People. They can be unexpectedly and inexplicably stupid and vicious and unfathomable all at the same time. It's what makes humans humans I suppose.
So yesterday I received a letter from my "business partner" which you might as well have stabbed me through the heart with. He'd been a "bit weird" last week but this was full on toys out of the pram tantrum and the upshot is, after about 9 years (I think) just as we are about to actually go live, he pulls the plug. Mmm. I'm the business person not the ideas person.
It's reminiscent of a story I told him about people who talk themselves out of something it becomes a "Self Fulfilling Prophecy" and you see it a hell of a lot in business. This guys has stewed away for days possibly longer that I'm up to something. That's a bit difficult as we aren't even trading yet. Despite me being transparent with him (as I was showing him the tender for Accounting services) he started to get really agitated that I was on the take. Of course, that really cannot happen with the small amount of money in the bank and we aren't making any money just spending it!
Next he wants to dilute his shares. OK that's fine but oh no, apparently I didn't do it fast enough for him (he didn't give me the proper address nor did he answer his phone) so I had to find the address myself. Now I've got a serious threatening letter to deal with on top of that. Trying to contact him and eventually finding the information myself took a few days. You'd have thought I'd have brought the end of the world in upon him! The letter went off a few days late and I imagine he got it yesterday but oh no, worse was to come. He's quit the business, left me to run it on my own and at the same time threatened my person too. Yes all in writing.
I've been left with no choice but to accept his resignation and all the other stuff but of course, it probably means that the business will now fold and the shares he's given to his friend are worth..... yes you've guessed it, absolutely nothing if I shut the business down like I'm probably going to have to. A nice gift idea that will backfire on him big time. All because he wouldn't take my call and thought I'd talk him out of it. I don't really care what he does with his shares, he can do what he likes. I care that after all this time he's "gone off on one" and destroyed our relationship, his business (albeit I run it) and that's it, all his dreams and ideas that we sweated over and honed over the years undone in a few moments careless writing and a few days stewing in his kitchen getting angrier and angrier to the point that the prophecy became fulfilled.
So now he and all the other shareholders may or may not have a business left. I've got a disturbing set of threatening letters and he's got no further part in what's left of the business. I think he hasn't actually thought about this properly especially giving shares to someone else (for their birthday). Imagine being the one to give you a worthless piece of paper in your birthday card and thinking you've done a good thing. Up until yesterday the gift may well have been worth a lot of money, as it stands today, not so much!
I feel betrayed, of course I do and once my anger had subsided as I dislike being called anything but a professional in my job, I was able to write the business acceptance back to him, lay out the considerations and what his actions had done to the business and I have a few days now to decide what to do in the interests of the company and its subscribers. What a complete waste of everyone's time and money and for what? Human nature, Ego, Pain Body, Pride perhaps and we all know what comes after Pride.
I'm annoyed as we can almost taste the launch. All the website, social media and so on are in place and running (well until today that is). It's going to be a decision to launch with risk or shut it down completely and I need to work that out in the next day or so! What a sh1t show of the first order...
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