Life After a Layoff or Downsizing

Life After a Layoff or Downsizing is for people who are either fed up with where they work or anxious that they will lose their job and see self-employment on the horizon. It starts with the reasons why people should be concerned. Even though the economy seems to be recovering, there is always concern about the future, a concern that is exasperated by some trends that have been developing over several decades: a mutual lack of loyalty between employers and employees, a tendency for people to seek their own destiny and change careers more than once during their lifetimes, and a willingness by employers to outsource jobs.
The text, written from the author's own experiences, aims to help people answer some vital questions: How can I sense that my job is at risk before it happens, and what can I do about it before the axe falls? Should I stay with my current employer if I have a choice? Should I choose to become self-employed?
The self-employment option is the one that the book concentrates on the most. It helps the reader to decide if he or she is suited to self-employment, and it does this by outlining all the decisions that must be faced: decisions about income, benefits, stress, family life and many more. It presents detailed advice on how to write a business plan that will help the reader decide what type of business to launch, how to promote it, and how to ensure success as much as success in business can be assured. It shows how to set the fee for a service, how much time to budget for marketing and growth and how to avoid pitfalls and aim for success.
Throughout it offers advice from the wisdom of the ages drawn from Scripture, and the wisdom of the moderns from successful business leaders and leading business consultants and teachers. This advice is offered to help people overcome the stress involved with losing a job and embarking on self-employment. It is also offered for people who suspect there is a conflict in business between serving God and serving mammon. It shows that for many of the most successful people in business, there is no conflict: the wisdom of modern entrepreneurs is a more modern way of expressing some of the wisdom in Scripture. It boils down to serving clients and customers with a high level of excellence; prosperity will follow.