I had to ask three times. But my sister told me straight out: "We're out of money. But what does bankruptcy mean?

The company has to shut down. You know, our two biggest clients didn't pay because they're in trouble themselves. All the talks have failed. You really haven't been listening to me these past few weeks, have you?"

what does bankruptcy mean

Monica and I own an advertising agency. Basically, things went quite well for five years. Sure, there were some rough patches. But now this! Only, what does bankruptcy mean? To me, it means the banks won't give any more credit. She always took care of the finances.

The wake-up call two weeks later was even bigger. "What does bankruptcy mean" has now become fully clear to me.

What does bankruptcy mean? Nothing works anymore:

  • Letter from the bank: our overdraft line was canceled
  • The IRS is threatening to seize our assets
  • Debt collection letters are arriving
  • no more salaries possible

Here we are in a real mess, and we have no answer to it.

What does bankruptcy mean? Only one stop left: our father

what does bankruptcy mean

We wanted to be independent and never beg our father for money. Yet here we are, facing a heap of broken pieces. We need $70,000 and new clients. A fresh start. We went to our father. "What does bankruptcy mean?" He was stunned and furious that we hadn't come to him sooner.

"I'll help you if the whole company is restructured! Three major clients, and two of them are more or less insolvent. That's absurd. You need more pillars. You overlooked the fact that small fish add up too, and you need them!"

Our father took charge. He is a successful entrepreneur himself, running a bicycle wholesale business. It's booming for him, and he has always known how to do business. I will never forget the look on his face when he said "What does bankruptcy mean?" Having to tell him of all people, the successful businessman, was really hard for us.

Everything gets a fresh start

We got out the red pen. Our father offered us office space at his place. We would only have to cover the utilities. That meant no more $1,300 monthly base rent. He gave us coaching sessions with a business coach as a gift. Dad himself went through the books and spotted glaring mistakes. We were supposed to learn that it's 60% acquisition and 40% work.

We're sure we'll make it. There's one sentence I never want to have to say again: "What does bankruptcy mean?" Roll up our sleeves and straighten our crowns. You can always fall, and maybe we needed it. In the US, it's common for businesses to go under in ways that teach you something, or so our father says. It's almost considered normal. Maybe there's something to that.