Like millions of Americans, I had been laid off from my travel job, during the worst recession since the Great Depression. As the hometown airline merged with an Atlanta based airline, many other travel jobs were also lost, so the competition for jobs in this field was fierce.
What kept me sane, during this stressful time, was taking an evening glass fusing class at the local art center. Soon, I was creating beautiful bowls, dishes and jewelry. I gave several of my personalized fused glass bowls to a friend’s organization, for a charity auction, and she reported back that these items caused a bidding war. My glass creations fetched the most money that evening! Soon, I was back in the studio, making more and more glass vessels and glass pendants.
As part of my job search, I took classes at the local unemployment office, including a self employment class. I had not considered self employment as a viable option and started to read up on that option. As I read more on self employment, I ran across the re-release of Making a Living Without a Job by Barbara Winter.
Years before, I had taken several classes on self employment by Barbara Winter, so much of this material was familiar to me. Unlike the earlier time I read this book, I did not have a job that I had the option of leaving. Instead, I was looking for a way to create my own employment. I decided to start using her tips to try to make my living.
When a friend decided to sell some of his vintage items at a flea market, I joined him, bringing along some glass items, as well as a mosaic table and a mosaic birdbath that I had handmade. At this sale, I sold the bird bath, but rejected lowball offers for both my table and my fused glass pendants. I quickly realized that this was not the best place to sell my items.
Despite this defeat, and after much urging from friends, I finally set up an etsy site, deciding to focus on selling pendants online. What was great about etsy is that the site is easy to set up and I discovered that etsy offers many online tools to help artists and vintage sellers create successful online businesses.
Setting up my site took less than an hour and after watching some instructional videos, I learned a bit about photography and started taking pictures of my pendants to post. Afterwards, I let everyone know that I had these items up for sale and asked friends and family to pass along my business information. I also posted my listings on my personal Facebook and twitter pages.
I quickly realized that it would take some time for my jewelry business to take off. I went back to my books for guidance, especially Making a Living Without a Job. There, I read about the concept of Multiple Profit Centers, as well as the 100 Dollar Hour. The 100 Dollar Hour is an exercise to find ways to make-or save $100. Multiple Profit Centers, or MPCs is how self employed people stay afloat. Instead of relying on just one place to get a check, as in my case, my etsy site, Winter suggests that we create many other ways of making money. I spent an afternoon writing down all of the possible ways I could add income and places I could cut expenses. I was a fast typist, had excellent phone skills, had lots of customer service and event experience and I was very flexible. It did not take me long to find solutions.
The next day, I signed up with two temp agencies, as well as found a contract event job. I started to work as a beer sampler on Friday and Saturdays. As I enjoyed getting out a few hours a week and doing something more social, than my solitary glass work, I found other event jobs through Craigslist. I sampled out chip dip, passed out backpacks at College Games, Served Coffee at conventions and played games with young children–all for a great hourly rate. The temp offices loved me, as I was able to pick up last minute, short term jobs. I started to Freelance Write. Getting published was always a dream of mine-and I was living my dream! Soon, the Arts Organization invited me to teach Glass Fusing and I added this to my work mix.
I kept track of all of my hours in a purse sized calendar and quickly started collecting checks. I was in control of my own life! Not only did this pay for my gas, grocery and personal needs, but I felt a huge weight was taken off of my shoulders. I no longer had to rely on the stability of one company to determine my livelihood. I was now successfully self employed.
Now, I only do temporary work when the project seems interesting, or I want a little extra cash flow. I have added my own travel business, Traveldevas, to the mix. I arrange meetings and programs for smaller businesses and events. I love that I have a nice mix of working with people and working with art. I have plans to sell specially designed t-shirts, as well as lead hockey and art tours. Throughout the past few years, I have discovered the key to my success has always been about flexibility and being open to new ideas. The best result is that I feel happier and I am smiling again. Starting my own business was the best thing that I ever could do for myself!
