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Being laid off at the age of 55 as a single divorced baby boomer has been more challenging than my divorce.   The impact can make or break you unless you step back and find solutions to get you through those challenges.

But, believe me, I didn’t learn that right away.  It has been a process of moving, downsizing, living with  family members and running out of money. It’s been a summer of house sitting, making sacrifices and reinvention.

As a person going solo, it’s very difficult to take on all the challenges by myself but the hardest part is getting the salary and the recognition I feel I deserve, after working for so many years.

This is why I am sharing this post.  I am thinking many of you readers have experienced the same thing or know someone is has or is.   These 7 lessons I have learned from a job layoff, are only the tip of the iceberg.  But they are the lessons I hear most often from my peers who are experiencing a job layoff.

It is harder to find a job the older we get. - When I was in my 20′s I would walk into a perspective employers office and ask for a job.  Then I would follow up with phone calls to remind them of my interest.  Many times I would get called within a few hours or a few days because they liked my persistence and my courage.   Now, with the internet and lack of a contact name or company, I am finding one has to just submit their resume and wait for a response.  But in this economy, with so many people looking for the same job, we become a number.  Many times there isn’t a hiring manager name or a company provided so how the heck can you follow up?

I realized I am not as marketable in the hiring mangers eyes. – As we babyboomers age, those who are interviewing us are younger and thinking they are more tech savy.  But I am one who believes that we have so much experience based on our years in the workplace.  Unfortunately, the competition is much greater and we babyboomers are not first in  line at the hiring office, even if we have kept up with the latest technology ourselves in our own careers.

There IS Age Discrimination – I don’t care what they tell you. – Yep, you heard me.   I have seen it, experienced it personally and know HR folks who have often admitted it.  First of all, we look “OLD” to some of the interviewees and second, they don’t want to pay us our worth. – Don’t they know that the 50s are now the new 40s?

Possessions can be replaced. - One major change I had to make was selling my possessions just to survive at one point.   Except for special “gifts” my kids have made or special tokens from my grandparents or parents, I have downsized to a small storage unit. And even that is to much.  Do you need any furniture or household items? The only things I take with me from place to place are my houseplants that I nurture and my suitcase.

Do What You Gotta Do. – We single laid off babyboomers have to do what we gotta do to survive.   We may borrow from our home equity, we may take out a loan, we may have to take an entry level position that is demeaning and boring but we have to survive.

There Are Solutions. – And those solutions start with a different mindset of finding mentors like us who have found success outside of the box.   It may be starting your own business or getting crafty having a craft show.  Whatever it is, your mindset will have to change and your creativity will have to shine.

We Baby Boomers Have Talents. – Not only do we have talents, we have passions, experience and gifts to share with others.  Each of us baby boomers bring a unique gift to share that can turn our passions into profit.

So if you have been laid off or are holding onto your job not knowing your fate, remember that we all share common concerns and should come together as one to share our gifts, turn passions into profit and forget corporate america.  They don’t care about us so why not find your passion, share it and care about others.  That’s the key.

What is your story?  I would love for you to comment below if you have a story to tell about yourself or someone who know who is experiencing a lay off and what you/they are doing to overcome their challenge.

Until next time,

Here’s to your success.

Cindy

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As a babyboomer, who didn’t complete my formal education past 2 years of college,  I continued my adult education through community college and university college courses specific to my interests, avoiding the drudgery of required courses that had nothing to do with my passions or niche.

I guess you could say, I am a life long learner of my own destiny.   What I have learned in my adult life is the importance of personal development and how essential it is for business and personal success.   So I continued to find classes specific to my needs and passions to help move forward in my business. 

Recently, I completed another course called Niche Attraction Group Coaching with Cindy Schulson and Kate Williams.  In this course, I was able to get more insight into coaching and the importance of my Niche.  In this video, I share the layout of the course, what I learned and how Cindy and Kate helped me continue my education and knowledge.

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When I first began to learn the basics of Twitter, I had no idea what I was doing. Learning all the social sites at the same time created a partial setup and not really following through.  Now, several months later, I realized that my Twitter wasn’t very business oriented so I used this May Makeover opportunity to rethink my strategy and narrow my niche and followers.  So, thus began my week long journey into the unknown to research my solution to engage, syncronize, optimize and generate a following.

