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Names In Lights – Sculptors

Sep 192012

Jill Bonner and John Blackburn are a couple of middle-aged former bikers from the North of England. Collectively, they call themselves “Names In Lights” and they make mesmeric light sculptures in the shape of words. They have been trading since March 2012.
Jill and John both have health problems which make the traditional model of employment problematic for them.

They have created their own mutually supportive work environment, where they both get to play to their strengths. For them, Names In Lights has become a lifestyle, taking over their home and filling it with interesting questions and changing rainbows.

Jill has had a somewhat varied career, having been an illustrator, cheese tester, signwriter, and chocolate adjuster, although not necessarily in that order.

John spent his career as a motor technician , having served a five year apprenticeship. John also works on some collaborative projects, both lighting and audio based. Names In Lights “make what you need” ethos has led him to build an entire hi-fi system from scratch.

They began to merge their interests in December 2010, when they started to experiment with lighting clear forms. The first word was “John”, in the form of an acetate and polyresin mock-up, with the appropriate parts blacked out to make the letters. It had a presence that didn’t exist in the other forms they had tried – mushroom shapes, teardrops, semi-spheres and polygons.

The design process for this was that Jill would make an object and John would illuminate it. The sculptures would then be “lived with” until one of them decided that they could improve their part.

Once the letters were settled upon as forms that they wanted to work with, there was a need for molds – a whole set of letters and numbers.

The bases started out in pine. It didn’t match the beauty of the letters, so they progressed to oak block. With a little help from the internet, Jill and John taught themselves the cabinet making skills to produce octagonal plinths.

Are you passionate about what you do?
We are crazy about what we do, you could call it an obsession.

How did you get started and what pushed you to stop working for other people?
We got started in business out of necessity to provide truly suitable and flexible work for ourselves.

Do others support you emotionally?
Our family and friends love what we do but it’s the total mutual support for one another within the partnership and our solid belief in our work that makes this whole enterprise a great place to be, mentally.

Do you continually need to explain why you’re doing what you do?
No, we never feel the need to explain. We do what we do, and, as we say in England, you can like it, or lump it.

Do you have health insurance and if so, who pays for it?
We have the good old NHS.

Sophi’s note: Here’s the first paragraph from Wikipedia about what the NHS is

The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, in a similar fashion to the funding model for fire departments, police departments, and primary schools. The system provides healthcare to anyone normally legally resident in England, and also any other part of the United Kingdom (should a person from another UK area be travelling in England, for example), with almost all services free at the point of use for all such people.

How much time do you spend looking for new business? How do you look for new work?
It’s really hard to quantify. We work on raising awareness of just what we do, with images, videos and competitions. We’re artists, not salespeople and we have to say, things are going very nicely without the hard-sell.

Glad you chose this path or do you wish you could go back in time?
Wish we could go back in time and choose this path sooner.

My Health Insurance Plan Is To Be On My Wife’s Plan

Articles No Responses »

Sep 172012

MY PLAN IS TO BE ON MY WIFE’S PLAN

Originally published on 9/16/12 at

http://www.kyleshank.com/stories/2012/09/17/myPlanIsToBeOnMyWifesPlan.html
under the Creative Commons license by Kyle Shank

If you want to hit on a touchy subject with an entrepreneur ask them about their personal health insurance situation.

Most probably pay for their own individual plan with a high monthly premium and shitty benefits.

A close second will be those that forgo health insurance because they are going to live forever or something.

Then there are those rare few geniuses that have hacked the system. The guys that get great health insurance benefits for free through their spouses’ plan.

America has the greatest healthcare system in the history of the universe.

So great that a grown man or woman needs to choose between being healthy, founding a startup or getting married.

Visit Kyle Shank’s blog here
Photo credit goes to this cool site 401 (K) 2012 !

Glen Liberman – Product Designer

The Product Designers No Responses »

Sep 142012

This is Glen Liberman.

Sophi’s comment: I met Glen through his hugely popular product, the Gear Ring. We met in a coffee shop in 2010 shortly after I had stopped working fulltime. The Gear Ring took him and a collaborator Ben Hopson over a year to finish. Glen showed me many prototypes of different versions. This long and expensive process would have made many people give up and I was impressed that they had kept pushing to finish the project.

In my conversation with Glen in 2010 we talked about the importance of “sticking with it” and seeing things through. We also spent about 4 super fun hours doing napkin sketches of potential products. Glen encouraged me to keep working on my product designs and told me if I kept at it long enough, I’d …eventually…be successful. These are the kinds of words everyone who wants to work for themselves needs to hear. So if you aren’t hearing this, go and find someone to tell you that. It’s true, too, by the way. Stick with it, finish your projects, don’t give up, IT WILL WORK OUT.

Check out the video for the Gear Ring below:

What did you do for work in your last full time/part time job?
I was a server at a party / wedding space, a camp counselor, and a retail employee at a local mall.

When did you leave your last full time/part time job?
I stopped working at 25 or maybe it was even a bit earlier than that.

What pushed you to stop working for other people?
I saw people in charge being innovative and creating things true to their own vision. I have so many ideas in my head and I wanted the same opportunity to be innovative and bring my visions to life.

Tell us about what you do to make a living.
Kinekt Design is my full-time gig. I also create music and do a bit of design work on the side. I’ve composed music for a national Toyota commercial as well as working on self-initiated art and design projects in my spare time.

How did you get started in your own business?
I had been a bit down and out for a while figuring out what I wanted to do. The only thing that made sense to me was to manufacture a product and be the sole retailer of it to keep things exclusive and unique.

When you worked for other people describe how you felt.
Often times when I had to work on a certain day, I’d feel anxious and nervous about having to go in. That feeling has disappeared since I left the job and began on my own.

Do you have health insurance?
Yes, I do have health insurance, but it’s not a company plan. I pay for individual health care out of my own pocket.

Looking at your work, it is really clear that you love what you do. I love what you do, too. 🙂
I absolutely love what I do. I’m passionate about the conceptualization and ideation of new things whether it be for an artwork, product, or service. It’s sort of the central theme of my existence.

