How To Survive a Financial Disaster Like Unexpected Unemployment or Business Failure

[Vigilante]

How To Survive Unemployment (from the Mind Your Business Radio Show)

How to Survive Being Unemployed <----- PODCAST DIRECT LINK

You also can find this special edition of the Mind Your Business podcast on nearly every podcast platform including Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts, YouTube or where ever your other favorite podcasts are. Make sure to favorite us to stay up with future shows. Mind Your Business Radio Show comes out every Saturday at 11AM Eastern, and other times throughout the week when ever great content is ready.

A full written transcription of the podcast will be available later today and added here to the forum in this thread. Feel free to share the podcast of “How to Survive Being Unemployed” with anyone who needs it by giving them the link above, or sharing the link on your social media.

Like millions of people across the world, I once found myself unemployed and in a financial catastrophe. I had no income, no money, and no time. It is normal to not know how to deal with this unexpected crisis. Most of what you will read on line talks about State and Federal assistance, and other social programs. While not wanting to minimize their importance in your recovery plan, you can find that information elsewhere. What I have laid out in the Mind Your Business Radio Show called “How to Survive Being Unemployed” is a straight forward action plan that almost anyone can use to survive in the immediate aftermath of a financial disaster. I am trained by the Red Cross as a disaster action team member, and this checklist draws from the physical and psychological first aid that I have been trained to provide disaster victims. Use it to survive an unexpected financial crisis, and methodically map out a plan to recovery.

You’re in shock. You don’t know what to do. Let me do your thinking for you through this unique window of time. Follow the following steps :

Step 1 : Take a 3 Day Sabbatical (Mini Vacation) to clear your mind and give yourself a bit of time to just breathe.

Step 2. Get organized, on paper. Get out a notebook or a legal pad and start to track the objectives and action plan. Get your thoughts out of your head and on to paper. If you happen to be an INSIDERS at the FastLane forum, than use the TO DO List from MJ DeMarco. If not, then just start an old fashioned list on lined paper. Let what ever you need to do flow from your head to your pen. Get it all down on paper.

Step 3: Short term, cover food, shelter, clothing. Don’t worry today about anything but immediate, short term needs. Generate some short term income. What can you sell? Where can you work? Adjust your standards to cover your immediate needs for food, shelter and clothing. We can deal with long term plans later. Today, lets just figure out how to cover immediate needs. There are several ideas on the podcast or in the written transcription.

Step 4: Mid Term plan. Communicate. Get some breathing room by talking with landlords, credit card companies, car loan companies, student loan companies, insurance companies, or anyone else that needs to know of your mid term financial problem. Communicate, communicate, communicate. You might find relief programs offered to you, and you might not but it all starts with communication. Map all of these communications out on your written organizer. Strategic problem solving and proactive communication. Might even be of value to stop by and talk with a banker, not to get a loan but just to talk about finances and strategy.

Step 5 : Normal response : Do what everyone else is doing, including filing for unemployment, looking for jobs, and finding out what state and local programs are available to everyone in a similar circumstance. Don’t do what everyone else does, which is think that these programs are going to save you (they won’t). Don’t wait to be saved by someone else or some program, but use these as additional to your own independent self sustenance plan for food, shelter and clothing. Nobody else cares about you and your family as much as you do, so what ever systems everyone else is hoping for is NOT your primary game plan. But, apply apply apply for jobs and any social programs you can find meanwhile. For most people, that is the END of their plan. For you, that is just a few more data points on your checklist.

Step 6 : If you are mid-level to executive, now is the time to really dive into the LinkedIn website and network, network, network. If you are a blue collar or entry level worker, use your social media and in-person company visits to network, network, network. Write down a specific networking strategy and game plan on your written organizer.

Step 7. Become a voracious reader of the news. Become aware of economic news on a local and national basis. You have some time now, so fill your head with knowledge.

Step 8. Ask for help. Don’t let pride get in the way. Lean on friends and family if you need to for help in covering immediate needs of food, shelter and clothing. Your immediate circle WANTS to help.

