You are a tech layoff casualty. So what’s next
You can look for another job …or seek freedom and regain control of your life.
According to the latest numbers from Layoffs.fyi there were 106 630 layoffs in the tech industry in 2024(we are only in July) added to 263 180 layoffs in 2023. PBS reported 50 000 tech jobs in June 2024 alone.
You are not alone. Misery loves company.
Personally I was laid off in May from a tech job as a VP Digital Marketing-Solutions in a non-tech company(e-bikes). As a casualty of a post-Covid re-organization, in a high overstocked industry trying to liquidate inventory from 2022 production forecasts. Remember 2021 when everybody was buying bicycles to go outside and exercise. Well now there are thousands of them in warehouses an no buyers.
And I am also a 60-year digital marketing professional who has gone through the Internet Boom and bust and a few other market busts in the past 20 years!
I say : What are you going to do about it?
According to a recent analysis of LinkedIn and Layoffs.FYI data, for every 100 tech workers who lost their jobs in 2022 and 2023, approximately 13 started their own company. This suggests that about 13% of laid-off tech workers became entrepreneurs.
Almost 1 in 8 will choose a different path.
So you have a few options:
Option 1
You can feel sorry for yourself and become a Netflix addict watching truly an unlimited number of hours of fascinating films, series, documentaries in multiple languages(subtitled). It is time to binge-watch.
Option 2
You can look for a job in a depressed and hyper competitive market with a lower salary and possibly worse working conditions but generating some income nevertheless.
Option 3
You can find something that you are really good at(skill), that you like doing(passion), find a small problem(niche) and a solution you can provide in the form of an app, a chatGPT, a course, seminar, podcast, YouTube channel, Instagram shorts that you can earn a living from. You see where I am going.
You now have control over your destiny and maybe will have a better sense of accomplishment than when you submitted a truly awesome and comprehensive business case(in your boss’ own words) about that new product the company wanted to launch…and your boss put his name on the report.
What are you going to do next?
I understand there are economic, psychological and sociological constraints that you need to assess and possibly overcome.
You need to pay rent/mortgage/car payments.
You may not be an entrepreneur at heart. You know these guys are focused, determined and a little crazy.
What will your family think when you tell them that you are going on your own while they paid for that expensive college education?
Sounds familiar?
My financial situation may be different and I have nothing to prove to my family anymore but I have decided to choose Option 3 because there has never been a better time to start a small tech business WITHOUT requiring VC investment.
The arrival of practical and easy to use AI solutions starting with ChatGPT in November 2022 is revolutionizing the world of startups and making solopreneur’s lives significantly easier.
I have the same feeling now that I had in the late 1990’s with the advent of the internet.
But it is different this time. AI will be BIGGER than the Internet. The Internet took a lot longer than AI to get as much traction and users.
Looking back at my own career I made some obvious mistakes:
- I was sometimes lazy and chose a salary(good money) over uncertainty with no guaranteed income in the beginning
- I spent too long learning and not taking action.
- I overlooked my experience, knowledge and credibility and especially my determination to build something of my own.
I have seen both sides of the fence since I had my own business working with Cirque du Soleil, Coca-Cola and fortune 500 companies in product marketing. I chose to “go back corporate” when the market tanked in 2008. I can tell you that in hindsight I should have gone back to being a solopreneur but the paycheck was too good at the time.
Freedom and Earning F***k You Money
When I went back working corporate I had a boss who once told me that freedom can be achieved sooner than later if you earn enough F***k You Money. In his mind money did not buy things as much as it bought freedom to choose what you will work on next and being able to tell people what is on your mind…..or just F***k you!
There are now more and cheaper AI-based tools to start a small business that you can easily scale. The tools to get there are available if you are willing to go back to the fundamentals:
- Find a problem or a niche that you can address with your skills and your passion
- Solve that problem with an app, a course, a chatBot, a podcast, a YouTube Channel or just providing advice through a blog
- Get paid for your services or solution with a newsletter, subscription, affiliate links or even donations!
Sounds simple but it requires some creativity or creative tinkering as I like to call it. Creative tinkering is what Steve Jobs applied to get to the best solution for the user. Understand your customer, connect ideas and concepts together to come up with something that your customer would have never thought was possible yet clever and so simple. TInker, iterate, improve your design until it is perfect or perfect enough for your customer.
Find Your Ikigai
To achieve financial freedom and eventually earn F***k you Money you will need to do the following:
Find your Ikigai to identify you niche or product:
Ikigai can be understood as a “composite construct, encompassing meaning, motivations and values in life,” Dean Fido, Yasuhiro Kotera, and Kenichi Asano .
The performance and enjoyment of an activity and our life purpose are all ikigai, arising from a deep awareness of the following :
Passion — what you love
Vocation — what you are good at
Mission — what the world needs(product-solution)
Profession — what you can get paid for
Once you have determined your Ikigai in terms of Passion and Vocation then you can identify your mission (niches and solutions) and Profession to monetize your new entrepreneurial adventure.
Then it is time for the next steps. Create the solution possibly in the form of a digital product and promote it.
It is not easy.
It is a job.
But a more enjoyable one. One that truly corresponds to your passion and desire to create a vessel to achieve freedom.
To find out more about creative tinkering and my next projects follow me on Medium.