There’s a certain kind of desperation that sets in when you’ve been job hunting for months.

You start out hopeful, tweaking your resume, applying to jobs, scheduling interviews. Then reality hits. Ghosted by recruiters. Interviews that feel like endless interrogation marathons. And the worst... getting through three or four rounds, only to have the offer yanked at the last minute.

I know this pain personally. I spent the last year chasing marketing, technology, CRM, and business analyst roles, only to hit the same wall over and over again. More than 80 interviews. Three rescinded job offers. Dozens of promising leads that fizzled into nothing.

At some point, I had to ask myself: Why am I spending so much energy begging for a job when I could just create my own?

Logically, I see 2 choices:

Keep looking for a W2 job

Start your own business

From what I've seen in 2024, starting your own consultancy or agency might just be easier than to continue the job search.

And that’s what I’m here to tell you: Working for someone else, there's nothing wrong with that.

But... if you’re stuck in the job hunt cycle, maybe it’s time to hit pause and consider another path. Maybe it’s time to start your own business, consulting firm, or agency.

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The Power of Hitting Pause

The problem is, when you’re deep in the trenches of job searching, you get tunnel vision. The only goal is get hired. You start applying to roles that don’t fit, lowering your salary expectations, considering positions that make you cringe... because something is better than nothing, right?

Wrong.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is step back, take a deep breath, and let your brain wander a little. Not in a Netflix binge or scrolling TikTok for five hours kind of way. I mean, actively exploring what’s possible outside of the traditional job market.

How to Ponder Your Way into a Business Idea

So how do you go from unemployed and stressed to business owner and thriving? You start by exploring. Here’s what I recommend:

1. Assess Your Skills & Experience

You’ve built up expertise over the years. What do you know better than 90% of people? What have you done in your previous jobs that others struggled with? Make a list. CRM implementations, marketing automation, workflow optimization... whatever it is, write it down.

2. Look for Gaps in the Market

Once you have your skill set, start researching. What are businesses struggling with right now? Where are the inefficiencies? I guarantee you, there are companies willing to pay someone to solve their problems. Your job is to identify those pain points.

3. Match Skills to Problems

Find the overlap between what you do well and what businesses need. That’s where the money is. For example:

Have you spent years managing Salesforce? Tons of small businesses need CRM consulting.

Are you a marketing expert? Companies are desperate for lead generation help.

Are you an operations geek? People will pay top dollar for process automation.

4. Play Around with Business Models

You don’t have to go all-in immediately. Test the waters. Offer freelance services. Build a small website. Reach out to contacts in your industry and let them know what you’re doing. Keep it light—experiment before making it official.

5. Give Yourself Permission to Pivot

This is key: You don’t have to get it right the first time. Maybe your first idea doesn’t work, but in exploring it, you stumble onto something even better. The beauty of running your own thing is that you control the direction.

Why This Works (Even If You Eventually Take a Job)

Here’s the thing... this exercise is valuable even if you don’t end up starting a business. Because when you take time to ponder, research, and test, you stop acting out of desperation. You shift your mindset from I need a job to I have valuable skills that businesses need. That confidence changes the way you approach opportunities. You become the solution, not just another resume in a stack.

Final Thought: Take the Time to Think

If you’re deep in the job search trenches, my advice is simple: Step back and think. Not just about getting hired, but about what you really want to do and how you can create your own opportunities. You might just find that the job you were looking for was never a job at all—it was a business waiting to be built.

What do you think? Have you ever considered starting your own thing instead of job hunting?

Let’s talk in the comments!

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