How to Rebound When You Lose Your Job

Kicked to the curb, furloughed, terminated, dismissed, laid off…you’re fired! In this economy, nearly all of us have been hurt financially one way or another. When you work from home, losing your job has serious connotations. Your options are limited compared to our sisters who work outside the home. Tried and true work from home jobs are few and far between so when you lose one, it’s a huge economic blow because recovery isn’t as possible.

Last week I, once again, experienced the fun of being fired. Actually I wasn’t fired, but my newest and most profitable client was consumed by a larger company and so was their writing and marketing department. Because I’m a freelance writer, my last day was the day they told me about my termination. I have other clients but none that were the gold rush that this one produced.

So now I’m back at a writing sweat shop (not WAHM) where the pay is demeaning and the editors are Mussolini. I’m back to pounding the virtual pavement in search of more work, but so are millions of other people just like me.

However, what will see me (and you) through these common setbacks that seem to crop up constantly in this dismal economy is perseverance. Sure, I’m bummed out that I lost my client. However, I can’t allow that loss to prevent me from making green.

Swallowing my pride is one important move to make. No one likes it but if you want to get back on the horse you need to be open to taking jobs from nearly anyone. This will provide you with a little cash flow while you are looking for the big fish.

Between churning out my sweatshop story masterpieces, I’m working on developing my own brand and business. I’ve also learned from these experiences that the only one you can rely upon is yourself. Don’t want to get fired? Start your own business. Sure you can lose clients, but you have a little more control over your destiny, whether you succeed or fail.

Put your situation in perspective. When I told my mom what happened with the big client she literally sounded devastated for me. I appreciated her astute response to my misfortune, but her reaction generated a curious response. Wait…OK, I lost a big chunk of money I depend upon each month, but is my family OK?

Living in South Florida puts you awfully close to the devastation in Haiti. I have a friend who is constantly battling cancer and have other friends who are bankrupt. So am I devastated?  Heck no!!!

This is fixable and is nothing that will completely take me down. Life will be a little more challenging and we will need to go without a few of life’s luxuries for a while but everything is temporary.

So if my story sounds familiar, put on your aggressive job building hat. Fight the good fight and eventually you will persevere. In the meantime…I have a story to write about how to prevent dog diarrhea.