Hip hip hooray! It's Small Works Career Day!

Whee!

Even though we've all been enjoying the thrilling ride provided by the stock market of late,





(raise your hand if you still have money)

we can't really be sure what's waiting at the bottom of the hill. So I thought it would behoove us to explore some possible career options.

Just in case selling embroidery becomes,
you know,
tricky.

I talked to a friend who told me her artist mother spends the down time at shows (and every ride home) planning how she's going to remake her business.

I thought I was the only one!*


(*see symptom #2 of P.B.S.D., desire to define/re-define career goals,
previous post)

As I've mentioned before, I'm planning a new line of work in a new medium to debut in December (in addition to my wool works), but before I make any concrete plans, perhaps I should look around a little and weigh my options.

So I've invited a panel of career experts over to just bounce ideas with me.

You can ask them for advice about your own career,
if you'd like, as well!



(And please feel free, blog friends, to chime in if you know of any promising career opportunities for a person with my skill set.)

Don't be shy just because I've brought in 18 Experts!


Since I've been thinking along the lines of a new product, perhaps I should explore a whole different kind of product?

For instance, I didn't know . . .



there was Money in Hamsters!

Chelsea had hamsters,

(Oops! Editorial note: Since publication I have been reminded that we actually had guinea pigs, which could explain why there was no money in them . . .)

but they didn't come to a happy end (allergy)
nor did they finance her college education, now that I think of it.

But Everyone wants them!

Laboratories use thousands!
(wait -- that doesn't sound like a happy end either) . . .



Now here's a "capital-I" Idea!

Every car owner must want sensational
"Wipe-to-Clean" Plastic Auto Seat Covers!

And EXTRA! I can get my own set FREE!

. . . which could come in really handy with this guy around.


And I've been so cranky about the loss of flight benefits ever since my husband left his airline career . . . maybe seat-cover benefits would help ease the sting?


Or since the Minnesota winter is getting a little long
(and I can't fly free to New Mexico whenever I wish anymore),

perhaps I could bring a little sunshine indoors . . .



and grow trees on the kitchen counter!

IT'S EASY!
To Grow All Kinds of Trees!

But even though I've given up cooking since the kids left, I still need all my counter space for painting polka-dots during Framing Week.

Perhaps I could change the way I frame my pieces . . .



and start using (and selling!) Suede Paint??!!

Now there's an idea that not only COVERS EVERYTHING! but could earn me big money and transform my artwork, all with the push of an aerosol button.

Realistically, Russ could object to everything in the kitchen being covered in Flok-Kraft
(because he still tries to find a meal in there occasionally)

but he couldn't possibly object if I used the kitchen to learn . . .



Meat Cutting!

In fact, I think I've heard him remark during past Framing Weeks that PEOPLE MUST EAT!

But I don't particularly like meat.
And it has to be really really well done.

Is there a future in cutting really really well-done meat?

Perhaps I should try to do something that will improve my mind.

Stretch me in new ways. I used to be good in science.
In fact, I got offered a Geology scholarship but wanted to pursue a literary career.

Might I have taken the wrong fork when those two roads
diverged in the wood?

It's worth considering . . .



I could become a NEON Expert!
(It does worry me a little that his head glows like that.)

Or I could do something with serious income potential . . .



and learn to build Atomic Bombs.

Sure it might seem complicated, but "Fireside Atomics"
promises to explain it
"the way a recipe for pancakes is set down in a cook book!"

Now that sounds like a kitchen-based business, doesn't it?

And it's "written in a breezy style by a popular lecturer and public relations man . . ." so it could make for entertaining reading when I've finished Nancy Drew.

I don't remember a whole lot about science, but I do seem to recall that building an atomic bomb in the kitchen could also lead to
neon head-glow.
And there are homeowner covenants in my neighborhood.

I suppose I need to do something less dangerous, more ordinary . . .



like look around my yard for the Fortune in Gems
waiting to be picked up all over the U.S!

How many times have I tripped over a rock in the yard but not bothered to brush off the dirt and realize that it was an
enormous alluvial diamond?

Or perhaps I should stop re-watching "Monk" episodes while I work, and do something really useful like . . .



become a fingerprint expert! Certainly I've absorbed enough information from Mr. Monk to give me a head start?

Rats . . . It says "be sure to state your age when sending for book."
Do you think they're taking neurotic middle-aged women?

I could work on getting rid of some neuroses by studying to


Become a Doctor of PSYCHOLOGY!

At Home in my Spare Time!

From the College of Universal Truth!

I don't know . . . do you think that sounds reputable?

Hey, wait a minute! Here's an ad I like:



I could be an ARTIST!

And it says $60 - $75 per week, which sounds believable . . .

But wait. Isn't that what started this career angst to begin with?
Maybe I just haven't tried the right kind of art . . .



This ad says I could "cash in on my sense of humor."

People MAKE MONEY combining art and humor?!

Eureka!
I'm going to "write today for full particulars."