One of the favorite parts of my life right now are mornings with my little boy. When he's in school, we still have a little time together before I send him on his way. I cook him a hot breakfast and he watches TV, it's almost always a nice relaxing morning.
Weekends are even better. He never sleeps in on weekends. Weekdays, he'll be sleeping so soundly I feel guilty waking him up. Weekends? He's bounding out of bed at the same hour, ready for the day.
One thing I love about my business is that the hours are flexible. I still work, mostly in the role of financial controller, and I do provide strategic direction. However, I don't need to be at my desk every day at 8:00.
Now I see why so many people would like a flexible work schedule. I used to think they wanted it just to get out of work. "Yeah, boss, I'll work from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. tonight... working on my sleep, that is."
Having a flexible schedule pretty much improves everything about your overall quality of life, especially when you've got little ones.
This is sort of a golden age in my life, and it's rapidly coming to an end. In the Fall (August, really), I'll be starting law school, which means most mornings, I'll be heading off to class. I am hoping by the grace of god that the classes don't start too early in the morning.
If I end up deploying to centcom, I think it's these mornings I'll remember most fondly.
In a way, I know this is a golden age that just can't last. In fact, my life is fraying a bit around the edges as is. Still, it's nice while it lasts.
A lot of folks in my shoes are really furious with our franchisor. I've never really thought my franchisor was doing me wrong. It's a business deal. They agree to give you a business method. A lot of the time, it worked.
Ultimately, I'm thankful to them because the past 6 years have absolutely flown. The first year was exhausting. The 2nd year got better. Since then, my life has been pretty great, financies notwithstanding for the past couple of years.
If not for my involvement in this franchise system and being a small business owner, I wouldn't have been able to be so involved with Logan's baseball team. I wouldn't have had so much time with him.
After law school, it's possible I'll get a job in the law. Once that happens, I'll be like everybody else. I remember what it was like to have a job. I know I will seldom be home before 7:00. My time simply won't be my own anymore.
Small business is a wonderful way to live if you can make money at it. I think most people would be so much happier running and owning their own little business. It's a shame more people can't live their lives this way.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Breathing... for the moment
Enough things have gone right in the biz that we have reason for hope. There's still a lot of ways this could end badly, but the odds are that things will work out for our short-term survival. In small business, that's about as far out as you can make an educated guess.
It rained a little, but probably not enough. We'll see if it gives us a job or two next week.
Personally, I sold off a bunch of stuff. Both of the four wheelers are gone. Logan's pitching machine. A radar gun I bought last year. These are all things that largely just collected dust. Because of that, I'm good on the personal finances for a few more weeks.
I need to get into the gun cabinet and start selling off some more firearms. One way or another I think I'll be thinning out that herd, soon. It's not like I don't think I'll want them sometime in the future, but I don't shoot much at all these days. No need to keep storing this stuff when its my short-term financial health that's the issue.
I am due for some tax money to be refunded. So, that'll carry me through another month or two. Plus, the Servpro convention is coming up. I'll get my convention check, which should be another couple of thousand.
About 3 weeks ago, I would have put my odds of bankruptcy at about 70%. I was preparing for the "end of days". Since then, a few things have gone our way. I'd say that we're talking less than a 30% chance, now.
So, to make the breakdown:
30% chance of bankruptcy
50% chance of just continuing to muddle through
20% chance of taking off and thriving
In early August, I pay off one more business note that will free up a little over $300 a month. After that, though, no notes will be retired until Summer of 2013. It's gonna be a slog.
I'm glad I'm doing the law school thing. Should have done it years ago. With any luck, it'll set up a second income stream and maybe even out the bumps a little bit.
Thing is, that's going to take a few years to come to fruition as well.
It's still hard to stay encouraged, but it's good to remind myself that this business can be a helluva profitable thing when it's working right. I think it'll work right again, someday. Lord only knows when, though.
Not out of the woods, but at least I can sleep at night without waking up at 3:00 a.m. wondering how I'm gonna pay my bills. For the moment, everything is current.
If we can just get some adjusters to pay some bills (we've got one that's 2 months overdue), we could be in solid shape, here.
Life is just this way sometimes. Nobody said it had to be easy. A lot of folks are hurting pretty bad. Just gotta get through this and it'll be like all the other wierd stuff that makes for a colorful life.
It rained a little, but probably not enough. We'll see if it gives us a job or two next week.
Personally, I sold off a bunch of stuff. Both of the four wheelers are gone. Logan's pitching machine. A radar gun I bought last year. These are all things that largely just collected dust. Because of that, I'm good on the personal finances for a few more weeks.
