Being laid off is something that can happen to anyone. In fact, it has happened to me, to some of my family members, and my friends. This is in fact happening during today’s bad economic climate more often than ever and it will not stop. As a matter fact, I predict things will get worse.
All of a sudden you lose your main source of income as you are left stranded thinking about your next move. You might feel like you did something wrong and your ego gets bruised.
Well, most of us have heard the old saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” In other words, make the best of what life has given you by seeing its positive sides, deal with it, and move on.
Last night I came across a film named “Lemonade” which is about folks who have been laid off and eventually did something positive with their lives. They saw being laid off as a blank page to a new beginning.
These were all successful hardworking employees who did not expect this happening to them. But the truth is that business is business and in the end, when the numbers don’t add up, your position might be on chopping block. The bottom line is that during a recession, the rules change, and everyone gets affected in one way or another.
So what can you do if you get laid off? No one can answer that question better than yourself but as one guy said during the film “The thing that’s most dangerous is to not do anything. That’s the worst possible thing you can do. Make something, MAKE something, make yourself into something. It doesn’t even matter if it doesn’t match with one person, it’s gonna match with somebody else. If you do nothing…you’re shooting yourself in the foot.”
The above quote doesn’t imply that you should start a business, instead, look for something you enjoy and get busy. Don’t just sit on your couch or in front of the computer looking for a job all day. The job search can only be done for a few hours a week if any. This point reminds of me of a close friend of mine (Let’s call him ‘Carlos’ to protect his identity) who has been looking for a job for ten months now without any luck.
In his e-mail he wrote:
“What’s worse is that anyone who has a job cannot fully understand how bad it is out there. I get so annoyed when interviewers raise their brows and ask me what I have been doing for 10 months. I want to be like ‘I was playing PS3 and enjoying the vacation, but now the Government tip is about to run out, so, reluctantly, It looks like I’ll have to WORK again. So, when do I start???’”
Now, Carlos has always been a great employee, graduated top of his class and is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). However, he still has problems looking for a job. This is due to the fact that there are many with similar or better qualifications competing for the same jobs. Competition is fierce and you must stand out.
Again let’s revisit when Carlos mentioned “I get so annoyed when interviewers raise their brows and ask me what I have been doing for 10 months.” My feeling is that he’s not doing enough besides looking for a job.
If you don’t want to start a business, do something else, volunteer, start a blog, and keep yourself busy enough so that you can show a prospective employer that you’ve been making a difference. This, in my opinion will make Carlos a better catch in the eyes of an employer and will certainly make him stand out from the crowd of the ones who do nothing.
No matter what it is, you must do something to survive. One woman during this film said it best “sometimes there are things you love to do that you forget about, so put your energy in the things you love. Put all the energy you can into those things and see what happens.” Keep yourself busy and productive and a job will come or a business will emerge.
Watch and enjoy the film below “Lemonade”. It’s a little long (about 36 minutes) but very interesting and inspiring.
I launched this blog with the main goal of educating my clients and readers about accounting related topics. However, later I figured that the accounting topics standing by themselves would be slightly dull. Therefore, I decided to include business related posts targeting to help small business owners.
Most of the prior posts you’ve seen have come from my personal blog which I decided to close in order to focus on this one. I transferred those articles because I found them interesting and helpful enough to those in the small business field.
As you can see, many of the posts aren’t accounting related but I plan to change this and start bringing some educational articles based mainly for those interested in learning about accounting. However, I don’t plan to change the fact that none accounting posts will be published as long as they are helpful to the business community.
I’ve been behind on my posting goals since I’ve been working on different projects and have had to deal with many personal issues. Nevertheless, I plan to come back on the posting strike once again. I’m looking to post about 1 to 2 times per week as long as there is something informative to be said so stay tuned.
If your ideal business revolves around network marketing you should consider the importance of finding and researching a competent leader. A while back when I was relatively new to network marketing I signed up for a direct sales company. I researched the company and the product. To be honest, I loved the idea of huge upfront commissions. Subsequent to finding the right product, I went on the lookout for the right leader.
