Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Country living is a continuing adventure

Living in the country, we are reminded every day that there is more to life than the pursuit of income and the struggle to understand events taking place in distant places.

There is an inexorable ebb and flow of wildlife activity that reminds us that survival is an uncertain and risky business for those born without opposable thumbs.

In the mornings, we see fawns like this one nibbling on new growth just a few yards from our deck. In the late afternoons, we see herds of deer silhouetted against the green meadow of a neighbor's field. These graceful animals create the sense of a gentle pastoral existence.

However, in the long dark hours before dawn, we hear coyotes howling in the woods around our house. The yelps and eerie howls that echo from one quadrant are soon answered from another quadrant. This concert is occasionally interrupted by the high-pitched screams of coyote prey and the frantic yapping of the coyotes in at the kill.

Our cats no longer explore the nearby woods, which is a relief because coyotes are fond of house pets as a change from their customary diets. This USDA photo shows a coyote taking down a sheep, so I imagine they take a toll of the deer in the area.

I need to investigate a huge brush pile which was created when we cleared away trees for our house lot. I knew we were creating a habitat for small animals, but we may have created a perfect setting for a coyote den. If so, I will have to lay about with chain saw and shovel to remove the coyote welcome mat.

These cunning "singing dogs" need to move out of our immediate neighborhood because we have already noticed a significant reduction in the chipmunk and rabbit population and one of our neighbors has lost a couple of her cats. We don't have any cats to spare, so the coyotes will soon be history, at least around here.

Keep an eye out for them as they are moving into heavily settled areas now. Earlier this year, a coyote was captured in Central Park on the island of Manhattan. Your neighborhood may be next.

Mary Beth is back...

Mary Beth, of Longleaf Preserve, one of my favorite bloggers, has returned to brighten our days and whet our appetites. She touches the heart in a way that few others do.

In her new weblog, The Way Home, talk, tears, laughter, play and love knead dreams into warm, yeasty loaves that play with your senses. Oh, did I mention she writes about food like M.F. K Fisher?

Welcome back, Mary Beth! We are overjoyed to see you again.

Toward a leaner and less stressful lifestyle...

Years of easy credit have led many of us into lifestyles that included a lot of creature comforts that did nothing to advance our careers. Adjustable rate mortgages enabled unwary credit junkies to buy houses that could never be afforded otherwise. The rising tide of an ever-expanding economy kept most of us off the shoals of economic reality that should have sunk us instantly.

It seemed for many years that the perfect antidote to boredom was to go shopping or to go out to dinner at a new restaurant. If that failed, we would take a vacation trip for a week or a weekend in an effort to find satisfaction in a increasingly hectic and unsettling life.

For many of us, life in the fast lane snuck up on us somehow through a series of job changes. We went from being really good at some job where we were seemingly in control of our destinies, although unhappy with the restrictions we worked under, to middle or upper management where we became those managers and directors that we had always viewed with fear, scorn, or envy.

Along the way to knighthood as a manager/director we picked up the accouterments of a different lifestyle. Our automobiles, homes, and wardrobes became far more expensive and somewhat more comfortable. They were badges indicating our success.

In some cases, they were necessary parts of our corporate or business personna, but in many cases, these accessories did little to ensure our success. High end media systems and home theaters, top of the line sport cars, exotic SUVs (Hummers, etc.) do little to help you hold on to your position in a corporation.

When the economy sours, your real estate holdings and other possessions are a huge liability if you have no equity in them. Six years ago, too many people in Silicon Valley lived precariously even with two large incomes. The deflation of the Internet bubble triggered an immediate reaction for these people. Overnight, some went from gorgeous homes in gated neighborhoods to rental units in outlying towns.

The Internet bubble is history, but the lifestyle lives on for many up and coming middle managers in other cities across the USA and probably around the world. I know personally of several talented people who are working their butts off in an increasingly chaotic corporate environment and who have accumulated a debt load that can swamp them in an instant if their careers falter.

These are really competent people, but they have been under such stress that they acquire "things" to give them creature comforts or they take expensive vacations and trips, just to "get away for a while". When the acquisitions or trips are not paid for by cash, they add to the stress. It's a vicious spiral that gets worse over time.

Take a hard look at your family possessions and the monthly services you are contracted to pay. How many of them are helping you earn a living?

Those things that are not helping you earn a living, are adding to the burden you have to deal with every payday.

See if you can't lighten your burden by cutting back on non-essential services and activities.

