Business & Babies
When you have kids, the idea of
working at home may seem like a perfect solution. But don't expect
everything to be idyllic -- or easy.
by Suzanne Wade
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| Katherine Palochak created
these Bamboo earrings of sterling silver and 24K gold. |
It's just after lunch. Your three-year-old is coloring happily
at the table, and the baby is napping in her cradle. With the kids
settled, you'll surely be able to concentrate at your workbench
for a couple of hours, completing several jewelry pieces before
the baby wakes and you break for a snack and some play time with
the kids. Yeah, right.
If you're chuckling, it probably means you're a parent, and you
know just how challenging it can be to combine child care with productive
work. Although such idyllic scenes may occasionally play out, many
parents find that the demands of being the primary caregiver for
their kids can easily overwhelm dreams of turning a jewelry hobby
into a home-based business.
“Before [my son] was born, I had been doing jewelry for five
or six years, and I have always had a home studio,” says Laney
Clark, jewelry designer and mother of Cody, 21/2. “I expected
to continue working right through pregnancy and his birth. I thought
I could do it all: I could have the home business and be a full-time
mom. Boy, was I sadly mistaken.”
Clark has succeeded in continuing her jewelry business, but only
because she was willing to scale back significantly to make it work.
The biggest surprise, she says, “was just how much time I had
to devote strictly to him, especially right after he was born. I
thought while he was awake, he could just sit next to me. Oh, I
was so wrong!”
She's not alone: if you're not prepared for the demands children
can place on your business, you may soon wish you'd thought more
carefully about adding a business to an already hectic home life.
“It's a juggling act that would impress Barnum & Bailey,”
says Katherine Palochak, who has created jewelry for 12 years, as
well as running a Wyoming ranch with her husband and home-schooling
her three children, Richard, now 16, and twin girls, Shanda and
Andrea, 24. “You're always trying to juggle everything all
at once.”
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| Lisa Pichard named a
line of jewelry after hurricane Bertha that swept throught the
beach leaving it littered with objects that Pichard and her
children collected. This pin/pendant, Sea Goddess was
made from a moonstone, chalcedony, a found shell, and copper
& sterling to mimic the debris. |
But if you can find the right balance between business and family,
the reward is more time with your kids than a career in the corporate
world would allow. “I wanted to spend time with the children,”
says Cynthia Wiig, who started her business in 1994 with that hope
in mind. Her children, Noel and Grant, are now 18 and 9. “I
wanted to be able to pick them up after school. I wanted to be the
one primarily raising my children.”
Being your own boss also means you can set your own hours, and
you don't have to fight traffic during the morning commute. “I
call it 'the fuzzy slipper commute,'” says Jackie Anderson,
who began working from a home studio five years before her son,
Sawyer, now 9, was born. “I can get up, get my child to school,
have coffee, and come out to the studio. When my husband and I were
first together, his weekend was Sunday and Monday, so I just made
my weekend the same as his. Now, we have a teachers convention coming
up, so my son will be out of school for three days. But we don't
have to make any arrangements to put him somewhere. I can take him
to his snowboarding lessons.”
Many parents use that freedom to chaperone school field trips or
volunteer in their children's classrooms. And if there's an emergency
-- from a trip to the hospital to a forgotten lunch -- you're available
to respond to the need. “Guess who the neighbors list for emergency
calls every year,” says Eileen DelDuca, who has been creating
jewelry in her home studio since her daughter, Kathryn, now 13,
was three months old. Her son, Michael, is now 10. “But it's
also nice because with the flexibility of working at home, I've
been at the school quite a bit to help with the classes, and then
you get to see what your kids are doing. I got to go to Niagara
Falls on the class trip. And the kids can call home at any time,
and know you're there.”
With such incentives, many parents decide that it's worth the effort
to establish a home-based jewelry business. And such a venture can
be successful, say those who have done it: you just have to be prepared
for the reality of balancing work and family. To improve your odds
of success, here are some hints from the master jugglers themselves
-- jeweler moms and dads.
