Reinvention: The Revival of Small Businesses for Those Who Have Lost Their Jobs.

Posted on | March 12, 2010 | 6 Comments

     Whether you’ve seen the movie Up in the Air or not, you probably know that George Clooney’s character has the misfortune of informing people that they have lost their jobs.  Director Jason Reitman made the brilliant decision of documenting actual people facing some of the fallout of the Great Recession.  I saw Reitman appear on an episode of Oprah, and he said that he just couldn’t imagine filming anyone other than those who have faced the harsh reality of receiving the axe.  As you watch the movie, you can see the pain, disillusionment, and heart-wrenching, raw fear in their faces.  You cannot help but empathize with them as you share the moments when they are told, “You no longer have a job.” With those few words, their whole lives change in an instant.

     Like Clooney’s character, for years I had been a frequent flier traveling to companies peddling software and consulting services for a large software provider.  I worked nights and weekends, I felt the pressure of hitting a sales quota, and I spent more time away from home than I care to admit.  To me, it was all about making money and hitting my quota.  It was all about the company.  The kill.  The win.  And, to thank me for my efforts and long work weeks, I didn’t get a pat on the back.  Instead, I got a pink slip.  Last year I was yet another casualty of a company that chose to reorganize and downsize.  “This isn’t based on your performance, Ronda,” I was told.  “You, unfortunately, are just in the wrong geographical location at the wrong time.”  I didn’t have the pleasure of looking into Clooney’s eyes when I was let go.  Instead I was disposed of swiftly in an abrupt, thirty minute phone call with a person from human resources and a sales director.  “Never let them see you cry, Peanut,” my dad always advised me when we discussed business, and I was thankful that I could deal with the news in private.  I’m sure if I would have had to have walked into an office and been told that I lost my job of eight years by a stranger and a sales director that I barely knew, I would’ve had a meltdown much like many of those in the movie had.

     After being told the news, I hung up the phone and stared at my computer in disbelief.  Then I cried.  Losing my job felt like a death, after all. The rug was pulled out from under me with no warning.  Next, I decided to drown my sorrows, and I drank for three days.  When I sobered up, I decided that I better list my financial assets and liabilities, and I wrote ideas about what I might want to do next. 

     I was one of the lucky ones.  I found a job with a small, startup consulting company within a few days.  At first, I felt refreshed and excited to get out from under the wing of corporate bureaucracy and to be able to run things the way I wanted to run them.  Doing things my way sounded great in theory, but last summer in the midst of the recession most I.T. budgets were frozen and few companies were investing in consulting services.  Without anyone to sell to, that meant no money was coming into the firm, which meant I was once again handed a pink slip.  “Sorry, Ronda, you are an exceptional employee, and we wouldn’t have made it this far without you.  Unfortunately, we can no longer pay you, but you’re welcome to work for free until things pick up.”  (Like that was going to happen, I thought.)

     So, I was back at square one looking for a new job for the second time in a year—a position that I was very unaccustomed to.  I did the job search thing day after day, networking with old colleagues and customers, and searching job boards, but as the holidays and fiscal year end approached, things got quiet.  No executives wanted to deal with reviewing resumes, interviewing, and hiring; they wanted to close their final deals, their books, and start wrapping holiday gifts.  I quickly became more and more discouraged. 

     After the first of the year, the media announced that the economy was turning a corner, and that budgets were opening up and jobs were getting posted.  Chin-up, I regrouped and spent day after day looking for a job.   This lasted for another three weeks until I finally had a meltdown.  It was January 18, 2010.  I stared at my computer and the job boards, and I cried the entire morning. 

     After a few hours of wiping the tears from my cheeks and my keyboard, I realized something.   That old saying, “If you do the same thing over and over, you will produce the same results,” hit me like a ton of bricks.  That’s exactly what I had been doing.  I had been doing the same thing over and over for months, and I had gotten nowhere.  It was then that I realized that I needed to do something different.  It was then that I realized that I wanted to do something different.  I wanted to get up in the morning and actually be excited about starting a new day instead of dreading it.  I wanted to do something new and with intention.  I had made the conscious decision that if I was going to make money pursuing my passion, then great; if not, at least I would have a focus.  A change.  It was at that moment that I decided to focus upon my dream of becoming an interior decorator. 

