by Hope
So yesterday I woke up with a vengeance, time to look at the reality this job loss puts us in. The first thing I did was get to work. I completed my tasks for the existing clients and put some work into a new website I am working on, sent out bills and THEN I sent a thank you note/reference request to these clients:
Thank you for the advance notice of your downsizing. I cannot express how sad I am about this for you both and XXXXXX but also for myself as I have been truly gifted by working for and with you both for these last 7 or so years! I certainly would love to be kept in mind for further projects or on-going work if the need should arise again.
In the meantime, would you mind doing me a favor….would you please write a reference for me on LinkedIn as a consultant under my EPOH business and also provide a letter of reference I can include in job applications (or take blurbs from for website presence.) I would greatly appreciate it.
I full intend to continue work as normal through the end of the month, please let me know if there are specific tasks you want me to complete….on my list are: ….
They responded in the affirmative that they would be happy to do this for me. For that I am truly grateful.
Then I started looking at the money. THANK GOD for MY EMERGENCY FUND!!! Based on a cut throat budget and estimated income from all existing clients and projects, I figure we are good through the end of the year, maybe a bit longer depending on what we do with holidays and the twins’ birthday this month. I can BREATHE!
And then I exhaled for the first time since the call on Monday. And I started poking around on the internet looking at local jobs…just a tiny bit. And then I started making lists. I made a list of:
- Things I could sell
- What are my passions in rank order
- What are my priority in rank order
- What are needs I see around me that my skill set could meet
- What other resources can I reach out to for temporary assistance
And I decided to give myself a small break from panic mode. I need to process and decide what the next step is without rushing into a wrong decision. Not that I am going to sit back and twiddle my thumbs.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Just throwing it out there…. you could also consider looking at jobs in different cities (since you mentioned searching local jobs). You have commitments through the end of the semester (for your teaching and the kids’ homeschool coop), but in general you’re a pretty portable family. You could make a move with relative ease over winter break. Something to think about, maybe.