Jason Unger

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Three weeks ago, I was laid off.

It wasn't exactly a surprise — the writing was on the wall — but nevertheless, it's one of those things you hope doesn't happen to you.

But it did. And so all of a sudden, the company I'd worked for since the day I graduated from college, no longer needed my services.

There was an unemotional conversation with my manager, the guy who'd hired me out of college and been my manager 4 out of the 7 different times I was shuffled around (yes, in 4 years). Then the chat with HR, arguing over the difference between 'fired' and 'laid off.' It was difficult, especially because I consider us friends.

And that was it.

It was sad. But not a shock. The company had been through a few rounds of layoffs already (and a 10% paycut, which affected everyone), and things weren't turning around. And even though I can understand the business rational for the decision, it doesn't make it any easier.

It's one thing to move on from a position where you've essentially built a product and its reputation out of nothing. It's another to see it taken away from you.

My friend Ben Drawbaugh, upon hearing of my situation, posted a ridiculously kind recommendation on LinkedIn, which at least made me feel a little bit better.

I simply can't imagine CEpro.com without Jason. As far as I'm concerned he built that site and everything I liked about it.

This is how I felt about the site. Really, this is how you feel about anything you build from nothingness.

There's a lot more to this story, including how I got a job offer the day after I was laid off. I'm not sure it's appropriate to post now, but I will share it. Stay tuned.

You know how pretty much every look-back-at-the-year-that-was post generally remembers the highlights of the last year?

Well, in order to start the new year on the right foot, it's worth looking back at some of the mistakes I made in 2008 and will try not to repeat in 2009.

Here are 3 mistakes I made in 2008.

I Tried to Do Too Many Things at Once

This has generally been my problem ever since I started working and launching side ventures.

Since I'm the creator-type and tend to look for instant gratification in my work, working online is a blessing and a curse.

I started way too many sites and considered ideas for others and tried to run them all — at the same time. I consistently broke my own rule of maximizing product development, not number of projects.

I Communicated Poorly

One of the things about working at home is that your communication needs to be extremely clear.

I can't tell you how many times an email or an IM has come out the wrong way or been misinterpreted because of the word choice. More often that not, this leads to a mountain being made out of a molehill.

The biggest thing missing from online communication is a person's visual clues. If only we all had video cameras and Skype …

I Lost Focus

The only way to get where you need to be is to know where that is. Too often, I didn't.

This year, I went through phases: setting goals, managing work and removing distractions, then the complete opposite. Keeping focus requires structure, and too often I left myself roam free.

It's not like I can't hit goals: cepro just hit its yearly goal on the nose. But in my own ventures, I couldn't keep the focus long enough to succeed. And that hurt.

Why I'll Probably Make These Mistakes Again in 2009

Reality check: I'm not going to be perfect in 2009. That I know. I'll certainly make these mistakes again.

But that won't stop me from trying. My goal? To cut down on these mistakes as much as possible.

It's been a mind-boggling week for me.

Last Saturday, I found out that my biggest client was having a much harder time raising the cash needed to pay for my services and needed me to stop working.

Last Tuesday, my day job had its first layoffs ever in 14-plus years. While I'm still there, we were all given reduced working hours and had some benefits cut back.

On Monday, I sold the Online Savings Blog.

As you can imagine, a lot has changed — quickly.

Where Do You Go From Here?

This is the question most difficult to answer.

Two weeks ago, I offered a service, had a big product, and security at my day job. Today, I've got a lot less.

It's a lot of change in not a lot of time. It feels difficult — at least it feels like a big transition — but in reality, it's not a bad thing at all.

If you step back, you can see that now I have the opportunity to re-work, re-define and re-apply myself.

This sounds a lot like what you tell people who have just lost their jobs. It's not a loss, it's an opportunity. But saying it to yourself takes a lot of confidence — something that this kind of transition eats away at.

What I've Learned and Can (Hopefully) Apply

Now that I've got a fresh start, here's what I'm working on:

• Not overextending myself with too many commitments
• Not starting too many Web sites that I can't keep up with
• Not letting my constant flow of ideas overwhelm my current project
• Focusing on my strengths, not my weaknesses
• Not trying to do it all, especially if someone else can do it better

In a way, it's great timing that all of this has happened as the year comes to an end. With the calendar flipping around to the top, we all have a chance to start over and make 2009 better than 2008.

Remember: the next time transition hits you, consider it an opportunity.

You're either in sales or you're not.

