Episode 27 - Separating fact from fiction

for a very long time. And now I've arrived at the ripe old age. And I've tried things more out of the box than a typical person in the course of their life. And I've had a lot of experiences. And I think that I can speak on this pretty well. And one of the things one of the main things is the most important thing to figure out who you are, what you like, what you don't like. And that, even though that is the, the way to do it, it's where most people struggle.

They can't figure out what they like their head is swimming with the fact that they hate their current job so much, or they feel so trapped by whatever circumstances. And you know, I'm going to try to cover a lot of those things. It's, it's a fairly deep topic, but I'm going to share with you what I've learned. And as usual, I'm hoping that that will help.

The first thing is, I came to the understanding that you know what I need to take a minute and take all these thoughts that are mulling around in my head that have entered from different job experiences I've had and different interactions I've had. And I need to take a minute and go to a nice quiet place. And I need to, to sort through this stuff. Figure out what it is you didn't like about your previous

jobs, or your current job. Now this, I'm going to preface this, I'm sorry, I'm going to digress and say, This isn't going to help you if you're just a lazy butt that wants to figure out how to live life without working. So I'm entering all of this with the assumption that you're motivated. You have a good work ethic, you're just struggling with where you want to be in life and what you want to do. And you think you're going to lose your mind if you keep doing what you're doing for

the next 30 years. So going back, you figure out, get a pencil and a piece of paper if you have to. But however you organize your thoughts, figure out what it is that made you unhappy. Think back to each job, write down the things that were just, you know, grinding on you. And you will probably begin to see a pattern of things that don't make you happy on these other jobs or where you're

currently at. And then make a list of things that you liked about certain jobs, whatever aspect of it, something that you liked about it. A for instance, maybe they were very good about scheduling about time off. Maybe they paid really well. Whatever it is, write those things down. And again, you will probably begin to see patterns emerge. Once you have that down, and I don't want to diminish how difficult that is. Go back and assess you from cradle till whatever age you are now.

Really think and be honest with you about who you are, how your mind works, the kind of environments that you enjoy the things you like and don't like in life times you've had a great time, people you've had a great time with things that you enjoy doing, what you find yourself doing, when you're free to do whatever you want. And again, you will probably begin to see patterns emerge.

And then what you want to do is meld these three columns you have together and look for a common ground if you do this and if you're brutally honest with yourself. And don't try to justify when maybe you were wrong on a job or it was just your own laziness or ineptitude. But when you were really truly putting your best efforts into a job and still weren't happy there. Or you had a place that you were

really happy. But for any number of reasons, it didn't last, you couldn't stay there, maybe the place closed, maybe you had to move, I don't know. But if you're brutally honest with yourself, right there, you've got it. Because it's not hard to go and find a way to monetize and make money at whatever emerges as what you need to be doing. The hard part is figuring out these three columns.

And once you, you know, like I said, once you get that together, then you you will know, this is what I need to do, I would have never thought of doing this thing. But this is an environment that I enjoy. These are like minded people. It's it cetera, you know, I can, I'm going to share just real quickly, things that I noticed in jobs that I worked out, and when I when I went into accounting 12 or 13 years ago, you know, I'm not going to count the 20 years in food and beverage.

Not right now. I'll share something with you about that in a minute. But when I went into accounting, first of all, I was almost 50 years old, when I completed my degree, I went into accounting before my degree was done, and found work in it, but I just couldn't figure out it's like, why every place that I've worked, have there been these problems? You know, it just we didn't quite finger groove

together well. So being honest with myself, I knew that I'd put in a good effort, I knew that I had a good work ethic. I never lied to anybody. When I came in the door about my experience level, they were a little dishonest with me about being okay with that. But what I what I finally clicked and figured out is and maybe this is just, you know, typical of the accounting field, I do hear it from a lot of people in accounting, but what tends to happen is a couple of things.

Either you go to a company that is a size that they don't have a real full accounting department, they've budgeted enough money to hire one person to be the chief cook and bottle washer, they want you to do everything they want you to do the accounts payable, the accounts receivable, they want you to work on the general ledger, do the bank reconciliations do closings and prepare reports for

them. It's a lot. And in this, the cases that I've experienced anyway, the companies were really, the volume was a little bit too much for one person. And it required an extraordinary effort, which translated into stress for me. So you get that you get people who really aren't putting the proper money into their accounting department that they should. And so they churn through people because people get burnt out and overworked.

But the other overriding thing that happens is they hire you to keep the book straight to do things, right. And then they don't do what you tell them to do. And then they come back to you, as if it's your fault. So that was the cycle that I found that I was caught in, working in places that were understaffed, and therefore, they were paying me too little for what I was doing. And it was kind of a mess. And when I told them the things that they needed to do to straighten out the messes.

