Is it back to hell or a beautiful new beginning?

The constant battle of life continues to roar at me. I began a journey as an entrepreneur a couple of years ago. I used my savings to get started. I worked an evening job until I was able to build up the clientele and was able to quit.

It was a small cleaning company with just me and one other worker at the time. I hired on a few family members per diem, because they really weren't into cleaning peoples' homes like I was. But they were available in a pinch just in case something came up and I absolutely needed them.

Yesss...that's awesome you're thinking right. Lol yes it was... for a short time! Then the day came when I had so many clients that I needed to hire more help. You would think that expanding and needing staff would be a joyous occasion for a small business owner just beginning.

Well, that's when disaster began.

Months and months of interviewing, hiring, training, interviewing, hiring, training to fall deeper into the abyss and realizing that there are so many people that do not care to work. I can say that I trained over 25 people within a 6-month range, with only 3 making it last for an average of 8 months. This lasted and continued until I found a good crew that worked for about a year until my first injury hit.

Supervising from home was okay at first but then the complaints started to pile up. I would head out to clients' homes to check on their employee complaints to find the dumbest mistakes being made; forgetting to dust a single shelf, vacuuming but not mopping a bathroom floor, forgetting to dump a trash bin or two. Retraining and going back on site to give them the support they needed for a while, I then found it to be time for them to be back out on their own. Several months later bigger complaints came through; missing entire rooms, not completing tasks at all, arguing with clients about completing things when the client had already forwarded video to me showing otherwise.

So again, back to square one...

However, before I was given the chance to rebuild the staffing with people who wanted to work and build up the clientele back to what it was, Covid hit and that was the end of the house cleaning saga. We were all afraid, so I understood when people didn't want us in their homes, masks and gloves, even hazmat suits and goggles weren't trusted. We just didn't want to take the risk of the unknown.

I lived off of my savings, I tapped out my retirement and then was able to draw unemployment. I'm sure I don't have to describe in depth the pain and confusion during the pandemic that I went through not only financially but emotionally, being quarantined with barely any income, wondering if family and friends were okay as the pandemic cycled through the world taking one life after another.

Constantly watching the news to see if the numbers had dropped, if a "cure" was found. OMG what a fuckin nightmare.

Finally, the vaccines emerged, and a light bulb went off in my head...office buildings.

This time around I was going to do everything right, get everything ready for the relaunch and incorporate office cleaning. Spending money on ads, promotional pens and shirts, a work vehicle, business insurance. All I needed was to get my funds back up enough to hire an accountant and a lawyer for the things that I didn't know. Paying to advertise on sites and in newspapers, buying a logo, and the hiring process again.

For a while I was alone with a few friends to assist in my work journey, but they fell off because as I stated before, family and friends were just back up. Most of the days I worked alone in the field, no one responding to ads for workers needed, money dwindling away at the cost of all of the overhead on marketing, and the days were longer and harder.

I finally scaled back in an effort not to kill myself due to overworking and began a nice even flow.

Everything was going smooth again, nice 5 months of easy going, no new staff but I wasn't

stressing it, I was content for the moment, Until June 2022 hit, and my arm began hurting so bad that I couldn't bare it. I met with my doctor and was sent to a surgeon...2 months later major surgery to repair my shoulder and bicep.

LMFAO....OH LIFE HERE YOU GO AGAIN YOU EVIL CREATURE.

With no staff and no one to rely on to take over my clients, I had to shut down. After risking it all, sacrificing my sleep, energy, time and all of my financial resources, the business is gone with one injury! LOL

As I type this with one hand and excruciating pain in my shoulder, all I can do is smile at how cruel life can be. At how merciless...

Is this a gift or am I cursed?