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Six degrees of separation—the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on earth. Based on this theory, you no doubt know someone who in the last couple of years has been laid off, lost a business, lost their home, or been forced to take a job for which they’re overqualified. You may also know someone who leveraged the opportunities in the economic downturn and started a new business. These are all huge life transitions and they have at least one major component in common: a financial impact on the participants.
Step #1 - Get Real
This summer, over 146,000 Americans have lost their job. Depending on available outer and inner resources, an unexpected event of this sort can throw us so off track, it’s hard to regroup and move forward. The first step I recommend to my clients is to take stock financially. Whether they’re launching a new business or have just lost a business, it’s time to quickly evaluate current expenses, income, and assets. Even if you’ve avoided it in the past, this is a time where knowing is much better than not knowing.
• If you need to cut back on expenditures immediately, make it a game with the challenge of finding all the places you can do so. Involve your close friends and family. Remind yourself and them that it’s temporary and that you CAN do what it takes to get through. The Cash Flow Calculator in our Financial Life Planner toolkit is perfect for this. You may think you’re overspending, but are you and by how much? You need to know to plan effective next steps. And while you’re at it, think of some alternatives for the expenses you’re reducing. Example: board games v. theater, consignment store v. department store, walking v. health club.
• It may be important to evaluate your investments. Is this a situation where you need to lessen the risk you’re taking with your portfolio? Will you need to draw some income from your assets? If starting a new business, how soon will you be bringing in income and how much? You may want to have a financial advisor help you assess what’s needed for the immediate future. You can also use the Investment Data Checklist, another resource in my company’s toolkit. It helps you examine and evaluate your financial resources and risk level.
Step #2 – Get Clear
After you’ve examined your financial situation, stabilized and repositioned as needed to give yourself the necessary support, it’s time to get clear about what’s most important to you in relation to your business or career. How?
• Identify the categories you want to examine. For example: business/career, retirement, professional development/education.
• Write down your financial goals and dreams for each category. What do you want to experience in each area? You might be surprised to discover that some of the things you’ve always thought you wanted aren’t as important as they once were, and that some of the dreams you’ve let fall by the wayside, resurface as a result of this transition.
The Business Financial Vision Worksheet I use with my clients does just this, but also takes it a step further by asking a question most people don’t ask themselves about their desires, i.e., “Why do I want this?” Sometimes you think you know, but digging deeper can reveal more basic needs. For example, think about a music teacher who is part of a state-wide school employee layoff. She or he might state:
• I want to help children make music an integral part of their lives.
• Why? I believe music makes us a better human being.
• Why? Music is a part of who we are as humans regardless of culture.
• Why? Music is a part of my own being and I want to share that.
• Why? I want to contribute to making the world a better place.
• Why? I want to do work of value.
• Why? I want meaningful work.
So part of the essence of what this individual wants from their next employment is work that is meaningful. After repeating this process with the desires you’ve written down in the various categories, the next step is to ask yourself: “If I could have 99% of what I desire, would I care how it showed up?” In transitions and in reaching toward goals and dreams, it’s sometimes necessary to allow the answers to show up differently from how we might have imagined them.
Get Focused
Hand in hand with dreaming our dreams comes the challenge of fear and self-doubts. There may be feelings of positive expectancy, but there may also be stumbling blocks. Look at what has held you back in the past so you can shift your focus to what’s really important to you. It’s time to pinpoint your limiting beliefs, surface your areas of fear and doubt, and start turning those around. The Money & Business Beliefs Worksheet can help get those stumbling blocks out of the way. For example, how would you respond to these queries:
1. I believe I will always have what I need financially.
not at all some of the time all of the time
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