Shoestring Startup dot Net

This is the next installment of story of my life -Serial Entrepreneur.

Read the previous installments:

A Serial Entrepreneur is Born

My First Real Business Blossoms

Out of Cash and it Just Gets Worse!

In my last post about my journey I shared how I was out of cash, out of computer (it crashed) and I’d just gotten a notice from the IRS.

They’d found an error in my last return and I owed another $1000.00 or so. Enough of an amount that in my sorry-out-of-cash-with-no-resources-state-of-mind, I was devastated.

I was also young, and hadn’t quite learned the lessons of how to find solutions, or sitting quietly so that my next step could appear. All I knew was that I was at the bottom of my life. Not only had my computer crashed, but so had I.

I was sick.

I’d been getting sick for a long time, but it had happened slowly over a number of years. (I’ve got a whole post about my health journey coming up).

It was time for me to look for answers.

I was praying to no-one in particular. I was walking. I was trying to be creative but didn’t know how. I was in the bathroom -alone crying.

What was I going to do?

With help from several computer geeks I did manage to get most of the computer records back up and although it wasn’t totally current, I had customer lists and invoices to collect on. And I had to collect. Bills were mounting.

I went to work bringing in cash the fastest way I could. I called all the customers personally, (I had a sales staff who normally did it). As I called the clients I took my time, asking if they were happy with our service, how I could help, and if they needed anything more from our company. Basically I was trying to get more orders and more cash without begging.

It worked. Calling customers and just chatting is a ‘marketing technique’ I still recommend to all businesses. Touching base - in person or on the phone - keeps your clients loyal and also magically increases the orders! I didn’t know it then, I was just desperate to try anything.

Slowly orders trickled in and invoices were paid. We were hanging on by a thread but I knew that my health needed attending to. Emotionally, spiritually, physically I was spent.

Was I just going to burn out, loose my business and cry in the gutter? Should I find a way to ‘retire’ while I worked on my health? How could I keep the business and pull it all together? Was there a way?

As usually happens, the next step unfolded. A good friend introduced me to an alternative health care practitioner who used electro acupuncture. I was so enamored with his computerized system that I invited him into our office to work on myself and any employees who were interested in the technology.

(Years later this same man, would take my place as president of a bio-medical manufacturing company, but I’m jumping ahead.)

I started investigating alternative health and discovered my spiritual path as well as regaining my health.

The future was suddenly full of promise. I started to feel better, cash was coming in, and then… a buyer stepped forward to buy me out.