How a 10-year restaurant veteran left it all behind to build a photography business he loves.
If you have ever worked in restaurants for a long time, as our student Ryan Greenleaf did for more than 10 years, you know how hard it can be to even think about changing your career path. The questions pile up as you begin to unpack the details involved in making a decision that has the power to reshape your life.
Those tense questions can feel debilitating. Add in a few anxiety-provoking doubts like "What if I don't like this?" or "Where am I even supposed to start?" and it is easy to fall into a cycle of self-doubt that convinces you never to try to ditch your day job.
Despite all of those worries, the truth is that when you find a path you seriously, truly love, roadblocks and speed bumps become a lot easier to push through. Thankfully, Ryan believed in that idea and gave himself permission to pursue his creative dream by auditioning for the chance to be part of CreativeLive's Restart with Jasmine Star.
In her Restart class, Jasmine worked one-on-one with Ryan and two other students to deconstruct their businesses and build them back up again. None of it was easy. Learning how to rework your online presence or revamp your photography skills is a big undertaking for any part-time photographer. In the end, Ryan rose to meet the challenge and walked away with the tools to run his own successful photography studio.
"You just gotta keep going, and remember why you love what you do."
With newfound confidence, Ryan was finally able to leave restaurants behind and pursue a career that felt meaningful to him. "I was clearer with what I wanted to do with my business," Ryan says. "The transition from leaving the restaurant and not having an income I can go to was scary. It even scares me now. But you've got to keep going. Remember why you love what you do." Pushing yourself to put in the work and commit to your side hustle can be equally terrifying and rewarding.
Ryan's drive to keep the positive momentum in his life going is a tribute to past, present, and future CreativeLive students who have set out to pursue their dreams. "CreativeLive totally changed my business around, and I've never looked back since."
Simply showing up and doing the work is half the battle. Committing to the journey and pushing through the hard times is what turns everything into a life-affirming experience. Whether someone wants to make a living from their creative passion or simply create for fun, stories like Ryan's remind us why it matters to keep going.
See more of Ryan's work and how he continues to use the skills he learned with Jasmine at CreativeLive on his website, RyanGreenleaf.com.