Those who have followed me for a while know that I went to college, got in a car crash, spent my finals week recovering, got incomplete grades as a result, lost my scholarship, and eventually dropped out of college to focus on my business. I lived in a tiny one-room attic for the first year or so out of college to get my start. When I had the financial means, I moved into my own two-bedroom condo on the lake. Now, I'm planning to move again - this time to a house with a bit of acreage in the woods near Portland. I cannot afford to buy a place like that, of course, so I'm going to have to room with a few folks, but it's going to be a hell of an improvement from what we currently have. The bigger space will allow me to expand my business even more, and if I get a place with a barn and pasture, I'd love to begin raising my own livestock for meat and hides.

It's been a long and terrifying journey so far. I'm the youngest tenant in my entire complex where I'm at right now, and renting a house at my age is going to be a little tricky. But I've got high hopes and am looking forward to what kinds of opportunities this move can bring me. I feel like sharing this with you because I want others to know that, despite what parents and teachers may say, it is entirely possible to live happily on your art alone without a college degree if you have the motivation.

Yes, luck plays a small part (I was lucky that I had a dad who graduated with a business degree and taught me about spending wisely from a very early age). But I didn't get much monetary help aside from that. I technically qualified for unemployment and food stamps my first few months out of college, and if I'd known that at the time, I think I probably would have applied. But I didn't, and so it took a while for me to save enough money to get to this point. It's exciting now that I am here, but, more than that, it's exciting that despite this recession we're in, the love for art is still prevailing enough that people like me can live off of what is not necessarily needed by the public, but rather, wanted as a luxury. In dark times, artists are among the first to suffer, as our talents cannot feed the hungry or provide basic shelter for the needy. Yet, throughout history, artists have emerged and adapted to the changing times. Times are indeed changing once again...