cluttering your commitments. I’m here to say I tried juggling and failed.  It was a good experiment, but at least for me, I couldn’t make it work.

I decided the only real solution was to remove all work commitments and start completely over.

For many of my clients, the thought of starting over is one of their biggest fears.  There were certainly days I just wanted to curl up and hide in my room.  I was so stressed about the how: how to break ties without burning bridges, how to throttle back without losing momentum, and how to focus on the work I love without burning out.

In this post, I’ll show you how I’m addressing all three of those concerns and how you might do the same.

A while back, I published a review of the new book Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath.  I talked about some of the major pitfalls people make when trying to make big decisions where they didn’t have a lot of relevant prior experience to guide them.  As part of a book give-away (now over, sorry), I invited folks to share one big decision they were struggling with.

The response was over-whelming.

Many were along the lines of “Should I change careers/jobs or not?”  If you read the review, you know that “whether or not” type decisions are dangerous anyway. But this one in particular is troubling because it jumps to a solution (changing careers/jobs) before identifying the problem.

And THAT is a recipe for making a bad decision.

It occurred to me that before I can help you design a career you love, we have to discover and address the underlying problem.  If you’ve been struggling with the idea of career change for a while, you probably know this is easier said than done.

Over the next two weeks, that’s exactly what we’re going to tackle.  I’ll be running a free mini-course that unpacks the “Should I change” question and takes a step back.  We’ll examine

1. How to productively reframe the “I don’t know what I want, but it’s not this” mindset
2. How to challenge the limiting beliefs that hold you back
3. How to discover the real problem you’re trying to solve when contemplating career change
4. How to widen your options and prevent a catastrophic wrong turn
5. Case studies of alternatives that produced big wins

Finally, at the end of the two weeks, I’ll host a live Q&A webinar on April 20th that wraps up all the material and helps you confidently plan your next step, whether that’s a career tweak or a big leap.

This is a mini-course, which means I don’t want you to just READ about this topic–there are actual exercises to do that I’ve never released before.  That’s going to require some work and engagement on your part, but hey, it’s Spring.  Instead of cleaning your house, let’s work on the things that are really nagging you.

Of course, there is a catch.  Everything in the course is private and exclusive for my subscribers.  It also happens to be free for a limited time. If you’d like access to the material without paying big bucks, you have to sign-up here.

All the course material comes down on April 28, so don’t put this off.

Why am I doing this?  The No Regrets Career Academy will be opening again in just a few weeks. But as good as the No Regrets material is, I realized it’s worthless if you’re incapable of making a decision on the first question: should I consider a new career?  I’ll probably turn this into a paid course in the future, but for now, consider it my way of saying thanks.

Hope to see you on the other side!