
Parenting, Pubs, and Painting: Building a Creative Business from Scratch
From The Mobile DJ Mastery Podcast by DJ 2FOUR7
April 16, 2026 · 1h 39m · Episode 59
About this episode
The episode features an interview with Shan, who shares her journey of building a creative business from scratch while balancing parenting and live illustrating at weddings.
SUPPORT THE PODCAST and level up your DJ career. Join our Patreon for exclusive business insights and strategies. http://patreon.com/MobileDJMastery Today, we’re switching up the decks for some sketchpads as we welcome the incredibly talented Shan from Illustrations by Shan. We dive deep into her wild journey from pulling pints at the local pub and navigating lockdown furlough, to accidentally blowing up on Etsy and catching the eye of TV's Alice Beer. Shan gets real about the intense pressures of live illustrating at weddings, the hilarious requests she gets from guests, and the genuine struggle of balancing a booming weekend wedding business with parenting. KEY TAKEAWAYS Accidental Success Takes Serious Grind: Shan’s business started by gifting homemade art during COVID, but transitioning from working 35 hours at a pub to full-time illustrating took years of late nights, zero sleep, and relentless dedication. The Best Decisions Require the Biggest Leaps: Leaving the safety net of a regular paycheck to pursue a creative business is terrifying. However, the worst-case scenario is simply going back to what you were doing before. You have to put all your eggs in one basket to give…
People in this episode
Host: 2FOUR7
Guest: Shan
Topics covered
- parenting
- creative business
- illustration
- Etsy
- weddings
Keywords
- art
- business insights
- live illustrating
- COVID
- Etsy success
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Lego, 2FOUR7, Etsy
Places: Malta
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