When I was walking along the main street of my local town this weekend I thought to myself “Dunoon is open again”. Moments later a council sign attached to a lamp post confirmed it “Dunoon is open again, welcome back” it said. Actually many of the shops and local businesses are still not open but the streets are busier than they have been for a long time. What is your post covid outlook actually like?
My partner – a driving instructor – has yet to get the green light to start working again. My friends in the live events industry are in a similar boat. Many people are still furloughed or receiving a final 3 month grant,. Basically we are still in a holding position – the calm before an economic storm. What is the post covid outlook for you? Can you – should you – change it?
I was reminded again of my situation in 2010 when I was in a similar holding position. I’d been laid off and was starting my 3 month garden leave on full pay. My redundancy settlement would be paid after that. So, like many of you reading this today, I had a period of grace with an uncertain future looming. I decided to use that time wisely and suggest you do the same.
Will You Ever Get Another Chance?
In my time off I read a lot of books and watched a lot of videos by people like Tim Ferris, Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins. They helped me to come to a big decision.
I decided that rather than just trying to find another well paid job which would put me right back to where I was, I’d look for ways to take more control of my life. Obviously I still had bills to pay and would soon need to replace my income but I knew I’d never get another chance to do as all those “gurus” were telling me I had to do. To stop trading my time for money. 10 years later a nasty virus has gifted many people the same opportunity. And the opportunity because of that virus is much bigger.
Even before the 2008 recession really bit in and I was seeing my friends and colleagues start to lose their jobs as corporate belts tightened I often felt disillusioned with my life. I’d be sitting in a traffic jam in my fancy company car on my way to or from a meeting. I’d look around at all the other suited and booted drones in their stationary cages belching exhaust fumes into the sky and think how totally inefficient and fucked up this is. In a digital world – part of the reason for the recession we were in – there has to be a smarter way. There is and luckily I found it. So can you. Include it in your post covid outlook.
A Positive Post Covid Outlook
In 2010 the Internet was already changing the world beyond recognition. Now we take it for granted. We can find any information we need, communicate with people anywhere in the world and buy most of the goods and services we need or want. We can also, if we take the time to learn how, use it to create the kind of 4 hour work week, work from home lifestyle that Tim Ferriss talked about in his famous book by the same name. If not 4 hours a week, certainly 4 hours a day or less.
When you fully embrace that idea and study how it actually works commuting to and from a specific place or building a bricks and mortar business just doesn’t make sense. Working from 9-5 or longer 5, 6 or 7 days per week seems like pre industrial revolution slavery.
I’m pretty sure that lockdown will make that obvious to many employees and employed alike. When they find that having staff work from home is cheaper, easier to manage and more efficient it will quickly become the next normal. But if you can do that for someone else why not for yourself?
Back in 2010 starting an online business was considered a little risky but today it’s a very viable option. You can leverage platforms like Amazon, Etsy, Ebay and a stack of others to create e-commerce businesses. You can reach global audiences 24/7/365 through advertisers like Google, Youtube and Facebook. A laptop is all you need to start with and you don’t need special premises to work from. Neither do you need to hold stock, deliver anything or do traditional selling. You can semi automate the whole thing and work in areas that interest you or are based around your passions.
The Opportunity Just Got Bigger
It’s a much smoother ride than it was when I got started. Technology has moved so fast that you don’t need geeky technical skills to build websites, sales funnels or advertise your wares. The web in 2020 is also a much safer, less wild west place that it was. Gone are the pie in the sky, get rich quick noise it was once full of.
That said, you still need to invest in quality training, tools and most of all mentorship. If you are new to it creating online income income streams as an entrepreneur is very different than anything you’ve seen before as an employee or traditional business owner. It’s wise to align yourself with people who know the ropes. With many many more people now getting into the game – especially during all those months of lockdown – its more competitive than ever.
That’s what I did all those years ago and I still do. I discovered a platform, a community, that provided everything I needed. I’m still a proud member of that community and I have them to thank for where I am now. They’ve gone from strength to strength over the last decade and have helped thousands of people to transitioned into the thriving digital world.
I met them as you can now by watching a series of free videos they introduce themselves with. If you are worried about your future in a post covid 19 world I recommend you have a look at them by clicking the link below.
