Keep Calm and Carry on, NO WAY!

Take yourself out of your comfort Zone! Tips for Success in this Market

I have personally been through 2 media recessions and the business through 3; 1991/2, 2002-3, 2008. The first recession in 1991 was primarily caused by high-interest rates, falling house prices and an overvalued exchange rate. Membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (1990-1992) was a key factor in keeping interest rates higher than desirable so when we tumbled out because the Europeans did not buy our currency as agreed, we actually benefited in the long run. 2003, when the majority of publishers, in their wisdom thought digital wasn't going to make money thus closed or cut most digital sales teams, times, Telegraph (though the Mail did keep ANM media) . IPC (now Future publishing) electronic got rid of over 100 staff, leaving one. Emap's digital div. (now Bauer but 5 times the size) got rid of the whole division. Good news for Julian Miall (legend) at ad2one, who made a fortune selling their digital ads :). Finally the 2008 Financial Crisis.. everyone knows what happened there. Got to love a Subprime mortgage company (U.S) who started it all, such an innocent name, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Across all these recessions, the top people, those who treated looking for a job like a job almost always got employed. There were financial compromises made, taking a lesser salary but… in all these cases there was a bounce back. My advice is; Don’t sit in your garden or watch Netflix, rework your CV, try and think of new business ideas and back yourself to succeed. Think what’s made you successful and focus on that. Some tips;

- Take a course, there are loads of free ones out there, The trade desk are offering a great one for free! Even Open university… Check out www.iabeurope.eu for some great outputs

- Speak to friends and brainstorm business ideas using Zoom, Bluejeans etc.

- Set aside min. 2 hours a day, half for new business ideas and half looking for jobs

- If you hate your job and are furloughed you could ask to be made redundant. Pocket the cash and look for a new role. Why sit and let someone else control your destiny

- Thinking of handing in your notice because you’re a high earner or just annoyed you've been furloughed and given 2500 P/M. Stop!! they are paying you to look for a job, find one then demand redundancy

-Don't assume people will remember you when they've a job, why not get in touch with contacts and tell them your current position! If people don't get back, be polite and ask for feedback

- Extra Money – If your furloughted you can work for someone else, as long as its not in breach of your contract, what a great time to try and new career

- Try and structure your day, be realistic and stick to it !! Complete daily personal KPI’s you have set, giving you a sense of achievement

- Put an update on linkedin, Volunteering your time to any business or charity that needs help for as many hours as you can spare a week

- If your stressed and becoming depressed, talk about it, do exercise and seek help. If you do nothing things will get a lot worse…. You can do it !

The below details are for Nabs who help media people in distress:

https://nabs.org.uk helpline: 08007076607