How I Went From Laid Off To Gainfully Self-Employed In Seven Months (Part Three)

Read part one and part two first if you missed them. 

Once I left my office on the day I got laid off, I sat in my car for a minute, dazed, confused and hurting. This was my first job out of college and I thought I was pretty good at it. To be laid off with no warning after three years of solid performance reviews? Hit me in the gut.

I kept thinking about that over the next couple weeks. What could I have done differently? 

Then I snapped out of it. I realized what was done was done. I was laid off, there was no going back, so I had to think in terms of what I was going to do next. What did the future hold for me. Luckily, I had a bit of severance coming in so we would be okay in terms of money for the next couple of months. But it was clear I needed to bring in some money. Here’s part three of what I learned:

1) It’s okay to take your time to make a decision regarding your career. When I got laid off and word spread, the head of one of the affiliated organizations (who I was informally helping with their social media) asked me to join his organization as their social media coordinator. A new organization, they didn’t have much in the budget to pay me, certainly nowhere near what I was making previously. Foolishly, I accepted his offer, happy to have someone believe in my abilities again.

But as the details emerged, I didn’t like what I saw. I’d still have the horrendous commute but without medical benefits, without the luxury of a “real” salary to pay for what I’d spend in gas. And I’d still be away from my kids much more often than I wanted to.

I had to sit down with him and turn down the job. It was very hard, I felt unprofessional, but I knew this wasn’t the right position for me and I had to keep my priorities in mind. Don’t be afraid to make difficult decisions. On paper, my decision looked dumb. I was turning down the chance to work with an organization doing great things in the community. But I knew that I had more to give.

2) Recognize what you can do by yourself and what you need help with. I got laid off in November, and by January 2, the kids were home with me full-time. I was excited about this and even came up with a daily schedule of how I’d like things to go. For the most part, we still kind of stick by that. But I severely underestimated how much time I would need to be a new small business owner (because that’s what I was). I had too much on my plate and I wasn’t willing (or didn’t have the money) to outsource it. In all honesty, I probably should have taken a semester off from grad school and I definitely should have hired a babysitter  because by November 2011 (one year after getting laid off) I was hanging by a thread. I had gained about 10 pounds, which doesn’t sound like much, but on a 4’11” frame looks like 20 pounds. I was having these heart palpitations and massive headaches all the time. My body felt like it was going to shut down. Too much stress, not enough relief.

3) Learn to let some things go. In the middle of the year, I was freaking out because by my calculations, I wasn’t making enough headway. I was making about $1800 a month, not including unemployment, which was about half of my 2010 salary. But then I found a job as a manuscript editor. Could do it from home, could pick which books I was interested in editing and the pay was pretty decent. If I edited two books a month I could bring home about $1100. It started off okay but it seemed like the deadlines began shrinking. Every other week I had a book due and I was drowning. I would sit at the table and edit for 10, 11 hours straight, my eyes crossed and body weak by the time I stepped away from the manuscript. It was good money, but not for the stress. So I quietly took a sabbatical and moved my focus to other clients. As soon as I did that, I landed two new clients that more than made up for the income I would lose from pausing work on my editing job.

4) A mix of clients is essential. If you want to be a writer, you better be a great editor or a public speaker or a tech wiz. It is very, very hard to “make it” with one skill set. At first, I was going after a gazillion writing jobs because that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to write. But I kept coming across sites that paid $10-$15 per post. At that rate, I’d have to write close to 100 articles a month to make any real money. I had to look at what else I could do. I could write books. I could sell advertising space on my own blog. I could become a sought-after public speaker. I could be a social media consultant. All of those things branch off my original skill set (writing) and landed me much higher-paying jobs. I still took some of the writing gigs because I love to write original pieces, but I didn’t want my family’s survival to depend on a ridiculous output for smaller pay. Mix higher-paying and lower-paying clients and you’ve got a steady stream of paychecks and a steady way to keep your skills fresh.

If I had to leave you with any major lessons, it’s to be stubborn. One of my entrepreneurial friends told me that the key to her success was being stubborn. She had to make it. She had to be successful because she had worked too hard and put in too many hours to walk away. That simple thought helped conquer my fears and boost my confidence. Because you will need confidence to do whatever it is you’re looking to do for yourself. You will have to convince people, “Why you? Why not someone else?”