How to Recover from Job Loss

bigneil

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When you lose your job it can seriously and immediately impact your dating life. Getting layed off and getting laid don't mix. Here are some tips from a pro at job loss (also known as a contractor).

1) Don't tell her right away. There is no point. You are a tree and she is a bird making a nest. Falling over does not help the eggs.

2) Keep your chin up, but don't put on an act. It will be painful for a while.

3) Be proactive. Read your resume - every line - and polish it. Fill in the blanks by using "- present" for the first month, then rounding up by one month. This gets you through 3 months.

4) Sell things. Have an eBay sale. Selling things at fixed price with a Best Offer feature is best as you can overprice it and let them talk you down. This lightens your load when you move and keeps money flowing in.

5) Teach yourself new skills. You can learn most anything online these days. Remember that the person hiring you mainly wants to know that you are working hard every day at the skills they require, not how much you are paid. So have a reserve of cash and keep working hard. For example, learn JavaScript or HTML5. In my case I learned WebGL.

6) Be patient. These days many jobs will find you if you are on LinkedIn. You should have a few agents looking, but don't publish your resume on a job board. Only send out exact matches, up to one per day (more in your field may be appropriate). Tailor your cover letter to each job.

7) Confess. Once you have some job prospects, then you can tell her that you lost your job. You probably will have to explain the travel, etc. It's ok to let her see you in a down time. This is when you are supposed to be a rock. It is in tough times that a man's character is measured.

8) Cut out unnecessary expenses, but don't let it impact your dating life to the point of seeming cheaper than usual. That would show a very unstable budget. Have enough to cover a year of dates put away in advance.

9) Celebrate the new job. You will be strengthened by eventually finding a new position, and this will help your love life. Hopefully you carried yourself well during the down time.

10) Don't spend money you don't have. A promise of a new salary means you'll get a paycheck someday in about 30 days, so don't spend much until then. In fact, make sure your ask your new boss how long it takes to pay. Ideally it's 3 days after invoice.
 

skinnyguy

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Bigneil I thought your answer to job loss was to pack up, move to a new city, and find a new strip club to go too...

Honestly you should just focus on doing well at work so that they can't function without you. I have so much stability because of this. My bank account and confidence are growing bigger and bigger because of this.
 

ubercat

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Good article. Yeah being good at what you do is essential however most contractors have some down time between gigs at some point and you can always gets hit by downsizing or being on the losing side of some political battle
 

bigneil

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Bigneil...you should just focus on doing well at work so that they can't function without you. I have so much stability because of this. My bank account and confidence are growing bigger and bigger because of this.
My last contract:

33 weeks
50 hours per week
$85 per hour
Corp to Corp (no taxes until end of year)
9% tax (after expenses)
24 hours bonus
Gross pay: $142,290 including bonus
Net pay: $129,483 in 7 months.
$18,500 per month after taxes.

I'd like to hear from the salary guys how much they take home in a year.

Skinny, how long does it take you to take home $129,483, given that you pay 33% tax?

PS - I just got hired by TSA to perform 3d rendering of items flagged for bag searches, using my own proprietary technology which is revolutionary. So I agree that we should work hard enough that they can't function without us.
 

guru1000

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bigneil said:
My last contract:

33 weeks
50 hours per week
$85 per hour
Corp to Corp (no taxes until end of year)
9% tax (after expenses)
24 hours bonus
Gross pay: $142,290 including bonus
Net pay: $129,483 in 7 months.
$18,500 per month after taxes.
Bigneil, you are limited by working solo. You should strive for larger contracts: hire and train employees to program while you spend your time finding and soliciting larger contracts. In the 35+ age crowd, low-six figure annual income is average in larger cities like Manhattan, NY. Nothing special. I've heard you preach these numbers for a few years now. If you have a proprietary talent, continue growing; don't stagnate in complacency.

I own multiple businesses and I'm not satisfied. I consistently push to exponentially grow, for larger companies to buy into/out; for larger sources of funding; for larger liquid reserves; for larger income and net worth milestones. I never boast about my current income level, as it's absolutely "petty" in comparison to who I believe I am. And if my income this year were at the same level as last year's, I am failing.
 
