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- Hey guys, it's Roberto.
So recently, I've been doing some videos
that a lot of you have responded to really well.
The freelancing series and being able to take some control
of your income or build a side hustle has been something
a lot of you have told me personally you appreciate.
But today's video is going to tie to that,
but it's gonna be a little bit different.
Today's video is gonna be about
what to do when you've been fired.
Lately, you've heard me focus a lot on the idea
that there isn't a such thing as job security.
As an entrepreneur,
this is something that is very much a part of my narrative
and something I'm very passionate about.
Because the reality is that,
if you get fired, all the stability and job security
that you've built your identity around goes away.
If you're fired, not only do you lose an income,
but you feel like you've been stripped of your identity.
And I want to give you some advice on how you can transition
and adjust and deal with these things
and continue to make an income,
move on possibly to the next job.
It may not be that everyone starts a business
or becomes an entrepreneur like me, that's fine.
But I also think that freelancing can be great
whether you're still at a job and you need a side hustle
for extra income or you need to do this as you transition
and look for more permanent work.
Because at the end of the day, you still need
something coming in, so you can take care of yourself
or take care of your family.
So today I'm gonna give you the best advice I have
on what to do if you've been fired.
And at the end of the video,
I'm also gonna give you some advice
in case you haven't been fired,
but you feel like something may happen to your job.
If you feel that there's a possibility you could be fired,
but it hasn't happened yet,
or that the company might downsize,
if you're someone who's older in this community
and you feel like you might be pushed out of your job
for one reason or another,
you'll want to stay tuned to the end of this video
because I'm gonna help you prepare just in case
things start looking like they're gonna go sideways.
Let's get into it.
Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake,
helping you create something awesome today.
Welcome back to the channel.
If you are new here, first of all, welcome,
and thanks for taking the time to watch this video.
My name is Roberto Blake.
I'm a creative entrepreneur
with a social media coaching business.
I'm also a public speaker, and I'm someone
who actually came from the world of freelancing.
I did a video where I talked about going
from broke to making six figures,
and I talked a lot about my background
and how I got where I am today.
And this video is, in many ways, no different.
On a long enough timeline, there's the distinct possibility
that you are going to be fired,
and a couple of things are gonna happen.
You need to be able to deal
with the self-esteem hit, number one,
and, number two, you need to move to making income again,
so you can provide for yourself or for your family.
And so I'm gonna give you some of my advice on how
to transition because this may feel horrible right now.
And a lot of you have written me emails
or DMed me about this topic or mentioned it in the comments
of some of these other videos that we've done on freelancing
or making money online and things of that nature,
and I want you to really take this to heart.
Because I want you to protect yourself,
and I want you to protect your income
and your family's stability.
So let me move into at least five things
I know you should immediately do if you get fired,
and I'm gonna go into detail.
Then we're gonna talk about
what you can do leading up to that,
that can help you just have more stability right now.
One of the first things you need to do
if you've been fired or laid off
is to immediately update your presence in LinkedIn.
Or if you don't have a LinkedIn profile,
which, very hard for me to imagine in 2018, 2019, but, okay,
if you don't, you need to get on that.
LinkedIn is a resource for job creators, recruiters,
and people looking for someone
who has your ability, skills, and expertise.
So you're having a presence in LinkedIn, keeping it updated,
and engaging in that platform is going to allow you
to be able to access those opportunities
and let people who are looking for someone like you,
with everything you have to offer and your experiences,
that's where they're gonna look to find those people.
If they're not already in their network
of personal contacts, you know,
if they're not somebody within arm's reach
or somebody that they are a have a phone number for,
they're gonna go to LinkedIn to find those people.
You need to be there, so show up.
Number two, this one's gonna be a little bit uncomfortable.
You need to immediately, and I mean immediately,
clean up your online presence.
Your social media, you need to scrub that thing down,
sanitize it, wash it in five bottles of bleach,
whatever you gotta do.
Let me be even less vague about that.
Any references to politics, delete them.
Get rid of them if you need a job right now.
It's not worth it to alienate
a potential employer or to make them think
that you're somehow, in any way, a liability.
Employers and business people are risk-adverse.
I know, I know, I know, but just get rid of the politics.
Scrub it from your social media if you need a job tomorrow.
Also, anything that you think remotely is unprofessional,
if there are pictures of you,
you know, maybe drinking or at a bar,
you might want to consider
whether you hide those or private those.
You may want to even, you know,
private some of your profiles during your job search
and just deal with that later.
Lock it down to friends or family.
You can make the argument
that these things shouldn't matter,
but I don't feel you want to make that argument
when it's just the easier way to secure new employment
if people are gonna do a search on you in Google.
So I would do that.
I also recommend that you do a search on Google,
and you look yourself up and see what's coming up.
And you try to see if there's content
that you want to remove or take down.
Because if it doesn't exist,
then the references to it kind of go away.
So just kind of look into those things.
Look yourself up, and see how you present
to a potential employer if they did a Google search on you.
So put in your name and your state,
or put in your name and your city,
and see what comes up.
