A company of one

Working for myself is as incredible as I imagined.  There are no meetings.  I can do what I want when I want -- and how I want, and where I want.  I can solder in my jammies.  I can let my daughter play hair salon on me while I sketch.  I can blast the Yeah Yeah Yeahs while I sand (although dancing along = lumpiness) and I can watch "The Young Victoria" while I polish.  It's bliss.

Except for when it's not.  When things aren't going right, you are on your own.  There's no IT department or Human Resources to iron out your problems for you.  Which is too bad, because you're going to have problems.  Sometimes several at once.  For example, I've been having trouble with my Dremel's collet nut staying tight.  This is where you fit attachments into the Dremel.  I use my Dremel while metalsmithing a lot -- cut, drill holes, sand, start the polish cycle -- and I can't really afford to have it break.  Plus a loose drill bit flying across the room is not conducive to keeping body parts intact.

But it was Christmas break (slow period) and the company's handyman (me) could fix the collet nut if I unscrewed it and then rescrewed it about two or three times in a row.  Problem solved.  Until the PC got a Trojan virus on the eve of Christmas Eve -- and right before I was about to post two pieces of jewelry on Etsy.  Gah!  I can do a number of work-related things on my iPad, but uploading photos to Etsy is not one of them.  I consulted with my IT department, which consisted of me and my husband and my mother-in-law staring at the computer and saying things like, "Do you think there's a keystroke logger now?" and "Should I click on this?" and "I dunno."  My IT department sucks.

The virus is now gone, thanks to professional help.  Time to get back to work and make up the financial loss -- yet another downside to working for yourself.  But the good news is that I'm at the polishing stage and "The Company Men" is on the DVR.  That still beats a meeting any day.