​This post is for all ARTISTS who want to harness their creativity to make their first $100K. In this post, we show how Reubeena Ianigro started an enamel pin business and crossed the $100K mark in year one.
 
Before starting her pin business, Reubeena was a social worker who clocked into the office 9-5, Monday through Friday. Every day, people told her what to do, and she had to make sure she obeyed the policies of a slow and confusing government system. It was steady work, but it was CRUSHING HER CREATIVITY. 
 
Everything changed when Reubeena gave birth to her daughter. Not only did Reubeena have her own life to think about, she had to think about the life she was creating for her child. She knew she needed to gain a larger perspective on life.
 
This is what she asked herself: “When I thought into the future, whenever I die, and look back on my life, did I do the things I wanted to do?”
 
The answer was “no,” and not long after, Reubeena quit her job and started her pin business. It hasn't even been a year and she’s already made her first $100K. On launch day, she made over $5000. And I know what you’re thinking, Startup Nation artists. 
 
You’re thinking, “How can an artist use their creativity and actually make money?”

​There are some people who just seem to have life’s Midas touch. They’ve had success in multiple careers. Their marriages are strong. Their children are excelling in school and sports. Dr. Dorian Williams, my guest on Your First $100k Podcast, is clearly one of these men.
 
But like 21 million other Americans, Dr. Williams was raised by a struggling, single mother. 
 
“My mother worked graveyard shifts at convenience stores as long as I can remember,” Dr. Williams says. “I had many opportunities to watch my mother wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and leaving before school, go to work all day long, and still cook for me and have a meal when I got home. 
 
“For me, what really drove [me] was the want to not see my woman work like my mom did. That’s what drove me to say, 'There’s got to be a better way.'"

​Long before Bill Gates founded Microsoft, he started programming computers in high school. This was before personal home computers. If he wanted computer time, he had to hitch a ride down to the school’s computer lab and spend long nights, after hours, experimenting with code he wrote himself.
 
Bill Gates logged thousands of programming hours before graduating.
 
Startup Nation, if you were sit down with a young Bill Gates and recommend an industry to start with, what would you say? Maybe... computers? OF COURSE!
 
It’s almost too simple, but it’s a principle entrepreneur forget ALL THE TIME. When starting a business, start with something you know.
​