Out of office

What happens when your side-hustle sprouts wings? Nina Karnikowski learns how self-made creatives followed their passion to a slower, more satisfying life. A knitter, a soap maker and a chocolatier talk taking care of business while making time for surfing, #vanlife and kids

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS A LOT TO ANSWER FOR. Making us believe extraordinary careers and laidback lifestyles simply fall into people’s laps is certainly one. As we scroll intermittently through our days, we’re hit with countless images of fabulous-looking lives that seem as unattainable as they are unfathomable. How do these people do it? And, more importantly, how do they pay their bills?

As a travel writer who posts wanderlust-inducing travel photographs on Instagram every other day, Nina Karnikowski is acutely aware of our collective wonder and envy — she says she’s often asked how she actually makes money doing what she does. The next question is invariably: How can I do it too? She argues that we are more capable than ever before of building these kinds of careers and lives — ones we don’t need a holiday to escape from. At a time when we’re able to teach ourselves almost anything online, when we can launch businesses and create websites for next to nothing, and when “our definition of success has started to relate more to freedom and human connection than to finance,” she says we are primed to stop dreaming and start creating our wildest dreams.

To wit, Karnikowski went on a global search for people who are making a living doing things they love, unearthing dozens of them and profiling 26 in her new book, Make a Living Living. She tapped them for practical tips for building a self-directed, passion-fuelled business, as well as advice on the hard work and sacrifices that went into making their lives as remarkable as they are. “If you’re looking to find fame or get rich quick, the book isn’t for you,” Karnikowski says. “But if you want to express yourself creatively, to find more meaning and purpose in your work, to simplify your life and to have more free time and energy for the things that really matter — family, nature, community — then read on.”