Step 9. Tap ALL available resources. Don’t listen to people who tell you they know better that you do about your immediate term needs. Cover your immediate needs for food, shelter and clothing. If that means using a credit card, OK. If that means an early withdrawal from your 401(k), then OK. We’ll deal with retirement later, no matter what the financial gurus (who AREN’T unemployed) tell you. Do what you have to do, and don’t stress about it. Make it happen for today, and we will deal with tomorrow tomorrow.

This survival strategy checklist is a direct result of me being exactly where you were, and let this be a road map for you of how you can move forward and survive an unexpected financial calamity. Please share this message by sharing a link to this web site, sharing the podcast link and /or sharing the transcript when it's available.

 

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[Vigilante]

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF : HOW TO SURVIVE BEING UNEMPLOYED (from the Mind Your Business Radio Show)

Downloadable, sharable .pdf version is attached to this post

00:03 Speaker 1: Get ready to quit your job and start your life. You're listening to the Mind Your Business Radio Show with David Happe.

00:14 Speaker 2: Hello, my name is Elisabeth and you're listening to the Mind Your Business Radio Show with David Happe.

[music]

00:23 David Happe: Saturday morning, we're about to get this going with a hard core show for your friends and family about what to do if you don't know what to do. This is David Happe. Welcome to another Saturday morning edition of the Mind Your Business Show. Today we gotta talk to the more than 38 million people that have filed for unemployment in the United States in the last 90 days. We have a lot of people that woke up unexpectedly one day without a plan and without a job and without income. And I've been there. I want you to know that you can make it through this, I've made it through this. At some point in the future I'll do a show that will unwind all of the personal details of how I found myself without any money, without a job, without an income, somewhat curled up in the fetal position trying to understand how I was gonna make it through the day, trying to understand how I was going to survive. So what I'm about to tell you is some of the navigational tips that I used to get through that period of time.

01:38 DH: I've been trained by the American Red Cross as a first responder, and what that means is when somebody has a house fire, I go out to their home and I sit with them with a legal pad and I make a plan for them. And I make a plan for them during a period of time when they can't plan for themselves, they can't even think through what to do next because they're in shock from something completely unexpected that flipped their life upside down. And you, listening to this, may be kind of like that fire victim. You found yourself unexpectedly in the midst of economic turmoil, you might have lost your job, you might have gotten laid off, your company might have closed, you might have lost your business. But 38 million people, in the United States alone, have woken up in the last few months to find themselves in economic distress.

02:31 DH: My job here at Mind Your Business is to give you a roadmap, it's to get you started on the path that's ultimately going to bring you through this dark window of time. If today is your darkest day, I've been there. If you feel like you don't know where to turn, I've been there. If you feel like nobody really has any advice for you because nobody has been through this before, you need to know I've been through this before. I've had debt probably way worse... Hopefully, way worse than any debt that you have. I've had to figure out how to survive, how to respond to the initial shock, and how to get my life started again. So I'm gonna give you a road map. You can take pieces of this road map and use it to get your plan together, but at the end of this short Mind Your Business broadcast you should have enough on your legal pad that you have in front of you right now to at least start putting your own personal plan together.

03:36 DH: So you might have woken up one day not expecting what was about to happen. You might have woken up fine, only to find out that the loss of a job or the loss of your income, facing a catastrophic financial situation, got introduced on a day when you weren't even expecting it. And if that's you, that was me. So what I'm about to lay out for you is just a bunch of tips and tricks and pointers. You can listen to this and hopefully it'll give you a source of encouragement. Because I made it, you made it too, you'll make it through this. But let me... Rather than just giving you that trite phrase that probably everybody's, "Oh, I feel sorry you lost your job", I'm gonna give you some specific things to do in the window of time that you're in that should give you some comfort for today, and that should help you get on the path to recovery of your own personal situation.

04:36 DH: The first thing I have to tell you, and it sounds easy... Not as easy, I realize that. It's "Don't panic." The reason I say don't panic and... You know when you tell people to calm down, that's literally never caused anybody to calm down. So maybe me saying don't panic has the same effect on you that telling people to calm down does, which is nothing. But what I can tell you is that I made it through the worst of these storms. I had nearly a million dollars in consumer debt, I had zero in the bank, I had a mortgage, actually two mortgages, ridiculous cars we couldn't afford that were on credit, a kid on the way to college. And what I'm here to tell you today is I made it through the worst economic storm I think somebody can go through. So if I can make it, you can make it, and we're gonna talk through some of the tips or some of the immediate things you can do. But just take a breath for right now, just relax and listen, and listen again if you have to. Know that you're going to get through this. One way or another you're gonna get through this storm.

