You're Asking the Wrong Question.

Last night, as I was preparing my garden cucumbers for their transformation into delicious bread-and-butter pickles, my husband rushed in to my disheveled kitchen to tell me that I had an e-mail response to my craigslist post.

My heart skipped a beat. A job!

I dropped the measuring cup into the pickling salt and rushed to my laptop.

What I read next made me question whether my decision to work from home was a sound idea or some silly dream that would ultimately leave us broke and homeless. It threw me into an unforseen pit of self-doubt.

"Hi: do you do curtains and/or valances? What is your hourly rate?"

Uhhhh. The question is not do I do curtains/valances.... It's can I do curtains/valances. I don't even know because I've never tried before. What do I tell her? "I can certainly try!" Is honesty the best policy here or should I fake it till I make it? The option of telling her that I do not do curtains or valances came to mind... but that would be tantamount to throwing away my first business opportunity, and who knows when I will get another!

 Also: What is my hourly rate? Well, I googled the national hourly rate of a seamstress and found it to be between $9.31 and $14.87. I decided that, this being my first job and me being more obviously unaccomplished by the minute, I would start at $9.00.

I haven't written her back yet. I still don't know how to respond. I am slowly crawling out of the dreaded pit of self-doubt.

What I need is a mentor. I need to learn the seamstressing trade much more thoroughly. Anyone know a seamstress who would be willing to take me under her wing?