Let’s discuss what to do when you can’t find a job. .
Probably one of the scariest things to face in life is being unemployed and unable to find a job. The bills keep piling up and life continues all around you as you sink deeper and deeper into debt, despair and possibly depression.
I think one of the things to consider is what age and stage you are in your life. A person in their 20s will have a different outlook and options than someone aged 50, married with a couple of kids a wife and mortgage.
At retirement age, where I am at, things change again. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to keep busy or not earn an income.
A couple of years ago I found myself out of work and virtually unemployable. I felt I could contribute but because I have psoriatic arthritis with dodgy joints employers were reluctant to take me on.
Life sucks but it is what it is and no good crying over it.
You have to adapt and make the best of whatever your situation is.
Jump to …
Reduce Your Monthly Expenses – it’s the small things that drag you down.
One of the biggest traps I learned to stay away from was signing up for small monthly expenses.
How many times have you heard a salesman say “It’s less than the price of a cup of coffee per day”?
Most times it is but it’s a cup of coffee per day forever! That can add up and 10 “small” monthly commitments soon become huge – especially when no money is coming in.
Ask yourself if you really need that magazine or newspaper subscription right now? Could you go down to the library and spend sometime reading the papers or magazines they supply for free?
(I trust the only reason you are reading the paper/magazines is to scan job vacancies …)
Are your subscriptions that important at this time? Go through each one and decide which ones you can live without.
Can you save on your phone contract, your car repayments, do you really have to have that gym membership?
Where you have contracts that cannot be broken ask your supplier to come up with something more affordable – they don’t want to lose you and they certainly don’t want to take you to court. Talk to them – explain your situation and ask if they can help.
Cut Out Luxuries (it’s only for a short while)
Just for a while cut out your weekly game of golf, movie or dinner date with your spouse (you’re in this together right?).
Let the children know that things are a bit tight at the moment and you need their co-operation, that with their support things will soon be back to normal.
Sodas, ice-creams and trips to the zoo may be out but a walk along the beach or out in the country every day is on!
You may even get to know your children better by spending quality time with them.
I’ll never forget when we left South Africa for New Zealand my, then 12 year old son, gave me a Mercedes key ring and said to me “Not to worry dad – you’ll soon have another Merc.” It meant so much to me that my son cared for me and knew that I was very nervous to emigrate, yet believed in me.
The faith he had in me was purely because we had spent quality time together often. Trout fishing was our big “boys” time.
When we got to New Zealand it was easy to confide in the children that things were different and they understood perfectly well why we needed to tighten our belts.
Luxuries are great but doing without for a while teaches us a bit of humility too.
Do Something No-one Else Wants To (you may find your dream job)
There are often jobs out there that no-one else wants to do for one reason or another.
When comes time to pay the bills, keep your family fed and the wolves from the door pride should leave through the back door.
I have a friend who, at aged 35, found himself out of work with 2 young kids to feed and an uncomfortable mortgage to pay.
His problem was that he was a technical salesman with no formal training other than normal school.
Although he has proved he is an excellent manager at that point in his life no-one would consider him in that type of roll and there were no sales openings.
What was he to do?
He saw a job advertised in the building industry, delivering and collecting “essential” services to building contractors. The whole advert was very ambiguous and he soon found out why – it was to deliver and collect portable toilets to building sites. The toilets were for the use by the building contractors during construction. The job entailed dropping off toilets to new sites and collecting and replacing them periodically during and after completion of the project.
Not too proud to feed his family Richard took on the job and found he actually enjoyed the camaraderie of the builders and hence the job. As he says “there was no stress – you got paid for the hours you worked and toilets you delivered and collected”.
The company needed more drivers to deliver and collect but couldn’t find anyone willing to do the “dirty” work.
According to Richard the job was pretty clean as the “portaloos” were high tech, sealed and used all the correct chemicals to keep the lid on things (so to speak). Only occasionally did he have the odd accident … shit happens?
Being the salesman he was he decided to push his luck and suggested to his boss that he could do the job of two drivers but wanted to renegotiate his salary package. Under pressure for more drivers his boss was open to the idea of a slightly higher hourly rate and a commission for each delivery or collection. But only on condition that Richard could get things done to a schedule.
Richard worked harder for a few extra hours every day and earned 3 times what he had been.
Suddenly this shitty job became very lucrative and he saw huge potential in the business.
What did he do about it?
Bought his boss out of course. The boss was only too happy to step aside and go into retirement and Richard went on to grow the business into a multi-million dollar one, with expansion into other industries.
Not bad for a guy who didn’t know what to do when he was out of work and the outlook looked bleak.
