Over 40 and Laid Off? The 5 Most Important Steps You Must Take Now!

Posted by Paul Thompson on September 20th, 2010

Brand yourself

Whether you decide to work for yourself or others, the process should be the same. What are exactly your best gifts, and what do you enjoy most? What kind of services or products can you create and sell to others using your unique gifts?

What are the features and benefits of what you will offer? What is the perfect niche audience for you and your products and services?

Let’s say, for example, that you like to design art work. You think, “Who would buy what I love to do most?” You think a little deeper, and realize that you could design cost-effective restaurant menus that would draw people to the restaurants. Your menus would feature specials, ingredients, and customer reviews. Restaurant owners would benefit as customers would learn more about their eateries, and what they have to offer. Then another thought hits: you could write a newsletter, displaying your brand, targeted at restaurant owners giving advice on how to brand their restaurants!

You decide to call this business “Creative menus”. You are off and running.

This same logic works whether you love to help animals or design software. The reason we are seeing so many layoffs today in corporate America is that most organizations don’t know how to develop entrepreneurial thinking or entice creativity inside their businesses.

Make a plan

Write down your vision of your perfect vocational day. Without this vision, you will have no motivation to move forward. Most people don’t change anything in their lives until the pain of not changing becomes greater than the initial discomfort associated with changing.

Most people look for jobs in an illogical way. They look for them! Most jobs were not designed for you in the first place.

You spend days and months networking, hoping a Job will come to you. The job probably will come to you eventually, but it will quickly look like the last job prison you were in.

There is a strong tendency to go back to what we did before, ONLY because it was familiar and we were good at it. After 40, it becomes critical to avoid this trap.

First define a plan, and steps to create for what you want. Then you will know where to look, and how to start building exactly what would be perfect for you.

Laid off recently?

Congratulations! You have a unique, perhaps once in a lifetime, opportunity to get to know yourself better and to ask better questions of yourself. Be careful what you ask, because the work you choose to do can determine the kind of person you become.

Take that pink slip and run to the nearest beach for reflection and peace. This is the best gift you can give yourself now.

I’ll be cheering you on as you go.

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