Side hustle suggestions?

[Michael Angelo Go]

Hey there, I know that not long at all ago I recently stated that I was recovering from the very unfortunate illness of cancer However, my family made it very clear to me that we are very tight on money at that we are falling behind on bills.

My father is the main source of income for the home at the moment, and he doesn't make as much as he used to in his current job. We do have other members in the family. My mother cannot work because she cannot speak English, did not finish her education, only worked as a waitress once about more than 20 years ago and struggles with instability. My brother is basically in the same boat as me before I found out about my disease, where he's struggling to find a job in the field he studied in (his is accounting).

I have considered drawing caricatures and portraits again on Facebook, but I am a little discouraged because they don't seem to be hot at the moment (and they were only barely when I was doing them). I also kind of had to lowball myself to get consumers, which is never great, oh but also they want to print and ship it to them, which means they'll lose interest if they have to pay a separate fee...

I have considered selling digital downloadables on Etsy, after I closed my shop last year. I'm just dealing with art block in that area, since I am not sure what I could sell theme-wise. I'm very into Filipino culture and alternative punk/goth aesthetic, but they've never seemed to be mainstream.

I'd love to hear your honest thoughts and ways I can support my family during these hard times. I know I should be focusing on healing, but there's nonstop fighting everyday about money, gas, bills in the house, and my mother is really insisting that my brother and I work hard to look for income.

[NessIllustration]

@Michael-Angelo-Go If you're dealing with art block, why not try selling other, non-art digital downloads? It can be a pretty good way to get in the game since there is less pressure to create the perfect art, the perfect art style that sells well, or find the perfect theme.

Digital products like Google Sheet dashboards, recipe templates, list templates, planner pages, simple text-only invitations, etc. can be created in minutes and are pretty pressure free and hassle free.

Bonus, you get to learn about marketing on Etsy and selling products before you open an art shop you care more about!

[ArtMelC]

@Michael-Angelo-Go Have you considered teaching or facilitating art workshop / art jam type of things to hobbyists? Get on something like meetup.com or eventbrite to create an event. They take a cut from your ticket sales but you still take home a fair bit if you can get a cheap or free venue (local community centre, make friends with cafe owners). You don't need very advanced art skill if you sell your workshop as a relaxation / healing / team bonding type of activity.

[Michael Angelo Go]

@ArtMelC That sounds like a great idea, I would love to teach a few tricks that I've learned throughout the years that helped me grow as an artist that I am now. Does meetup do virtual events? I guess I could teach the basics, I just hope it doesn't feel awkward or if I'm wasting their time with information that doesn't particularly help my audience lol.

[ArtMelC]

@Michael-Angelo-Go I haven't used meetup ever since Covid as I switched to corporate clients and learning more illustration, but I believe they recently provided an online option.

However with online virtual class, you will need to think of what additional value you can provide your audience that they can't get from the millions of own-pace classes offered by Skillshare, Domestika and Youtube.

In this case, your people skill will need to pull more weight than your technical art skill: asking the right questions at the right time to engage, spotting a struggling student and provide the appropriate scaffolding without embarassing them, knowing when to keep quiet and let the students do their own thing... I sometimes take classes where the skills taught are not new, but the teacher's way of teaching and guiding helped me gain a lot of value from the class. Don't worry, it all comes with practice!

[lpetiti]

If an art side hustle isn't in the cards, or if they don't end up panning out (online shops can be hard to get traction on, I know), then it may be a good idea to also look at non-art related fields as well just to build up income and more importantly savings. That way once you have a safety net, you can really focus on your art more. I know staying in the art field is what's ideal, but it may be a good idea to put feelers/applications out elsewhere just to stabilize more.

[Michael Angelo Go]

@lpetiti Oh I mean believe me, I've applied to a couple of places that has absolutely nothing to do with architecture, art, graphic design, or anything creative.

I've applied to plenty of Box Lunches, Hot Topics, Spencers, Spirit Halloweens, WalMarts, Targets, Michaels, Joanns, going as far as the interview stage, presenting a confident and pleasant attitude, and always following up, with no luck.

I did land one drafting job a month ago, through a recruiting company, and absolutely hated it, but was willing to stay because of financial issues. I was let go because I told my employer that I would need to a week off or more after surgery to heal, and they weren't have it.