Friday, January 30, 2009

We Are Not Immune...

Bad news today. Really bad news. We had to lay off a number of our employees. What makes the bad news worse is that not only are these people good friends but they are smart, hard working people. People that would go to battle for you. People that had your back.

An easy question to ask is who is to blame for all of this? Sadly, the answer isn't who, it's what. And you already know the answer to that question because you're hearing the same doom and gloom that we are regarding the massive layoffs and wild swings in stock prices. It's the economy's fault and unfortunately it caught up with us as well.

Ironically, last year was the best year the company ever experienced and it was continuing to grow at rapid, double digit rates. When the bottom fell out, it obviously hurt some of our clients. It also hurt our potential clients. When they hurt, they spend less money with us and new prospects take longer to sign contracts. That made it hard to afford the people we hired to staff for new business.

If there is any silver lining to this, and trust me when I tell you that it’s difficult to be positive on a day like this, it's the fact that we have an equally smart and hard working group of people who are sticking around to be able to meet existing client needs. To that end, I'm confident that things will get better and when they do, we will be stronger than ever. But we have some pain to endure before we get to that place. And until that time, we will quietly mourn the departure of those smart, hard working colleagues that we had to let go of today.


6 comments:

  1. Sorry man. We did the same, as you know. It really is a mourning period. Hang in, and happy to network on behalf of your lost folks, although my TX connections are minimal... (ummm... you and your sister).

    Patrick. @patrickmoran

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  2. Patrick - as someone that just went through this, I appreciate your empathy. Regarding the offer to help network, I may take you up on that one, even if you only know people in TX and they both have the last name Strout. ;) My goal is to get the folks impacted re-employed ASAP.

    Best,
    Aaron | @aaronstrout

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  3. Aaron. Having been at a company with massive layoffs, Lycos in the early 2000s, and being laid off recently myself, it hurts for both parties.

    Because I'm laid off now, lots of jobs cross my path, many of which aren't right for me. I'm happy to share those jobs with others. Connect with me. @hjstrout or http://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherjstrout

    Or if anyone just wants to talk about job search strategies, I'm happy to do that too.

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  4. Heather - thanks for your perspective. And your offer to help folks is much appreciated!

    Best,
    Aaron | @aaronstrout

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  5. Aaron, sorry to hear about this. It seems no one is immune anymore. It's a bad time of year. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for your people.

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  6. Warren - thanks buddy. And I/we appreciate the offer. I may call you next week to pick your brain.

    Best,
    Aaron | @aaronstrout

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