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| Cynthia Wiig started
her jewelry business in 1994 in order to spend more time with
her children. Shown here is one of her sterling silver cat pendants. |
Make the most of the hours you have.
If your kids are in school, that means heading for the studio
as soon as you get them on the bus. If they're younger, be sure
not to lose those precious nap hours. And in either case, you'll
probably want to take advantage of the quiet hour or two after they
go to bed.
Whatever your free time, set it aside and discipline yourself to
always work on your jewelry projects then, suggests Erhard Kruger,
who creates chain-mail style jewelry in between a shift job as a
facility attendant at the local ice rink and raising four kids ages
9-1/2 , 7, 5, and 3. His wife, Francine, a textile artist, also
works at home.
“I once read an article in a writer's journal about finding
time to write, and they basically said the only way to get anything
done is to just do it,” says Kruger. “That's probably
the best advice for anybody at home. If you're having problems getting
distracted by everything else, set aside a certain time of day [to
work on jewelry] and make sure you do it. No cheating.”
Another alternative is to seek out types of work that allow you
to work while the kids are around. When her children were young,
Wiig started experimenting with wire, primarily because it was portable.
“I didn't need a bench or a torch or a casting machine,”
she says. “So I could take it with me to the park, I could
take it with me to the pre-school -- I could create something and
still be with my child. People got used to me dragging this wire
around and making these continuous-line wire designs.”
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| A pendant of copper and
sterling silver by jewelry maker Laney Clark. Photo: Sharon
Bryan. |
Be flexible.
No matter how carefully you manage your time, there will be days
when things just don't go as planned: the kids or the baby-sitter
will get sick, the spouse will leave on a business trip, or school
will be canceled due to snow or a teacher conference.
“You have to realize, especially if you're a mother, that
it still primarily falls as your responsibility to raise the children,”
says Palochak. “There are going to be times when the children
are sick and you can't meet obligations. Or you get sick, and between
running a household and running a business, you get worn out.”
If you're flexible, you can learn to take such disasters in stride.
Be willing to make sacrifices.
If you expect to be a full-time caregiver as well as a jewelry
designer, you'll probably find yourself giving up opportunities
that could launch your career to the next level. “There are
a lot of times when I've had to give up opportunities, but it came
down to what was more important in my life: my children or a developing
career,” says Palochak. “I could put the career on hold
or slow it down for a few years, but you can't really put children
on hold.”
As a result, you'll probably be happiest as a work-at-home mom
or dad if you're willing to make your children your priority and
let your career take a back seat. “If I'd put my kids in day
care full time, my business would probably be further ahead,”
admits DelDuca. “But I like my kids. I wanted to raise them:
I didn't want day care to raise them.”
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| Jackie Anderson made
this Mood Brooch 1 of sterling silver, blue topaz, tourmaline,
citrine, and arborite, on what she calls “the fuzzy slipper
commute” |
Set realistic goals.
Scaling back your ambitions can also mean scaling back your income,
so you'll want to take a hard-eyed look at your family's financial
status. “You'd better know your finances before you do this,”
says DelDuca. “I was lucky: my husband had a good job and my
income was never worked into the budget, so for the first couple
of years any money I made was gravy.”
If the second income is important to the family, though, you'll
want to take periodic looks at your progress. “It's good to
re-evaluate: is this working for the family? Are you generating
enough cash flow for the family?” says Wiig. “It's sometimes
easier to be at a job even part-time than self-employment. You really
need to examine what works for you.”
Involve the kids.
If your kids are past the everything-in-the-mouth baby stage,
it may be possible to involve them in your work, buying a couple
of hours of productive time while the kids work alongside you. “We
found out you can cast shrink art,” says Charolette Purviance,
who raised nine children while pursuing a jewelry career from home.
