Thursday, March 19, 2009

Lost your job? How lucky can you get?

My friend George Torok, the Power Marketing expert, wrote a fabulous article in the Hamilton Spectator this week. His theme: “Luck is more a matter of perspective than it is the roll of the dice... Because how you feel will determine your actions and outcome.”

If you've recently lost your job, you probably feel unlucky. But that may not be the case, says Torok. “If you lost your job today -- you have a lot of company and help available. And it's socially acceptable to tell your out-of-work story. Lucky you.”

He goes on to tell his own story: about entering the workforce in 1979 just as a recession was brewing. He lost his first job in 1979 and his second in 1980. Between 1979 and 1983 he had eight different jobs, sometimes two at the same time, supporting a young family.

In the end, those experiences taught him the lessons needed to build his own business and write his signature book on personal marketing.

His money quote:
“Recently, the news quoted an individual who lost his job after 28 years. He was complaining. Meanwhile I was thinking how lucky he was -- for 28 years all he had to do was show up and do the same job every day.
How lucky can you get?”


You are your own lucky control board.

You can read the whole story here.
Or learn more about George at www.Torok.com.

Two views of Hamilton: Choose your perspective







By the way, how did I find out about George's article? He Twittered it. I clicked through and read it online. I liked it, so I blogged about it.

This is how marketing works today. If you have something to say, getting the word out has never been easier.

Lucky us.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your way of thinking. Losing your job does not need to be a negative experience. It needs to be looked at as an opportunity to start fresh.

George Torok said...

Rick,
Thanks for mentioning my article. You just proved that Twitter works.

By the way - how did I know about this post? Google Alerts.

George

Rick Spence said...

Thanks for closing the circle, George. New "social media" technologies (Twitter, blogs, Google Alerts, etc.) are indeed creating a parallel universe of communications opportunities, at a time when the conventional media are a) too expensive for most businesses, and b) losing their impact anyway.
It's tremendously exciting.