The following guest post is from Steven of HundredGoals.com. After reading the post, be sure to visit Steven’s site to follow the journey towards accomplishing his list of one hundred goals! 

Many of us work at jobs where there is no opportunity for advancement.  If there is opportunity for upward mobility, the positions available may require advanced education, experience which we do not have or maybe we don’t have enough seniority.  It may also be that advancement into another position may bring even less satisfaction to an already miserable work experience.  Whatever the reason, working at a dead end job stinks. 

When you first began working for your company maybe you, like I, had stars in your eyes with dreams of advancement to the top ranks.  In no time you would be the one calling the shots, making the decisions, running the show.  Your work ethic was unmatched and you made every effort to go above and beyond at every opportunity in order to stand out above the crowd.  You took on special assignments, working late & on weekends.  You did your best to rub elbows with the big dogs without coming off as an ass-kisser.

Photo by Sea Moon

As time kept marching on you began to realize that despite everything you have ever been told about career advancement, you are making absolutely no progress.  Maybe you got a small promotion & an insignificant pay raise, but it hasn’t been the ride to the top you thought it was going to be.  You find yourself not caring so much about your performance.  It seems pointless to work so hard when everyone else is performing at a level much less than you yet receiving the same treatment.  No longer are you willing to sacrifice your free time for this company.  No more overtime, no more special projects.  Soon you slip into the shadows & become just another employee;  a number on the payroll roster.

As the morning sun slips through your curtains & the chirping of the songbirds wakes you from your peaceful slumber you are in no mood for birds or sunbeams.  Instead you want coffee & cigarettes, anything to take your mind away from the fact that it won’t be much longer before you are on your way to punch the clock at the daily Hell called work.  On your way you drive alongside hundreds, even thousands, of people just like you; eating a McMuffin, sipping coffee and smoking a cigarette.  Everyone is on their way to work.

Walking across the parking lot you are greeted with the same pleasantries as the day before.  The same conversations with the same people, day in and day out, over and over again.  Your mind is numb.  The people you once found interesting, whose stories you once hung on every word, are now dull and boring.  You turn your mouth on autopilot.  “Morning Jim.  Beautiful day.  How about the Dodgers, can you believe that?”  Deep inside of yourself you don’t really care what these people are talking about but you banter back and forth just to make it through another day.

As you lay down for the night, your head sinking into the cool comfort of your pillow, you ask yourself “Is this what work is supposed to be?  What happened?  I am not happy.  Isn’t there another way?  Shouldn’t I be doing something that gives me satisfaction and purpose?”

Some may think that it is naive to think everyone in the world can work in a job or career they love.  Maybe they are right.  There are those people out there who will settle for less than they deserve for a variety of reasons; security, money, insurance, education, even respect.  Yes, even people who work in highly respected positions are miserable too.  Staying in a position in order to maintain respect, or any reason, is ridiculous.  We should be seeking satisfaction in every way possible, including our careers.

Your happiness is no one’s responsibility but your own.  If you are unhappy in your job or career, it isn’t up to someone else to bring you satisfaction.  It is up to you.  Quitting a job isn’t something to take lightly and in today’s job market leaving a job, even one you hate, is a risky decision.  In order to quit your job & move smoothly towards other opportunities, keep these points in mind during the transition.

Job Security- If you are staying at a job you hate simply because you feel secure, you are being foolish.  As far too many people have discovered the hard way, there is no such thing as job security.  Take off the rose colored glasses.  At any moment your company could become bankrupt, your job could be outsourced or eliminated entirely.  Life is too short to be unhappy, even for a seemingly valid reason such as “security”.

Debt Elimination- One of the most important aspects of personal finance, not just quitting a job, is to get out of debt.  Having debt chains us to our job.  We must work in order to pay others.  Our money does not belong to us.  You may think you earn $15 an hour, but really, isn’t most of it going to Visa?  They’re the ones making all of the money & you’re doing all of the work for them.

Paying down debt can be a long process.  Depending on your debt load, it could take years before you are debt-free.  Figure out a plan to pay down your debt, and stick with it.  Once you have a plan written down on paper it is easier to meet your goals, especially if it is broken down into smaller, more manageable pieces.  Don’t look at your debt as one big mountain to move.  Instead, try to see it is a bunch of spoonfuls of dirt which are easier to move, bit by bit. 

