Well, the past almost-year has been a whirlwind, to say the least. Figured it was time I caught ya'll up, if anyone is still out there reading these, LOL.
Last May we found out that our business wasn't doing nearly as well as our business manager had been telling us. We went from "yes, we should clear enough for Jason to quit his full time job and support your family entirely from the business in a month or so" to "the business is going under and our only option is to sell" literally overnight.
We had been told for months that everything was going very well, the business was making lots of money, we'd be able to insure our employees, including ourselves, very soon and increase what the owners were getting paid enough that we could, finally, solely support ourselves off of the business. We trusted this person, trusted the reports and numbers he showed us.
Thank goodness Jason never actually resigned.
Because it was all lies. We got three days notice that we had no choice but to sell before it actually went under.
Our business manager had known long enough that he'd already applied for, interviewed for, and accepted a position at another company. As time has gone on, we've come to realize that he probably knew for about a year the true financial position of the company, and had been leading us on for at least that long.
And yes, we realize that that probably means that he was skimming off the top as well.
It was devastating and life changing, to say the least.
Not even touching on the part where someone we trusted was conning us for an extended period of time, we didn't know how we were going to support our family. You see, Jason's salary at the firehouse has never made more than about 40% of our household income.
We immediately cut back on our expenses, and Jason immediately began exploring other ways to make money. The sale of the business was final in August, but the proceeds barely covered the business' debt.
We considered me going back to work, and I put a few feelers out there, but in the end we decided that it would be too much upheaval for the girls for us to do it unless it was an absolute last resort. I still stay home with them, and we still homeschool, so me going back to work would absolutely turn their world upside down.
The new owners of the business asked Jason to stay on part time, and that pay has been a God-send. Jason also started a new business, helping clients with digital marketing. He taught himself when he was growing our original business and became quite good at it, specifically GoogleAds.
I'm still the Vice President of my university Alumni Band, and that's been amazing. Last May, the week before we got this news, I traveled to Austin, TX for a nationwide Alumni Band Symposium. What a great experience!
I coordinated all the activities for Homecoming, which was last October, and it was a smashing success if I do say so myself.
At the same time, I became the Team Manager for Jena's soccer team. She's become quite good, and is now playing competitively.
There was another event that occurred last fall, but I feel it deserves it's own post, so for now let's just say it rocked my world, but not in a good way.
And then... in January we started another company. We help new businesses get started and grow their company, specifically in the Pressure Washing and Christmas Light Installation niches.
As part of that business we decided to host our very own Christmas Light convention. Yep, you read that right. We're hosting an entire convention.
Our life has never been particularly... stable. It seems every year or so we have a go through a major change in our family, but this past year has been... overwhelming, to say the least.
I've been feeling very stretched thin lately, but at the same time I don't feel like I can drop any of the balls I'm desperately trying to juggle.
I could expound on any one of those things, or all of them, but it seems that would take nearly a year in and of itself.
I would like to be on here more, but again, I feel stretched so thin already.
We have started a family YouTube channel that we post to sporadically. I find videos easier to do in short spurts from my phone than blogging. Fortunately / Unfortunately. I like the videos, but I really prefer writing myself. But if you want to follow us over there, feel free.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPmDyIOw7ZmMFBjl6EqWnaA
In the meantime, that's all for now. I hope you all are doing well. If there's anything you're curious about, comment and I'll try to make that my next update.
Thanks for checking in!
