When it Comes to Finding Work After 50, Nothing is a Sure Thing

I was in such a great mood when I left for a long weekend in New Orleans last week.

I had just finished working ten days in a row. Yep, working for yourself you sometimes have to do that. More importantly, I had arranged a pretty good engagement with a client starting this week.

I had a six-week engagement all set up helping a client write a big proposal. Knowing I had that work upon my return allowed me to really enjoy my short vacation.

So, last night I logged in to find out what time the kick off meeting would be. You can imagine my disappointment when I learned that the project was cancelled. Six weeks of work, POOOOOF, gone like that.

It’s more common than you might think. It happens all the time in the business world, but most direct employees are sheltered from such occurrences. When you have a “real” job as an employee, and your employer decides to abandon a new project, like manna from heaven, some other work seems to magically appear out of nowhere for you. Not so for us contractors. We’re left to fend for ourselves.

I have to remind myself it’s all part of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love being self-employed. I love the time freedom (work whenever I want) and the location freedom (work from wherever I want). Sometime in the future I hope to enjoy the money freedom (earn more than I ever could working for someone else). In the meantime, cancelled projects are the price that has to be paid.

So, what did I do? Keep on keeping on. I contacted that client and set up a meeting to see if there is anything else I could do. I contacted a different client and arranged some work with them.

It’s called hustling. And if you want to survive finding work after 50, it’s a skill you’ll have to develop. I’m working on mine this very week. Want to join me?

Until next time.

Originally published at Too Young To Retire.