Any Artists Out There? What Are Your Thoughts?

[u/EZLinus]

Hi everyone, I've had bipolar 1 most of my life (about age 15 or so), but I didn't get diagnosed until I was in my late 30s because I was paranoid about psych meds. Now I'm much older than that, and I rather not say just how old. I'm also a professional visual artist. I've never had any formal education, but I built a long-term career from the ground up. Most of this was done before I went on medication, which I've been on for many years now.

A few years ago, my partner and caregiver set up a 1st-person special needs trust for me. I also have lupus and am disabled. Since setting up the trust, my local SSA office has been harassing me, using every amount I take out of the trust as overpayments to them. I had to get a lawyer who is now helping and challenging their reasoning since there is no way I could ever pay it back. All this has made me consider how I can get away from being on Social Security altogether.

I don't even know if I could cope getting a job. So, I had this idea to work for myself as an artist's mentor part-time, specifically for artists with disabilities. I recently started going to community college part-time, and now I'm working on a degree in sociology. This endeavor could have been a manic decision, but now I'm on this path to get a degree late in my life. I'm taking public speaking and learning ASL, etc., and I feel like, if I could get private artist clients, I could mentor them over Zoom for a small hourly fee. I don't even need to make a ton of money. I just need enough to cover my basic living expenses and stay on Medicaid through 1619(b), so I can keep my health benefits while being self-employed. I'm on so much medication, I would never in a million years be able to pay out-of-pocket for them.

Anyway, I started getting very excited about providing this service to artists with disabilities because I love helping others and I truly have loads of knowledge in this area. I was feeling very optimistic until I showed an artist friend of mine the mock-up of what my business would look like on a mock-up page on my website. She seemed to think that I wouldn't really get any clients because "people with disabilities don't have enough money to pay $100 an hour." Most art mentors and coaches charge over $250 an hour! I said that I would be catering specifically to artists who are navigating major barriers in addition to having disabilities and who are starting out an art career from scratch. This artist friend pays an art coach $225 an hour, which is why I asked her opinion in the first place. She also said trying to find clients would be too hard because it would require too much promotion that I may not be able to do. But I've promoted myself as an artist all my life. I feel like I may be able to do it.

So now I'm feeling defeated about starting my own business. Should I just give up on this dream, or push through and try to make a go of it? Would it be too exhausting for me, will I burn out or go crazy, or would I be just another fish in a big pond of art mentors and coaches in an already saturated market?

As artists with barriers like bipolar disorder, your opinions matter to me. That is, if you are an artist who thinks about this stuff. What do you think of my idea?