Job Search- Maintaining a job while actively seeking other opportunities provides you with the benefit of time.  You can search for the perfect position without feeling pressured into taking a job that isn’t right for you.  If you are seeking other avenues of opportunity, maybe self-employment, having gainful employment while making the transition into running your own business takes some of the financial stress away.  You will continue earning a wage while your business is young and maturing.  Once you have established yourself & the money coming in is enough to support you without needing your “real” job, you can quit safely.

Education- One way to find more meaningful work or work that is more suitable for your ambitions is to further your education.  Whether you have a degree or haven’t graduated high school, you can always benefit from learning something new.  Take classes in things that interest you.  If there is an area that needs brushing up, say your language or writing mechanics, take some courses on these topics.  Many universities offer evening courses which will mesh well with your work schedule.

Returning to school on a full-time basis may also be something to consider.  Returning to school can be costly & requires devotion to your studies, so be prepared.  Have your finances in order and do your homework to figure out what the cost will be and whether you can afford to make the transition from work back into school.  A part-time job can help ease your financial situation and may even lead to other opportunities.  Try finding something through the University which is in your area of study in order to gain valuable experience.  There is nothing more frustrating than trying to find a job in your field with no practical experience.

Networking- Networking these days is over-rated.  It isn’t all that it is cracked up to be but a few great connections can prove to be a valuable asset further down the road.  Don’t just collect phone numbers, really connect with people and form relationships that have substance and meaning.  There should be give and take within these relationships, don’t just look at these people as a way to get something you want.  If you stick to the standard of collecting cards, you will see why social networking doesn’t work.

The road to your future is paved with the decisions you make today.  Tomorrow is a choice you make.  Only you have the ability to determine the path your life follows.  Taking the risk of quitting a job is a risk many are unwilling to take, no matter how unhappy they are with their jobs.  There could be nothing else in this world that we hate more than to have to walk through the Gates of Hell on our way to our desk, our drill press, our counter, our register, our dump truck, yet we still repeat the process each day.

Breaking the cycle is hard.  It is scary.  It is a process that requires thought and preparation, but at the end of the day, isn’t our happiness far more important than a paycheck?

In response to last week’s post regarding side hustles, and why everyone should have one, Amiyrah of 4 Hats and Frugal pointed me to one of her recent posts along with the following question:

Up until a few weeks ago, I also had a side hustle, and have pretty much always had one since I was 14. What I am wondering is, what are your thoughts on having to let go of side hustles? When life gets complicated or when the money your making doesn’t make up for the extra stress you are attaining?

It’s a great question, and one that I’ve pondered myself at times over the last couple years of maintaining side hustle in one form or another. For those who have never tried to maintain a second career, I can tell you that it is exhausting. Keeping up with your regular job AND a side hustle requires a lot of sacrifice, and sometimes that sacrifice far outweighs the benefits gained.

I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I like to think of side hustles as a temporary endeavor. Understand when I say temporary, I simply mean not permanent. You could work at your hustle for a few months, or a few years. But at some point something will have to give.

If you are like me and hustling to get out of debt, then debt freedom may be the point where you decide to step back and reevaluate things. With all debts eliminated, chances are you can afford to give up the side hustle and return to a “normal” work schedule, enjoying more free time when not engaged with your primary job.

If you are hustling to put a child through school, or save up for a down payment on a home, or some other finite financial goal, then chances are your end point is also fairly well defined. However, if you are working two jobs so one spouse can stay home with the kids, or so you can realize your dream of early retirement, or some other long-term financial goal, the hustle could become a permanent fixture in your life. And that’s the point when it could become a drain.

Side hustles are great for boosting your income, but they come with one major risk:  lifestyle inflation. As cash flow increases so does the temptation to increase spending. Pretty soon you start counting earnings from your part time career as part of your regular income. You can now afford that bigger house, and can easily make another car payment thanks to your side job. Be careful. This is a spending trap, and one that if you fall victim to, can lead to years of pain and financial suffering.

While working a side hustle do your best to keep spending flat. Throw your extra income at your goal, and only that goal, while resisting the temptation to use that money towards lifestyle spending. Once your goal is achieved, it will be much easier to evaluate your new financial picture, decide the things that are most important at that stage in your life, and make a clean break from your side hustle as Amiyrah appears to have done.

Always strive for balance in your financial life. Do not allow earning money to completely consume you, even if you are doing so for a noble goal. Debt can always be paid back a little slower, and savings can be accumulated a little longer. However, you only get one shot at maintaining your health and well-being, and your relationship with loved ones.

