Job Loss is an Opportunity to Hire Yourself

The great news is that the recession is slowly recovering. Unemployment bottomed out at the end of 2009 and we’re seeing steady improvement, inching up at a snail’s pace. This recovery will be long process and it’ll be a few more years before we can say all is well.

Many are still unable to find employment. Others are just now facing lay-offs, downsizings and terminations - just when they thought they were safe! It’s been a strange couple of years, to say the least. But no matter what condition the economy is in, no matter how many jobs are being lost or created, there is still one constant. You have a choice; that choice is to hire yourself.

Statistics are showing that those having the most difficulty finding a job are those between the ages of 35 and 54. These years represent the core source of knowledge, experience, expertise and stability in the workforce. Possibly this phenomenon is due to their salaries being on the high end of the pay scale. It could also be the fact that many companies removed a great number of the middle management positions and discovered it was possible to do without that level.

When my husband and I started our personal property inventory service, we were in our early 50s. Always having been employees, we naturally looked for another job when we chose to leave the one we had or when someone else chose that direction for us. Business ownership was nothing other tha “just a dream.” Being removed from my last job was the final time anyone controlled my career and income. I couldn’t find what I wanted to do, couldn’t find a job that seemed interesting, so decided that was a sign it was time to pursue my entrepreneurial dream.

Though entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, the majority of employees I talk to didn’t even consider anything except finding another j-o-b. Whatever your age, former job, current situation, there is an option you might not have considered. You could hire yourself!

It is not uncommon for people to just follow where they used to be. If you’ve always been an employee, you might not even consider being something else. There is nothing wrong with being an employee, that’s for sure. The majority of the population is employed by someone else. However, if you can’t find a job you want, if you can’t find a job you like, if you can’t find a job at all, you might want to consider an alte
ative.

Entrepreneurship, being a business owner, self-employed, solopreneur – whatever you want to call it - is a tough job. Depending on what you decide to create, you might choose to be a solopreneur or you might have the goal of developing a company which will hire hundreds of employees. You could end up being the one creating jobs for those who can’t find one or for those who don’t want to be their own boss. Whatever the choice you make – being a one-person-working-out-of-the-home company or a leader of many, you can do it if you have the drive, determination and perseverance to do it.

If you have the entrepreneurial spirit, if you want to take control of your life, your income and your time, you just might want to start your own business. Hire yourself. Create!