Laid Off from Mahalo

I was laid off from my full-time, in-house position at Mahalo.com on Tuesday.

The reasons for this can be found here.

Basically the culprit is the well publicized problems with the economy.

It's hard to fault the business sense behind this decision, but obviously this was a devastating development for me and my family.

The security of a salaried position with benefits is something that a person and their family can't truly, truly appreciate...until it's lost.

The past several days I've experienced a wide variety of emotions, such as sadness, disappointment, regret, depression and of course anger.

But after several days, I think back to my nearly two years at Mahalo and many great memories come to mind. The camaraderie, respect and friendships that develops with a group of hard working, talented people in the trenches of an immense and ambitious project is an experience that I will cherish forever.

The accomplishments we made as a group, especially in the early days were awe inspiring.

The elation I felt winning employee of the month, literally brought me to tears.

The fact that I was singled out, above such a hard working and talented group of people was an accomplishment I will carry with me for my lifetime.

It's something that still makes me smile, even in the midst of such a dark time professionally for me.

But as much as I take this personally, I know that my story is a very similar tale to others out there suffering similar fates at this time.

Especially my fellow, talented, co-workers, who also lost their jobs after dedicating their lives to the great product we have today.

All is not lost however, even though I am no longer an in-house guide, I've accepted a gracious opportunity to work as a remote guide on contract. The opportunity allows me to keep working for the site, while trying to find another full-time job with benefits.

It's a position that I can hopefully keep, even when I do find another job.

That's how passionate I feel and how much I believe in Mahalo.

So I now look forward to the next chapter in my life and to the exciting opportunities which will inevitably come my way.



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