[Woodcarver] Re: Carving as a profession (Joe's back)

[Joe Dillett]

Hi Tom,

I think what your saying is correct, about less time for chat when you carve
full time. Although I try to find time for fun and chat and taking a day off
when I want to but, as you said, it does take disipline. I need to budget on
both sides for things like taking classes because I have the expenses of the
class and also the non-productive shop time. No paid vacations here. Also
health insurance is a real killer which, especially for our age, I wouldn't
think of doing without it. So the hardest things I find is the 15% right off
the top for Social Security plus the other taxes. Than the business and
health insurance is the next killer. After that is scheduling time off for
going to Evart Roundup, Ivan's classes, and the GOW. Even after all this I
wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

I think the main difference between a hobbiest and a professional is the
professional needs to rely on the carving income for some important part of
their living expenses, whether they are doing it full time or not.

I liked to think that I was a professional carver for many years before I
went full time because I used my carving income for a big part of our living
expenses. I would say that even though, at that time I was not full time,
carving was already my profession. Now I have the luxury of only working at
carving half days, any 12-hours of the day I want. Not that I have to but
because I want to.

On another note: I've been knocked off the internet for a while and lost any
email that came my way. I'm back up and running on a new server. The old
server went belly up, data and all. I've been off the internet for over a
week. It's nice to be back on-line and getting my email again. I've got
another wireless service provider to rent my antenna, the same provider that
I just switched to.

If I missed one of your emails that I need to respond to, please send it
again to the same address as before.

Thanks.

Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552
(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.com
jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
http://www.carvingmagazine.com Carving Magazine web site and Readers Forum
**************************************************

----- Original Message -----
From: <TWWOODWORK at aol.com>
To: <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 10:50 PM
Subject: [Woodcarver] Re:Carving as a profession




>         I believe the difference between a hobby and a profession is the
> moment  you turn full-time professional, you must account for you time and
> determine how you will spend it. It is no longer a hobby. You cannot stop
in the
> middle of the day for "a while."
>             One comment I read was that as a professional, you no longer
have
> the luxury of stopping to chat with everyone who comes in or that you talk
to
> on the phone at great length.
>             It requires passion, love of one's art, etc. When I have a
money
> job in my shop, my social side seems to shrink till the job is finished.
My
> money work is custom woodturning and furniture repair. Carving only enters
into
> those activities when it is required for a repair. Otherwise, woodcarving
is
> my hobby and my love.
>             I am retired and not required to make grocery money from my
> business.  Still, 40 years working in corporations brings a certain amount
of
> discipline to my little sideline business. LOL, money I make in that seems
to mean
> so much more than what I earned in an office, etc. And much of it seems to
get
> spent in tools and materials.
>            Tom
>            Thomas W. Horton
>             Glen Mills, PA