Back when I owned my art gallery, a man came in one day and wanted my opinion of his art. You see, his heart's desire was to be a professional artist.

Unfortunately, this man's work was, frankly...terrible. I thought to myself that he truly should not give up his day job. But, believing in hard work and "luck", I encouraged him to continue with his artistic pursuits as long as he truly loved and enjoyed it....and I asked him to periodically show me his work so I could see how he was doing. (Plus, he assured me that, since he had a family to support, he would not quit his day job until he was 100% sure he was ready to support himself with his art).

Over the years, he worked hard, studied with some of the greats, painted every day and just kept at it. I was impressed each time that he came in, that his work, while still bad, WAS little-by-little improving.

I still remember the day, years after our first meeting, that he brought in the first painting that made me think "this is pretty good."

Fast forward to today, and you'll find the artist in this story working as a successful, full-time, professional artist.