Overcoming a recession (2), By Yemi Adetayo

I believe there will be tough times but tough people are usually the winners. Don’t allow tough times to deal with you, deal with it by being busy, take practical steps, knock depression off, get busy. Don’t forget, tough times don’t last only tough people do. Get fired up to start doing something today.
To overcome difficult times, we emphasised looking inwards in the last article; the next thing to do is to look outwards. What problems do people have that you can help them solve in the areas you already identified in the first phase of looking inwards? A lady finished from the university here in Nigeria and could not find a job, as hard as she looked out for one. What she did was look for a laboratory and paid to learn what they do. She was ready, she already knew the job but needed to prove she knew what to do. She proved how good she was and within the first month started earning an income. She was staffed afterwards and was well paid.
There are different options to choose from, and learning practical skills would be a life saver. A friend who was teaching quickly learnt proofreading, editing and content development skills; it was his bailout in difficult times. He has turned it nto a big time business as we speak. What skill or skills can you learn to win the money war? Start off today! Everybody can learn a skill that will become another source of income.
A business can be started as a side or weekend hustle. And, the money that comes in becomes additional, thus making it easy to pay bills, make other plans and push unnecessary financial stress off. If we can think out of the box, there are numerous ideas that will spring up to make life easier.
A friend told me of a lady, who graduated and couldn’t easily get a job. She decided to volunteer her service, worked extremely hard as if being paid, and her input, performance and productivity became too remarkable to be ignored. Not wanting to lose such a hard and productive worker, she was offered a job, and became well paid too.
The stories are quite different for different persons; just ensure that your’s ends well. Don’t ever think of giving up. Don’t ever think of hurting yourself. Don’t ever think of going illegal or diabolical; those options will end up stressing you later in life. Life is not a strait jacket; if others can overcome difficult times, you will overcome too with time. Tough times never last, only tough people do.
A young man actually volunteered his services, instead of staying at home, when he lost his job; he was not as lucky as the lady mentioned above, as good and productive as he was. He was not paid for his volunteer services, but interestingly life has a way of paying you for services well rendered. He heard of a job offer, which he quickly applied for. When they were being tested, the bulk of the tasks they were required to do were what he was doing at the organisation he volunteered his services. While others were brainstorming on how to solve the puzzle, he was already through because he knew what to do. Did he get the job? He did! And it was very well paid too
The idea that must be foremost on your mind is: From all the knowledge and skills that I have, what problems can I help people solve? If you can help people solve their problems, paying you won’t ever be a problem. Some years ago, while starting out in corporate training, I had to volunteer my services to a school. I did weekly training for their staff for free. After a while, some opportunities to speak with school owners came up. It was from there that I got paying clients. In difficult times, think differently, think out of the box, think solutions.

There’s nothing totally wrong with asking for help from family and friends. The problem is that man is not wired to just get finances without work. And not all friends or family members can be relied on. Weigh the options, if you are sure, they can bail you out, while you sort yourself out, but if they cannot, be wise not to bother them.

To really overcome recession, your attitude must be worked on. Attitude is everything. It is what determines whether we see a recession as a blessing or a curse. The difficulty that comes with recession is not usually the problem, but our view of it. Some people want to look for who to blame. As if that will solve the problem. Don’t be bothered of being cheated, don’t be bothered if people will take advantage of you. Be bothered by being idle. Ensure that you get busy doing something. Life will definitely put a smile on your face, as long as you are busy.
The next thing to do is to look up. This has to do with prayers. Pray for favour. Even Jesus needed to enjoy God’s favour. The favour is to get clients, customers or a job that you can help solve problems. Prayers will bring those in need of your services your way. It will help in guiding you right. Prayers work but please don’t pray and be lazy. Be hard working generally, even in prayers.
Once, you start succeeding, ensure that you are truthful, satisfy your customers and offer excellent service. Become the best at offering solutions; become so good no one can do a better job. That way, you will become the most patronised.
Hard and smart work makes life easier. Iif you can be hard working, it’s only a matter of time, life will become very easy. Please no matter what, be busy doing something, either you are paid or not. Everything will eventually hard up.
I believe there will be tough times but tough people are usually the winners. Don’t allow tough times to deal with you, deal with it by being busy, take practical steps, knock depression off, get busy. Don’t forget, tough times don’t last only tough people do. Get fired up to start doing something today. You will succeed!
Yemi Adetayo, a success strategist, leadership expert, corporate trainer and minister of the word, can be reached at: [email protected].

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