I need to get into the gun cabinet and start selling off some more firearms. One way or another I think I'll be thinning out that herd, soon. It's not like I don't think I'll want them sometime in the future, but I don't shoot much at all these days. No need to keep storing this stuff when its my short-term financial health that's the issue.
I am due for some tax money to be refunded. So, that'll carry me through another month or two. Plus, the Servpro convention is coming up. I'll get my convention check, which should be another couple of thousand.
About 3 weeks ago, I would have put my odds of bankruptcy at about 70%. I was preparing for the "end of days". Since then, a few things have gone our way. I'd say that we're talking less than a 30% chance, now.
So, to make the breakdown:
30% chance of bankruptcy
50% chance of just continuing to muddle through
20% chance of taking off and thriving
In early August, I pay off one more business note that will free up a little over $300 a month. After that, though, no notes will be retired until Summer of 2013. It's gonna be a slog.
I'm glad I'm doing the law school thing. Should have done it years ago. With any luck, it'll set up a second income stream and maybe even out the bumps a little bit.
Thing is, that's going to take a few years to come to fruition as well.
It's still hard to stay encouraged, but it's good to remind myself that this business can be a helluva profitable thing when it's working right. I think it'll work right again, someday. Lord only knows when, though.
Not out of the woods, but at least I can sleep at night without waking up at 3:00 a.m. wondering how I'm gonna pay my bills. For the moment, everything is current.
If we can just get some adjusters to pay some bills (we've got one that's 2 months overdue), we could be in solid shape, here.
Life is just this way sometimes. Nobody said it had to be easy. A lot of folks are hurting pretty bad. Just gotta get through this and it'll be like all the other wierd stuff that makes for a colorful life.
Monday, April 18, 2011
When I See a Little Light
Things are still pretty bleak in the short-term. However, I'm seeing a little light on the horizon.
Things aren't good, mind you, but they show some signs that they may be survivable. We have over $20K in A/R at the moment. Historically speaking, that's a frighteningly low amount, but our overhead is lower now than any other time in the past 4 or 5 years. So, we can do a lot with $20K.
Everything is slow pay right now, though. In the past, I'd expect that money this week. The way things go these days, it's more like it could show up anytime between now and three months from now.
We also have some larger jobs that should be finished in June. Figure they'll get paid out in July. Maybe August. In August, we retire one of our equipment notes and that will free up $300 a month.
It truly is a game where every month we survive brings us a step closer to salvation.
It's been an adjustment for me, too. A couple years ago, I was on the golf course at the country club. If I kept my luxury spending below about $3,000 a month, life was fine. Purchases under $1,000? I didn't even flinch. Not for that kind of money.
Now, I'm back to having to think twice about spending $40 for a book. It was like this for pretty much the first two years I had my business. I still remember buying ice skates for $500 and an iPod for $500. Those were major purchases that were guilty indulgences that involved a stretch.
Didn't take me long to get spoiled, though. I'll tell ya, life sure is good when you're doing well financially.
Things are still very tense. We need to bring in some of that A/R. We're just sorta squeaking along, but that's better than shutting the doors for good.
I've been selling stuff on e-bay and will soon start getting rid of guns on gunbroker. I'll regret it when the zombie apocalypse happens, but if not, it's a good move.
I'm looking for opportunities to serve in the reserves. It's not a great paycheck, and it takes me away from my son, but a few thousand bucks here or there makes a big difference.
Things will get easier when that note is paid off. Also, I think I can get a much better rate (like 50% less) on my business general liability insurance. That's pretty much all the cost savings I'm likely to muster, though. The business has to get up off the mat and start paying its own way, soon.
So, no good news in the very short-term. However, if we can hang on a few more weeks, there's every indication that there'll be good news in the not too distant future.
Even so, although it sounds like debt is the problem, it really isn't. Lack of sales is the problem. Even if we didn't have any of these debt payments, we'd still have trouble. They're a small part of our operating budget. (They're about 1/3 the size of our payroll, even in our current skeleton-crew phase.) It'll help when the debt is gone, but we need sales to make this whole thing work.
Things aren't good, mind you, but they show some signs that they may be survivable. We have over $20K in A/R at the moment. Historically speaking, that's a frighteningly low amount, but our overhead is lower now than any other time in the past 4 or 5 years. So, we can do a lot with $20K.
Everything is slow pay right now, though. In the past, I'd expect that money this week. The way things go these days, it's more like it could show up anytime between now and three months from now.
We also have some larger jobs that should be finished in June. Figure they'll get paid out in July. Maybe August. In August, we retire one of our equipment notes and that will free up $300 a month.
It truly is a game where every month we survive brings us a step closer to salvation.
It's been an adjustment for me, too. A couple years ago, I was on the golf course at the country club. If I kept my luxury spending below about $3,000 a month, life was fine. Purchases under $1,000? I didn't even flinch. Not for that kind of money.
