126 Your income has suddenly dried up… now what?

by | Apr 1, 2020 | Budgets, Earn extra income, Everyday Money, Health and Wealth, Managing Money, Podcast

126 Your income has suddenly dried up... Now what?

In the wake of this global pandemic, (and the subsequent lockdown) has your income suddenly dried up? Whether you’re a freelancer who has lost work, own a business that has had to cease operations, or are an employee who has been asked to take a dramatic cut in salary, the repercussions are massive when you have had no time to prepare or slowly reduce expenses.

The knock on impact of this financial crisis to companies means that more and more of us are going to find ourselves in trouble.

The fact of the matter is, debit orders will keep coming, and money will keep leaving bank accounts. And we know that we’re about to hit a serious problem. It’s no wonder the anxiety keeps rising! Which together with the chaos at home now, makes life stressful.

It’s going to take a while for the economic situation to come right, so we’ve put together some strategies to help guide you through this period of uncertainty.

Be brave friends.

Show notes

[01.42] Facebook group manifesto

We are a global family of women who are actively trying to live our Best Life.

We fall often, but we dig deep, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and keep on going… because we believe that this life is worth living, and living as best as we can.

We support each other with NO judgement.

We share our lessons in the hope that it may help each of us to be brave but we’re always mindful that our journeys are as unique as each one of us are.

We know that in every moment we have a choice, and if we are to live our Best Life – financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally and in our work – we need to make a thousand little choices every day to be brave.

To leave our comfort zones of habit for the greater purpose of our Best Life.

We believe that greatness lies in every one of us. Not the flashy kind, the genuine, deep kind of greatness that acknowledges that we were perfectly designed to live in a community of talented humans… each of us bringing our unique talent and perspective to support the next.

[03.11] Here are a few strategies to help you if your income has suddenly dried up:

  • [04.24] Step 1 – Get the family on board to cut your expenses
  • [05.43] Step 2 – Renegotiate your expenses
  • [07.30] Step 3 – Get onto Plan B as soon as possible
  • [10.16] Step 4 – Journal

Relevant links

Related posts and episodes

Quotes from this episode

‘The quicker you cut expenses, the longer you will be able to last through this.  Cut deep, quickly – if it’s not essential, cut that expense.’ – Lisa Linfield

‘Every minute not spent coming up with and trying new things, is time that you’re losing with no revenue… and expenses continuing to come through.’ – Lisa Linfield

‘You HAVE to kick into gear… you HAVE to get other sources of income.’ – Lisa Linfield

‘One of the biggest challenges of this period is that a sudden trauma of losing your income has a ton of hurt that goes with it. ‘ – Lisa Linfield

‘One of the problems I’ve seen is that if you do kick straight into survival mode in cutting the expenses and working on Plan B, you often don’t take the time to work through these emotions.’ – Lisa Linfield

Transcript

Hello everybody and welcome to Working Women’s Wealth. I hope that you’re all surviving these crazy times, and that you’re settling slowly into your new routines. As I mentioned in last week’s episode, my Interview with Mary Baird-Wilcock on ‘Coping with the new normal of Coronavirus Lockdown’, I’ve been in lockdown for almost two weeks now… and the first week was rough. I really struggled to adjust to having my 3 kids and husband in my office all day – as it’s the only place with Wifi.
So as I result, I stepped into one of the areas I’ve been resisting for a long time, and that’s starting a Facebook group. I’ve been terrified to start one in case no one participates, especially in the beginning… but I’ve decided to set aside my own insecurities to create a space where we can support each other in building our Best Life.
So, this is the manifesto of the group…
We are a global family of women who are actively trying to live our Best Life.
We fall often, but we dig deep, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and keep on going… because we believe that this life is worth living, and living as best as we can.
We support each other with NO judgement. We share our lessons in the hope that it may help each of us to be brave but we’re always mindful that our journeys are as unique as each one of us are.
We know that in every moment we have a choice, and if we are to live our Best Life – financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally and in our work – we need to make a thousand little choices every day to be brave.
To leave our comfort zones of habit for the greater purpose of our Best Life.
We believe that greatness lies in every one of us. Not the flashy kind, the genuine, deep kind of greatness that acknowledges that we were perfectly designed to live in a community of talented humans… each of us bringing our unique talent and perspective to support the next.

So I invite you to join us – just head to Facebook and search Brave to be Free, and join the Group.
So one of the new challenges that we’re tackling as a global family of women is that many of us, or our partners have suddenly lost their income… or for many of my clients they’ve been asked to take a 20-50% cut in salary.
Now for any of us, that’s a massive impact when we have had no time to prepare or slowly reduce expenses. Debit orders keep coming, money keeps leaving the account and we know that we’re about to hit a serious problem.
Personally, I believe that everyone needs to do this now. I believe that those who already have been hit are just the first wave, and I think that more is coming. The knock on impact to companies of this global pandemic means that more and more of us are going to find ourselves in trouble.
And the anxiety keeps rising. Which together with the chaos at home now, makes life stressful.
So, I want to give you a few strategies to help you out.

