How i got that job: Tim Quady, 38, Apple Valley

Last update: November 15, 2007 - 6:07 PM

Job title: Co-owner of Blue Rhino Studio, a commercial artist firm in Eagan. The company, started in 1999, has designed sculptures and artwork for the Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, 3M Co. and General Motors Corp.

Education: Bachelor's degree in art, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.

What do you do? I get to play a little bit of art director -- designing projects, writing proposals. I do a little bit of the invoicing, and I'm in the shop a little bit working with people. I'm not smarter than anybody here, but I've wrecked way more stuff. I can say, "I know that looks like it's going to work, but it's not, and let me tell you why."

How did you get your job? I had been working with Deaton Museum Services [now Split Rock Studios in Arden Hills]. Anytime I was home for a break, I'd go work with them, and two weeks before I graduated they offered me a job. I was very excited to start my massive career in museum fabrication for $6.25 an hour. I really liked the variety.... It's nice to come off one project and do something completely different. [Blue Rhino co-owner Dave Leak] and I decided this is what we want to do. We just wanted to do it on a more personal level.

Salary: Quady and Leak both take a base salary and add to it, depending on profit from year to year. "I'll make over $50,000 this year," Quady said. "You have a year where you make $40,000, $45,000, and then you make $100,000."

How does the fluctuating nature of the job affect budgeting at home? It means we live with a line of credit. By the end of the year, I'll make whatever. I just make it in chunks. As opposed to other people who say, "We're going to pay this much," my wife and I say, "We hope to have 20 percent paid off by the end of the year."

What is your dream job? Oh, right here, right now. I can't believe I do this for a job. Maybe it'd be nice if I never had to pay attention to the business end of things. But working with the people we work with, building the stuff people pay us to build, it's like, "What's your favorite hobby? What if you did this for the rest of your life?"

BEN GOESSLING

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