Yesterday in the Yahoo news update, it was disclosed that people who are over 50 and have been given the pink slip may have a high risk of getting a heart attack. I became speechless when I began to read the article and I realized that this is a nightmare that is silently happening all over America and the rest of the industrialized world.

How would anyone who is in this age bracket react to such an occurrence? First of all, it happened to me, coincidentally when I had just turned age 50. I did not get a pink slip because of incompetence or anything of the sort. The company where I worked for over 5 years just sold out its holdings. I was given a fine speech about how invaluable my contribution was and that I can depend on them for a great reference. After that, I was told "hasta la vista". That was it.

At first, I did not believe that I had much of a problem. I am a qualified accountant and accountants are in demand and it will only be a question of a short period of time before something else will come up. Furthermore, I was just 50 years young and that's not old. Boy, how wrong I was. Yes, accountants are in demand but the market is being saturated by young college graduates with accounting degrees whom employers can hire for less.

Now I do not want to be the bearer of bad news. This was my experience. Your luck could be far better than mine and you could be gainfully employed in a very short space of time.

The advice I am trying to give is that if anyone should find himself or herself in this predicament, then you should always have an alternative strategy to just sending out hundreds or perhaps thousands of resumes to potential employers.

You should do an in-depth research into bona fide home based businesses, make your choice and immediately start to nurture this business into maturity. Internet based businesses usually have low start up costs when compared to traditional store front businesses. Of course it will take time, some money and devotion before a home based business can be profitable.

Statistics have shown that many people will fail at this not because of the lack of opportunity but because of a lack of interest and effort. I spent over one and a half years looking for an honest home based business with a potential to replace my income in less than two years.

In conclusion: Stay positive and focused on your home based business. Advertising is the key. You've got to allocate an advertising budget to get other people to know about your business. Initially, if sales are not up to par, you may get negative remarks or derogatory comments from people with dead end, hours for dollars jobs. Ignore them and just bear in mind that success will be your revenge. Within a reasonable time, you could be earning a residual income that is equal to or greater than what you lost in your last job.