Arrggghhhhh!! B'ness blues...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Ouch! My partner and I have been trying to keep our business going despite my having taken a full time job about 4 months ago. We’ve been in touch almost daily and I know things are grim. So I go over there after work yesterday to help her get payroll tax forms filed and get ready to pay the office lease. She’s got a couple of things working that should come to fruition in the next two months, but the company’s cash flow has gone south since I am not there all day anymore. I was prepared for the fact that we were both going to chip in $450 to pay the lease.

Well, I got over there to find out that: 1.) the company’s checking account is almost empty and 2.) she can’t come up with any cash. So I paid the $1400 lease myself (ugh!).

And then we get to the 941 (quarterly payroll tax form) and she’s discovered that she made a mistake on a tax deposit and the only way she can figure to make the deposits cover our tax liability is to take my last two paychecks (not current, I am not drawing any salary anymore) and reallocate them as payments to me on the loans I’ve made to the company. NO! She is not trying to screw me, she just did not really think it through and understand that basically amounted to taking another couple of thousand out of my pocket.

I cannot afford this and it’s definitely had an effect on my mood. I told her to file a correct 941 and file it, showing money due but sans check; and call the office liquidators to come get some stuff. We can lose some furniture and fixtures easily without it affecting the company’s ability to operate and I’ll bet we’ll be hearing from the I.R.S. pretty soon.

Maybe this belongs in the Pit - but I’m not really a Pit sort. Uncle will advise, I’m sure. Needed to vent.

2

Ah goddamn… it all sounds very confusing to me but the bottom line is there. I hope the best for ya… stick in there. I hope it soon becomes your financial dream.

3

I hope things work out for you. Hopefully it can only get better.

4

What are your goals with keeping this business open? Do you intend to return to it if things go well there? I assume not, having read your other threads about the new job.

If you do intend for the previous business to go somewhere, does it make sense to raise some additional funding or secure a loan? Also, perhaps you should look to hire someone to replace what you did.

If you don’t intend for it to go anywhere, does it makes sense to shut the doors?

Good luck in whatever you do.

5

Not to be rude, but it doesn’t really sound like your partner knows what she’s doing.

I assume this is a “business” partner not a “life” partner (sometimes they can be both!) and apologize if I am wrong.

I am a bookkeeper and so understand some of what you are talking about. Without knowing the details of your business I can’t make any huge sweeping judgements but it really sounds like your partner doesn’t have much of a handle on things. I know in my business I have to constantly budget to be sure I am going to be able to pay the large monthly taxes on time to avoid penalty fees, etc. She knew it was coming, and yet the checking account was empty. This doesn’t bode well.