Work sucks but passion pays (kind of)
- Chase Myers
- Nov 11, 2025
- 6 min read
Walk down any street in Lexington, Kentucky, and you’re bound to weave between farmers markets, gardeners in their front lawns and painters on park benches. This city is crawling with hobbies.
That’s all well and good, but, as you pluck away at your interests, there’s a chance you’ll start asking for more.
Sure, jarring honey is riveting, but where’s my paycheck?
Well, in my pursuit to answer such a question, I came upon four side hustlers that have transformed passions into respectable livelihoods. These people took the plunge, proudly diving into their communities and using their energy to create, trade and serve.
Dalton Stanland
There are days where artists wake up and drive their heads through a wall because they chose to be artists.
Perhaps that’s why my hairline is receding. No matter how frustrated, broke or in need of a drink we may be, we will never stop being artists.
Dalton Stanland, a freelance jazz musician, is living proof of that.
“When I look into the future, all I can see is music,” Stanland tells me with nervous enthusiasm, saxophone slung across his shoulder.
Stanland started where all Americans are born: McDonald’s. After grease fumes and fryer alarms got to be too much, he decided he wanted something more.
“I’ve got a music degree. I needed to use it,” Stanland said.
And, unlike many of the others featured in this article, he hopes to turn this gig into a full-time career: spreadsheets, websites and ad space are all a part of his daily routine.
“I’m kind of playing the business game right now, contacting venues and getting my name out there. It can be tedious work, and it definitely feels like a job at points, but it's all worth it if I can play music at the end of the day,” Stanland said.
When I saw him get on stage I saw nothing but a bold, free musician at the center of the room.
After the performance, I patted him on the back of his suit jacket and asked him where he’s heading next.
“Well,” Stanland said, bourbon in hand, “I’d like to one day make my own music. Albums and touring and what not. But I won’t get there unless I keep this up.”
Maggie Van Houten AKA MagnoliaMoonDraws
Though the inner contents of your laptop would probably spark an intervention, nobody would know by glancing at the chaotic spread of graphics adorning the cover. Face it, we all love stickers.
Maggie Van Houten, otherwise known as MagnoliaMoonDraws, is no stranger to this phenomenon. In fact, she’s capitalizing off of it. In her high school days, as she sketched out comic strips on a rickety desk, Van Houten understood one thing: she needed to keep drawing. After years of art school and empty ink cartridges, MagnoliaMoonDraws emerged.
“It started with commission drawings, mostly,” Van Houten said. “I got a lot of commissions. Eventually I opened a Patreon, and I made monthly stickers for the members.”
Van Houten was very eager to share her work with me, throwing a mountain of stickers into my hands: foxes in scarves, cats in wizard hats. With each drawing I saw, it became extremely clear that she was putting a lot of herself into each piece.
“That’s the goal,” Van Houten said. “I want people to look at my art and say, ‘That’s Maggie. That’s absolutely Maggie.’”
That’s a respectable goal, but what makes Van Houten’s style recognizable is the pure fervor in every cat whisker and scarf stitch she draws.
“This is really just practice, you know, I just want to keep getting better. I want to keep making people happy with my art, because that makes me happy too,” Van Houten said.
Such refreshing optimism, especially after working in kitchens where line cooks want to throw scalding oil in your face. Lost in her positivity, I forgot this was work for her, but the money, notoriety and struggle are second to it all.
“I know this can lead me anywhere; you can’t expect a straight path,” Van Houten said. “Art tends to be like that. For me, though, I just know I need to show up to my studio every day, draw something and keep moving forward.”
Marc Vazsonyi AKA KentuckyCoins
“People don’t realize that societies across the globe have been striking coins for thousands of years,” Marc Vazsonyi said to me, running his finger over a silver didrachm from Neapolis. “There’s so much culture and history to learn within it.”
Perhaps that’s not a popular sentiment. For many, coins are nothing more than a nuisance; in this economy, you’re better off eating your pennies than saving them. But for Mr. KentuckyCoins Marc, they’re miniature masterpieces.
Vazsonyi has been collecting coins since childhood, starting with pennies in between couch cushions and francs from his grandmother in Switzerland.
“It snowballed pretty quickly after that. In eighth grade, I joined some coin circles, and it introduced me to a huge community. I must have gained twenty friendships through it,” Vazsonyi said.
With a huge smile on his face, he spoke of trade shows in Florida, conventions and grading processes. Vazsonyi loved this community.
“I want to be as transparent as I can be when trading with people. I want to help them grow their collection.” Vazsonyi said. “I see them as friends, and friends keep things fun.”
Despite literally dealing in cold, hard cash, it was never about the money for him, a question I almost needn’t ask given his enthusiasm was practically blinding me.
“Hell, I’d barely call this a job,” Vazsonyi said. “I don’t do it for money. The most rewarding part will always be the people.”
He had twisted the “money is the root of all happiness” mantra into something so friendly, like a clown does a balloon animal.
I fished into my pocket, finding a quarter with Washington side-eying me.
Could this really be the key to an entire world of friends and happiness? Maybe, but I would need a cooler coin. I sighed, completely overtaken by Vazsonyi’s passion.
“Well,” I said, “could you see yourself doing this as a full-time job?”
“Oh, no,” Vazsonyi said, “I think I want to do something much more impactful in the future.”
Needless to say, I walked out of the interview in desperate need of a character reevaluation, for his kindness was worth more than any coin he could have shown me.
Isaac Stevens AKA Feffle
Isaac Stevens, who goes by Feffle in the Smash community, has been playing Super Smash Bros since he was old enough to hold a controller, and hasn’t stopped for over a decade.
“I used to just play for fun,” he told me as he threw my character off the stage, “then one day I went to fix my laptop. I had a Smash wallpaper, and the employee noticed it. He invited me to come play tournaments in Versailles.”
Stevens quickly discovered a love for this group and was able to make some serious cash if he won the tournaments.
“Yeah, I guess that’s kind of the problem. If you start overthinking, start worrying about the money, then you play worse. If you play worse, it stops being fun. If it stops being fun, it’s a job,” Stevens said.
It's quite clear Stevens doesn’t overthink things, as I accompanied him to a tournament and watched as he demolished every single person there.
He was amazing. One of the best in the state, but he’s always shrugged off the praise.
“It’s really just a hobby,” Stevens said. “I like to have fun with the community and if I make some money along the way, well, that’s great.”
His carefree nature was extremely captivating, especially when he’s controlling Mario to kick my character into orbit. It seemed like such an obvious sentiment: who wants the stress of income to dominate your passions?
After our game, I set down the controller that might as well have been unplugged and asked him if he had any final thoughts.
“Well, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Lexington Smash community. They’ve been a big part of my life,” Stevens said. “Also, you really suck at this game.”
(Don’t) Quit Your Day Job
If there’s anything I’ve gleaned from these interviews, it’s that the discouraging circumstances of the corporate world have not snuffed out passion — hell, it’s one of the few things we continue to cling to despite it all.
Collect something, make something, play something. Surround yourself with thriving communities. Whatever draws your heart out of hiding and makes your entire body move with purpose is something you simply must do.
We all know that life is short, so why not put yourself into it while you have the chance?
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