Now, I'm back to having to think twice about spending $40 for a book. It was like this for pretty much the first two years I had my business. I still remember buying ice skates for $500 and an iPod for $500. Those were major purchases that were guilty indulgences that involved a stretch.
Didn't take me long to get spoiled, though. I'll tell ya, life sure is good when you're doing well financially.
Things are still very tense. We need to bring in some of that A/R. We're just sorta squeaking along, but that's better than shutting the doors for good.
I've been selling stuff on e-bay and will soon start getting rid of guns on gunbroker. I'll regret it when the zombie apocalypse happens, but if not, it's a good move.
I'm looking for opportunities to serve in the reserves. It's not a great paycheck, and it takes me away from my son, but a few thousand bucks here or there makes a big difference.
Things will get easier when that note is paid off. Also, I think I can get a much better rate (like 50% less) on my business general liability insurance. That's pretty much all the cost savings I'm likely to muster, though. The business has to get up off the mat and start paying its own way, soon.
So, no good news in the very short-term. However, if we can hang on a few more weeks, there's every indication that there'll be good news in the not too distant future.
Even so, although it sounds like debt is the problem, it really isn't. Lack of sales is the problem. Even if we didn't have any of these debt payments, we'd still have trouble. They're a small part of our operating budget. (They're about 1/3 the size of our payroll, even in our current skeleton-crew phase.) It'll help when the debt is gone, but we need sales to make this whole thing work.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Every Month I Survive is a Victory
Taxes are done. I forgot that I should be getting a new homebuyer tax credit, here. That should be enough to help me get through maybe two more months.
I just sold off two of my son's toys. One was a pitching machine. The other is a four wheeler. He hardly ever rode the four wheeler. In the years since I bought it, maybe a dozen times. The pitching machine? Sits in the basement gathering dust.
So, I don't need them, but it still feels strange selling off stuff I bought for my boy. Name of the game at this point is survival, though.
Every month I survive brings me closer to getting out of the woods. A lot of my debt is term debt, most at very favorable interest. In August of this year, I pay off one of my business notes. That'll free up over $300 a month.
After that, it's a bit of a slog until 2013. Once that year rolls around, though, I'll have reached the end of three more notes. Monthly payments on the three of them, combined, is almost $2,000.
In 2014, I pay off three trucks, which frees up another $1,500 a month. So, all told, if I can somehow manage to survive until the end of 2014, I will have almost $4,000 more free dollars a month due to retired debt payments.
Granted, that still leaves a lot of credit card debt, but if I simply apply the $4,000 to credit cards, they'd all be paid off in a couple of years, too. I'm also chipping away at the credit card debt in the mean time. It's not impossible that they would all be paid off before the term loans are finished.
The trick is, of course, to stay alive (without declaring bankruptcy) for that amount of time.
I'm literally maybe 3 years away from being completely debt-free, if I can just survive month to month.
Trouble is, I am not sure I can keep treading water between now and then. I'm doing everything I can, but quickly reaching the end of the road.
I may have to start hoping for a Navy deployment. If I got sent to a combat zone, the combination of tax-free status and combat pay, etc. would probably make this the biggest take-home pay I've ever had. I wish I could hold on until I make O-3, though. The difference in pay is pretty big.
Plus, if I'm involuntarily deployed that lowers all my outstanding debt to no more than 6% interest and no real adverse collection action can take place until I get home.
I thought managing my business was tough, but frankly, now that I'm managing my business and my personal finances, life is pretty hard. This is gut-wrenching stuff.
I wish I could be more help to Tessa, but she seems to be surviving. I don't think she's in great shape, but she's not in as bad shape as I am. I need to finish law school and get to where I make real money. I can help us both, then.
The proverbial salvation of my business is always right around the corner. Just because we haven't been busy in two years doesn't mean we'll never be busy again. However there's nothing preventing the business from taking off again if the weather conditions are right.
The uncertainty is a killer, but these are tough times. Tough times require tough people.
Everything gets better the further down the road I get. My military pay goes up. Debt gets retired. Every month I survive is a minor victory.
Not much left to talk about. Just hanging on. I lived through one bad recession when I got out of high school and it shaped me forever. I don't think I've ever gotten over the feeling of going to a Burger King for a job and being told they ran out of applications.
I hate recession. This one blows. Someday, when I survive this, all this will be just a colorful story. But in the mean time, yeah, this blows.
Oh, and I'm going to take a more active role in trying to get Navy stuff. It doesn't pay that great if you're not deployed, but a thousand here, a thousand there, it all helps. Might be spending a month in Japan.
