I’ve had a very colorful work life over the past 35 years. I can’t say I’ve been super prosperous in the material sense but I’ve racked up a ton of skills over time and managed to maintain a sense of freedom and really enjoy everything I’ve pursued. It’s been interesting to say the very least.
I realized when I was very young that I had an incredible work ethic; my satisfaction came from a job well done and making people happy. I’ve had one “real” job in my life and that experience was the catalyst for choosing a life of self employment.
When I was 17, I got a job in a shoe store. I was super excited about working, making money and doing something productive. It didn’t take long for my excitement to sour though, as the owner of the shoe store was a crotchety old fart who wasn’t happy with anything. Not one employee could do anything right. He criticized and belittled us and one by one, employees left. Those employees would soon be replaced, only to quit 2-3 weeks later. I, however, stayed. Why? I don’t know. Probably a cross between not being able to give up easily and having a “stupid” gene. I stayed. In all my misery, I stayed. I think the real reason was that I saw a more human side of the man. His wife suffered from Alzheimers and I saw the gentle, loving care he gave her. It was touching and inspiring so I just felt bad for him and didn’t want to abandon him like the rest. Until the day I did. I had been a good and faithful worker and had taken on a lot of responsibility along with some of the management tasks. And doing it all for minimum wage.
I wasn’t upset about the money as much as I was upset about the lack of appreciation. So one day, after a particular disturbing exchange with my boss, I walked out and quit. The feeling of liberation was incredible. I was finally free from all the negativity, but it wasn’t soon after that he sent his son to talk me into coming back. Well….I had a huge crush on his son so, of course, his plan worked. I went back…….for a couple of months. The day I walked out for good and never looked back was the day I knew I would be self employed some way, some how. I knew that money was not a big motivator for me, but I desperately needed to feel appreciated in my work….and respected.
The next year was experimental. My parents owned a fine jewelry store in a small mall and the holiday season was approaching so I asked the mall managers if I could set up a gift wrapping table to serve the mall customers. They loved the idea, so I ran with it. It was hugely successful and I made some money doing something I do well and providing a much needed service. It was fun.
After that, with my retail experience, I approached many of the mall stores and offered myself as a “freelance” clerk. In the case someone was sick or a “no show’ or had to go on vacation, I filled in. I did this for 3 or 4 of the mall stores. One of the mall store owners called on me quite a bit. She had a vintage clothing store called Pandora’s Attic. It was an amazing and magical consignment shop. I loved working in there and amassed quite a nice collection of dresses from the 40’s and 50’s. Wonderful era in fashion for sure.
That little gig got me interested in fashion and modeling and I picked up some modeling jobs over the course of the next few years.
My next experience would set me on the course that would ultimately put me on one of the 2 career paths best suited for me. I did a favor for a friend helping her clean a few houses and honestly got hooked. I loved it. I wasn’t willing to do it for minimum wage so I started my own little cleaning service at 19 years old and was fully booked within 3 weeks, getting all of my clients by word of mouth. It was great. The pay was good. It was flexible, enabling me to take a modeling job here and there, and I even worked on a few films.
About 5 years into my cleaning career, one of my clients, my favorite client, hired a contractor to put an addition on her home. Nice guy with unreliable workers. And I was just smart aleck enough to tell him. His painter never showed up and when he did, he was hungover. The carpenters were just unskilled laborers using plywood to build custom shelving. I couldn’t believe the work quality and I said so. He came back at me with “so you think you can do better?” “I know I can do better!”, I snapped back. Long story short, he handed me a punch out list and told me to go for it. Yikes!
So what did I do? I ended up in the book section of the HQ Warehouse(I’m dating myself big time here) reading home improvement books for hours. I had no idea how to do any of the work, but I knew I could. I successfully completed that punch out list and he hired me as an independent contractor to work on more jobs. I loved it. I did a lot of section 8 housing rehabs which taught me to work within really tight budgets and also did a lot of work for property management companies. Ultimately, Mr. Contractor encouraged me to go out on my own as a painter.
By the time I hit 26 years old, I had cultivated a real passion for photography. Black and white portraiture was my fascination. That was when we shot with film and hand printed our work in the darkroom, working hours on end to perfect the final prints. I loved every moment. Portrait photography became my first love and my first real career. I started my professional career in Minneapolis. Personal reasons took me to Europe for 6 years and I shot jobs over there. And when I came back to the States, I continued shooting part time after I opened a little functional art gallery/coffee house in Milford.
I closed my shop after 4 years and went back to photography full time. It was during the years between 2000-2005 that photography had really been transitioning fast into a digital medium which I didn’t embrace with both hands, if you know what I mean. The passion just wasn’t there, but I persevered on more of a part time basis.
I did have a mortgage and a small child to raise of and photography just wasn’t paying the bills so I went back full time into painting and light handyman services. I got all my work word of mouth and was really doing well, especially thru 2006-2009. I was making such a good living that it afforded me to invest more into my part time photo biz so I got a new studio and worked both businesses simultaneously.
Then my dad had a massive stroke and I was determined to keep him home to take care of him. Kind of hard to do with 2 different careers that took me all over town. I tried as long as I could to keep it up, but it was really hard. I had, during this time, formed an acquaintance with a podcaster in Texas. His show was all about natural health and well being. I had always been into natural health and now that my dad was having so many problems, I was even more interested.
I was a faithful listener, but I wasn’t, at all, impressed with his website so I offered him some ideas on changing up his graphics and advertising. I basically just thought the website could be more beautiful so I did a little free work to help him out as he was also new at this business and didn’t have a big budget. Within a couple of months of the changes, he started seeing a lot more traffic on the site and business started booming so he offered me a contractor position to not only manage the website but produce his show. It was great fun, I learned a lot, taught myself a lot and I was able to stay home to take care of my dad and raise my daughter. It was a pretty awesome turn of events.
But, as things go, nothing lasts forever so around 2016, due to a plethora of unfortunate events, I stepped away to pursue other projects. My father had passed away and I needed a project to do on my own so I bought my neighbors very run down property, rehabbed it over the course of the year and sold it for a very good profit. The “fixer upper” bug was biting me again and it felt good.
The past couple of years have been strange. Covid left it’s mark. Things still feel a little unstable and in limbo somehow. Technology is racing faster and faster making me desire a life simpler and simpler and quite frankly more honest. I’ve been working my 2 careers, photography and painting, but something just hasn’t felt right. It’s taken me a while to figure it out, but my conclusion is that I need to make a real commitment to one career and stop spreading my energy in many directions. It was a hard decision. And having my ego involved doesn’t help.
Our society has been wired to value some pretty superficial things. And judging people on what they do for a living is huge. We all do it. Have I stayed in photography because it’s more glamourous and people might find me more reputable and interesting? I really had to ask myself that question. Don’t get me wrong, I love photography and working with people, and I’m very good at it, but at the end of the day, with the rise of AI and the amount of time I have to spend on social media promoting myself, I’ve decided to make it my art and part time career and pursue my love for transforming spaces on a more full time level.