Dear J.T. and Dale: For the past three years I tried to make a go of my own photography business in a storefront. I racked up some serious debt. I’m trying to find work to help get us back on our feet financially, while running the business out of our home. At my most recent job, working as a bank teller, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. — Tom

Dale: Yes, the old corpo-claustrophobia. There are bosses — if they could get away with it — who would have policies on breathing.

J.T.: But back to the point. After reading your qualifications, Tom, the first thing to come to mind was teaching a continuing-education course.

Dale: Except that part-time teaching seems like a better way into debt than out of it.

J.T.: The idea is to do what you love and make contacts. Teaching is a way to get paid to build the business. Which might also work with photo editing, perhaps specializing in online applications. Many Web-site owners are now opting to incorporate more visuals. We just did so on www.jtanddale.com, and it has doubled the number of people who click on the various pictures and read the postings. So, I see the trend toward visuals growing rapidly.

Dale: Back up — I loved what you said about getting paid to build the business. In essence, the idea is to re-define the business to include new part-time endeavors, such as photo editing. Take that redefining even further, and instead of moving the shop to your house, you might find a related business (a print shop, say) that would house your equipment and take orders in exchange for a percentage of revenues, freeing up more of your time to offer new services. Thus, you don’t find a boring, just-for-money job; you use your skill at visualization to see jobs within a new, broader business. That’s breathing fresh air.