The Summer* of Discontent is upon us and the global recession has already started to bite.
Definition of a recession
- A recession is a significant decline in economic activity that lasts for months or even years. Recessions are considered an unavoidable part of the business cycle – or the regular cadence of expansion and contraction that occurs in a nation’s economy. During a recession, the economy struggles, people lose work, companies make fewer sales and the country’s overall economic output declines. Source: Forbes
We’re all having to tighten our belts because of the rising costs of living: food, gas, electricity, water, petrol, in fact just about everything is increasing in price, and this situation is not going to go away any time soon.
It’s no wonder then that so many people are already worrying about how they’re going to pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads, but I ask you to consider for a moment:
“Who, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?” Source: The Bible, Matthew 6:27
Instead of wasting valuable time worrying, which will only make you feel worse and probably won’t achieve anything tangible that WILL pay the bills and keep a roof over your head, here are
4 common-sense tips to prepare for a recession
1 Get your finances in order, and establish
- What are your basic monthly living expenses, e.g., food, shelter, health insurance, transport, childcare?
- How much cash can you get your hands on quickly, if needed?
- How much debt do you currently have?
- Do you have any major events coming up that require significant expenses, e.g., weddings, a baby, retirement, health issues?
2 Focus on what needs to be paid first
- Make sure you pay your rent or mortgage on time, and in full. You don’t want to add becoiming homeless to the situation
- If you need your car to get to work, pay your car payments in full
- Make your minimum payment on your credit card(s), or contact your payment provider to discuss other options, e.g., lowering interest rates or taking a payment holiday
3 Build your emergency fund in advance
- If your job income reduces or dries up, you’ll need everything you can save now before that happens
- Give up all the extras, e.g., take-aways, delivery, etc., and put the money you would have spent into your emergency fund
4 Consider your career opportunities
- You need a back-up plan in case you get laid off
- Update your CV, and look for how your could expand your skill set to make you a more valuable employee in your current position or as a prospect elsewhere
- Create an extra stream of income – start a part-time business on the side which could build emergency savings while you’re still employed, and/or could become your full-time income if needed
How you could earn more money
You might be thinking about getting a job, or even a second job, to help pay the bills, just to put bread on the table and keep a roof over your family’s head.
Just stand back and take a moment to think about how that will actually pan out.
When you work for someone else:
- You have to do it their way!
- You have to be in work between certain hours which could stop you being available for your family
- Your salary is set in stone and you can’t ask for more hours or earn any more than your boss is willing, or able, to provide
When you work for yourself:
- You choose when to work, and when not to, so that you can be around for your family
- You have control over how many hours/days to work so that you can create the income you need
More and more women are starting their own business
Why? This article in Forbes suggests:
- to have more flexibility
- to charge what they’re worth
- to have more control
- to advance more quickly
- to follow their passion
Why I started my own business
For me personally, it was the realisation that I am simply un-employable.
I’m a night owl so having to be in the office for 9 am meant that I had to go to bed early, which meant that I didn’t sleep because I was wide awake, which meant that my employers were paying me to be there physically whilst, in reality, no-one got any sense or value out of me before 10 am.
The whole idea of regulated working hours is a completely stupid notion that assumes we’re all the same. That assumption, in itself, drives me up the wall.
- Now, I get up when I’m good and ready, I go to sleep when I feel like it, even if that’s in the afternoon, and I work when it suits me.
Also I can’t stand being told what to do, especially by people who had no idea how to do my job and should never, ever have been promoted to a managerial position. These people expected me to respect them, due to their rank. Respect is not a right. Respect has to be earned. When I started asking, “Which moron promoted that moron?” I knew it was time to think carefully about how I could put bread on the table without the risk of being whisked off to prison for punching someone’s lights out.
I finally realised that I was working really hard yet getting paid the same amount as an alarmingly large number of people who simply turned up for work and did Sweet Fanny Adams***. I was encouraged to put in for promotion on several occasions but the idea of having to attend meetings with these numpties, and know they were never going to implement any of their action points anyway, stopped me in my tracks.
- Promotion, advancement, etc. have no allure for me
- Now, I simply charge what I’m worth
I didn’t think much about ‘following my passion’ back then.
Frankly, my only ‘passion’ was to get out of corporate prison-land and have total control over what I did, when I worked, who I worked with, and how much I wanted to earn.
I tried direct selling on a part-time basis, alongside the J. O. B**., but I quickly discovered that building a team didn’t suit my personality at all. I’m a total introvert and the very idea of a so-called prize/reward of having to spend a weekend or more cooped up with a bunch of extroverted women put me right off my cornflakes.
But what that experience did teach me was how to help women choose make-up colours using the simple concept of Cool vs. Warm.
It suited my personality for teaching, rather than selling, and for working with intelligent women who wanted to improve themselves.
My customers loved it, and wanted to know more. This inspired the eternal student in me to go in search of how I could help them with seasonal, and later tonal, colour analysis.
- So, it was only through the process of needing to leave my J.O.B. in corporate prison-land, of wanting total freedom, and the flexibility to do things my way, and to charge what I’m worth, that I discovered my passion for colour
I was able to combine my love of learning, teaching, and writing with my passion for colour and created my own business, Improvability****.
- Over the past 40+ years, I have helped thousands of personal and corporate clients to choose the best colours, styles, shapes, etc. so that they can look fabulous and feel confident on every occasion
- For almost 20 years, my franchise-free online training courses have been teaching thousands more across the globe how to become a colour/style consultant and build their own independent business
Learning colour analysis 40+ years ago gave me a skill for life
- Whenever I need money for bills, holidays, donations, treats, etc., I have an easy, immediate, and incredibly fulfilling way to do that
- There’s no other beggar interfering, telling me what I can and can’t do, or when!
- Learning colour analysis all those years ago gave me total freedom and flexibility to run my life my way – every day
When YOU learn colour analysis
- You are investing in a skill for life
- You control what you do with what you learn because I practise what I preach
- All my training courses are franchise free – choose the bits you like and ditch the rest
- You could be earning in just a few short weeks
- Flossie studied my Colour Analysis Training in a Box course and had her first full-paying colour analysis client within 3 weeks
- You are creating an abundant future for you and your family
- You don’t have to do this on your own
- You get 6 months’ personal email support from me
- plus lifetime membership of a global community for help and encouragement
- You are in control of your own life
- You don’t have to rely on an employer, bank manager, friends, or family to bail you out when the bills start to spiral
- You will always have a way to make extra money – part or full time – whenever you need it
Of course, you could always just look for a job…
Notes
* (obviously, in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll be experiencing a Winter of Discontent and, no, I won’t be quoting The Bard today… but very soon!)
** J. O. B. = just over broke!
*** Sweet Fanny Adams. Used to express total downtime or inaction, the military, manual-trade and locker room talk phrase ‘sweet Fanny Adams’ has been in use since at least the mid-20th century, vying with a stronger expletive. Unusually, the phrase is not a bowdlerisation; ‘Fanny Adams’ arrived in 1860s naval slang to describe the new tinned meat which was of dubious provenance. It broadened to mean anything badly substandard, then further so as to merge with the expletive sharing its initial letters to mean nothing at all. The phrase also appears today as ‘sweet F.A.’
****Improvability – sometimes I wish I’d come up with something easier to type, but the concept means that you have the ability to improve every aspect of your life, so Just Flippin’ Do It!
