The straw...

Do you ever just have one of those days that you think you can't possibly take anything else?

Yeah.... I'm having one of those weeks. Now the good news is that I know what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. AND I have faith and trust and I know all things work out as they are supposed to.

Christmas is always a tough time of year for me... no matter how hard I try not to, I relate it to the loss of my best friend, killed by a drunk driver a few days before Christmas. Any magic that existed around the holiday died with her. Add to that the overwhelming sense of loss at the death of our two boys - Sampson and Bangara, an empty-nest, and getting taken for over $12k. Yep. I'm not feeling too merry.

Here's the business deal. I feel the need to put it in writing, because it will make me feel better! :)

We've been working with Intense Schools for the past few months. I will facilitate some of their PMP courses for them and they also have switched over to using our curriculum. For us, this is a huge partnership. To us, it's all about how you treat your clients. For all intents and purposes, it appeared to us as though Intense School really did value their clients and was looking out for their best interest.

Over the past five weeks, I delivered two classes for them - one in Atlanta and one in DC. I was very hesitant to do the one in DC, mainly because of money. I had been asked to do a class that week for IS in San Diego - this would work out well because I could drive and it would save us money. When they switched my class to DC, not only would my travel expenses be a lot greater, they didn't want to pay us for the books. Even after having to pay $800 for a plane ticket, I agreed to do the class due to the future partnership with IS. We felt it was worth the sacrifice.

Long story short, IS is sitting on five invoices, totalling over $12k. On Thursday, I find out from another instructor that Vigilar, the parent company, has closed the doors. Meanwhile, just the day before, I had referred over potential students to IS and received an email thanking me from the director of training. Yet, not surprisingly, as soon as I started asking about the invoices, I get no response. I've tried calling all of the numbers, emailing everyone and we get nothing.

This $12k may mean the difference in us being able to keep our home or not. This $12k is money we worked very hard for and earned every penny. It would be one thing if they just approached us, explained what was going on, and were at least honest. But the truth appears to be that they knew they weren't going to be able to pay us. I since found out that they are still trying to collect money from students, yet the chances they will be able to run classes is pretty slim since they've screwed over all of their instructors.

Ok. I feel slightly better. Makes me really proud of the way we do business. We may struggle to survive, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that we're doing the right thing.

But.... the good news is that this week I'll have all of my girls home and life will go on. Things will get better.