I have been working very hard on turning ABCcreativity into my full time work. When I had worked my way down to 3 days a week at my day job and was getting ready to take the leap into full time self employment, I started this interview series with super inspiring creative beans to gather tools, tips and inspiration from them about how they ditched their jobs to live their dreams. I have been sharing their gems here on my blog, every Wednesday. This has helped me to step out of my day job and into my creative dream and I hope it helps inspire you.

Also: I have created a Stepping out of your Day Job and into your Creative Dream resource page. On this page you can find links to all of the interviews in this series, and resources for building your creative dreams.

This week I am interviewing Leah Shaver.

Who are you and how are you creatively self employed?

My name is Leah Shaver, but most people know me online as Leah Creates. I’m first and foremost in the business of designing and developing websites. I work primarily with creative people who are preparing to take the leap to self-employment, or who have just made the leap and are getting their endeavors off the ground. I’m also a mixed media artist and photographer. I hope to focus more on photography in 2011, but for now they’re more hobbies than anything else.

What was your day job before you were fully self employed?

How did you make the switch into full time creative employment? Did you plan for it or did it just happen? Was it gradual or sudden?

It was actually fairly sudden — or at least, a lot more sudden than I expected it to be. I’d been contemplating dropping down to part-time at my job so that I could start freelancing – but then my live-in boyfriend lost his job, and I felt rather stuck. Months went by and my disdain for my agency job grew and grew. It’s really hard to be employed as any sort of artist at an agency, because you have to play by their rules… I had no creative freedom at all, and felt really stifled. I genuinely felt that I would explode if I had to design one more red and blue heating and cooling website. It just *wasn’t* my life’s work.  Without going into too many details, some stuff happened with the company I was working for that I just couldn’t deal with. I went home early to think things over, feeling like I *could not* make myself go back there day after day anymore. I felt like I’d hit a wall and was just DONE. I went back the next day with my letter of resignation and told the HR manager that I was finished – and so the leap was taken!

What fears came up along the way and what did you do with them?

It was a terrifying time to quit my job. As I said, my boyfriend was unemployed at that time and we had exactly enough in the bank to last two weeks without work. I had one job lined up, which bought us another couple of weeks. So, on the day I quit my job, I had about one month to make things work before we were in serious trouble. Looking back, I don’t know how I got through those first couple of weeks. There were a lot of panic attacks. But, amazingly, the first week I made as much as I would have at my agency job, and that never really stopped. I’ve had some scary times, of course — I think that’s par for the course – but I’ve been really lucky.

What was the biggest surprise along the way?

I was really surprised to find that sales are both something I enjoy and something I’m good at — in a non-sketchy way. I was quite introverted growing up, so it was really interesting to discover that I *love* getting a person on the phone (or meeting her in person) and hearing her story/sharing ideas.

I have been working on my dream for some time.  I have worked myself down to three days a week at my day job, and I am preparing to make the leap into full time self employment.  What advice or tips do you have for me?

Leap and the net will appear. I genuinely feel like it’s MUCH harder to go about transitioning this way. It seems counter-intuitive, I’m sure, but working part-time and treating your THING like it’s a side job will almost always limit your earning potential. I realize this doesn’t seem like real-world advice. I remember Sarah Bray telling me a couple of years ago now that she didn’t make any real money until she’d quit her part-time gigs. That was true for me, too. (I nannied part-time for the first several months after quitting my agency job — and my business didn’t really take off until I finally quit.) I think this hugely psychological – you’ll find a way to make your business make you money when you have no other choice. (And, of course, it’ll be a lot easier to do so when you don’t have a part-time job sucking up your energy.)

Where can people find you online? Please share your blog/website/facebook/twitter links and any exciting news you may have:

website: http://www.leahcreates.com
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leahcreates
for exciting news, sign up for my e-mail list (via my website) – i have some exciting things launching soon.

Thanks Andrea!

Thanks so much Leah!

I am so excited about this whole interview series. Hearing all of these amazing real life stories about making creative dreams real helped inspire me to take the leap, go for it, and dive into my dreams. I hope they do the same for you. Check out the Stepping out of your Day Job and into your Creative Dream Resource Page for more support, ideas and resources.

If you like this post, you may also like:

• I don’t have enough time to dream
• Creative Dreams Save The World
• ABCcreativity interview with kerry belviso (rowett)
• ABCcreativity interview with darrah parker
• ABCcreativity interview with nola diamantopoulos