How I Hustle: Jen Mussari, Commercial Artist

The Backstory

I’m the lucky type of person who always had a laser-focus on what I wanted to do—or at least what type of life I wanted to live. Even from a young age, I knew that I wanted to be an artist, and so I sought any means necessary to make that happen for myself.

When I graduated from art school at the height of the 2008-2010 recession, there was a pretty great challenge ahead of me. My professors, ever encouraging, had this sense of doom that they tried to hide from my classmates and I—still, they expressed that worry with very realistic advice. It was suggested that my peers and I make work as freelancers. They also made it known that there was no shame in taking work that wasn’t directly related to our passion. I went out into the world knowing that I wanted to someday be self-employed, but understanding that it would take work to get there. So I took a retail job!

While I would be working as a retail employee I was always thinking about and planning what I would do when I finally got to sit down at my desk for the work that I was truly passionate about. At the time, I didn’t realize just how much of an advantage that was—taking the time to be mindful and setting my expectations helped me deal with the inevitable frustrations of building a portfolio. Starting work as a freelancer can be both exciting and yet quickly frustrating. You go into it with all of this motivation—and are met with projects that are uninteresting or not “good enough” for the type of work you want to do. Then on top of it, I was working at a job where I often got treated poorly by the general public. This ended up bringing out a determination in me that was crucial to pushing through.

On the Benefits of a Day Job 

To this day, I still see that period when I was getting on my feet and working retail as a time when I learned the skills that I needed to be successfully self-employed. I learned everything I know about how to speak to my clients from the customer service training I received. And I strongly believe that those of us who have worked in the service industry have a pragmatism that will always benefit working relationships. Also, the level of compartmentalization that someone with two completely different jobs has to do in order to stay sane results in a very realistic understanding of how to use time.

How She Stayed Motivated to Hustle (While Earning Rent) 

While I might wax poetic about how much I learned, it was also incredibly exhausting to lead two professional lives at the same time. There were times when I would close the retail store at 11:30 at night and turn right around to open at 6:00 in the morning! After a day like that, doing absolutely anything would burn you out—so imagine also having a deadline for an illustration due. Keeping a “big picture” mentality helped me to stay motivated when things would get stressful. Reminding myself that doing my best to take care of myself and work hard would pay off was crucial.

On the Importance of Online Presence

The internet keeps me connected to the rest of the world while I run my business. Freelancing as an individual can be a bit of an isolating experience sometimes, and so I find it super important to put myself out there! Over the years, I have found such an amazing community of people who influence my work in their own ways, and my online presence helps me stay close to them and expand my horizons. My Squarespace site (jenmussari.com) in particular has kept me looking professional for the four+ years that I have been a customer, and I’m so grateful for that!

Her Advice for Other Hustlers

My sister, Megan Mussari, went full-time on her business (APPRVL NYC) after me, so I was able to help her based on what I had learned! She set a date, which I think mentally helps to get yourself in order and prepared. And after that, I recommended that she set up an LLC and get a business bank account right around that date.

I learned so much about running a business just by actually doing it, but the most important aspects I learned from the people around me. It’s so important to have some type of support group to talk to when you are unsure of what direction to go in, whether it is an online forum, a group of friends with similar businesses, or family. The people around me who offered advice as I started out saved me from making so many mistakes! I owe everything to my community.

Save! If you are in the position to save money before taking a huge career risk, do it! If you are thinking of going freelance, it’s a great starting point to wait until you have at the very least three months’ rent and expenses in the bank. That way, if no money comes in from the get-go, you have time to sort it out. Then, once things start moving along, I highly recommend setting up a Roth IRA and then have your bank automatically transfer a set amount every month into that account. When you are self-employed, no one else but you will make sure you are set for retirement or other large future expenses!

When I work with my clients, I try to provide the absolute best service possible. I want people to leave an interaction with me feeling good about what we can do together. This is something that I especially learned from working retail. So when interacting with my clients, I always listen intently to what their needs are, and often repeat those back, with input on how I expect to meet those needs. It’s important to remove any emotion from working with clients—if I take it personally that a client isn’t responding to the work in the way I want them to, the project can easily go off the rails, and there's resentment that could have been completely avoided. Being practical about feedback is so important to me!

Of course, some people share my vision more closely. When I work with my sister on her bandanas (which she hand-dyes and I design the artwork for), we can collaborate on an almost psychic level. It’s incredibly easy for my sister and I to work together after years of playing legos together! Collaboration is a push-pull process, and you have to go into it with respect for the other person’s input. Removing ego from collaboration always makes the work better, because you will be able to hear things that defensiveness would otherwise shut down.

Having a portfolio is crucial to getting my work out there, so I have relied on Squarespace for years to make me look good! I’m not very good at the organizational aspects of running my business (I often overly-focus on the work itself and put off important organizational aspects) so I use Cushion App to manage my finances and make sure I don’t burn out!

Where To Find Her 

Squarespace site: jenmussari.com

instagram: @jenmussari

Twitter: @jenmussari