We All Share In This Economy.
From mid-2002 to mid-2008, I was employed by a Long Island Advertising Agency as their Creative Director, quickly working my way up to a very rewarding six-figure income. Since I loved the work I was doing, the great paycheck I was earning made this what people commonly refer to as a dream job. And it didn't hurt that this job was located only a ten minute drive from my home. Everything just couldn't have been more ideal.
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Although the news outlets in 2008 were filled with stories of people losing their jobs to an economy that was beginning to falter, I never thought that it would affect me in any way. After all, things were going along smoothly in my life and it looked like only those people employed in public sector jobs would be affected. I never imagined that anything that had to do with the economic downturn had anything whatsoever to do with me.
On Monday, May 19, 2008, just as I had been doing for the past six years, I began the day at my computer planning how I was going to handle my busy project schedule for the entire week. I noticed that my boss was at work unusually early that day but never gave it a second thought because he occasionally scheduled appointments at that time to welcome new clients. He signaled me by intercom and requested my presence in his office. I knew that business had begun to slow, but I wasn't prepared for any conversation about that, because my duties were more on the advertising ideas and concepts side of the business, and less on things financial. The conversation began with him explaining that business had been decreasing rather rapidly over the last several months and that the agency had been hit hard by a loss of meaningful income. In fact, he noted, several accounts were planning on leaving and others gave notice that they were planning to cut their advertising budgets drastically once their contracts were up for renewal. Long story short: He had been trimming personnel over the last several months in an effort to stay afloat, but with the bleak forecast for the health of the economy, advertisers were pulling back at an alarming rate and he could no longer financially weather the storm. When the day was over, he told me, so was the agency; he informed me that he was shutting the doors for good and I was free to leave at any time.
I Never Thought I'd Have To Start Looking For A Job.
I immediately began to think that unlike other people, I was among the lucky ones who didn't have to worry about finding another job. After all, I make a lot of money for what I do because I'm talented and experienced, so there would be a lot of solvent agencies fighting for me to join their staff. In fact, I made some calls to industry people I knew and got invited to dinner by some. The ones I sat and spoke with at any length gave me hope that there might be openings in their organizations and it would only be a matter of time before my bad situation would turn into a job and right back in the earnings game. But after repeated excuses over the next several weeks as to why they were unable to follow through with their predictions, their stalling tactics took their toll, reality began to set in, and I couldn't fool myself a minute longer. I had to squarely face the fact that networking at this level was not going to be a fruitful endeavor, so I bit the bullet and began to answer classified ads and schedule interviews; I saw ads for Job Fairs and attended all of them: I answered ads by email, attaching a cover letter and my resume; I went to job hunting sites and created a profile; I joined business sites and also created a profile; and I ran ads on Craigslist, I signed up for online job alerts, and sent out resumes to anybody that would take one, but everything I did resulted in a complete waste of time and energy and my confidence level was about as low as it had ever been in my entire working life. In fact, in some face to face interviews I actually attended, I realized that I wouldn't be able to get that job even if I offered to pay for the privilege because as everyone eventually told me, there were so many applicants that I'd be waiting forever for them to come to a decision.
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When it eventually sunk in that I had no job prospects, and without any hope of finding any sort of gainful employment, I confronted the reality of being up a stream without a paddle with no hope of rescue in sight. I was thankful that my wife had a decent paying career, but as the majority contributor to the total money needed to pay all our expenses, and with a daughter still in school, there was no way I would be able to bring in an income and keep up my share. But you know what? Although I hated the idea, if we watched our pennies, we were lucky enough to have some savings that could keep us afloat for about a year while I continued to search for that elusive employment. I felt that I was in pretty good shape and this dry spell would be over once I connected with the right set of circumstances. Besides, let's get real, how long could this downturn possibly last?
Now My Back Is Up Against The Wall.
A year later, and with my savings nearing depletion, and without any reasonable prospects for employment, I reached the very end of my rope. I couldn't even get a counterman job of any kind, in any business, on any level. I was in the proverbial dump with no prospects in sight. Now I thought, what am I supposed to do? And just to make matters even worse, I didn't even qualify for unemployment, because although I worked full time at the agency, I worked as an independent contractor under a 1099 paying my own taxes. There was nowhere to turn. I had to resign myself to the unalterable fact that I had reached my personal ground zero.
But wait, (as they say in all those commercials) I had another thought; there was one thing that hadn't changed since I lost my job. My talent and basic intelligence were still intact, and if I was truly a creative person, why shouldn't I be able to apply it to my own life. So I wiped away any "poor me" feelings and got down to the business of thinking about what I could do to create my own opportunity at making a living. It was at that point that I started the fight back.
I was sick of all the negative energy surrounding me and decided to create a plan of action to turn my situation around. And this is where the feeling of panic ceased as well, and I began the development of a serious plan that would put me into the spot I'm in today; attracting business and making a meaningful living. I did it all on my own, I answer to no one, I feel good about myself, and I'm going to pass it on to you.
It's Time To Get Serious About Creating A Way Out Of This Mess.
