Well, the decision has been made.

As of Sept 30th I will no longer be employed. You place your bets and you role the dice. If your money isn't off the table by the time you role a 7 you lose it to the house. This gives me exactly 34 days to find new employment. Granted, this is a lot more time than Jake or Kevin had but it still hurts. Especially when you had everyone in authority over you saying "we're going to make this happen...you'll get at least a 3 month window after the division closes up shop." They kept saying that they felt they owed it to me for my efforts AND for the potential I bring to the company as a whole as a "rising star" and "valuable asset." Problem is that these people where not the FINAL decision makers and that person is currently up against a major wall himself.

I have to be careful what I say here as I've found out that a number of people that I work with visit my site regularly. I don't think I ever mentioned the name of my current company specifically but...I wouldn't want to be smacked for liable. Besides, some of what I know would hurt others without really making me feel better so why go there? All that being said, one of the reasons my "golden parachute" disappeared is that the company in general is in bad straits. It is pretty well known that the parent company is not happy with the success of one of its children. That "child" is the parent of the subdivision with which I now find myself associate. In other words, Company A owns Company B which launched a startup known as Company C. Company C has, after 18 months, never shown a profit (or even a renewable revenue stream). I was brought on board 5-6 months ago to help correct this. During this time, we've build processes, systems, and sales channel to turn this around. Problem is that the majority of this work will not FINALLY land until October of this year. Add in a 30 day fulfillment period plus a 60 day payment term and you've got the beginning of the year to see any real revenue. Oh to be sure we've done a couple of job here and there but nothing that alone could make payroll.

Anyway, Company B has a number of divisions that it has been funding which haven't been making money. As a result, Company B looked to Company A to be nothing more than a sinkhole with everyone pointing fingers at one another with very little in the way of individuals accepting blame. Company A wants out of all these sideline businesses as they are a major drain on their profits and, in their opinion, show little sign of future promise. Thus we are likely to see Company B reworked to Company Bv2 and all its smaller divisions finding new homes. Which brings us to today.

Complicated? I didn't mean to make it such but here is the important part.

One of my bosses has been asked to buy Company C outright. Now, if he and Company A can come to terms and he can convince me he can produce the capital required to make this a success, I'll be his new VP of Operations. This would mean a 30-40% jump in pay with an eventual move back to Richmond. Sound good you say? Yeah well, administrationally speaking, I'd have to help (read as "be responsible for") building this company from scratch to include basic HR, IT, and some accounting needs meaning I'd at least spend sometime without company benefits (excepting COBRA). All this is course assuming that my boss decides he wants to take this on...which I won't know until tomorrow.

Right now, I'm finishing putting together a comprehensive list of all items that need to be done/addressed by Sept 30th in the event my boss decides to buy. Now let me say right off that I believe in the concept of the business. This is somewhat of a change over how I use to feel. It has always received strong approval in the marketplace by those empowered to act. Problem is that it is a long sales cycle. If I didn't believe, I'd simply be punching a timecard and submitting resumes. As it stands, I'm bailing water on a rapidly sinking ship first; then concentrating on submitting resumes. I guess it is just in my nature not to give up easily. There are a lot of "ifs" that have to fall into place but if they do, everyone involved could win big.

Remember what I said a couple of months ago? You can't win big unless you bet big? Well, time to role the dice.

Anyway, for them what care...there it is.

PS. Anyone know where I can go to find out about how to get unemployment? A website address?

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