There are tons of articles about the upside to being unemployed. Entire books. They all tell you to embrace reinvention, soul-searching, taking new chances, the unexpected, etc., as opportunities. These are all great ideas, but can all be boiled down to a cliché: “what doesn’t kill us…”
There is a concept within these opportunities that gets overlooked. It’s important, though, and is probably the most powerful motivator in the whole process of creatively dealing with downtime. And it is nothing.
When you’re between jobs and looking for the next gig, career, move, etc., you essentially have nothing. It’s a glaring feeling, and intimate to anyone who has spent even a day without the stability of a job. Having nothing can feel frightening, threatening, panicking and hopeless. But any tool can be a weapon if you hold it right.
Consider the advantage you have over anyone else in jobland. You can do anything, because you’ve got nothing. Nothing to lose, that is. You’re not shackled by a boss, time sheets, behavioral risks, a workday, or performance pressure. You’re free! And if you can channel that energy – turn it into excitement and opportunity – you can do some pretty amazing things. Namely: anything you want.
You can break rules. Try doing business in a new and different way. Like way new, and way different. Piss some people off.
You can innovate. You’ve got access to the most fantastic networking tools available today. They’re all free. I won’t even name them because by tomorrow the list would be outdated. Figure out how to use them, exploit them, and think of ways to make better versions of them.
You can get smarter, fast. People who have jobs don’t generally have time to study up on new things, namely technology, networks, technical skills, heck – even languages. You can take in all of that information quickly and become smarter and more relevant than anyone else in your segment.
You can do whatever you think of. No, really. There are no rules when it’s just you. Business is amorphous and eternal, and human nature is constant. Use them however you want. Think up some zany stuff and start banging it off your smartest friends. They’ll shoot holes in it, you’ll make it better, and pretty soon you’re on a roll.
Embrace this power of having nothing to lose. Inside the fear and intimidation there is a rare opportunity of freedom. It’s one of the only times (hopefully) that you’ll be able to wield it without consequence and can pursue ideas with reckless abandon.
Try not to be totally reckless, though. Smart people will want to get closer and talk with you, and your flailing elbows could give them a black eye.
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Hank Leber is the “CEO/Janitor” of Agency Nil, a brand new model for the advertising industry.
2 Comments
Good guest post on PFTA today: “…any tool can be a weapon if you hold it right.” http://bit.ly/5n7HB
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
How does one deal with the fact that many of those who are now laid off from advertising will never work in advertising again?
That is, a definitive career change is now in order for laid off ad peoples, but what to do? Become a cop or bus driver?
Traditional advertising will never need as many people as it once did. Interactive advertising never needed as many people on board as traditional advertising to begin with. The ad biz just got smaller and there will be fewer (much fewer) jobs going forward. That fact simply stands to reason.
So, where does that leave the many creatives with fine arts degrees who expected to make a living in graphic arts? I’m afraid many of them are hanging their hats on the delusion that this poor economy is a mere bump in the road; that agencies will be hiring like crazy again real soon. I may be wrong, but the outlook doesn’t look good for such to happen at all, ever.
So, let’s talk career change. Should these fine arts people go back to school and get a computer or medical degree? I think so. And should I get laid off again, that is what I’ll do. I’m out. It would be a waste of time to think I’d make it back in to the ad world again regardless of talent or experience or what ever. Too many people wanting into the biz and willing to work cheap. And there will be too few jobs for the future.
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