05:46 DH: The first thing I want you to do, and it sounds counter-intuitive, but I want you to take a couple days off just to clear your head. I want you to let yourself relax. Go get some exercise, go for a walk, shut your brain off for a while and allow yourself to unplug. Don't watch the news for a few days, don't get all wound up in social media. In the aftermath of your unexpected financial storm that is thrust upon you, one of the first things that I'd recommend that you do is just take a few days to yourself. Go to the beach if you're fortunate enough to live in a coastal community, get out and just enjoy some sunshine and relax. In that three-day window you're going to start to re-frame... Your mind is going to start to re-frame your go-forward strategy.

06:39 DH: The first thing that happens when I meet with fire victims as they're panicked, they literally don't even know how to respond. They never anticipated finding themselves in that situation. And that might be true for you as well. So the first thing that you can do is just start to clear your head. Let a little bit of time pass, we're not talking month after month, I'm just talking about taking a few days for you. It's totally okay to grab your favorite beer or non-alcoholic beverage or what it is, and sit back and just be for a little while. Just let everything calm down so we can get to putting together a game plan.

07:18 DH: So the first thing you're gonna do is don't panic, you're going to clear your head, and you're gonna intentionally... Maybe you're like me, not a super organized person, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna start, after our three-day sabbatical, we'll call it, we're going to get organized. We're gonna get out a legal pad or a notebook and literally start taking notes and making a game plan. I want your thoughts organized, and I want your thoughts down on paper, so that you can get them out of your head. You don't need to be up at two o'clock in the morning with all of this bouncing around in your head, because you've already written it down on a pad of paper and you're already starting to organize a methodical, specific game plan for how you're going to move forward. If it helps you, you can journal through this period. If it helps you, you can keep a little diary that gets your thoughts down on paper, get your fears down on paper, get your concerns down on paper. But more specifically, I want you to get your action plan down on paper.

08:29 DH: And I want it on paper for two reasons. Number one, so we can refer back to it almost like a checklist, but number two, so it's not bouncing around in your head with unsettled thoughts. Get your thoughts settled, get them organized, and get them down on paper. Now in the immediate term... And we're gonna talk about immediate term, mid-term and long-term goals. But in the immediate term, if you find yourselves in desperate need of income then let's generate some interesting and short term income. Look around and see if there's anything that you can sell, and by sell I mean, "Do I have an Xbox that I really don't need for today?" Whatever it is that you sell, people buy. So a set of golf clubs, an old office chair that may be worth a few bucks on the local Facebook marketplace. Understand that on eBay, you can have an account up and running on eBay overnight, and that account you get up and running on eBay has 100 million registered users, 99 million of which have been active in the last six months, most of which are buyers. Only a million of them are sellers, so most people are on eBay buying stuff. And they buy everything.

09:44 DH: So if you have anything of value that you can convert, I'm not saying you need to do this like a garage sale, but I'm saying pick a couple of strategic items that could generate a couple bucks for you. Not only is it gonna give you something to do but it's going to generate some income as well, and it'll help to start clearing the cobwebs out of your head. There are a lot of people that started this way that actually ended up with terrific eBay-related businesses. And some of the local sites like some of the local Facebook marketplaces, or even some of the local garage sale groups on Facebook are good sources to get your item exposed to a bunch of people for cheap. So in the mean time, and I'm not saying that this is your go-forward plan, but if there's anything that you can do to not only divert your mind a little bit, but generate a couple bucks as well. Get that old bicycle that you never use anymore, get it up on Facebook Marketplace, advertise it to your local people and generate a few dollars. You'll be optimistic, even if you sell something nominal, that there's going to be a brighter day in front of you.