Richard could manage any business now – without formal management training.
Use Your Spare Time To Learn a New Skill
Richard may be an exception to the rule but he did prove that with determination and enough hunger you can get things done.
The thing you might well find is that you have time on your hands. After all you can only check the papers and the Internet for jobs so many times a day and if your resume is out there with employers and employment agencies what are you to do with any spare time?
Sure you can go knocking on doors (and that is an excellent idea) to increase your chances. It can be disheartening but when the going gets tough the tough keep going.
But I want to talk about learning a new skill – a particular skill which is what this site is all about.
A skill where no previous experience is required anyone can learn it.
A skill that could ultimately lead to a sustainable and lucrative business with accompanying lifestyle.
And what’s more it is a lot of fun!
I’m talking about Internet Affiliate Marketing – what I did when I found I couldn’t find a job.
Internet Affiliate Marketing (IAM) will NOT generate an income in the short term but it will eventually, and will continue to do so even after you have found another job.
This is the real attraction of IAM – in that the work you put in today will pay you over and over again through the coming years.
Let me explain in a bit more detail …
Internet Affiliate Marketing is helping other people find a solution to their problem or a way to provide them with what they are after.
You get paid for solving that problem or filling the need.
For example you are reading this because you have a problem trying to find what to do when you can’t find a job and I am trying to help you overcome that problem. If I succeed in providing you with a solution to your problem wouldn’t that be great?
And guess what – you are not the only one with this exact or similar problem. So this article that you are reading, that I have written once, could be read by hundreds of people. Some I can help find a solution while for others they may have to go elsewhere.
To give you some sort of idea as to how many people might possibly read a particular article on the Internet let me give you an easy example to follow.
Let’s take weight loss and dieting – EVERGREEN niches as there are always people wanting to lose weight. Let’s take a typical keyword phrase someone wanting to lose weight might search for in Google.
How does “I need to Lose weight fast” sound?
This is a very common problem and according to Jaaxy this exact phrase is searched on Google no less than 333 times a month. In affiliate marketing terms that is a lot of searches and a good keyword to target (write and article about) and provide a solution to.
If those people are shown how they can lose weight fast they would be more than happy to buy a program that will help them achieve their goal fast. The program that is recommended could be via an affiliate marketer who gets a small commission for the introduction.
Still sounds a bit vague to you?
I’ll bet it does so let me give you a couple of real life situations that you can easily relate to.
Real Life Situation #1
Have you ever had a service provider offer you a free months’ subscription/viewing for each friend you refer?
And what’s more the friend gets the first month free too.
Welcome to Affiliate Marketing!
Your service provider get’s a new customer =a win for the Service Provider.
You get a month’s free subscription = a win for you.
Your friend gets the service he wanted with the first month’s fee waived = a win for your friend.
Real Life Situation #2
Have you ever turned to Google and done a search looking for something specific and then bought it?
If so chances are you landed up on an affiliate marketer’s website where you found what you were looking for – say a blender or camera, and then clicked through to the vendor’s site (possibly Amazon as an example) where you bought the product.
In that case the site owner (affiliate) gets paid a commission from the vendor (Amazon in our example) as a “Thank-you” for sending the customer to their store.
Welcome to Interent Affiliate Marketing!
Exactly the same except it is done over the Internet.
Simple and effective for all parties concerned.
A win/win/win situation …
But Lawrence I Have NO Idea How to Build a Website – Let Alone Any of The Other Stuff.
No problem …
I felt the same when I heard about having to build a website – I nearly stopped there and then because I thought it costs thousands of dollars to get a website.
And of course when no money is coming in because you are unemployed the idea sounds even more preposterous?
But read on.
Building a website is really not that difficult and you do not need to learn how to code. In fact it is a lot of fun!
Over the past 10 years I have built a lot of websites and I still have no idea about coding – I don’t need to know coding and nor do you.
The most commonly used website building platform today is WordPress (this site is built using a WordPress Theme) and if you can use FaceBook you will be able to build a site. It really is that easy. For now don’t worry about it as I will show you how.
In fact let me show you right now.
To see how easy it is click the link below for a live demo of a website being built in under 2 minutes.
Click Here to view the website building video – scroll down to about half way down the page for the video (if you would prefer not to read the introduction).
Okay now for the “other stuff” – that’s not so easy, primarily because the real work has to come from you. Again I can show you how but knowledge without application is worthless.
If hard work doesn’t scare you then read on …
So where does one get the knowledge and learn how to apply it?
Read my top recommendation for the best affiliate marketing training on the planet by clicking here.
In that recommendation I cover the training and support you will receive from Wealthy Affiliate and how you can get started for FREE!
