There is a creature of legend that is portrayed as a monster with either a curse or disease.  This creature is not necessarily evil, but the creature is very violent.  The result of this creature is always a human who turns into it.  I am talking about werewolves.  Once a human transforms into a werewolf, all sense of reality becomes distorted and a killing machine with no remorse is created.  A silver bullet is usually used to kill a werewolf when it is too much of a danger, thus ending the terror it is causing.  You can read more about werewolves here.

 

I do not wish to give my readers nightmares, however, the werewolf is very applicable for what I am about to tell you.  And the majority of people that are reading this are likely people who work at a day job.  Some of you may not be in that situation.  This information is still useful for you as you can apply it to your every day lives, in addition to your day job. The werewolf is what you turn into when your job consumes you with negativity. I will show you how to put an end to that with some silver bullets.

 

First off, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you happy where you are working?
• Are the people you work with ones with integrity, who uplift, and are smart?
• Are your managers respectable people who are understanding?
• Are the owners of your company smart and good leaders who work hard to make the compay do well?
• Have you been at your job for over 10 years with no real increase in pay, position, or value?
• Do you feel fulfilled when you come home each day from work?
• Are you constantly improving yourself and your skills?
• Are you happy working at a day job?

 

The Silver Bullets

 

I’ve talked in several other articles about the day job blues, what to do when you want to leave a company after you’ve been there for a while, but I want to go into great detail about what you can do and plan to do to get yourself into a position where work is no longer a burden.  With that, here are the silver bullets, with certain scenarios, and how to use the silver bullet to destroy it.

 

Current Day Job Situations

 

The first thing I want to talk about is current situations people are faced with in their jobs and those people’s attitudes.  It is very necessary to describe situations because knowing these situations gives more meaning and understanding to what I am talking about.  Most of you reading this want to know what the situations are so you can relate to other people and this is very important.

 

When I was in college, I did data entry for a library company.  I would sit at the computer and enter information that was on a second monitor, which contained an image of a library card.  This information had to be entered into a dusty, cob-webbed system that ran on an ancient computer.  It was tedious work and I got paid $7.50 an hour for it.  But it was in 1999, and it helped me get through college.  The job was horrendous for me – I love to be creative and this was anything but.

 

The silver bullet in this case is that some situations require just grinding through the job because eventually there is a light at the end of a tunnel.  This is true if you are going to college and are planning on upgrading your job, but you need something to make ends meet.  To those of you in this situation, just try and get the most out of your job that you can, be positive and optimistic, know that you are taking the right steps, and know that the job won’t last forever.

 

Dead End Jobs

 

Some of you may be at a job where you have just grinded out the same work year after year with no results.  Look at my above questions and you will know if this applies to you.  If so, are you really content with this happening?  I see some people that even though they say they hate their job, but because the job pays reasonably enough and gets them by each month, no effort is made to ugprade.  After all, they’ve worked their a while and who else is going to pay them as much as they’ve been raised to where they are at.

 

This is a dangerous way of thinking and will make you stay stagnant and in 5 years, 10 years, you will be exactly where you are today.  Again, if you are fine with that, then what I’m saying doesn’t apply to you.  But deep down, I hope those of you reading are not fine with that.  Can you really say that you’ve lived a happy, full, and abundant life while working at a job you don’t like for 20 or so years?

 

The silver bullet in this case is to take charge and be proactive.  This means getting yourself in order.  I created drjerm.com to help people change their mentality and have a respectful and confident view of themself.  Once you spend significant time working on yourself, I guarantee that you will not want to stay at the drudgery of a day job you don’t like.  You will be interested in doing something you are passionate about, or at least going to a job that makes you feel fulfilled.  So use drjerm.com to better yourself.  Read all the information, apply it.  Then increase your education through online research and schooling (if funds allow).  Try some projects on your own.  Don’t be afraid to fail.

 

The People Your Work With

 

Who are your friends?  Look at my list of questions above about the people you work with.  Are you around people of upstanding character?  Are they honest?  Do they build you up and treat you respectfully?  Do they take time and effort to understand your needs?  At the work place, being around people opposite of these things is bad.  Bad meaning that it is like being sucked into a black hole with teeth where you are getting eaten alive by dark fire ants that seek to consume your whole body.  When you start to realize that people who do not share your same uplifting values are a danger to you, then the silver bullet is ready for you.