I just sold off two of my son's toys. One was a pitching machine. The other is a four wheeler. He hardly ever rode the four wheeler. In the years since I bought it, maybe a dozen times. The pitching machine? Sits in the basement gathering dust.
So, I don't need them, but it still feels strange selling off stuff I bought for my boy. Name of the game at this point is survival, though.
Every month I survive brings me closer to getting out of the woods. A lot of my debt is term debt, most at very favorable interest. In August of this year, I pay off one of my business notes. That'll free up over $300 a month.
After that, it's a bit of a slog until 2013. Once that year rolls around, though, I'll have reached the end of three more notes. Monthly payments on the three of them, combined, is almost $2,000.
In 2014, I pay off three trucks, which frees up another $1,500 a month. So, all told, if I can somehow manage to survive until the end of 2014, I will have almost $4,000 more free dollars a month due to retired debt payments.
Granted, that still leaves a lot of credit card debt, but if I simply apply the $4,000 to credit cards, they'd all be paid off in a couple of years, too. I'm also chipping away at the credit card debt in the mean time. It's not impossible that they would all be paid off before the term loans are finished.
The trick is, of course, to stay alive (without declaring bankruptcy) for that amount of time.
I'm literally maybe 3 years away from being completely debt-free, if I can just survive month to month.
Trouble is, I am not sure I can keep treading water between now and then. I'm doing everything I can, but quickly reaching the end of the road.
I may have to start hoping for a Navy deployment. If I got sent to a combat zone, the combination of tax-free status and combat pay, etc. would probably make this the biggest take-home pay I've ever had. I wish I could hold on until I make O-3, though. The difference in pay is pretty big.
Plus, if I'm involuntarily deployed that lowers all my outstanding debt to no more than 6% interest and no real adverse collection action can take place until I get home.
I thought managing my business was tough, but frankly, now that I'm managing my business and my personal finances, life is pretty hard. This is gut-wrenching stuff.
I wish I could be more help to Tessa, but she seems to be surviving. I don't think she's in great shape, but she's not in as bad shape as I am. I need to finish law school and get to where I make real money. I can help us both, then.
The proverbial salvation of my business is always right around the corner. Just because we haven't been busy in two years doesn't mean we'll never be busy again. However there's nothing preventing the business from taking off again if the weather conditions are right.
The uncertainty is a killer, but these are tough times. Tough times require tough people.
Everything gets better the further down the road I get. My military pay goes up. Debt gets retired. Every month I survive is a minor victory.
Not much left to talk about. Just hanging on. I lived through one bad recession when I got out of high school and it shaped me forever. I don't think I've ever gotten over the feeling of going to a Burger King for a job and being told they ran out of applications.
I hate recession. This one blows. Someday, when I survive this, all this will be just a colorful story. But in the mean time, yeah, this blows.
Oh, and I'm going to take a more active role in trying to get Navy stuff. It doesn't pay that great if you're not deployed, but a thousand here, a thousand there, it all helps. Might be spending a month in Japan.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
One of them paid off...
While my situation is dire, it's not desperate, yet. I still have all my credit cards open. If I can thread the needle, I can foresee being able to pay them all off. Today, I paid one of them off. Now, it'll be the one I use, and I'll be paying it off every month.
There's one other that could, feasibly, be paid off in the next few weeks. After that, things get problematic and harder. In the past, I handled those types of debts by applying the occassional windfalls that came through my business. That could happen, too. It just hasn't happened in a while.
In the mean time, I'll keep making payments for as long as I possibly can. Every month is progress, if only just a little. I've got a ton of debt, both personal and business, but a lot of the business debt is term loans. In fact, in 2013, I will have a lot less debt to deal with.
The trick will be hanging on for that long. I am going back to school in the Fall, and when I finish in 2014, I'll have all my term-loans paid off. That includes both my personal and busines loans. As of today's balances, that's about $120,000 worth of debt.
If I can get past that, retiring the credit card debt may be uncomfortable, but it'll be eminently do-able.
There's one other that could, feasibly, be paid off in the next few weeks. After that, things get problematic and harder. In the past, I handled those types of debts by applying the occassional windfalls that came through my business. That could happen, too. It just hasn't happened in a while.
In the mean time, I'll keep making payments for as long as I possibly can. Every month is progress, if only just a little. I've got a ton of debt, both personal and business, but a lot of the business debt is term loans. In fact, in 2013, I will have a lot less debt to deal with.
The trick will be hanging on for that long. I am going back to school in the Fall, and when I finish in 2014, I'll have all my term-loans paid off. That includes both my personal and busines loans. As of today's balances, that's about $120,000 worth of debt.
If I can get past that, retiring the credit card debt may be uncomfortable, but it'll be eminently do-able.
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