Karma Bites, But It Also Protects

Long story short, my husband and I had a nice size business in the Seattle area. In 2004, it was just over twelves years old, we had five employees, and had close to a half million dollar in sales coming up in 2005. Sounds good, until you read that in 2005 our bank of ten years, decided with no warning and no good reason, to call our line of credit. We were in a middle of small large projects with the government and could not pay it off at the time, so they cancelled it. There is more to the story than this, but let's just say, what they did was wrong and what followed was a life-changing event.

The bank expected us to just do whatever they said, instead I fought and I fought hard. I knew in my heart that what they were requesting was wrong, very wrong, and turns out (later) most of it was actually illegal. I sought the advice of an attorney, in hindsight I am not sure how solid his advice was, but at the time I didn't know any better.

As a result of the bank's unscrupulous tactics, we lost everything. Our attorney advised us to close the business, to file personal bankruptcy and to just move on.  We closed the business. We filed for bankruptcy and lost all of our personal belongings. And, we are still trying to move on.

While going through this horrible experience, I didn't once just lie down and take it. I stood up to the bank, at least as much as I was able to. My anger fueled my drive to not let them run over us and take everything we worked so hard for. I have an extremely hard time with injustice, and what they were doing was very unjust.  We couldn't fight them in the courts, attorneys were unwilling to take on a bank, so in the long run we did lose.

After all was done and said, we lost most of our possessions, we were financially bankrupt. But, they didn't take our pride, our souls, we stood our grounds and we fought.

That small bank is now gone, a victim of their greed. They, like so many other banks, got into serious trouble with the FDIC. They were forced to sell their assets to another bank. The owner of the bank is personally in serious trouble with the FDIC.

The moral of the story - KARMA is a REAL BITCH. And, sometimes she is a MEAN BITCH.

Tony and I are still recovering from that ordeal.  It taught us some valuable lessons. It damaged our trust in institutions, like banks and attorneys, at least for a while.

I have moved on, for the most part, the anger was the hardest to let go. But, I thank KARMA for helping, she paid the bank back for us, with interest. So, Karma, from us and other small businesses - THANK YOU!

The Line to the Women's Restroom

I love to people watch and an entertaining place to watch people is the line at a women's restroom.

I was hosting an art show recently and the desk I planted myself at sat directly across from the women's restroom.

The steady stream of , I-Have-To-Pee people watching, made for an interesting and somewhat entertaining sort of afternoon.





Here are my observations of Women In Line for the Women's Restroom - People Watching:

1. You have the I-can-wait-patiently women. These women realize that waiting in line at the women's restroom is just part of the facts of life for women and they don't wait until it is an emergency.

2. The I-have-to-go-now women. Just what the name implies, they wait until the last minute. They then spend their time in line, hopping from one foot to the other, impatiently waiting for the line in front of them. And inevitably, when you have to go really bad, the women in front of you are the women who take their sweet time - so hurry up please.

3. The women who don't seem to notice the line and cut right to the front. They were so oblivious to the world around them. I guess when you have to go, you brain is too focused on having to pee and can't notice anything else.

4. This particular restroom has only one stall. The stall does have a door you can shut, as well as, an exterior door to the room itself. It amazed me how many women did not bother to shut the exterior door. In fact, some would just leave the door wide open. Now me, I am a private person when it comes to using the restroom, I close the door and lock it. I guess not all women feel the same way. So women - PLEASE shut the door and lock it.  The rest of us do not need to know what you are doing in the privacy of the restroom. Also, by leaving the door open this confused the other women, they would think that the restroom was available. These women already are a little addled by the I-Have-To-Go now syndrome.

5. My all time personal favorite of the day - The women who would go up to a shut, and locked door, and still try to open it. I am thinking that when women have to go - it overrides some of the logic in our brain and we are just too focused on getting to that toilet. When we have to go - we have to go.

How To Get Over Your Fear of Heights

One way to get over your fear of heights is to follow a daredevil ninety year old across a grated bridge, over a deep ravine.

Normally I am afraid of heights. I freeze usually if in that position. Recently, on a trip over the mountains, we stopped at a large waterfall. There is a grated bridge that you can walk out on and it is above a deep ravine. As I followed my ninety year old friend across the bridge, my sole focus was on her and I didn't really think about where I was.

Remarkable

I have never considered myself remarkable. I am, however, surrounded by remarkable women. Women who amaze me with their talents, energy and fortitude. How could I ever achieve to be like them? Most of us are modest about who we are, our gifts and our accomplishments. We are meant to give and care about others. We tend to put our needs and ourselves on the back burner. But, this may be what makes us truly remarkable. Our ability to give and care for others and still live our passion. To have the energy and determination to move forward and still be there for our families and friends.

When author Carolyn Leeper asked if I would like to be included in a book she was writing entitled 19 Remarkable Northwest Women, I didn’t realize what she was actually writing about. I read the manuscript when Carolyn hired my business, Armchair ePublishing, to design the book cover and complete the book’s layout and ebook conversions. It was during this process, while I was reading the stories of these women, that the full scope of the book hit me. I was in awe over what these women had accomplished and surprised when I learned Carolyn had included me as one of the nineteen.

I have always been fascinated with people and their stories. What makes them tick? What motivated them? How they accomplished their achievements? This book was an invitation to study some truly remarkable women and the things they have done; the adversities that got in their way and yet made them stronger; how their passion and determination led to their accomplishments.

I see these strengths in the women I’ve met and have had the intense pleasure of getting to know over the years. I idolize them and feel humbled to be in their presence. They encourage me to keep going and set forth my own accomplishments and follow my passions. I look up to these women and I think, “WOW.”

For me, women are remarkable. The balance of work, family and life in general can be difficult and yet they not only manage, they succeed.

My advice to all women: Be grateful, for you are remarkable. Be proud of your awesomeness. Lead others and share your greatness, so that they to can be great!

It All Starts With A Dream

Some people just don't get it.

Why would anyone want to be work for themselves instead of having a secure job?  The thing is - jobs are not secure anymore. It's not like it was in our grandfather's, even our father's day, where you were with a company for thirty plus years.

Why are we Entrepreneurs?

We do it for the passion!



For the Autonomy.

Being the Master of our own Destiny.

The rewards.

Because we can...

We are driven to be a part of something that we created.  We crave to continuously learn and explore. We have a burning desire to be our own Master. We get great satisfaction from the rewards: recognition, acceptance from others, knowing that we did this. We are in control of our destiny.

Entrepreneurs are the backbones of any business. Entrepreneurs are the beginning of new economies. They propel us into the future and they are a large part of our past. It is the imaginations of Entrepreneurs that sprout forth technologies and innovations.

Why are we Entrepreneurs?  It all started with a Dream...