Before I begin, let's talk about you. I'm using myself as an example here, and you might have a whole bunch of skills that differ from mine. But we're all basically the same. I have a lifetime of experience in print, broadcast, and direct mail advertising. You might be a plumber, an automobile mechanic, a sprinkler installer, an electrician, or a million other wonderful jobs that have great potential to return a nice living. So what I say about me can be applied directly to you. It might be a different job description, but following my plan is the same for everyone. Want to clean homes or make beaded jewelry or bake cookies or clean up animal droppings for a living, good for you. They're all honest endeavors that can achieve success with the way I tell you that I achieved mine; they're all just different jobs with the same basic theory of turning them into successful careers.
My first full year out of work gave me a whole lot of free time. Between the job hunting and taking care of things around my house, I began learning all I could possibly learn about the internet. Even though I am from a generation that didn't grow up with the world wide web, I recognized its growing importance and potential, and decided to make myself savvy about everything involving this brand new phenomenon. In fact, I got deeply into it, going so far as to learn how to build websites and participate in search engine optimization, thereby adding to my marketable skills in print and broadcast. However, it shouldn't concern you at that level, because what should concern you, is that becoming basically familiar with the internet will be the key to how you will be thinking about an alternative to the normal hunt for a job and your future prospects using your talents, intelligence, and abilities to create a new path that will bring you new hope through opportunities. The internet is where you will make your mark. It will mean applying your old-school qualities and work ethic and delivering it to a whole new audience in a whole new format. To me, this challenge was rather an exciting one.
I imagined all the people out there who would love to use what I had to offer, only the economy put the normal costs for my services out of reach of the average person or business. So my thinking about pricing myself had to change. I had to realize that if I wanted people to utilize and pay for my talents, I had to make my prices too good to pass up, and that is exactly what I did. As an example, if a high end service I had to offer might cost $1000 in normal times, I set my price at $250. The theory being, that when you go for a long period of time without any money, receiving just a small amount takes on new importance. And you'd be surprised how good it feels to have people wanting to use you on a regular basis as you're putting steady money into your pocket for the first time in a very, very long time.
As an added incentive to formulating your new business model, you are starting once again to feel good about yourself and the prospect of earning a real living. You might not be creating a get rich quick scheme, but the realization that you can earn a living is an inspirational moment that will drive you into thinking of more and more unique ways to present your wares. You are about to turn your passion for something into your day job and your inspiration will become infectious, with family and friends offering additional ideas and suggestions, along with a ton of lovingly constructive criticism. That alone will keep you motivated until the day comes when you're ready to do something substantive and make your move. And in my case, it went like this:
I knew from all I read that the internet held a vast amount of people who were interested in what I had to offer. It was exciting to know that if I presented everything in a way that drew interest, I had a way to attract a huge following, and with the kind of positive percentages I was envisioning, a few curious people here and a few curious people there would add up to the beginning of what could be a substantial customer list. I thought long and hard about how I was going to present myself, asking friends and family for their opinions, and came to the decision that this was surely the right path to take. In fact, instead of waiting for the phone to ring as a result of an ad I might have placed in my local newspaper, I now had the ability to reach out and draw as many customers as I could handle, from as far away as I felt would be reasonable to do so. This gave me the feeling that I now possessed a real business with unlimited potential.
I then named my new business and spent under $15 to register it for an entire year, ready to advance to the next step. With a name that no one could duplicate because it was mine and mine alone, my next course of action was to develop a website, a place that would serve as my office. It was my business face to the entire world and I didn't have to spend one thin dime on desks or files. I could make my business appear anyway I wanted it to appear and give it the look that I wanted potential customers to relate to. So, although I didn't have to pay for a brick and mortar office or storefront, I did have to build my own site and pay for hosting. In your case, you might have to come up with money to pay someone like me to build it for you and a landlord of sorts to provide you the rental of real estate on the web; that's what is referred to as "hosting". But having very little money to spend on these endeavors means shopping around for someone that will offer to do it for you at a reasonable price. Believe me, when you start shopping around for all of this, it will be the signal to you that you have separated yourself from all the negative feelings of unemployment and have placed yourself firmly on the solid road heading back to work. Now you're on your way to creating an income with an online business that you'll be able to advertise for free to a large customer base through web venues such as Craigslist. It beats pounding the pavement looking for a job that may never materialize, while suffering the disappointments and rejections in what continues, to this day, as a very uncertain economy.
It's Now Squarely On Your Shoulders.
Now that you've seen that there is an alternative to all the worry about finding some meaningful employment, you've joined the ranks of those that are empowered to succeed. Look, let's not kid ourselves; it takes a little time by word of mouth, use of social media outlets like Facebook, and advertising on Craigslist, to let people know about your site and what you do, but at least you have found a way. With me, there are lots of busy times and lots of slow times, but it all evens out to a year of decent income. Just be patient and keep the effort going until you begin to get bites from people here and there. Stick with it until it starts to pay off and make adjustments in your message when people tell you what interests them about what you offer. It's all a growing and learning process that at least has the hope of lasting success. Hey, you're in business my friend, and that's what entrepreneurs have to contend with. Good luck in everything you do.
Barry Lee is the owner of http://www.CheapAdAgency.com/ and http://www.SITEenstein.com/, two online sites that cater to small and medium size businesses with low budgets who still have the desire to compete on the highest levels in print, broadcast, on the web, and in a million other things in between. Both sites have a sufficient amount of samples, editorial matter you will find interesting, informative, and encouraging, with pricing on a number of services. If you have any questions relating to this article or any of the information found on his sites, you can contact him at any time by email or phone through either site. Consultation is always free.
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