This is an older post...but it still applies today!
Like many people in this country, last year I joined the ranks of the unemployed. When the pink slip came, I can honestly say that it was expected being that a small percentage of the company also lost their jobs that day. I wasn’t upset. I knew that there would be people that I would miss; some more than others. At the point of separation, I had a choice: I could either join another organization immediately, or I could reach for a dream. Ever since I was twelve years of age, I had aspirations of becoming a writer although admittedly, I didn’t know what genre I would go into. All I knew was that I needed to write. As my inscription reads on my Twitter page, writing for me is tantamount to breathing. Truer words were never spoken. Thus, for me the choice was easy.
But reality can wake you up like a dash of cold water in the face and sooner or later, you have to realize that your dream may have to be put to the side to run concurrently with the job that you have to claim, and for some people that choice can be disconcerting at best if not downright frightening. When our economy tanked, many of us had no idea how long we would be feeling the effects. Many of us didn’t know that the statistics for unemployment would still be at 9.01% (15% for African Americans) as we move towards the close of 2011. But that is the reality for many of us.
Over the years, the interview process has become more intense. There was a time when you would interview with one person and a decision would be made that you would either obtain the job applied for or not. Now, the new norm is that you interview with no less than three people and many factors are taken into consideration that had never been a point of deliberation before; things like your credit score and what you place on your Facebook page as well as what your previous employers have to say about you.
People that are forced to look for work now have to deal with a different set of odds than they had to in the past. Some corporate officials don’t even feel the need to get back to you when you wind up being one of the final top five candidates vying for one position. Indeed, there is a low grade fear that runs through applicants searching for the one job that will give them something in addition to that paycheck. Older candidates are competing with college graduates that will gladly take the position for considerably less money than someone who has years of experience, forcing older job seekers to settle for a lesser salary than what they are accustomed to making. Making matters worse is that companies are simply not hiring at the rate that we would like. It’s gotten better, but we are not where we need to be…not yet anyway. The atmosphere in the corporate world has morphed into something that you can’t read easily and the only thing truly apparent is that you have to work twice as hard just to get your foot in the door. It isn’t easy.
So what do you do? Do you accept the cards that you are dealt and continue on your current path or do you re-visit the dream that you had at one point in your life to be an entrepreneur and start your own business? That’s a tough call to make because reality dictates that you have to support yourself. If you have a family then you have to take care of them. Bills still need to be paid, food needs to be put on the table and mortgages and/or rent needs to be satisfied. None of those factors are minimized simply because you’ve made a conscious decision to pursue your dream.
But one thing has become very clear: people are being forced to re-evaluate where they are in life. They are compelled to take a long hard look at how they make their money. There has to be another way besides the traditional job, and many of us are finding that the traditional job route is no longer a viable option. That isn’t to say that I’ve negated the formal nine to five, but sometimes you have to look at the options that you have and choose the one that works best for you.
We’re living in an age where the divide between the have and the have not’s is increasing, and there are certain political figures that make no promises about closing that gap. Indeed, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe it’s time for you to reach for that dream that at one time seemed so absurd that you simply placed it on a back burner. Maybe you subscribed to the notion that it is simply unattainable. Well, that may be true. Or…maybe it’s time for you to take the lid off of the cookie jar. Maybe it’s time for you to start doing some research to find a way to make your dream a reality.
Sometimes, it may mean starting up that business at the same time that you look for (and hopefully find) a job that you can live with. Maybe it’s time to make the decision that the only ladder that you want to climb is the one that you’ve made for yourself, and if you’re going to have to work twice as hard anyway, let it be for you and your family. There is nothing wrong with reaping the rewards of your hard work. We all know that it’s not for everyone. Everyone is not designed to work a full time job and start a business. But I ask you, wouldn’t it be nice if the person that you had to report and answer to every day is yourself?
And with all of that being said, what is it that you REALLY want?
J.L. Whitehead
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