Almost a half a million people in the United States in the past six months have been fired. Whether through corporate layoffs, company mergers or the closing of businesses, many people have been fired. Having been fired before, I know the pain and embarrassment associated with the loss of a job. Most especially, if you have a family to feed and bills to pay, getting fired can be devastating. The irony of getting fired is that sometimes you will discover what you have when you lose what you had. You see, I like many others who got fired before, discovered who I am and what I have when I lose the job I had. Someone said, “Adversity introduces a man to himself.” In other words, I found out that getting fired is only the end of a thing and the beginning of another.

One of the best things that ever happen to me financially was to get fired. I know that sounds paradoxical, but it is true. When I lost my job, it forced me to look from within and take on a new perspective concerning my financial destiny. I was forced to take control of my own financial destiny. It was at this time in my life, I decided I was never going to put myself in a position like that again. My favorite book says “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” (Eccl. 7:8a)

What happened to me in this season of my life? I got inspired. I got inspired to do something I had never done before. That is why I am convinced, it was inspiration. I was working as an Accountant-Auditor for many years and never saw myself doing any other thing. Then I took on a sales position and from that point on my financial life was never the same. I saw the power of getting paid by my results as oppose to just my time put in. Sometimes people can’t always see your value or worth. Therefore your salary is not a true reflection of how much you should get paid. When you get inspired, you realize that you are better than what they are paying you for. You see jobs are not designed to make you rich.

In fact, a job means Just Over Broke. The truth is your job can not afford for your dream nor pay for your purpose. Whatever you are supposed to do on earth will required finances and if it is big then it will require even more. So you must know that you also have a financial destiny as well as a life’s destiny. This means you must get control of your financial destiny as well. Unfortunately, most jobs alone, will not afford you to do that. The bible says “A man’s gift will makes room for him and brings him before great men.” (Proverbs 18:16) When you discover your God-given gift, you will begin to create your own financial opportunities and meet the people you need to fulfill your life’s assignment.

One man said “failure is an opportunity to start again smarter.” Sometimes when we get fired we feel like a failure, but God takes our failure and makes us wiser, stronger and much better. Malcolm Forbes said that “Failure is success, if we learn from it.” It is in these down seasons we get prepared for the up season that is coming next in our lives. When I looked back, I can truly say that being fired from that job, prepared me for what God had next on His agenda for me. In fact, getting fired ended up being a blessing in disguised. What happened to me? I got inspired. You see inspiration I believe comes from God. The word inspiration means “God breathed.”

Today in the financial world, they will tell you that information is the key to financial success. This statement is true but not complete. Sometimes we can get financial information overload and what we really need is financial inspiration. When you get fired or when you go through a financial hardship, you need more than information, you need inspiration. You need encouragement and power to get up from your situation so you can turn what was meant for evil for your good. I believe information comes from man but inspiration comes from God. Information often is needed on a need-to-know basis, but inspiration more often is on a one-time basis. We call it in the business world an aha moment.

You can get inspired one-time concerning your purpose and destiny and never be the same again. When I got inspired after I got fired, I never got fired gain because I finally took control of my financial destiny once and for all. I knew for sure, I had everything I needed within me to achieve financial success. God turned my financial desperation into financial inspiration. That’s why I coined this phrase “Get Fired or Inspired! Because many will in this season of economic recession get fired but will also get inspired to take control of their own financial destiny.