So… You’ve lost your job.. now what? I suggest saving this post as a guide, just incase.
First of all, try not to panic. You will survive and everything happens for a reason. This doesn’t make it any less sucky, but recognize that panicking & fighting against what is done will not help the situation.
The best thing to do is be pro-active. Prepare for job loss, before it even happens.
- This is obvious, but have an emergency fund of AT LEAST 3 months of expenses, so that you aren’t screwed if you can’t find a new job right away, or don’t want to.
- Write a backup plan & keep it somewhere safe, I have a Google doc. List things you can cut back on to limit your expenses as much as possible, write down other potential employers, write down things you would be willing to sell if you had to pay your rent, etc. If you have a side hustle, use this as an opportunity to kick it into gear.
- Follow through on your back up plan, start cutting expenses (ex. stop eating out, get rid of Netflix, cancel all travel, etc.), start selling items online, and update your resume & start submitting it to other businesses.
- Apply for unemployment. I know each country & state has a different site/place to go to do this. I suggest Googling what you need to do for where you live.
If you do not have an emergency fund or backup plan, start one right away. Even after you lose your job you can start brainstorming what expenses you can cut by looking at your online banking (My post on how to drastically cut your spending), you can start posting stuff for sale, you can update your resume, etc. You are not helpless, take some control back.
Most successful business people have a story of how they were laid off or fired, and used it as an opportunity to work on their own business. You could be one of those people. Again, trust that everything happens for a reason. In my post, The Power of Manifestation, I explain how I have gotten so distraught when things weren’t working out how I planned or wanted, but something bigger & better always came along afterwards. Always. It just takes time. There will come a day where you will be thankful you lost that job, whether it was your choice or not.
I know this is a shorter post, but I want to keep it simple & straightforward like usual.
Thanks for reading! I know everything will work out & you will understand why this had to happen one day.
-Meghan 🙂
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Ease Your Financial Payne 
Hi Meghan,
Glad to hear you are doing well, despite the recent difficulties.
I’m happy to hear it was not your fault and that they messed up. Even if it doesn’t look like it, many business owners are effectively “broke”. Not all of them, but many. Usually, the “flashier” they are (multi-millions home, fancy cars, brand new offices, etc.), the most “broke” they are. So, the smallest little difficulties turns into layoffs or other types of downsizing of the company.
When I say “broke”, I don’t mean they cannot have a multi-millions net worth. Usually, they still do. What I mean is they have a lot of debts, and that the company generates little to no profits. So, essentially, the bank – or high risk lenders – effectively “owns” the company. The owners still legally “own” the business, but they manage it so they can stay “out of bankruptcy” rather than manage the business so it can thrive.
Anyway, I can’t speak about their specific situation because I don’t know it. That is just to put things into persperctive. What our eyes can see can be very different from the reality … That apply to financial situation of individuals. But it also applies for companies.
That’s also why it’s so important to work on our own financial independence and never rely on any external help for our well-being. We never completely know who we are dealing with.
If they have difficulties so they can’t keep an employee, that tells me they are in a very streched financial situation. I can’t imagine Warren Buffett letting go of his office administrator because he made a “bad investment” … if you understand what I mean …
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I have switched job regularly during my career (in accounting). Each time, it was stressful, but I also have taken the opportunities to learn a lot about investments during those small “time-off”. After a couple of time, I started to realize that my investments were generating more and more income, and that it was harder and harder to negociate higher salaries (the higher you earn, the hardest it is to get a raise). Eventually, I figured out that I could do better just with investments rather than working at a job.
So, I can’t agree more when you say that a job loss could end up being the greatest opportunity. If I did not had those little “breaks”, I would never had the time to learn more useful stuff. I was working too much (50h+) to have time for myself.
It’s reconforting knowing that you can live well with only one person working. However, you still have a lot to earn if you work another, let say, 10 or 15 years. In the end, that’s up to you and your husband to take that decision together. But, it’s nice to know that you can take your time and work on your own personal businesses during that time.
Anyway, wish you the best !
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Thank you for the encouraging words & sharing your experience! Glad to know that when you switched jobs/careers it worked out & that they “breaks” taught you a lot.
There very well could be other behind the scenes reasons they had to let me go too, like you said.
I am very grateful for the privilege to take some time away from work for the time being. I’m not sure what my next step is, it really depends how the next couple months go, then we’ll re-evaluate our situation.
Overall, I’m just here on this Earth to try to learn as much as I can & hopefully better it. 🤷🏻♀️:)
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