When Marian Klausner was a trial lawyer, "there was constant stress, and the hours were really long," she recalls.

One day, while browsing in a shop near her home, she spotted a "For Rent" sign across the street. On impulse Klausner, who had always dreamed of owning a crafts shop and retiring her briefcase, signed a short-term lease.

"If I had thought about it, analyzed it, and done a business plan I would have talked myself out of it. I figured if my store fell apart my family could live off of our savings for six months to one year," Klausner says.

Good thing she didn't. Shake The Tree Gallery, as it is aptly named, is a thriving and whimsical crafts shop in Brookline, Massachusetts, that turned a profit the first six months the ex-lawyer was in business.

Klausner closes her store at 5:30 p.m., but knows if she waited until 7 p.m., she'd catch the commuting crowd and increase profits. Still, Klausner wouldn't have it any other way. The family--which today includes Ariel, 11, his sister Sasha, 8, and Klausner's husband, a self-employed attorney--has dinner together every night and takes a month-long summer vacation. Klausner shuts down the shop for a week. "It's money out of my pocket, but it buys me a chance to be with my kids," Klausner reasons. "They won't be young forever."

When her children get older, Klausner envisions either moving to a busier location or expanding, but for now, "I think it's a nice balance."

A moving moment

Increasingly, people are changing careers in search of that balance; others are remaining in the same field but finding ways--reducing hours, switching hours, working part time on staff, part time for themselves, telecommuting a couple of days a week--to gain more family and personal time.

According to career coach Meg Montford, director of Abilities Enhanced in Kansas City, "People come to me to find a better way to juggle their jobs and families and still have time for themselves. More and more, people are deciding to 'chuck it all,' to slow down the merry-go-round of life, to leave high-paying jobs to follow their passions."

Gone are the days when you stayed at one company until retirement. Switching careers is perfectly acceptable, and even admired, by some employers. Downsizing, an extended life expectancy, the increase of women in the workforce, business mergers, better recognition of stress, a growing sense of mortality, a shift toward personal satisfaction and fulfillment rather than stick-to-itiveness for its own sake, and a rising emphasis on family all contribute to the career switching clime. The same is true for those who make a change within their profession.

The phenomena of saying "whoa" to the 24/7 work mentality and changing gears is not confined to moms and dads. Some men and women feel the pressure of caring for aging parents or simply want more time for themselves.

Some fields are more conducive to work/life balance than others. Those vying for partnership at large, high-powered law or accounting firms, for instance, can't reduce hours and just hope for empathetic bosses. Obstetricians and pediatric oncologists can't work emergencies around their schedules.

Teaching jobs, on the other hand, can be quite conducive to balance. Just ask sixth grade teacher Paula Rosen. "When my kids were little, the most important thing to me was to be able to be there for them and having vacations and summers together has let me combine having a career and being an at-home mother for significant periods of the year," says Rosen, whose children are now 22, 20, and 18.

Besides teaching, jobs where you can dictate your own hours, whether it's as a computer consultant or programmer, freelance writer, self-employed business owner, or flextime worker, also help create work/life harmony.

Social worker Ann McKnight has gone from a full-time staffer at a hospital to private practice. Before her son Ian was born four years ago, the Holland, Michigan, mother thought she could "do it all." Then Ian arrived.

"My supervisor was fantastic and came to me during my maternity leave with Chinese food and said, 'we really want to keep you, so you tell us what schedule you want,'" recalls McKnight.

For four years she worked weekends only. Then, a year after her second child was born, McKnight set up her own practice. "Having total control over my schedule, rather than being ruled by a pager, has been a tremendous relief," says McKnight. "Don't get me started on the beauty of not being awoken from a sound sleep on Wednesday nights to get fully dressed to do an emergency room evaluation!"

These days, McKnight sees patients at night. The one negative: schmoozing with the nursing staff and psychiatrists about cases and the latest movie. "There is always something given up when something else is gained," she says.

If that's the case, Jody Snider hasn't figured out what that is. Eleven years ago, she left a lucrative career as an account executive at an ABC-affiliated television station to start a children's radio and TV programming company. Don't picture cushy hours, however. The first show she created was a weekly two-hour live, call-in news and information radio talk show for children (with 100 kid reporters and five full-time staff members); five years later was a similar show for TV with a focus on kids and sports. Still, "I could come and go as I pleased," says Snider.

Today, she consults for an animation company that sells children and adult TV programs to national networks and is "definitely more relaxed because I've gained a lot of flexibility. I can go to any of my sons' activities and can schedule around them, not them around me. I'm not making the same kind of money, but I feel more creative and fulfilled, and that I'm making more of a contribution to my own kids and the kids in the community."

Happy hunting

If you're considering a new career, do some legwork and research the field.

The web is a good resource for contacts, tips, and information about your prospective line of work. Many special interest web sites offer career-specific newsletters. Speak with colleagues, friends, and anyone you know who is involved in the profession you're thinking about entering. What are the benefits, drawbacks? Is it as conducive to work/life balance as it looks? What kind of money can you make? What is the best path to your goal? Does the bookstore or library have material that would be helpful and give you a sense of what you'd be doing?

Find out what the latest trends are in your field so that you can anticipate market needs and perhaps offer something no one else is. Decide what skills you need to become marketable. If you want to teach, for instance, should you take night courses for certification so you can keep your day job until you're ready to make your move?

In some cases, it might make sense to volunteer an afternoon or evening a week to get a sense of the new career and experience for your resume.

If you want to stay in your field but alter your schedule, talk with others who have successfully made the switch and network through trade associations, web sites, or personal contacts.

The juggle struggle

Even when you think that your new career or situation will offer you the perfect schedule, remember that your needs and your kids' may change depending upon stages and ages.

Muses McKnight: "There will always be a struggle to balance career, family, and time for oneself. And the balance is constantly changing. A good marriage and openness to sharing parenting and household responsibilities seem more important factors than any particular career choice."

SALLY ABRAHMS is all set for now as a journalist, but is open to other careers like retirement.