Number three, you immediately need a source
of revenue or income of some kind.
Now, there are people
who will take this opportunity, if they can afford it
and they have savings, to say, you know what?
I'll start that business that I always wanted to
and that I was putting off.
That's okay for some people.
Not everyone's gonna be in that position.
I recommend that you forego any pride and vanity,
and you look for freelance opportunities
or even temporary work,
even if it pays less than what you're used to
because it's better than zero.
So if you don't get enough in terms of unemployment
or you don't qualify for it for whatever reason,
this is what you immediately are going to need to do.
And if you are looking for how to make money
using freelancing and offering those services,
I have tons of videos here on the channel,
and I'm gonna actually link to my video
on how to get started as a freelancer.
So you can do that, get going,
get your first clients if you need to
because it's the only way I can tell you
that you can immediately start making money.
Making money with an online business takes time.
It's not something you're going to be able to do overnight,
but freelancing is literally a hand-to-mouth kind of deal,
for better or for worse.
So you could actually start making money freelancing
within a week, so I would do that, or less potentially,
just depending on what position you're in.
But I would definitely recommend that you prioritize
revenue-generating activities and making money,
first and foremost, immediately if you lose your job.
Number four, reach out to real-world contacts,
and also get testimonials and letters of recommendation.
Go ahead and have these,
and you really want these for LinkedIn especially
because that's a lot of where people
in the, you know, recruitment space
or, you know, employers are gonna be looking.
So make sure that you have those things consolidated,
so there are people to recommend you.
As for those real-world contacts,
they might be in a position to tell you
that there's an opportunity or make an introduction for you,
kind of like walk you through the door
to a new job opportunity right away.
So I would take a look at that,
and see if they can help you.
I would also start to talk to those real-world contacts
about the circumstances of you leaving the company
and see how you can present that.
What is the framing
of how you ended up in the position to be looking
for new employment and new opportunities?
So you want to kind of have your story straight,
your narrative, and know what you're going to say
your side of things are when it comes to leaving.
Also, there's a possibility that if you've been fired,
depending on the circumstances,
that you may not be able to use your previous employer
as a reference, and this is why I keep insisting
that you build a personal brand, which I'll get to later.
But in the event that you've been fired,
you're not only stripped of some of your agency
and your ability to produce income and that identity,
but also of your body of work if you're not in a position
to use that as a reference or as part of your legitimacy.
So that's why I believe having an independent body of work
in the form of your personal brand,
having relationships and industry contacts
that are not directly tied to your position in the company
is valuable because you own that work,
and you own those relationships on your own merit
and not through association
with the company and their brand.
So you need your own credibility.
But part of having
a real-world network of relationships and contemporaries
in the industry is valuable because they can help you
with that transition and help you understand the framing
or make those introductions to you
if you have to borrow from their credibility
because you may not have enough independent of the company.
This is a big deal, and it's something
we'll cover in other videos in the future.
So you might want to subscribe and hit notifications
because there's a lot of videos on this channel.
A lot of it is how to build your personal brand
and your body of work, and it's also how to develop skills
that are high-paying whenever you need a job opportunity.
And finally, tip number five, don't get discouraged.
I know that this could seem
like your world is crumbling around you,
but at the same time it could also be
the best thing that happened to you.
If you weren't happy in your job or your position,
then maybe you get to move to a new job
and a new environment where you're appreciated more
or even paid more.
If you did love your work and you loved your job,
well, you have your skills.
Those can't be taken away from you,
and you have your experiences.
Can you put and apply those to something else
or to a new company
where you'll also have great experiences
and where you'll love what's going on day to day?
So like I would say, don't get discouraged.
This is not the end.
It's only the beginning.
This is a new chapter, and it's just your responsibility
to do everything in your power
to make it better than the last one.
And there are tons of things that I've done here
on the channel that can help you with that.
But if you need encouragement,
I would say reach out to the community here
and the community within your industry.
There are people who will want to support you,
and I think that there's opportunity
and upside if you're looking for it.
Just don't be so hard on yourself,
and don't abuse yourself just because this is something
that happened to you one way or the other.
So now we've covered some things you should immediately do
if you've been fired, and I'll talk about
more of these things in other videos specifically.
There are some things you could do before this ever happens
that would just set you up to where being fired
doesn't feel like the world is crashing down around you
or like the sky is falling.
So let's talk about a few of those things really quickly
before the end of the video.
I would encourage everybody in the modern era
to create multiple revenue streams
and ideally some form of passive income.
And I know some of you don't want
to believe in passive income, but it is real.
And it's not about doing no work.
It's about really smart work that has a consistent return
that doesn't require consistent effort all the time.
For me, I believe that affiliate marketing is one
that a lot of people could get into,
especially if they have expertise in something.
If you're a practitioner in an industry
or an enthusiast in anything,
I think affiliate marketing could be good for you.
I'm gonna link to a step-by-step video
on affiliate marketing here
and in the description down below for you.
So you can click that info card or the description,
and you'll get that video
if you want to get started with that.
