“You’re Fired”… So Now What?
Two little words with such power. They make a roomful of TV viewers cheer when Donald Trump says them, but if you are on the receiving end from your boss, those two little words can turn your life upside down. It’s no laughing matter when you’re called into a closed door meeting, and told that your services are no longer needed by your employer.
After you pack up your office, or your cubicle or your tools, and you wake up the next morning with nowhere to go, the reality sets in. For many people, dealing with the fact that you’ve been fired is the start of a journey through the five stages of grief.
1. Denial – “This can’t be happening, not to me. I was a great employee.”
2. Anger – “Why me? It’s not fair! How can this be happening to me?”
3. Bargaining – “I’ll do anything. I’ll go anywhere. I just need a job.”
4. Depression – “I’m so sad. What’s the point? I’ll never get another job.”
5. Acceptance – “It’s going to be okay. I’ll just figure it out.”
Once you accept the situation, you’ve come to the “Now What?” stage. Most people just assume they’ll find another job. You’ve always worked for someone else – in a way, it’s comforting. You know that paycheck is going to be coming in on schedule – the same amount every time, every month. The taxes are taken out, the insurance premium is paid, 401K is deducted, and all is well in your career cocoon. And in the old days, you would work for the same company for 30 years, and retire fat and happy with a comfortable pension. But those days are gone.
If you haven’t noticed, there are no 30 year plans anymore. The established ‘Blue Chip’ companies are now as solid as jello. General Motors went bankrupt. Citicorp, AIG, Bears Stern and other financial giants have been reduced to beggars looking for handouts, if they’re still in business at all. And if you still have a job, long-term employees are finding they are casualties of cutbacks, downsizing, outsourcing, layoffs and other workforce reductions.
According to the New York Times, job losses since the beginning of the recession have topped 6.5 million jobs, which surpasses all the new jobs that were created during the past nine years. The other hidden figure that rarely makes the evening news is the underemployed – those who have had their hours cut back, and those only working a part-time job because they can’t find a full time job. Add the underemployed to the unemployed, and you have a very bleak job picture.
It’s not a good situation. You’ve lost your job. There are no new jobs available to replace it with. And you still have bills – the mortgage, the car payment, the gas, the electric, the food, phone and cable – so your savings is dwindling quickly. You want to work, but work doesn’t want you. What’s a person to do?
The Entrepreneur of Necessity
An old quote says, “If it is to be, it’s up to me,” and that’s what the job situation has become for many people. No longer can you wait for gainful employment. Today’s light at the end of the tunnel is the road from unemployment to self-employment.
Small businesses are the backbone of the economy. Research shows that firms with fewer than 500 employees drive the U.S. economy by providing jobs for over half of the nation’s private workforce. They don’t get the headlines, but small business is what America is all about. There’s always an open invitation for new entrepreneurs to start their own business. Success awaits those who can meet the needs of their customers.
With today’s economic realities, the country is entering a new golden age of small business creation. That’s where the opportunity lies for displaced workers to put their skills to use, to support themselves, and to grab their part of the American dream.
Have you started your business? All it takes is a good idea, and an entrepreneurial passion. From there, the adventure begins…
Tags: Business Start-Up, You're Fired