10:52 DH: We need to put together on your legal pad an immediate term plan, a mid-term plan, and a long-term plan. And if income is the... For most of us income is gonna be the primary problem today, as all of a sudden I'm out of a job, and I don't have any money. So let's talk about and... Let's talk about the things that you can do immediately to generate immediate income. I'm not worried about your long-term plan, I'm not worried about the fact that you went to school to be a physicist and you can't find a physicist job that's gonna generate immediate money for you. What I am concerned with is finding you immediate income to pay your rent, or pay your bills, or get you some groceries or whatever you need for your immediate needs. We have three immediate needs. That's shelter, a roof over our head, that's food, and clothing, and as long as you meet those three immediate needs, everything else will eventually fall into place. So for today, we gotta make sure that you have enough money to keep a roof over your head, to get some food and to get some clothing.

12:00 DH: Now what I can... What I'm not gonna do on this show is go through all of the various unemployment social programs that exist. I'm assuming you're gonna do all that research on your own, and quite honestly, I'm not super knowledgeable on all of that as well. It was many, many years ago that I had my own financial catastrophe, so I'm not fully versed on all of the other tools that are available to you. But after your three-day sabbatical you should be looking into every option, including some of the municipalities and states and even the federal government have some interesting new programs that you should definitely research. But chances are those are not gonna be an immediate term need for you. In fact, if you live in Florida, man, they have our Florida specific unemployment programs so messed up right now that the people that are in desperate need of help shouldn't be sitting around waiting for Florida to do something because Florida has demonstrated themselves fully inept at taking care of people on an immediate term basis.

13:05 DH: But meanwhile, there are hundreds of thousands... Listen to me. There are hundreds of thousands of new gig jobs that have become available from businesses, including Amazon, Door Dash, Instacart, Shipt. We know that Walmart hired I think 100,000 people. And I know that your career aspiration was not to be working at Walmart, or not to be a Shipt grocery pickup Instacart driver, but for today you're gonna do whatever it takes to put food on the table. We got three basic needs, shelter, food, and clothing, and as long as we cover those three basic needs we can deal with everything else later. There is no job that is above me, there is nothing that I won't do to feed my family. If the local florist needs a delivery driver for today, I'll be the best delivery driver that they ever would have needed. So I want you to look at some of the immediate-term gig opportunities that have opened up from companies like Shipt, from companies like Instacart, Door Dash. Amazon is now taking individual drivers and setting up people to do deliveries. Or take a look at some of the local small retailers, like some of your local hardware stores that are reopening etcetera. See if... With all the people that got laid off, now things are starting to open back up again.

14:36 DH: Set your standards, your minimum standard, being, "What can I do to generate immediate income?" The other thing that we're gonna do from the immediate term and into the mid-term is we're going to communicate. One of the things that I learned from Sam Walton's Walmart is when times are the toughest people have a natural tendency to recoil and draw back into themselves. And I want you to do the opposite, I want you to communicate. Because through that communication, you can solve a lot of problems.

15:08 DH: On your legal pad for either your short-term or your midterm, we wanna put communicate. And when I'm talking about communicating, I'm talking about communicating with student loan companies. If you have credit cards, communicate with credit card companies. If you're renting a place, communicate with your landlord. Very seldom will you find people not willing to work with you if you're willing to be transparent and honest and forthright and timely with regard to your communication with them. Let people know what stresses you have. A lot of the financial companies like credit card companies right now have specific programs in place for people. There were... Understand, you're not alone, there were 38 million people that filed for unemployment in the last 90 days in the United States. We're expecting today the jobs numbers to be out for the United States, and it's probably gonna be at a catastrophic low, as low as it's ever been since the Great Depression.

16:10 DH: So you're not alone. A lot of companies have programs in place. If you're renting an apartment from a larger corporation, they may even have some relief. Take a look at your city and state codes because a lot of states like Florida have imposed foreclosure or eviction restrictions that are not allowing things to accelerate as quickly as they normally should be. So after your three-day sabbatical you can look at what, if any, relief is coming in from legislation that may buy you a little bit of time. All of these things are intended to just buy yourself some breathing room, buy yourself some space for your mid-term plan to be communicating with all of your student loan companies, credit cards, landlords, financial institutions, etcetera.

