I need to find someone or somehow to unfuck my business. I am a sole proprietor DBA of a small business. I have 4 part time employees and in the last 4 years or so, post COVID, I’ve managed to screw almost everything up. I owe back taxes, fines for not having workers comp for FMLA insurances because I used to have them attached to my payroll and then somehow that got messed up and now everything is horrible. I had been struggling with depression and the pandemic happened and I didn’t have it in me to care or take action. Now I’m trying to undo all my mistakes and it’s seeming impossible because I don’t even know the extent of all the damage I’ve done. I’m hoping to find someone or an agency to help me undo this mess but I’m not sure who to look for. Is this just the work of an accountant or book keeper? Or business coach? Attorney? I have no idea. Any insite? Please be gentle.
Someone to “unfu*k” my business
byu/Glittering-Swan1389 inbusiness
Posted by Glittering-Swan1389
14 Comments
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Do you know any other business owners in your area? You definitely need an accountant and an HR consultant with a strong legal bent. Ask you local business owners if they use a consultant they could recommend. If not, post on linkedin (with fewer details, say you are “scaling”) and ask.
First off, you need to grow up and stop blaming stuff like covid. It’s been 5 years since it began.
What kind of business is it?
What city are you in?
You need a good lawyer and accountant first
Trying to catch your breath and handle everything at once is probably quite overwhelming.
My suggestion is to make a list of everything you need to take care of. Then try to figure out what must be done within 3 days, 7 days, 1 week, 1month, etc.
This will help you break down the list into actionable items.
Pushing things off just makes it that much harder to get been on track.
It’s great that you’re reaching out for guidance. Please ignore the negative comments. Not everyone can understand the struggles of being a business owner. Even less understand the struggles when one has depression and anxiety as well.
If you need any additional support or just to talk things through, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Happy to help, no charge… one business owner to another.
You got this!
Really appreciate your honesty here. First off, give yourself some grace, you made it through a hard few years. A good accountant or tax professional can help sort the back taxes, and pairing that with a solid admin system will take the weight off your shoulders.
You could consult with SCORE… they’re a nonprofit organization made up of retired business people who help small businesses for free.
Email me at support@aiadvantageco.com. My company and I have saved hundreds of businesses in your exact predicament. This is what we specialize in. You’d be amazed at what we can build with Ai to turn your company around! Good Luck!
Simplify. Whenever things get overwhelming, simplify. Start by looking at what you can do that is profitable. I did not say ‘makes money’. Revenue is one thing and profitability is another. You’re looking for the thing you do best, that you actually enjoy(ed) doing, that you’re really good at, that you can be profitable doing. Then, you package that in as simple a way possible – think Chic-fil-a pricing model. You can have a Burger, a Burger and Fries, or a Burger, Fries and a Drink. Keep it that simple. And make sure it’s just as buttoned up to deliver that one thing as it is to describe it. Next, take a hard look at your processes. If you have people on your team, you have to be brutal about their value to the company’s growth. Think of it through the lens of a professional sports coach and only put players on the field that can get the job done. EOS/Traction has a great rule for this: Gets it, wants it, has the capacity to do it. If any one of those is a ‘no’, they have to go. For you and for them. Then, it’s time to look at who most benefits from your work – and be specific. Kick any Buffet Thinking (I have a little something I can do for everyone) right out the window – that kind of thinking will drown you. If you run an accounting firm and specialize in advertising agencies with revenue under $10M, for example, that’s about perfect. Knowing your very specific audience is key. Next, identify the single pain point you make go away or you help them avoid, and ladder every single piece of your communication around that one thing. Never talk about yourself of your business unless asked – always talk about them, that big problem you’re going to make go away/help them avoid, where they are today (e.g. how close that problem is to being a problem) and how you see a path forward. Don’t describe yourself, your team, your work ethic, etc. If they want to know, they’ll ask. And at least once a day, go on a visual platform (I highly suggest TikTok) and teach people one aspect of the pain point/problem and what they can do about it. It will take about a month to dial all this in if you’re really diligent, and you’ll see results quickly because you’ll be focused and clearheaded. And don’t say anything negative to yourself or others. The universe is listening and will reflect what you put out there.
You got this. Go get ’em.
You need an operations person in your organization. This doesn’t always have to be a high level COO type, it can be a very well organized office manager type (depending on the size of your business).
You will likely also need to enlist the help of an accountant and possibly legal.
But what’s going to happen is you meet with accountant, they are going to give you a list of items to gather with a timeline, and you are likely going to fold like a bad suit. Then the cycle begins again.
You need a person on your team who has a different set of skills than you. Someone you can turn to and give them the list, and they’ll go get it together. You are going to help them gather documents and show them where things are, but ultimately they are going to get the stuff together.
If you want to email me specific questions I can try to share some insight. I’m not a consultant and can’t take over your business, but happy to just give you a second opinion on things
Go see an Accountant. Maybe Ben Affleck?
It’s not impossible.
Make a list of all the debt, highest to lowest amounts is one list.
Highest to lowest interest is another.
Highest to lowest monthly payments is another.
Then call every single one of them and tell them (honestly) how badly you fucked up and (precisely) what your plan is to get out of trouble.
Make the payments (without fail) every month.
Sell like a motherfucker and create more sales than you dreamed possible.
Make extra payments on the lowest debts and wipe as many total debts out as you can every single month…put those in your win column.
Every month, put THOSE monthly payments (that you no longer pay monthly payments on) towards wiping out the next smallest debt entirely…..and so on.
Every single one of those people that you told would be paid off in 28 months that you paid off in 16 months…not only do you look like a hero to….but you can now borrow higher limits from.
In 65% of the time you promised everyone, you’ll be paid off entirely. When you are, send them all a very nice hand written thank you note for allowing you the latitude for getting caught up and a nice $50.00 Starbucks card and a request; *”do I owe you any penalties or interest”*
They’ll all tell you “*NO*”. but they’ll respect the fact that you asked.
And you’ll be back on your feet, and you’ll have learned a very valuable lesson.