I think I'm in trouble.
 

Now I know that there are many forms of trouble in the world. My chief source of trouble right now is financial. You see, in the past year I was unemployed and had serious trouble finding work. The job that I was doing pretty much moved to India. In that time off, I pretty much spent my cash reserves and eventually gave up on having the nice software job that I used to have.

So it was coming down to the wire and I REALLY needed a job. I changed my focus of work from software to Sales and suddenly I was getting callbacks. This is where I made my mistake.

The first place to call me back was a company called Cornerstone which specialized in Health Insurance sales. The first catch I found out was that it was a commission only position. They assured me that through their great leads (15 a week) that I'd get at least 10 appointments and 3 sales. They said that this way I could make enough money to support myself.

In the meanwhile; when I signed on with them -they made a contract that benefitted them in every way. They had to conduct a background check and I had to pay for my Insurance License training materials. Originally it was about $270.

I know what you are thinking... warning lights should have gone off. They were -however... I was unemployed for so long that the alternative seemed to either go back to being unemployed -or get a job at McDonalds.

Okay so I signed on with Cornerstone and I sell insurance. I've been doing this for a little over 2 months. But the promised leads have been shit and the life supporting commissions have not been there. Some of the more experienced sales guys said that it takes at least 110 to 160 days to get started in this business.

Now I am out of money and I owe everyone. Tonight I went to a job fair and I have a few VERY promising leads through real employers. (All sales but base +commision). I am planning on quitting this insurance job but I am running out of money.

In short I don't have enough to make it through next month. I'm scared. I have no idea what is going to happen. Feel free to mock me or finger wag or whatever -it's pretty pointless... but what do I do?

Thanks for your suggestions.

-Eric

I have a few different suggestions based on different factors..You could messege me?

I should mention that I took several personal loans to support myself while I was trying to "establish my business" -so the options of getting a loan is a no-go.

It might still be possible but there were so many recent "hard" credit checks on me lately that nobody is really biting on my loan apps.

Part time job?

Sell off your 'marketable securities'?

Do you own a car? Can you get a loan against your car?

-SF

If you have serious credit card debt, call them personally and explain the situation. If you ask, they can and might just reduce the interest, and can lower your monthly payment (they'd rather get something than have you file for bankruptcy)

Do you own any property, ie your home anything of value that you can use as collateral?

What about McDonalds or other work? It's money coming in? Could you survive on a minimum wage job?

Eliminate all extras in your daily expenses, cable tv, long distance, purchaes like magazines and such.

Any family that could co-sign a loan for you? or help you out (borrowing money from friends is risky, your family has to still love you)

Have you considered working for various temporary agencies? You'll definitely get more than McDonalds and my work yourself into a nice little job.

Most importantly, do not get down on yourself. Stay positive and hang in there ... things will turn around before you know it.

My family is heading into that situation. I can't find a job, my brother is still in high school, and my mother makes far less than we have to pay for bills. My grandmother just took out a $20k loan against the value of her stock to help us out and delay the inevitable for another few months. I find that I'm slowly distancing myself from reality, and I have no idea how the situation can be resolved, especially when I'm probbly not going to have enough money for tuition in the spring.

The only thing I can say ('cause I'm too young to relate to the situation) is that you'll get nowhere unless you try. Determination, even if it's merely a facade, is key.

You have marketable skills. Walk down a street, and simply start walking into businesses and asking for jobs. If you can program software, I assume you have some IT skills. Any business can use those. If you're nicely dressed with a resume in hand, who knows? Sometimes you gotta trust to serendipity.

Moreover, this approach should be more successful than reading the classifieds and visiting job fairs.

I don't really have much to say that will help.

But I know where you are coming from, I hope things get better.

Any kind of work is better than no work at all. What's wrong with McDonalds for a month?

Well okay, there's a hundred things wrong with McDonalds for a month. First of all; as I said -I have a few very good leads from the Job fair. I am fairly certain I could sell new cars from the brief meeting that I had with the guys last night.

Secondly, McDonalds wouldn't pay me enough to get out of my debts. I couldn't afford my rent on a McDonalds salary. Also if I'm working in a grease pit -then when will I be able to continue looking for work.

My problem really isn't getting work. As I said I had some promising leads. The problem is what to do when the money runs out. How could I get to work w/o money for gas? I'll also deal with the additional stress of telling my landlord that I don't have the rent.

Consider retail. Entry level management pays a reasonable salary in specialized fields, and retail managers are always in demand. If you have any ethics, as far as human relations , I would not recommend car sales, as I have gone thru the training in my youth and found the deciet uncomfortable. Many people are in a like situation , due to the current economic climate, so you are far from alone.

All we can do is keep trying, and have confidence in success.

As far as the landlord thing goes, if you get a job, talk to him and let him know you are working so rent will be on its way.

