Peace, contented life doing what you love to do.... that is my approach....or attempt anyway. I came into this world with nothing, and i'll be leaving the same way...but i'm happy with this life...money helps, but it isn't everything.... I stand by my opinion/belief that if you do what you love, the rest will follow.
Paula
Guthrie, MN

Bebo,

As one who walked away from a job he had seventeen of twenty years in for full retirement, I can only say, "Bravo!" Or, in the immortal words of Popeye the Sailor Man, "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam." You gotta do what FEELS right, and to hell with what so-called common sense or reason says. Any other path is the road to insomnia, depression, ulcers, or worse. When you know going in that the job is going to make you feel as though you're not reaching your potential or doing your best, there is no way you can be happy, no matter how stable the income.

I say go with a full-court press on your own business. Get some advertising going, hand out a few thousand business cards, put signs on your truck, get some cheap T-shirts printed with your company name and wear them for everything except Sunday dinner at Granny's house. Get your wife to wear them, too. She's probably better-looking than you and therefore better advertising. :-)

Make a couple of nice pieces to donate to auctions for charities in your town (pick ones that have high profiles and get the press). Get with someone you know who has a flair for writing and have them write up a newspaper article about your business/art, then trot that article, preferrably with pictures, down to the local paper and offer it to them for publication. Odds are that they'll run it as written, since most papers need stuff to fill the empty spots between all the ads they sell.

Put together a nice letter of introduction that you can send to every architect, builder, decorator, designer, building supplier and handyman service in your area. Include a business card with each letter, so they can file it in the Rolodex for later use. Follow-up a week later with a phone call to each of them, asking if they got the letter and if they have any questions.

If your local schools have shop classes, volunteer to do a demo or teach a short class on something you know well. Let the press know you're doing it and when, so they can do a "feel-good" piece. More free advertising.

Enter every art show that applies to your type of work and some that don't, too. Price your stuff higher than you think you should, by a factor of three or four. If you're unsure, ask your wife. :-)

If you do TIG welding, let every auto repair shop in your area know. You may wind up flooded with aluminum heads to weld from morons who forgot to change their antifreeze and corroded the heads. DON'T, however, do ANY work on trailer hitches, trailers, running or lifting gear or anything else that involves liability exposure if it fails in use, unless you have a million-dollar liability policy and a wall full of certs. If you get the urge to do it anyway, ask your wife. (grin)

When, in the middle of the night, you lie there awake wondering if you made the right decision, imagine yourself at that desk at the hack shop, listening to the boss tell you that this job has to get out yesterday and your day off is cancelled. That should allow you to sleep a bit better, believe me.

Lastly, as a self-employed (read, under-employed) person, be absolutely sure you pay all your taxes on time, no matter what.

If you're starting all this later in life, (as I did), you should start yourself now on the Little Friskies Retirement Plan - that's the one where you eat Little Friskies one meal a month to begin developing a taste for it, because that will be all you can afford to eat if you someday decide to stop working. (GRIN)

Rich - the older I get, the better I used to be.

Bebo,

WOW! I'm really excited for you, for making such a hard decision especially during some tough times, although we will recover from this chaos.

I think if your gut feeling all along was telling you that the old job didn't feel right then I say go with it...it will never steer you wrong. It might be a bit scary and uncomfortable for a bit, but that's a signal that things are changing and for the better. RIDE THE WAVE!!!

I think what's hard is that we as humans have this idea that "safe," means security. That job might be promising at the moment, but if you're not passionate about the job it will show, and lead to discontent.

Follow your heart and do what you love, and if your excited about your own shop others will feel it, and they will come. Your passion will speak through your work, and if you can bare the tough times and your wife is supportive of what you do then I say go for it!!!

It is a scary time when we focus on that and all that the media sells us, but honestly I think it's just a time for transition, and modification on how we think, live and spend.

Most importantly, BELIEVE IN YOU & WHAT YOU DO! The money will come faster than you think.

I have to say this year has already started out VERY prosperous for my little business, and I've often thought, "what the H*%@ am I doing?" My questions were answered when I received 4 jewelry orders, and sold a piece of jewelry in the Gallery I'm displaying at all in the month of January. Things are a million times better than last year!

Ride the wave bebo...you just might discover some awesome opportunities are coming your way! :-)

Cheers!

Jamie Santellano

You certainly have heard many say after retirement that they now don't see how they ever had time for a job when they did.
Some do, some don't but as one that has never gotten a job that was to be lifelong in the first place... It's really easy to not be securely employed at a fixed small rate and instead to have a job of varying quests doing many different things at different times while also getting occasional commissions or sweet positions at off and on times. Consider it like farming. You reap greatly at times but also can comfortably get over the bare moments if you plan for it in advance. I am now retired by age... but just as busy and happy as all the first 50 plus years of being a freelance painter, sculptor, college instructor twice, designer and builder of oddities and homes and studio machinery and on and on and on. Consequently I would say go for it with what fits your moments the best, work hard and save but also enjoy and live life happily as the first premise. bpfink

I am so impressed with the quality of the responses you received to your blog.
There is some very sage advise contained there. I am a very high profile consultant to businesses, and I would like to add just a wee bit.

The first is understand that you will now have to wear 2 hats. One is the the head of your production and the second is business person.
they are not the same and they have no connection. You took 3 years to build your shop. What time will you devote to learning how to run a business. Taxes, financial statements, projections, etc. if you want to make a nice living you may want to learn about advertising, selling, and such. Sorry the starving artist gig is bullshit. The only people that think its ok to starve for art are people who never made any money to begin with. You dont have to be trump, but you should be able to pay your bills without losing sleep. it will effect your art and work in the end.
Second. Owning a business is a responsibility you should take seriously. You should get as much joy in making the sale as you do producing the work. That being the case, Think big then do the ground work.

Motu

Outstanding input everyone!  Thankyouthankyouthankyouandthankyou.  I wish I could feel a little more confident about my decision, but I still feel I made the right one.  A few other details about my position.  I have worked for my present employer since1997.  I get the privilege of guiding rafts down some of the very best whitewater in the country.  I enjoy the job, it pays well, and I am good at it.  What more could you ask for.....Just more days of work per season.  My employer is going through tough financial times right now, and I do feel a sense of loyalty to them after twelve years, so i think it would be wrong to walk away from them now, when their need is greatest.  The welding jobs here are almost exclusively related to coal mining, and given the recent devastating job losses in other parts of the country, things here aren't quite as bad, although I am starting to hear reports of mines being idled due to poor demand.  I am used to the seasonal work cycle, some winters are better than others.  My rent is $100 per month, no cable tv, no credit card bills, truck is paid for, no debt, and a free shop space from my current employer.  We will have food in our bellies and a roof over our head for quite a while, no matter what the economy does.  Hell, I moved from Cleveland, OH, now one of the poorest big cities in America, to West Virginia, perennially one of the poorest states in the country, so what's that tell ya?  I appreciate all the advice so kindly offered here, and wish everyone the best, and if you want to get away for a weekend and have some fun on a beautiful river, call me...

I'm at www.narr.com