They put on a good dog and pony show of Oh, yeah, yeah, we're gonna do that we're gonna do that. And then they didn't. And then they came back to me and blamed me for why they still had a mess. So I started thinking, Well, what can I do? Because I, you know, okay, ideally, I want to find that perfect company out there, that they're busy running their business, and they don't have time to keep the books up the way that they should. So they, they recognize this, they want

to hire someone to do so. And they don't care. They're gonna do whatever you tell them to do. Just keep my books and I'll go run my company, and we're done. But I suspect it's going to be difficult. I found it would be difficult to find that type of company because that type of company, they have a great symbiotic relationships going on with whomever is doing their accounting, and they're not churning through employees. So positions don't come up often

for those companies. The companies that you see that come up often with openings are companies that if you peel that onion back a little bit, you're gonna find that they churn through accounting stuff. Okay, I realized this I was my resume was on indeed. And so they would email Tell me, whenever a job came up that met my qualifications, and I started notice trends, I would see the same companies every two to three months with the same

job posting out there. And then I also got better at reading between the lines and realizing, Oh, this is just going to be another situation like I hate it, where they're gonna want me to come in and do everything. And they're not really paying me for doing the volume that I'm doing. And there's really no future because there is no accounting department, you are it. You know, but I noticed these

things. So but But it all started with me recognizing what I wanted out of an accounting position, what had been my problem in the past, and drawing on that experience, to look at job postings and realize the things that I just said, you know, recognizing that I'd be stepping into the same problem, or realizing these are companies that churn through people, because every two or three months, they're posting the same job. Well, at a certain point, it's probably not the people you're hiring, it's

probably you. There's something wrong with this job. So that's an example from my life. What I was gonna say about the food industry, I worked 20 years in food and beverage, and I've been, you know, a general manager and assistant manager, I've been aligned, cook a prep cook out, you know, you name it, I've done it in food. And I came to realize the food and beverage industry is a pretty easy industry to get into. And to

advance in. It's like Battlefield promotions, because they don't have a lot of longevity. People who, who even say within the industry, tend to be a little bit of gypsy blood in them, they don't stay. So if you come on board, you do your job, you show up for a shift. Pretty soon, you're going to get what I mean by battlefield promotion, if you haven't heard the term is, you're going to end up getting promoted to something just because you're still standing. So that part of it was good.

Generally, the food industry pays pretty well, better than most people realize. And I'm not talking fast food, although fast food, it might surprise some of you how well their general managers and assistant managers do. It's not unheard of to be working at McDonald's making 60,000 a year as a general manager, and having pretty good benefits, including tuition reimbursement. But in general, the industry pays better than you think you may get into it at a low pain

end. But at like I just covered, you can advance pretty quickly. And they don't really look for a lot. Sometimes the most of the time, the bar is so low that it's you know, simply if you show up for a shift on time, and do your job, you're the greatest thing since sliced bread in their mind. But what I realized was, it's difficult hours, it's very demanding, you kind of end up in a position where you're running this business for someone else's, if it's your own, it takes that kind of

dedication to do it, right. And because of all the things I just mentioned, there's a ton of competition out there, at certain level in certain types of food industry, like you know, four star, five star restaurants, that kind of thing. But, and there's, in a kind of broad sense, there's a lot of corruption, a lot of things in the food industry, where they kind of skirt around the rules and play a lot of

games. But you know, at any rate, I realize that that's something you have to stay in because you love it. Or you have to be someone who enjoys a certain lifestyle, which typically is kind of a a nightlife sort of partying type atmosphere. And that I don't know, maybe at one time, that was me, but I grew out of it. And I didn't really want to stay in that industry anymore.

And I realized that that was not going to be something that I could carry into old age, I needed something else, which is why I went back to school finished a degree in accounting and change careers, because that's something I can do into old age, which I'm heading into rapidly. But if you're younger, and that type of environment, appeals to you, you can do well in that industry.

But for the purposes of this discussion, finding what you like, see, this is the thing where I mean, you know, I could have stayed in food and beverage and I could have stayed a general manager and I could have there's places I could be making $100,000 a year as a general manager, but it's very, it's very demanding on your time. You is not unusual to have phone calls coming in all hours of the day and night. And that can wreak havoc on your family life, if that's the thing

for you. So, you know, I made a choice for me that I didn't, that wasn't for me. But maybe that's for you. I don't know. But I would definitely advise start with those columns that I told you, the things you didn't like about jobs you've had, from your first job through now, the things you liked about from your first shot through now, and a good assessment of yourself. But the bottom line is, too many people stay in a job for decades, that is just sucking their soul out of them.

And you don't have to, I don't mean, you can walk in there and quit today. But you can start to take steps to get yourself someplace different. You know, no matter how good your job is, there's always a better one out there. It pays better, better benefits, better lifestyle for you, or just, it's more in tune with you.

And I always tell people when I was growing up the the, the what we were taught, I should say, I don't really know if that's how people thought but but we were taught was, you know, find a good steady job, and you stay there till you retire. And that thinking thank God changed along the way, because these companies didn't really truly properly take care of people that did that even 40 years ago, and it's 1000 times worse now.

