As someone who has worked more than 110 different kinds of jobs in my 55 years on this planet, I can assure you that if you want a job, you CAN find a job. You may not find a job you like, or that pays what you want, or has the hours you want to work, or that is easy, or has benefits - but you CAN find a job. If you really can’t find a job you CAN create your own business. The real issue is how hard are you willing to work and how much crap are you willing to put up with to reach your goal? If you truly believe there isn’t a job to be had, you’re not reading the want ads. There are jobs. There just aren’t jobs you want, like, would do or think are worthy of your special skills.

In my youth I dug ditches, roofed houses, milked cows, grilled burgers and yes, asked people “Do you want fries with that?” Read any biography of the rich and famous and the ones worth reading all have job histories of waiting tables, and doing menial work no one else - including them - wanted to do. I’ve scrubbed toilets and hosed human feces off the walls in campground bathrooms for $5.43 an hour. But it was a job. And when something better came along, I took it. But I worked. I collected cans and bottles, worked at temp agencies and sold my stuff and stuff I got out of dumpsters at flea markets. I never had a problem finding a job. It was often not the job I wanted or liked, but it paid me enough to eat and live.

Before I made $100 an hour as a coaching consultant I made $4 per 200 word article, or $20 for 500 articles. It added up. At 12 hours a day, seven days a week, I could write enough articles a day to make $1,800 a month. When my consulting work tanks, I still work. It’s not always the writing job I want - but I do it if it means eating and paying rent. I drive a 30-year old van and spend money on things like food, dental and medical care and rent. I use what I have and I work hard at learning how to do better.

So when I hear from, or read articles about former CEOs and CFOs and managers, bankers and lawyers who are about to become homeless because their house is in foreclosure, or they’ve been unable to find another six or seven figure income because of lay-offs I have to wonder. When did you sell your brain and how much did you get per ounce? Unwilling to take a job, start their own business or bite the bullet and act for themselves, they sit back and let the wolves slowly eat their way to the $600 leather shoes on their feet.

Why do people have such a hard time realizing that someone moved their cheese and they’re never going to find any more cheddar and brie cocktails in that empty corner? They’ll keep looking, but few actually get the reality that the good times have flown and they need to readjust their lifestyle and their attitudes.

A neighbor of mine from years ago emailed me last week. Her husband lost his job as a university professor. He was making six figures, well-respected and liked, but not tenured. She’s frantic. She’s worried about how she’s going to keep up appearances until he can get another job. They have almost a million in savings, own their own home, are in their 50’s, and don’t know how to function outside of academia. I laughed. Not in her face of course, but I laughed.

“Jim’s a writer. He teaches writing. Why not take the next year off and learn how to do internet marketing, build a website, teach writing online, or start a business of some kind online? You have the resources, credentials and time to do it.” She had, of course, a million reasons why that wouldn’t work. The one I heard most often revolved around “what people would think,” and so on. I reminded her that when it came to what people thought, running your own show wasn’t nearly as disgraceful as living in a homeless shelter and panhandling for quarters. She wailed. Her problem wasn’t Jim working, it was losing the status and adoration and prestige of being an academic. You can’t find that on the internet.

I pointed her to Bob Bly and some other websites, suggested Jim give up the idea of holding court, virtual Meerschaum pipe in hand, and actually work for a living.

I doubt he will. He’ll be like Molly Harper. A friend of mine sent me this link to Molly’s story. I mean, seriously. I am getting so tired of reading these things. How do you blow a six-figure job, a big house and all that STUFF, unless you’re so disconnected to reality that you can’t read the writing on the wall?

With the economy the way it is, chances are YOU are not so special that the financial gods are going to bypass you and allow you to avoid the belt-tightening everyone else is having to do. Get over it. You lost the six-figure job, so keep looking, but make other plans. Set a date. If you don’t have another job halfway through the time your unemployment runs out, consider selling the house, taking in renters, moving to a cheaper place, getting another job, starting a business that doesn’t require big bucks…something. But don’t sit around and wait to become homeless. I guarantee you - you will NOT like it one bit. You think you’ll hate McDonald’s and an efficiency apartment after a five-bedroom mansion and CEO/CFO on the door? You’ll really hate panhandling and sleeping in a cardboard box or a tent.

First rule of life - reality check. If you lose your job, stop and take stock of your resources. Make plans - including looking for a job and taking the first job that will allow you to pay your bills that you’re offered. This means rent, food and shelter. If you have to move, to work two lousy jobs while looking for a great one at night - then do it.

Those who suffer are the ones who refuse to act. It may not be fun, pleasant or what you wanted. The popular mantra of “Do what you love and the money will follow,” is true, but notice it doesn’t guarantee that the money will follow in days, weeks or even years. It may take decades. In the meantime? You’ve got to live.

Stop whining, start working. Winning the lottery may be an option, but there are much better ones.