How I got that job: Janan Juliff

Age: 44

Home: Minneapolis

Occupation: Pastry and personal chef; owner of the Cake Diva, a specialty cake business, and Chefs Naturally, an in-home personal chef service.

Salary: $15,000.

Background: Bachelor's degree in music with an emphasis on piano performance from St. Catherine University in St. Paul; spent 20 years working as a church organist and music director before returning to school to get a culinary degree from the Arts Institutes International Minnesota.

Are you happy with your music degree and that you pursued that path for so long? I'm extremely happy with my music degree and the education I got. It really made me well-rounded. I would do that same route looking back. Music was so important to me. I learned a lot by being in that business for 20 years.

Do you still play piano? Since I went to culinary school, I have not sat down to play the piano. And I know my mother thinks it's awful ... but I'm OK with it. I really felt burnt out after 20 years and I really needed the break. I still really enjoy music; I go to concerts. But being able to sit back and enjoy it is much different than being so involved that at times you're not even enjoying it.

Why did you decide to own your own businesses instead of working for someone else? I did actually work in high-end restaurants for about 2 1/2 years. I decided that I just didn't want to do the same thing every day. I need to have challenges.

Why do you think that the decisions to go to culinary school and to start your own businesses were so clear for you? I think for a lot of people it's clear in their minds that the job that they're in is not filling them. But there are challenges to move in a different direction: sometimes the fear of the challenge or of paying for it. Certainly, I had a lot of fear myself to move in a new direction. Starting your own business is huge, getting the correct licensure, doing everything by code. It was frightening at first because I didn't know anything.

How did you get over that fear? It was so close to my heart to get this new business off the ground. No matter if you're working 18-hour days, you need to find what is going to get you out of bed every day and really make you happy.

Do you see another career change for you in the future? No, I'm not done with this one yet. I'm trying to find my own spot right now to open my own shop.

What are your business goals? Absolutely to be more profitable than in the upstart year. I'm hoping in the next year to have my own storefront and retail business with at least one staff member.