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There
are many reasons why our government's insistence on pumping out spin,
half-truths, and bold-faced lies about the state of the U.S. economy is a
serious mistake. In my view, however, one of the biggest problems with this
approach is that it encourages people, especially those who are not so well
versed in economic realities, to hang on in hope for a return to the way
things once were, instead of rethinking their lives and changing with the
times.
While
a fresh take on life doesn't necessarily guarantee that circumstances will
turn out for the better, odds are that it will be a whole lot more productive
than wasting time, money, and energy in anticipation of a future that what
will never be. In "Baby Boomers Reinvent Themselves in a Recession" the Palm Beach Post tells
the story of a woman who got slammed by fallout from the financial crisis,
saw the writing on the wall, and decided to do something about it.
Now
what?
It's
the question a lot of people in mid-life are asking as the recession swept
away their jobs and new ones remain as scarce as a June cold front.
Or
perhaps divorce, an accident or even a death prompts us to take a second look
at the first half of our lives and say, "Something's gotta change."
Baby
Boomers in particular, who have continually reinvented themselves since they
traded their Mickey Mouse Club ears for Beatles boots, are embarking on
second and third careers in record numbers. New business start-ups hit
all-time highs in 2009, as "necessity entrepreneurs" created the
jobs they couldn't find, according to the Kauffman Foundation, which tracks
entrepreneurship.
Many
of these transformations are prompted by necessity, but others are motivated
by unfulfilled passions or a desire for a life with more meaning than that
contained in a paycheck.
To
kick off a periodic series on mid-life reinvention, we introduce you to two
people who were forced to activate their own Plan B.
KELLY
COLLINS: FROM PARALEGAL TO CONSIGNMENT SHOP OWNER
Kelly
Collins says she never saw it coming.
One
day in early 2009, she had a secure life, as the highest-paid paralegal at a
Lake Worth law firm, with health insurance and a 401(k).
"I
thought I was recession-proof," she said.
The
next, the single mother was laid off, with only two weeks of severance pay
and no idea how she would provide for her two boys, who were 7 and 11 at the
time.
"One
of the attorneys followed me around to make sure I didn't steal
anything," said Collins, 49, tearing up at the memory.
In the
worst job market in 80 years, Collins was tossed into the pool with millions
of other unemployed middle-aged workers. Depressed and scared, she says she
logged a lot of couch time - when she wasn't submitting hundreds of
impersonal e-mail résumés.
One
day last summer, she woke up with an idea. Consignment shops, she'd read,
were one of the few retail establishments doing well in the down economy.
What's more, between her closet and her friends', she had free inventory.
"I
couldn't bear going back to work for somebody and being laid off again,"
said Collins, who lives in Boynton Beach.
She
rented a tiny wooden cottage - not much bigger than a dollhouse - in downtown
Delray Beach where she grew up, painted it girly pink and bought store
fittings from Craigslist.
"It
looks magical," a cashier at Walgreens, across the street, said after
Kelly's Cottage opened in September.
Although
business has been better than she expected, the store isn't yet providing
Collins with an income. She'll get unemployment checks until it turns a
profit, while a job creation grant from the Delray Beach Community
Redevelopment Agency pays one-third of her rent for a year.
"The
city has a big push toward retail to balance out all the restaurants,"
said Elizabeth Butler, marketing and grants coordinator for the CRA.
Yet
Collins' financial situation remains shaky. She's living on about half of her
previous income, not enough to pay the mortgage on her three-bedroom condo.
If her
lender refuses a loan modification, Collins and her sons will have to move.
Yet, in some ways, living smaller is living better, Collins said. Many of her
customers have become her friends and she feels in control of her life,
something that was impossible in her previous job. Her English bulldog,
Buster, goes to work with her every day and has become the store's mascot.
When
her boys were sick recently for two weeks, she hired someone to take her
place or closed the shop for a day.
"At
my old job, I would have been fired," she said.
After
encounters with "rude, ungrateful" owners of other consignment
shops, Collins wants Kelly's Closet to be known as a place for shoppers to
find cute, affordable clothes and a friendly face among the Coach and Fendi
bags, embellished vintage cowboy boots and dresses from Tracy Feith and Trina
Turk.
"When
someone leaves my store, I know their name and they know I appreciate that
they came in," she said.
The
struggle to become her own boss has been a "really positive thing - but
you have to be self-motivated," Collins warns.
When
financial fear begins to paralyze her, she repeats a mantra borrowed from
self-help guru, Wayne Dyer: "Anyone who know success knows the fear of
failure."
"Besides,"
she said, "if it never gets any better than this, at least I'll always
have new clothes."
Michael
J. Panzner
Editor, Financialarmageddon.com
Michael J. Panzner is a
25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author
of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending
Catastrophes, published by Kaplan Publishing.
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