Life and Work by Design Blog

As you pull up in front, you see this cute little garden abode with  flower boxes, rustic red barn wood siding and a quaint sign announcing The Yarn Cottage.    It’s part of The Red Brick Farm in Mayville, NY and actually used to be the milk house.

Susan Newman, the proprietor, told me that she knew she loved it the moment she found it and I know why.  It is small and cozy and yet open and bright at the same time.  I remember the first time I visited.  I entered the front door into a knitter’s haven filled with baskets of brightly colored balls, shelves of textured skeins, and displays of beautiful hand-knit sweaters, hats, shawls, mittens and booties everywhere I looked.   There are also a variety of shabby chic rockers and comfy chairs to sink into and a resident pup to play with when she’s in the mood.    

There was no one behind the small counter that day, but the sounds of laughter rang through the open door in the opposite wall and there, outside on the patio in the crisp early Spring sunshine, were three women sitting at one of those old-fashioned ice-cream shop tables in wire-backed chairs working on their individual projects and chatting away.   

They all smiled when they saw me, and Susan invited me to pour myself a cup of cider and join them out in the sun.  

Now I love yarn and all types of woven fabrics, and I’ve purchased both at lots of places, but I’ve never wanted to buy a skein and set of needles and sit right down and start in the very shop before! 

The Yarn Cottage is a place where the customer is Queen and Susan bends over backwards to make everyone feel welcome and at the center of her attention.  This is customer service not only with a smile, but with TLC in a warm, friendly, inclusive way that is hard to find in today’s world of chain stores and internet shopping.   

Since I am always on the lookout for good stories of people who have created some way to work that feeds their soul as well as their checkbook, I started asking some questions on a subsequent visit. In response she said, “if anyone had told me 5 years ago that I would be sitting here in my own yarn shop I wouldn’t have believed them.”   Well, that’s my kind of story so I made an appointment to interview her for one of my tales of transition. 

Her personal story is one of those that tears your heart, but this gutsy lady has p0ut the first half of life behind her and is making her own way through the second half  and this business is her soul’s sustenance. 

As a single Mom with kids to educate she had gone to work for the first time in retail about 9 years ago and discovered that she had a real knack for color and dealing with people.  She didn’t know a thing about knitting, but she learned a lot working for someone else in a small shop.  

A few years later life threw her another curve ball that ended her job and the eventual bailout came in the form of a loan from a friend to order some yarn. When she found the empty milk house she knew it was the perfect home for her new venture. 

The first four years the business thrived and she learned as she went along.  Mayville is located in a seasonal area on Lake Chautauqua in an area of Western NY that is primarily agricultural for 8 months of the year.  Located about 20 miles from Erie, PA and 45 miles from Buffalo, it’s a challenge to earn a living once the summer folks go home but Susan has made it work.  During the off-season, local knitters get together at the homey shop to work together and Monday Knit Night is an opportunity to come learn the basics or improve skills in a fun environment.  

Susan says the best part of her business is the people she meets and the fun of playing with the colorful yarns.  She admits to not knowing much about running a small retail business at first but insists that it can be learned on the job.  

The best perk is that she takes Thursdays off to babysit her granddaughter but, like most of us, health insurance is her biggest problem as a sixty-two yr old.   She had hoped to start paying back the loan this year, but a troubled economy has reduced her sales and she’s brainstorming some ways to increase business over the fall and winter by doing craft shows and developing more of an internet- based business.  

But these are challenges that this mid-lifer is up to.   She believes that the best part of life is that there is always something new out there to create.   So although The Yarn Cottage is not a complete success after 4 years, she is earning a living from it, has learned a lot about running a small biz and even more importantly, has done it all herself and for Susan that is priceless.     

When’s the last time you wanted to throw a temper tantrum? Have you wished you could smash plates or bash a pillow to death to work out your feelings?   While Sarah Lavely was going through a divorce she found that smashing her china in the driveway brought her some therapeutic benefit and Voila – a great idea was born.   Her new business is called Sarah’s Smash Shack.

Like all great small biz ideas, it’s simple.  A store-front, a supply of cheap china and glassware,  permanent markers for writing fateful messages on the back of the plates and some creative marketing are all it takes. Oh, and some safety goggles.  She says her clients range from 8 to 65+ and everyone leaves feeling much better.

As soon as I read about this my brain started racing.   Add a room full of big pillows for pounding, and maybe a Screaming room where someone could just let it all out.  Write a great, fun press release and send it to all the papers, tv and radio stations and I think you’d be good pretty much anywhere.

Sarah’s place has two Break Rooms  :)– one smaller one for loners or couples and a larger one for groups.  You can gather your friends for a party.  You can buy things to smash there or bring something that you just need to destroy along with it’s memories.

She was an emergency medicine veterinarian who has turned her compassion toward fellow humans a couple of days a week.  “When I see my clients smile, laugh, and cry, let loose and transform, I know I’ve done something incredible here.”

You can check out the web-site at http://www.smashshack.com - or read the article by Erin Bell  in the February issue of Psychology Today.

With the prevalence of US citizens going to work in foreign countries around the globe, a new opportunity for folks who love art and also desire to do something meaningful with their work is quickly expanding.

I’m talking about an importing business for all the wonderful artwork, home décor products, clothing and jewelry that is being produced by indigenous artisans in villages in Cambodia, Brazil, Uganda, Thailand , Viet Nam, and Guatemala to name a few.

I know lots of people who do this in one way or another.  One got started when her husband was traveling to Uganda for business and she tagged along. She started out one day in search of a wall hanging for her home and found a village of talented women and young girls weaving beautiful pieces.   When she asked if she could buy one she discovered that they really didn’t know how to market their wares beyond the street market in neighboring cities.   She spent the rest of her two weeks locating other artisans and returned to the states determined to find a way to help these people earn a decent wage for their efforts that would then help them support their families and villages.  Her organization today supports schools and feeds children in two villages through the non-profit she developed from her sales and donations.