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skinnyguy

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My last contract:

33 weeks
50 hours per week
$85 per hour
Corp to Corp (no taxes until end of year)
9% tax (after expenses)
24 hours bonus
Gross pay: $142,290 including bonus
Net pay: $129,483 in 7 months.
$18,500 per month after taxes.

I'd like to hear from the salary guys how much they take home in a year.

Skinny, how long does it take you to take home $129,483, given that you pay 33% tax?

PS - I just got hired by TSA to perform 3d rendering of items flagged for bag searches, using my own proprietary technology which is revolutionary. So I agree that we should work hard enough that they can't function without us.
about 4 months
 
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BlueAlpha1

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It's really curious that about 50% of the guys on SoSuave are multimillionaires who made 120k per quarter and have banged 250 women. The 0.01% all hang out here. Who knew? :rolleyes:
 

cola

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Geesh. I make less than 1/3rd of what you make a year.
Must be nice.
 

bigneil

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Bigneil, you are limited by working solo. You should strive for larger contracts: hire and train employees to program while you spend your time finding and soliciting larger contracts.
I agree with this. I currently have 4 jobs lined up, all work from home. But not enough manpower. I need to hire programmers myself and oversee a company. Need some help on this.

In the 35+ age crowd, low-six figure annual income is average in larger cities like Manhattan, NY. Nothing special.
Nothing special in NY but I work from home. I made $90-$95 an hour in NYC. Show me who is taking home $3200 a week and who doesn't pay $3200 rent. Tell me their salaries and tax rates. I am in the 99 percentile of income. You can't change that by saying it's average to rich people.

I own multiple businesses and I'm not satisfied. I consistently push to exponentially grow, for larger companies to buy into/out; for larger sources of funding; for larger liquid reserves; for larger income and net worth milestones. I never boast about my current income level, as it's absolutely "petty" in comparison to who I believe I am. And if my income this year were at the same level as last year's, I am failing.
Read: I have a bunch of struggling businesses and I won't tell you how little I'm taking home.

Who says I was bragging or that I'm satisfied? I'm waiting for someone to show me a working example of someone making more, not giving me a f*cking guilt trip. And to suggest that someone is lying when they provide explicit details is almost diabolical. Why even have a forum if we assume we are all lying?

I happen to believe that everyone should publish their salary, to give examples to people on what they can earn with what skills. People like you who probably have $500K in debt often create the illusion of wealth to young people but don't tell them how to connect the dots. And I've confessed to the dark side of contracting enough that it's not bragging to tell people how to handle time out of work.

I'm still waiting for one person to show me that they took home more than $200K after taxes in one year.

Skinny guy is saying he takes home $500K in one year? I hope he does. But I'm asking for a breakdown like I provided. Not "I make more". What is the salary, hourly rate, tax rate, what is the job title? Rich banker guy? What is the commission?
 
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Atom Smasher

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Geesh. I make less than 1/3rd of what you make a year.
Must be nice.
What's "nice" is getting out from salaried employment and providing value that people will pay for.

At your age, you can retire a multimillionaire simply by putting a very modest sum away every week, religiously. Do the math, with compound interest, and see what I mean.

But the bottom line is that success is the result of adding value to the lives of multiple people. Generally speaking, as a salaried employee you are adding value to one person, your boss. If you decide to start a business and add value to multiple people, your income will increase exponentially.
 

Speculator E

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Stock traders, Hedge Fund Mangers, and Wall Street programmers make a hell lot more then 200k in a year. Stop posting about your earnings, you're nothing special and no one cares. For the record, I have worked for Wall Street and made more then you do when I was there.
 

raider87

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It's really curious that about 50% of the guys on SoSuave are multimillionaires who made 120k per quarter and have banged 250 women. The 0.01% all hang out here. Who knew? :rolleyes:
I made 2 million and banged two 10's in the time it took to write this.
 
