October 30th marks the one year anniversary of the worst year of my life. This is the day that I arrived at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina to begin officer basic. It is also the day that I received an email from a friend of mine agreeing to an ownership deal that would have left The Lazy Susan open. It is the same day that I later received an email from the same person backing out of the deal after further discussing it with their family.

That second email assured the end of The Lazy Susan. I was left very bitter over the culmination of all of these events. The next week was without a doubt one of the most disastrous weeks of my life. On November 6th, I watched from over 1,000 miles away on CCTV as my restaurant served its last piece of my famous fried chicken, and then closed its doors for good. After being inundated with angry people for weeks, including my wife, I was at a breaking point. To top it off, the Nixa Newspaper had ran an article about the closing that was meant well, but painted an entirely different picture of what happened. The reporter had seriously misunderstood or simply missed what I told him concerning the facts around our closing. People I had worked with for years were left reading a story that said my restaurant closed because I was being mobilized. While this was part of the decision, it was one of the smallest parts.

In the coming months I realized that while I was deeply in debt, I was not bankrupt. I knew there were a series of events that needed to occur in order to get my new plan rolling. This is where my education came into play. My bachelor’s degree gave me options that allowed me to rather easily double my income which allowed me to actually set up payment plans with everyone I owed money. If I didn’t have a degree, that would not have been possible; at least not that easy.

After beginning this process, I began to realize how extraordinary this journey was going to be. Not only did I not read or hear about anyone ever paying off this much debt on an income somewhat proportional to ours; but few of my vendors had ever had business owners who closed their doors work so pro-actively on paying back their debts without legal assistance. Only one other time in my life had I been involved in such an underdog effort that I knew was going to be successful. That other event was Jack Merritt’s campaign for Sheriff in 2000. It is such an exhilarating experience to be a part of an effort that so many think impossible, yet you know is going to happen.

It was this exhilaration that led me to begin this blog. Now almost eight months after starting this, I am still amazed at the thousands that come and visit and who continue to follow along. I am even more amazed at all of you who have emailed and commented about how this blog has inspired you to turn your life around. That fact is what has made this worst year of my life the best year of my life as well. Thank You!