Using Plan B
Just because you have to use plan B doesn't mean you failed at plan A!
I've been on the path to my ultimate dream job now for a few months and I have to say I was a little naive about my expectations. I was a little angry at myself for a little while when I realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought, I quickly got over it. It's ok to have big dreams and to shoot for the stars, that's what we should be doing.
Through some different circumstances with my day job I've come to realize that I don't have a plan B (totally freaked me out!)!! So that's what I want to talk to you about, I just want to ask you a few questions and hopefully give you a few helpful pointers:
Do you have a Plan B? I'm going to drop some serious, never before heard, ancient, amazing knowledge on you (not really), life doesn't always work out as we planned. What? Yep, there are going to be "bumps on the road" (http://talesofwork.com/blog/2011/09/bumps-on-the-road/) that's what the plan B is for. I know you're amazed by how wise I am right now, not! What's your plan B if your exit strategy doesn't work out? Here's a better question, what's your plan B if you lose your day job? WHAT? Remember, life's unexpected right? With the state of our economy there's no such thing as job security anymore, you could conceivable loose that day job at any time. So if you don't have a plan B for even your current job then you could be up a tree.
How realistic is your plan B? You may have come up with a back up plan five years ago, will it still be relevant today? I remember when I had a vacation relief business and I did really well with it, people started to take notice and plan. I would talk to other bread guys from bigger companies and they would tell me that if they lost their job they had a plan B to come and set up the same business as me, my business was their back up plan. At the time I was highly irritated, thinking it was an attack on my business. As I matured I realized it was a joke, those guys wouldn't have been able to just show up and say "hire me", they would have had to put in work with a few guys first to build trust, it wouldn't have been an overnight thing. Your plan B has to be something that you can go to and start making money on right away, not just a theory.
How quickly will you start making money with your plan B? I got scared that I didn't have a plan B and I started thinking of a few options. The problem was none of these options would have yielded me money right away, and I'm not in a financial positions to sustain not having income for a while! I don't know what your plan B is but it better yield quick money!
So those are a few questions, I know there are many more that could be brought up but you get the point. Let's talk about a few practical tips:
Make a plan B,C, D I hope by now you see the wisdom in having something to fall back on, you just never know what's going to happen. So today (I'm deadly serious) start making a plan B and after you have a solid plan B, make a C and D.
Make sure the plan B is realistic don't be like those bread guys with false hope. Now I do believe that anything is possible but don't think your back up plan is that you're going to be the CEO of Apple, not realistic!
Make sure you can make some quick cash There are a lot of things that you can do to put some money in your pocket right away, they may not be the most glamorous things, but they'll pay. Can you cut grass? Can you shovel snow? Can you wash cars? Can you paint? Look these may not be your next career, but they will put money in your pocket right away until you can fix your plan A.
I hope you seriously will sit down and come up with something to fall back on, maybe this will help point you in the direction of where you want to go in your work life. It's just smart to have something to fall back to and it could keep you from ruin.
If for some reason you have to fall back on your plan B, don't view that as a failure, it could happen to anyone. If you are on the path to your dream job and you have to fall back onto your plan B, then view this as a lesson along the way.
When you get to your dreams, do us all a favor, GIVE BACK! I don't know what medium you want to use but write a blog, start a YouTube channel, just do something to get the word out about how you got to your goals, what struggles you had along the way and any advice you have for us. We would all greatly appreciate this knowledge!
How's your plan B looking? Let us know in the comments:
P.S. check out my e-book (above) to read all about my struggles, joys, tears on this path to my dreams, thanks!
