Dorothy Atkins, 68

Old career: Project manager at major bank
New venture: Greeting card company

Atkins kept a diary during her long commute back and forth to San Francisco, making doodles based on the "pearls of wisdom" she gathered from friends and family along with an occasional greeting card. When Atkins received a severance package in 2002, she used it like a salary to launch From Where I Sit, a greeting card company. One regret: Atkins wishes she put more energy into researching printing equipment as well as distributors ahead of time. "I wasted a lot of paper trying to make my own paper more beautiful," Atkins says.