The six-figure salary made me stupid.
Not intellectually stupid—I was still good at my job. But strategically stupid. Complacent. The kind of stupid that assumes tomorrow will look like today because today looked like yesterday.
Then 2023 happened, and I became another statistic in the layoff bloodbath.
Six figures to zero overnight. Benefits gone. The "we're a family here" company that had been paying my bills suddenly treating me like an expendable line item.
That's when I learned the hardest lesson about corporate employment: there is no safety net. There never was.
The Brutal Math of Being Expendable
After the shock wore off, reality hit. I sent out over 1,500 job applications. Tailored resumes, custom cover letters, the whole dance.
Result? Rejection or silence.
The market had shifted. My industry had contracted. All those years of experience meant nothing when hundreds of other people with identical backgrounds were competing for the same shrinking pool of positions.
I took what I could find. Pizza shop manager. Factory work that destroyed my back. Retail management at half my previous salary.
The same inflation eating away at everyone else was now eating away at me, except I was making 50% less to fight it.
Here's what nobody tells you about job hunting in 2024: your education doesn't matter. Your experience doesn't matter. Your work ethic doesn't matter. What matters is timing, luck, and being willing to accept whatever scraps are available.
Even when you land something, you're one budget cut away from starting over.
Why I Stopped Believing in Job Security
The layoff taught me something uncomfortable: the entire concept of job security is a comfortable fiction.
Companies don't care about loyalty. They care about quarterly numbers. When those numbers look bad, "family" becomes just another word for people they're about to fire via Zoom.
But here's the thing that really bothered me—I had become dependent on someone else's decision-making about my future. My income, my healthcare, my ability to pay rent, all controlled by people who didn't know my name and wouldn't recognize me in a hallway.
That's not security. That's vulnerability with a benefits package.
The Simple Alternative Nobody Talks About
Instead of chasing another corporate job, I decided to build something different. Not because I had some grand entrepreneurial vision, but because I was tired of giving other people control over whether I could afford groceries.
I started with what I already knew: writing.
I'd been writing for years—articles, technical documentation, creative projects. I had a degree in creative writing gathering dust while I optimized spreadsheets for companies that would forget my name six months after firing me.
So I started building: A newsletter. A blog. Freelance services. Digital products.
Not because I wanted to become a "creator entrepreneur" or whatever the latest buzzword is. Because I wanted to diversify my dependence.
What Actually Works (No Guru Bullshit)
Here's what I'm doing now—not because it's glamorous, but because it's working:
Writing consistently. Blog posts, newsletter issues, client work. Same day every week. No excuses, no exceptions.
Building owned assets. Email list, website, products I control. Platforms can disappear, but people who choose to follow your work across platforms are real.
Offering real value. Not motivational fluff or recycled advice. Practical solutions to problems I've actually solved.
Diversifying income streams. Multiple small revenue sources instead of one big one that can vanish overnight.
Staying profitable from day one. No "build audience first, monetize later" fantasy. Every piece of work needs to either make money or build toward making money.
The goal isn't to replace corporate income immediately. The goal is to reduce dependence on any single source of income controlling my life.
The Reality Check
Building your own thing isn't easier than having a job. It's different.
Jobs give you predictable income in exchange for unpredictable security. Building your own thing gives you unpredictable income in exchange for more control over your future.
But here's what I've learned: unpredictable income you control beats predictable income someone else can take away.
The market for corporate employees is saturated and getting worse. The market for people who can solve real problems with their skills is always growing.
Start Where You Are
You don't need to quit your job tomorrow. You don't need a perfect plan. You need to start reducing your dependence on other people's decisions about your future.
Pick one skill you already have. Find one problem you can solve with it. Solve it for one person. Charge money for it.
Then do it again.
The companies that laid us off in 2023 are still posting record profits while their former "family members" struggle to pay rent.
They made their choice about your future.
Now you get to make yours.
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I'm Joe. I help creators share their unique voices simply and effectively. Here's how I can help you:
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