Post-Layoff Success: How to Turn a Setback into an Opportunity
In March, I faced an unexpected challenge when I was laid off from my role as Video Department Manager for a solar sales platform. With parts of the tech and solar industries scaling back, I found myself caught in a wave of layoffs. Initially, this bruised my ego and left me fearful about my future. However, this setback soon revealed itself as a blessing in disguise, offering me the opportunity to reevaluate my career goals.
The Emotional Toll of a Layoff
Before diving into the steps I took to turn this challenge into an opportunity, let's address the emotional toll a layoff can have. After talking with friends who had similar experiences, I learned layoffs can feel like a breakup—blindsiding and painful. It was reassuring to hear that, while the first layoff stings the most, subsequent ones tend to hurt less.
Talking to my friends and family and hearing their layoff stories was healing. I took almost two months off to process my emotions and the last three years I'd spent at the company. This break allowed me to grieve the loss and start imagining my future path. Realizing how emotionally connected I was to my job and the friends I’d made through it was crucial. Taking the time to feel those emotions and grieve was important for me.
Continuing Education: Embracing Lifelong Learning
What happens at the end of a summer break? It’s time to go back to school.
I'm finding, as someone that's mid-level in my career, most filmmaking courses are geared towards beginners, teaching the basics, and I've got most of that down at this point. So what’s interesting to me now are topics outside of filmmaking proper, like business and entrepreneurship so I can run a profitable business on my own and market myself better, art and design so I can have a stronger visual vocabulary and skill set when it comes to creating, and then learning about new technologies like AI filmmaking so I can stay up to date and keep my competitive edge as a filmmaker and video creator.
When I have the time, I try to dedicate at least 30 minutes to learning new skills and diving into my interests—art history, drawing, entrepreneurship and branding, AI filmmaking, etc. Here are some of the courses I’m taking and books I’m reading on these topics:
The Ten Year Career by Jodie Cook (Career & Entrepreneurship)
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgensen (Free!) (Career, Entrepreneurship, Creating Wealth)
Personal Branding & Marketing: Building My Professional Identity
Personal branding has been a huge focus for me post-layoff. Not only is a personal brand important for a solopreneur like me, but it’s also crucial for job seekers. Your personal brand and professional reputation can make or break your business and job search. With a powerful personal brand, people know you are the go-to in your industry, and if you stay top of mind by continually marketing yourself, you can be the first one people call whenever they need your product or service.
I’m really focused on developing my personal brand now, as I see what an important asset it can be. Luckily, branding is something I got to learn about intimately in my last job, being a part of the marketing team and working under the VP of Brand and the CMO. Your personal brand is reinforced through all of the touch points of your business—your website, your social media accounts, your reviews, how you email and converse with your customers, and the entire experience of your service or product from start to finish.
So how I’m working on my personal brand is revamping my website (which you’re probably looking at right now, let me know what you think down below), developing a social media strategy for myself, talking about my work and services, and making sure my customer experience is top-notch from start to finish. I’m also trying to learn and develop what my “secret sauce” is. What makes me special and unique as a service provider and what makes my product different and desirable? And then working on communicating that to my ideal clientele…which I’m also still trying to hone in on.
Networking In Person: Overcoming Introversion
I’m not one to really go to networking events. I’m a self-proclaimed introvert and social activities, especially with new people, can be draining. But luckily, due to the nature of my last job, I actually grew my network a lot without too much effort. So I began my post layoff networking ventures by talking to the people I already knew and telling them about my current situation and what I was looking to do next. Simply chatting it up with old coworkers, friends, family, and neighbors has afforded me a few new clients in just a couple of months.
Networking can seem daunting because it’s often associated with salespeople and business types. But if you want to make a living as a creative, you are essentially a business owner, and networking can be very beneficial to finding new clients. You don’t have to be pitchy or salesy, just talk about what you’re good at and what you’re looking to do. You have no idea who might know someone that needs exactly what you can provide. Simply having a conversation and connecting to others on a human level, instead of trying to pitch them, is always the way to go. Friends and neighbors have both referred me to repeat clients already.
Networking Online: Leveraging Digital Communities
Where I feel a bit more comfortable, although there’s definitely still some discomfort involved, is in online networking. This goes hand in hand with personal branding and marketing, as sharing your work, your story, and your personality online is so important for any business owner these days. I’m starting my online networking journey by sharing more of my work online and connecting with other people whose work I admire. My social networks of choice right now are Instagram and LinkedIn. I’m focusing on these two to start as these are the places I have the most connections and it feels easiest to share a combination of video, photos, and writing to an audience who may be looking for my services.