Yes free – no strings attached – try it out and get started without having to commit yourself in any way.
A quick summary.
Wealthy Affiliate Training
WA has three methods of training for it’s members.
1. The official site training modules are step-by-step training modules created by the founding owners, Kyle and Carson.
These training modules are broken down into easy manageable sections and include both written and video instructions where you get to see what is done in a “live view” mode. This is fantastic if you are a visual learner like me.
Each lesson concludes with tasks your are required to do, in your own time, before proceeding to the next lesson. These tasks are all based on the lesson you are currently on – thereby giving you real practical experience.
Lessons are all recorded ad available to refer back to at any time.
2. Weekly live training.
Each week on Fridays at 5.00 PM (Canadian time) there is a live inter-active webinar lesson that covers a specific topic related to Affiliate marketing. This can be anything from site design, SEO training, content writing to the creation of a live website from the ground up through to actual sales generation. The live training is conducted by WA’s in-house official trainer Jay Neill and are extremely popular.
The live training is also recorded and available to view at any time in the future – no problem if you miss one, you can view it at your leisure whenever you choose.
3. Training From Members themselves.
With so many members operating in such a diverse range of marketing strategies members are encouraged to create their own training when they come across something that they believe will benefit the community as a whole. This can be a new strategy or angle, greater in-depth information about effective ways to use a certain product (such as a particular plug-in or WordPress theme), or how to overcome common problems that you might encounter.
All member training is available to refer to at any time and is easily accessible through the search facility. Type in your query and you can bet your bottom dollar the subject has been covered.
The WA Tools.
All the training in the world will be of little use if you don’t have the tools to implement the skills you’ve learned.
Wealthy Affiliate provides you with everything you need at no extra cost.
- Domain purchase and registration. You can use a free domain or purchase your own (far better) for between $14 and $16.00 per year.
- Domain Hosting. Once you have a domain name you need to have it hosted somewhere. WA will host up to 50 websites for you all included in your monthly subscription of $49.00. Free members get two websites hosted for free.
- Website builder. As simple as click and drag with all the essential plug-ins pre-installed. You will get to learn what plug-ins are, what they do and how they improve your site’s performance.
- Keyword Research tool. The most comprehensive keyword research tool available. Jaaxy keyword research tool is extremely powerful. You will use to decide on what keywords have the least most searches with the least competition to get your site ranked quickly in Google.
- Website Comments and Feedback. Within WA comments and feedback are a valuable way of getting constructive criticism from other members, specifically marketers who are successful.
- Custom Business email address. A business carries more credibility with a business email address. Simply put “Admin@yourwebsite.com” sounds much better than “LawrenceB@Gmail.com”.
Wealthy Affiliate Support.
More good news is that you are not going to be left to swim or drown on your own – there is a ton of support available in the following forms:
- Live Chat – Available 24/7. This is a very interactive discussion that is constantly going on. Ask a question on live chat for an instant response from other members. Note that at times there may not be someone within live chat at that precise moment who can help you but there are other avenues.
- Site Support – Available 24/7. Once again WA have come up with world-class site support that are there to answer or solve any technical issues on your website.
- Community Help. Use either the “Ask a Question” option or the search bar to find answers or solutions. At WA there will always be someone online who can help and if not …
- Private Message. Send your request by private message to a member whom you know to be knowledgeable on the topic. This may take a bit longer to get a response to as all members are running their own businesses ad could be very busy.
- Access to Kyle and Carson, the owners. With thousands of messages to contend with you may have to wait several days to get a response from either of these two very busy gentlemen. They have hundreds of thousands of members to satisfy and answering personal messages is only one of their many functions. I would strongly suggest using the search bar first.
- My Personal Support. I am more than happy to be your mentor and guide you to your personal online success. Please feel free to reach out and I promise to get back to you as soon as I can.
Conclusion
I sincerely hope this post has helped with suggestions of what to do when you can’t find a job.
I realize it is heavily biased towards the end there in looking at affiliate marketing (in your spare time at least) and make no apologies for this. It won’t make you any money in the short term but the long term possibilities of a sustainable income are endless.
The initial stages of internet affiliate marketing are unrewarding and require dedicated application but once your site starts performing (and it will) the growth in income can be exponential. And what’s more when and if you go back to work your website continues to work for you. Those questions (keywords) will always be asked and your website is always there offering a solution 24/7.
I think that taking a look at it will give you some food for thought. Remember it costs nothing to take a look.
You can read more about it by clicking here.
I’d love to know what your thoughts are on these ideas to help you during that awful period of unemployment – let me know in the comments below.