There’s Nothing Better Than A Layoff To Ask Yourself, “Do I Really Need THAT Old Job?”

It was never my fault. It was always the budget. Still, suddenly, BAM! Layoff, and bye, Art.

It was worse when I had to be told to lay off my staff, and then I got the axe.

That got so old...

And me just getting older.

It happened again and again.

I was done with it!

I never wanted to go through that kind of experience anymore.

????, ?? ???????? ??????????????????????...more specifically, I aimed to become ????????????????-??????????????????????. This meant I did not want to be geographically stuck to a job just because that was the only way to procure and keep it.

The Last Layoff Only Opens The Floodgates You Must First Build

I began dabbling in the possibilities of doing only work remotely from home ever since the Dot-com Recession of the year 2000. That’s more than 20 years ago.

When I barely managed to keep my career at that terrible juncture in time in Silicon Valley, unlike the half million people there who suffered the blood bath and had to leave The Valley after losing both theirs jobs and then their homes, I was determined not to have to pay that kind of price for being always location-dependent for my sustenance.

I started to subcontract.

I began to travel.

I demanded recognition that, as an independent subject matter expert, I required to telecommute now that technology allowed knowledge work to be done from a distance with no significant trade-offs for the client to experience.

These terms weren’t even well understood at the time.

But I persisted by proving the client lost nothing and saved a bundle.

And then, I started to do the very same from abroad.

It got ??????????????????????…even for my clients.

Yeah, you have to learn to pivot, sometimes reinvent yourself.

The market changes too for consultants, freelancers, and small online business owners.

But life gets comfortable when you adapt.

You develop a ????????????. And this is yet another reason why I called my business practice Snap-in-Place Marketing SYSTEMS.

It's All In The System You Use

Systems simplify service supply.

Too many companies, meaning, teams of people, ???????? to keep things complex.

It really fills their goad. It makes them feel important and safe.

Complexity is their safety blanket in the shape of a monstruos, impermeable wall that they alone have the key to make it through the gate that they’ve created.

This is how they defend their internal corporate interests. It’s what keeps corporate fiefdoms in place, through the control of budget, technology, rules and – what else? – complex systems.

This type of defensiveness overcomplicates matters for those teams.

It elevates costs unnecessarily, creating lots of "fatty layers" that make companies slow and noncompetitive – ideal conditions for mass layoffs, simply because the culture of working together rather than against each other never took root.

But part of corporate culture is this ???????????? for misery, for the grind – the grinding of teeth! – for which complexity in systems is a requirement to defend entrenched interests and positional security by those in control of the keys to each fiefdom.

For now, suffice it to be said that living remote from all that – a truly ????????????????-?????????????????????? ?????????????????? – has enormous benefits.

The Benefits of Avoiding Corporate Culture Because of Distance

One of these benefits is that I get work from ????????????????, meaning I don't let geography or corporate cultures limit me.

Oh, I know. There are fears.

? Losing touch with loved ones nearby...

? Struggles with a new language or society...

? Worries about new location safety and fit...

That’s the adventure part of location-independent living!

But if I could briefly address two fears holding most people back after a layoff, they are their ?????????????????? and ???????????????????? concerns.

Can I afford to move domestically elsewhere or abroad, and will I find employment at or from my new location to be secure?

?? The answer is ???????? ?????? ???????????? ???????? ???? ???????

Because others have done it and keep doing it. This means it is ????????????????. The real issue is whether it’s optimal and a priority for you?

How Did I Become So Confident?

I got into this lifestyle while engaged in yet another bout with unemployment, ?????????? pouring my blood and sweat as a sacred libation onto the altar of a terrible employer for too long.

And consider: ?I loved my manager there!

We had the most dynamic and productive work relationship imaginable.

But her manager was a complete loser. An entirely political animal who had nothing but self-preservation constantly as his whole purpose for existing inside that corporation.

He was fiendish and entrenched.

There was no way to overcome his selfishness and immorality. This is what I call being “unequally yoked”.

There simply was no way to triumph over that kind of obstacle in doing our work without outright having to undermine the man.

When he suddenly reorganized his department and split us only to hire someone just as devoid of ethics as himself to run our unit, rather than advance both my manager and me after years of incredible performance, which had impressed even our CIO, who then attempted to recruit me away from this VP that blocked my ascent to a senior management post under that CIO, I was done with corporate life!

I’d spent 4 years in that ascent and that was 2 years too many for what I got in the end because of political shenanigans.

So I told myself, "Enough idol worship! I'm shackled to fear!"

And then I made my move.

I became independent when the layoff came because I had been getting ready for that transition.

I did it when I was near burnout, though.

That was a mistake I’ll discuss in another edition of “Revenue Like Clockwork”.

But still my conviction was absolute, which is the first requirement you must meet yourself if you wish to become independent.

You Want Independence, Don’t You?

Or do you still think you need that old job that dumped you like an old rag...again?

If you’re interested in becoming a freelancing ??????????, digital nomad, independent remote worker, ???????????? ???????? ???? ?? ????????, ?????? ????, ??????'?? ??????????????.

? What attracts you to the expat lifestyle?

? How far along are you in your migration journey?

? Do you already have a plan?