KCFlorist / Katz - Time for our side of the story.

[goldfish]

Morality of bankruptcy.

Gregg, thank you for sharing your side of story with us. I truly appreciate it.

With that said, I must confess that I do not have much respect to any business owners who file for bankuptcy to protect their personal assets. In fact, I question the morality of such bankuptcy in general.

I can understand and sympathesize with the cases where, for example, the business owner was hit/run by a drunken driver and hospitalized. But as far as I know, the vast majority of personal bankruptcy filed by business owners was caused by their own misjudgement and their failure to shut down the business before the debt getting out of control.

It's good that you are still trying to pay your debt to the creditors. Well, you should. Until all the debts are paid and you come truly "clean", until that day, I hope you don't mind that I will hold back my praise for you. Good luck and I sincerely hope that such day will eventually come.

 

[Victoria]

My father, suffered a personal bankruptcy (the whys and wherefores are not for public consumption)... it broke him and his spirit, and he didn't survive it.

I would guess that's why I'm more inclined to be more understanding of Gregg's ordeal... I've walked a mile.

V

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

Gregg,
You are very brave and I wish you the best of luck. Now tell me how to avoid the tracks you went down. I am drowning in debt. Stephanie

I CAN TELL YOU...that you either learn to swim, or you drown, and IF you are a survivor, which I think you are, 3 lessons that I learned...
1)when you are very hungry, you WILL LEARN the language that enables you buy food.
2)when you are very ill, you will learn the language that will possibly make you well again.
3) when you are very broke, you WILL LEARN the language that will enable you to succeed, or find out that you are NOT cut out for either of the above!!

there are NO TRACKS that lead to success, there are "forks" in the road, there are NO STATIONS at which you can "rest", there ARE rest-stops that allow you to take a step back, there ARE NO quick remedies for a sick business plan, there ARE "procedures" to allow you to breathe and understand better!!

 

[goldfish]

Gregg,
You are very brave and I wish you the best of luck. Now tell me how to avoid the tracks you went down. I am drowning in debt. Stephanie

When you find yourself borrowing money to pay for the debt at a higher interest than the original debt, you are in a big trouble. Example: pay the rent using money borrowed from a high-interest creditcard. That's usually a start of financial collapse of many small businesses.

Initially, the trouble seems misleadingly subtle. However, your debt service (monthly interest payment) will soon exponentially grow, which your revenue can't possibly catch up after a certain point. If you are in this situation, you might need to make a very hard decision, including the liquidation of some of your assets to reduce the debt burden to more managebale level.