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 Pat Sloss is an engineer by trade and a jack of many trades. Sloss’ wide range of interests led her to turn hobbies into small home-based businesses, which prompted her to write a book, “Realistic Home Businesses.” Sloss hopes to help others pursue their interests.
“I think it is really important that whatever you pick to do for a living, you enjoy,” she said. Before becoming a business owner, Sloss enjoyed a variety of jobs that began at a cattle ranch and ended up in corporate America.
Born and raised in Gunnison, Colo., Sloss grew up on a cattle ranch. After graduating from Gunnison High School, she worked as a buckaroo on a half-million-acre cattle ranch in Nevada. “Out there, they call them buckaroos,” she said. “Here, they call them cowboys.”
Sloss returned to Colorado in 1968 and settled in the Monument/Palmer Lake area before moving to Falcon in 1970. She enrolled at Colorado Technical University and pursued a degree in biomedical and electrical engineering. But she discovered that engineering jobs for women in Colorado were non-existent. “In 1972, they wouldn’t hire a woman engineer in Colorado,” she said. “So, I moved to California just to get experience.”
After living in California two-and-a-half years, Sloss returned to Falcon. She taught at the college for a year, and then took a job in the medical field fixing hospital equipment. “Most of it was critical-care lab equipment,” she said. Sloss said she liked the work but it required nonstop traveling throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska.
“I got sick of never sleeping in my own bed,” Sloss said.
In 1979, she completed her bachelor’s degree and went to work for Ford Aerospace (a former division of Ford Motor Co). While there, Sloss wrote books on how to repair equipment used by North American Aerospace Defense Command. After the contract ended, she worked as an engineer for Hewlett Packard and remained there five years. After HP, she worked on contracts for Ford and Titan Aerospace until 1992, when she decided to leave the corporate world for self-employment.
While working in the aerospace industry, Sloss also owned a custom hat shop, Falcon Hatters, for 14 years. She continued her hat business and started several other home businesses that involved accounting and taxes, jewelry making, photography and grant and technical writing services. She also owned a commercial greenhouse.
The experiences fostered the idea for the book.
Sloss said she decided to write a book about home business startups because she knew many unemployed people. “I wrote the book because I knew so many people that were out of work,” she said. “And I had, obviously, a lot of experience in a lot of businesses.” Although Sloss’ book is based on her own background, she also incorporated experiences from her friends’ home businesses. The book is divided into several categories that include a myriad of home-based opportunities. “There are businesses listed for both those with computer experience to people who have no computer skills,” she said.
“The entire writing process took about six months,” she said. “But I worked a lot of long hours.”
Sloss published her book through an Amazon company called Create Space, which is a print-on-demand publisher. Sloss said that Amazon was the quickest way to make her book available. “This was a timely book and I didn’t want to wait two years to get a publisher,” she said. “I’m probably an unknown for a large publishing company, and there are too many people out of work. This book needs to get out there."
Sloss’ book, published in April, has been successful online and in area bookstores. Sloss recently promoted her book in Gunnison during Cattlemen’s Days, with a book signing at the Gunnison Bookworm. Sloss’ book is also available at the Sonflower Gifts & Antiques in Elbert, Colo., and Powder River Hats in Elizabeth, Colo.
As she travels throughout Colorado and New Mexico promoting her book, Sloss is already thinking about subsequent books. “I have a couple ideas I’m thinking about,” she said. “It will be about home businesses again but will be about different areas of starting your business.”
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Pat Sloss
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Angie Morlan