I'll Get Back to You About Doing a Debt Workout; I Have to Ask My Wife First..

I hear this a lot. Worse, many (many, many) wives do not "like" our strategy and thus prevent the implementation.

The result? The only result possible when revenues drop and debt service remains unaffordable: failure, foreclosure, liquidation by auction, then the attack on your personal guaranties. In a word, disaster.

Frankly, I would think the latter would be less likable then a tough workout strategy that may leave you wounded but still alive and breathing, capable of getting up, brushing yourselves off and becoming successful again. However, in most cases it results in simply doing nothing, waiting for whatever will happen to happen. I see a few obvious problems in this situation.

First, your wife may not have had the benefit of a specific and focused presentation of the proposed workout strategy, nor has she had the opportunity to ask questions and gain confidence in such strategies or the people proposing them as you have.

Second, your wife cannot possibly appreciate or totally understand your business circumstances better than you, unless she is running the business with you, so why should her opinion be the controlling one?

Furthermore, what choice do you really have? None. Especially since a workout has success as a conclusion. Every other strategy has loss and disaster as a conclusion. Yes, the predicament is uncomfortable. No one wants to be in this situation. No one wants to be in default. Everyone wants to pay their bills and their debts but circumstances well beyond your control have now prevented this from occurring, and with disaster looming in the near future it is time to take a leadership position, make an affirmative decision, and commit yourself to winning through a loan workout strategy. As uncomfortable as it may be to your wife, it is the best and the only path to success if you are suffering from reduced revenues and choking debt service.

Think about it and discuss it with your business advisors. Tell your wife that you have made a difficult business decision and you are confident that all will work out well and then implement whatever decision you believe is best for you and your business. This is typically a decision that results in success or disaster so it is certainly important that you make the right one. You cannot let anyone interfere with that responsibility, it is your territory.