     I hold a computer science undergraduate degree and an M.B.A. in International Business, both of which are a far cry from interior decorating, but for years I’d been tapping into my creative side helping friends and family decorate their homes by helping them pick out furniture, accessories, paint color, and flooring.  I decorated my own custom home on Lake Keowee, South Carolina, which was quickly recognized and published in a local magazine, Upstate Lake Living.  Everyone kept urging me to run an interior decorating business on the side, but with the pressure of my corporate job, I just never thought I had the time or energy to launch the business.  I had nothing but time now.  I could create the company concept, market the literature, develop the campaign, and create the blog in the way of which I’d always dreamed.  So it was on the cold, January day that I reinvented myself and pledged that I would create a small business that revolved around my passion.

     Within days, I launched Decor On The Lake, LLC with a focus on interior decorating and pre-construction consulting for those who love lake living.  Shortly after, I created my blog which focuses on interior decorating tips, feedback, and inspirational ideas for lake home owners or anyone else who wants to listen and laugh.  Although I’ve only been on my new journey a couple of months, my passion is tireless.  My friends and family cannot believe the change in me.  I am actually excited to work on weekends and at night, and the reason is simply because I love what I’m doing.  As I build my business network, I’ve become a believer in social media marketing by writing content and creating videos on my blog, posting tweets, submitting to RSS feeds, and updating my status on Facebook to attract several audiences. 

      I give credit to two of my closest friends’ husbands who have launched successful small businesses for convincing me that social media marketing is the wave of the future:  sportschatplace.com dedicated to sports fans and mysticoutdoors.com dedicated to one-of-a-kind, custom fishing reels, rods, and gear.    I have also learned from two other resources which have helped jumpstart my social media campaign:  Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuck has been nothing short of being one of the most inspirational books I’ve read in awhile.  I urge anyone who has an untapped talent to read it, live it, breathe it.   You cannot help but get energized by what Gary has to say when it comes to social media.  I’ve also been taking Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind course.  Yaro is one of the most recognized bloggers in the social media industry, and his knowledge, forum, and advice have been informative and have saved me a ton of time doing my own research on the web.

     It was in the midst of a homework assignment that I came across fellow blogger Karl Miller in my new industry.   A little over a year ago, Miller left a long time career in the financial services industry after his employment contract was cut at Freddie Mac.  Shortly after that, he decided to follow his passion to completely switch careers and reinvent himself to create a custom furniture company Hudson Goods.  After researching his story, I quickly knew that Karl and I had a lot in common: me with interior decorating, he in furniture; me with my humorous writing and video style, he with his (watch his informative video blogs where his Jack Russell terriers try to steal the show).   I approached Karl and asked if he would entertain an interview with me, and he graciously accepted. 

Ringo:  What made you be your own boss and create your company?

Miller:  I turned 50, work was hard to find and I took the time to sit back and evaluate if this is how I wanted to live the rest of my life. I became increasingly frustrated with the rising prices of home furniture and the deteriorating quality of on-line furniture stores. And I thought why does there have to be only one Pottery Barn and one Restoration Hardware in my lifetime? I felt there was a need for more choice, particularly for my style which is casual living. I do not believe that rooms are meant to be looked at. Instead, they are meant to be enjoyed and lived in. It’s a back to basics mindset which I think has become very relevant in today’s financially hard times.

Ringo:  How long have you been interested in designing custom furniture?

Miller:  I always had a passion for design and was always renovating a home and selling it. I would buy all of the furnishings on-line because I never had the time to shop in stores, and I was a big fan of the original Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. I enjoyed adding the finishing touches to completing a room that you could kick back and live in, after all the construction was done! So that was my outlet for interior home design.

Ringo:  Any regrets for leaving corporate America?

