Hello all -
I am absolutely grateful for stumbling across this forum, and how about a “job well done” to the folks at WCR for having us! Warning - my post is a bit long winded - but well worth it.
I came to the realization last night that historically I keep investing myself in other companies, people, projects, successes…only to be let down again, and again. I keep putting myself on the line to the benefit of someone else. Now I don’t mean in the sense of showing up to work everyday, and punching a time clock for 40 hours a week. I mean literally sacrificing everything I have - time, energy, money, sweat, tears, a little blood here and there, even relationships.
I am extremely hard working, dedicated, almost borderline workaholic. And in the end, I’m still standing here empty handed…so I have decided that enough is enough.
I’m 25, and I just got married after ten years to the best woman in the world. I have a dog, a couple cars, and a house that I hand built when I was 19, last year we refinanced to a 15 year mortgage…life was good - so far.
This past winter I was laid off from a company where I had been working for six years - in fact my uncle owns the company. He’s a multi-millionaire, and living proof of how money can change a person…for the worse. Let’s just say we didn’t see eye to eye. These people were literally idiots - you know the type, overpaid “yes” men (and women)! I prefer research and calculated risks, while these people enjoyed shooting from the hip with the boss man’s money. Long story short, I put myself in the line of fire of his management, in order to save his behind. I single handedly helped him salvage his financial arse, I became his sacrificial lamb. No apologies, no appreciation, and in the end he threw me under the bus. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the last.
I have never been without a job, I have been working since I was 12 delivering newspapers. I dropped out of high school at 16 so that I could bring home a paycheck instead of homework. I got my first apartment at 17, and was able to support my now wife and myself so she could continue school and graduate. Unemployment has been a real eye opener - I have always been able to find work when need be. Not anymore. As I said previously, my wedding was May 16 2009 - we had been planning it over the last year, it was too late to back out (financially) our deposits had been sent off. The wedding was great - I love my wife, we went to Mexico for our honeymoon. When we arrived home, she went back to work only to find she too was laid off. What a way to start your married life - eh?
To sum it up - I have started the process of liquidating my assets (if you want to call them that) in order to finance a startup company. The wife and I have decided that we are young enough to risk it all in order to better ourselves. Plus we have a relationship and understanding that could never foreclose or go bankrupt - she is my saving grace, honestly.
My grandma is my other saving grace - literally. Those are two women I couldn’t do without! I was speaking to her a couple weeks ago, and she mentioned that my aunt was getting the windows cleaned - they live together as my aunt is a nurse and grandma is 84 (she still drives). They have it done once or twice a year - cleaning in and out. She said the guy stated he had more business than he knew what to do with. So literally… grandma, like always, had the answer - window cleaning.
If you made it this far - congrats! I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, morale boosters, you get the idea. I hope to have this business up and struggling (I’m a realistic-optimist) in a month or so. Sort of bad timing, missed the spring cleaning rush, but hopefully the late summer and upcoming holidays will help. I look forward to the future.
Thanks for your time.
Shawn
