Encore Entrepreneur: Anne Hudson--The Sourceress

Her company was sold. Then it was reorganized. And finally her position was eliminated. At age 70 Anne Hudson found herself unemployed and with few options to re-enter the workforce. She sought assistance from the Oregon Employment Department to help her in finding a similar job with comparable pay, but not long after she realized that the chances of that happening for someone with her profile were slim. She needed a new plan.

A year later, at home in the living room of her house in SW Portland, Anne recalled sitting on her couch thinking about her next steps. “I was meditating and the universe said, ‘you’re now the Sourceress.’ And that’s what I love doing. Sourcing the materials--the finishing the fixtures, [envisioning] how they all go together, and coming up with creative ways of making changes and using space.”

Shortly, thereafter, Anne established The Sourceress, a remodeling and interior design business which drew on her years of experience and transferable skills learned through a career doing professional image consulting, fashion coordination, and graphic arts. “So many of the things that I have done include color, line, design, development, composition, textures, balance. I was doing it with clothing, and then I was doing it graphically and now I’m doing it architecturally.”

Anne grew up in Prineville, Oregon, and says she has been comfortable rolling up her sleeves, using tools, and building things on her own since the age of five. However, when it comes to the learning curve and growing pains that all entrepreneurs go through initially, she’s found a community of support through the Encore Entrepreneur program, and other local small business and entrepreneurial-related programs and organizations. Among some of the challenges she encounters regularly are finding reliable contractors, differentiating herself in what can sometimes be a crowded field, and setting the correct prices for her services. “The lessons come how they come,” she said. “Everyday is school. I get impatient, but my general philosophy is...our lessons come to us, and if I screw up, this is my opportunity to get that lesson.”

The Sourceress operates predominately in Multnomah County; Anne prefers to work with clients who are looking to remodel small homes, around 1000 square feet or less. Her eye for design and the quality of work is evident from the before and after pictures of her own home. She has worked quite a bit of magic on her own home, which she bought in 2008. Recalling the house as it was when she bought it she laughed saying, “The good news is that it was pretty much original and the bad news was that it was pretty much original.” Her friends couldn’t believe she bought the house, but showing off before and after pictures she felt validation ultimately. Beaming as she looked around at her home today, she said proudly, “I didn’t buy that house I bought this house. I bought my vision.”