Link to the Kinekt Design website (designed by Tina Roth Eisenberg)
Link to his personal website

Nicole Azevedo – Film/TV Art department

The Glamorous World of Film No Responses »

Sep 102012

This is Niki Azevedo. Niki works in film and TV as a Production Designer. Working on a film crew more often than not involves 18+ hour days, which can be stressful. If something goes wrong with the Production, the film loses money while the crew waits for the problem to be fixed. The Art Department has the responsibility of making the film look good. Working in film is a highly competitive field with many talented people vying for the same jobs.

What did you do for work in your last full time/part time job?
I was a shoe designer for a large department store. The job was a fulltime freelance position for 6 months.

When did you leave your last full time/part time job?
January 2010 (fulltime freelance) May 2007 (perm. full time)

What did you like about working freelance but fulltime?
I enjoy the financial security of full time work. It enables financial planning, and scheduling the most basic of life administration tasks was much easier.

What didn’t you like?
I did not like the duplicity of the corporate standards; the frustration of being a cog in a huge machine. Seeing that things were wrong but being unable to effect change because I was just a passenger on a ship too big too steer was frustrating. Also, designing a product that I nor none of my peers believed in to satisfy a need for ultra cheap mass consumption was not very satisfying.

What are you currently making a living doing?
I work as both a freelance Accessory Designer and a Production Designer for film, TV and new media.

Are you passionate about how you are making a living ?
Yes.

Wholeheartedly?
No, its missing an altruistic element.

I asked Niki if she she thought she’d try to get a new gig with the missing altruistic element.
She replied: Just because I’m freelance I can’t just take any job I want. I have a career, which means that I take jobs within my field. However, my dream job would have an element of giving something back to world for the greater good.

How did you get started in your own business?
I started working when I was 13 years old. I worked in a flower shop, later I waited tables and worked in bars through college and after college. My first career started in arts administration where I worked in non profits and art galleries and museums from 16 until I was 24.

What pushed you to stop working for other people?
I still work for other people. I’m freelance but I still have bosses. Every time I get a new job I have a new boss. I have the ultimate freedom of not being under contract and able to leave a project at any time and carefully choose the projects that I work on. But, I still work as part of a team and have responsibilities to those above me in the power chain.

How long have you been freelancing?
I started freelancing about 5 years ago.

Do you have a financial trust fund that supports you?
No. I grew up poor with subsidized lunches and church food baskets. It was because of the love and support of a large family that I was able to accomplish what I have in my life.

How do you feel when you don’t know that you’re getting another job?
I am a cacophony of emotions. Freelancing is liberating; there are highs of freedom and the nagging lows of not knowing. Adventure vs. Security.

I choose adventure.

Do others support you emotionally or are they dismissive of your life choice?
It took my family a while to believe in me, and to realize that I am financially successful and not irresponsible or work avoidant. I’ve proven to them that this unconventional model works and that you don’t need to be a miserable 40 hours/ week worker drone.
Thanks to Bificus for this cool comic!

Do people around you tell you that they wish they could do it too?There are a lot of people that say that they wish they could have the same lifestyle and people also get jealous of my lifestyle, but not many people take the leap. It sometimes puts a damper on friendships because many people live their life for the weekends and are miserable because of their jobs, and there seems to be a human tendency to beat people on happy people when you are down.

Do you consider yourself financially stable or not?
Yes

Do you have health insurance?
Yes. As a member of the Art Directors Guild, the IATSE 800, I have excellent benefits.

How much time do you spend looking for work?
I always have my feelers out for new work. I’ve gotten a lot of jobs informally through the grapevine of friends and co-workers.

Do you think about going back to a financially secure position, ie: full time work?
Absolutely not, I’m happy, and getting happier every day.

Debra Feiner Coddington – Custom Metal

Just Plain Odd 1 Response »

Sep 072012

This is Debra Coddington. I’m 63. Arrowsmith Forge, is an artisan-iron business my husband and I began when we met 35 years ago. We design, build and install architectural iron, furniture and lighting. Currently we’re a “custom metal” shop but for over 20 years Arrowsmith created lines of furniture and chandeliers for international corporations. Our extensive facilities enable us to make most anything of metal that our clients can dream up. And we do!

What did you do for work in your last full time/part time job?
Hard to remember that far back. I began building trade skills at 17, when I apprenticed w/a dental technicial to study lost wax casting in NYC. Since art paid little, to support myself I began peddling jewelry I was making; eventually selling to stores like: Cartier, Rosenthal Studiohaus, Bloomingdale’s, George Jensen, Bendels, etc.

When money got tight, I worked part time in the garment center, apprenticed to platers and casting houses in the jewelry district, addressed envelopes for Singer Sewing Machine from pages in the telephone book, developed a line of brown rice maki-sushi for a health food store, cleaned houses, studied physical anthropology at Hunter College, assisted instructors at The New School (for Social Research), and bartered bracelets to an organic co-op for food. I did whatever was necessary to make enough $ to survive. Back then it was far easier than it is today. NY was a city that encouraged its young artisans to create and develop their skills, their craft, their “art”.

You can afford to make mistakes when you can eat dinner for $1.95 at Comidas China y Criolla and rent is $135.00 per month (including electric).

In the late 70s I met my current husband at a blacksmithing conference and we began working together immediately. Because I knew NYC well, I sold our designs there. At the peak of Arrowsmith’s production business, we sold to: Pierre Deux, WaterWorks, Brunschwig & Fils, Portico and many boutique stores. We had 25 employees, which can be quite the human resource headache if you try to do it all yourself!

Are you making a living doing your passion?
O boy. Isn’t THAT a question…

When you begin to “make your living” doing what you love the most, when your “passion” becomes your meal-ticket, that passion can morph into something that is, shall we say, less exhilarating than its original incarnation.

For years I was devoted to metal work. In my mid 30s my life changed as the result of 2 simultaneous occurrences: kids and my business becoming successful; which meant someone had to run it.

Since the male member of our team is a raging (and brilliant) dyslexic who cannot dial phone numbers correctly on a bad day (but does 3-D rotations of objects by closing his eyes), by default running the biz was allocated to me.