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BlueAlpha1

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Stock traders, Hedge Fund Mangers, and Wall Street programmers make a hell lot more then 200k in a year. Stop posting about your earnings, you're nothing special and no one cares. For the record, I have worked for Wall Street and made more then you do when I was there.
Despite the fact that nobody cares because nobody knows him, this guy can't go a day without talking about how hes in the 1% on everything. To a bunch of strangers.

What did we all think of that one guy in high school who couldn't stop talking endlessly about the size of his ****...
 

LiveFreeX

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Well I was gonna post about getting a CDL but if theres something you can get that will make Big Neil's wages, you should probably do that instead.

The only people who can make 200k in programming are the people with CS degrees. A CDL takes 2 to 3 months to get, a Degree might take you 3 to 4 years.

One thing I don't understand is, why if you lost your job are you now also suddenly broke? Christ, my wife and I can stretch a dollar to the moon. Job loss shouldn't be a disaster situation, there are tons of jobs all over your country. Print off 50 resumes and take anything till you can get where you want to be.
 

bigneil

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Who said I'm broke? I just self-produced my own app.

It's impossible to tell people anything. They either get offended, say I'm lying, or say their rich ex boyfriend made "way more".

Stock traders, Hedge Fund Mangers, and Wall Street programmers make a hell lot more then 200k in a year. Stop posting about your earnings, you're nothing special and no one cares. For the record, I have worked for Wall Street and made more then you do when I was there.
For one month.

And sorry, but the top 1% of any category are by definition special.

Ooh "Doctors and Lawyers make way more" says someone who dated one once.

I post numbers so the salary braggarts realize "why would anyone choose contracting?". So I can make 3 times as much. That's why.

Until someone shows their title, income and taxes, I will presume I am the highest paid.
 
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marmel75

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I agree with this. I currently have 4 jobs lined up, all work from home. But not enough manpower. I need to hire programmers myself and oversee a company. Need some help on this.


Nothing special in NY but I work from home. I made $90-$95 an hour in NYC. Show me who is taking home $3200 a week and who doesn't pay $3200 rent. Tell me their salaries and tax rates. I am in the 99 percentile of income. You can't change that by saying it's average to rich people.


Read: I have a bunch of struggling businesses and I won't tell you how little I'm taking home.

Who says I was bragging or that I'm satisfied? I'm waiting for someone to show me a working example of someone making more, not giving me a f*cking guilt trip. And to suggest that someone is lying when they provide explicit details is almost diabolical. Why even have a forum if we assume we are all lying?

I happen to believe that everyone should publish their salary, to give examples to people on what they can earn with what skills. People like you who probably have $500K in debt often create the illusion of wealth to young people but don't tell them how to connect the dots. And I've confessed to the dark side of contracting enough that it's not bragging to tell people how to handle time out of work.

I'm still waiting for one person to show me that they took home more than $200K after taxes in one year.

Skinny guy is saying he takes home $500K in one year? I hope he does. But I'm asking for a breakdown like I provided. Not "I make more". What is the salary, hourly rate, tax rate, what is the job title? Rich banker guy? What is the commission?
Honestly I find it sad your entire self worth is based on how much money you make. Far more to life than that.
 

Speculator E

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Honestly I find it sad your entire self worth is based on how much money you make. Far more to life than that.
It sounds like he has narcissistic personality disorder or npd. It is in the same cluster b category as bpd and explains why he so obsessed with being special. He feeds off the attention you all give him. Just ignore him and he'll go away.
 

guru1000

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I agree with this. I currently have 4 jobs lined up, all work from home. But not enough manpower. I need to hire programmers myself and oversee a company. Need some help on this.
If you have a proprietary programming product, then you are significantly underselling yourself at your current income level.

Add one goal a day toward (1) securing and training new programmers, and (2) securing larger contracts, and you could easily bring your annual gross revenue levels to 7 figures within 3-5 years.

You might be a great programmer, but how strong is your sales ability? Have you built a sales portfolio and presentation to land bigger whales?

bigneil said:
Nothing special in NY but I work from home. I made $90-$95 an hour in NYC. Show me who is taking home $3200 a week and who doesn't pay $3200 rent. Tell me their salaries and tax rates. I am in the 99 percentile of income. You can't change that by saying it's average to rich people.
You are by far not in the top 99% percentile of income in Manhattan, NY in the 35+ age bracket (as I said).