“When they see mom getting into the waxes and all this neat
stuff, they want to help. So we learned a whole lot with Play-Doh
-- whenever I'd work with wax, I would give them Play-Doh. Then
they graduated from Play-Doh to shrink art.” In that process,
they discovered shrink art could be treated just like wax for casting
purposes. “Some of my favorite [jewelry] pieces are the ones
that my kids drew and I cast into sterling silver,” she says.
“We have a toy area in our workspace and an extra table for
the kids, so if they want to get messy with clay or something, we
can set that up while we're working away,” says Kruger. “They
do show interest [in my work], and sometimes they'll ask me if they
can make something. So I'll give them my pliers and snippets of
wires and they do weird shapes, sometimes trying to make letters
or little animals out of it.”
Judy Williams, who turned her jewelry hobby into a part-time business
when her two daughters were in high school and junior high, put
her kids to work. They assembled wire-based pieces, strung necklaces
for her to knot, and cut lengths of wire. As they got older, they
learned to heat metal and make head pins and eventually simple band
rings. She also drafted them for help with inventory, and as guinea
pigs to try out a new design -- something her two daughters liked
best of all.
Lisa Pilchard takes her kids, Russell, 13, Elizabeth, 11, and John,
6, when she goes rock collecting. “I've made some nice pieces
out of fossils and stones that I found with them,” she says.
“They know a lot about fossils and enjoy stones, too.”
Her youngest often joins her in her basement studio, as well. “He
likes to take scrap metal and build with it,” she says. “So
when he went to school, he was very good at block building, and
it's phenomenal what he can do with scrap paper and cardboard tools.”
Palochak taught her kids the rudiments of sales techniques, and
brought them along to help out at shows. “When we would do
a show I'd take them along with me; I didn't really have a choice
because of the way my husband's job is,” says Palochak. “So
we worked out a deal where they got 20 percent commission on retail
sales and 25 percent commission on wholesale sales. And man, they
worked at that, because it was their only source of income for a
long time. They might come home with $60 or $70, and $60 for a 13-year-old
is quite a bit. And they were a big help to me: they allowed me
to take a break now and then and go to the bathroom.” |
| SAFETY CONCERNS |
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Jewelry making often involves dangerous chemicals and hazardous
processes. It doesn't take an alarmist to envision a child
fascinated with the torch or curious about the chemicals having
an industrial accident -- the worst nightmare of any parent.
Avoiding the dangers inherent in jewelry-making equipment
can be relatively simple, though; it just takes an application
of normal parental common sense. “Everything we do, we
kid-proof,” says Erhard Kruger. “If I were to start
working regularly on a torch, I would make sure the storage
spot is up high. Any chemicals I might use are in well-marked
jars up high.” A locked cabinet for the more dangerous
items is also a good idea.
A separate studio also offers an extra layer of security.
“We put as many barriers between my daughter and the
shop as we can,” says Larry Seiger. “I keep the
door to my shop closed when I'm not there, and we have the
office in front of that where we usually keep a baby gate
up.”
Cynthia Wiig avoided bringing her kids into her basement
studio whenever possible. “I would hire the next-door
neighbor to baby-sit upstairs,” she says. “Since
my studio is separate downstairs, and I have to enter through
an outside door to get to it, it made it possible for me to
'go to work' when I left him upstairs with someone, but I
could still come up and check on him.”
If you do permit your children into your studio, keep dangerous
items out of reach as much as possible, and lay the ground
rules early. “Basically, if I'm not at my bench, no one
is allowed there,” says Kruger. “We set it down
when we started. With chemicals and polishing cloths, we'd
just tell them, 'No, that's ours. It's not for you.' Even
with a two-and-a-half-year-old, if you tell him, 'No,' he
might have a temper tantrum, but then he'll find something
else to do.”
Be straight with the kids about the dangers involved, recommends
Charolette Purviance. “I've always felt if you hide it,
they're going to be curious about it,” she says. “So
I start early, and I tell them what it is, what it does, and
what it'll do to them if they touch it.”
