Why am I writing this ? Peace of mind ? Sure. Just to get it off my chest ? Maybe. I think really tho, it's in hopes that someone out there in the land of the internets sees this and knows that,if you're going through the same thing, You aren't alone and you will get through it.It happened to me too.
By now you're wondering what I'm talking about. I'll fill you in.
Not too long ago, my wife and I purchased a restaurant. She had come in to some money via an inheritance, and up until that point she had been a stay at home mom raising and homeschooling our 2 kids. Things were tough on one income but we got by. We figured with this money, perhaps we should take a chance. Both of us have worked in restaurants our entire lives, this we thought and were led to believe, was a simple turnkey, ma n pa breakfast and lunch place. The first few months were awesome ! Crazy busy ! Great times ! All that jazz....
Now, here come the holidays.It slows down bad, but we get by. Staff and vendors are paid. Rent is paid at home, things are ok. Not taxes though. You see, the quarterly taxes come due, and for those that know, if you don't pay those, you get closed. It's not like some of the other slews of taxes a small business owner pays to keep their doors open, if you don't file with payment, men with badges come and shut you down. So pay the taxes or pay the rent ? TAXES ! Thankfully, our landlord at at the restaurant was willing to work with us, and we were able to secure a small capital loan to keep us funded and pay the back rent and all the good stuff.So we come out of the holidays, things start to pick up, bills are getting paid, life is good. Right. Right ? RIGHT ?
Nah.
2 weeks ago, I'm in the office putting together my order and my wife calls me from the desk. She's pale and her eyes are glassy.
What's wrong I ask.
"We can't make payroll."
Why I reply.
"We don't have the money." She says.
"What do you mean !"(me)
"I had to pay quarterly's. Every penny we had."(her)
"Well, rent is paid right ?" (me)
"No. After taxes, we have six cents left in the account."(her)
So in the space of a few moments, everything went from fine, gettin by, to destroyed. Couldn't pay rent at home. 0 capital left for the business, unpaid staff, angry landlord ( a whole other story). Dang.
For the last 2 weeks, I wasn't able to hold down food, chest pains, no sleep, and not the greatest dad in the world either...
The wife you ask ? About the same. Life was wrecked. Game over man. Shut the doors, stop the bleeding.
And here comes God.
And Mom.
Mom paid my rent this month, blessings upon her !
And God The Father...miraculously our landlord decided to let us start making daily payments to him, and we started to bring in just enough to keep us sustainable at this point. The power of prayer is real friends.
But with all going on, we decided to put the restaurant up for sale.
Kind of a quick wrap up at the end here. But for anyone of you reading, if you're going through something like this, you aren't alone in your failure. Talk to god. Talk to your friends. Heck, talk to me even. Failure is not forever.