I had to ask three times. But my sister told me straight: "We're out of money. The company has to shut down. You know, our two biggest clients didn't pay because they're struggling themselves. Every conversation has failed. You probably haven't really been listening to me these last few weeks, have you?"

Monique and I own an advertising agency. Basically, things went quite well for five years. Sure, there were phases that weren't easy. But now this! But what does bankrupt mean? To me it means that 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 bankrupt mean" became fully clear to me now.

Nothing works anymore:

  • Letter from the bank: overdraft terminated
  • Tax authority threatens enforcement
  • Debt collection letters are arriving
  • no more salaries possible

Now we're in a real mess and we have no answer to it.

Only One Place Left to Turn: Our Father

We wanted to be independent and never beg our father for money. Yet here we were facing a shambles. We need $80,000 and new clients. A fresh start. We went to our father. "What does bankrupt 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 big clients and two of them more or less insolvent. That's absurd. You need more pillars. You overlooked that many small streams make a river, and you need them!"

Our father took charge. He himself is a successful entrepreneur who runs a bicycle wholesaler. His business is booming and he's always known how to do business. I'll never forget the look on his face when he said "What does bankrupt mean?" Telling him of all people, the successful businessman, was really hard for us.

Everything Gets Reset

We took out the red pen. Our father offered us rooms at his place. We only had to cover the utilities. So no more base rent of $1,500. He gave us coaching hours with a business coach. Dad himself looked through the books and spotted glaring mistakes. We were 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 say again: "What does bankrupt mean?" Roll up our sleeves and straighten our crowns. You can always fall, and maybe we needed it. In the USA it's common for insolvencies to happen and for people to learn from them. So our father says. It's almost considered good form. Maybe there's something to that.