Even with the most obedient kids in the world, though, you
may find there are substances you just don't want to keep
around. In that case, the best solution is to find alternatives
to particularly hazardous processes.
“Any kinds of fumes are always a concern,” says
Laney Clark. “That was one of my concerns when I was
pregnant. I started reading MSDS sheets and said, 'I can't
expose the fetus to these.'” In response, Clark closed
up shop entirely until her son was six months old, and even
now avoids many potentially dangerous materials.
“When [my kids] were younger, I actually put away my
acids,” says Wiig. “I've chosen not to get into
avenues of the process that involve chemicals too much. I
might have gotten into etching or something, but I didn't
want those things sitting around.”
“I have found there's a lot of stuff even I don't want
to have to deal with, even with the best ventilation,”
says Seiger. “I used to do a lot of bombing with a high
percentage of hydrogen peroxide and sodium cyanide, and even
with the best ventilation it was scary. So I've tried to cut
down on as many chemicals as possible. I said, 'I don't need
this nitric acid, I don't need to do this bombing, and I can
replace sulfuric acid with Sparex, which is at least a little
less potent and a little easier to store.” --SW |
Expect minor disasters.
No matter how good your kids are, there will be times when they
break your concentration at exactly the wrong moment. “I've
ruined many a piece,” says Pilchard. “The two kids might
be down [in my studio] and they're bickering and fighting. I've
melted many a piece due to distractions.”
“We've had some catastrophes,” admits Purviance. “We've
had a couple of meltdowns when the kids should have been leaving
mom alone and weren't, and mom looked at the kid instead of the
piece.”
Set limits.
It can be hard to convince the kids -- not to mention the spouse,
parents, friends, and neighbors -- that when you're in your studio,
you're really working and shouldn't be disturbed. But if you don't
put your foot down -- gently but firmly -- your work will fall prey
to an endless stream of interruptions.
“You're the one in charge -- of the children, of the business,
of yourself -- so you have to draw the line. You have to make sure
people know you're working,” says DelDuca. “You have to
tell them they can't come and see the baby whenever they want.”
“I think at one point I actually taped a message on my telephone,
'Just say No,'” recalls Wiig. “You have to set up priorities
and create a pattern and somehow try to stick to it, or your time
can just vanish.”
And it's not just family and friends you have to learn to say “No”
to. “You have to be selective about what you take on,”
says Anderson. “If you're used to saying 'Yes' to everything
and then you find you just don't have time to do it, you get so
frustrated. That's why I decided to cut out custom work, even though
that's where I made money. I found it too difficult, having people
come to the house all the time and having to be available for them.
So now most of what I do is self-motivated, and I do a lot of consignment
work for galleries.”
Think about child care.
Many parents decide to build a home-based business in order to
be near their children. But the reality is that concentrating on
your work and caring for your child don't always mix. “You
can't think of staying home with your child as a convenient thing
or a cost-saving thing. It's much more complex than that,”
says Larry Seiger, a JA certified master bench jeweler who works
full-time in his home studio, taking breaks to care for his 18-month-old
daughter while his wife pursues her own home-based business. “I
think a lot of people think it's nice to be at home because you
can watch your baby and not have day care. But you have to make
an effort to decide what you're going to do with your child on an
hour-by-hour basis. If you don't think about that in advance, it
will totally paralyze you.”
For many parents, the best solution is finding someone they trust
to help care for the children. “I had a high school girl come
in a couple of days a week to take [the baby] out for a walk,”
says DelDuca. “It took a while for me to get comfortable leaving
my infant with someone else, and it was a lot easier being home,
because then you can watch and listen. So the high school student
worked out really well for me.”
For others, a supportive spouse can take over child care in the
evenings and weekends, giving you time alone in the studio. “I
devote my time after my husband gets home from work,” says
Clark. “My husband has always been supportive of my creative
side. He basically tells me to get out the door [and head for the
studio] if I'm procrastinating.”
