Man writing on Macbook with coffee and notepad

I’m a free agent

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After a year and a half of full-time employment, I am now a free agent.

Technically, I was laid off and I’m now unemployed, but calling myself a free agent has a better ring to it.

Why was I let go?

Well, it wasn’t because of my performance. That’s something my superior made sure I knew when he broke the news to me. Moreso, it was a result of a multitude of things happening over the past month.

Let me set the scene:

Thursday, June 20, 9:05 a.m.

I pulled into the parking lot. By this time, I’m already five minutes late. I’ve actually been getting into work 5-10 minutes later for the past couple of weeks or so. I’ve never thought anything of it as I always leave work after 5 p.m.

I enter the office, and to get to my desk I need to cross my superior. Before I can completely cross his office, he calls for me.

“Jesus, can you come in here for a second,” he says to me. “And close the door behind you.”

Now, at this moment, the first thing that crosses my mind is he’s going to tell me something about my constant tardiness. Which is a fair and valid point to talk to me about. I sit across from him and he delivers the news.

Now, I don’t remember verbatim what he said but it was something to the effect of:

“Jesus, I wish it hadn’t come to this, but unfortunately we’re going to have to let you go.”

I’m positive that was my immediate reaction once those words hit my eardrums.

Ultimately, my termination was a result of a start-up downsizing due to circumstances beyond their control. And if I’m being completely honest, I had a small inkling that this could happen based on the months leading up to that fateful day.

Let me explain.

For the past year and a half, I was a content marketing strategist and editor for a start-up company whose bread and butter is assisting people to get ESA (emotional support animal) letters. When I came on board, they had just launched their own CBD (Cannabidiol) brand for dogs and were looking to expand into CBD for humans.

If you’re unfamiliar with CBD, it is a non-psychoactive, naturally occurring compound found in hemp and marijuana plants. CBD has been in the news lately for its therapeutic properties that have been found by studies, scientists, doctors, and many anecdotal stories from users.

So, I’m hired and we’re rolling along, building up the website with CBD-related content that aimed to educate those interested in CBD. Now, at this point, the website was only selling third-party CBD products but had put in motion the wheels to launch our own CBD brand.

But that motion was abruptly put on hold in April when the FDA released a new set of regulations concerning cannabis and products derived from Cannabis, such as CBD.

After the release of the FDA guidelines, most financial institutions, and credit card processing companies decided to stop working with companies dealing in CBD. One of those companies affected was my employer.

That was the first domino to fall.

The second domino to fall and the one that dealt the final blow and ultimately led to my firing was a Google update.

The June 2019 Google Core Update was a major change in the company’s algorithm. Once the update when into effect, some websites saw traffic drop by 50 percent overnight. One of the most prominent of which was The Daily Mail. Other sites included NFL.com and Vimeo to name a few.

The company I worked for were among those affected and saw upwards of 50 percent of traffic lost across all the sites.

The reduction in traffic to the website, coupled with the FDA guidelines, resulted in the company making less and less money. Three weeks after the Google Core Update, the decision was made to fire 50 people from the 200-person start-up. I being one of them.

Thus, I’m now a free agent and back on the market.