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Art Wells, 41

Art Wells, 41

Portland, Ore.
Laid off from Rejuvenation, October, 2008
New venture: Artwells Services

When Art Wells was laid off last year after a decade at Rejuvenation, the country's largest reproduction lighting and housewares manufacturer and retailer, he was optimistic about his prospects. At first, he had reason to be: The Web developer had lined up jobs doing development work and business consulting for his former employer and colleagues. He says they paid promptly and he had recently started to break even. But Wells is worried now, because work is starting to dry up and his next batch of quarterly taxes will be significantly higher than last year.