George S. May Business Blog

Be Prepared, Stay Paid

 A friend of mine told me how the company he works for came in to his department yesterday and fired 50 people on his floor. Luckily for him he was not one of them, but it definitely got him thinking, “What the heck would I do if it happened to me? I am definitely not prepared to lose my job right now.” Although it is never easy losing your source of income, there are a couple steps that one can do to make the transition, if it were to happen, a bit easier.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. We’ve all heard the saying a hundred times, but honestly, how many of us actually follow those instructions. How many times have you said to yourself, “Geez I can’t imagine losing my job right now.” Well, start. Unemployment is higher than ever and as a result, has become an absolute possibility for almost everybody. In fact, the worse this economy gets, the more it leans to being a guarantee.

“Ok, ok, so enough negativity,” you say, “what do I need to do stay prepared?”

 Expand. No I don’t mean have another helping of Aunt Bertha’s Christmas torte.  Expand your skill set. Diversification is one of the keys to hitting homers off all the curve balls the economy throws you. Don’t just rely on one source of income, you will either flourish or fail. It’s like sitting at a roulette table in Vegas. Take the guy that comes up to the table and puts all of his chips on a number. He might win big, but odds are he is going to lose and when he does, he loses big. Don’t be that guy. Spread your chips around, never putting all of your money in one spot. You may come out on top, or at least break even, heck you might even lose a bit, but you won’t take that huge fall when your number doesn’t hit. Now, I don’t mean to get side tracked, and I am NOT promoting gambling, especially now when dollars are already hard to come by. All I am saying is this: have one main source of income and accompany it with one, even two or three, more flexible smaller sources.  Having some sort of side business, for example, will take some of the pressure off the main source.  Then if your main source of income were to become sluggish you will have something to help pick up the slack.

“Well how I am I supposed to just get another job right now?”

YOU DON”T NEED TO, EMPLOY YOURSELF. There are thousands of ways to make income in United States. Sell stuff on eBay or start a local service business (tech support, house cleaning, mechanic, carpentry, personal organizer, event planner, etc.

“But I work 9-5 Monday through Friday.”

Get up a little earlier. Work on Saturday rather than watching college football. Be honest with yourself, it’s not about if you can or can not, it is about how much you want to.

Define yourself not by what you have done, but by your willingness to do what it takes to get it done. Eventually it will translate into the first.

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