Tag: financialfitness

Three ways to come out of the Coronavirus pandemic stronger.

Three ways to come out of the coronavirus pandemic stronger. You have to find a way to make it through this pandemic, not just make it through but come out better than before. These are tough trying times for us all, if you’ve lost your job, lost income its even tougher. its sucks but its going to suck even more, its going to get worse before its gets better.
The decisons you make, the actions you take, right now, will determine where you stand six months from now, a year from now, three years from now.

Your future is in your hands
Your future is in your hands, take ownership

Do you want to fetal up on the couch and cry victim or do you want to man up or women up and get going? Are you going to hold yourself accountable for your well being, your families well being? You can’t wait for someone else, the government to solve all your problems. The government or no one else for that matter is going to look out for you, and care for you and your family like you can.

Thats the negative, the tough medicine, now for the opporunity. I believe while its going to get worse before it gets better there will be great opportunity coming out of the coronavirus pandemic. There will great opprotunit for new careers and businesses. The time is now to position yourself for a better job, career, or to start a business.

Now is the time but first you’ve got to stop the bleeding. If you’ve lost your job and your income as been shut off or reduced you have to make some moves.

Stop the Bleeding


Sell what you can, now is not the time to wait for top dollar. Its time for survival of the smartest. We have no idea how long the virus is going to hang out but one thing I can tell you, the financial impact is here to stay for a while. Get rid of what ever liabilities you can.

Generate cash flow


Get cash coming in. Find a way to generate income, go find a job, they are out there. I spoke to a VP of a Site Contracting Company today and he told me something that shocked me, considering 20 million people were put out of work over the last six weeks, not one person has called or walked through his door asking to fill out an application. Im blown away by that. The job you dream of or a job in your line of work may not be available but its time to grind. What is it you did at your job? Couldyou perform that service for folks directly and charge a fee? Start a lawn mowing business, what ever, get creative. Its time to fight and claw to feed yourself and your family.
There are opportunities out there but you have to go get after it. There is the unemployemnt route. Im typically not and unemployment guy. My view is that the only reason you should be unemployed is by your choosing and you can support yourself or you have your own company and you are’nt an employee. Having said that these are unprecedented times. Almost everyone put out of work now are in this position due to no fault of their own. If you do seek and get unemployemnt you must obligate yourself to number three below.

Make yourself more valuable


Use this time to make yourself better. Learn new skills and knowledge to make yourself more valuable. Jim Rohn used to say “you are paid for the value you bring to the market place”. Many think just showing up is the value. Make yourself more valuable, read personal development books. read industry literature and product literature, take online classes or courses. Make yourself the expert of your industry. Get a credential in your industry. This is the time to get better and make yourself more valuable. If your on unemployment you must demand of yourself this requirement as a condition for accepting the payment. If you’ve ever thought of starting a business, put the plan together now, set some goals, big goals, take massive action now. Start a home based busness. Even if you go back to a job keep working that side hustle. You must have more than one stream of income. Wakeup early, do not sleep in. Get yursself cleaned up and pull yourself up to the desk at home or beat the streets, and get after it.

If you’ll do these things you will not only have self respect but you will put yourself in a better position to succeed and come out of this Coronavirus pandemic stronger menatlly and financially.

A CALL TO ACTION TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL HEALTH

Theres a lot of talk about the Government shut down and Government workers not being able to pay bills or buy food after not being paid for thirty days. While I have compassion for thier struggle, we’ve got to use this situation as a wake up call. A call to action to improve our financial health.

I typically like to talk about and focus on leadership and developing better Construction Field Leaders. This subject however impacts us all. This past month its been the government shut down but we in the construction industry know all to well the impact of shut downs, economic down turns, and hard ship.

The financial heath and fitness of Americans is in bad shape, really bad shape. Look at a few of the statistics from Debt.com;

Just how bad is it?

19% have $0 saved
31% have less than $500
39% have less than $1000 saved
Th avaerage American credit card debt is $16,245
44% could not pay for a $400 emrgency out of pocket

How do we fix this?

First of all understand that it is fixable. We’ve got to first recognize the problem, seek out the solutions, then employ some discipline, and take action. The steps needed aren’t any real secret or some amazing strategy. They’ve been the same since the begining of time. Obviously number one is, dont spend more than you make. The old saying is, it isnt how much you make, its how much you keep. Its not a well guarded secret, its that simple. So how do you do that or more importanly, how do you get out of debt and on the road to saving?

I am a big advocate of Dave Ramseys work, full disclosure I am a certified Dave Ramsey financial coach. Ramsey has

After setting up you budget, these are the steps to freedom
transformed the lives of thousands of people struggling with debt. His basic priciples, the 7 baby steps is simple but effective. To start the baby stpes you must have a budget to undertsand whats happening with the money you are earning now. Have you ever wondered, where does all my money go? Most Americans do. To start the baby steps you must have a budget for the following reasons;

1. Understand where your money is going.
2. Identify wastefull spending and habits.
3. Make adjustments and tell your money where to go. Intentional spending.
4. Priorotize and set goals.
5. Track your spending/savings goals

We’ve got to take control of and be responsible for our own financial health. Follow these steps and teachings and you can protect yourself against the next government shutdown, lay off, or economic downturn.