And here’s the sound of me pulling up a soap box with advice for anyone interested in listening… Unless you’re harder-assed and a better biz person that I am,

HIRE SOMEONE ELSE to run whatever aspects of your business you find truly draining.

Not demanding. Draining. Understand and correct business deficiencies, but as much as possible, stick to what feeds you and your creativity. Try to not turn yourself into an emotional pretzel attempting to do things you legitimately dislike (and those may be broad and self-defined) or you may become someone you neither recognize nor like when you look into your internal mirror. Making deals, selling, compromising design and negotiating don’t have to be – but can become soul-exhausting. Can you fire people without it trashing you (and your creativity)? I couldn’t. I wish I’d recognized how destructive it was to me all those years ago. And I wish I’d hired someone better suited to that role because I was not. And I’m still not. 35 years later it still fucks w/me when I have to fire someone – which means quite simply that I don’t always make smart or right decisions for the business.

How much time do you spend in your dream work life?
These days I spend too little time in “dream” life. When the economy is so difficult it’s challenging to get enough of the “right” business through our doors. That said, attacking anything creatively, including marketing, makes unexciting tasks feel less mundane. (See Robert Henri’s “The Art Spirit” for a great dissertation on creativity.)

Remembering that my work used to be my “passion” – after putting kids thru college on the back of this business I’ve developed “hobbies” that are removed from work: the gym and training my Rottweiler being 2 of my favorites. I am however, still involved in design work and finishing product and – after all these years – am actually still inspired by the work.

Have you had to fire clients?
Definitely. There have been clients I’ve been unable to work with. I refuse to work w/abusive individuals.

Even a long life is simply too short to deal with assholes.

We used to have a sign above my office manager’s desk, “Price is directly relative to attitude.” I don’t like to close doors so I attempt to be diplomatic, occasionally, even resorting to slight falsehoods when needed.

What pushed you to stop working for other people?
I never fit in anyone else’s box. So I built my own, with my own reality and rules. It wasn’t a conscious decision; never thought about it, meant to do it, or even realized I was doing it till one day- in my 40’s – I sort of emerged long enough to recognize what I’d developed as a result of the fact that I just never fit in anyone else’s reality.

Tell us about selling items that fell under NAFTA?
O dear. Well, on this one Ross Perot was dead-nuts! Pre-NAFTA we had 25 employees. Post NAFTA we had 7. NAFTA was the beginning of the end of our lucrative production business.

And then tell us about selling items that compete with offshoring…
We can’t and do not compete w/items made in a global market since there’s no level playing field. I understand the reasons for global trading and sympathize with third world labor. We just cannot compete. So we don’t. It almost put our business under when we continued to try.

Understanding that everyone wants cheaper stuff (hey, isn’t Walmart the largest corp in the world?) once we recognized the new “normal” we moved into a niche where we could be competitive. We changed what we did, who we sold to, the structure of the biz and downsized. It’s not perfect but we’re still alive.

And the recession? How did things go then?
That was practically the nail in the coffin of bigger = better for our biz.

NAFTA, 9/11, then the recession. Bad combination.

The recessions hit us very hard. We couldn’t access capital to alter our business (or heat the shop for that matter). The jury is still out as to how long we’ll be able to continue to be honest.

When you stopped working for other people describe how you felt.
The very first check I wrote to an employee made me so anxious I could barely breathe. I surely couldn’t sleep. 10 years later, I had over 20 employees and the things that made me anxious had exponentially increased. You learn as you grow…

Actually, meditating and the serenity prayer get me thru more sleepless nights than I like to admit.

How do you support yourself financially?
The business supports the family. My husband and I run it… Well, to be accurate it feels like it runs us. Both sons have worked w/us at various times in their lives and are creative and bright enough to not want our business. They’ve seen first-hand too many years of us taking no time off. Smart kids!

Do you consider yourself financially stable or not?
I always feel I’m one step away from losing everything. That’s not exactly accurate but I can never relax. Life is not uber secure but we are managing. It is always difficult. By its very nature custom work has a built in learning curve. We’re a custom shop now – rather than a production shop. Creating anything initially means uncertainty in the learning curve. Just think, you can actually lose your shirt every single time you do something truly new! Yes, you learn a ton, but you may not make a lot of $. Whereas, when we were involved w/production work (high end and upscale though it was) problems got resolved during prototyping. By the time lines were running the learning curve was finished. We could predict price based on output. That’s quite different than custom.

Do you have health insurance and if so, who pays for it? If not, why not?
We have health insurance and we pay for it. When our biz was super successful we paid 100% of our employees benefits and had 401K plans for them. It was a very hard decision to take that from employees, but we had to in order to continue. My husband is turning 65 so he’s eligible for Medicare now and Social Security which should help.

Glad you chose this path or do you wish you could go back in time?
I read The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin by P.D. Ouspensky in my teens and it profoundly influenced my forming persona. I think it’s kind of a waste of energy to wonder overmuch about that stuff. I think you do what you have to do. If you don’t have to go into business for yourself, if you envision other possibilities you’re gonna take them. People always told me how “brave” I was to be in business for myself. That felt inaccurate. Actually, it felt like BS. It wasn’t ever about bravery. I never had another choice cause I just never fit in anyone else’s box. I did get really lucky though,when I met a partner 35 years ago and we wanted to build our box together. It’s been an interesting run so far and I don’t know where it’ll wind up. Apparently we’re not done yet.

You can read more about Debra Coddington and Arrowsmith Forge at her website.

Paul Huber – Engineering Education

The Engineers No Responses »

Sep 052012

My name is Paul Huber. A few years ago I started “electricalfun.com”. The mission statement is: “A place for fun, learning, and exploration in the world of electricity and its technologies”. So far it’s been fun, scary, hard, and rewarding, and I’m still just getting started. It’s an adventure I’m happy to share!

What did you do for work in your last job?
I helped operate a family owned electrical contracting business. My father started the business in 1954 and I worked as a full-time electrician in the company from about 1982 on. Even before that, however, I was involved part-time since it was run out of our house. Some years later my father retired and I became president. A few years after that my sister came to work with me and it became a type of partnership arrangement.

