Great Circle

In January 2004, I injured my back. More accurately, one final injury connected the results of all the previous injuries along with a high degree of emotional stress, and the back decided to lock up for the next two years. Two years of acute and chronic pain with severe restrictions to what I could do. Hey, it wasn’t fun, but gaining your sympathy is not the point of this story!

For much of 2004, I was unemployed. There was a few months there when I wondered if I would ever be employable again.

But I had to do something! Those of you with mortgages will understand what I mean by that. Those of you with children for whom you want to provide a certain quality of life will understand what I mean by that. Those of you who believe your life has purpose and enjoy being a contributor to the world around you … will understand what I mean by that.

So how was I going to earn $$ and have something to offer people again?

Here’s 3 of the tactics that enabled me to win that war by the middle of 2005…

1. Ask “What Can I Do?”

Every time I’d think or hear of an option that my back condition said was impossible, I’d ask that question.

“Ok. so I can’t go back to retail because I can’t carry customer’s parcels to their car or operate the registers which are always below my waist-height. So what can I do?”

Eventually I was left with a list of cans and musts:

• I can train people
• I must be able to move and change position/posture constantly
• I must have a high degree of control over my work enviornment
• Hey, I can run training courses because they fit those three criteria and I have qualifications/experience in that!
• I can coach
• I can speak on the telephone
• So I could train live and phone-coach!

Now I finally had a direction to head in, I could create new options based on that focus…

2. The “Will Do” Approach

You’ve heard of the ‘can-do’ attitude. Well, I realised that many of us also have a will-do attitude and it was only strengthened in me by that season of my life.

One week when the 29th job application landed on deaf ears, I told myself “I will send another” … and that one lead to a contact which eventually lead to a contract 12 months later.

Whenever I saw a job (ad) for which I was unqualified but which looked attractive, I told myself “I will go for that!”  One of these lead to 2 months of fulltime work over summer.

When I took on a 3-day-a-week position over 4 months which required two hours of painful commuting on crowded trains on each one of those 140 days (painful because of my back condition), I told myself each morning “I can do this and I will.” And I did.

I tried new things, I extended myself, I discovered more of what I was capable of, I positioned myself for the next break-through…

I don’t say this out of ego (I haven’t even mentioned the place of prayer in getting me through this time!). This attitude is a normal behaviour for anyone refuses to play the victim.

It does move people out of a rut and out of unemployment/underemployment… even out of a career rut.

3. When You Can’t Get a Job, Start a Business.

And this is what I worked toward. It didn’t have to be complex, it didn’t require a 53 page business plan or $200,000 bank loan.

When none of the jobs I was in and out of between July 04 and July 05 suited my needs or restrictions, it became clearer than ever that not only did I have the makings of a damn fine coaching/development service within me, it was actually the best possible option to pursue health-wise.

I chose from that point to offer my services as a contractor, not an employee. I sought clients, not a boss. Income went up, not down.

Through my local chamber of commerce, I’ve met other solo business owners with a similar story. The new mum who now offers her secretarial services to a range of businesses but does the work at home; the former regional sales manager who (when his wife walked out on him, leaving him with 3 teenage sons still in High School) quit sales and started a mortgage brokerage which got him through the tough time and is now booming as his boys move into their 20s and he has more time for business; the plumber with a bad back who refined the services he offers and now specialises in those jobs…

… These 3 principles or tactics have worked for me. They’ve also helped me coach several jobseekers (among my other clients) back into meaningful employment and lifestyle.

So whatever your battle is at the moment, what can you do, what will you do and what can you create?

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