Jessica Bowman featured in Marie Claire Magazine (July 2008, pg 97)

They didn’t write a word about search marketing or SEMinhouse.com, and instead, Marie Claire Magazine did a spread on the personal side of women who have been laid off, their experience, and how they’re handling it.

I’m handling it well, bounced back, doing SEO training & consulting, and couldn’t be any happier. Marie Claire talked about my experience and the challenges you face when laid off.

Things I've learned from my lay off:

•    Layoffs today are quite different than they used to be thanks to the Internet, if you know how to use it. There was a guy who Twittered his layoff and he got great media attention for it.  I was kicking myself for not having a twitter account… and now twitter at twitter.com/jessicabowman.

•    Two days after D-Day I was masterminding a PR campaign (Public Relations, not PageRank) with the help of industry friend Leslie Carruthers with TheSearchGuru.com - it had Facebook, LinkedIn, blogger friends and my blog.  I’m writing about it all, in you guessed it, a book on being laid off called “Laid Off Renegade”, coming out later this summer and will talk about how to get excited about the layoff and what to do when it hits you.  There was this little part of me that was excited about what was next, how I was going to blow $2k from my flex spending account in 30 days and more.  How did I spend that $2k, let's just say I'll be sporting to die for eyewear all year!  Plus, I learned a lot and wanted others to be slightly more prepared for what is to come.

•    All the publicity from the PR campaign landed loads of interviews – about 15 in the first two weeks. I was hesitant to go public with the layoff news, but grateful that I did, and in the way that I did it. If you know someone getting laid off, be a good friend and put on the PR hat for a couple of hours and help the person figure out how to spin the layoff, how to get attention and what is the message that you'll convey when people ask, "What happened, why why were you laid off?".

•    The PR Campaign continues to pay off with a mention in Motley Fool and a feature in the July 2008 issue of Marie Claire magazine.

How am I doing now?
Very well.

It’s been a whirlwind having just moved to San Francisco, starting a new job, loosing it, interviewing, starting a business, and moving (again) to downsize my life - all within 6 months – without knowing anyone in the city when I moved here.

Consulting is going extraordinarily well and I’m landing dream clients.

I moved to a new apartment, more centrally located and I love it more than the other one.

Mostly, I’m grateful for the unexpected people that came out of nowhere to jump in and help in the most surprising ways.  Too many to mention here, but expect some link love in the next few months!

And, no, Yahoos, I’m not bitter in the least. I miss my PR rep Kristen. Dave, Laura, Derek, Stephen and Dan are still my peeps and while I miss you all immensely let me just say – I don’t have to work today, and you do!! Hehehe.

I love my new life.

Comments

[Gab "SEO ROI" Goldenberg]

Talk about making lemonade outa lemons! You rock Jess :D. The PR move is pretty cool and original - how'd you pitch that to the press? What was the angle?

Cheers
Gab

[Aidan Beanland]

That's fantastic Jess! Will you be at SES this year?

[DEckoff]

Jessica, if that's not the definition of a winner's attitude and action, I don't know what is. You turned a lemon into lemonade! Very impressive!

Congrats on your Marie Clair feature, and I'm excited to hear about your book!

[Ken]

Good for you and best wishes. You are an inspiration! Can't wait to read more!

[Dan Perry]

Glad to hear about the bounce back, and kudos on "coming out" about the layoff. Made for a great read.

[BS]

wow

[search marketing]

Your article is much more informatics for all of the visitor. I am very happy to read it. This is really very nice. Thank you for it.

[seo consultant]

Great post. Blogs are a very natural way to attract links. I’d love to see a post on how to get your company to blog. Particularly if you are dealing with a large, conservative company.

[Search Engine Optimisation]

very useful articles…..I think seo off site more important and power full for geeting free traffic than seo on site, I already implemented for my web……so I am focus on off site optimisation…thanks

[Tenders]

Very nice Jessica