When did you leave?
Technically in 2007. It was actually a gradual type of departure though. Because of the way I was involved in the operations there were still some ongoing matters that I needed to continue to help with.

Are you passionate about what you do?
Absolutely! I’ve always loved science and electrical technology. I enjoyed working with it in the contracting business and I have even more freedom to explore it now. I grew up watching scientists like Jacques Cousteau and Dr. Carl Sagan on TV. Their shows fascinated me and they were my heroes because they empowered people with knowledge and understanding of things. The work I’m doing now allows me to communicate with people like that by phone and e-mail, and at times it feels a little surrealistic – like more dream than reality. This Fall I’ll be taking that further with online video interviews and other video ideas. It’s impossible not to be passionate about that.

What pushed you to change jobs?
For the most part I enjoyed my previous occupation. The jobs we were contracted to do were always changing, I was always working with electricity, and there were constant engineering and logistic challenges to overcome – it was never boring.

The business problems of contracting, however, are constant and wear on you over time. I had been doing it for decades – literally – and the stress of that started to accumulate. The deciding point came when I noticed it affecting my health.

I was in my forties then and you become more aware of your mortality and questions of what you want to do with the rest of your life.

For a long time I had thought about starting something completely new, from a blank piece of paper. I liked the idea of being in a family business but I also wanted to do something that was completely my own idea. Although the health issues were actually minor, they were enough to be a catalyst for making that leap of faith. I knew that if I didn’t go for it then that I probably never would, and I didn’t want to live with those regrets later in life.

When you left your old job how did you feel?
There was some relief but there was also a little sadness. I tend to be nostalgic and I missed working with those people. It was a relatively small company and we were like a family. A dysfunctional one at times but a family nonetheless. 🙂

Have you gotten emotional support or do people wonder why you don’t have a real job?
Both. When I decided on starting a new career the idea of “electricalfun.com” immediately popped into my head. I sent an e-mail to my girlfriend right away asking her what she thought of the idea and she quickly responded back that she loved it. That was all the reassurance that I needed. I imagine she’s had worries and moments of doubt since then, but she never expressed any and has been 100% supportive all along. That’s crucial. I would have stuck with it anyway but it would have been tremendously more difficult without that support.

As far as doubters: there’s been some but not too many. Shortly into it my father told me that he really liked my site but questioned how I’d make a living with it. Some weeks later he was out and ran into a few business people that he respected. They told him that they’d seen my site and said that it could become worth a lot of money. He proudly shared the story with me and never doubted since then. Other people have asked questions or made comments that suggested doubt but I don’t pay much attention to that. What matters is that I have confidence in myself and what I’m doing.

Do you consider yourself financially stable?
The short, honest answer to that would still be no. I’ve been able to pay my bills but my definition of “financially stable” is pretty conservative and I don’t have the comfort margin that I’d like. Oddly, I think that’s a good thing because it keeps you on your toes. One of my favorite books is “Only the Paranoid Survive” by Andy Grove, Intel’s past CEO. He’s a brilliant man and he does a great job pointing out the benefits of being a little nervous and worried.

Comfort leads to complacency.

Do you have your own health insurance?
No. Fortunately I’m in good health right now and don’t need any care, but I know that’s risky and I plan on doing something about that in the next year.

How much time do you spend working and what do you spend that time doing?
Every day that’s a fresh question. I get up and start my workday about the same time as most people, but at this stage it’s still a mission more than a set of tasks. You could say the site and business model are still in a state of invention. My revenue comes from advertising and to build that I need to create something of increasing interest and value to my visitors. So the daily question is “what will make that happen,” and that’s what determines what I’ll work on that day. As far as how much time: it’s currently most of the day; that’s morning until night.

What have been the biggest challenges with your new business?
Coming up with the name – electricalfun.com – was easy. I loved electricity and I wanted my new business to be fun. The functional details of that were the hard part. I had to teach myself web development because I couldn’t afford to hire anybody, but beyond that, I didn’t even know what the site was going to be.

Yeah, it was a leap of faith for sure!

I started with a few simple articles about things that interested me but I quickly realized that competing for visitors among thousands/millions of other web sites was going to be a lot harder than I thought. I had some small financial assets to pay the bills with but that was burning away quickly and I knew I wouldn’t reach my revenue goal in time. There were a lot of gut-check moments where you have to stay mentally committed to the dream you’ve chosen.

I would say that having determination and perseverance are the biggest challenges for most new entrepreneurs, since they’re what overcome all the other problems you’ll have. Sometimes you can get lucky; things line up just right and success comes easy, but more often than not it will be harder and take longer than you thought, and you better be prepared and not quit. Some time ago I was listening to my clock radio in the morning and the host was interviewing a popular music star. He said; “You’ve really become quite an overnight sensation!” The musician responded; “Yeah, I’ve spent the last ten years becoming an overnight sensation.” That really stuck with me!

Glad you chose this path or do you wish you could go back in time?
I’m very glad and have no regrets whatsoever. That I can honestly say that seems a little strange actually. I think most people tend to second-guess their major decisions, and I have on a lot of mine, but not this one.

Check out Paul Huber’s website and be sure to check his site in a few months for videos!

Have something to add to the conversation? Please comment!

The Psychological Costs of Health Insurance – Sophi Kravitz

Articles 1 Response »

Aug 272012

Is Your Health Insurance Holding You Back? Originally published on MARCH 13, 2012 at Engineer Blogs

For most of us working as engineers or other technical jobs in the United States, it is a given that we receive paid-for medical insurance. It is difficult for companies to find technical workers, therefore they usually offer health insurance in some form or another as an incentive.

This site gives a breakdown of how much insurance costs state by state: http://www.ahipresearch.org/statedata.html

So if you work somewhere that asks you to pay say, 50% of your health insurance, you might be paying $2,500 per year for a single person. That is on par with paying to go out to eat lunch every day (and even then, on the cheap).

If you’re a family, things get much more expensive; the costs get closer to $6,500 on average. If you have a single-earner family, it’s unlikely you’re eating lunch out every day. If you are self-insured in NY state (where I’m from), it is about $5,700 for single person insurance and roughly $12,000 for a family plan. That would be a lot of expensive lunches!