 

The silver bullet is that once you have changed yourself, you will seek out people of character, both in the work place and in your friendship circle (those people you hang out with or spend some time with).  Being with people like this provides energy, enthusiasm, and the ability to handle trials and obstacles.  These people are not judgmental and they do not have their own agendas.  When you increase your skills and education, in addition to improving yourself, you will be able to move to a job that is much more condusive to positive growth and feeling fulfilled.

 

Feeling Fulfilled With Work

 

Lastly, look at the level of fulfillment that you get at your job.  Do you feel like you contribute something worthwhile?  Do you feel like you make a difference?  If you just feel like a drone who is doing robotic work that has no real lasting impact, this should be a warning sign.  The werewolf is taking form and the silver bullet should be at the ready to slay it.

 

The silver bullet is this: Look deep within yourself.  Find out what you are passionate about and are good at.  I talk about this on drjerm.com.  It’s discovering your destiny and creating your legacy.  This means striding towards what you feel you are meant to do.  I am reading about ‘The Rock’, Dwayne Johnson, right now.  He felt deep inside that wrestling was what he was supposed to do.  But it was not before he experienced MUCH hardship and tribulation.  In the end, he made the leap of faith, worked extremely hard, and became the success that he is today.

 

I can promise that if you spend effort striving to do what you are passionate about and good at, the you will eventually find success with it.  There will likely be much trial and tribulation before you find success.  But I’ve seen in people that when they follow their heart and their mind together for their work, that success is the eventual end product.

 

Final Thoughts

 

I know that no matter what you do for work, there are days that are tough, even if you are doing what you love.  We live in a mortal world.  Challenges happen, and we aren’t always up to the task each day.  But I do know that with a change of mind set, hard work, and dedication, that our job situations will turn into favorable circumstances that will help us feel fulfilled.

 

In the end, you will put an end to this monstrous creature, this werewolf. The ravages that the werewolf causes will be a forgotten memory, and your career can be one of happiness and success. This werewolf is a frightening image. It should give you cause to think. I hope that you have this same cause to think when it comes to living a happy, full, and abundant life. And one of the ways to do that is by having a fulfilling career. I know you can do it!

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It has been just over a day now since drastic measures were taken place at a company I helped start about 10 months ago.  I was let go – a supposed executive and part owner.  Someone who helped one of the young owners start a website and worked hard developing it without pay for over a year so I could partner with him on the website.

 

I write to educate others that they may see warning signs and be guarded against some of the snares I let myself get entrapped in.  I do not use the name of the company nor the names of the owners because I am a man of integrity and honesty and I do not believe in slander.  However, I believe that much is amiss and this is far from the end of this situation.

 

August 2007, I notified Ancestry.com that I would be leaving for another company where I was promised executive management and ownership.  Ancestry.com is a great company to work for.  They provided me with great pay and benefits, and the working environment was reasonable (except for a few ergonomic issues).  The two guys that were investing money to start the company were/are young and inexperienced.  But I’ve known one of them for a few years and we started a website together that was pretty successful that was being ‘merged’ into this new company.

 

Before I started work at this new company, the two young guys who were the main owners had purchased a building that was being fixed up to get ready for the initial group of people to start working.  Even a couple weeks before work was to start, the building was run down, garbage was everywhere and it was still in need of carpeting and other fitting.  This was warning sign number 1, that there was not much preparation or thought going into the initial launch of the company.  I should have realized that these two guys were young and inexperienced and were saying and doing whatever it took to pursue their dreams of being multi-millionaires.

 

But I continued on happily, remaining optimisitc, and in the end, I had to extend my work at Ancestry.com another week because the building was not quite ready to work in yet.  Eventually it was and my twin brother and I setup all the networking for the building which took about 10 hours on a Saturday for which we were paid lunch and that’s it.  This was warning sign number 2.

