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Targetshooter,
I certainly agree with your last line, there
mate!!.
Have one person not pay you and the apple cart gets upset, have a whole heap of people not pay you and it can damn near kill you.
Hang in there, mate, things WILL get better!

Hang in there. We're all in the same boat.

Recently I've been burning through emplyoyees like crazy. I had to fired one guy because he stunk, litterally. I fired another guy because he had too many personal problems that were becoming my problems, putting me in a bind. One guy quit because he couldn't stand his lead man and another quit because he lost his car insurance(DUI) and could risk driving 45 minutes to work. I Had to fire a temp/sub/casual labor guy because he got in a fist fight on the job with another employee(also his brother).

Last week I was making up work for the guys to do so they could get 40 hours, now we're slammed for the next 2 weeks. Everybody wants us at the same time.

There's something to be said for just getting 1 good helper and selecting the customers you want to work for. For now though, I'm trying for something a little bigger. I can tell you that my income went up 25% when I quit working on weekends and it doubled when I added my first employee. However, my overhead has now reached a level that has stalled my income and I have to grow the business if I want my income to go up. If my income doesn't go up, then I would rather downsize to get rid of a lot of headaches and overhead since my income would stay about the same.

Good luck and hang in there.

I haven't forgotten about you shooter. Over the course of the last few days and weeks, I've thought about you much. I don't know every detail that lead up to the thread that you started. I just know that life in the worst circumstances is good, and I want to encourage you fix your eyes on a goal and head for it. Those old rascals that did you wrong should be whipped for it, but I think the most important thing is not what they've done to you. The most important thing is, what you've done to them. At the end of your life, you'll be able to say, "I did what was right." That my dear friend means a lot. The above may not be much consolation, but I hope that you can find some hope in it.

For every problem under the sun...
There is an answer, or there is none...
If there is, seek 'til you find it...
If there isn't, then never mind it...

Go out and bust a few caps,
Doc

thanks doc. and everyone.

after a lot of pondering it looks like i'll go back to work eventually.
i think one reason i bottomed out is because i'm single. without any daily support its easy to get overwhelmed and start feeling hopeless. if i change careers i'd probably have the same problems as i do now.

meanwhile, i'm selling off some property to get out of debt and take some time off. maybe i'll even scare-up a nice lady one day.