Many of my project friends and talented online acquaintances talk about leaving their jobs to pursue inventing, projects or starting companies; that is, if it were not for the high cost of health insurance (again, in the United States). It is sad to see so many talented engineers so stuck because of the psychological pull of this major expense. While there are changes in the works currently (set to kick in by 2014), there are a lot of catches regarding pre-existing conditions and getting an insurance company to accept you. I feel it is very backwards thinking of the US government to effectively clamp down on creative entrepreneurs by linking health care to being an employee.

Health Care is not an easy thing to price out. Many of the insurance companies suggest a fax machine to transfer info back and forth, or requests for information are ignored entirely. The insurance documentation takes a bit of getting used to and even longer to understand. Most engineers utilize Human Resource professional or Benefits Administrator for a reason, right?

I get health insurance through my local Chamber of Commerce, so they take care of administration and acceptance. As far as I know, they accept everybody into the insurance plan. I do this to maintain my “life-hacked” engineering and sales job.

Once this expense is thought of in actual money terms, it is easy to determine whether or not the money for this cost can be earned by doing side work. One small engineering design project, for example, can pay a single person’s health insurance for an entire year. Additionally, this can be written off as a business expense, so the money that is earned towards the insurance will not be taxed.

Does $6k stand between you and doing what you love?

Scott Gibson – Idea Smith

The Engineers No Responses »

Aug 242012

This is Scott Gibson, 43 years old and father of three boys. I run my own design studio in Highland, NY fabricating, designing, importing and distributing products. My job title in Europe might be Miller or Millman, but here in US there seems to be no clear classication for what I do. I design and build things, and help others do the same with new and emerging technology. I like to think of what I work on as bridging art and industry. I find American titles like “jack of all trades” demeaning, and like it when people put their own title to my pursuits. My favorite this year has been IDEA SMITH.

Can you tell us a little bit about the kind of projects you work on?
I am a gun for hire, I have had 4 separate bosses in 12 months but work for myself. My last endeavor included market research for ceramic metal engineers finding market applications for a new material they developed. I spend alot of time trying to simplify what engineers complicate for the general public. I don’t like talking about what I do because of Non Disclosure agreements, but I can tell you I have to have 4 irons in the fire at once just to manage the delays that occur and are outside of my control.

Working for yourself is way more efficient then working inside a collective, once you know what you’re doing. But figuring that out by yourself is brutal and if you don’t get outside input you can get paralyzed by second guessing yourself.

It is quite a paradox, but I like those.

What actually pays the bills?
If I told people what work pays my bills they’d go after it, sorry. But if you have a problem I can help you solve it…..:)

Do you consider yourself financially stable?
“Financial Stability” to me refers to balance, is my scope of work well balanced yes, therefore I would say it’s financially stable. Is it secure… security means a level of control and I don’t think many self employed people really have a high level of control over their marketplace. I could be wrong but it seems to me our control is down to whether we get out of bed and get done what needs to be done without someone else telling us what to do.

Are you passionate about what you do?
I am extremely passionate about my projects, and at times feel like I am channeling outside forces and just trying to catch a ride. it can lead to extreme manic behavior and I often balance work with complete days of shut down. There is no 9-5, 5 day a week schedule, when it’s on it’s on, and when my brain shuts down, I am on the couch or working a European schedule with lots of naps.

How did you get started in your own business?
I got started designing and then making wallets for cell phones in 1995, using experience as a sewing machine mechanic along with my design degree. I rode the wave, built up a small Made in USA factory , took it offshore, brought it back, and I am still distubuting a House brand for adventure cycling and racing called Wingnut. I still love to cut and sew and consider myself a patternmaker first.

Do others support you emotionally or are they always asking you to get a “real” job?
My wife is a saint and believes in what I do, there are lots of discussions about getting a real job, and I am looking for ways to that, but it takes time and until I figure it out, or find the right synergy with current clients, the projects keep coming in and back packs keep going out.

Do you have health insurance and if so, who pays for it?
My health insurance is through my wife’s job.

What do you think about the path you’ve chosen after so many years at it?
I would not have changed my path except to have had more confidence in my side ideas early on and established a plan B or partime work that facilitated my interests.

At 43 with kids heading towards college the pursuit is somewhat irresponsible and financially turbulent and I am only as good as my last project. I work at this all the time.

You can read more about Scott Gibson’s pursuits at EcoPioneer and New Sun Productions

Dave Vandenbout – Engineer

The Engineers 1 Response »

Aug 222012

My name is Dave Vandenbout, but at least one person calls me Egbert. I’m 56 years old. I’m one of the original founders of X Engineering Software Systems Corp. (XESS) and now the sole remaining employee. My focus with XESS is on building low-cost, powerful and open FPGA systems for engineers, students and hobbyists. I’ve been pulling this plow full-time since 1994 (except for a nine-month contracting stint with ABB back in ’97).

What did you do for work in your last full time/part time job?
My first and last corporate job was with AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1978 until 1983. I did several things while I was there: designed telephones, wrote 6801 firmware for video terminals, tested crystal oscillators for temperature drift, wrote test vectors for ASICs, etc.

(I also used to hide in the company library and write games for the Commodore 64, but don’t tell anybody.)

Over the five years I worked there, no project I was involved with ever survived the internecine corporate power struggles and made it out to an actual customer. So I left.

After that, I got my PhD and then became an assistant professor at NCSU from 1987 through 1993. My academic research foci were using neural networks for combinatorial problems, computer architectures for tomography, and rapid prototyping using FPGAs. After publishing 45 papers over that span, I decided the job required too much talking about what I wanted to do and very little doing of what I wanted to do. So I left.

What are your passions?
I don’t really believe in that whole passion thing. If you look back at the romantic relationships you’ve had, most of those people you wouldn’t want to see ever again (especially if they’re coming out of a pawnshop with their new handgun). Passion seems to lead to short-term happiness that comes to a sudden and noisy end.

