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I plan to quit my job so I can focus more on my hobby, thoughts?

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  • October 16, 2018 at 2:01 pm #231357
    Leocube
    Participant

    I’m currently working at one of the top restaurants in my city as a line cook. The pay is great. The reason why I do the jobs that I do is not because I was particularly passionate about it. In this case, I wasn’t very passionate about the culinary art. My first job fresh out of high school was at a pizza shop. I worked there for a couple of years, then I quit and since that was the only thing that I knew how to do, I looked for similar jobs in that industry. I’ve always had this urge in my nature to be better than everyone else around me. I will work 70+ hrs a week if that means that I could get ahead, even if getting ahead means more stress and more responsibilities, which, I don’t like. Back to the beginning, I am now working at a Michelin star restaurant. I’ve been working here for 6 months now and lately I’ve been feeling sick of it. Knowing my past pattern, once I started feeling this way, It was only a matter of time before I quit the job.

    I have been having this thought that I want to quit my job, or at least work less hours, so that I can focus on practicing and improving my hobby, which is drawing. I’ve always liked to draw as a kid. I stopped around middle school as I was busy trying to fit in at school, but I recognize that a shadow of my interest for drawing has been following me throughout my life. I’ve recently done some self-searching and I’ve came to the conclusion that I would like to start drawing seriously and hopefully one day I could be good enough to make a living out of it. I’ve worked non stop for the past 6 years and I have enough in my savings to be unemployed for 3 years. I want to quit my job because I’m just so tired of waking up everyday knowing that I’m working a job I don’t even like. I might never be good enough at drawing to make a living, but at this moment, there’s this urge that I have that tells me to just go with it. I would like a second opinion on my situation. I want to quit, but I also have this fear that I won’t be getting a stable income, knowing fully well that I have enough in my savings to be unemployed. It’s like I’m so used to working and having an income that the thought of being unemployed is anxiety inducing. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

    October 17, 2018 at 6:20 am #231487
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Leocube:

    What if you take not three years off from working but three months, or a month, see how that works for you, to not work for a month while you pursue drawing?

    anita

    October 19, 2018 at 3:32 pm #232055
    Joe
    Participant

    Leocube

    Would working part time be an option for you and then using the free time to draw? Do you have weekends off that you could dedicate to drawing?

    I hope what I’m about to write doesn’t discourage you but I was in a similar situation (although I didn’t have any savings to fall back on). I tried turning my illustration into a full time venture, but with very little money and still relying on parents for support. There was a lot of things I underestimated – promoting my work, not really having any kind of direction with my work, having to keep records of everything for tax purposes, business expenses (paying for a website, online listing fees, banking fees for the separate account I opened – on top of all that, it was difficult and discouraging for me when I wasn’t getting any responses. All this while dealing with depression and low confidence – I found that being in that mindset and trying to make it work was overwhelming.

    Many artists and illustrators need to use social media to promote themselves, and building an online following doesn’t happen overnight.  What I also found frustrating was all my friends and family constantly asking how much money I was making and when was I going to get a real job. I hated to admit it because I’m stubborn but they were right, I couldn’t carry on like this and I had to put it on the backburner for my own sanity.

    Having said that, it’s not impossible – there are artists, designers and illustrators out there who do live off their art for a living, and they have managed to turn it into a full time venture.

    I highly recommend you read “The Multi Hyphen Method” by Emma Gannon.

    What do you think?

    Joe

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Joe.
    October 27, 2018 at 11:26 am #233727
    Mei
    Participant

    Hi Leocube,

    Maybe you could take only a year off, join drawing lessons and invest the whole year on drawing. You could also make a Instagram account where to display your art, sell them on Etsy or other platforms to gradually see if you can make an income out of it (even if it’s small, just to figure out if people like your art and gain popularity).

    Good luck! Hope you can make it 🙂

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