There's no getting around that — some people are born to sell; some aren't.

I fall in the second camp. Selling, to me, has always brought forth conflicted emotions — obviously, it's about making money, but it's also about filling a need.

As I've transitioned from doing more of the day-to-day content production to meeting, planning and executing on bigger Web projects, I've had to pick up a few sales best practices.

Here's what you can learn from the salespeople you work with.

Act Social, Even if You Aren't

You need to be social to survive in sales. If you're an introvert, look for another line of work.

The easiest way to get someone to buy something from you is to be social with them. When was the last time you opened up your wallet for a significant purchase from a complete stranger?

Even if you're not friends with potential customers, you have to know them. Never eat alone. Network all the time. Go to local events and meetups.

If you don't know your customer, you can't sell to them.

It's All About the Customer

If your customer needs a hammer, you can't sell them a screwdriver.

When you can identify their needs, you can develop an offer that solves their problems. Sometimes, you're not going to have exactly what they need. That's just life.

A good salesperson can determine what the customer wants and package a solution that works. When that works, it opens up a lot of doors for you. The customer know trusts you to offer products that solve his goals.

After the initial sale, you have the opportunity to come back and sell them more. This is where you develop repeat business and can make the sale on higher margin products.

You Need to Believe in the Product

You cannot sell a product you don't believe in. If it doesn't work the way it should or doesn't fit what the customer is looking for, it's not the right product.

The reason passionistas are so important to sales efforts is that the truly believe in the product and let everyone know about it.

If you aren't excited about your product, how is the customer going to be?

Why This Matters To You

If you're not in sales, you might not care what they're doing. But you should.

At a certain level, salespeople are your product evangelists. They're out there shouting the praises of you and what you do. Yeah, they're getting a commission on it, but they're working to expand your presence and notoriety.

When you're developing a product, you need to understand what your salespeople need in order to do their jobs. Think of them as your customers — you have to convince them that it's worth their time to promote your product.

While not every salesperson is going to be an evangelist for you, the good ones are. They're excited, they believe in what you're doing, and they want to help you do it.

How many times have you been told to 'think outside the box'?

Everyone seems to think that this is a creative way to approach solving problems, but they miss a big point: there's a box for a reason.

Imagine if the only rule in football was to get the ball to the other end of the field. How would you do it?

You certainly wouldn't limit yourself to 4 tries, trade off possessions, and suggest 300 pound guys try and tackle you in the process. You'd probably walk the ball down the field … and that would be that.

When You Have Guidelines, You Have the Tools to Decide

But that's not creative or fun. That's not even remotely interesting. So you establish rules. You establish guidelines for how the solution should be achieved.

Hence, your box. Your box is the path to your solution.

When you're working inside of the box, finding creative solutions can be way more fulfilling than choosing from the unlimited possibilities outside of the box.

You could easily tear the stickers off of a Rubik's Cube and re-arrange them to get all the colors on the right sides. But that's not the point.

Working within the guidelines challenges you to be more creative. Having a guide can help you find a solution that doesn't seem obvious at first.

The Ultimate Inside-the-Box Creativity

Debbie and I are currently working on the ultimate inside-the-box creativity. With a baby on the way, we're coming up with possibles names. (We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, so two names are necessary).

As Jews (and Ashkenazi ones at that), our naming box is only so large. Aish explains:

Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of naming a child after a relative who has passed away. This keeps the name and memory alive, and in a metaphysical way forms a bond between the soul of the baby and the deceased relative. This is a great honor to the deceased, because its soul can achieve an elevation based on the good deeds of the namesake. The child, meanwhile, can be inspired by the good qualities of the deceased — and make a deep connection to the past.

So when we're thinking of names — both a first and a middle — these are the guidelines we're working with. And it helps.

If there were no guidelines to picking a name, we'd be all over the place. She likes certain names, I like totally different ones.

When we're working within the same confinements, we can come to a common solution. We have to be more creative because of the limitations.

Yes, You Can Be Creative Inside the Box

I hate boxes. But they're there for a reason.

When you need to work in a box, don't consider your creativity lost. Use the guidelines you have to develop a creative solution.

If the Apollo 13 crew can figure out how to fit a square peg in a round hole while the astronauts lives are at stake, you can be creative inside the box.

Coincidentally, Mark McGuinness at Lateral Action posted a story yesterday called "Why Thinking "Outside the Box" Doesn't Work" — give it a read for a different perspective.