Contrary to popular belief, some people are hiring. Still.
According to Gordon Miller, aka The Career Coach for KWGN-TV and author of The Career Coach, reports that he’s been in close contact with recruiters around the country in a variety of industries. Close to one-third of the employers plan to add to their workforce. In Colorado, that number leaps to 50 percent. Depending on where you live, anywhere from 50 percent to 67 percent are either stagnating or will reduce numbers. Consumer confidence is low and the economy is sluggish.
Could a layoff be in your future? Is one imminent? What do you do if you get one of those nasty notices that says, “Thanks for your years of service, BUT effective today, your services are no longer required.”
One day, you are making a decent salary, can provide for your family (or self) … and the next, you get the boot. Out on the sidewalk, like yesterday’s trash. If your workplace is, or feels, shaky, things can move fast. Get a grip of your situation … are there storm warnings that new orders are iffy or that there’s a management shake-up in the works?
Do a reality check … have you set up some financial protect for you and your family if storm hits? Starting figuring out ways that you can bring in supplemental moneys before you need them—and try them out while you’ve got the funds to do it.
This is not the time to get hooked up with a MLM venture that demands a bunch of money up front and/or stocking up with inventory that you have to sell (unload). Sure, many are quite successful with the MLM approach, but far more have garages full of boxes … and their friends don’t want to talk to them anymore about the latest soap, gizmo or gadget.
Most people run into financial trouble either through medical problems or job loss. Handling financial problems when times are good is a challenge; dealing with them when we are in an environment like today, can be equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest with no climbing experience.
Internet entrepreneur Marty Dickinson, President of HereNextYear.com found himself in just that position. He remembers when he was a top salesman with a company that created mid-range accounting software. According to Dickinson, “I was living high on the hog, fresh out of college, going out to lunch every day, hitting the ATM every night, new cars, houses and maxed credit cards … then it happened.”
Among his 250 colleagues, it was known as “Black Monday.” They were laid-off with a 10 minute announcement and a walk to the door under guarded supervision for all. “I felt humiliated, drained of ambition, and frankly, PO’d.”
What’s a guy (or gal) to do? Dickinson didn’t have a spouse or kids—he was in his mid-twenties. But he had those cars and maxed credit cards to deal with plus a much bruised ego.
He chose not to throw the towel in. Rather, it was time to learn something new. In the early nineties, the Internet was starting to roll. He decided that it was going to be the future for sales. He didn’t know how it would all happen; he just felt that it would.
Dickinson created MusicMates.com—today, one of the largest online musician referrals websites in the United States. He went through all the brain challenges/damage that comes with the hiring people to create, market and advertise a product and company, especially when you’ve never had to do that before. He knew absolutely nothing about the Internet.
No longer. Today, he’s recognized by many as the “go to” person when Internet marketing of a product or company is involved.
Even thought MusicMates.com and HereNextYear.com are very successful, he wouldn’t start a business with the creation of a new product. What he would do is use someone else’s product—let them go through the developments of creating, packaging, warehousing, shipping and collecting money.
In other words, make money using other people’s stuff. Let them pay for shipping and everything else; let them put their name on it; all they have to do is pay him a referral fee or commission.
Hmmm, sounds like sales with a twist.
With all the negative news about the economy, Dickinson remembered that Monday when he was shown the door. He recently wrote a white paper on layoffs with some modern, no cost strategies that just might keep the banker from your door (available at LaughatLayoffs.com).
He consults, designs intricate websites and creates Internet marketing strategies. He also happily writes up and recommends stuff—his and others. And he does it all through his various websites, each designed to tie into a “hot” topic, the latest buzz—he then tracks down books, videos, CDs, etc. that others have created and he can enthusiastically write about.
One of the sources he uses to go hunting for product ideas is Clickbank.com, a digital products retailer. When he posts information and someone buys it when they click on it through from his website, he makes money. eCommerce.
Just how big is eCommerce? Per eMarket.com, in 2007, over 175 billion in retail purchases alone were transacted via cyberspace.
The next time you get all those emails from others recommending something … someone is getting paid … Why not you?