It's getting better all the time

When the recession began two years ago and people started losing their jobs in droves, I read a few dozen articles about those downsized souls who completely changed course. Instead of making six figures as a bond trader, the person was now running a bed and breakfast somewhere, growing heirloom tomatoes, working for a nonprofit, or something else similarly 180 degrees from what they had been doing previously.

Then I was laid off. I hadn't been making six figures previously, and it wasn't my plan to reinvent my professional self, but looking back from the vantage point of 18 months later, that's pretty much what happened. What's next didn't automatically have to mean keep doing the same stuff as before.

Independent consulting is a euphemism for "figuring it out as you go along." Nevertheless, with a little luck and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, Greene Means Go Consulting is now showing signs of turning a tidy profit and building a growing cadre of happy clients.  Looking back, the surprising part is that for the first time since the mid 1980's, I've been using the journalism part of my brain again, and it still works! Thanks to Pet Connection (you've been reading, right? You should be), I've become an integral part of an incredible community of support, knowledge, events and opinion. Without that addition to my world, 2010 wouldn't have been nearly as fun and rewarding.

I don't recommend that everyone (or anyone) ditch it all to become a solo entrepreneur and start a new business from scratch, with only the barest safety net. The older you are, the more responsibilities you've assumed (mortgage, children, car payments) and the more you've become used to things like buying presents for people at Christmas and nagging details like electricity and food, the harder the sudden fall gets.

On the other hand, it feels that much better when, against all odds, it starts to work out, and a new reality appears -- one that not only doesn't suck, but is actually more rewarding and more FUN than what had come before.

Now that 2010 is starting to wind down, I finally have faith that my gamble is paying off. I work differently now. It doesn't have to be just one job, and it doesn't even have to be only one client at a time. Two halves can equal a whole. If they're more fun than the previous whole, bonus!

The recession taught me that there's no such thing as long term planning. You can plan if you like, but if you're being honest with yourself, all you're doing is fantasizing. I'll take it as it comes, and make the best of it. 2009 was a tough year. 2010 was better. I'm rooting for 2011.

Photo credits: Sgt Pepper album, beatles-facts.com.