The following article contains condensed excerpts from $100K to Nothing – Layoff: My journey from a six figure income to the unemployment line in the worst economy of our time by Dan Holt. You can find out more about the book at www.100ktonothing.com.

Hi, I’m Dan and I’m unemployed. But it wasn’t always this way…I used to be employed, borderline overworked, and well compensated for my effort and effectiveness.

One pleasant spring afternoon, while enjoying lunch with my then 4 year old son, I received a phone call from my boss. I was not alarmed, because my boss resides on the West coast and I in Texas, so the 2 hour time difference often led to calls at odd hours. After taking a sip of water, I answered the phone and my boss paused before talking. A pause is never good. When bosses call, they speak their minds quickly so they can get on to other business. I was soon to find out how bad this pause was.

“Your position has been eliminated,” my boss said. Sure, there were some words before and after, but I don’t really remember them because these 5 words consumed my brain for the entire call-and for many weeks following. This was my first layoff, and although I am only 30 and the likelihood of another in the next 37 years is high, I hope it is my last.

After I calmed myself down, I thought about the best way to be laid off: the exit strategy that would be most beneficial to my future. I came up with these guidelines to help anyone else who faces a layoff, which seems to be everyone these days:

1. Ask for an explanation, but don’t expect or demand one. If you are laid off, you deserve a reason from your boss, but you often will not get one. Accept that fact quickly. If you belabor the point, you run the risk of harming the relationship with the person who will be your best reference to future employers-and you stand to gain little more than a vague excuse.
2. Maintain a professional image throughout the ordeal, only letting your guard down when you get home. The people you work with will also be references to give to future employers, and you need their last image of you to be as positive as possible. Crying and cursing as you’re escorted to the elevator would be a perfectly human response, but not a very strategic one.
3. Finally, let it go. Don’t spend your time over-analyzing what happened. A job search is tough, and exponentially so in this recession. You have too much work to do to waste your time thinking about the work you won’t be doing anymore.

As I read these words now, months after my downsizing, they seem simple. But at the time, there was nothing harder to do than suppress my emotions as much as I could and follow these steps. If you face it, this will be hard, but it will be the most advantageous thing you can do.

After all, telling your interviewer that she cannot contact your former employer or colleagues is a huge red flag, and with 14.5 million other unemployed people competing for the limited number of job openings, a red flag can mean elimination from the pool of applicants without even a chance to explain it.

After “side hustling” for the last couple years I now find it difficult to remember a time when I wasn’t mowing lawns, building websites, or writing articles. Though we got by on my my salary, we knew it would take forever to pay down debts and meet our savings goals without adding to our income. I had also recently gone through the process of surviving a layoff at my previous employer, but the experience left me feeling less secure by any form of employment.

Break The Living Paycheck To Paycheck Cycle

Less than a year ago I shared a statistic that nearly half of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. After the labor market’s free fall since January of this year, I suspect that number is even higher today. Relying on a single source of income has simply become too risky for many families, forcing non-working spouses into the workforce, or forcing a working spouse to take on a part time job.

A side hustle is a sort of part time job, but it typically involves you building something around your current trade. Perhaps you write software for a living and can build websites on the side. If you work in construction, perhaps you could build privacy fences or decks for homeowners in the evenings and on the weekends. The idea is to find something you are already good at and cultivate a little side business around that hustle.

Chances are you can make much more money working a side hustle than working at a part time job for someone else, particularly in a retail environment. The real beauty of a side hustle is that over time it will start to generate a second source of cash flow for your family. No longer will you be absolutely dependent on your full-time job for paying the mortgage, keeping the lights on, and putting food on the table.

But How Much Can I Really Make Working Nights and Weekends?

The answer depends on the hustle you decide to take up, how passionate you are about your idea, and how hard you work to promote it. I’ve seen some people work really hard for six months and then flame out because they were only making  a “few hundred dollars a month.”  They made the mistake of comparing a side hustle to their full-time job.

Think about how many expenses you could cover with just a “few hundred dollars” of extra income each month from a side hustle if you should lose your full time job. It might make the difference in keeping your car to help you find another job, or the difference in keeping power on at your house, or food on the table for your family. It might help you cover the costs of COBRA insurance, other utilities, and maybe even supplement your severance pay to make it last longer.

The point is that by earning income in addition to your regular earnings you are, over time, making a potential layoff less and less of a major financial event. Coupled with a solid emergency fund, you would have little reason to fear losing your job, except that this is a particularly hard time to find another one.

