What Losing My Job During the Pandemic Taught Me

Never in a million years did I anticipate I would find myself losing my job TWICE in a global pandemic, but that is exactly what happened. The first time I was laid off was in March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. Last March the VP of my corporate insurance job notified us that our jobs would be phased out in November 2020. Thankfully, I found a new job as a mortgage auditor a few months before my insurance job was officially phased out, so I didn’t have to experience any time unemployed.

That was not the case the second time I was laid off. The second layoff was sudden and completely unexpected. I had been with this particular company for 8 months (from August 2020 through April 2021) and everything was going fine until work volumes started to slow DRASTICALLY in the Spring. Despite our concerns, the management team told us that the slump in business was normal, the work volume would pick up, and we had nothing to worry about. This was not true. Two weeks later we were unceremoniously fired, effective immediately.

It has been four months since that fateful Zoom call, and I am still unemployed. To be honest, I thought I was going to make my way back to work in no time, but that has not been the case. This waiting period has been a little scary, extremely uncomfortable, yet oddly enlightening. I have learned more in the last four months than I did in all of 2020.

What losing my job during the pandemic has taught me

1 | I don’t have time to waste

My job as a mortgage auditor was comfortable. I was paid very well and able to work from the comfort of my own home. This was great for my work-life balance, but horrible for my motivation to work on my own business (i.e. this website you’re now on). Basically, I was dragging my feet on my personal goals. I wasn’t investing in my website or being consistent about posting consistently. I kept postponing reaching out to businesses I wanted to collaborate with (leaving so much money on the table as a result). Because I was paid well and the job was convenient, I really didn’t have any motivation to push my own side hustle.

That all changed when I found myself out of work. Now I was no longer bringing in a good income, but I couldn’t rely on my side hustle because it had been neglected. I hadn’t taken the time to invest in growing it as I should have. I was reminded of all the times I felt the Holy Spirit prodding me to get going yet I procrastinated.

Losing my job showed me that I had wasted so much time, just sitting on my hands. That feeling of regret has lit a fire under me. I’ve got a business plan and vision going. I’m finally making money from my blog. I have other ideas for products and services in the works. I’m still looking for another corporate job, but this time I’m doing it while I work on creating my own stream of income as well.

2 | Your lane will be exciting AND hard at the same time

Once I started ideating and putting a plan in motion for my business, the excitement immediately set in. However, once I started actually doing the work, reality set in. This stuff is HARD! Being a lifestyle blogger and influencer looks so much easier than it actually is. It’s so much more work than just taking pictures – and even taking the pictures is harder than it looks!

As a blogger/influencer you have to be a writer, editor, website designer, photographer, makeup artist, CEO, data analyst, graphic designer, salesman, marketing expert, and so much more. I am – for the most part – a one-woman show. I do have a friend who takes my pictures every two weeks and also brainstorms content ideas with me monthly, but other than that, everything else falls squarely on me. To be real, I am busier now that I am unemployed than I ever was when I was working a full-time job. It is exhausting! Losing my job during the pandemic has taught me that your dream will be a mixture of excitement and pure hard work, and that’s OK!

3 | God needs to be given more priority

Now, this is something I should have been known. To be fair, I did know it, but I had gotten away from it. Before I lost my job, I had taken on a very casual, lackadaisical approach to my relationship with the Lord. I was praying, but not every single day. I was studying my word and going to church, but not with a passion and a hunger to really hear from Him. It was just out of routine, simply going through the motions.

Losing my job during the pandemic reminded me that I needed to keep God at the forefront of my life every single step of the way. In Psalm 16:8, King David says, “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken..” Well, I wasn’t setting the Lord in front of me at all times, so losing my job definitely shook me.

This experience has taught me that I absolutely can not afford to not be in tune with God. Over the last few months, I have spent so much time in His presence, letting Him teach me, correct me, and give me direction. Business and ministry ideas have been birthed in my quiet time with Him. He’s been teaching me so much about myself and the women I serve via this blog, and it has been so refreshing and life-changing. I have this new confidence and clarity that I didn’t have before the pandemic, and it’s all because losing my job forced me to sit down at the feet of Jesus and hear from Him again.

Although I would rather have not lost my job, I can’t deny how much good has come out of it. I am so excited for what’s to come in the future for JasmineRutledge.com and the other business and ministry endeavors I am pursuing. Excited, doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel when I think of all the ways I will be able to serve this community and women at large. The best truly is yet to come!