Nanette Jordan, award-winning designer/mentor to jewelry makers, crafters & artisans offers Art Design As A Day Job.

For many years I plodded to work each day to a career that was not my calling. My limiting belief was that I simply did not have the money, time, space, skill or know-how to earn a living finding and doing work I could love. But home with a new baby and unable to continue a six-figure "suit and high-heel" career, I began to bead earrings with great enthusiasm at the kitchen table in my "free time." (Nevermind the fact that those early earrings resembled Fimo poker chips). I'd bundle up my baby and my jewelry and visit local boutiques, walking in with my work and out with a check. Without any knowledge of niche, target audience, display, pricing for profit, basic sales, or merchandising I became my own guide.

The one thing about designing that I knew for sure was that it was a lot more fun than any "work" I had ever done. Early on, I "got serious" and set up a small permanent desk in my dining room with all my beads and tools, (which is still my workspace to this day). And I took a few much needed beginner classes in technique so that my designs could pass for real jewelry.

Stores like those on San Francisco's Union Street became the "university" where I stayed current on design trends, studied pricing, and fine-tuned the way I displayed my work to buyers. Later I found reps who placed my work in hundreds of fine galleries and museum stores nationwide over the course of many years.

Shamelessly, I asked museums and galleries if they wanted to feature my work. Major department stores and catalogs challenged me to learn how to mass-produce special pieces of jewelry for them.

Soon, I found my work in the collections of such notables as Oprah Winfrey and Celine Dion. I was honored to have some of my pieces exhibited in a prestigio museum show alongside works by designer Kenneth Cole, Andy Warhol, and Yoko Ono, creative people far more accomplished than I.

Hosting open studios at my home, and "jurying-in" to many upscale craft festivals added other ways for me to sell my work. Over the years I built a successful design business that has taken me beyond my wildest expectations. And, I have been able to be home with my daughter and husband, available to enjoy them.

After my many years with a small home-based business, (and before designing could become a "plodding" effort), I laid down my tools for a new calling as a full-time mentor to other up-and-coming designers and artists. Once again, I have found meaningful work that is as much "play" as it is work, coaching other creative people on making a living doing what they love.