his is geared more toward college students but it could help you if you are trying to break into your chosen field.

Work while you're in school. Let me rephrase that, work "in your chosen profession" while you're in school. My first one and a half years in school I continued my part-time job from high school. I worked at the Hallmark store in out local mall. I loved it. I was surrounded by experienced illustrators everyday (i.e. printed greeting cards and giftware).

Today one of my most sought after clients is Hallmark, even-though they hardly ever hire outside illustrators and I'll never move to Kansas City, I still have hope that they'll call me up one day.

My last three years in school I started my design business (6 months of that time was still at the Hallmark store - I liked a steady pay check). I was freelancing it, and I was freelancing it big time. With all the school projects, I had little time for client work, but when I graduated I had 3 years of "working" design experience when my classmates had none. So when job hunting came around, cha-ching, I had "experience."

I've had many graphic design student ask me, "When I graduate, should I go get a job or freelance right out of the gate?" My response is do both because there will probably come a time where you feel the need to go out on your own. Who wouldn't want to work in their pajamas all day? I had a professor that urged our class to find a full time job so we could mess up on someone else's dime. That's really good advice. If there was a typo that was printed or a lo-res image that was reproduced, the reprint cost doesn't come out of your pocket like it might if you freelanced. When you do mess up, you will learn what to check and double check and save your butt when you do go out on your own.

While you are working full time for someone else, start doing your freelance business on the side. This will build your client list and portfolio so you can eventually go out on your own. It can also be an outlet to become creatively fulfilled. When I started my full time design job out of school I took 6 months off from freelancing. I made enough money and I could use the break. Well after 6 months I was ready to start freelancing again. I needed the creative fulfillment I wasn't getting at my other job.

There are many places you can gain "experience" for your resume. Find a company that is doing what you want to do and see if they need and assistant, intern, or whatever, just get in there, or start lining up some freelance work and get cracking. If you are still learning what you need to know to get the aforementioned jobs, here are some ideas for places you can find work:

Graphic Designer = pretty much any job you could fit into. Think about what area you want to go into. Package design - grocery store, editorial design - bookstore, etc. Find your niche.

Interior Designer = furniture store, fabric/craft store, home improvement store

Fashion Designer = fabric/craft, clothing store (the type that carries the type of clothes you want to design)

Illustrator = greeting card store, bookstore (children's book department), art supply store

Photographer = camera/photo store

Crafter = fabric/craft store

Writer = Bookstore, library, copywriter intern

Film Maker = video store

Architect = builder, home improvement store

And so on and so on...

*Your job is to not just to be a sales associate, but to be inspired every day you work. Learn how things are made and designed. Learn from your co-workers and customers. And remember, you will probably receive an employee discount so stock up on things you will need for your business!

If you feel you are stuck in a job where you can't necessarily afford to give up for another, think about how you can apply your interests to that job.

he best things you can do for your creative career is join a group of others who have your same dream. If you can't find one, start one and do it now. With the web as great as it is, it easy to set one up and find others. About 8 months into my process of being able to work from home I was invited to join a critique group. It was a small group of other children's illustrators and writers who shared their thoughts and work via an email group from Yahoo. I learned a lot from that group and when the time came for me to move on, I started up another group inviting a few illustrators to join me. We set up a private message board which seemed to work out much better than the email group previous. My hosting company had a message board I could host on my server so it was really easy. It is totally private so you are free to talk. We share things from our personal like and career life. We have our own website for promotion and we combined our mailing lists and send out postcards quarterly, each splitting the cost of the printing and mailing.

To set up a group, remember to keep it small. You want it to be intimate and you probably want each person to have different styles just so no one feels as if they are competing with the other. Find some people who you would like to be in a group with (google illustrators, photographers, designers, etc) and look at their sites. Read their bio and look at their work. Do they have a blog? That might help you see a little of their personality and see if you think you will mesh with them. When you have your group together, let them know that you all will have a trial period to see if you all can converse and get along with each other. Let them know they are not locked into this group. Sometimes people don't mesh and that's ok.

've gotten a lot of emails asking me how to find people to promote to. I always recommend they get the latest Graphic Designer & Artist Market and Children's Writers and illustrator's Market books. They have a ton of information in there as well as name and addresses of potential clients. Another thing I do is google searches. I use phrases like “illustrator submissions” or “looking for an illustrator” (you would obviously use search terms for your creative profession). I also look at the client list from other illustrators. To save yourself some postage, be sure and research the companies you are going to promote to. They may have specific guidelines for what they are looking for or their products may not fit your style. Don't just send your promotions blindly, know who you are sending to.

ne of the first things to do when you are starting the process (notice I say process, it took be one year to get to where I wanted to be) is have belief. Belief in yourself, your talent, and your ability to make this happen. I was kind of unexpectedly thrown into my process, so to speak. In April of 2004 I gave birth to my first child. At that time I was happy with my design job I had at a large Publishing House and wasn't planning on leaving. We'll 8 weeks of maternity leave change that and I was in a panic to be able to stay home with her. So what was I going to do? Well, I've always loved illustrations and even though I wasn't getting burned out on design work, it was becoming a very "needy" profession. Clients needed this and that and could you change this or that, revision after revision after revision. An illustration career has proven to eliminate the hand holding of most clients.

So I had my plan. My goal was to be home and working as an illustrator by my daughter's first birthday (April of 2005). There were obstacles. My husband and I worked for the same company in a totally different area or expertise (he was a data guy...think lots and lots of spreadsheets) and he was struggling. He was stressed to the hilt and in the summer of 2004 he found a way out. We had an opportunity come up that would allow him to have his "dream job." Due to his mounting stress, he needed to get out of his job before I left mine. A little bump maybe, but it was not going to delay my plans. Every day I would take steps to my ultimate goal. I spent time researching other illustrators who were where I wanted to be, book publishers for my mailing list, ways to promote myself online, work on new portfolio pieces, etc.

I had the determination to do this and the belief in myself to make it happen. I have to admit that I wasn't 100% confident in my style when I started out. I did both digital illustration and dimensional clay illustration (those of which I do today but they look a whole lot better!). I didn't wait around for myself to get better, I choose to get myself out there and work on my style along the way. I was going earn as I learned. I had to start getting my name out there and get better and learn more as I went along. Start accomplishing something instead of waiting on myself to get better. So many people wait and have excuses for not starting their business. "My style isn't where you want it to be", "I don't have money to do promotion", "Nobody's going to hire me, I have no experience" and the one that get's people (including me) all the time, "I don't have time." Do you have time to change your life? Yes, and if you still don't think you do, you will find it!!

Just remember, "If it's meant to be, it's up to me!!!"

Once you establish what you want, the how your going to do it doesn't matter. It will come and you will be like a freight train barreling down the tracks towards the station (your goal). When I was in the process of reaching my goal, I had a full time job, a newborn, freelance design commitments, marketing coordinator and designer for my husbands new brick and mortar business, plus personal commitments. There was nothing that was going to stop me, I HAD to do this. For my family and my own sanity.

Let me ask you. Whether you're an illustrator, designer, writer, photographer, crafter, artisan, etc, do you believe that you can make a living doing what you love. You may have no idea how it will happen, but hopefully I can share a few things with you that will get you started. Is it worth it? Believe me, it is so worth it!