When It Rains, It Pours - Part 1

When It Rains, It Pours – Part 1

Hey guys, it’s Barry again. Hope all is well in the blogger universe. Sure hope we are gaining some followers out there, because we are not going to get rich and famous without you guys. Typically, I like to blog about something funny, sarcastic, or generally rip on something in the world. Well, this blog will be about my last few months. A lot has happened since I last blogged.

So my new life began in January. I started a new job on January 2^nd and was very excited for this promotion and opportunity to make some cash-money. I would show up to work every morning excited to learn something new, work with my new partner, and bring a new edge to the business. 

We were working in the Real Estate Lending business and the market that we’re in is hot. Working on strictly commission, it was exciting to know how well the market was doing.

I finished my training at the end of January and was ready to hit the floor running. My partner was extremely wise and already had a great leg up on all the competition. What more could I guy ask for really? I had a partnership with someone great and we were splitting commission. Ca-Ching!

 All about the Benjamins!

Oh, did I mention we had an assistant to take care of the phones and most of the paper work while we hit the roads and brought in more business? Extra Ca-Ching!

April 10^th was the day things changed. It started off like every other day did over the last three months. I went through my files to make sure they were in all order, made follow-up calls to my clients, and then went to lunch. When I returned to the office, I looked into my partner’s office. Our assistant was in there and it looked like someone’s dog had died. I am uncomfortable in sad situations and don’t know how to react most of the time, so I opened the door and walked in like, “HEY, WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” My partner asked me to sit down. Now, at this point, I have no idea what is going on or how to act. Maybe I want to stand, maybe I want to leave – all I know is I do not want to hear what I am about to hear. So, I sit down and brace myself for the news, with feet wrapped around the chair and sweating a bit. My partner looks at us and says…

…that she’s leaving the company.  

I have no idea how to react – I pause for a moment, wanting to say “Fuck…What?…We had plans; we had hopes; we had everything going the direction we wanted.” Why couldn’t someone’s dog have died? (Just kidding, I love dogs). So I sit there and say nothing for a moment. It’s quiet and it’s awkward, so I go with, “So, how about the weather we’re having?” We have a small laugh and get back to the topic at hand. Our assistant goes back to her desk to return some phone calls and I stay in the office. My partner apologizes to me for leaving and placing this responsibility on my shoulders. I am now two and a half months out of training and suddenly went from a Junior Officer to a full blown Officer just after lunch. My book of business went from $1.5 million to $7.5 million in the matter of moments, and in a short few weeks it would be over $10 million.

Now, with great business comes great responsibility. I will be the first to admit, I was excited for the new challenge. My career was on its way to being very successful. I had arrived at my dream job faster than I thought I would. Well, that’s what I thought anyway…

The end of April came and I had worked two weeks on my own, put in roughly 90 hours to make sure everything would close on time, spent time away from my wife, friends, dog, and the house. I told myself that I would get through this and that it would eventually get better. The next two weeks brought us into May. I spent more time at the office than any other place. I would not take lunch, because I did not have time. I would not get home for supper, because things needed to get done. I spent the majority of my day trying to save the face of the company I was working for. 

You see, what I didn’t know was that our underwriting department was struggling and could not keep up at all and this is why my partner had left. She had seen this coming. As a result, my deals were not closing on time. So I fought every day – yelling, even screaming sometimes, trying my darndest to get things done. While I was doing that, my phone would be ringing and my emails would be adding up from customers, realtors, and builders calling to yell at me, wondering what was going on.

Flashback to when my partner had left – I forgot to mention the company took away my assistant, so I was all by myself in my small office. Back to the story – I was told every single day, from those in charge, that things would get better…and so I waited. I showed up every morning at 7 AM and left around 8 or 9 PM. I even went in most Saturdays and/or Sundays. I was living off of Red Bull, Mountain Dew, and chips. I was so stressed that I would not sleep at night and got up every night to move to the living room to do some additional work. Needless to say, with all this stress and my super healthy diet, I worked myself into sickness. I took a few days off to figure out what I was doing. 

I went back to work after a few days off, feeling slightly refreshed and ready to tackle the world. I found out that nothing had changed – my projects were pushed back even further, my voice-mail was full, and my emails would take days to get through. So that’s when I called my boss to put in my two week notice. He tried hard to get me to stay, promising me things, advising me that things were about to change. I asked myself what I should do. I was in the office night and day, I didn't see my family or friends, and I was super stressed, but I was making good money that could provide for my family and our future plans. So I told my boss that I would keep working and see what happens.

I called my underwriting department, because I had a slam dunk deal that was closing at the end the day, but I had not seen the final numbers yet. They go ahead and tell me that it will not close today and we will have to move closing back two days. I lost it, and wish I could apologize to that poor lady I was talking to. I picked up the phone, called my boss, and thanked him for the opportunity. I gave him my two-hour notice, cleaned out my desk, and left. I felt like I was being set up to fail.

Life Lesson: Choose your family, friends, and your health over money. Coming home and spending time with your family is underrated and I would like to thank my wife for supporting me throughout the whole process. MONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING…DAIQUIRIS ARE.