Canadian Marketing Blog

Don't worry. Be optimistic.

A couple weeks ago, the cover story of the Sunday New York Times was about an executive who went from a $70,000 a year middle management job to a $12 an hour janitorial job for a friend's company.

Over the last year (and just this week), I've heard so many stories about friends and acquaintances, business associates and former colleagues and staff getting laid off. They range from intermediate to senior level. And certainly, it's happening more than any time in my lifetime. So, it got me wondering. Do people really know what to do when they get let go? Do they know how to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and carry on?

I've had to lay many people off in my career as a Creative Director and unfortunately, all too often, it wasn't for performance related issues. A client consolidated their business somewhere else or "New York" insisted we "hit a number" that probably wasn't realistic in the first place.

However, today good people are being let go everywhere because of the economy and it must feel like there's no end in sight. And yet, there is hope.

Here's some of what I've learned (from people wiser than me and from my own excellent adventure) over the last year since I left the agency world and started my own creative consultancy.

1. Clients want to work with people who project a positive attitude – even on the days you're not feeling particularly positive. This might seem basic, but it's easy to forget -- especially when the news is all bad. Someone gave me this advice before I had even one client, but it's proven to be the best advice I've gotten.

2. Decide early on what you're going to focus on, then focus on that one thing. I knew I wanted to start my own business. So that's what I focused on. If I had divided my attention between that goal, talking to recruiters for another agency job or changing careers completely, I wouldn't have accomplished anything.

3. Network in the way you feel most comfortable. Not everybody likes to cold call or go to industry events and shake a lot of hands. Email, Facebook and Linkedin are great ways to break the ice. It gives your contact an opportunity to be thoughtful about their response and lets you craft your words more carefully than you might over the phone -- or worse, in a voice mail that inevitably ends up being way too long-winded.

4. Journal your experiences, thoughts and feelings. Whatever you're thinking makes more sense when you get it down on paper. It also helps you shake yourself out of a funk when you see that you've been throwing yourself your own pity party for way too long.

5. Exercise. It's a great way to deal with stress and whatever anxiety you're dealing with. If you're like most people I've spoken to over the last year, you wake up in the morning thinking you'll never work again. By noon you're worried about how you're going to handle all the work on your plate. Exercise gives you the fortitude to deal with both kinds of stress.

If you're reading this and you've recently been "economized", take solace in the fact that you're not alone. In fact, there are far too many people going through exactly what you're going through right now and they're not hard to find. So find them and commiserate.

Then decide what you're going to do next and get on with it. You might just discover, as I did, that your decision was the best one you ever made.

Nice.. that "project a positive attitude for clients" tip is especially good. Thanks. Sometimes I can drop mild self doubt into conversations with new clients to test how much faith in me they actually have. (Some think they can do everything as well themselves.) But confidence is better then testing, that's a way of me putting faith in them. So yeah, right on.

Brian,
I enjoyed reading your post. I am in that group of the "economized" (as of early January), and it's been an interesting ride since. Believe it or not, after I got through the initial shock and the natural human reactions of facing an extremely difficult situation, I felt a sense of liberation! I too have always wanted to run my own business so I have taken the plunge and am full tilt into developing a new business venture.... it's truly exciting!

I wanted to comment on the 5 key tips you provided in your post to people who have been laid off. I just did a presentation to an organization that talked about how to creatively and successfully manage careers, and one of the key points of my talk was the concept of other people's perception of YOU, or aka "personal branding". This relates perfectly to your point #1, and although it's sometimes extremely difficult, the image you portray to people through all communication channels is so critical to first impression, developing impression and lasting impression. People's perceptions of you is what enables you succeed in virtually everything you do in life.... including looking for a new job. Just think about it, Barack Obama had an above 80% satisfaction rating among the American people before he even stepped foot into his new role as President...... how could that be? He hasn't done anything!!!! It's because people perceive him in an extremely favourable light, which inadvertently creates this impression of competence.

I think the other key point you made that I resonated with is #3 about networking. Networking is one of those words that is interpreted in a million different ways, and frankly I consider it "relationship building" more than anything. Whatever you think it is, I think you nailed it on the head when you stated you need to do it within your comfort zone. However, I would argue that taking advantage of social networking and technology today is a must.... your reach is so much greater using technology that hits all corners of our globe, to me it's a no-brainer. It's the chance for you to be you, and to tell everyone what you really believe in and think.

The reason I pointed out these 2 things is because they go hand-in-hand. If you're the type that most people tend to be who likes to wait for traditional postings to pop up in the papers or on Workopolis then you're only hitting 5% of the available opportunities out there...... given the economy is in shambles in many sectors, why would you subject yourself to this small segment, and on top of that, compete with everyone else who is aggressively looking for work? Gotta nail down your personal brand, get all over technology and with everything you do, which better be a lot, emulate that brand!! You might be truly surprised where these efforts may lead you..... more than likely to some work that nobody else even knows about!