Dedicate Side Hustle Earnings To A Specific Cause

To stay motivated, try dedicating your side hustle earnings, or at least a major portion of it, to a particular cause in your family financial plan. Perhaps you could use all of the earnings to help speed up your debt snowball (this is how we use side hustle earnings). Once you are debt free use the extra income to build savings, and then save for a major purchase such as a down payment on a home, or a new(er) car.

Over the last couple years of working two jobs I have found this strategy helps keep me motivated when I want to throw in the towel. If I simply lumped all the earnings in with my regular income it might get lost in the shuffle, and I might simply be tempted to raise our style of living to match my total income. However, we have made a point to continue to live on my current earnings from my full time job while whittling away debt with side hustle money.

Do you currently have a side hustle, or an idea for starting one?

The following guest post was submitted by Neal Frankle, CFP.  Check out the footer of this post for more information on Neal, and his website.

Lots of people have been laid-off recently.  As a result, they’re looking for any kind of work they can find. I respect people who are willing to do whatever they can to support themselves and their family. But sometimes the “cure” compounds the problem.  Let me explain by way of example.

Mike was a writer and like many in his field, he was laid off several months ago.  Jenny, his wife became the sole support for the family.  Mike looked for work every day but after 4 months still came up empty handed.  The pressure was mounting – financially and emotionally. The couple was facing the real possibility of losing their home.

Finally, Jenny confronted Mike and made it very clear that she expected him to do whatever it took to make money – regardless of what work it was or where he found it.

Mike understood Jenny.  Later that day, he saw a “help wanted” sign at the local book store and applied for a full-time job.  He wanted to do whatever he could to bring home as much money as possible. Mike didn’t get the full-time gig but was offered some hours on the weekend.  That was the best thing that could have happened for Mike and Jenny.

Some questions you might be asking yourself about now might include:

“Does Neal have something against Mike?”  or “Is Neal out of his mind?” or “Does Neal have something against bookstores?”  The answer is “no” to all three questions.

It would have been …..eh……”silly”….. for Mike to take the full-time job and I’ll explain why.

The bookstore was offering him less than $12 per hour. So even if he worked full-time, he would not have earned enough to hold on to the house.  The $12 hour job was a financial placebo for Jenny.  And to make matters worse, he would have been stuck in that job forever because he wouldn’t have the time to look for better opportunities.

Here’s the approach I suggest if you are out of work and facing similar difficulties:

1. Don’t panic.

If you do, you’ll end up making decisions out of fear and ones you’ll likely soon regret. This is the time when you need all your genius brain power.  Cool down.

1. Be rational & get the facts.

How much money does it cost your family to live each month?  Do you have any savings?  What else can you cut to reduce your cost of living? (Hint: if its not food, shelter or medical expenses, it can be cut.)  How much longer can you hold out?  How likely is it that you’ll find work in your own profession?

When Mike and Jenny did this, they concluded that they had enough money to hold on to the house for another 5 months.  They figured that even if Mike took the low-paying job, they would only be able to hold on to the house for 3 additional months.  So they had to decide between:

a)      Taking a chance that Mike would find work in his area of expertise and therefore creating the possibility that they might hold on to their home.  If not, they’d be out in 5 months.

b)      Working at the bookstore and almost surely lose their home in 8 months.

1. Make a decision and execute it. The couple decided that Mike would work on the weekends at the bookstore.  This allowed him to earn some money while at the same time, have the opportunity to look for better paying jobs during the week.  They understood that they had nothing to lose by going this route – and they were right. If Mike doesn’t find a higher paying job in 5 months, he’ll go back to the bookstore or pizza parlor or whatever and take any and all work he can.

When you are facing extreme financial pressure, don’t grasp at the first apparent solution.  Take the time to examine all the facts and try to think outside the box.  You may find that the best solution is not always the most apparent.

Have you ever been in a similar situation?  Do you think that Mike should have taken any job possible?

About the author: Neal Frankle found himself in a financially fragile situation at the age of 17. Both his parents passed away while he was still in high school, leaving behind a small insurance settlement. Neal sought out a financial advisor to help him invest his nest egg so that it would help put him through college. Instead, the advisor charted a self-serving course and was on the verge of burning through the money when Neal realized what was happened and fired him just in time to avoid losing everything.

The experience had a deep impact on Neal and formed in him a lifelong desire to help people learn to make smart financial decisions. Today, with more than twenty-five years of experience in the financial services industry, Neal is an author and avid blogger. Subscribe to his blog at www.wealthpilgrim.com.