So it's finally come down to it - I'm out.
My business did pretty well in 2007. We turned a nice little profit, not great, but not bad, and had several contracts lined up for 2008. Expecting our business to continue growing as it has for the last several years, my wife quit her teaching job at the end of the 07-08 school year to help out with the business. That was all well and good until the economy tanked and a bunch of contracts fell through. Now we're deep in the hole, business isn't even paying the overhead and I'm SOL. Out of cash and up to the limit on the credit cards. I'm now 10 days late on my sales tax payment because I spent all of my sales tax money on payroll and rent. The state will be knocking on my door pretty quick for that money.
I've told my employees and a select few friends that we're going under. My guys need time to find employment elsewhere, I told them that they had a job with me as long as the doors were open and they wanted to stay but understood that they need to have something reliable to pay the bills. By the end of February I'm shutting the doors. The landlord will scream - the lease isn't up for another 18 months or so. I hate to leave him hanging but I really don't have much choice. Without the business operating there's no way I can afford the rent on the building (not that I can really afford it now). I've paid my February rent and will announce a store closing sale as soon as I see that check clear my bank account.
Met with two attorneys a few weeks ago to discuss options. With $130K in credit card debt and my business closing we're pretty much a shoo-in for a Chapter 7. My wife will be looking for another teaching job but we don't expect any openings until the fall. She'll probably be substitute teaching for the next few months. I have a lead on a contracting gig that should pay a bit and I'll have my resume out for a better job. Without the credit card bills to pay we should be OK. Both lawyers advised us to stop using and paying credit cards immediately. We've done that and it's improved our cashflow quite a bit. I'm already making deals to get rid of some of our extra inventory so that's helped - it's less than I paid for a lot of it, but since I'm not concerned about buying any more I really don't care.
So that's that, decision has been made and we know where we're heading. I'll be filing bankruptcy separately for my business (an LLC) and myself. Looks like we'll get to keep the house and both cars. My motorcycle is already for sale (I was hoping to pay sales tax with the proceeds - too late now). Most of the business assets will be sold. The goal is to accomplish all of that in a month or less. Should be an interesting month. I'm not paying another month's rent in this building, so anything that isn't sold by the 28th will either go into a storage unit somewhere or into the dumpster.
Anywho, just commiserating. I'm not looking forward to the process but I'm looking forward to it being over. I've spent the last couple of years working way too hard to be this poor and ready to be done. Without sending multiple thousands each month to various credit card companies I'll have a lot more freedom with my money and my time. That much at least I'm looking forward to. Hopefully I'll be able to land a decent job pretty quick (despite what I read in the news). Now I just have to get the money together to pay a lawyer. Hurrah!
My business did pretty well in 2007. We turned a nice little profit, not great, but not bad, and had several contracts lined up for 2008. Expecting our business to continue growing as it has for the last several years, my wife quit her teaching job at the end of the 07-08 school year to help out with the business. That was all well and good until the economy tanked and a bunch of contracts fell through. Now we're deep in the hole, business isn't even paying the overhead and I'm SOL. Out of cash and up to the limit on the credit cards. I'm now 10 days late on my sales tax payment because I spent all of my sales tax money on payroll and rent. The state will be knocking on my door pretty quick for that money.
I've told my employees and a select few friends that we're going under. My guys need time to find employment elsewhere, I told them that they had a job with me as long as the doors were open and they wanted to stay but understood that they need to have something reliable to pay the bills. By the end of February I'm shutting the doors. The landlord will scream - the lease isn't up for another 18 months or so. I hate to leave him hanging but I really don't have much choice. Without the business operating there's no way I can afford the rent on the building (not that I can really afford it now). I've paid my February rent and will announce a store closing sale as soon as I see that check clear my bank account.
Met with two attorneys a few weeks ago to discuss options. With $130K in credit card debt and my business closing we're pretty much a shoo-in for a Chapter 7. My wife will be looking for another teaching job but we don't expect any openings until the fall. She'll probably be substitute teaching for the next few months. I have a lead on a contracting gig that should pay a bit and I'll have my resume out for a better job. Without the credit card bills to pay we should be OK. Both lawyers advised us to stop using and paying credit cards immediately. We've done that and it's improved our cashflow quite a bit. I'm already making deals to get rid of some of our extra inventory so that's helped - it's less than I paid for a lot of it, but since I'm not concerned about buying any more I really don't care.
So that's that, decision has been made and we know where we're heading. I'll be filing bankruptcy separately for my business (an LLC) and myself. Looks like we'll get to keep the house and both cars. My motorcycle is already for sale (I was hoping to pay sales tax with the proceeds - too late now). Most of the business assets will be sold. The goal is to accomplish all of that in a month or less. Should be an interesting month. I'm not paying another month's rent in this building, so anything that isn't sold by the 28th will either go into a storage unit somewhere or into the dumpster.
Anywho, just commiserating. I'm not looking forward to the process but I'm looking forward to it being over. I've spent the last couple of years working way too hard to be this poor and ready to be done. Without sending multiple thousands each month to various credit card companies I'll have a lot more freedom with my money and my time. That much at least I'm looking forward to. Hopefully I'll be able to land a decent job pretty quick (despite what I read in the news). Now I just have to get the money together to pay a lawyer. Hurrah!
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