I started off as a lab technician on a 6 month grant in sunny Liverpool UK. Now I'm a Prof. in Medical Science in Australia. My Oficial title is Head of... So my sister in law (who is a tower of strength to me) sometimes introduces as me as, "This is my brother in law, XXXX. She's a Head, we're waiting for her to be mounted

Of course I'm in drab (at the time) as I'm not full full time. Her pronoun use confuses the hell out of everybody, and we have to bury tears of laughter.
But money is very tight, research funds are slashed. Australia has come through the recession well, but then we have been deeply hit in the past.
I do feel for all of you guys in the USA. Hang in there. Where are the jobs going to be? My thoughts? there is an ageing population, many of whom have money (still). Not many are computer literate, not at all like you youngies

. I reckon some service industry business's may work. You using IT skills to service oldies who want "old fashioned" service but have no idea how to get around in todays world.
Excuse me for a rabbit on: I have aged (80's) relatives in the Shrewsbury area, somewhere in Penns? They can no longer get to the shops, they have good disposable pensions. They phone the supermarket and stuff is delivered but no treats etc 'cos they don't know what's available. I reckon if people like them had a pamphlet distributed with some sort of shopping service that they could get to you by phone or maybe email, and you delivered really good quality with the extras, maybe some samples of specials etc. And build up trust it may work. I was thinking along the lines that " My company will give you a bond to the cost of your first purchase to prove our honesty. If we fail to deliver you always have that bond." etc etc.
I know there are heaps of online shopping services but not for the old, suspicious and IT naive.
Sorry
Just my $1m worth
Hugs
Cindy