FROM SUCCESS TO DEBT AND BACK AGAIN, I wasn’t wealthy, but I was quite comfortable with my successful business. Everything changed when I went through a divorce, which drained two-thirds of my assets. I decided to buy out a competitor to expand my business. Unfortunately, he sabotaged the deal, and what seemed like a lucrative investment turned into a financial burden with high monthly payments and minimal returns. To make matters worse…
I wasn’t wealthy, but I was comfortable running my own successful business. The first major blow came when I went through a divorce, which wiped out two-thirds of my assets. Determined to expand, I bought out a competitor. What seemed like a lucrative investment turned sour when he mismanaged the business, leaving me with substantial monthly payments and minimal returns.
I was importing specialized equipment from England, financed through a bank floor plan. I had arranged for a customer to warehouse it, which worked well until he tragically took his own life. His death led to the closure of his business, and the bank and his major supplier seized my equipment, leaving me responsible for the remaining debt. Meanwhile, the economy entered a recession, and the two companies that provided 80% of my income went out of business.
To keep my business afloat, I relied on credit cards, failing to cut back on expenses. I fell into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, living like a pauper for years. I narrowly avoided homelessness when I managed to come up with enough cash to stop a sheriff’s sale of my remaining assets. That was a long time ago, but I survived and eventually thrived again. I’ve learned valuable lessons and hope never to face such a situation again.