17:05 DH: The other thing that might be worthwhile to you, if you bank locally, stop and then talk to your banker, not because you're looking for a loan, but just sometimes a banker can be almost like a bartender or a barber in terms of their therapeutic abilities just to understand where you're at. You can get a little bit more leniency from the banks if the proverbial chips ever hit the fan. But talking to your banker in any financial situation you might be in might be of value to you, especially if you don't have anybody else that you can talk with about your financial situation. Also in your mid-term plan, I can't emphasize enough, if you're at a mid-level to executive level, really putting some emphasis on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is such a great networking tool for anyone from a mid-level manager all the way to a senior executive. If you are more of a blue collar worker or if you are a local worker, a restaurant worker, etcetera, LinkedIn might not have much value. More of your value is gonna come from your immediate social network.

18:15 DH: So let's right now, just for a minute, let's talk to those mid to high level executives, and say you should be investing a ton of time and energy in LinkedIn. Not only in your profile, but in connecting with all of your business associates that you've ever known. If you're not connected already, now is a great time for you to spend some time on that. Look at some of the better profiles on LinkedIn, see how people structure their information, make some connections to new and old business associates. Let 'em know that you're in the job hunt. So if you are a mid-level executive, I highly recommend you take some time really in this mid-term strategy planning, after your sabbatical, to really have a concerted effort to spend some time networking on LinkedIn.

19:04 DH: If you're more at the entry level of that scale, or you're more of a localized worker, then your social network should be used aggressively by you as well. Communicate, don't hide. Don't pull back into a shell in your financial difficulty. Let people in your social circles know that you're looking for work. Let some of the local networking on Facebook community sites know that you're looking for work. You'd be amazed at how helpful people are and how often your next job might come from within your network. So don't hide after your sabbatical, don't be quiet. Remember that Sam Walton said that when times are tough, it's the best time to be as visible as you can. So use your social networks.

19:54 DH: After your sabbatical I want you to start reading every... Become a voracious reader of the news. Read what's happening in your state and in your city. It's not only going to make you more educated by immersing yourself in reading all that you can read in this window of time, it's also gonna help you when you're communicating with people about current events. It's gonna make you more aware of what's happening at your state and local level as they respond to the economic crisis that the United States is in. So in this period of time, even if you're not normally a big reader, become a voracious reader of news, of social information. Get as much information as you can as to current events because that'll help you start to figure out how to navigate moving forward.

20:47 DH: Obviously, you're applying for jobs, you're applying for jobs, you're applying for jobs. There's one other thing that comes hard to a lot of people. It certainly came hard to me in this window of time. So this falls under the, do as I say, not as I do category when I tell you to ask for help. A lot of people, when they hear about the financial situation that I find myself in, they say to me, "Well, why didn't you ask for any help?" Well, because I was proud, and because I was scared, and because I was in uncharted territory. So your immediate friends, immediate family members. Do you think that your immediate friends are gonna let you go without food? Answer: They're not. Even do you think your community is going to let you go without food? Answer: They're not. So it's time to put pride aside, go back to what Mr. Sam Walton said about communicating in times of crisis, be communicative and visible, be willing to be vulnerable, be willing to do what I didn't do, which is to ask for help.

21:56 DH: The other thing I'd tell you is I don't listen to people that give me advice that's counter-intuitive to what I need to do. Meaning you'll hear people say, "Oh, when you're unemployed don't put any money on a credit card." Yeah, BS. If I need money, if I need something for my kids or my family or whatever for today, I'll deal with the credit card debt tomorrow. But for today, I need what I need." If I gotta go down to Walmart and put 100 bucks on my credit card, you're gonna hear a bunch of naysayers or the Dave Ramseys of the world that tell you, "Oh, you don't wanna make a bad situation worse." Listen, I'm in a pretty bad situation when I woke up with no income and no savings and no job and no prospect for what this was gonna look like for next week. So, I'll let tomorrow deal with the problems that tomorrow has. For today, I'll solve the problems for today.

22:51 DH: I also don't listen to people that say, "Oh don't take any early withdrawal of your 4... If you have a 401k, I'll tell you what nobody else will tell you. Tap it! Solve the immediate situation, get yourself some peace of mind so that you can sleep at night. Let's deal with retirement later. But for today, let's deal with survival.

