friends help: This may not be the right forum for this post, but I am at a loss for where else to turn. - Help.com

Bankruptcy is not an option at this point, that would not help our customers or anyone else. The criminal charges should not be against us, but the employees who stole from us. Unfortunately, they’ve left the area and we have no way to locate them. We are still trying, however. Thanks for the replies! I did create a post on the site recommended by the first person who replied. Thanks so much for that advice.

You’re right, $75,000 is NOT that much. As a salesman working for other companies, I earned a record $21,000+ in 19 days. However, when we started this business, we sunk ALL of our own money into it….worked 7 days a week, never took a day off, and spent WAAAAAY TOO MUCH on advertising, helping employees, doing favors for older customers (i.e. selling our work too cheaply to those on fixed incomes) instead of charging our normal mark-up. We are bent on getting out of the business, yes. But not until we can get our jobs done and creditors satisfied. That might mean keeping the doors open until my fiance gets her grant money next year. We’ve already cut our overhead down to NOTHING. We have no on-going overhead except that which is absolutely necessary. We’ve learned valuable lessons from our first (almost) year in business, which will NOT be repeated. Borrowing money now is NOT a recipie for disaster, it’s our only hope of coming out of this. I’m looking for a way NOT to do something which cannot be undone. I.E. something with finality. We’re looking for an angel and a miracle. We’ve already had all the advice 20-20 hindsight can provide. We’ve been admonished, lectured and advised until we’re blue in the face. What we need now is someone to take action, financially, right now..even if that means they would take a portion of ownership and provide day-to-day operations supervision. Thank you very much for your reply!

As I stated earlier, we want to get out of this business. But, as I also said, we are willing to keep it until we repay our debtors, etc. My fiance is 100% Navajo Native American and is eligible to begin applying for federal grants in February (up to $2.5 million). We only need about $75,000 at this point. IF we could find someone to help us now, we would set up a repayment schedule based on NOT getting the grants, just in case. However, grants are almost guaranteed for her, as she is in a disadvantaged, minority and female ownership catagory. We are willing to accomodate an investor by allowing him/her to have access to day-to-day operations management, etc. to ensure his/her investment is as secured as possible. I’ve given this matter to the Lord Jesus. It’s in His hands now. If we are to survive, it will be because He has led someone to us or caused us to succeed. That does not mean we have stopped doing all we can on our end. God helps those who help themselves. Thanks again for replying and for your interest. BTW: we were up very late last night thinking and discussing this matter. At around 2am a fire truck and ambulance arrived at our neighbors’ home. We found out this morning that the elderly gentlemen passed-on at 1:45am. I was inspired by the response of his daughter and son-in-law. They stated: “He’s in a much better place now. God knows what He’s doing and He knew it was time for our father to go home”. I felt a twinge of guilt for feeling so anxious over our financial situation and for not trusting in Jesus to do His part.