As far as gas, start taking the bus. Bussing to interviews and work blows. But you can do it for a lot less than driving yourself.

We've been there. Even to the point of hubby having a commission only job with a shitty company. We had a newborn at home at the time too.

Take ANY job you can get. It will help you get a better job and it will start the cash flow. Consider it a step in the right direction and don't consider it the end of you're job search. If you're working in a factory or for McDonalds you could work the early morning shift (employers seem to have more trouble getting people to work the early morning shifts and it should be easy to get that shift) and be off by 3:00 or so in the afternoon which would still leave you time for job searches and interviews. It gets the money coming and you can give a portion of your payments to several creditors - Good faith money so to speak. If you accompany it with a letter explaining your job situation they will probably be much more patient with you. It doesn't matter if McDonalds isn't enough for rent. It's still money. The longer you go without a job the more money you're going to need and the longer it will take to get out of this hole. Take ANY job you can get. Then get a better job. I've done it. Actually took a job waitressing at a truck stop and within a week had a much better one lined up which ended up with me working as an assistant for the VP of a fiarly large company - talk about a step up. I had been looking for quite a while too. But getting the burger flippin job was all I needed to get me the better job.

Also maleficent mentioned cutting expenses. When we got in that situation we of course still needed a phone for calls from potential employers but we dropped all extras. We got rid of the caller id, call waiting, etc and brought our monthly bill down to $17 or less if I recall.

It sucks. It will take lots of work. It will take time (hardest part to take I think). You will get through this. Hugs.

Most states have laws on the books that favor the tenants, even if you don't pay your rent for one month, they can't evict you, generally, from what I understand, it takes several months of non-payment for an eviction to occur.

That being said, talk to your landlord, if you've been a good tenant, and paid your rent on time, explain the situation, that you will have money coming in soon, so please be a little patient. Most landlords would rather have a good tenant than no tenant at all.

My vote would be for getting any job you could to get some cash flowing in. If worst came to worst and you had to go to an interview during work time and they wouldn't accomodate you, then quit. Whatever you earn before that happens helps.

How much money are you talking about needing to make it through till you get established selling for someone that offers salary?

Thanks everyone, I'm probably only needing about 2 grand for living expenses until something shakes loose.


Okay get this... IRONY involved. Because of my resume' several financial companies are seriously wanting to interview me. Here I am -on the verge of superbroke and some very large financial service companies want to take me on. Thankyou Merrill Lynch internship.

In the meanwhile I'm going to sell as many of my treasures as I can on ebay. If I have to move into my sisters house -then it would make sense not to bring a bunch of junk with me.

I was so foolish when I was unemployed and had about 20K in the bank. I didn't even get up some days and would spend my money on useless crap. I guess you live and learn. I wish I could do it all over again... I wouldn't be so foolish.

Protect your credit as best you can. Brokerage houses and others will sometimes do a credit check as a condition of employment.

I know... more irony.

Ask yourself "What Do I Need (Right) Now?"

Chances are, nothing at that precise moment.
Don't be frightened of what you don't know.

Keep looking for jobs. You'll go where you need to go. Just keep your head up.

Okay, this just in... I had to turn down a great job that they offered me over the phone. Technically they didn't really offer the job to me yet... but they made it clear that they wanted me to come to training Monday through Thursday. On Thursday -she said I would be placed.

This job was offered through the largest new Toyota dealership in my state. The reason I turned it down? -It's an hour and a half from where I live. I'm going to continue to call my contacts there, however and keep it as an option.

On the Ebay front -I've managed to list some of my stuff on Ebay. I used to have a lot of "disposable" income and have collected a bunch of treasures that I am now parting with. (As a side note -never try to sell chess books on Ebay -it just doesn't work.) If anyone is curious what I'm selling you can view it here:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&since=-1&rd=1

Thanks everyone for your encouragement and support.

I wouldn't turn anything down right now if I were you, unless it is out-of-the-question inconvenient. Even 1 1/2 hours away, that is a typical commute for our area, and others in other states who live out of the city, but work in the city. Who knows, it might be worth it- plus you can still be looking for other jobs in the meantime in case it doesn't work for you.
Sorry you have to sell some of your things- sometimes we have to sacrifice to move on. Best of wishes.

Thanks to OshnSoul -I did not miss the opportunity presented to me at the car dealership today. I instead quit my job selling the fuckin' health insurance and went to the training offered.

But of course problems are erupting. I have three job interviews this week and two more pending.

I'm having scheduling difficulties just thinking about it.

Okay major trouble turning into minor trouble. I've got a new job within one week of posting this. Man, my old job really sucked.


Ebay is helping with my cost overruns and AT&T just sent me a bribe to switch to them.

That's great news. I hope things will continue to go in the right direction.

