Chapter 6

Banking, Finance and Mom’s Money

It cannot be said enough:  do everything in your power to influence events and to maintain control over each step your business takes towards a public offering. Most of all allow plenty of time to think through challenges and access possible shortfalls. Take the time to evaluate people. And remember there are no real shortcuts to achieving your goals.

In retrospect the period during which we pursued the public offering had not just one obstacle, but many complicated ones all compressed together. Bad people, difficult and unfamiliar rules, and too many hasty decisions piled on top of one another and made the already complicated course that much more challenging.  I was learning about corporate finance and capital formation, character judgment and the high cost of hurried decision-making very quickly, and very painfully.  I needed to spend more time evaluating my options.  I needed to take more time for study. And I especially needed more time to just grow up. But I was on a self imposed fast track that I learned later was making this journey more demanding. The obstacle course I had started out on had seemed much easier. That same course had taken on a new, more complicated and tricky face.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I kept hearing “Slow down!”  I kept charging forward. This pace would take its toll on me physically, financially, personally. But the energy of an impetuous youth is a very strong force to resist. Perhaps if I had slowed down events might have unfolded differently. Facts and history later prove that things often happen for a reason. The Almighty was teaching me the hard way – closing a window but opening a door.  Or vice versa. Time after time I was given second, third and forth chances. Providence intervened again and again. The lesson is: there are always options if you slow down, observe and analyze.