All About You FRIDAY – Skunk People (Mornings with Bob)

Raccoon in checkered shirt sitting at desk

“How could he do that to me?!” I cried out in frustration. It was one of the lowest points of my life.

I had allowed an investor, someone I considered a father figure, to talk me into opening a second clinic because he had the perfect building in the perfect location. I knew he had questionable business practices because he was my first boss. But he had made a lot of money in physical therapy and real estate and he talked a good game.

“I promise you will be profitable in a month,” he said. “I will make sure doctors send you a lot of patients.”

So, I threw caution into the wind and jumped in. I gave him 20% of my business in exchange for him co-signing on a line of credit because that is what he asked for (dumb move number one). And my husband and I, with great plans for renovating the space, rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

I picked up a sledgehammer to knock down the first wall. Little did I know that first strike would kick off the first day of the rest of my life.

We would find out the building wasn’t up to code and would need way more work than just a few new walls. My investor just shrugged. We were delayed nine months in opening. Nine months that I owed rent and payroll because I had hired staff to operate the clinic. My line of credit flew out the door with the renovation cost and we had to personally fund things after that to get the clinic open. But there was no turning back. We had amounted a huge debt and the only way to pay it back was to get the clinic open. I was treating patients during the day and then changing my clothes and joining the family construction crew in the evening.

We did it. But I learned the hardest lessons of my life during that time. And ten months later, I was a widow.

My investor? He said he would take all the debt off my hands if I just gave him my business and worked for him instead.

And that was my rock bottom. The reason I screamed those words into the universe. My life had been flipped upside down and I needed answers.

But there is a God. And there is faith.

“How can you believe in God after all of that?” someone once asked me.

“If I told you all the stories of my life,” I said, “you would see there is no way I couldn’t believe.” Juxtaposed to the worst times in my life were some of the greatest blessings. It didn’t feel like a quick fix. But as I survey my past journey today, it is more than clear that I was never alone. I have been blessed beyond my wildest imagination.

I managed to get 100% of my business back and it took years to pay off the debt. I shut down that second clinic. But here I am, 22 years later, still in business. A business that looks very different than I planned and way better than I could have imagined.

The lesson here is how not to hate.

It took years before I could say my former investors name and not feel anger. In my weakest moments, I wished things would happen to him so he could feel my pain.

But Bob had something to say about that. “It falls into my skunk category,” he said. “You can’t dislike the skunk for smelling bad. It’s who they are. Your job is to accept who they really are and move on, as hard as that is. Avoid them if you don’t like how it smells. You aren’t going to have a relationship with the skunk. Accepting that means then you don’t have to worry what they may ever do or not in the future. And you don’t have to keep getting upset with them. They are gone especially if you can avoid them.”

I’ve run into my bad investor once since. I passed him on the sidewalk in the city as I was leaving a restaurant a few years ago. He looked more feeble than I remembered. Smaller. And he looked at me a bit sheepishly. I nodded as I walked by him. And then I smiled as I realized my heart didn’t feel hate.

There are skunks out there. There is also a God.

And I believe in both.

It’s been a long week. Don’t forget to celebrate.

Until next time…