Manhattan’s average weekly wage during the year ending in the first quarter of 2015 was more than two and a half times the national average—$2,847 compared to $1,048. This $2,847 weekly number comprises a great percentile of students, housewives, and younger generations below 35 yos. just beginning in their careers. Like I stated:

guru1000 said:
In the 35+ age crowd, low-six figure annual income is average in larger cities like Manhattan, NY. Nothing special.
bigneil said:
Who says I was bragging or that I'm satisfied? I'm waiting for someone to show me a working example of someone making more, not giving me a f*cking guilt trip. And to suggest that someone is lying when they provide explicit details is almost diabolical. Why even have a forum if we assume we are all lying?
Why are you so defensive? LOL. I never stated you are lying. I actually believe you. Especially since you have explicitly given your numbers at least a dozen times over the past few years. That is called bragging.

I'm still waiting for one person to show me that they took home more than $200K after taxes in one year.
Why?

If your take home is approx $13k per month, you can afford:
  • A 1.8 million dollar mortgage ($200k down and $9,255/mo.), utilities ($400/mo.), maintenance fees ($3,000/mo.) and groceries ($400/mo.) for the month. Your extra tax savings (from the mortgage interest) can be used to pay for luxuries (wining & dining, etc).
You live in Manhattan, right? Two million for a co-op condo is absolutely average.

Why not use your skill set and innovativeness to encourage or inspire other members instead? Your intent may be to encourage, but your delivery is inimical.
 
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bigneil

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It sounds like he has narcissistic personality disorder or npd. It is in the same cluster b category as bpd and explains why he so obsessed with being special. He feeds off the attention you all give him. Just ignore him and he'll go away.
Ignore him! Says the guy who pretends he made more but refuses to provide numbers.

I love how some people say it's so much I'm bragging or lying, and others say it's so little that it's average or worthless.

The bottom line is, a lot of people make $85 an hour, a lot of people get paid OT, and a lot of people get paid Corp to Corp. Even I were lying, at least I provided a working example of actual numbers. Nobody has returned the favor. But to those who did make more, I congratulate you.

If you have a proprietary programming product, then you are significantly underselling yourself at your current income level.
Thank you. I'm actually trying to find a way to make more, and maybe help someone else in the process. I've had 7 clients want to use my technology out of about 10 over 6 years. They generally pay me to make it better and I keep the source.

You're comparing me to NYC incomes?? This is America, not the most expensive city in America (that I can't stand). Working at home is worth a LOT. You can live in the boondocks for practically free. No commute.

Anyhow, you are right that I was closer to the top 2%. For the example contract, I was taking home $4250 per week. According to this calculator, that puts me in the top 2%. But for the last 4 months of the contract I was making $4400 a week which was the top 1%. This factors in the 45% income tax bracket, which is why I'm asking people for actual examples.

http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/

PS - I'm in Atlanta and not sure where to move to next. I'm moving in 4 weeks though.
 
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guru1000

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You're comparing me to NYC incomes?? This is America, not the most expensive city in America (that I can't stand). Working at home is worth a LOT. You can live in the boondocks for practically free. No commute.

PS - I'm in Atlanta and not sure where to move to next. I'm moving in 4 weeks though.
I thought you live in NY. Irregardless, yes Manhattan is overpriced, however if you were to work here with your proprietary technology, you would have great demand for your services among companies that can afford to pay you millions. Expensive cities translate to deeper pockets and richer clientele.

Thank you. I'm actually trying to find a way to make more, and maybe help someone else in the process. I've had 7 clients want to use my technology out of about 10 over 6 years. They generally pay me to make it better and I keep the source.
The good thing about your business is you could technically hire and train programmers anywhere in the world, alleviating the cost for expensive office space. Just ensure you don't share your proprietary product; segregate the project into pieces among myriad programmers (so they don't steal your idea) and then amalgamate the pieces into a finished product. I am unsure of how patents relate to proprietary technology, but at the very least have every programmer sign confidentiality and non-compete agreements.
 
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