About five years ago, Bill Sallee of Hicks Road in Liberty quit his job and became a full-time wood craftsman. Now he spends 14 hour days in a red, metal workshop doing what he loves most.
“I love being my own boss,” Sallee said standing by his window-lit workbench.
“It’s nice just to work here at myown pace and be able to look up now and then and watch cars go by.”
Sallee produces more than 100 different projects, ranging from kitchen and home decorations to toys. He and his wife, Linda, travel to craft fairs all over Kentucky to sell their goods.
“Usually it all sells real good,” Sallee said, “but we have had our disasters too.”
Sallee recalled once at a far-away show a rain storm came up and ruined nearly $200 worth of crafts.
Although the business started out as just a hobby in a tiny white building behind their house, it grew rapidly.
“We started out with two rooms,” said Mrs. Sallee, who helps her husband after her day-time job, “one for Bill to work in, and I would read and sew in the other. Soon there was so much that the crafts filled my room, and we had to build a bigger workshop.”
‘”I’m looking forward to the day when this will be a lot bigger,” Sallee said. “I’m also looking forward to when Linda can quit her job and help me full-time.”
