If you are another creator and care deeply about helping others, please reach out — would love to put our heads together, collab, and continue to help others.

YouTube comments:

“The one takeaway is you can NOT NEVER EVER trust a company. They are not your friend, they are not your family. No matter how hard you work for a company the ones at the top will feed themselves first. It’s sad but it’s a true fact. We need to start to learn to be self-supportive.”

“I got laid off in early 2000s. I stayed in the IT sector. Earned 24 IT certifications and focused on DOD military networks and secret clearance type position focused around security and cyber security. After making this move, I never had to worry getting laid off. At the end of the day, you have to focus on yourself.”

“Many kudos to you: bright, articulate, and well-grounded. As a hiring manager and someone who’s been in the industry for a very, very long time, I can say these layoff decisions are often not even something corporations consult us on. When you work for a corporation and you’re generating revenue for them, you’re amazing, awesome, outstanding, and irreplaceable. When times get tight, you’re simply a line item on a balance sheet. The single best way to not have a layoff negatively impact you is to be relevant. Keep your skills current; always be learning; and don’t be afraid to self-promote if you’re manager isn’t seeing it. Have no regrets. Look forward, not backward.”

“Let me be honest and frank. Don’t get stressed and/or emotional over being laid off. You are expendable. Your loyalty should be to yourself and your family, not to any one company. Do not get too attached to co-workers. It only makes the layoff that much harder to deal with. When looking for employment, do not make job security one of your main objectives.”

YouTube comments:

“I met a retired salesman in his 60’s finishing up his history degree. His dream was to be a history teacher. When most folks are retiring he was starting something new. I never forgot him.”

“When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you’re 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’m 52 and quit the manufacturing world after 29 years. I got so tired of the corporate puppets coming down and acting like tyrants I turned walk in and handed in my 30 day notice. I worked as a supervisor but it turned into a supervisor, manager, HR and Safety manager job and expected us to work 12 hour days seven days a week. I decided screw that paid everything off I own. I now make knives and jewelry as my hobby and help my kids out with their business. Best thing I could of done.”

“From somebody who’s done this: There is a difference between fear of failure and fear of homelessness. When I got five mortgage payments behind, I was no longer focusing my creative energy on writing, I was losing sleep because I was about to lose my house. For a novelist anyway, I think the idea of quitting your day job is really bad advice. I have found it easier to be creative when I don’t have to worry about where my next house payment is coming from. I’ve written six novels, one of them while unemployed and “chasing my dream.” Lemme tell you – financial desperation does not improve your odds. I can still produce 10,000 words a week just fine as somebody who gets a paycheck. And my books still don’t sell. That problem is not solved by adding the anxiety of having no income. .02 from somebody who tried it and lost.”

Paul is in his final year of college, and of late he has been thinking a lot about what he wants to do for the rest of his life, after graduation. Growing up, Paul had always been told by his parents to study hard, get good grades, so you can be accepted into a good university and graduate with a good degree.

Because having a good degree will land you in a good-paying job and in return, a good life. You see, this is the mentality that a lot of us were told. For some people, this belief is hard to throw away because it’s what we have been told since childhood.

YouTube comments:

“Not everyone is wired to start their own business. Entrepreneurship needs a strong conviction. It’s what makes the risk psychologically bearable.”

“I literally watched people get hired at my job and then get fired only months later. I’m now a full time entrepreneur myself because I saw the risk as staying an employee with any company.”

“One thing I want to point out is if you like your 9 to 5 job and it is allowing you to save money, there’s nothing wrong with that. One of the most important things to do is to like your job. If not, your spending most of your life being miserable. That’s why I want to be a teacher, and not what someone else wants. For me, being around children would definetly be better than sitting in a cubicle, waiting for my boss to walk by with my paycheck. So, if the regular lifestyle is something you like doing, go ahead.”