Etsy Jewelry Designer. Salary: $19,000

You live in Arizona and spend all day in your workshop (which is really just your garage), putting turquoise and amber on everything, taking photos, and putting them up on your Etsy store. You're constantly worrying about having enough anklets made, and you spend all of your weekends at craft shows trying to make a name for yourself.

Small Retail Store Jeweler. Salary: $30,000

You work at a small, local jewelry shop. You get to design some things, but you end up spending most of your day repairing the shoddy workmanship of some other hack designer. Lots of pieces are brought in over and over for repairs, despite your earnest attempts to make the repeat customers check out your personal catalog of designs. Luckily, you get benefits and commission, but never more than a couple hundred bucks. This town's full of cheapskates.

Retail Store Jewelry Designer. Salary: $50,000

Lucky for you, you work at an established company so your pay is pretty solid. You also have a bomb-diggity health care plan, some vacation days, and you love the work. You walk into the store and feel elegant and expensive, just like the jewelry you design. You don't have as much artistic freedom as you'd like (you have to fit the "brand"), but you're meeting people, taking names, and loving life.

Jewelry Store Owner. Salary: $68,000

You own your own store and it's really starting to take off. One of your employees (that's right, you have employees) saw Natalie Portman in the store the other day, and you've been nominated in two upcoming award ceremonies for jewelry design. That could be the thing that really puts you over the edge. You're exhausted, but it's paying off.

Accessory Designer for Film. Salary $110,000

You're the jewelry designer for the stars. A lot of your pieces are being swept up by costume designers too, so your jewelry is basically starring in films these days. It's the best kind of fame—nobody knows what you look like, but everyone knows your name.