A Salaried Job Is Not The Enemy of Creativity

Some time ago, a young man reached out to me. He had been working as a broadcast journalist, full-time, earning his monthly salary. But he told me he wasn’t happy.

According to him, the work conditions at his job were stifling, and he felt like he wasn’t living up to his creative potential.

Now, this guy is talented. So he thought maybe the answer was to go freelance; take on gigs, work on his own terms, and finally feel free. Before making the leap, he asked me what I thought.

I told him my truth: Only go freelance when you’re sure you have regular income to sustain your life and pay your bills.

Here’s the thing. For most of us in the creative space, we’ve had to hold down regular paying jobs to fund our dreams.

Those gigs you’re so excited about? They hardly ever pay enough in the beginning. In fact, not just in the beginning; sometimes for a long time. You’ll need that steady money to give you the breathing room to build.

Because if you’re relying solely on gigs, you’ll get frustrated real quick. And worse, you’ll get desperate. When you’re desperate, you don’t pick gigs out of love; you pick them just to survive. And that desperation has a way of killing the joy and spark that made you want to create in the first place.

That’s why I always say: don’t freelance out of desperation.

Freelance out of love. Freelance because you’ve built a foundation that allows you to create freely, without the pressure of wondering where your next meal will come from.

A job, with its consistent salary, isn’t the enemy of creativity; it’s the enabler.

It keeps the lights on, the rent paid, and food in the fridge, so your mind can be clear.

You can’t build something meaningful if your head is filled with worry about survival.

Creativity thrives when the basics of life are secure.