Coping with a Mid-Career Recession by David Imonitie: Rising from the Ashes

Seeing a reduction in your business, after being successful for quite some time, feels like hell. Many people often lose their determination and devotion once they have been hit by a recession or fallback, especially in the middle of their careers, since they may begin to think that it’s all over for them. The thing to keep in mind here is that it is never over! You have still got every second left of your life waiting to be utilized in the best possible way; now it is totally up to you whether you use that time to recover what you have lost or, as the saying goes, cry over spilled milk.
This was the situation David Imonitie Jr. found himself in 2012. Things were going well for the serial entrepreneur and multi-millionaire. He was close to making multi 7 figures per year from his different income streams of real estate, mentoring and, inspirational speaking, when suddenly due to business changes, his income was drastically reduced by 76%.
However, the thing about success is that once you have tasted it, it makes you addicted. Once you have seen the top, you always want to be in that position again. But, it requires sheer determination and steadfastness to maintain or exceed that prior level of success. At that point, David had two options – be content with the remainder of his annual salary or bounce back to the same glory he had been living in. Of course, he had to go for the latter option! By reviewing his decisions, correcting his mistakes, and showing more dedication to his work, he was not just able to climb back to his previous income bracket, but massively exceed it.
David told us “During those darker times, I used to take a 5-dollar bill and write on it so it would say 5 million dollars and I kept that on my mirror as daily motivation”. Visualizing your success, especially when it is not even remotely visible to anyone around you, is the key quality of leaders and visionaries. You must first trust in yourself and believe that it is all going to work out because it is easy to fall into depression and hopelessness rather than embracing the reality and moving forward with an open heart and mind. It may seem many times harder when you have to start from the beginning again. But, maintaining your work ethic at a higher level as compared to your competitors is perhaps the golden rule of success here. Hunger drives you!
Nowadays, we hear about people filing for bankruptcy, especially millennials, right in the middle of their careers. This sounds disturbing because, it really is. Many well-established businesses have scaled back drastically, if not closed altogether during the COVID pandemic. All entrepreneurs out there need to have confidence in themselves that it is all going to work out in the end. Moreover, they also have to evolve with the necessary trends and changes the pandemic has brought to the world, like focusing on your online presence. Don’t be stagnant, keep adding to yourself, learn new skills, excel in them, and most importantly visualize and manifest your success. As David says, “It’s all psychological but it sure does work!”