Raven's Watershed Whine.
November 4th 2007 06:35
A watershed event has forever shuffled the key stones of my life; bankruptcy is life's way of informing us all that our ratio of checks to funds is askew. Fortunately, it isn't a fiscal death sentence so much as a mandate to modify a business and personal life style. Or, so it seems to be for this cold weather friend.
I never fully appreciated the amount of legal advice you can get here in Juneau, at least not until all of the best lawyers turned up at my doorstep to assassinate my character and to relieve me of the burden of property ownership. It turns out, the singular 'C' list attorney that didn't sue me specialized bankruptcies. That was fortuitous.
Rather than go for the one shot and it's over type of bankruptcy filing, I chose the slow death version. Whereby I pay things off over the course of three years; while constantly being serenaded by whining and cursing creditors interspersed with those occasional, but traditional attempts to run over me with their assorted vehicles. For some reason they feel it is their obligatory duty to destroy my entire family line back to the, "Big sneeze".
Oddly, they first sent family members that used to work for me over to borrow money, get rehired or to steal tools the court has a lien on; had those same miscreant family members worked as hard and efficiently for me as they have against me, we'd all still be in business. I don't get how they can refuse to fix their own mistakes on my dime, at $30 to $35 an hour, and yet take full time employment elsewhere for $10 an hour and bemoan the fact that I am out of business. My company was to be employee owned.
Somehow, it never sank in that they (sic) contributed to the problem with their acts of omission - they wouldn't fix their mistakes and I couldn't. The resultant, customers refused to pay the company over $50K owed for prior work completed and approved; further they cancelled remaining contracts because I couldn't staff them. Small businesses live or die by their cash flow; no cash - no flow.
So, how did I fare in this matter? After throwing dead beats out of my house, moving, and simplifying my life, better. Being an inactive Marine, I charged into the future like a moon maddened were-something; I snapped at the court trustee, fumed at my attorney, growled at several penciled necked 'hit' attorneys and their clients, dodged those occasional attempts to run me over and in general took some command of the miserable situation; life dealt me a lemon and we're making sorbet with it. The tunnel wasn't that foreboding.
The keystones were shuffled a bit, but intact. My wife and marriage is rewarding and strong, we have more time to take walks and chat. My friends and business supporters still remain faithful and loyal. I am finally painting artwork again and finding time to write/blog. Life goes on. Shaken, but not overly stirred.
So, am I totally out of business; nope - just healing, refocusing and reorganizing.
In psychiatry, the inmates aren't allowed to run the asylum; so, why should employees be allowed to run the company? It was a failed experiment. Raven knows better-now.
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Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
I farewelled you, thinking you had left us!
It truly is a wonder to read your words again....Thankyou for sharing with us. Despite your hardship, its a great story!
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Sorry I took so long to find you, bit slow on the uptake today.
Only those who have been through such things or similar will ever understand, many will always stay secure but meet not the challenges of life which bestow a wealth not measurable in money terms.
Take heart and be at peace my friend and enjoy those many extra restful hours. Some people can be so selfish and cruel, it's hard to believe unless you experience it.
It's great to see you back again, you will see many changes here, which is good.
katyzzz
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Tracy
Comment by tlcorbin-raginravensview
I couldn't serve the demands of the situation and my desire to blog on Orble at the same time, so I took a sabbatical. Thank you for welcoming me back.
katyzzz
A very insightful comment-have you walked a similar path? I look forward to discovering those changes you mentioned. I am also looking forward to exploring your other site as well. It's great to 'see' you again too and thank you for the well wishes.
Tracy
That's the heart of everything right now, 'the next step'. My response to that is to keep stepping and moving forward without fear or anger. Thank you for the kind thoughts.
It is wonderful that you all took time to comment, thank you.
Raven
Comment by Ash
Flashes of memories
So good to have you back. Sorry to hear that you travelled a rocky road there - but you seem to have come out the better for it, having learnt your lesson and moved onto greener pastures now.
Welcome back.
Ash