The loudest sound after a disaster is the silence of your bank account. With a $750,000 debt and no cash flow, I started calling my angriest creditor every Friday - and paying them $50.
The Friday $50 Ritual The loudest sound after a disaster is the silence of your bank account.
Following the 2022 Lismore floods, I faced a $750,000 debt with zero incoming cash flow. My warehouse was mud. My inventory was gone.
The instinct in a financial crisis is to vanish. Suppliers understandably start demanding payment. The threats of liquidation and insolvency follow. Ignoring the calls feels easier when you are already exhausted, yet hiding is not a leadership strategy. Silence only generates fear in your creditors.
Through my years with Advanced Business Abilities, I understood that managing the energy of the relationship is essential. The actual monetary amount is often secondary to the relationship energy. I substituted my missing liquidity with radical, consistent communication.
Every Friday morning, I looked at the few hundred dollars remaining in the account. I started a ritual. I called the angriest creditor first.
"I cannot pay the $50,000 I owe you today," I would state calmly. "I cannot pay interest. I am paying you $50 right now, simply to prove to you I am still here. I remain fully committed to settling this debt."
Sometimes they laughed. Sometimes they were angry. Most took the $50. In their world, a token payment and an open line of communication proved integrity. They could keep my account active in their system, buying me another seven days of life.
Those Friday calls were touchpoints designed to reduce their anxiety and maintain their commitment to me. In a crisis, your intention matters more than your liquidity. Honour your intention by showing up.
When you lead with integrity rather than your bank balance, the resources turn up exactly when you choose to act. Do what feels right; the rest follows.
Leadership Resilience AdvancedBusinessAbilities CashFlowCrisis CreditorManagement Insolvency Liquidation LismoreFloods CommunicationStrategy
Founder of Sovryn Consulting and Sovryn Energy. After losing a business to the 2022 Lismore floods and fighting back from a $750,000 debt, he now helps owner-led Australian businesses build companies that run without their owner - and helps directors through turnaround when the letters arrive.
Mike's been the director in that chair - the debt, the creditors, the letters. If that's you right now, one confidential conversation about where you actually stand, from someone who's lived it.
Turnaround & insolvency guidance