Mom wants to start planning her future
Make it Work Q & A

torontosun.com
June 29, 2016
By Vera N. Held

Q: I married young and stayed home to raise my family. Now that my children are all in their teens and busy with their own lives, I finally have time to concentrate on my career. I work part-time as an office administrator. I enjoy data entry and organizing the schedules of the busy doctors in our office, and I'm good at patient rapport and problem solving.

My job is good and it helps pay the bills, but I know that I can do much more. However, I really don't know how to go about it. Both my husband "Ed" and I have high school educations. Because we didn't have an opportunity to go to college or university, we are encouraging our children to follow their dreams. I'm 38, practical, hands-on and organized, enjoy all kinds of arts and crafts, love to sew, like making meals from scratch including baked goods like pecan pie and spinach and kale salads that family and friends have raved about, and have told me are good enough to sell. I'm told I'm good with colour and design, so a friend asked me to help set up her art studio. How do I start thinking about my future?

A: Being practical and uber-artsy, you can put your talents to multiple uses in several potential work environments. One area to immediately consider is setting up your own storefront: a fresh-and-ready business where you can create and sell your healthy, homemade cuisine for walk-in public traffic, wholesale to restaurants, and to catering clientele in the corporate and government sectors. If you've got space, you could also incorporate an eat-in section. I recommend you research the popular pop-up restaurant concept to help minimize your financial risk.

If self-employment doesn't turn your crank, consider the hospitality and food sectors as potential employers. Here you could look to apprentice as a chef, baker or deli manager or delve into the catering division at a premiere supermarket chain. Headquartered in Vaughan, Cara Foods, owners of Swiss Chalet, Harvey's and others might be a natural fit for your combined food, business and people skills. Do you want to gain further nutritional know-how and certification? Good nutritionists are a hot commodity.

Should you wish to pursue your design, business and organizational talents, you could investigate an interior design designation. An interior designer who can set up and take down offices in business, the hospital environment or the hotel sector, for example, is an important, well-paid asset. You could also tie this to the doctor's office environment that you know well and expand to other professional services like dentists, lawyers and architects. All of your choices will connect you to people, customer service and problem solving. Experiment. See what you really like. Pursue your passions and dreams and let yourself learn and grow.