23:14 DH: So what I'm telling you, this may be counter-intuitive to what everybody else would tell you, because everybody else would tell you, "Well, you gotta... You don't wanna put any money on your credit card. You don't wanna... You don't wanna tap your 401k account." I'm telling you it's okay for you to not only respond and communicate, but to take whatever means that you need to take for today, to survive today and to live for tomorrow. I came from nearly a million dollars in consumer debt, I was curled up in the fetal position, I had no job, no savings, all my savings had gone into a company that I lost, and I didn't know what my future looked like. I really needed those three days. I needed those three days just to be able to breathe again. And I needed some time just to collect my thoughts.

24:06 DH: But go back through this recording. Let this be a roadmap for you of how you're going to move forward. Hopefully this gave you a couple of immediate term survival tips, a couple of ideas of how to generate a couple bucks for your immediate needs, and then you can move forward from there. But for right now, may God bless you. If this message reaches people that are in need of immediate assistance, maybe you should pass this message on on your social media or post it to people that you know could stand a word of encouragement during this current financial crisis. But for right now, this is David Happe, thankful to have the opportunity to talk with you. Hopefully this message got to you, wherever you needed it to be.

[music]

24:52 DH: And for right now, I'm just here to remind you, the sun will come up tomorrow, things are gonna look better for you. Hang in there, and at some point you'll be able to join us in Minding Your Business.

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks for putting this out there @Vigilante.


I’ll add some tips too:

The first thing I recall from First Aid training:

“Sit ‘em down before they fall down.”

If someone is walking around in a daze then the *first* thing to do is protect them from further harm.

If the person in the daze is you then consider that nothing’s so bad you can’t make it worse by acting rashly.

As Dave said... “Breathe.”

Think about what you have left, rather than what you’ve lost.

Personally, I’m fond of going for a stroll every evening when things start to get on top of me. Let your brain chatter, worry, and go off at tangents. When I get back from those walks I find I’ve come over with a sense of peace. YMMV. Do what works for you.


Stem the bleed / batten down the hatches. Stop unnecessary spend, immediately.


If there’s grants, subsidies, etc available then apply to them. (Consider not doing so if the time taken to apply and to get the grant/subsidy is more than the effort needed to get a job or make some sales.)


Think of what you can do to make a sale (or get a job) - THIS WEEK!


These two threads may help too:
> When your back's against the wall...
> A message to a friend who's overwhelmed and worried

 

[Vigilante]

Here's another unpopular opinion on this subject that wouldn't sell me any guru books.

Q: When financial crisis hits, who gets paid first... your credit card company... or you?

............

A: Any UNSECURED creditors get paid DEAD LAST.

Circle the wagons on any and all available resources. YOU get paid first, meaning what ever you need takes a priority over ANY unsecured creditors. Your credit cards can be tapped for immediate expenses, but if you can't pay the bills the unsecured creditors go to the bottom of the list.

This ain't going to win me any Pulitzer prizes, but your FIRST objective is to do what ever is in YOUR best interest. You can always recover later for any short term damage. In that first short term window, I am more worried about food, shelter and clothing than I am about any mid term fallout.

 

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[Vigilante]

Regarding jobs, I need IMMEDIATE INCOME. I am not worried today about career advancement. Heck, the job I take this week probably won't even make it on to my resume.

One prominent friend of mine had a wife that went to work at a discount store during a period of time when they had to. Why? Because you do WHAT EVER IT TAKES. Your standards are
1. Food
2. Shelter
and
3. Clothing

Again, we're focused for today on the IMMEDIATE TERM. Most people don't have 30 days worth of savings for a rainy day. So, rather than PANIC, after the sabbatical you take action to generate immediate income to pay immediate expenses.

 

[minivanman]

A great follow-up would be.... When The Dust Clears. About what a person can do to be ready for these things in the future. The focus should be to make your finances so that if a tragedy hits within the next hour, you will be ready financially and not have to panic.

 

[Strategery]

Step 7. Become a voracious reader of the news. Become aware of economic news on a local and national basis. You have some time now, so fill your head with knowledge.

Could you expand on this a bit? I do this already, and can see how it applies to things like investment strategy, but I’d like to know why else you put it here.