Connect with other adults.
Working at home can leave you feeling isolated, so it's important
to look for things that will draw you back into society. “One
of the downsides of working at home is not having another artist
or jeweler to talk to on occasion,” says DelDuca. “When
I need some input, I will drag in neighbors and ask, 'what do you
think about this,' I'll find anybody with an artistic eye.”
She also takes advantage of e-mail forums and other electronic means
of communication.
“The Orchid list [a jewelry e-mail list sponsored by ganoksin.com]
has been very helpful in terms of technical support,” says
Pilchard. “It's been very helpful to discuss and listen to
feedback and whatnot.”
If you're proficient in a particular technique, teaching a class
at a local continuing education program may also be an option. “I
know a lot of women who have art backgrounds, and a lot will teach
part time just to get out and see people and keep a hand in,”
says Anderson.
Exhibiting at a jewelry or craft show also offers a good opportunity
to break out of your isolation, as well as earn some money. “Shows
are a really good way for me to get back into adult life,”
says Clark. “I spend my days talking two-year-old talk, and
when I'm doing shows it's really exciting to talk to people and
see other people. Some shows I don't sell anything, but I've had
exposure to people and handed out business cards. It just gets me
back into society.”
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| Larry Seiger's
necklace of 22K gold, 18K palladium, and diamonds. Photo: Seth
Tice-Lewis. |
Give yourself permission to be imperfect.
For many new parents, the biggest enemy is not looming deadlines
or demanding customers; it's the need to be both the perfect parent
and the ideal jeweler -- and the guilt that follows when you don't
measure up to your own impossible standards.
“I think the really important thing is not to be hard on yourself.
Don't beat yourself up,” says Anderson. “I really felt
I wasn't doing enough, and that what I was doing wasn't good enough.
But you have to set realistic goals for your day and be willing
to be flexible, or you're going to go crazy. Be gentle with yourself,
but don't stop. You have to grow into the situation as it evolves.”
“The fact that I can't devote myself 100 percent to jewelry
making means I'm not doing nearly as much as I could be doing,”
says Clark. “At first, I resented it. I was resentful because
I couldn't do what I wanted, when I wanted. And that's hard to admit.”
Through long talks with her mother and husband, she eventually
realized that she had to give herself permission not to be Superwoman.
“Once I started getting a little bit of time, I realized [my
life] wasn't going to be only about Cody,” she says. “And
[I realized] it's okay if I want to devote time to him, but it's
also okay if I want to go out to work. It wasn't an overnight fix
-- as I'm finding nothing ever is -- but I'm happy with the decisions
I've come to. For now, anyway.”
In the end, of course, all families are different, and so every
work-at-home situation is unique. But no matter what their prior
ambitions and no matter how successful their home-based jewelry
business has become, there is one thing that all the parents we
talked to agreed on: they have no regrets about the things they've
given up to be home with their kids. “It's been great, and
I wouldn't change it for the world,” says DelDuca. “My
friends are envious, and my neighbors say, 'I wish I had a job like
yours.' I work, but it seems to be when we say we work at home,
there's this comfort level.”
Creating jewelry in a home-based studio gives stay-at-home parents
a chance to pursue an outside interest, connect with adults, and
even add a little income to the family coffers. It takes some juggling,
but most problems will have solutions as long as you're willing
to work at them. “I think if you're a determined person, that's
the key to any successful career or lifestyle,” says Pilchard.
“If you're determined, you'll be successful. [With kids around],
you just have to be prepared to diversify yourself a little differently,
and you have to be really, really flexible.”
But perhaps the best advice comes from Charolette Purviance: “Make
it so you can look back on it and you can laugh about it together,”
she says.
And you have to love a job where that's the secret to success.
Suzanne
Wade has written about the gem and jewelry industry for more than
eight years. Formerly editor/associate publisher of AJM Magazine,
she is now a part-time freelance writer and full-time Mom.
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