New Beginnings

Hello, my name is Jamie and I am un/self-employed.

Reader response:  Hello, Jamie!

Last week, I quit a stable job with excellent benefits and coworkers I enjoyed to start a business with my sister.  Designing greeting cards.  In a recession.  I'm pretty sure I'll be on the Fortune 500 list (or sell a card to someone who may occasionally wear a business suit) by the end of the year.

Ashley, my sister/partner-in-business and/or crime, is a talented artist and actually has a degree in illustration.  She produces all of the artwork for JA Greetings.  I write the text of the cards and handle the actual business details, like the money and the shipping and all of the other not-so-fun stuff.  My degree is in psychology in case you were wondering.

I've worked in customer service for the last three years which means that I was basically nice for a living.  Now I'm trying to be witty, creative,  practical, structured, managerial, and detail-oriented.  Basically, I'm developing split personalities.  I may have to change my name to Sybil.  And Sarah.  And Libby.  And Rhoda.  And Natasha.

This blog is meant to record the ups and downs of starting a business, working with family, and figuring out if it's better to move back in with parents or spend countless hours in a cubicle.  I hope it will read more like a Heratio Alger story than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but only time will tell.