I always say that. Companies never stopped looking for income streams, why should you stop looking? They never stop looking for new customers. New business? Why should you stop doing it look at yourself as a business that you're running. You're not being disloyal to anybody. Okay, because if they found someone who could do your job better than you at a lower price, and it helped their bottom line, they would do it.

And heartbeat, because that's how you really run a successful business emotions don't come into play, you make decisions without any emotion. Just based on the facts. It sounds brutal, and it sounds cruel, but that is how a successful business is run. So why should you not keep your resume fresh, keep it out there. You know, if you're out there on Indeed, and they send you job listings because it matches your resume. You don't have to take the job, you don't even have to

interview. But it doesn't hurt to know what opportunities are out there for you. And to know what the going rate is for someone with your skill set education experience, whatever it is. If nothing else, that's that's good information to go into a review with. You've researched, you've kept on top of it, you know that what you're asking is

a reasonable amount of money. If you don't want to give it to me, Well, I've got these five emails that indeed sent me that somebody will give it to me, you have to take care of you. Your loyalties of company is to the extent of what they are paying you to do. Bottom line, that is the end of that conversation. That's the extent of loyalty they're going to have to you. That's the extent of loyalty you

should have to them. Now, I'm not going to say that somewhere there isn't some exception to that rule, because life is just not that full of absolutes. But generally speaking, that's the rule. Your loyalty to them stops to the extent of what they hired you to do and what they pay you. And the same can be said for them. So keep these things in mind. Always be looking for new opportunities. And we change as

we go through life. What was something that you loved in your 20s may not be something that you love now, in your 30s or 40s. And sometimes, you know, life has moved along, you've taken on responsibilities, maybe you got a new car, maybe you got a mortgage, maybe you got married, maybe you have kids, that you're a little more reticent to make change because the company you're at is taking care of you really good. Well, that doesn't mean they're the only company out there that would take care

of you in that way. It still doesn't mean you can't be looking if you're not happy. And always keep that in mind. Because there is no company out there that isn't constantly open to the idea of other revenue streams. They're low Again, why shouldn't you be. And with all of that said, I do want to remind you if you're someplace else that you're not happy.

And it's not something you can get out of right away, I mean, there will always be times in life, either because of financial obligations that you've taken on, or just the status of the economy, that you will have to do a job that you despise. Every time you get up and get dressed, to go out the door to it, you feel like you're walking, too, a death sentence. But it doesn't have to be your status forever. Just keep telling yourself that this is not where I'm going to be

forever. Maybe I'm in school, working to be someplace else, maybe I'm trying to pay off student loans, or some other financial obligation. But it isn't going to be forever. Believe in yourself, always be looking for another opportunity. But like I said, Don't kick yourself too hard. If right now, you're someplace that you have

to be for now. That happens, it's happened to me, there have been many economic times in my life that I have had to stay someplace that I knew I was under I was overqualified for I knew that. The people sitting there talking to me like crap treating me like crap, I didn't have the experience, education, age, whatever that I did. But you know what, I sucked it up. And I dealt with it until I could make a move.

But you know, there was an old saying, My parents used to always tell me never get let go of one rung of the ladder until you have a firm grip on the next. Because that can lead to financial ruin. But if you have a financial obligation, it's keeping you someplace that you hate. Sometimes the fastest way out of it is take on a second job. Take out more hours where you're at. Or if it's something that you can sell, and pay off what you owe on it, and replace it at a lower price than do that.

You know, I mean, that's it sounds extreme. But it's not. When you think about that horrible feeling you get in the pit of your stomach every time you walk out the door to go to this job that you can't stand and they make you feel like crap, and they tear down your self esteem. And they're creating mental unwellness for you. Maybe getting rid of that feeling is worth more than the shiny car in the driveway, or the house that's way beyond your means.

Maybe it might be worth putting a for sale sign on that house. And moving someplace where you can get a lower house payment, maybe it might be worth refinancing that house, maybe it might be worth selling that vehicle if you can sell it for enough to pay off what you owe on it. And then even if you have to finance again, financing a more affordable vehicle. Lots of things to look at. But just keep in mind, it's happened to everyone at some time or another.

But you don't have to wallow in the misery start making a plan. What is my fastest way I can get out of this place? Can I kind of go work at another similar company and make a little more money per hour? Or is it a little closer my house so it doesn't cost me as much money to get there? Can I sell something and get rid of some of this debt? You know, maybe even you need to file a bankruptcy and start clean. I don't know there's a lot of different scenarios and situations out there.

But I hope some of this has helped you guys. I hope as always sharing some what I go through or been through. Maybe if you're feeling like an island unto yourself, it might make you feel a little better to know that you're not. I've been there at least so that's at least you and me. We've been there but believe me a lot more people have been there and if there's a way out. So until we meet again, enjoy your day. Enjoy the rest of your day.