Here we are last week, setting the perfect mood for the San Jose Hilton’s pre-holiday luncheon for event planners. For years, we’ve been helping Silicon Valley’s best facilities this way. What we do gives their guests a memorable time. The hotel is likely to book a few more parties and weddings, and we’re likely to be involved, too. Win-win.
Left to right: me, Gary Milliken, and Andy Norblin. Thanks for the wonderful photos Elena Isaykina, Director of Business Travel Sales, Crowne Plaza San Jose.
Well, it finally happened yesterday. For the first time in 26 years, the US reported (gasp!) over 10% unemployment. Has it hit you, too?
Today is a tough time for many, and I have great sympathy for everyone suffering in this austere climate. It takes lots of courage to keep struggling. Now, I certainly don’t mean to belittle their plight, but I’ve been waking up unemployed every day since 1975.
OK, except for 10 months in 1979, but that’s another story.
Most of my colleagues are in the same boat — self-employed and self-motivated. Like the ancient “hunter-gatherers”, we’re constantly searching. We don’t give up when times are slim, but we prepare for tomorrow. Sowing lots of the right seeds and tending the crop. Always doing something new, often “outside the box.” We understand that when there’s no one to hand you a paycheck every few weeks, we must find or create another way to go out and earn it. Call it the self-starting entrepreneurial spirit. We seem to love the journey more than the destination.
What happens without this creative spirit? Without innovating, we’re likely doomed to repeat the familiar cycle — have a crisis, then overcompensate the other way, then overcompensate the other way, then overcompensate the other way, ad infinitum.
This routine is nothing new, even though each day’s crisis du jour may seem far more ominous than anything previous. Until we learn to operate better, this is “normal” life. Every few years, the country will have too many nurses, or realtors, or teachers, or engineers, or DJs. And a few years later, we’ll have too few. Do you ever wonder why?
My advice: Create a way to break the cycle. Zig Zieglar says something like “You can have everything you want in life, if you help others get everything they want in life.” I say there’s no end to the ways we can help each other. Like playing at last week’s pre-holiday luncheon, the band still entertains somewhere nearly every day. I’m always on the lookout for our next opportunity, and if we can help you, please call us at 408-245-9120. Visit MagnoliaJazz.com for our schedule, and catch us at a public event soon.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Robbie, What’s it like to have no guaranteed income? Is it scary and exciting both? As someone who still has a day job (for now), the perspective would be really helpful.
Maybe even another separate blog post.
See you soon at another NACE meeting.
- Danielle
Thanks for your comment, Danielle. In a recent post (http://blog.magnoliajazz.com/weddings-parties-ok-fine-but-what-about-me), I wrote “Several times in my life I’ve actually held a steady job. The most recent lasted from March 1979 to January 1980. To buy my house in July 1979, I needed to show the bank (who lent us the mortgage) that I had a good, reliable income. That’s where Western Electric came in. They hired me to push a pencil and to blueprint where Pacific Bell workers should install new equipment in their central offices. Compared to playing music and entertaining people at parties, this was mind-numbing work. I kept playing music at night and on weekends, and I held on to that steady paycheck as long as I could.”
I think it’s ultimately a matter of perspective. If your happiness is important, love whatever you do. Find the right niche for yourself, and it’ll be everything, even though you’ll occasionally feel like you’re on a tightrope, in a rainstorm, without a net. For me, the bottom line is the PASSION I feel for working with people, helping them enjoy their celebrations, and doing it the best I can. Add optimism, confidence, and persistence, and since 1975, that combination has been enough to carry me through without a guaranteed income. Sometimes scary, usually exciting, and always rewarding.
Good luck, and I’ll see you soon.