I interviewed Dustin Hostetler from Threadless.com to get a sense of how he became an artist-entrepreneur. Dustin is the one that invited me to put together our special RISD offering in the new Threadless Select series with a gigantic hand of assist from Michelle Ha in RISD’s Media+Partners unit.

Dustin’s interview is not dissimilar to what I hear from many artists and designers. The common thread I have found in all my conversations is that there are creatives that are open to earning, and those that are closed to earning. The good news is that it’s a conscious choice made by a creative person. You can choose to be a “starving” artist and be devoted only to your craft or you can be an “entrepreneurial artist” that is sensitive to market needs. You can also choose to do both — to change in your emphasis of the commercial or non-commercial during the span of your life. So go ahead and make that choice, and acknowledge that you can always change your mind along the way.