More later. Have a good weekend.

Rule #1 in starting your own craft business

I have written so many articles about starting a business, striking off in new directions, etc., etc. that I can't believe I failed to mention one of the most basic rules of them all when it comes to starting your own craft business.

Lower your cost of living to the point where you can pay for rent and food doing odd jobs or nothing at all for the next year forseeable future.

If you live in a comfortable suburban house and you have bailed out or were thrown from the corporate mothership, don't expect that you are going to develop a craft business in less than six months and a decent customer base in less than a year.

During that time you will be laying out money for equipment and training and you will still have to pay the mortgage and all the other expenses for your lovely home. You will burn through your 401K and any savings faster than you can believe.

This also applies if you are setting up any kind of business that requires significant startup expense. You need to completely restructure your living arrangements so that your cost of living can be covered during the startup period and for some time beyond.

This calls for a great deal of resolve and understanding by all members of the family. Life is not going to continue in the same old way.

Sell the Land Rover and the McMansion outside Metropolis and look for an old farm with outbuildings that don't leak too badly that you can buy for cash or on terms that give you a mortgage payment of a few hundred dollars a month. Buy a used van or pickup truck and a used car for cash.

Put enough money away to live on for six months and rethink your identity. You are starting over and you are no longer a senior manager or VP of anything. You need to get busy and learn your new trade in a big hurry. Take classes at a good craft school. Learn the ropes by working as an apprentice if you can. If your significant other is not engaged in learning a craft, she or he should find work that provides enough income that your bank balance does not dwindle.

Make everyone part of the new solution. Ideally, your new venture should provide work for all members of the family, but if the teenagers aren't interested in your craft venture, they need to find employment and an educational path that fits your new circumstances.

You don't have to follow this advice of course, because you can always choose to find another corporate berth instead of risking everything on your own business acumen. However, you will probably have to sell the house and the Land Rover anyway if you are over fifty because it may take you a year to find a new job and it will pay less than your last job.

This may sound unduly grim, but it has been done by thousands of people and they have emerged from the experience stronger and more self reliant than ever before. The freedom that comes from managing your own destiny more than makes up for the temporary hardships of starting your own craft business.

Find any successful craftsperson or artist and ask how they lived until they became successful and you will hear a story much like I have described here.

Talk to artists and craftspeople who quit after a short, unsuccessful attempt at starting a career in the arts and you will find that they ran out of money before they could become self-supporting. You will also find that their lifestyle had a lot of creature comforts that did nothing to advance their careers.

Whether this change in life is a forced decision or a free choice, changing your lifestyle and cutting your costs to the bone will give you the best chance of a successful transition.

If you have gotten this far, it has probably occurred to you that this same advice applies if you are embarking on a career as a writer or a musician. Your lifestyle has to be leaner and meaner than you ever imagined if you are to succeed.

Wishing you the very best...

We all take orders from someone...

The employee in a large corporation receives orders about his production, his location, and his attitude while he is working. To the extent that these orders actually help him do his work and avoid punishment, the orders are regarded as a necessary evil and are even welcomed when skillfully given.

When the orders attempt to exert bad control over the employee's actions, the employee rightfully regards the orders as an unnecessary evil. Bad control is starting something, them interrupting it with a contrary order or starting something else that interferes with the first order given. Some managers specialize in this bizarre exercise. We generally refer to them as morons.

Corporate employees may look with envy at the "carefree" artisan or independent businessman and think how wonderful it must be to give orders instead of taking them. This is an absolutely incorrect view of how the world actually works.

We all take orders from someone. The only difference between a corporate employee and the self-employed business person is that the self-employed business person has more flexibility in deciding who they take orders from and what the orders are.

The Artisan's Dilemma - part 2

The dilemma occurs when your wares finally begin to sell and you haven't priced them at a level which allows you to continue selling them at that price. You feel wonderful that people like your work and are willing to pay for it, but you don't know whether you can raise the price to give you enough profit to continue.

Paper Clay is a medium with great possibilities

Jayn Avery, a well-known Floyd potter who operates the Blue Heron Pottery, recently taught a 3 day introductory course at the Jacksonville Center using paper clay as the medium.

Paper clay is a mix of clay, paper pulp, and water. It is easy to use, extremely strong in an unfired state, and easily repairable at nearly every stage in the forming process.

The clay is available in many different formulations with firing ranges from cone 05 to cone 10. You can get an idea of the many options available by visiting one of the many supplier's websites.

