After three full days of opening and sorting mail, entering numbers into spreadsheets, and creating files for everyone I owed money, the big moment had come. I now had 53 folders in front of me, each one representing a person or company that I owed money. The folders were in order of the one I owed the least ($5 to American Express for credit card processing) to the one I owed the most ($122,700 for our SBA secured loan). By this point my daily phone calls received had dwindled to almost nothing, I think everyone believed I would be filing for bankruptcy.

The first conversations were easy, after all I had money to pay them in full at the end of January. The very first?call?went great, $5 to American Express, written off and account closed. Too bad my American Express card balance couldn’t be treated the same way (I will talk in great detail about that later on). I did have two more that forgave the balances, Aire Master for $62, and Bates and Associates for almost $350. After I got past the first seven phone calls, I was left with 46 more, most of which I would not be able to make a single payment to until late in February.

These were the scariest calls I ever made in my entire life; however, each one ended up being extremely pleasant.? What was the difference between these conversations and the hateful ones I had less than a month prior? Two things really. First and most importantly, I was being pro-active. I was doing something that creditors are absolutely not used to. I was calling them. This is rare in today’s society, and it really catches people off guard. Second, I had a plan. I didn’t have money (they already knew this), but I had a plan.

Communication is so huge. It is the difference in living life with the gut wrenching butterflies that keep you from eating or sleeping, and living a life of peace. Once you begin this task, you find it really was not that difficult. This is one area where procrastination is very painful, trust me, I know.

Oh, by the way, I am down to 36 folders today.