Spirit Magazine - March 2014 - (Page 83)

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 77 jobs for work that is more hands-on and that they deem more meaningful. For some, it is out of necessity. "When there's no wind, blow," goes the adage, and many people, faced with diminishing corporate opportunities, have been forced into thinking like entrepreneurs. For many, it is a choice. Old-school artisanship-like craft brewing and shoemaking and the millinery arts-is on the rise. A nation of hobbyists and fine artists have brought energy and invention to (and made more than a few bucks on) websites like Etsy and Big Cartel. There's a sprouting up of first-generation farmers. These days, it would not be odd to see a hedgefund manager throw it all away to become a mushroom grower. Or a Google gearhead to take up textiles. Call it the New American Dream, where uncertainty is being spun into infinite possibilities, and a pathway to unexpected freedom and deep satisfaction feels like our birthright. ONSIDER THE FREEMANS. Karen, 53, worked for some of the biggest banks in the world, extending lines of credit to automobile dealerships. Years before, she'd begun as a bank teller and had worked her way up, even returning to school for an accounting degree. But in 2010, the writing was on the wall. She and her team were told they had about a year before, inevitably, they'd become casualties of the financial crisis. Others might have panicked, but Karen had survived raising three boys as a single mother in Los Angeles. Nothing scared her. She simply got to it. But this time, she didn't want just another job. She was tired of banking, and tired of working for other people. She called her oldest son, Mike, 29, who'd graduated from college with a communications degree and was, somewhat unhappily, following his mother's footsteps as a service manager at a bank in San Francisco. Karen asked Mike to move home to L.A., and home he came. The answer to their yearnings (as it is for many of us) was cheesecake. Karen had been baking her entire life. And while wrapping up her final year at the bank, she and Mike rented a commercial kitchen for use in the evenings and on weekends. During the day, Mike scouted retail locations and studied the restaurant-business health code. At night, as they stood in their rented kitchen and fine-tuned recipes for a variety of cheesecakes, he'd brief his mother on everything he'd learned. Tastings were held for their friends: free cheesecake in exchange for honest feedback. About six months into their delectable dabbling, they began selling mini cheesecakes to local caterers and restaurants. A year after that, THE REVISIONISTS For folks like Sarai Mitnick, downsizing Mitnick isn't a dirty word. After testing out the corporate waters, they long for a new and different way of life, making an intentional leap from big to small, and from the stress of I need it yesterday! to the profound satisfaction of now. Recruited out of grad school by Google, Sarai Mitnick spent four happy years as a user-experience researcher for the tech giant and its subsidiary YouTube. Well, four mostly happy years. "It was a fascinating place with a lot of interesting problems to work on," she says. "But at a large company like that, you're working on such a small piece of the puzzle that it's difficult to see what the impact is. I really wanted to do something where I was making a difference." In 2009, that PHOTOGRAPH BY DAN ROOT seed of discontent led Sarai, 33, to ditch Silicon Valley and open her own shop, Colette Patterns, in Portland, Oregon. Combining her love of sewing with her background in user experience, she wanted to fill what she saw as a hole in the market-a need for modern, stylish sewing patterns that feature easy-tounderstand instructions and support for novice sewers. But Sarai isn't up to her ears in thimbles and thread. "A lot of people have an idea that they'll just be doing their hobby full time once they start a business based on it, but I don't have a chance to sew. It's really all about enjoying the creative process of building the business itself." -MMI MARCH 2014 SPIRIT 83

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spirit Magazine - March 2014

Spirit Magazine - March 2014
Contents
Gary’s Greeting
Gary’s Greeting en Español
Star of the Month
Freedom Story
From the Editor
Your Words
Your Pictures
Media Center
Eat Drink Sleep
Wise Guide
Numbers
Business
The New American Dream
Your Adventure In New York City
Calendar
Fun!
Spotlight
Community Outreach
Products & Services
Flight Service
Terminal Maps
Information
Rapid Rewards and A+ Rewards Partners
Route Map
The “If” List

Spirit Magazine - March 2014