This is not just a blog post. It's the title of a future classic, and I'm claiming it right now.

Lose Your Job, Loser™ now belongs to me. MwahahahaHAAA! Stay tuned to see where it heads. Got a feelin' it's gonna be a good 'un.

Maybe it starts something like this...

Once upon a time, I was a just another piece of cubed meat selling my soul bit by bit. Ahhh, those were the days.

But seriously, never sweat the haters...

First of all, anybody who calls you a loser because you can't find a job in this economic environment is a total idiot. Running this site, I have gotten lots of feedback from highly skilled professionals who are finding it impossible to find anything -- not just anything in their fields, but anything. Even without actual human beings telling me how tough it is, even without having experienced this myself, it's pretty obvious that the job market is horrible. Look at the lines at job fairs. Look at your own circle of friends and family. There aren't enough jobs out there right now. Anybody too stupid to see that probably shouldn't be employed in any capacity that requires any sort of cognitive competence.

Second, why is working for someone else some sort of badge of honor, anyway? I don't want to say anything to offend all the decent, hard-working people who have jobs, but... (how can I put this?) never mind.

The thing is, when you have a job, you are always at someone else's mercy. You can lose that job. Your funding can be cut. Your business could decline. You might get a new boss who just doesn't like you. What's so honorable about that?

Lose that job in this economic climate, and it can be well-nigh impossible to find a new one, no matter how skilled, reliable, or diligent you may be.

Here's the thing: "Jobs" are not honorable.

Work is.

If you do good work, you'll never need a job. If you work hard providing something that people need, you'll never worry about money.

Winners are people who persevere through hardship.

Listen, I have not yet built my business to the level that I expect. It has been the struggle of my life just to get this far, especially since my wife left. I cut my budget to the bone. I strained my back for every nickel I could pick up out of the gutter. I even -- to my own horror -- incurred a little debt (which I will pay off in full soon). I hustled. I scrambled. I lay awake many a night, sweating the possibility of not making it -- and that's always a possibility.

You know what, though? It will all be worth it. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Those nickels that I was working so hard to pick up months ago are becoming dollars. I'm working far harder than I ever did when I had a job, and with my reputation (not just my paycheck) on the line, I'm producing higher quality work.

Did I have to suffer indignities to get here? I turned my underwear inside out to save money on laundry. I let my hair grow to save money on haircuts. I swallowed my pride and made cold calls. I dealt with some rejection. I made tons of "mistakes" which are really just lessons learned.

Anybody who faults me for that can go fuck themselves. If they think they're better than me because they haven't lost their jobs, I challenge them to quit their jobs, lose their savings, start from nothing and see if they fare as well as I have. In other words, "Lose Your Job, Loser!™"

A winner doesn't need a job. A job can vanish, as so many readers of this site have found out the hard way. Your skills and your capacity to do work can never be taken away. You own them. They are what get you paid.

The difference between winners and losers

The difference between winners and losers in this world is that winners own up to their mistakes and take measures to correct them. Losers are always looking for somebody else to blame. Anybody who has done their time in corporate America knows the whole CYA game. It's a paradox, but the losers often win that game. Doesn't change the fact that they're losers, though; they're just losers with steady paychecks (that can be taken from them at a moment's notice).

Finally, to my unemployed brothers and sisters:

Don't let anyone tell you you're a loser. Hustle, strive, struggle. Replace your pride with humility. Replace your job with work.

Be a winner.