Success Secrets for Down Markets
I’m sharing my secret methods to be successful in the coming economy
My secret to success
I’ve never been lucky.
I take that back.
I have been lucky a handful of times.
I have won some drawings over the years — a 10-speed bike back in the early 1980’s, a CD player in the late 1980’s, and one time I had a slot machine pay out when I was playing while waiting for someone. Here’s another tip for success — the casino is going to win, so don’t gamble, and if you do and are ahead, cash out.
I do have some privileges
But, I’ve also been privileged, as Dr Mehmet Yildiz writes about in “Mindfulness for Privileges.” I’ve had the blessing of being born into Generation X — we learned how to take care of ourselves and be socially distant before the rest of the world had to learn.
Attorney and writing goddess Adeline Dimond writes about how she’s qualified for these strange days in “I’m Nailing This Pandemic”:
But some personal news: I’m nailing this pandemic thing. Killing it. So I’m gonna step up as a self-appointed hack expert, and tell you how you too can survive it. To bastardize a phrase from some guy, if not me, who?
1. Be a member of Generation X You forgot about us, didn’t you? That’s okay, everyone did. There was even a graphic on the news a few years ago discussing generational divides and they completely skipped us. That’s because we’ve been silently taking care of ourselves our whole lives. — Adeline Dimond
Even news outlets are calling Gen X’ers uniquely qualified to survive social distancing.
As health officials are encouraging people to practice social distancing — in order to control the coronavirus outbreak, gen X thinks they are uniquely prepared to deal with the situation.
Those belonging to the cohort is anyone born between 1965 and 1980. — Metro UK.
I’ll accept my Gen X privilege
I’ll take my Generation X privilege. We got passed over for so much, that I’m taking this bit of advantage for myself and running with it. We grew up as latch-key kids during the Cold War when we could have been blown up in less than 15 minutes at any particular time if a submarine was able to get close enough to the East or West Coast.
I’m middle class. My dad was the first to go to college in his family. After graduation in the mid 1960s, he joined the Army rather than being drafted. Since he had gone into the ROTC, he went in as an officer. He went from being the son of a farmer and coal miner in Kentucky to having a military career.
Some privilege is pure luck
That gave me privilege. So, that is pure luck of being born into my family. I could have been born anywhere else in the world and chances are that if I wasn’t born in a North American or European nation, things could have been different. Or, they might have been more blessed. It’s the random nature of fate.
Take advantage of any privilege you may have or acquire or create
So, take advantage of your privileges. Minimize any disadvantages.
I’ll tell you the secret to doing the above.
Here’s the secret
You have to put in the work and time to be successful.
It’s not much of a secret.
It’s basically common sense.
It’s not as sexy as reading something that says you can become an overnight success. It might happen for a rare few, but it isn’t necessarily the case for most of us.
But wouldn’t it be great to just have your wish granted and be granted whatever you wanted?
Some people get lucky and the universe grants them easy success
Some people get lucky. I don’t dispute that. All the factors line up properly for them. They have contacts who can help them out. They know people. They are in the right place at the right time. Be thankful that happens. It means there is chance — it could be small — but there is a chance it could happen to you also. We need that hope that a moment in time can make life easy.
But, it isn’t reality. As much as I wish it could be. I want a magic wand! Think of all the fun I could have if I had one. Actually, we’d all have a lot of fun, because I’d invite you to my parties.
Most of the time you have to make things happen
But, most of the time, you have go make things happen.
You have to put in the hard work.
You have to write, if you want to be a writer.
Create, if you have a business that makes items.
Or, be innovative, if you’re selling services.
You have to be willing to try different things.
Experiment to see what your market wants and needs.
See what people like and adjust to meet that market. Or, keep working and convince people to like what you’re creating, if it isn’t on their radar at this time. Sometimes exposure — which means putting in work and effort — means working hard.
If you are doing what you like, it doesn’t feel like work most of the time
I like working on things I find enjoyable. In fact, it doesn’t seem like work when I’m doing something enjoyable. I can find myself getting into a flow state.
I am relatively new to writing whatever I want and getting paid for it. I did write a lot before in my other career, but it was for pay and depended on whatever facts my clients had. I could get creative to a certain extent, but not too creative.
When I joined this community of writers. I didn’t start out looking to become a writer. I just wanted to be a consumer. And, I was willing to pay my subscription — I know that people work hard, so I wanted to honor that.
In fact, I was finding articles I enjoyed, hit the free article limit, and subscribed. From there, I started commenting, then finally dipped my toe into the pool. I had some good feed back and got hooked.
I enjoy earning doing things for myself and my readers. It is more difficult to write things on assignment. I remember working on SEO for a client before, spending a lot of time, and not getting paid everything that I felt I should have been paid. I was compensated some, so the lost income I chalked up to tuition — on the job training. My client was cool. They probably didn’t have much money, but was hoping to be able to pay everyone before all the bills came due. Sometimes that works. Other times it doesn’t. That’s why a lot of small businesses fail after a certain period of time. It’s part of the process of growing a business.
Back when I had my legal practice, I’d have the same thing happen. I’d have a retainer, it would be used up, I wouldn’t get paid, but sometimes I finished up the case just so I could have some experience with some area that I might still be learning about. But, I had to make sure I paid the rent and the mortgage, so I had to also make sure the majority of work I did earned me money.
Know your value
It is an unsustainable business model to do a lot of things for free, unless you consider your business a hobby, so make sure you get paid for your efforts. Have good contracts and don’t be afraid to fire clients who aren’t paying as soon as you know that they aren’t going to pay their invoices. Know your worth. Your intellectual property is valuable. Otherwise, other people would be doing whatever it is that you are doing themselves. Make sure you value you intellect.
With the economy slowing down rapidly, economic life will be a lot different than it was in the past. We will have to work hard, but make sure to also work smartly.
I’m optimistic the world is changing for the better
It will require a lot of hard work, but if you can find something you like to do as our world changes for the better (I’m an optimist), it won’t necessarily seem like work and will be fun. You might also be able to contribute to changing the world from it’s flawed ways into a place that is better for all of us.
I had fun working for myself and being my own boss. I feel like that these days. There’s something to be said about having the power of choosing what you want to do in life.
Read other writers to learn and be inspired
By being a part of Illumination, you are joining with other like minded people. Read their work and learn from them. Check out people like Henery X (long) who likes writing inspirational pieces.
Also read Simran Kankas who love writing about spiritual topics since it is important to be balanced and not always be focused on work to the determent of everything else. In these coming days, spirituality (not necessarily organized religion) and thinking of our shared humanity will be as important as being someone focused on making profit.
Read five random Medium authors from your favorite publications, clap and leave a nice comment. If you want to read uplifting, but short pieces, you can read five stories in about five minutes at Spiritual Tree and be a better person for having spent the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee in reading some quality work.
Thanks for reading. Chris Hedges 🦄 has a BA and JD. I love writing, web design, and reading your work. I admit I’m a reading addict. I started early as a kid — always reading paperbacks — and graduated into the electronic world of unlimited reading content when I got older. I love you. 💗💗💗 Chris
