I am feeling quite down this evening, as I hear about the various family events my father will avoid because he doesn’t feel comfortable around me. I think the step-mother has finally got her wish and isolated him fully. I don’t understand how that improves the standing of my kid brother at all. On the…

Our offices were broken into last night. Of the four computers on the computer bench the second one was stolen. It didn’t look like the best computer, but it was our file server. The ADSL router was left behind. So who would benefit most from grabbing our accounts system. Or benefit from preventing me from…

One of the hardest things about this blog is that the succession wars are depressing. After a few hours of working on the company, I then get to deal with the latest salvo from my father. This takes the form of contact with staff, family, lawyers or accountants. So far he’s told his skewed view…

We met with the company accountant this afternoon. He said “the company cannot afford to pay any expenses that are not directly related to generating revenue”, and, “for anyone to get money the company must prosper”. The accountant thought my figures looked right and most of Dad’s drawings would go against his loan account. That…

Dad, The Wicked Step-Mother (TWSM) and I met at the office today. I was acccused of stabbing them in the back and twisting the knife. I got called Judas and my actions were appropriate for Greek Easter. They demanded I pack up my stuff and leave immediately or they would bodily throw me out. They…

I allocated Dad’s drawings to a capital account. For the non-accountants that means classifying his costs as paying for something of value (like inventory) or as a loan (which can be called in). Once sorted and simplified, the number comes out to a $306K economic benefit over the last 12 months. This morning he screamed…

I think I’ve mentioned my company’s cash-flow crunch. At a meeting this week, another business owner quoted her mentor “if you haven’t had cashflow problems you haven’t been in business”. I’ll draw solace from that. Instead of throwing 100% of my efforts into fixing this problem, I have to divert attention to dealing with retired…

I have spent the last two weeks in conflict with my father. It has not been a contructive exploration of diverging opinions. Oh no! It’s a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred piece of nastiness, complete with table pounding and screaming. Aren’t families fun? The point I take away is — it was all pointless. Sure, he and…