Back in July, I was working with the Midwives College of Utah where I learned PHP from Jonathan Balinski. He hired me to take his place back in April and loved every minute of it. During that time I created some awesome programs to help with the application process for potential students. I also created a type of online assignment and test-taking software.

Last month, the college fell into hard times and found that it could not pay me on time for my work. What made it even worse was the fact that they never notified me of their circumstances. I finally confronted them on the issue and found out for myself what had happened. As a result, I started to look for other work. Jonathan Balinski had been working for Provo Labs and introduced me to Phil Burns, now the CEO of the newly formed Provo Labs Solutions. I began working for him immediately.

The reason I began looking for work was to find a more stable job where I could better support my family. Come to find out, Provo Labs had dissolved a week previous to my encounter with Phil and that Provo Labs Solutions was becoming it’s own seperate entity. Phil and the rest of the founding team were beginning a very risky journey together to make Provo Labs Solutions viable.

After learning about what Provo Lobs Solutions was doing with web 2.0 consulting and getting to know the team, I gained a strong belief that the company would survive and that I would regret not being a part of this new start-up company.

A month has gone by and I still haven’t received a paycheck from Provo Labs. We’ve worked extremely hard but have been unable to receive payment for our work. Many of us, including me, have taken on multiple side jobs. Others have begun to sell some of our unneeded possessions to try and make ends meet. In retrospect, I believe I made the right decision. We are as determined as ever to ensure that our company succeeds.

I remember speaking with my dad about this whole ordeal and he said I was young and could afford to be adventurous. I admit this is a gamble, however, we’re going to make it. After these hard times pass, we’ll come out on top.