I concentrate more on achieving fulfillment. I try to build things that others will find useful enough to pay for. Then I hope they take something I’ve built and do something really great with it. I like that because it’s external and tangible: I did something that somebody else wanted and, as a result, the world got a little bit better. (Unless they take something of mine and build a bomb with it, but I try not to spend time obsessing about that.)

As part of making those things others find useful, I do a lot of FPGA design (primarily VHDL), schematic drawing, PCB layout, simulation, interfacing with manufacturers and assemblers, writing documentation and tutorials, etc. Of all those things, I think I like PCB layout the best with all the placing and fitting of components and wires into a small area while meeting the various requirements. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. But, really, I enjoy all these activities, even the logistics of getting something manufactured and paid for. If you look closely enough, everything has a puzzle inside it waiting to be figured out.

Are you making a living doing your passion?
There’s that passion word again. It’s starting to creep me out a bit.

Sophi: oops

I’ve had big years and small years with XESS. There’s usually enough money flowing or stored up so that I’ve only had to go outside once in eighteen years and do some contracting work. So I guess you could say I’m making a living from it.

I think it helps that I have a pretty austere lifestyle regardless of the income. Someone once came by and asked my next-door neighbor who to contact about renting my house because “Nobody is living there. It’s empty.” She replied: “He has simple needs.”

How much time do you spend in your dream work life?
I guess I spend 100% of my time doing my dream job, maybe because I’ve seen how bad other jobs can be. I don’t have to work in the heat and get my hands all beaten-up like a bricklayer. I don’t have to put in obscene hours on projects that get cancelled right before reaching completion because someone in the chain-of-command fell out of favor in some political infighting. I don’t have to spend all my time writing proposals about what I want to do so I can get funding to hire students to do what I wanted to do so I can write another proposal about what I want to do next.

Instead, I get to figure out what others want, figure out how to get it built, and then deliver it. That seems to be the best job I could dream of.

That’s not to say everything is good about it. I once had a toll-free phone line that was one digit off from the number for 1-800-LAWYERS. I was always getting phone calls on Saturday night from jailed drunks wanting a lawyer to handle their case. I told one of them that “the problem with our country is that it’s easier for some people to hire a lawyer than to spell it.”

And I’ve been ripped-off by some customers over the years, like anyone who sells stuff over the Internet. But they’re relatively few and far outweighed by the number of good customers I have. They’re really what makes the job worthwhile. I’m like a plow horse that spends all day making furrows in the soil. It’s up to my good customers to come along and plant the seeds that will make something grow.

In the end my business is all about them; my products don’t even make any sense without my customers using them to realize their own designs.

Do you have a financial trust fund that supports you?
No. I’m more like a financial trust fund that supports others, like my ex-wife.

I count on the good years and a simple lifestyle to get me through the bad years. If that doesn’t work, then hopefully I’ll be resilient and adaptable enough to get through whatever comes.

How did your business get started?
Some other faculty members at NCSU and I formed XESS in 1990 to develop a spreadsheet program for scientific workstations (Excel wasn’t even in the ballgame back then). We did it on the side while keeping our day jobs, and we signed a contract with a software company to market our stuff.

Well, the software marketers were pretty incompetent in terms of getting our program noticed, much less sold. And then we had the recession in the early ’90s that pretty much ended faculty pay raises. I was pretty much burned out on the whole paper-publishing / student-advising thing any way. So I said “If I’m going to not make money, I might as well not make money while doing something I like.” So I quit and started working consulting gigs through XESS while also trying to market our spreadsheet software. Eventually, the spreadsheet program was sold off, the other guys sold out to me, and I took over the company as the single remaining employee. The consulting work eventually morphed into designing and producing FPGA boards, and that’s the way it remains today.

Describe how you felt when you stopped working for other people.
Quitting a job is great! It’s like parking your piece-of-shit car on the side of the road, taking off the license plates, and walking away. Whatever problems it caused in the past, it sure isn’t going to be causing any problems for you in the future.

But after that, you’re confronted with making decisions about what your goal is, what resources are needed to get there, what obstacles will be in the way, and what happens if there isn’t anything worthwhile there when you reach it?

So you’re in a situation where you have sole responsibility for a lot of decisions, but you also have the authority to make those decisions. As a result of those decisions, you’ll have some days when $70K of new contracts hit all at once, and other days when you have to take $5K of defective boards out to a landfill and run over them with a bulldozer. After a while, you get used to it.

Do others support you emotionally or are they always asking you to get a “real” job?
I’ve been doing this for so long that most people like that have drifted away or died.

Do you continually need to explain why you’re doing what you do?
I think if people know you’re an engineer but you’re not asking them for a loan or anything, they’re usually pretty happy to remain willfully ignorant about what you do and why you do it.

Do people around you tell you that they wish they could do it too?
No, not really. By the time you reach my age, most of them have made their decisions one way or the other and either can’t or won’t change their current situation. Or they’re retired.

How do you support yourself financially?
I design FPGA boards. Then I have them manufactured. Then people buy them. Then I take their money and give it to my suppliers, my government, and my ex-wife. It’s quite simple, really.

Do you consider yourself financially stable or not?
That’s not even a question I ask anymore, because stability is pretty much an illusion. If you think you’re stable, that’s probably because you’re in a temporary null spot where two very large waves just happen to cancel each other out. The world can change on a dime and take you right along with it, no matter how much money you have. The only thing I can do is try to be adaptable and resilient when those changes occur.

Of more importance than money might be a well-connected social network to provide you with opportunities and support. As the old Soviets used to say: “Better a hundred friends than a hundred rubles.”

Do you have health insurance and if so, who pays for it?
I’ve had health insurance since I went full-time with XESS in 1994. I estimate that over $175K has vanished down that rat-hole since then.

Currently, the health insurance for me and my ex-wife has an approximate yearly cost that’s equivalent to buying a new, low-end car. Except it’s a car that you only drive occasionally on small trips to places you don’t want to go, like Broken Bone Beach or Influenza Fjords. If you’re really unlucky, you might also get to take an expensive road trip to someplace like Kidney Stone Park.

Finally, after paying the car off in twelve months, it vanishes from your driveway and is never seen again! So you buy another one. For 10% more. Forever and ever.

