I m a female, 42, w/ kids grown in college. My husband talked me into quitting my job back in June to start a small business with a couple of our acquaintances. I really didn t want to get involved in a small business because I m having some fairly major health problems (both mental and physical). What s happened is that I m no stuck in a position to where I m the one who suddenly owes taxes and a lot of money to several people and businesses. I can ;t deal with the stress of all the money I owe, I m barely making $300 a month and I can t pay my business partners. Due to the recession, there are no other jobs to go to. I started out spending $8,000 to get this business started, borrowed another $20,000 to keep it going, It barely pays for itself after 6 months and I m unable to pay my bills. My lowest-paid employee makes more money than I do. I can t deal with the stress. I do not qualify for Medicaid in my state because on paper I make too much money. The social workers look at the large amounts of money run through my business account and I m instantly denied. They re not accountants and they don t understand that I m paying out as much as I m taking in. I m supposed to be paying for workmans comp and other business-related insurance, and I haven t been, simply because we do not have enough cash inflow to pay for it. My business partners and my husband essentially tell me the following: Quit complaining, do your job and in a year or two it will get better. My husband and my partners refuse to see that I ve gotten to the point where I m tired of working for almost no pay at all. They are doing the same, but they also have other sources of income. I do not. My husband, who is spear-heading this whole thing refuses to admit that the business is not going to take off like he d hoped, and he yells at me every time I talk about trying to find another job somewhere else, even if it s at a fast-food joint. After all, some money is better than no money at all. He refuses to see the what the stress of this is doing to me. My partners have threatened to sue me if I left the company to find another job. My company owes one of them about $3,000, plus her wages for the last 6 months, and I owe the other around $5,000, plus his wages for the last 4 months. No one has considered the fact that I personally put up $20,000 in this, plus my own wages (at current avg of $15.00 per hour) for the entire 6 months. I can t leave, and I ve become a slave to this company, to my business partners and to my husband. I ve grown so resentful of my husband over forcing me into this that I can barely stand the sight of him, and our marriage is now a joke. We can t be around each other more than 5 minutes before we argue to the point where we re throwing stuff at each other. I ve come to the conclusion that my 17-yr marriage has been killed by this business - along with a lot of other little things that have added up over the years.I have female-related health problems that desperately need attention, and I can t afford medical care. Along with these, my mental stability is crumbling by the day. I have problems with extreme depresson and anxiety, and my OCD (which had been dealt with for several years) has now come roaring back. I find myself sitting in a near-catatonic state, crying for no particular reason. I have tried to figure a way out of this situation and there is no way out without being sued for what little I have left. Oh, and I can t just leave - my husband and I have moved in with my mother, whose health is declining rapidly. We needed a place to stay and she needed help around the house. I can t just walk off and leave her. She can barely manage to get dressed in the morning, and can t walk far because she has breathing problems and is on oxygen. So, what it boils down to is that I want out of this situation, but I can t figure a way out. Like a rat trapped in a maze with no exit, I m going slowly crazy. I can t talk about this with anyone, as no one will listen to me. I have no money to pay a lawyer, and free legal aid says that I have to get on a year-long waiting list. I have to file taxes soon, and can t afford a professional to help me. As each day passes, I try to find some reason to get out of bed and keep working, to keep the business alive long enough to start generating enough to pay me and my business partners. I m so very, very tired and I m options, save for one. I don t want to go that route, but like all roads somehow lead to Rome, all lines of exit lead to that one. Unless there s a miracle about to happen to me in the very near future, my husband will soon be looking for another graphic designer to exploit for free labor.Any thoughts? If not, I certainly hope your life is going a lot better than mine. My advice: if you want to start a small business in the U.S. - DON T. At least not right now. Wait until things get better economically. And, never, EVER go into business with your
My feelings with you.. Business now is a very hard decision, specially in south west US.. And people don t understand how hard it is to quit a business, or to get rid of it.. You could go out anytime,, yet as partners and acquaintances.. you have to make it smooth, and try to make it the best way you can.. Take serious steps with your partners, if anyone who want to step up and take the charge from you??.. yet everything has to be on papers, and with no legal obligations against you. and first you have to get a job immediately to at least take you from the stress you are through and to pay the other financial obligations you owe.. Hope this help..Good luck and have a great day ...
if it is a true partnership - any single partner can quit and end the partnership at any time and no one can sue you for quitting - and what are they saying they can sue you for - I doubt they can sue you for anything - I can t believe your husband is acting the way he isif you feel your marriage may end - it is probably best that you quit and get an outside job, so you have some reliable income to live onkick HIM out of the house - it s your mother s house - make HIM leave if you break upsince you put all that money into the business - if you leave the partnership as it stands now is forced to dissolve and assets need to be distributed according to the pre-set ratios - I hope you have some kind of written partnership agreement and it spells out all this money you have put into itseems like a nightmare situation you need to get out of for your own health and sanity and tell hubby to F* off. a partnership shouldn t be owing any partners wages - partners don t get wages - they only get a portion of the profits and if there are no profits, they don;t get paid - your partners have no idea what they are talking aboutI don;t understand why you personally would owe a partenr money - that makes no sense from an accounting or legal standpointI don t think you are legally obligated to pay ANY partner any of this money they say you owepartners get NO guaranteed money and if you put 28,000 into the business - it seems that they owe you more anything
I really feel for you, and wish i had a magic answer for you. But all is not lost - there may be a way out. I m a retired VP of a technology company, I retired two years ago and I m in my mid 40 s. Tell me what your business does and perhaps i can figure a way for you to increase your sales and or profit margin and make this a fun job. I llll check back in a little bit, I will try and help you if you give me more data.***what a mess. I ll tell you what, set up a email address at say mail.com, it is free. Post it here in your question and I will email you my phone number and will spend 30 minutes with you on the phone. I want nothing in return, i don t know if i can help you or not, but i still need more than the information here and this is simply not the medium for a meaningful dialog.
