Today’s guest post comes from Craig Brown of Your Career Boost. Brown, an HR expert, provides expertise on what to do after you lose a job.
Finding yourself out of a job is almost always a difficult situation, especially when it happened against your wishes. It can then be all too easy to second guess your talents and capabilities. You may even find that your confidence is more than a little bruised, so it can be a challenge to move on. However, move forward, you must. And with a little tweak to your mindset, you may even realize that the world has, in fact, opened up new opportunities for you.
Indeed, you may find that this setback in your career could very well be the wake-up call that you needed to pursue something more lucrative and rewarding, such as starting your own business. There’s no dearth of entrepreneurs who have used job loss as a catalyst to striking out on their own—even successfully, at that—and if done right, you may just be on your way to joining their ranks. Let’s explore the steps you can take in this direction.
Next Steps Following a Job Loss
Determine your passion
No doubt, finding something you love and making a living out of it sounds like a dream—but, yes, it can be done. In fact, some of the most profitable businesses are built around passion. Needless to say, determining yours could very well be the best way to get you started.
Now, passion is a loaded word, and unless you have an obvious one, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what it is—and even more so, to build a business around it. For this reason, it’s more than wise to hunker down and take stock of what gets you excited, as well as ascertain if there’s demand enough for it to become a profitable venture.
Play to your strengths
Of course, equally as effective in determining what kind of business to start is considering what you’re really and truly good at. This will invariably mean taking inventory of your strengths and talents—and then digging even deeper to see how you can turn these skills into a business. In more ways than one, your experience will be quite valuable, too, and may even be something you can bank on, so you hit the ground running as you launch your business.
In addition, while there are many businesses that use skills you already have, know that it can also be worth focusing on work that you truly enjoy. After all, you now have the opportunity to take control of your life and livelihood, so choosing something that you love can be quite crucial in making it a sustainable venture for the long haul.
Keep learning
Finally, it’s one thing to pursue a passion or bank on your skills, but it’s actually another to start a business and run it successfully. There are, in fact, some very essential business skills that you need to have—or failing that, develop—in order to really create and sustain a successful venture. These include, but are not limited to leadership, communication, project management, financial management, and more.
Now, even if you find that these business skills don’t come naturally, it’s definitely encouraging to note that these are easy enough to learn and develop, as long as you put in the time and effort. Indeed, it can be worth taking courses to earn an online business degree in marketing, management and leadership, or business management, not only to learn the skills, but also to sharpen your business acumen overall.
Suffice to say, losing your job is absolutely not the end of the world. Who knows? It may just be the new lease on life that you didn’t know you needed, spurring you on to something better and greater, like your own business.
Craig Brown
Craig Brown has worked in HR for several years and has plans to launch his own recruiting agency. He thrives on helping others achieve their career dreams and started Your Career Boost to share the best job-related resources on the web.
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