Mixed media artist, Nikki Cade, left her full-time job as a special education teacher in June of this year to pursue art full-time. Because she’d spent the last several years building an online following and customer base, she could quit her job when her art became more important than the teaching. It’s been six months since then and she loves it. Here Nikki talks about what it took to leave the full-time job, how she prepared herself mentally and financially for the transition, her path to freedom, and how she found her creative voice.

Some things we talk about:

• knowing when to leap
• how to transition from a full-time job to being a full-time maker
• making do with what you have (and creating success from wherever you're at)
• how to keep your own voice while imitating what's working for others
• sharing, and selling, your work online and
• tricks for building a powerful, effective brand