That’s what health insurance is like, and every indicator says that it won’t be getting any better. Currently, the only way to get reasonable-cost health care is to be young. So stay young for as long as you can!

How much time do you spend looking for business?
When you’re a one-person company, the answer defaults to 100% because you can see a business reason for everything you do. Why am I designing a new board? To get more customers. Why am I writing documentation? Because customers require it before they’ll purchase. Why am I writing a book? To introduce people to FPGAs so they might become future customers.

Now this isn’t to say I don’t enjoy the things I do or that I wouldn’t do these things unless money was involved. I’m just pointing out that everything done in my company has an impact on finding and keeping customers.

Now if you’re using “looking for business” to mean making cold calls, writing proposals, etc., then I don’t really do much of that at all. I’m mainly trying to provide good products and support to my customers and relying on word-of-mouth and the standard web interfaces (e.g., blogs, Twitter) to get new customers.

Are you glad you chose this path or do you wish you could go back in time?
I’m glad that I can’t go back in time and edit my life to smooth out the rough patches! I think the best parts of me were brought out by the worst times for me. Sometimes the best gifts come wrapped in black.

As for the decision to go into business for myself, I don’t think it’s had a major effect on my life. Good and bad things happen to you regardless of your employment situation. What it does do is amplify your life: you have more opportunities to benefit from the good things, and a higher probability of being rolled-over by the bad things. Overall, you have more responsibility for your life, but also more control over it. And, from what I’ve read, having a sense of control is the most important thing for being happy at work (and maybe in general, too).

Back in the ’80s, I asked my then wife: “In life, you’re the hammer or the nail. Which one are you?” She replied: “Neither. I think life has more possibilities than that.” So when times get bumpy, I always remember life has more possibilities than that.

See more about Dave Vandenbout’s business, XESS here or follow him on Twitter @devbisme

Mari Snow – Entrepreneur

The Entrepreneurs No Responses »

Aug 202012

My name is Mari Anne Snow and I’m a bit of an “accidental” entrepreneur. Up until three and a half years ago, I was a senior executive in the hardcore “corporate world” of finance. My transition lever, as with many professionals today, was the economic downturn. Luckily for me, this experience liberated me.

What did you do for work in your last full time/part time job?
I’ve always been an “intrapreneur” – a corporate executive with an entrepreneur’s mentality. I deliberately choose jobs with companies undergoing big, radical changes – mergers/acquisitions, IPOs, explosive growth, new product development, turnarounds.

Chaos suits me.

I change disciplines, industries and responsibilities easily as I see the connections between things. Early on in my career, I developed the ability to apply my skill sets successfully to whatever context presented itself. I have a reputation as a “troubleshooter”, a problem-solver and a risk-taker. When tough, interesting projects present themselves – I get psyched to take the assignment. Ironically, it’s this adventurous need to try new stuff that set me on an entrepreneurial path.

What are you doing now?
I launched my own firm – SophiaThink – in 2009. We’re a digital strategy consulting company. We work with clients to help them effectively integrate digital tools (e.g. mobile, cloud, social media, SEO, SEM, etc) to help them achieve or exceed their business goals. There is so much cool, new stuff out there these days and everyone is totally confused. Also, lots of people are worried they have to do everything – they get overwhelmed and execute poorly. We add a rational, mature, educated voice to the strategic planning process so business people get exactly what they need to meet their specific business objectives. We also do workshops, executive coaching and speaking.

And just to make things interesting (because I am who I am) – I just started working as COO for a friend of mine, Kipp Bradford. We are launching his start-up – kippkitts. This is a big shift for me as kippkitts is engineering and product design. We create unique mechanical and electronic products/project kits for higher education, the maker/DIY community and as a supplement to corporate R&D departments.

Yes, go ahead and say it, this probably seems like a totally different direction – confusing, huh?

For many people it might be, but it seemed like a perfect fit for me! I get to use my corporate business experience, my problem-solving skills, my international network – even my digital business background comes into the picture for the eCommerce side of kippkitts. I know how to budget, manage people/projects/money, create business infrastructure, plus run an effective Kickstarter campaign AND create brand presence online….a real plus in my new role. On top of all this, I get to learn new things and hang with some really smart, fun people.

How many different things do you do to make a living? Tell us about them.
Wow, let’s see. I’m currently CEO of SophiaThink, COO of kippkitts, an adjunct professor of digital business at Bentley and Suffolk Universities plus co-host of Positive Business AM790 (a weekly radio program based out of Providence, RI). Seems like a lot, I know, but I prefer being busy. I don’t sleep much – I never have. Also, not owning a television and having a very tolerant husband helps, lol.

Are you passionate about what you do?
DEFINITELY. I am not interested in life without passion. Its part of my DNA and it’s what keep me going. Ask anyone who knows me; I’ve never been moderate about anything in my life. I get excited about things; I like to really participate in life. I think this is connected to the fact that I am a very curious person.
I always want to learn new things, figure things out – so I ask a lot of questions and listen to everything that is going on around me. That’s what makes it fun for me.

What pushed you to stop working for other people?
It wasn’t a push so much as it was a calculated risk. The economic situation was pretty tricky in 2009 and companies weren’t hiring. I wasn’t interested in just hanging around until companies started hiring again. Also, there were really exciting things happening in digital technology and I had the privilege of living in a geographic area where there was a lot going on (technically speaking). Social media was just gaining momentum and I saw the changes as my opportunity to leverage my knowledge in this area.

I had started a small business right after I graduated from college and I had an inkling of what it would take to be out on my own. In my favor, I’ve got a focused work ethic and a lot of energy so it seemed reasonable to invest in myself. Also, I’m pretty decisive and very self-directed (I am the oldest of five children so I am used to being the leader of the pack so to speak) so making decisions and functioning independently comes naturally. I was also fortunate enough to have lots of amazing people willing to share their experiences and give me advice. There is a great deal of kindness in the world – I feel pretty grateful to have such an available, engaged network willing to support me.