 

Now keep in mind, all this time, I was a part owner of a website that me and one of the ‘owners’ had been working on.  It was paying me a very good extra income each month, surpassing $5,000 monthly in addition to my job at Ancestry.com.  Unfortunately, this income ceased and I accepted a meager salary to start working at this company for which benefits were promised.  But it wasn’t until many months into the future that the promised benefits even started to surface.  This was warning sign number 3.

 

My twin brother and I started doing the development for the entire company and started with our own offices.  Over time, we were eventually moved out of our offices to make way for other people coming in.  Slowly but surely, we were being brushed to the side, but asked to urgently work and as such this was warning sign number 4, that we were just a means to an end.

 

There was another company that was part of the new company doing internet coaching.  There were two brothers who owned roughly 49 percent of that company.  They were unethical, unreasonable, and greedy.  I’m not quite sure why they were given a chance to come aboard and take part in all this.  Evntually their behavior was caught fully and they were dismissed.  This was warning sign number 5, and that is how on earth two people like this were given a 49 percent ownership in a company.

 

We eventually moved into a newer building and our development team was promptly moved into an old radio room with no windows.  Once again, brushed aside, we tried to remain positive and optimistic.  Our ownerships at this point were still vague.  We had been constantly time after time, hounding the two young owners as to what our ownerships were.  We were promised much, but in the end, I had a 20% stake in one of the companies and my twin brother 5%.  But who knows what this really met.  This took many months after the start of this company.  This was warning sign number 6.

 

Eventually development got moved into a conference room where we at least could put up some cubicle walls.  But it was evident that development was becoming less and less important.  We were hounded to work on stuff, but over time, the focus was shifting to getting more sales.  A head sales manager was hired and offered a salary 4 times what I was getting.  This was warning sign number 7.

 

You’d think that with all these warning signs that I would have made better choices.  Well, my twin brother and I must have met with the young owners 50 times expressing concerns, asking for our roles/ownerships to be hashed out more.  But everything was always delayed.  Eventually, an ‘angel investor’ was brought into the picture and because he was investing the most money, he gained the majority say in what was to be done with the company.  This was warning sign number 8.

 

Keep in mind that I gave up a good job with good benefits with a good salary and bonuses.  I had an extra income between $3,000 and $5,000 coming in each month from my bonus work on the website I helped start with one of the young owners.  It can definitely be said that I gave up much and gained not much in return.  In addition, my wife did some work for this new company for which she was never paid.  I had to hound one of the young owners to pay money he owed me from work I did over six months ago.  This was warning sign number 9.

 

An accountant was hired for the new company and a focus on money was being emphasized.  Every time I talked to the young owners it was always ‘risk/reward’ determines what you get.  In their minds, if you did not risk money, you did not risk anything.  To this I say, ‘baloney’.  I’ve lost roughly $50,000 a year from bonus pay and the salary I was making at this new company.  I gave my time and talents.  To say that is not a risk is ridiculous.  This was warning sign number 10.

 

In the end, it was an endless struggle to try and work out ownership and roles within the company.  But what it came down to was trimming the company down and using the website I helped create as a ‘cash cow’ to help fund this new company.  As a supposed 25% owner of one of the companies, my voice has fallen on deaf ears.  Now I see this company being run into the ground, it’s value being stripped away and nothing to be seen from it.  This is warning sign number 11.

 

So what does this mean for you reading this?  It means do not despair.  I am still optimistic and positive.  A burning inside me continues to make drjerm.com the place for being educated, uplifted, and inspired.  I believe in time that this site will be well known around the world and that my inspiring stories and educating articles will have helped millions.  I hope that the thoughts I’ve shared help at least some people avoid being used as a means to an end to further less talented people’s greedy ambitions.

 

I have grown a burning in me and a sadness as two young people, who have said and done whatever it takes to get people to be a means to an end as they seek to become multi-millionaires for a company that is only going down hill now.  I feel betrayed, but at the same time know that I am at fault for allowing this to happen.  However, I’ve learned some valuable lessons that will strengthen me for the future and I will move onward with courage and determination.  I hope the seriousness of my tone conveys a message that will protect others from what happened to me.

