Baking Bread Through the Recession in Ohio

CENTERBURG, Ohio -- I'm working my way through underemployment and the recession one loaf of bread at a time.

I've been underemployed in central Ohio since May 2007. I quit my job as an operations manager for Reliant Inventory Services after more than four years. Of course, I didn't see how tight the job market would become at the time. I only wanted my life back -- a life that didn't involve non-essential telephone calls at midnight, a life that didn't include cancellation of approved vacations. Even with the company-paid travel all over the country, my annual salary and bonuses of $35,000 didn't come close to justify the mannequin strings I was dangling from.

Since that time, I haven't made $10,000 a year.

I didn't know I'd be baking bread and selling it at farmers markets when I began my job search six months before I quit. I was unhappy, but I didn't have a large enough safety net to just quit a job. At that time, I sent resumes to dozens of companies, completely willing to step down and even take a cut in pay. I didn't want to be in charge any longer. I applied for clerical positions. I'd spent several years in the real estate field and applied to law offices.

During my first job search, I landed an interview with Alliance Data Services. My initial telephone interview with the credit card collection company led to a face-to-face interview. Within the first few minutes, I knew the direction things were headed. My lack of experience in collections was of no consequence. The starting hourly pay, before bonuses, was something I could definitely live with. But Alliance Data Services was not willing to hire me because I was overqualified.

I've heard tales of friends losing jobs because of mergers, acquisitions and closures. And of friends in their late 30s to early 40s having trouble getting hired at a fast-food restaurant because they were overqualified.

I was then over 40 with no college degree and in that overqualified demographic. The state of Ohio dubbed me "likely to exhaust benefits before finding suitable employment." So I trudged along, reporting my earnings when I was making money. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services recently told me the government considered extending unemployment benefits.

I can't do it. I would probably qualify, but that safety net has got to go.

In the late winter of 2007, I discovered I could bake bread. I'd always enjoyed being in the kitchen and dreamed of making a living doing something I loved. I researched and learned about Ohio's cottage food regulations.

Now, during my fourth farmers market season, I bake roughly 250 to 300 loaves of artisan-style bread a week and sell it for an average of $3.50 a loaf. Tastes fluctuate from market to market. Sometimes, my Asiago, Sweet Onion & Garlic Bread will sell out within 30 minutes. At another market, senior citizens pounce on anything sweet.

I love baking, but it doesn't sustain me through winter. If I wasn't living with my boyfriend and business partner, I couldn't pay bills of less than $1,000 a month. We live frugally, with necessities outweighing luxuries, such as haircuts. I'm one of those millions with no insurance, so I refuse to get sick.

I have worked a couple of part-time jobs in the winter months, including bartending and as a cake decorator at the local Kroger bakery. I spent six months there as the very mediocre cake decorator and grew to hate the disappointment I saw in the customers' faces.

I no longer look for a job. The competition is fierce and age and experience seem to be more of a liability than an asset. If things get really tough, I know I can walk into the nearest all-night waffle diner and work three or four nights a week.

During the winter, I always know summer -- and baking bread -- will arrive soon.