DECOMPRESS

M. HI. Need to decompress

C. Go for it. What’s on your mind?

M. Up until last night I wasn’t sleeping very well. In fact I had two sleepless nights in a row.

C. I’m sorry to hear that. What do you think happened to cause this?

M. There was a bunch of stuff that came together all at once

1. Email from C about large payment supposed to make by end of the month. Immediately went into panic mode because it was a lot larger than I had anticipated.

2. No response to C. Made me feel rejected. Thought they were pissed at me. Hurt my feelings. Made me feel like they were only interested in taking my money and that they were ignoring me because I told them I was going to take care of the issue on my own.

3. Our product update is way f’ing late. I hadn’t heard from our developer for two weeks. That pissed me off. Finally heard back on Friday. Told me won’t be ready until 9/24 because they ran into some issues. This is also going to have implications on cost.

4. F’ing SF didn’t get back to me until about a month after our initial discussion. And we can’t have two listings. Pissed me off that it took so long to get an answer.

5. Feeling overwhelmed because I’m working 4-5 big projects and I’m falling behind and my time is limited because I have a program I’m starting tomorrow. Plus, have been working on one key project and haven’t gotten any feedback.

6. COVID-19 impact on physical and financial health and how it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

7. The fires and the effect on the quality of the air, Plus we’ve had crappy weather, so felt trapped at home even if I didn’t have the energy to get out.

8. No exercise because I’ve been so tired. A vicious cycle.

9. The nastiness of the political campaigns

10. Sleep anxiety - fear of not being able to sleep well or at all

C. That is a lot. Each of them by themselves would be a lot, so understandable how having all this stuff happen in a week would put you or anyone down.

M. Thanks

C. Which of these is causing you the most angst?

M. Good question and thanks for asking. I’d say the big bill issue. Feels like financial stress trumps all the other issues. Plus, found out that the big project I was hoping we’d be starting soon is on hold. Pissed at the woman who is our sponsor for not being responsive. Return our f’ing emails for goodness sakes!

C. Walk me through what you’re planning to do about this

M. I called the bank on Thursday and was told to call back at the end of the month to discuss options. This gave me some hope because I believe we can workout an arrangement where I don’t need to come up with one big lump sum.

C. Go on

M. Regarding the product development cost, I’m going to have to workout some sort of payment plan.

C. Okay, what about income opportunities?

M. Well, fortunately, I do have a few.

C. What are they?

M. They are:
- HL
- First B
- Second SPW opportunity
- Spiral opportunity
- AR
- PNW opportunity is still active

C. That’s good. You at least have some income. Will this be enough to cover your expenses including the big bill?

M. The first 5 would cover the big bill.

C. Okay. This is important because it takes away a lot of the pressure. You may not get all of these funds all at once, but if you look at it over a 3 month period you’ll still have funds to take care of the day to day.

M. That’s true

C. Plus, by then there is a very strong likelihood that the PW project will have started. This gives you some ramp.

M. That’s true.

C. I completely understand why you would be in a “scarcity mindset” given everything you’re going through, but I think you’re dismissing the upside opportunity you have with S and SF once the product is listed. I can understand why it’s difficult for you to imagine this, but your business will be in the best state it’s ever been.

C. That’s true. It’s easy to dismiss this or to not even consider it. I have fallen a bit to victim mentality. I was pissed about the product being late and SF taking so much time to get back to me. I was thinking, “Poor me. This always happens to me. I’m doomed. Things will never get better. This is the story of my life.”

C. It’s good for you to acknowledge this. Again, I can understand why you would feel this way, but you’re right to conclude that persisting in this feeling will only drag you down. I know you have to get going, so let’s continue the conversation later when you get back.

M. Ok

C. Was this helpful so far?

M. Definitely. Always feels good to vent and filter.

C. Talk later. Enjoy the meal.

M. Thanks!