Don't tell me, you tried to make a plan to pay off your debts and increase your income, you started with a lot of encouragement because you were convinced that you would do it and that, within a reasonable time, you would be free of that stress that was killing you. You called all your suppliers and gave them a payment date, you felt confident and started developing your strategy.
But something went wrong along the way: the loan you requested from the bank to lower the interest on your debts was denied, you were forced to make new purchases with credit cards, the proposals you had made to your clients were not approved or you Boss didn't give you the raise you asked for.
You feel devastated, unhappy, without strength. You wonder what wrong you did to fall into this situation and why you can't find a way out. You have entered what I call the “financial knockout”. I call it that because you are like boxers when they are counting you ten after being thrown on the floor by a blow to the head or the side.
Now I ask you, if you were a boxer, what would you do at that time? Would you try to get up? Surely, you know that after they count you ten you lose the fight and you don't want to lose it. Most boxers try again and again, boxing is a sport of resistance to blows and it is generally won by the one who learns to dodge them or endure to the end.
This is my conclusion: life is the same as boxing in many aspects, the key is to get up and try again, with other techniques, studying your opponent (in this case debt or low income), studying yourself to see what accounts and what are your weak points to protect them.
After a financial knockout, these three steps have worked for me:
- Review where I have failed. It is very important to determine what were the bad practices that led us to our current situation, because in the future there will be more "fights" and we cannot afford to fall for the same cause. Creativity. Assessing our possibilities, our resources and the opportunities in our environment takes us beyond cost control. There is always something we did not do in the past and that we can try. Measure the results. Define performance indicators that give you an idea of how you are doing. In my case I have seen that you have to measure at least: your level of gross income, your level of expenses, your level of profit (income minus expenses), your level of debt and your level of credits (how much they owe you). From here it is easy to deduce that your expenses should go down and your income should go up, your debts should go down and your sales should go up.It is not healthy good that you are owed a lot therefore you must define to what level you can bear credit to your clients.
If you review these indicators on a monthly or weekly basis and set better goals for yourself, you will see if you are making progress and if you need to make adjustments to your plan.
The key is: do not focus on the feelings caused by being knocked out, look for motivation, someone who encourages you, who helps you assess your situation and find creative solutions. And above all, have faith, a lot of faith, everything has a solution and as they say in my country: "everything is temporary except the driver."
