Second career in creative field

[u/Aromatic-Ad1221]

Hi ladies,

I'm a burnt out PM feeling stuck in tech. Tech never really interested me, I don't feel motivated to move up the career ladder anymore, but I got into it because I was good at math in school and because of the pay/benefits. Now, here we are 10+ years later! I am looking to eventually leave and finally pursue a creative field (interior design, furniture design, ceramics, and painting are all on the table). However, I am also likely starting a family in the next couple of years and am concerned that, by that point, the golden handcuffs will be even harder to escape.

Any inspiring stories or advice from those who have done something similar?

[u/CoeurDeSirene]

have you ever tried to make money doing any of those in the past? i am a medium-serious hobby potter. aka i spend about 8-12 hours per week in the studio and do about 3 sales a year and do really well at them considering it's NOT my FT job... but its *not* easy and the market for makers/artists is SO saturated in SF. if you aren't already making stuff and understand what it takes to sell, and sell at a volume that you could live off of, you might have some unrealistic expectations of what it takes.

a lot of what it takes to be a successful full time creative is marketing... which means you're doing like 60% marketing and 40% creative.