Good for you Devon! Quitting the corporate life of a "Dilbert Drone" will be good for your soul and make you into a happier woman. You've got plenty of "moxie" and I admire that!
Here's my motto...YOU CAN'T FAIL IF YOU DON'T QUIT!
That said, let's move on to the subject of cheap canvas. If you happen to see a stack of sale canvasses somewhere...don't snap them up (like I once did) until you check them out. If you hold a canvas up to the light, and you see pinholes, don't buy it. It will take MANY layers of gesso to fill those holes before you can put paint on the surface.
I visited Pearl paint once and found a roll of cotton canvas that was inexpensive and the surface was wonderful. I could not have found this in a catalog. My advice here is to look around...
Also, I once sent for a roll of expensive linen from Utrecht and it was damaged...a "pulled thread" ran down the center length of it. They would not take it back - darn them - and I haven't ordered anything from them since. You might want to check the "returns policy" before ordering from a catalog.