Dolan of dolangeiman claims to be a no B.S. kind of guy. Today he outlines his creative journey toward selling his artwork as a full-time job, through which he can support himself and his fiancé, save money for retirement, and have adequate business and health insurance. Dolan worked in various positions after college, including an entertainment host job at a nightspot in Chicago, before meeting his fiancé and working together to formulate a business plan for his art career. Keep reading to find out why Dolan's task lists make him feel sorry for his future children, why an email newsletter is the cornerstone to his marketing, and how a daily dose of chocolate fits into this recipe for success. How did you originally get into the business of making things? To answer this question, I’m going to drop you in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia 25 years ago. You will see a large, brick colonial farmhouse built in 1796. If you look closely at the bricks, as I did on that day, you would notice that they contain small bits of quartz, gravel, rock and shell. My mother told me that 200 years ago, women and men dug deep into the creek, pulled up large chunks of thick muddy clay, packed the clay into rectangles and then put them into a large oven to create bricks. I couldn’t comprehend this type of creating entirely, but something ignited inside me and I became intensely interested in making something, anything. That summer, and many summers thereafter, my mother and I smashed poke berries in big horse troughs, dipped T-shirts and skirts in the purple brine to create our own dyed fabrics and constructed wooden mouse-trap-style games out of old wood scraps. My mother was never at a loss for new activities. When I was a little older, she started her own art career as a watercolor artist. She participated in art fairs around the state, and through her sales she was able to put me through college — and suggested I study art. During school, when I needed money, the first thing that came to my mind was “What can I make to sell?” I relied on my creativity because it was the one thing I possessed that set me apart from others. After college, I switched gears a lot but always found avenues to sell artwork, whether on the street or in a gallery or at a friend’s office over a lunch break. I learned that if I treated my artwork as a business, I could figure out formulas for selling and creating that would last longer than a few months. And here I am!