I saw many promoting the product on YouTube but ended up liking one the best. Remember people don’t join products or businesses, they join leaders. They join those who they like best, those who could help them succeed.
To keep his name out of the picture, let’s call him “Bob.” I noticed that Bob had a system in place to help his team with training and support in general. I gave him a call and before I knew it, I spent thousands of dollars with this business.
Of course, during my first few weeks, I was happy to start a business with a product that I knew I would enjoy. But all this excitement didn’t last long, it quickly vanished.
The more I went through the training material provided by my upline, the more I realized I had joined the wrong leader. I noticed that many of the strategies that Bob discussed during his training, he didn’t even use.
How can he be an expert in something he has no clue about? Although, I must admit some of his training was useful, it was being delivered by someone who probably did some research in the area but who didn’t really practice what he preached.
In addition to the above, in the beginning, there were a few webinars but little by little they died down. I never heard again from Bob, never received an e-mail update, never received any additional support.
Are these the qualities of a good leader? I would answer “NO” and I’m sure you would agree with me. Unlike in the affiliate marketing field, in the Direct Sales and MLM arena, taking care of a downline and providing team support are essential for replication and success. If you don’t think you have what it takes to be a leader and help others, stay away from MLM and direct sales. You might be better off with affiliate marketing or some other business you believe you’ll enjoy more.
My advice to anyone interested in joining a direct sales company is to interview the person that you are planning to partner with. Partnering is in fact what you will be doing. Ask some good questions and challenge their leadership.
Don’t just throw your money away with the wrong leader because this will be something you will ultimately regret. If the person has not been around for that long, ask to speak with his/her upline and make sure that the upline sponsor will be there to help you as well in case you have any questions or concerns.
Don’t rely 100% on your sponsor. Don’t blame him or her for your failures. Instead, actively seek training and help from others who will unselfishly provide them to you. I made a newbie mistake but who cares, what happened to me has just made me better. Since then, I have learned a lot about marketing, a lot about leadership, and a lot about helping others.
So the point is that having the right leadership does help with your personal growth and success, but if you end up with the wrong person don’t just sit down and wait for something to change. Instead, actively seek help and a solution to your problems, but most importantly, take full responsibility for your actions.
Have you ever worked on a goal and woke up one day feeling like quitting? I have, it’s part of human nature to feel ups and downs throughout the different phases of a particular goal. Sometimes, all you need is someone to tell you not to quit.
When I was in college my mom gave me a poster that had a message with a poem about not to quit. Every time I felt down I would quickly glance over it. All of a sudden, I felt reenergized again, I felt focused, and I stayed on the right path to completing whatever task I was working on.
Amazingly, the poem kept me on track and even now I still refer to it. If you ever work towards a goal that you believe in, that you know you’ll be better off after completing it, don’t ever quit. Don’t quit because the truth is that everything good in life is worth battling for. Read the poem below is called “Don’t Quit.”
About a year ago, I received an e-mail from one of my contacts where the guy (John) asked me if it would be easy for him to become an entrepreneur. He particularly wanted to know if he had a chance to make his business profitable simply without much effort. Of course, I replied and told him that he had to dedicate some time to build his business and to become a successful entrepreneur.
I was clear with my view that in order to see a plant flourish, you first need to get the seed into some soil, water it often, probably add some fertilizer, and expose it to the sun. Then and only then, the plant will start to grow and develop. Now what happens if you stop watering and taking care of this plant? Yes, you’re right, it will die. This implies continues work and dedication to see hopeful results.
Your new business (whatever it might be) will suffer the same fate as this plant. You need to put work into it if you want to benefit later. No one said it was easy, and if they did, they lied.
As I talked to John and worked through some additional examples, he realized that starting a business wasn’t the right thing for him to do at the moment. He added that he didn’t have the time to do everything that would be required.
Maybe John was not ready. Maybe, he was overwhelmed with all the required start up procedures and the promising work awaiting. Who knows…
What matters is that this guy seriously needed a reality check. Entrepreneurs walk on a lonely sidewalk and are faced with endless challenges and decisions. Therefore, working for someone else at times is the right thing to do for most.