Would you recommend this to folks in any stage? Or while someone is actively building a company, should they adhere to what Tim Ferriss calls a “low-information diet,” only taking in information that helps them with a current problem?

 

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[Vigilante]

Could you expand on this a bit? I do this already, and can see how it applies to things like investment strategy, but I’d like to know why else you put it here.

Would you recommend this to folks in any stage? Or while someone is actively building a company, should they adhere to what Tim Ferriss calls a “low-information diet,” only taking in information that helps them with a current problem?

So the concept as it pertains to a financial disaster - which is what this subject is honed towards - is multi-fold (as far as why to become a voracious reader) including :

• awareness of state and federal employment issues and possible social program enhancements
• awareness of emerging employment trends
• a working knowledge of current events (helps for interview questions - you have to know what is happening in the world to converse fluently about current events, especially small talk)
• a mental distraction from emotional distress
• awareness of mass hiring as a result of economic changes
• emerging trends (such as shipt and Uber, etc...)

But, on a more MACRO sense unreated to unemployment/financial crisis... I can't disagree with Ferriss more than I do with regard to his concept of a low information diet. What he titles "selective ignorance" I'd title ignorance. Here's a great counterpoint to his opinion : Science Confirms Why a Low-Information Diet Is Bad for You

 

[Vigilante]

A great follow-up would be.... When The Dust Clears. About what a person can do to be ready for these things in the future. The focus should be to make your finances so that if a tragedy hits within the next hour, you will be ready financially and not have to panic.

Even for me personally... the concept of saving during prosperity for the famine that inevitably (and always seems to) follows

 

[Andy Black]

So the concept as it pertains to a financial disaster - which is what this subject is honed towards - is multi-fold (as far as why to become a voracious reader) including :

• awareness of state and federal employment issues and possible social program enhancements
• awareness of emerging employment trends
• a working knowledge of current events (helps for interview questions - you have to know what is happening in the world to converse fluently about current events, especially small talk)
• a mental distraction from emotional distress
• awareness of mass hiring as a result of economic changes
• emerging trends (such as shipt and Uber, etc...)

But, on a more MACRO sense unreated to unemployment/financial crisis... I can't disagree with Ferriss more than I do with regard to his concept of a low information diet. What he titles "selective ignorance" I'd title ignorance. Here's a great counterpoint to his opinion : Science Confirms Why a Low-Information Diet Is Bad for You

I normally don’t follow the news. I am now though because things are changing so fast.

As businesses adjust or go out of businesses, I want to know.

I’d like to go where the puck is going, but it’s hard to tell where it’s going at the moment!

Are planes flying yet? Did the government just push “domestic tourism” in that news segment?

When are pubs open again? Oh wow, did they just say pubs have to serve food as well as drink if they’re to open in the next phase?

When are hair and beauty salons opening?

What are businesses scrambling to do to get open sooner? How can I help?

What’s the general population thinking? Did the government just announce a new subsidy or change to a subsidy? Will people rush to Google to figure out what that meant to them? What will they search for? What will they find? Will it help or confuse them?

Did that bank just announce they’ll extend the mortgage payment holiday for another three months? How many are taking that up? If/when those people still in jobs become confident they‘ll still have a job, then what will they do with the money they’re saving because they haven’t paid their mortgage for a few months?

Did that government “Trading Online Voucher” grant for small businesses just get suspended due to over-subscription and backlogs? What will businesses do now to get trading online? Can I help?

What’s the national news telling millions of people? How will they react? Where is the money flowing now? Can I get it to flow my clients’ businesses?

Etc.

 

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[Andy Black]

Relevant for people looking to get a job:

View: https://youtu.be/O1Je-eLltEc




Originally posted here:

HOT! - 10+ Years IT Contracting at €300-900/day (Learnings)

I was an IT contractor for over 10 years, earning €300-600/day (with the occasional €900/day short-term gigs). I've had a few AdWords jobs and contracts since 2009 (and am currently still in one long running one). In that time, I've learnt how to: Build relationships with recruitment agents...

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[Andy Black]

A breakdown of a CV:

View: https://youtu.be/maRVWivT4dI

 

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