From the beginning, my employment situation was fairly unique. I interviewed with one startup, was a final job candidate that ultimately decided that I wasn't their hire. A week later, they called me back and asked if I would be interested in working for a sister company. I interviewed with the VC managing partner (who is funding everything) and we hit it off. Then I interviewed with the other company under his umbrella. After a month of interviews between the two, they both decided they wanted me to work for them and that I would split my time (most of my time being spent with the startup).
With the startup I worked with artists, and they aren't exactly the most organized people. I had some major successes, but everything had to be done VERY last minute. This was always stressful to me as their marketing person, because lead-time is beneficial. The operational expenses were mounting up due to prior sponsorship contracts/agreements and equipment investments. Even if we sold out of every product and service we offered, there was never enough product to sell to even be remotely profitable.
They brought in a consultant, and my position was eliminated. Most of my co workers are now classified as part-time employees and are paid hourly. They basically needed to put the company on life-support to save it. The owners have offered to provide me with great references (I have it in an email, so it's in writing).
Even though I was in the process of transitioning to the VC group full-time, there's just not enough work for me there since my main focus was on the startup I also worked for.
We discussed next steps to possibly hiring me back in the near-but-not-immediate-future. I have been performing well on the work I was starting with the other startup companies at the VC group, so we also discussed me continuing it on a very part-time basis. I asked if they would consider hiring me as an independent entity as my first client, and my CMO was interested.
I have my health benefits until June. I have three weeks' pay and I will qualify for unemployment benefits. I will have great references. I've been taking front-end development classes at night. I'm learning HTML5/CSS3/Sass/Javascript.
I cried a little with my CMO (she was very upset about this all), but they were honestly tears of relief because at least in the short term I can:
1. Go to the grocery store and buy real groceries. I was so busy, that I have not been grocery shopping in TWO AND A HALF WEEKS.
2. Stay home with my dog, who was in the ICU this past week.
3. Get back to working out. Once I started taking my development classes after work, I didn't have time to work out.
4. Give my blog (which has started to monetize) some love.
Everyone keeps offering their condolences, but I'm like "I don't feel bad about it." I mean, honestly, this works pretty well for me because I have the chance to re-establish some balance in my home life and I have more time to dedicate to searching for a better paying job with perhaps more stability.
Have you ever lost a job and not been all that sad about it?
With the startup I worked with artists, and they aren't exactly the most organized people. I had some major successes, but everything had to be done VERY last minute. This was always stressful to me as their marketing person, because lead-time is beneficial. The operational expenses were mounting up due to prior sponsorship contracts/agreements and equipment investments. Even if we sold out of every product and service we offered, there was never enough product to sell to even be remotely profitable.
They brought in a consultant, and my position was eliminated. Most of my co workers are now classified as part-time employees and are paid hourly. They basically needed to put the company on life-support to save it. The owners have offered to provide me with great references (I have it in an email, so it's in writing).
Even though I was in the process of transitioning to the VC group full-time, there's just not enough work for me there since my main focus was on the startup I also worked for.
We discussed next steps to possibly hiring me back in the near-but-not-immediate-future. I have been performing well on the work I was starting with the other startup companies at the VC group, so we also discussed me continuing it on a very part-time basis. I asked if they would consider hiring me as an independent entity as my first client, and my CMO was interested.
I have my health benefits until June. I have three weeks' pay and I will qualify for unemployment benefits. I will have great references. I've been taking front-end development classes at night. I'm learning HTML5/CSS3/Sass/Javascript.
I cried a little with my CMO (she was very upset about this all), but they were honestly tears of relief because at least in the short term I can:
1. Go to the grocery store and buy real groceries. I was so busy, that I have not been grocery shopping in TWO AND A HALF WEEKS.
2. Stay home with my dog, who was in the ICU this past week.
3. Get back to working out. Once I started taking my development classes after work, I didn't have time to work out.
4. Give my blog (which has started to monetize) some love.
Everyone keeps offering their condolences, but I'm like "I don't feel bad about it." I mean, honestly, this works pretty well for me because I have the chance to re-establish some balance in my home life and I have more time to dedicate to searching for a better paying job with perhaps more stability.
Have you ever lost a job and not been all that sad about it?