By Veronica Cherop
Photo: Courtesy
Everyone in the neighborhood avoids one woman like the plague. Every time you greet her, she opens up about her financial and social problems like a river.
She owes nearly everyone money.
Her new status that have made her leprous began by what I will say is her own making.
She was working for a company that paid her relatively well given that she is a graduate who has never gone back to school to add value to her knowledge.
One day, some of her friends resigned from their jobs to pursue other interests. The way they were talking about a brighter future ‘out there’ that promised better returns than the ‘peanuts’ they were earning influenced my neighbor to swing with them without a concrete plan for post-employment.
With the little terminal benefits she got from her employer, she opened a retail shop within the estate.
In no time, her stock dwindled and she was unable to replenish as all profit went into her family’s daily upkeep as well as paying school fees for her two young children.
In no time, she had moved from being an independent woman to a beggar, literally, asking everyone for money to boost her business or buy food for her children. Needless to say, she soon closed the shop and now she is about to be evicted from her house as she has fallen back on rent payment.
If you must quit your job, do not wake up one day and just resign because you have seen friends or other colleagues do so. For one, you do not know their plans and why they are resigning. In most cases, people do not tell the truth and generally, they do not mind dragging someone who has no principles or self-confidence down the drain. It is human nature to feel ‘good’ when one is doing better than someone else.
Before you quit, talk to yourself and appreciate the fact that you are quitting for you. It is foolish to walk out of a job because your boss does not like your face.
What I usually tell people is that your boss is a worker like you; both of you are working for the business owner in different ranks. Put in your best, earn your money and plan for it the best way you know how while saving for the future.
It is not wise to wake up one day and just leave formal employment. Rather, you think about it over time, come up with what to do with your time when you change your lifestyle from the work schedule to the ‘nothing’ schedule.
Have you developed a passion that can earn you money up to or more than your take home salary every month? Did you start a business on the side that is doing so well that it needs your full time attention?
At one time, everyone will stop working. How they leave is what makes a difference.
For example, if you strongly feel that you want to leave in the next five years, then put in place plans and goals to achieve before that time. You will have immediate plans such as increasing savings in the Sacco, getting a development loan to be repaid in four years and putting all extra moneys into a project that will start giving you returns before you finally exit.
When you leave at your pleasure, you are psychologically, emotionally and financially ready to take charge of your life without a pay slip; the one item that imprisons many to jobs that bring them unhappiness.
Do not make rush decisions like my neighbor. It is important to know that not everyone is naturally a business person but you can be turned into one through training. At the end of the day, being able to start up a business and giving other people jobs is the apex of achievement for many.
You too can reach there. That is if you take command of your life, knowing exactly what you want, why and when.
Source: Standard Media