As for working for other people – I still do. But now those people are my clients, my students and my strategic partners. It just means I am now totally responsible for my approach to my stakeholders and my strategy for growing my business. There is no large system to hide slow sales periods. If I don’t make money, I have to look in the mirror….and if I don’t have business; I have to get creative to fill my pipeline (easier said than done sometimes!). I am very grateful for my corporate work experience – it provided financial stability for my family for a long time. Everything has its pros and cons; of course, I certainly didn’t love every minute of every job, nor did I love every manager. But that’s not the point. I learned something from every one of them and I grew my skills – that’s what matters to me and that’s what I keep with me always.

When you stopped working for other people describe how you felt.
Terrified. I still am some days.

I recently read a blog post written by a serial entrepreneur who charted his moods during his last start-up. It looked like a very frightening roller coaster – a real study in extremes. That’s a great metaphor for my life – very frightening, exciting, energizing and exhausting. It doesn’t help much to dwell on the day-to-day mood swings. If you do, its paralyzing, you can’t get anything done. So you must learn to operate on two levels – acknowledge the ups and downs, but stay focused on your larger plan. Also, maintaining a good sense of humor helps – this life requires you to manage your energy so you can fire on all cylinders when needed. I tend to think of the ups and downs as data points that help me correct my course when necessary. I’ve developed the ability to maintain a certain objectivity under stress – even when I am sad or disappointed, I can still analyze the situation without emotion, take action (then I process the disappointment later when I am by myself).

The other thing I noticed – when you work for a company, there is a lot of unnecessary “busy work”. Meetings, paperwork, politics, overly complicated work-processes – I don’t miss them. I remember my first few months as an entrepreneur; things moved forward quickly with half the effort. I’d make decisions, do whatever was necessary to implement my decision and things got done. It seemed way too easy and I was confused. Then it occurred to me I didn’t have to jump through the hoops necessary to get the tedious corporate “buy-in” that had become an unconscious part of my strategic thinking. When you are an entrepreneur no one is particularly interested in your day-to-day activities (except maybe your partners or investors) whereas corporate roles require you to “announce” your accomplishments as proof of your corporate worth. There is a lot of micro-management with bosses watching over your shoulder so they can exert control or assure themselves you are doing your job to their satisfaction. This always seemed artificial to me – it also encourages individuals to declare victory when none has been achieved. I don’t miss that at all.

What are people’s reactions to your choice to go out on your own?
It sort of depends on their personal orientation. I’ve had people who express a certain wistfulness – “You are so lucky”, a lot of confusion – “what exactly do you do?”

I found that some old colleagues appear a bit afraid to interact with me – as if I have a strange disease they are worried they will catch – but that’s the exception, not the rule.

Sophi’s note: I completely relate to that- I lost a few old colleagues nearly immediately after I stopped working full time. Some of my old coworkers were confused by my decision to quit my career trajectory. It was as though they felt that by associating with me, it would show the world that they too, were blowing off the “employee” label, which is anti-kool-aid drinking thinking.

Do people ask you questions about what it’s like to be an entreprenuer?
I get lots and lots and lots of requests for advice. I speak with an average of three/four people a month who are struggling with their career choices and just want to talk to someone about it. This always surprises me and makes me a bit uncomfortable as I feel I haven’t really figured things out yet – who am I to give advice? Ironically, my LinkedIn profile gets lots of scrutiny – my professional network is fascinated and wants to see what I get up to next – I’m like a little reality TV show for them, I guess. Every time I do an update, I get a mass of emails showing support, asking for details and generally cheering me on…that’s very gratifying and a little humbling.

How do you support yourself financially? Specifically what kind of work pays the bills?
Everything I do generates some sort of revenue stream or is tied to business value in some way. Everything cycles – so I never know from whence the next revenue will come. Teaching is pretty predictable; consulting is consulting, it comes when it comes; kippkitts is just getting off the ground, so its dependent on our incoming revenue/funding and the radio show is more a labor of love, not much revenue, but lots of exposure.

Do you consider yourself financially stable or not?
Yes, I am financially stable. SophiaThink actually made a profit last year, albeit a small one in comparison to my previous earnings. There was a definite change when I moved from a predictable corporate paycheck to an entrepreneur’s income. I’m pretty fortunate to have an amazing husband, who supports my activities; somewhat financially, but definitely emotionally. Luckily, we have a long history of supporting each other. Earlier in his career, he made a very risky change, moving out of the corporate world into managing non-profits. I supported him during that adventure and he is supporting me during mine.

Do you have health insurance and if so, who pays for it?
I have health insurance through my husband’s work plan. While the premium cost comes out of his paycheck, we have a joint household income so essentially we both pay for it.

How much time do you spend looking for new business? How do you look for new work?
I’m always looking for new business. That’s sort of a given. When you are starting a company, are self-employed or in a start-up; finding new business is essential to your survival so looking for business can never stop. It has to become part of your psyche so you are comfortable with this role.

As I am a digital practitioner, this includes my work online with tools like LinkedIn, twitter and my blog. I run google alerts, contribute to discussion groups and track trending topics. I stay close to my network with status updates, re-tweets and monitoring my google and LinkedIn newsfeeds.

I keep my eye out for items/content that will interest my network and I share it. I will also use new information and upcoming events to re-engage with connections I haven’t seen in a while. I speak at conferences, do webinars, workshops and participate in business panels whenever I can. I’m connected with several industry networking groups and I stay active; attending events and supporting other members.

I work with a lot of strategic partners – I hire them, they hire me. So we refer each other whenever we can. In addition, I am working on my first book that I hope to publish as an eBook before the end of the year.

How do you feel about the choice you made to leave the corporate world?
Given what I know today, I wouldn’t change my choices. I might structure things differently but only if I could go back knowing what I know now. But I try not to look back too much as I think it’s such a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong, I value the learning and the lessons; those things I keep with me always. But wishing for a “re-do” won’t change anything; so what’s the point? Also, I’m a different person now so I wouldn’t be satisfied with that previous situation anymore. That door is closed so why dwell. I like looking forward. Plus I know that I have the power to change things if I don’t like my current situation. Looking forward is so much more energizing. It’s full of possibility – and I’ll bet on possibility anytime.

See more about what Mari Snow is working on at SophiaThink and kippkitts, LLC

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