Huckleberries Online

Author Prospers After Getting Fired

Posted by DFO

Sept. 21, 2010 5:51 p.m. • 10 comments

Candice Reed, co-author of “Thank You for Firing Me! How to Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job,” will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29, in the Community Room of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. Reed’s successful writing career has spanned more than 20 years. Before her career in journalism, she lost jobs as an insurance salesperson, a funeral director, a singing/dancing waitress and an ice-cream binging weight-loss counselor.

Question: Did you ever come well ahead as a result of being fired from a job?

10 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

BandR on September 21 at 8:44 p.m.
Absolutely! I couldn’t have dreamed of a better outcome and give thanks every day for being let go! However, I will not soon forgive the manner in which it was handled…
Howard_Martinson on September 21 at 9:23 p.m.
One of the very best events in my career was getting canned by Bob Mykelbust at the Spokesman-Review about 20 years ago.

I went on to make a lot more money and was much happier once I got settled.

From the bottom of my heart, Thanks Bob! (This is totally 100% sincere, no BS.)
jazzyvandal on September 21 at 9:27 p.m.
Yes, it gave me the opportunity to leave Idaho (which I love) for better career opportunities. I’m in a much better position than I was over a year ago.
Soaf on September 21 at 9:34 p.m.
I was unceremoniously canned by a N. Idaho employer. The end result was I walked in to my dream job and got to sit back and watch the schmucks who terminated me loose everything.

Couldn’t have happened to a better group of individuals.
sibulsky on September 21 at 10:20 p.m.
Being fired from a CDA radio station in the early 80’s, led almost directly to (for one brief rating period) my being the #1 afternoon radio host in Seattle! It was a great ride…but all-in-all, I’m glad we moved back!
danofthecommunity on September 22 at 6:45 a.m.
In the mid eighties I worked for less than a year for the Juvenile Diversion Program and then was let go because they lost grant funding and had to cut back.

It was a tough time with four kids but I did have good related experience and a degree in Criminal Justice Administration. We made the choice to subsist on food stamps and unemployment for about 5-6 months so I could start a boys home which was a longterm dream and goal.

It worked out pretty well. The boys home is Anchor/Idaho Youth Ranch and while I have moved on it is still doing a good job of helping kids and families.

Without the unexpected job loss and resulting opportunity to focus full time on fund raising, putting a board together, contracting with Health and Welfare, finding a house, etc. I doubt that program would be here.

So yes, hard times can have happy endings.
danofthecommunity on September 22 at 6:46 a.m.
Anchor=Anchor House.
tfwyhf on September 22 at 6:57 a.m.
Dan, you should start thinking of that next carreer change and fine tune your resume now instead of January.
moscow_minidoka on September 22 at 7:36 a.m.
Hey “tfwyhf” - please don’t be a jerk to danofthecounty on HBO. There’s no call for threatening someone with a job loss, is there?
DFO on September 22 at 8:12 a.m.
@ tfwyhf … you should start thinking about another blog to haunt, especially if you continue troll-like behavior of taunting people, as you have this morning. I’ve warned you before, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself in the cooler …

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.