Miller:  Corporate America was actually easier but less fulfilling. It was more lucrative, and we all like nice things, but job security is a thing of the past. Running a small business is hard, but I have no regrets. I have no desire to escape the florescent lights for the beaches in the Bahamas as there is a better balance now between life and work.

Ringo:  Where do you see the small business furniture industry in five years?

Miller:  I believe in the power of the internet and on-line shoppers. The younger generation buys everything on-line from custom sneakers to electronics. I think shopping malls will fade and eventually you will be able to get everything on-line. There is a catch 22 with brick and mortar. Landlords are trying to cover their costs, charging it to tenants, who in turn, can’t afford to pay the high rent. There are just less expensive ways to do marketing and business these days and as the 20 somethings get older, the internet business will grow. I get 250 new visitors to my on-line store every day and over 400 to my design blog. That would be amazing traffic to a brick and mortar store!

Ringo:  I get inspired by fabrics:  looking at the colors, touching the textures, and using my creativity to create a palette for my designs.  I also get inspired by colors that remind me of the water and also by hand-crafted wood furniture.  What inspires you, Karl?

Miller:  Natural materials inspire me like wood, metal, and glass and I am strongly influenced by the past, vintage industrial furnishings and worn painted or rusted objects. I also think about how I like to live and how I would use a product.

Ringo:  What are the current trends you see in your business?

Miller:  They say that history always repeats itself, and I see a big draw from professional designers on vintage or industrial style furniture or objects from the early 20th century. It’s taking recycling to a new level to repurpose objects that once worked one way into using them in a new form or function. I think the shine for new things is just not there anymore. It’s going back to natural finishes, appreciating the beauty of things from our environment. I don’t think we will ever see plastic covers for our chairs, sofas or lampshades ever again! And the younger generation gets a real kick out of retro items or vintage. It’s the first time they are seeing a rotary phone or a typewriter. So, different is always good and it sells.  As for the baby boomer generation, nostalgia is big. They were a huge generation in numbers and as they grow older, they want to remember the early years.

Ringo:   When people look for furniture name at least 3 things they should always consider before buying.

Miller:  I think furniture should meet three criteria:  material, function and style. So the material should fit your lifestyle, solid wood if you want to put your feet up; function, if you want to actually use the drawers or shelves; and style, which should fit your taste, not someone else’s. Everything I buy I love to look at every day.

Ringo:  I see that you’re taking the social media marketing approach by storm—I love your Jack Russell terriers as your co-stars, by the way.  Do you think that has helped build a fan base, and what other benefits have you noticed from writing articles and doing video blogs?

Miller:  The blog has really helped people find me and my store. And the added bonus is that I love finding the things that I am passionate about and sharing them with the world. The videos have helped consumers get a better handle on the products, size, weight, etc. through our demonstrations. They have really helped sales. I have found the internet to be viral; the more you put yourself out there, the more the exposure grows exponentially. It helps to develop relationships with other bloggers, and it helps to spread the word. And before you know it, you are picked up in more places than you can count. There was a day when I couldn’t even find HudsonGoods.com on the first few pages of Google search. Now it fills up page after page. I would mention that I have not found Twitter or Facebook to be as helpful in promoting my business, counter  to what the media would tell you.  I still produce some hardcopy marketing materials, and I have a product featured in April’s issue of Country Living, as well as, Better Homes Easy Decorating for the same month.   Giveaways have also helped a lot and I am currently running one on CountryLiving.com.

     Miller’s testament is more proof of how a small business is becoming successful by reaching and attracting customers through social media marketing.  Miller is also spot on when he talks about building relationships with other bloggers.  For now, it’s a small but growing community, and everyone whom I’ve contacted and are partnering with have been nothing but supportive and helpful—quite a change for corporate America.  Talk about reinvention. 

     I was always taught that small businesses are the backbone of this country, and they are what encompass the American Dream, and with social media marketing, the opportunities for the little guys are endless.  I think a quote from General George Patton best summarizes Miller’s journey, my journey, and the journeys of others who are in the midst of reinventing themselves and having the guts to start small businesses:

                  “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”

      For those have been laid off, think outside the box, and start bouncing as high as you can.

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