When glazed and fired, the final results are indistinguishable from conventional pottery except that it weighs less.

For more images and a discussion of Jayn's course, visit Jacksonville Center Online.

To give you some idea of the potential of this medium, see what artists like Barbara Sorenson are creating.  Barbara was among the first to confront the use of paper clay and it has turned out to be a productive medium for her work.

Tag: paper clay

Chris Shackelford reception at Over The Moon

Here, sculptor Chris Shackelford demonstrates her technique at Over The Moon Gallery

Those of you in the vicinity of Floyd, VA, should drop in on her reception which is tomorrow, Saturday, August 19, 6:30 - 9:30pm

Chris Shackelford, who has been the driving force behind the School at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts for many years, has finally found time to exhibit her own work in wood, stone, and clay  at the Over The Moon Gallery in Floyd, VA. This exhibit, which is titled, "Slightly Askew" contains 19 works representing nineteen years of sculpture.

Chris has been a sculptor since 1987 and has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, Corcoran School of Art, and the Touchstone Center for Crafts in Pennysylvania.

Chris and her family live in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains and her work shows her reverence for her materials.

If you are celebrating life in Floyd this Saturday night, be sure and swing by the Over The Moon Gallery and say hello to Chris.  While you are there, take time to check out the gourmet menu and wine list at the Over The Moon Cafe. It is a fine place for lunch and for light evening fare during their Friday and Saturday night  events.

The Artisan's Dilemma

There is a point on the road to financial success where almost every artisan has to come to grips with an agonizing decision for which there is no single good answer.

What brings it on?

As an artisan, you finally arrive at this point by creating work that people get excited about, start buying, and telling their friends to buy while it is still available at a bargain price.

You have created something that is not only remarkable, but is recognized as being more valuable than the price you have set on it. If you are selling at craft shows, you see this development as soon as it occurs. Your new pieces start moving off the display tables almost as fast as you can put them out.

You have that incredible elation that comes with finally getting it right. Customers love your new design and actually buy it! Your heart fills with joy. You may actually be able to make a career out of your craft work, after all. A brighter future seems to be opening up before you.

If you have placed your work in a gallery or store, you are pleasantly surprised when you are given an order for more pieces. If the earlier work had been placed there on consignment, you might even find the gallery or store is now willing to buy your production.

You are now starting to see the rewards for all of your hard work and you start producing the next round of pieces to sell. You throw yourself into a flurry of activity, buying raw material, setting up a more efficient workspaces and producing new work at the highest rate you can manage.

Somewhere during this mad rush, it begins to dawn on you that your bank account is still going down, even though more money is coming in than ever before. There is this chilling realization that it is costing you more to produce these treasures than you are taking in. You are losing money on every sale...

The dilemma

You must make a decision. You cannot continue doing what you are doing. You must either raise your prices or lower your costs. There are major difficulties with either choice.

The choice will depend on your particular craft work and how much labor goes into the final product.

In the case where costs can be reduced by product redesign, you must deal with the problem that a slightly different, and less expensive, design will be perceived as less desirable than the original design which attracted the attention of buyers.

The analysis of the dilemma and various solutions for it merit a separate treatment in a series of later posts. Stay tuned for more articles on this vital topic.

Meanwhile, feel free to suggest your own solutions to this dilemma.

This blogger has a way with hot metal

Sean Pecor, horse farmer, blogger and Internet entrepreneur from Boone's Mill, VA, is learning blacksmithing at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd, Virginia.

Sean was the winner of a design contest sponsored by the Jacksonville Center and won a scholarship for any course or workshop that was being offered.

I had lost track of Sean since the contest, and was pleasantly surprised to see him firing up a forge and forming hot metal on an anvil like he had been doing it all his life.

He exhibits the same easy confidence in the Blacksmith shop as he does on his weblog. He is taking the Introduction to Blacksmithing course being taught by third-generation blacksmith, Jessie Ward.

The description of the course gives you some idea of the material covered.

Enjoy the thrill of making things with iron.  This three day introductory course is designed to cover blacksmithing basics, make something you've always wanted to make or make things you didn't realize were possible.  No previous blacksmithing experience is required.  All levels welcome.

This course is taught on three successive Saturdays, so I will follow up next week to see what Sean is going to do next.

I have been taking pictures of all of the courses we offer, and I think blacksmithing is one of the first I am going to do myself. I don't think I will match Sean's stylish appearance, but I will enjoy bashing hot iron, I am sure of it!