P.s. Be careful with AT&T. Check their statements carefully and if you ever cancel with them make sure you call your local company as well and send a written letter of cancelation to AT&T. I won't tell you the problems I and family members have had with their customer service. Good luck.

Hey, sometimes changes are risky and scary- but it all works out. Glad to hear things are going fairly well. Just go with the flow, without having expectations and you'll be fine.

I spoke too quickly. Now my throat is sore. I got a "promotion" at my new job which pays less. I owe my work money for damaging some new trucks. My throat is sore. The check engine light came on in my car and I have no money. Ultimately it's this last thing which is the root of all the other problems. If I can just get around the not having any money problem -then all my other issues will go away. (Example: money pays mechanic who fixes check engine light).

Furthermore I know everyone is going to ask me tons of questions over everything I just said. I'm honestly not that sure if explaining it at all makes me feel any better. I'm very exhausted right now and (suprise) I have to get up early tommorrow.

If you go to autozone they will tell you why your check engine light is on for free. ALot of the time a check engine light means nothing. If you really want the light to go away just unplug the car's battery , wait 30 sec , and then plug it back in.

That's a fraud control. If you are in financial straights, you're more likely to steal/commit fraud.

Really? Autozone will do that? Mine's been on forever but I just ignore it due to money woes as well. Thanks for posting that!!
:)

And I'm sorry about all your troubles, Astrocloud. I'm in a different boat on the same river, paddling thru the same shit. :(

My Maintenance Required light comes on every now and again. I have a 2001 Civic and it's just what they do.... I need an oil change, that's it. If you look in your cars manual you might find where it tells you how to turn it off.

I know I seem a little tragic about my own cheap tragedy. As the song goes "I was once above it -now I'm down in it". Two years ago I was upper middle class and doing so well. The fall is quick and the climb back up is so very fucking slow.

This is a tough situation. As your survival is at stake, I would consider a couple of things:

- If you have a 401K, take out enough money to squeak by. You'll have to pay penalties, but at least you will stay solvent.

- Sell stuff on eBay. This is a quick way to make some money if you have any collectible items.

My husband and I are both dotbomb survivors. We've had a tough past couple of years and have had to retrench quite a bit. Good luck and best wishes.

Well, there is another possibility here, one which you should give a LOT of thought to before desiding to do. Join the military. I myself am in the Navy, and it is not a bad life. Join up for a 4 year tour, and they pay you feed you, and put a roof over your head. If you have family (wife and/or kids) you will get extra money to make sure they are taken care of. All income made while in can be considered "disposible" if you really want, because they provid most things for you. It would help you get out of debt by alowing you to focus just on paying your bills. If you do deside this sounds good, there are a few things to warn you of. Mostly to do with recruiters. DO NOT join with out a getting a school. Recruiters will try to get you to join the navy as what they call a "striker". It means you have no school to teach you a rating in the navy. You work doing whatever they need you to for a while, and then pick a job after seeing the fleet. The down side to this, which they will not tell you, is it could take up to 2 years to find a skill and get the school for it. Now, you can't make NCO without a rating in the Navy, so this slows you down from advancing in rate, and that means less money in the long run. Also, the Navy is the only one that will garentee you a school from the get go, so it is the one I recomend the most. Don't know if you consider this an option or not, but it's worth thinking about. If there is anything else you want to know about it, feel free to PM me.

Joining the navy is an excellent suggestion with one minor issue that stopped me from enlisting when I was 18: I have asthma. Now that I'm almost 35; I'm pretty sure that I'm too old to join as well.

My 401K was drained while I was caught in the trap of thinking that there were still my kinds of jobs out there. (There are; there are just thousands of people laid off from the Telcom sector competing for a few jobs).

If I don't post that often it's because I couldn't pay my comcast bill on time and my internet/television is shut off. The good news is that the library has internet and television is just a waste of time. Whoo-Hoo

Well, the asthma thing could do it, but these days, you can get wavers for everything. If nothing else the army is HURTING for people. They might be the most willing to sign the wavers. I thin kcut off age is 36 now, but I could be wrong on that, so don't quote me. Hope shit works out for you, no matter what way you deside to go. I've fallen on hard times myself in the past, and I know that it is just no damn fun.

sounds like a very bad situation...

Get a job, any job, as close as you can to your home... Ride a bike to work. or walk(i use to walk 5 miles at 430am to work fast food for 10 hours and walk home) your options are running out i see... But a job is better than no job. Never be ashamed to do something that is "beneath" you. Money is money no matter where it comes from.

I can relate to being broke and having bills piled high... I cant relate to not having a job, somehow I always have work available.

I wish you the best & hope you find a way to get by.

Actually the job I have now isn't that bad at all. It's just about half of what I used to make and there is no damn job security.

So how are you doing?

Are you making any progress?


Mr Mephisto