Another importer I know is an interior designer who traveled to Thailand on vacation, found a village that was making beautiful silk scarves from silkworm to finished product.  Again, they had little access to markets where they could sell their creations.  She has helped them design new items to produce including pillows and wall hangings that are sought after in the US. She travels several times a year (a business deduction!) to meet with them to decide on new products and to help them with their business plan.  In turn, she has created a business for herself that is unique and rewarding.

The third one I will mention buys hand-knit woolen mittens, hats, purses, scarves and sweaters from villages all over the mountains of Guatemala.  Again she gets to travel to her favorite part of the world, helps many women support their children and pays them a fair wage that slowly improves the life in these third world places.

One of these ladies maintains a storefront.  One sells through other designers and the third one sells at a street market in Philadelphia.  They all participate in the various Fair Trade Fairs that are commonly sponsored by churches and community groups.   They are earning income, traveling and helping others all at the same time.

If you have family living or working in another country, or just want a way to travel and learn about another part of the world, this is a concept that can be started small and grown in a way that fits your lifestyle.

Want to know more?    Comment below and I’ll get you resources and information.

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In the text of my web-site home page, I tell the stories of two different entrepreneurs who changed their course in mid-life.  I’ve had the chance to re-connect personally with both of these folks this summer and am happy to report that they are both not only still living their dream, but their businesses are growing and rising to new challenges. 

Evelyn Brumwell of YBNormal Farm looked right at home in her new expanded location at The Crossroads when I went by last Saturday.  Evelyn and partner Peter are the scientists who decided to chuck it all, buy some acreage, and start up an Alpaca farm in Western NY State a few years back.  Their herd of these wonderful, gentle animals has increased to more than 60 and their breeding business has become very successful.  Evelyn’s shop, which only operates during the summer months, is bigger, brighter and chocked full of beautiful skeins of alpaca yarn, wonderful locally produced hats and sweaters and mittens, and a careful selection of imported coats, socks and other wearables made with alpaca wool from around the world.  She showed me some new colorful naturally dyed rovings that have been added to the mix. YB Normal Farm is now listed on Vocation Vacations if you want to try life on an alpaca farm for a vacation!  

I’ve also been able to visit with Hope Alcorn of Joyful Noise Studio in Pittsburgh who is showing some of her beautiful jewelry at “Artists at the Market” here at Chautauqua Institution. Hope left the medical field about 10 years ago to “divorce my work and elope with whim” so that she could devote more time to becoming a full-time artist. Although she still works part-time as a hospice nurse, she continues to explore new ideas and is receiving noteworthy exposure. The summer issue of Surface Design Journal includes a photo of one of her acrylic on wool pieces entitled “Migrations Down Waterfall Number One”. Also, one of her pieces is currently included in the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh show at the acclaimed Mendelson Gallery on Ellsworth Ave in Pittsburgh, PA.

When I asked her about new projects on the horizon, she mentioned that she had a collection of the acrylic on wool pieces that she had never been willing to sell. Now, after several years, she is allowing a concept that would use those designs in a new media to percolate in her the back of her mind. Her philosophy is “to just let ideas grow in their own time” and that it is important for artists to resist forcing an idea to completion before it is fully formed.

Watch for a couple of stories next week about some other creative career folks I’ve found in the area.    

Technorati tags: creative careers, small business, changing course, mid-life career change, encore careers, second acts, life and work by design

My favorite entrepreneurial mentor, Barbara Winter, always reminds us to talk to everyone we can - in lines at stores, in elevators, on planes, in cafes - it doesn’t matter where it is.  Find out what they do - you might get a great idea - and  spread the word about what you do or want to do.  You never know who they will tell.   

While I was waiting for a class to start this week, I saw an acquaintance sitting in the lobby at the YWCA waiting for her child’s class to end. When I told her that I was there to do one of my “What Do You Want to Do?” classes for a group of mothers, she immediately responded with a great story. 

She and a friend were sitting in the bleachers at the ball field last fall watching their kids play.  As they were talking, her friend mentioned that she had decided it was time to try going back to work, at least part-time, since the kids were now in kindergarten.  

They went on discussing her background in International Business Law  and the “problem” that she had no interest in getting back into the full-time grind of a corporate office . Suddenly, the Dad in front of her (whom she didn’t know) turned around and handed her his business card.

“I need someone to handle mergers and acquisitions for my company - send me your resume.” he said.   A month later she had a position as a consultant who works from her home with once weekly trips to the office for meetings.  She was able to negotiate a high billable hourly rate since she did not want to be full-time with all the perks just yet. 

This is a win-win for a small company who just acquired a very skilled team member to do only what they need her to do, and for a Mom who wants to get back into the flow of real work but with the flexibility that a pair of kindergarten-aged twins are going to demand.   I’m guessing she may never go back to the full-time grind of corporate law - she’s carving a niche that she can take to other small companies.  

I can hear you saying, “well, that was just a lucky break.”  Wait - there’s more.   My friend continued that she also found her part-time, home-based, media writing position by telling people at a cocktail party that she was a writer who was looking for free-lance assignments. 

Then, once I got into my class, two of the moms there had similar experiences to relate.  Sooooo…. what do you answer when someone asks what you do?    Work on constructing your career goal statement - here is one way to do that. 

I want to work with (who)______, doing (what)________at a (where)_________ during (when)_______ because I (why)_____________.  

Then start saying it a lot - to anyone and everyone around!