08/28/2026
For Kate Minner & I, deciding to walk away from our corporate lives to build the 22nd of Never hasn’t just been a career change-it’s a total psychological shift for our family.
If you’ve ever thought about what it’s like to chase that dream a teeny bit later in life, here’s what we’ve learned so far:
CONS (high stakes):
• the Corporate Echo: watching old colleagues, corporate peers or close friends climb a stable ladder while you’re (in my case) manually pulling prints to build a safety net, can play tricks in your head. It’s easy to get distracted and worry you’re falling behind in building security for your family.
• the Time Currency: every hour spent preparing screens, cutting paper or prepping inventory for festivals are hours traded away from my son. Starting something from scratch takes an immense amount of time & effort. There are no short cuts - You make mistakes (some painful) learn quickly and push on.
• the Social Desync: we don’t follow the traditional 9 to 5 or annual milestones of friends and family. Working unusual hours & traveling for weekend art festivals makes maintaining a normal social circle a massive challenge. When everyone else is relaxing / socializing, we are usually grinding.
The PROS (the real rewards):
• Creative Identity: If I’d started this journey in my 20’s I’d probably have chased trends and tried to people please. Starting this biz later in life means I can create what I believe is the truest expression of our brand and not have to ask permission from anyone!
• Stronger Foundations: We’re not just selling art to new collectors, we are physically building a family business and a community. Watching something grow that you’ve poured your soul into rewards in ways a regular job never can.
• the Legacy: my five-year-old son doesn’t see a dad who disappears to a corporate day job but one working hard to build something out of nothing with his own two hands. He sees the grind, hustle and the resilience it takes to be self sufficient. It’s a great life lesson for a young mind.
Pls share if you’re out here choosing that messy path over stable one. 🙌🏻
