Inspired by Chapter 2 of The Artist’s Guide to Creative Side Hustles and Hybrid Careers
Let’s learn how to spot the overlooked skills, tools, and connections that can power your next steps.
Most artists don’t struggle for talent or ideas—they struggle with how to bring all the pieces of their creative life together. How do you balance the work that excites you, the paths that can sustain you, and the income that supports you without pulling yourself in too many directions?
You don’t have to choose between making art and making a living. But you do have to decide how you want to show up in your work—and what kind of career will truly support your life.
That choice gets much easier when you step back and see your creative life as one connected picture. That’s what this post—and my new book—are here to help you do.
Through the lens of practical minimalism—the art of aligning your work with your energy, values, and real life—you’ll learn how to stop scattering your time, energy, and confidence and start building a creative life that actually fits you.
Looking Back: How We Got Here
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been exploring what it takes to build a creative career on your terms—without burning out or second-guessing yourself. Each post has focused on a different part of the puzzle: how to simplify, how to stay rooted in joy, and now, how to bring it all together with clarity.
In How to Use Practical Minimalism to Change Your Life and Art Business, I shared how doing fewer things better can protect your energy, reduce overwhelm, and sharpen your focus.
Then, in Coming Down to Joy: On Van Morrison, Side Hustles, and Living Fully as an Artist, I explored how joy, presence, and authenticity are not luxuries—they’re the foundation of a lasting creative life.
This piece ties those threads together—practical minimalism, joy, and clarity—into a strategy to help you build a creative career that actually fits you.
The insights you gain can refine—and add rocket fuel to—the art marketing advice you see everywhere.
The Turning Point: From Fragmented to Focused
The problem for artists is rarely a shortage of talent or ideas.
It’s a lack of clarity.
- Clarity about which work actually energizes them
- Clarity about which paths are sustainable
- Clarity about how their art, life, and income can support each other instead of pulling them apart
When you gain that kind of self-knowledge, something shifts.
You stop chasing and start curating.
You stop second-guessing and start aligning.
You stop waiting—and start building a creative life that fits.
This advice isn’t about hustling harder.
It’s about designing your career to reflect your reality and protect your energy—so you can actually thrive.
Seeing the Bigger Picture of Your Creative Life
Chapter 2 of the book offers a framework for mapping your whole creative world—your Creative Core, Professional Toolkit, Capacity, and Market Position—and then weaving those parts together with intention.
That might sound simple, but it’s often the missing piece.
Many artists feel scattered because they’ve never stopped to connect the dots.
When you do, something profound happens:
- Past jobs or projects reveal how they sharpened your communication and problem-solving skills
- The stability in your life shows how it lets you take creative risks
- Personal experiences emerge as the source of your work’s depth and meaning
And you realize your path was never random.
It’s been quietly forming all along.
That’s when you stop asking, “Am I really an artist if I’m not doing this full time?”
Because you see the answer clearly: Yes, you always were.
When you lay down the guilt, it goes away.
What a Portfolio Career Can Look Like
More artists are beginning to describe their work as a portfolio career—not one job, but a curated blend of creative work, teaching, collaborations, commissions, and self-directed projects.
The key isn’t having more income streams.
It’s having the right ones—aligned with your energy, your values, and your goals.
That’s where practical minimalism comes in—the art of aligning your work with your energy, values, and real life so your choices support you instead of scattering you.
When your decisions are rooted in who you are—not who you think you’re supposed to be—they become simpler and more strategic.
You stop scattering your time and energy and start investing it where it counts.
Does this opportunity align with my plans and life as an artist—and is the cost of pursuing it worth the outcome?
Learning to say no is part of how you build real traction.
What This Book Helps You Do
This isn’t a rigid blueprint.
It’s a guidebook—for reflection, structure, and action.
Through practical, thoughtful exercises, you’ll learn to:
- Clarify what kinds of creative work feel most alive and valuable to you
- Recognize overlooked skills, resources, and connections already in your orbit
- Reframe your experience—not as scattered, but as layered and uniquely yours
- Build a portfolio that reflects your reality and honors your capacity
By the end, you’ll see how your art, work, and life can fit together as one integrated whole—so you can focus your energy, earn steadily, and stay creatively alive for the long haul.
Your art, your day job, your relationships, your past—
they’re not distractions.
They’re part of your story.
The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything
In the twilight of my career, I’ve come to believe this deeply:
The best way I can help you change your life is to help you change your mind.
When you begin to see your creative identity as something that integrates with everything—not competes with it—you open up a whole new way of working, living, and thriving on your terms.
Because here’s the truth:
The “full-time artist” is the anomaly.
And like the galleries many of them rely on, their numbers are shrinking.
You have a growing opportunity to curate your path—and align your creative life with the rest of who you are.
This book gives you the tools, perspective, and encouragement to do exactly that.
A Special Offer for Art Marketing News Subscribers
As an Art Marketing News subscriber, you can get
The Artist’s Guide to Creative Side Hustles and Hybrid Careers
for just $10 through September 26, 2025.
Thereafter, it will be $19.99 on Amazon and my site.
This book is the culmination of my 35+ years helping artists build sustainable careers—and it’s designed to meet you exactly where you are.
Get your copy now →
and start building a creative life that fits you.
Your creative life matters.
Let’s build one that fits.
—Barney
Hi Barney. This could really help me. How much would it cost to ship the book to the UK? Thanks.
Hi Luke, It’s an ebook so it will work on any device anywhere. Full instructions on the easy steps to take are included. Let me know if you have more questions. The deadline for the $10 price expires on 9/26.