Dinner&Diatribes
Junior Member
- Sep 30, 2019
- 151
- 171
Woke up this morning to a text from my boss saying there's an important all-hands meeting we had to join, we're all WFH and have been since March, and my immediate thought was they're laying all of us off.
Sure enough, my boss said they're dissolving my ENTIRE division due to COVID at the end of August. Crazy stuff.
I'm honestly not too worried, funnily enough, this is actually the second time this company has laid me off personally (that's another story), and my wife's job is rock solid as she works in insurance and her company's business has gone through the roof due to people wanting to keep their health insurance after being let go (COBRA), we've got a lot of money saved up, and I'm getting a decent amount of money in from my Amazon niche journey which you can read here: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/journey-to-1-000-per-month-amazon-affiliate-niche-sites.1166435/.
It's still pretty jarring, though, as I saw myself working there for many, many years.
WARNING: Rant ahead as I try to process things (the TL;DR version is below):
Anyway, I'm still processing things, and I'm leaning toward looking for another SEO job in the area when the severance kicks in. Sure, I could very easily work my ass off and get a bunch of freelance gigs that could pay the way, but during this time of working from home it's really taught me something...I'm a social animal. Through and through. After the initial feeling of excitement subsided at the prospect of working from home, nearly 5 months in and I'm missing human interaction with people. I always had dreams of being able to work from home, but now that I've been doing it I'm realizing it's sort of lost its luster.
I was more in love with the idea of working somewhere with my laptop on a beach drinking a margarita when in all reality I could simply take a vacation there and enjoy it full-force with my wife, not fumbling with a laptop in the sand keeping clients happy. Plus, I have a feeling the initial excitement of working on the beach will inevitably become...mundane. Sure, a day job can become that way - absolutely, but in my experience working in this industry, building relationships with people is definitely more meaningful than the work itself and can help stave off that mundane feeling.
And, in all reality, I think we all eventually fall into the rhythm of work each day, so perhaps it's better the Devil I know versus the one I don't - which brings me to my next point: if I used this time to build up work as a freelancer and attempt to "go at it on my own", this is new territory that I'm not entirely sure I want to bring my wife into. It sounds fun & exciting, but, again, I may ultimately end up making a lot more money but the cost could be less relationships built due to me being at home all the time, and, of course, Uncle Sam will undoubtedly rape me silly. Taxes have been annoying for me having run a side business for a few years, and unless I spend what I earn on the business itself I end up owing an ungodly amount at the end of the year. With a day job, it at least staves my worries about taxes.
Plus healthcare is usually great in my experience with this industry. Anyway, all that being said, I am leaning toward getting another job in the industry that hopefully isn't making everyone WFH so I can actually meet and socialize with people, and continue working on my side gig (i.e. the Amazon niche sites) as the overall upkeep is minimal each month and, since I know what I'm doing, the long-term gain from it is astronomical (unless Amazon rapes us again - hoping that doesn't happen anytime soon). This makes the most sense for me and my wife, and I think this'll be the way I'm gonna move forward. Plus, honestly, fam, I'm lazy AF. I'll admit that, my tendency is to go for the easier route. I can work my ass off as I did for 3 months building up my Amazon niche sites, but I don't know if I trust myself to be fully 100% self-sufficient financially.
It's a scary prospect, maybe I could do it at some point but, as I mentioned, I like being around people and what better place than a day job? Even if I made a shit ton of money passively, what would I do with my time if I didn't have to work? Probably what I did during the height of COVID: gaming & Netflix. I definitely got closer with my wife during that time, but Jesus when I think back on it I was so goddamn lazy. Better for me to be a part of something bigger than my selfish-self than for me to be a branch that's cut off from the root or a fallen leaf that blows wherever the wind takes it...
TL;DR: I got laid off, and rather than take up the mantle of "working on my owns terms" (i.e. freelancing, building up more assets, etc.), I'm going to take the simpler, more practical route (for me) of looking for another job in the industry while itching my entrepreneurial scratch with my Amazon niche journey linked above. This makes the most sense to me for right now where I'm at, so I think that's what I'm gonna do. Still have a couple of months before I get laid off so I have a lot of time to think and process, but this is what my gut's telling me makes the most sense.
Obviously, there's the risk that I don't find any job, which, in that case, we have a lot of money saved up that we can live on + my wife's job isn't going anywhere and it helps we don't own a house, have kids, or really spend a lot anyway. Our vice is going out to eat, that's where most of our disposable income goes - now we've got a great excuse to stop buying takeout and just eat what we have in the fridge!
If I can't find anything, maybe then I'll have no choice but to dive headfirst into freelancing because I sure as hell am not flipping burgers I'll tell you that much. I'm in marketing for the long-haul, my friends, no minimum wage job formed against me shall prosper, saith the Lord!
