Recipe for Creme de Solvency

On August 15, 2000 I started a very lucrative information technology (IT) consulting assignment. Life was grand for almost a year. Every Monday the client flew me from New York to Charleston, SC and back home on Friday. They paid for the hotel plus all meals and entertainment. There were 6 other IT consultants, on this assignment, getting the same treatment. We had a grand time. The monthly billing was extraordinary. The consulting company I worked for was fat and happy. I was totally on top of the world. My wife and I took quite a few vacations during this time. Weekend getaways out the ying yang. One time I surprised my wife by taking her to Disney World for her birthday and stayed at one of the Disney hotels. It cost a small king's ransom, but I knew I could make it up with 2.5 days of billing on this consulting assignment. We went to the Dominican Republic for a awesome time. We saw where the Vietnam war river scenes were filmed, in the Domincan Republic, for an old classic movie called "Apocalypse Now". Could life be any better?

On July 6, 2001 I crashed and burned . . . . NOT, but the consulting assignment did come to an abrupt halt. I could have whined about it and blamed everyone under the sun. Life did change dramtically, but I wasn't down and out.

The bottom fell out of the IT industry during this time. Don't even dream about blaming it on 9/11. Salaries and consulting fees for the IT industry were going south anyway. 9/11 just sped up the process. It was going to happen anyway. Hello!!

Here's the recipe I used to cook up some solvency.

Ingredients

1 pity party
201 lbs of pma (your weight can be substituted)
1 oz of Love from each family member
1 Mirror
1 Well developed network
1 Newsletter written by Rod Colon
1 Career backup plan (business back up plan can be substituted)
12 oz of concentrated kick ass "never say die" attitude
1 hug
1/2 Dash of giving thanks to the almighty for all current blessings


Mixing Directions
Take a week and have a pity party feeling sorry for yourself. After that, look in the mirror everyday with 201lbs [substitute your weight] of positive mental attitude (PMA). Give the person you see a big fat sloppy wet kiss and say "I love You. You're a good person with unique skills that can be utilized by other organizations. There is no one in this world like you." Call people in your network to see if they know someone who can utilize your skills. If you only know 3 people and they all live under a rock and don't speak any language human beings can understand, then meet some new people.

Read Rod Colon's weekly newsletter. During 2001 - beginning of 2003 Rod's newsletter held thousands of IT professionals mentally solvent, so they wouldn't jump out the window. It was a rough time for everyone. It worked for me. Fall back on the career/business backup plan, which dictates having alternate streams of income. From childhood, I have always developed different ways of having income. Since I had developed other profit centers, I was able to pay bills and stay solvent, when I got dropped from the consulting assignment. I also reached out to people in my network to explore other opportunities. Mix in the 12oz of concentrated kick ass "never say die" attitude by having faith in yourself that you can get past any obstacle. Every adversity has an ounce of opportunity in it. Hug your children and your significant other for 5 minutes everyday. Reach out to your family and make damn sure you attend family functions.

While all of the above marinates for everyday of your life, say thanks every day to the almighty being (for me it's GOD) for what you have right now - your health, family, children or life in general. You're 6 feet above ground still, or you wouldn't be reading this. That’s' worth giving thanks.

Cheers!!
CEReid (pronounced SirReid)