 

Nevertheless I know that I am one man and have room for error in my thought process.  But I also know I am intelligent and smart.  May those who have read this learn from what I have experienced.

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Hello, it’s me, Drjerm again.  I have some interesting news I wish to share with everyone.  Yesterday, the owners of the company I helped start had a meeting with many of the management and my development team.  The end result is that a lot of people are going to be let go, including the whole development team, excluding one of the guys who will assist part time to maintain things.  There will be somewhat of a part time income still available from work there, but the end result is that I have lost my day job.

 

This is kind of ironic since my last post was about what to do when you need/want to leave your job :)

 

Sometimes life throws a wrench into things, and this is one of those cases.  I have a few options of what I can do.  I could become bitter, angry, worried, stressed, and frustrated.  I could become consumed with losing my job and panic.  What will that get me?  Probably bad health, a broken family, and backwards progress.  I could feel bad for the other developers I worked with as well, especially the ones who haven’t worked there for very long.  But Instead, here’s what I plan on doing:

 

I will be taking the positives from the situation and using a glass half full mentality.  I will encourage the developers who have been let go.  Some of them have gained new and exciting skills in developing websites.  I will inspire them to get a new and better job and wish them the best of luck.  I will be understanding if some of them are very angry.

 

I will use the knowledge I gained as I’ve worked for this comany the last 10 months.  I’ve learned quite a bit about people and situations.  I understand that the owners of companies who are investing money are interested in one thing with a company – having its expenses low and revenues high.  If this means letting people go, that will happen.  I’ve learned to be very careful when having anyone approach you and say they need your help with a business venture.

 

My advice to any of you who are being approached to ‘help’ someone start a business is that you must understand that in most cases you are a means to an end.  This is not negative, this is reality.  You have a skill or ability that is needed for the business to get going.  You may get promised a high salary, a position in upper management, or any number of things.  But realize that over time you may have fulfilled your role in helping the company get started and get let go.  All I am saying, is be VERY careful when people are asking things of you and making you promises.

 

So I have a newfound knowledge of people and business.  That is a positive.  I also have an opportunity over the next three to six months to make a decision.  I will either get another job doing web development, or I will go full blast on my own business ventures :)  My inner gut tells me I need to go full blast on my business ventures.  That I need to fulfull my destiny and make this website really strong.  That I need to give an honest, hard attempt over the next three to six months at least on bringing in my own income.

 

I believe this is what I’m going to do.  If you’ve lost your job, chances are you will be getting some kind of severance pay or supplemental income.  For me, I will get some, but this will still make our income very tight.  Luckily we’ve saved up a little money to last for three to six months.  If we are careful and frugal, I believe I can make a six month attempt to really get the ball rolling with creating my legacy in the world with this website and other business ventures.  I look forward to the challenge.

 

I am not afraid of failing.  I know that I have skills in web development and that I can find a job doing it.  I’ve learned that keeping your skills up to date is important.  To never take anything for granted.  To always be ready for any kind of situation.  To be ready for change and be internally motivated.  I am excited for this challenge in my life.

 

I am a firm believer that when a big challenge occurs in life that it is a doorway to much bigger things if we will but be persistent and diligent as we seek to overcome and learn from the challenge.

 

My advice to those of you who have lost your job is to take the positives from it.  Don’t panic.  Build yourself up and understand that you are special and important.  Find confidence by reading through the resources on my website.  Realize that you can do anything you set your mind to.

 

As such, I have a few very cool things planned for drjerm.com as I will be able to devote FULL TIME work to it now!  Stay tuned for what some of these plans are!

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I’ve begun to see a situation with people where they have worked at a company for 10, 15, or more years and either the company is running itself into the ground, or the worker at the company is no longer interested in being there.  For someone in this situation, what do you do?

 

Habit/Comfort

 

I have been fortunate ever since I graduated college in April 2004.  I am now working at my 4th job and each transition has been on my terms and my choosing and has provided me with an upgrade in my salary.  This is not the case for everyone.  Those of you who’ve been stuck at the same place of work for many many years have a lot of comfort and things you are used to at your job.  Adapting and changing will at first, be difficult.

