PROFITS & PASSIONS: JANE POLLAK TURNS PASSION FOR DECORATING EGGS INTO TRIVING HOME-BASED...

It's hard to tell what Jane Pollak enjoys more, creating her Ukrainian Easter egg masterpieces or helping people, much like herself, achieve small-business success.

"We all need to think like entrepreneurs," said Pollak, an artist, writer and motivational

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It started when Pollak began teaching art classes at Westhill High School in Stamford and was looking for an interesting project for one of her classes in art foundations. A colleague showed her a project she had enjoyed with a class the previous year, decorating traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs.

Thirty years later Pollak has created a small "egg"mpire through her intricate designs and brilliant colors.

Her career took off in 1983 when she was invited to decorate one of her delicate eggs for the White House's annual Easter Egg Roll.

Her book, "Decorating Eggs: Exquisite Designs with Wax & Dye," published in 1996, is in its 6th edition, and jumped to number 12 on Amazon'ss top sellers list after her first appearance on NBCs "The Today Show."

She has also appeared on CNN, HGTV and The Lifetime Channel.

Pollak, who was born in Ohio and raised in White Plains, N.Y., was always on the "academic track."

"I didn't take any art classes in high school," she admitted. "I took a nine-hour life-drawing course in college and fell in love with it."

Pollak attended her first art class at George Washington University. Once she transferred to Mount Holyoke College, she decided to major in art because she recognized "you can do what you love."

She finished her training at Columbia University's Teachers College.

When she became pregnant with her first child - Lindsay, 28, a writer who now lives in New York City - Pollack left teaching. Her youngest daughter, Laura, is 21, and son Robert is 25.

Her husband, Bud, for whom her first book is dedicated, is a retired English department chair for Byram Hills High School in Armonk, N.Y., and now teaches SAT prep courses to collegebound high school students.

Pollak's studio is located in the den in the family's quiet Westport home. Her eggs are valued at $300 a piece and can be purchased from her Web site. But Pollak said she sells many of her eggs and handmade eggshell jewelry, through referrals and when she is speaking at various events.

"When I speak I bring my work with me," said Pollak, who has also authored the book "Soul Proprietor: 101 Lessons from a Lifestyle Entrepreneur."

The book describes her true-life business issues while acting as a guide for making better business decisions. It contains 101 lessons in everything from "dealing promptly and efficiently with your incoming mail," to "choosing a vendor that listens to you."

Pollak was also awarded the Small Business Association's (SBAs) Home-based Business Advocate of the Year Regional Award in 2002. She was nominated by the Women's Business Development Center, for her work with smallbusiness owners.

For the future, Pollak would like to concentrate more on her writing and speaking career. She will be addressing a public forum at the Center for Healing and Recovery in Norwalk on April, 25.

"I want to spend 30 percent of my time on art and 70 percent on my writing and speaking" she said. "I want to give back what I have been given."