From Wire Harnesses to Art Books - Huh?

Okay, the first thing you may be wondering is....what is a wire harness?  Well, a wire harness is a bundle of cut and terminated wires that is used in the electrical system of your vehicle (car, pickup, heavy truck, RV, snowmobile, etc.)  Without wire harnesses, you would be stuck in one place if you depend upon motorized transportation.  When I accepted my last corporate job, I had no idea what a wire harness was.  However, over nine+ years, I learned more than I ever needed.

So after nine years, one would think that I would be sad about being laid off - or should I say - having my position eliminated.  Actually no.  It was just the beginning of a new adventure.

With this new found freedom, I thought a lot about what to do next.  The obvious answer was to get another corporate job.  One location that I decided to target was Chicago, so I created posts on LinkedIn looking for networking contacts.  Ann Farrell, owner of Quantum Endeavors, was nice enough to respond - and not for the free food and/or drinks that I had offered in the posts.  Before meeting with Ann, I really hadn't thought about engaging an executive coach.  Ann didn't even try to sell me on it.  However, I became intrigued about the idea of having an objective outsider help me figure out what to do next and how to not relive some of the career mistakes I had made in the past.

Early in working with Ann, she talked about "doing what you love".  Coming out of that conversation were memories of a trip to visit my friends that live in Paris.  (Hooray for frequent flyer miles and friends that live in cool places!)  During the visit, I started drawing for their daughter, who would then take over the coloring duties.  When I left, I decided that I would create a coloring book for her.  Eureka!  I love to draw, and coloring books would be a good fit for my natural style.  This became my new business.

Although I continue to look for corporate positions and other opportunities, I plan to pursue the art book path because it's fun.  Just know that if I can make the leap from boring wire harnesses to fun art books, you can make a change and start doing what you love too!  (Oh, and if you have wire harness issues, please don't contact me.  I'm an artist now!)

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello and welcome to the Lucky Jones™ Art Books blog. This is my first time writing for a blog, so this should be an adventure - just like creating the books.  Hopefully I can keep you entertained and/or informed.

Thank you to everyone that has supported me during the last few months.  The idea of creating art books came quickly, and it has been fun.  I look forward to to the road ahead.

Until the next entry...