Great way to make passive income,
and I think that that could help you.
Because having some money coming in, even if you get fired,
is better than zero money coming in
when it inevitably happens.
So just kind of think about that.
Tip number two on this,
keep an eye out for new opportunities in your industry.
Constantly be aware of new job opportunities, new openings,
who the players are, so you can move on to another job.
This has been essential to friends of mine
who've been able to immediately
move into a new job in their industry,
often times that were better paying.
Because the reality is,
when they first got into that career or that job,
they didn't negotiate as strongly because they were new.
And now that they are free agents again,
they can actually have a body of work
and a background that allows them to compete,
and so they're a little bit more ruthless
and strong in how they negotiate their salary.
So it actually works out that they make a lot more
or that they're offered a lot more.
But you have to be aware of those opportunities,
and just make sure that you're never acting
from a place of true desperation.
Tip number three,
this one is somewhat repetitive to the first one,
but keep your social media presence clean.
That way, you don't have to scrub it down
and sanitize it in an emergency.
The best course of action, I think,
is if it's associated with your real name, your real face,
or don't take for granted, in my opinion,
don't take for granted that you can be identified somehow
or that this account can be tied back to you.
So don't make a fake account.
Don't make a troll account.
I would say that if you value your livelihood in any way,
just keep your social media clean.
That's just my personal advice on that.
Number four ties directly back into that.
Build your personal professional brand.
If you build a personal professional brand
and you're doing something in the industry,
as long as it's non-competitive with your contract
or it's not something that your boss is gonna fire you over,
then the good news is that, when something happens to you,
you're relevant in your industry, you're known,
you're a name that's in people's mouth,
and it won't be hard for you to find people
that want to give you new opportunities
or that can vouch for you
or already are familiar with your work.
So I would say that building
a personal professional brand is great
and that obviously you can monetize that,
and that can help you diversify your revenue streams
and just helps you have ownership
of your skills and of your work.
Because that's something that shouldn't
be able to be taken from you.
It could feel that way, though,
if everything for you is wrapped up in the employer
and in the company and their brand.
Number five, learn new skills in your free time.
Even if they're not related
to the job you're doing right now, having new skills,
especially if they're high-paying skills,
means that, if the opportunity arises,
you can have a way to make money
by trading in on those skills.
If your contract happens to have a non-compete,
even if you're fired or if you have to quit
or something like that,
if there's something that would prohibit you
from doing the work that you've done all this time,
having a high-paying skill in something else,
so you can move to another industry
and make money right away is extremely valuable.
And it means that you just have less to worry about.
So this is a way that you can protect yourself
and protect your income.
Number six, you don't have to be fired
or endangered of losing your job for this one,
and this is the last one.
Save money much more aggressively.
I would like everyone to start thinking about this
and save their money a lot more aggressively.
60% of Americans,
I think I looked up a statistic that says 60% of Americans
don't have $1,000 in savings.
80% of Americans don't have 10,000.
And that is scary.
So prioritize saving a lot more.
If you can, my recommendation is save more than 20%
of your income if at all possible.
It might seem like a lot, but cut down expenses.
Do what you have to do.
The other thing, I should say,
that you would need to look into,
because a friend brought this to my attention,
is find out if your 401(k) is transferable
when it comes to your job.
Because you want to find out that, if you're fired,
has the money that you've put into your retirement savings
through the job and the employer, what happens to that?
And if they did point matching and they were contributing,
what happens to that money for your security
and for your future with regard to your retirement?
This is something a lot of people
just aren't asking themselves
as they defend the glorious nine-to-five,
regular, stable job income.
I would say that everyone needs
to take control of their finances,
and part of that is taking control of your retirement.
There are benefits to doing that with an employer.
Less employers are offering things like this anyway now.
So take control of this.
Look into it.
Protect yourself.
Protect your money, you worked for it.
Anyway, guys, that's it for this video.
I know it's a little bit different
than what I would normally do, but I felt it was important.
I wanted to talk about it.
I think this ties directly into
why I talk about personal branding, marketing yourself,
building online income or an online business
or at least a side hustle for Christ sakes,
and, of course, freelancing.
Because, I think, on a long enough timeline,
there's a chance that you could be fired.
I think it's happened to, you know,
everybody at least once in their career
if they've actually worked more than a few years.
And so what do you do about that?
That's why I wanted to talk about
why I think it's important.
Ties into money, mindset, and marketing, like I always say,
so that's why I did today's video,
and I hope you got some value from it.
I hope you think that this can help you.
And if you have advice or tips for anybody
about what they should do if they happen to get fired
or they need to leave their job or change jobs,
then please leave those comments down for them below.
And be as encouraging and positive as you can
because I know this is a difficult topic
and something that people might be struggling with.
Question of the day,
have you ever been fired from a job,
and how did you get your new job after that happened?
I'd love to see that conversation in the comment section.
Like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome stuff here on the channel,
plenty of videos to help you in case you get fired.
As always, you guys, thanks so very much for watching.
And don't forget,
go out there, and create something awesome today.
Take care.
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