On Day 7 of my May Makeover, I added a few links when I first got started redoing my Twitter account.   On this post, I will go step by step in what I did this entire week.

After I uploaded my FREE theme,  I set up accounts for the following sites.

1. I set up an account to link videos at TwitVid.com
2. I set up an account to share my photos at TwitPic.com
3. I plan to add some groups later so I set up grouptweet.com
4. I plan to create polls and surveys so I set up twtpoll.com
5. I am creating PowerPoint Presentations so I set up slideshare.net

Now it was time to set up several automated tools to help me drip my content.  I am now able to auto follow, check stats and so much more.  There are several options out there but the two I chose have been listed below.

1. The first tool I set up was socialoomph.com
2. The second tool I set up was hootsuite.com

There is a third tool that you can use for automation.  All you do is add your twitter name and password at twuffer.com

I realized I still had a lot of work to do so I decided to check my statistics by learning from 2 more tools.

1. With twitteranalyzer.com, you can get all the statistics on your account and your tweets to see who is rting as well as having access to the graphs.   All you do is all your user name to enter the site.
2. Real time stats, campaigns and more are offered on this extensive social media tool called objectivemarketer.com

Here is a list of Local Tweet tools to help you find tweeters locally.

1. This tool is the online yellow pages for Twitter @ Twellow.com
2. This tool allows you to add your location & interests @ wefollow.com
3. Find and get found locally @ localtweeps.com
4. Find  local neighborhood businesses @ tweetslounge.com
5. Search local bios and their locations @ localfollow.com

Now the work begins.  My daily goal spent on Twitter will start at 30 – 60 minutes per day until I can get a real handle on the tools.  My ultimate goal will be 15 – 30 minutes per day added into my daily work plan.

If you liked this post, please share it on Twitter by clicking the Tweet button on the top of the post.

Oh!  And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.  See you there

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Email Marketing is one very essential component to any business,  online and offline because it is the key to informing your clients.

You can send emails, newsletters, updates, birthday wishes, holiday greetings and contests. When I first got started with email marketing, I joined a company based on a referral.  I was new the concept of email marketing and how powerful it would be to my business.  Then, when I started to learn WordPress blogging and email marketing, I didn’t realize that some companies didn’t mesh up with WordPress.

That is when I met Michael Torbert, developer of the All In One SEO Pack, who is also the coordinator of a local Word Press Meetup that I attend.  He highly recommended Mailchimp as an email marketing tool that is WordPress friendly.  I found that Mailchimp was user friendly and had a lot of what I was looking for to help me with forms, templates and newsletters.

These are some of the benefits with Mailchimp:

• You can design beautiful emails from their template gallery.
• You can manage your subscribers with autoresonders, sign up forms, and List Management.
• You have access to their tracking system.
• Mailchimp has many plugins for your WordPress blog
• Integration with WordPress, Twitter and other social media sites.
• Mailchimp allows you to store 500 subscribers to your database for free.
• You can send 3,000 emails per month.
• You have access to a large video training series, support and images.
• And lots more.

Want more information about Mailchimp?  Just click here and listen to their intro video.   Along with the referral from Michael Torbert, I highly recommend Mailchimp too.

For more information you can contact me here.

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Wednesday Wishes

Are you a babyboomer who has dreamed about a home based business using your skills, passions or years of experience?

Do you have a hobby or a love of photography?  Do you love scrapbooking, woodworking or have a skill that you want to promote?  Us babyboomers have so many years of experience that we can share with others and take those dreams and turn them into a great business.

Not sure where to begin? How great would it be to have a place to express your dream and have a network of great people networking with you to give you input and suggestions?

Well, you have come to the right place.  Every Wednesday you can come over to the discussion group and share your dream job.  Go for it.  Express your thoughts, how you picture it, where it would be and how you would build the business. Then watch the topic grow.

Come check it out at my Bloomin’ Facebook Fan Page.

Have questions?  Contact me here.

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