Step 1 – Get the family on board to cut your expenses
You and your family need to get on the same page with respect to your finances. If you’re in lockdown, it’s easier not to spend, but it’s going to take a while for the economic situation to come right, so you all need to approach this together. Everyone will need to cut their expenses.
Now is not the time for you all to hope plan B will kick in soon (more about that later). The quicker you cut expenses, the longer you will be able to last through this. Cut deep quickly – if it’s not essential, cut that expense.
When we did this as a family when I decided to stop corporate work and my salary suddenly disappeared, one of the biggest lesson I learnt was the positive impact that the family approach had on my kids. They are much more mindful of the cost of things, much more sensitive to what they ask for, and much more appreciative of what they have, and of waste.
And aren’t those the qualities we want in our kids?

Step 2 – Renegotiate your expenses
Phone anyone you have a monthly debit order with, and tell them that you are looking at cancelling the debit order as your income has dried up… and ask them if there is a better deal.
I have a subscription to the Financial Times. Three weeks ago in anticipation of this lockdown impact on my business income, I got onto the online Chat function with a rep, and asked to cancel… they immediately gave me a 20% discount. I was pausing in responding because I really wanted to cancel, and they immediately gave me another 10% discount. It amazed me how easy it was to get a better deal for the exact same thing.
Short term insurance – such as cars, homes and content insurance is another one that I renegotiate at least every 2-3 years. The great thing about that is that you can send your existing schedule of insurance and get a like for like quote. Make sure that it’s a like-for-like quote with a reputable insurer because you need them to pay… but explore getting a higher excess if you can afford it. That’s the amount you pay when something goes wrong, and it can make a big difference in your monthly costs.
Cell phone and data packages are another one that you must take a good look at as they have new offers all the time.

Step 3 – Get onto Plan B as soon as possible
A friend of mine and her husband are both self-employed – and both of their businesses have been significantly impacted by the lockdown. She kicked in to awesome mode and came up with a phenomenal ‘lockdown bag’ of Ten Activities to do for kids at home. With just 72 hours between announcement and delivery, the whole family got involved in making up the activities, instructions and bags.
I can’t begin to tell you how super proud I was of her.
I have watched so many friends and clients over the last three weeks be completely paralysed in the financial devastation of these shutdowns. Whilst I truly understand the emotional impact, every minute not spent coming up and trying new things, is time with no revenue… and expenses continuing to come through.
You HAVE to kick into gear… you HAVE to get other sources of income.
I was sharing with my friend how powerful a teaching moment it is for children to watch you making a plan. When I was in seventh grade, my dad’s business was bought by another company. With two CEO’s, it’s clear that theirs stayed on and my dad lost his job. I remember clearly he went and sold badges – name badges, company logo badges. Each time a delivery came in, I’d help him sort those badges to fulfil the client’s order.
At his retirement a few years ago, I gave a speech. I highlighted this as one of the times I’m most proud of with his career. As an adult, I can now appreciate how unbelievably tough it must have been to go from CEO to badge-seller whilst he found his next CEO job… but he did what he needed to do to keep food on the table and limit the hole that no income puts in your savings.
One of my listeners reached out to get the link from me of my free 6 video course and infographic on 9 ways to make money sitting on the couch. Now, these ways take no great thinking, and are not your future career – but they may just plug a short term hole in cashflow and help you limp through this period when you may need extra income.

Step 4 – Journal
One of the biggest challenges of this period is that a sudden trauma of losing your income has a ton of hurt that goes with it. Expectations that you’ve put on yourself (or your partner) that are now no longer able to be fulfilled.
One of the problems I’ve seen is that if you do kick straight into survival mode in cutting the expenses and working on Plan B, you often don’t take the time to work through this – you just bury it under the mat… shelving it for another time.
One of the dangers I’ve seen is that it resurfaces – either the next time it happens, or when you retire (because retirement mimics this situation of no more income but expenses to pay). And it causes a lot of challenges when something you haven’t worked through resurfaces again… often in a magnified way.
In my book that should be coming out in June (depending on how this pandemic plays out), one of the key tools I talk about is the power of journaling. There’s a lot of proven brain science behind why it helps to resolve issues, reduce stress and improve health – even in people who only journal once a month.
I strongly suggest you get a pen and a book and journal. Not the dear diary kind, the questioning, answering, getting it out kind.
It’s going to feel crap when you have to ‘sell badges’ or fill out useless online surveys for small amounts of money. You are worth so much more, that’s not under discussion. But if you journal it out, work through it with a pen and paper – you will get through this time so much better, I promise.

So, for all of you that are struggling out there… please know that my prayers are with you. Please join our Brave to Be Free Facebook Group and reach out for support. Just search ‘Brave to be Free’ on Facebook and select the Brave to be Free with Lisa Linfield group.
And if you want some ideas about how to earn money online, please download our free video series and PDF infographic download that will kickstart your ideas on how to make some extra cash.

Be brave friends
I’m Lisa Linfield, and this is Working Women’s Wealth