I’m also part of a few online communities for filmmakers and creatives, and this is another great way to find good quality leads and jobs, as they are often referrals from people in your field and people you’re connecting with in these communities. There is a level of trust associated with that. Some of the communities I’m a part of are Black with No Cream, Curious Refuge, and The Art of Documentary. There are many local, national and global groups to join on Facebook and elsewhere on the internet. In particular, the few that I’m a part of are online communities started by creators themselves as a space for fellow creatives to commune, share their work, ask questions, share job postings, etc. Most of these communities are free to join. If you have any other cool filmmaking, photography or creative communities you know of or are a part of, drop them down below in the comments!
Practice Projects: Exploring New Possibilities
Another great part of returning to freelance work is the freedom to rediscover what I actually want to work on. And it’s easy to start doing that right away with practice projects and spec work. Want to make ads for Nike? Go make one! Want to make documentaries? Find a subject and go for it! Practice projects are an amazing way to sharpen your skills and to finally create the work you actually want to be creating, without waiting for someone to grant you the opportunity. You can share it online and even shop it around to your ideal clients as examples of the work you can make for them.
I am still in somewhat of a discovery phase when it comes to what type of work I want to create next. So I have a few practice projects in the works that span from travel films to a day in the life video. These are things I’m interested in and like watching on my own time so I want to try putting my own spin on them. I plan to start creating more videos for my personal YouTube channel as a way to explore my interests, push my filmmaking capabilities and express my creativity in new and exciting ways. Some videos may not produce anything other than scratching that creative itch. Some of them might get me some work in the future, only time will tell. I’m hoping all of the side projects I create get me closer to discovering that sweet spot of what I really enjoy creating, what the world wants to see, and what I can get paid for. My YouTube channel will really be my creative laboratory for the time being. Stay tuned for some interesting projects to come.
Watching Movies: Fueling Creative Inspiration
With some of the extra time I’ve had on my hands, I found myself spending a lot more time watching movies lately. I studied film in college, in large part because I wanted to watch movies for homework, and it exposed me to so many different films and filmmaking styles from countries around the world over the last 100+ years. I was fascinated by the different techniques used for storytelling and production throughout the history of moving pictures. I’m currently finding myself getting back to that place by diving into old favorites like La La Land, Brave and The Lion King as well as discovering classics like the original Star Wars movies and Indiana Jones (can you tell I’ve been deep in my Disney Plus subscription 😂, it’s truly a gold mine in there). But I feel like I’m back to studying films and looking to a wider range of movies for inspiration.
What makes the classics so great? And what are filmmakers creating nowadays to compete with the current attention and media landscape. It’s fascinating to think about these things. In the same vein as continuing education, I feel like watching more movies is increasing my visual palette and storytelling capabilities. It inspires me and makes me feel like I’m in college again, in that mind frame of your world opening up in a new way.
Visual storytelling is such an important device in this day and age. It’s so interesting to see what worked in the past, what has carried on, and what has completely changed over the years. It’s so much fun to dive into one director's repertoire and study their language. You’re not just wasting 2 hours of your day watching a movie, you’re doing research, you’re studying, and you’re improving your craft by studying the greats. And you’re filling your creative well in the process.
As a kid, I remember being so engrossed by movies and when they were done, I’d want to recreate the scenes and immerse myself in that world even further. I still get that same excitement from watching a good movie to this day. It reminds me of why I wanted to study film in college and why I wanted to create videos as a profession. Watching movies has aided in realigning my purpose.
Final Thoughts: Embracing New Beginnings
Being laid off can be a stressful situation. You wonder what’s next? Where will your next paycheck come from? Will you be able to pay rent and pay your bills next month? It can be a hit to your ego, like why me? Why was I let go? Overall, it can be a scary and stressful time. But looking on the bright side - this experience has offered me more control over my daily schedule, it’s given me time to dive back into my passions and hobbies, it’s given me more time to dedicate to my relationships, and most importantly, it’s been an opportunity to realign with my purpose and direction. Why am I passionate about creating videos? What kind of videos do I want to create next? Where do I want to go with my career? Having that open space can be scary but filling my time with exciting activities has reconnected me with excitement for filmmaking and it’s helped me refocus on where I want to go next.
I’m under the impression that this unexpected event is a blessing in disguise and leading me closer to a life that’s in alignment with my values and desires. Sometimes the universe has to knock you so far off track it’s actually knocking you onto a whole new path that’s right for you. Take the setback as an opportunity to propel yourself forward in the right direction.
Even though I’m not 100% sure what my destination will be yet, I already feel like I’m on the right path again. Leading me to a fulfilling life and career where I’m passionate about what I’m creating and work feels like play once again.
Share Your Story
Are you a causality in the layoffs that seem to be plaguing many industries? If so, what have you been doing to fill your time and fill the void? Drop your advice down below!
And as a bonus for making it all the way to the end of the post, check out this amazing film made about being laid off! Now this is a way to turn a setback into an opportunity: https://vimeo.com/916784640