Furloughed? Make Your Days Off Count
Starting today, over 650,000 civilian U.S Defense Department employees will be forced to take an unpaid day off a week. This equals out to a 20% reduction in pay! Thats crazy! Being that most Americans are already living paycheck to paycheck, the last thing needed is a reduction in pay!
If you have a financial plan in place and adequate savings, this may not affect you as much. This may be just the time you needed to take that vacation you have been putting off. However, if you are not prepared, you will likely waste these days, which could essentially be a start of something great. Here are a few tips to make those furloughed days count:
Explore Your Entrepreneurial Dreams
This is an awesome time to bring out the entrepreneur in you! There have been many amazing companies that have started once someone was laid-off or furloughed. Even as a government employee, you are now noticing that there is no such thing as a “secure job”. All employees are indispensable at any moment. Now is the time to create an action plan to turn your passion into profit and take control of your own income! Take a few hours and map out your new venture. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get started:
-Who’s your target audience?
-Are there any start-up cost?
-How will you market your product or service?
-How much will you charge for your product or service?
Take Action
Instead of moping around, being angry at the secure job you thought you had. Take action! Do that thing that you have been putting off. It may be something that can help you get further organized, like cleaning out your closets, or going through the tall pile of mail sitting on your kitchen counter. Whatever it is, take action on whatever items you have been putting off.
Make Doctor Appointments
I’m sure you did not expect this to be on the list to make your days off count, but it is very important! People often use work or other excuses as reasons why they don’t have time to make Doctors appointments. Now that you are forced to take the day off, this is the perfect time to fit those appointments in. As an employee and especially as a new entrepreneur, you will need to be healthy and full of energy to launch your new entrepreneurial adventure!