Sure enough, my boss said they're dissolving my ENTIRE division due to COVID at the end of August. Crazy stuff.
I'm honestly not too worried, funnily enough, this is actually the second time this company has laid me off personally (that's another story), and my wife's job is rock solid as she works in insurance and her company's business has gone through the roof due to people wanting to keep their health insurance after being let go (COBRA), we've got a lot of money saved up, and I'm getting a decent amount of money in from my Amazon niche journey which you can read here: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/journey-to-1-000-per-month-amazon-affiliate-niche-sites.1166435/.
It's still pretty jarring, though, as I saw myself working there for many, many years.
WARNING: Rant ahead as I try to process things (the TL;DR version is below):
Anyway, I'm still processing things, and I'm leaning toward looking for another SEO job in the area when the severance kicks in. Sure, I could very easily work my ass off and get a bunch of freelance gigs that could pay the way, but during this time of working from home it's really taught me something...I'm a social animal. Through and through. After the initial feeling of excitement subsided at the prospect of working from home, nearly 5 months in and I'm missing human interaction with people. I always had dreams of being able to work from home, but now that I've been doing it I'm realizing it's sort of lost its luster.
I was more in love with the idea of working somewhere with my laptop on a beach drinking a margarita when in all reality I could simply take a vacation there and enjoy it full-force with my wife, not fumbling with a laptop in the sand keeping clients happy. Plus, I have a feeling the initial excitement of working on the beach will inevitably become...mundane. Sure, a day job can become that way - absolutely, but in my experience working in this industry, building relationships with people is definitely more meaningful than the work itself and can help stave off that mundane feeling.
And, in all reality, I think we all eventually fall into the rhythm of work each day, so perhaps it's better the Devil I know versus the one I don't - which brings me to my next point: if I used this time to build up work as a freelancer and attempt to "go at it on my own", this is new territory that I'm not entirely sure I want to bring my wife into. It sounds fun & exciting, but, again, I may ultimately end up making a lot more money but the cost could be less relationships built due to me being at home all the time, and, of course, Uncle Sam will undoubtedly rape me silly. Taxes have been annoying for me having run a side business for a few years, and unless I spend what I earn on the business itself I end up owing an ungodly amount at the end of the year. With a day job, it at least staves my worries about taxes.
Plus healthcare is usually great in my experience with this industry. Anyway, all that being said, I am leaning toward getting another job in the industry that hopefully isn't making everyone WFH so I can actually meet and socialize with people, and continue working on my side gig (i.e. the Amazon niche sites) as the overall upkeep is minimal each month and, since I know what I'm doing, the long-term gain from it is astronomical (unless Amazon rapes us again - hoping that doesn't happen anytime soon). This makes the most sense for me and my wife, and I think this'll be the way I'm gonna move forward. Plus, honestly, fam, I'm lazy AF. I'll admit that, my tendency is to go for the easier route. I can work my ass off as I did for 3 months building up my Amazon niche sites, but I don't know if I trust myself to be fully 100% self-sufficient financially.
It's a scary prospect, maybe I could do it at some point but, as I mentioned, I like being around people and what better place than a day job? Even if I made a shit ton of money passively, what would I do with my time if I didn't have to work? Probably what I did during the height of COVID: gaming & Netflix. I definitely got closer with my wife during that time, but Jesus when I think back on it I was so goddamn lazy. Better for me to be a part of something bigger than my selfish-self than for me to be a branch that's cut off from the root or a fallen leaf that blows wherever the wind takes it...
TL;DR: I got laid off, and rather than take up the mantle of "working on my owns terms" (i.e. freelancing, building up more assets, etc.), I'm going to take the simpler, more practical route (for me) of looking for another job in the industry while itching my entrepreneurial scratch with my Amazon niche journey linked above. This makes the most sense to me for right now where I'm at, so I think that's what I'm gonna do. Still have a couple of months before I get laid off so I have a lot of time to think and process, but this is what my gut's telling me makes the most sense.
Obviously, there's the risk that I don't find any job, which, in that case, we have a lot of money saved up that we can live on + my wife's job isn't going anywhere and it helps we don't own a house, have kids, or really spend a lot anyway. Our vice is going out to eat, that's where most of our disposable income goes - now we've got a great excuse to stop buying takeout and just eat what we have in the fridge!
If I can't find anything, maybe then I'll have no choice but to dive headfirst into freelancing because I sure as hell am not flipping burgers I'll tell you that much. I'm in marketing for the long-haul, my friends, no minimum wage job formed against me shall prosper, saith the Lord!
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