 

The good news is that it’s not so difficult that you cannot do it.  Especially if your company is headed downhill either through management failures, or from just losing business over time.  The first step is not wanting to be comfortable but looking for a change.  This means gaining new skills and taking time to get out of your comfort zone.

 

Take the time to gain the skills for your field that you do not have.  For me, this means looking at the latest in web development technologies.  For others, this means learning to cook more exotic foods, find more creative ways to crunch numbers, or finding ways to better manage people.  Do not get discouraged because you do not know the extra skills you need.  Simply take the time to learn them through practice and application.  Find out what employers are looking for and go out and get those skills by any means necessary!

 

Change of Perception

 

Most of the people who’ve worked at the same company and that are in a rut there likely have a common scenario.  They have not had any of the following for many many years:

 

• Create a Resume
• Have a Job Interview
• Learn New Skills
• Excitement at the work place
• Desire to do anymore than is necessary to get the job done
• Compliments of management

 

I will say that the ‘drudgery’ of work creates a rut that hopefully can at least be recognized if you are in that situation.  I have some ideas that I believe can get you out of this rut, but you must be willing to take some action for an extended period of time.  Not working on it for a few days or weeks and then giving up because you didn’t see instant results.  The vision of long term effort and determination is what leads people to future success.

 

So the first step is changing your perception to someone who is proactive and enjoys new challenges.  This means talking to yourself and building yourself up.  Tell yourself you like new challenges.  Paint a picture of yourself that is happy and energetic.  You like to meet new people, undertake challenging projects, and solve problems.  You are successfull and happy.  You can do it!

 

What do You Want?

 

I know a guy who likes Harley Davidson motorcycles.  He’s worked at the same company for over 10 years.  He does not like it there.  He’s getting burned out and he likely comes home and just crashes, with no desire to try and accomplish much of anything.  This spiraling routine must be fought and beaten into the ground.  Do not feel like coming home from work is the end to your creative thinking and time to stuff your face with snacks and watch your favorite TV shows on DVR.  This will lead you to decay and a sedentary and unhappy life.

 

What you CAN do is spend time thinking about what you like and start putting action into place to pursue that which you like.  The guy I know that likes Harleys could start taking time to compile information about the motorcycles of today.  He could take pictures, and write pages and pages of information.  In time, he’d have the ‘bible’ of motorcycles.  This could lead him to start a website, create his own brand of motorcycle, start his own dealership, or start his own club.

 

Does this seem silly?  No way!  It is possible!  I am living proof of this.  I saw that I enjoyed helping people and wanted to make a difference in the world.  This means not coming home and sitting with my hands under my butt watching reruns of Seinfeld all day.  It means taking time to pursue my dreams and passions!  It means working on this website!  I am also going to be pursuing real estate and renting properties because I like working with people and know that some good extra money can come from it.

 

I am not afraid.  I know the pros and cons to what I do.  I move forward with determination and happiness.  I know that you can do the same.  Why wouldn’t you want to pursue the things you love the most and are passionate about?  Isn’t that what being happy is all about?

 

Being Fearless

 

Fear of the unknown, change, and leaving your comfort zone no doubt keeps you in check from changing the monotony of life.  It does not have to be that way!  You don’t have to make millions of dollars either.  I make a decent salary at my day job.  And I work on all this other stuff in my spare time.  I love doing it.  You may love motorcycles, music, singing, dancing, cooking, cars, magic – whatever it may be, if you love it and are good at it, I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to spend time on it.

 

Once you know what you want to do, make every effort to do it.  It’s like someone offering you a brief case full of gold, but you reject it because the brief case is heavy or looks funny and you don’t want it because it’s different than what you have.  My goodness, I hope you can see the fault of not pursuing your dreams and passions!

 

Do not be afraid of failing.  Take every effort to educate yourself.  Research, talk with others, and most importantly, take action.  Be happy that you are pursuing your dreams.  There is no feeling like knowing that you are doing what you are meant to be doing in life.  It removes fear and doubt and instead replaces you with confidence, happiness, and inner peace.  I know with faith, effort, and determination that you can break free of your many years at your job and start doing worthwhile things!

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