Friends and money don't mix: Part 2

I have been relatively ok in life as far as finances are concerned. I was taught well by my parents about how to handle money and sometimes i get called stingy for this. Go ahead and label me if you want but i know from experience that there is nothing quite as stressful as not having enough money and therefore I prepared accordingly in life.

There have been several times in my life that I tried to help out other people with my good-fortune an more often than not, i have been burned as a consequence. This is part 2. part one can be read here if you are into that sort of thing

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2: My old pal Max

Years ago, i was doing relatively well. I'm not trying to brag but I was a relatively successful business owner. I was so successful actually that I over-expanded and my brand was starting to suffer as a consequence. I was spread too thin and the overall service and quality that got us a good reputation was starting to suffer. I also had a lot of friends that were pretty bored with their own lives so at one point a guy I had been friends with for a long time proposed that I hand over one of my guesthouses to him and his wife.

I would still manage the overall image, and the bookings would come through me, yet I would be able to eliminate all of my costs associated with one of my guesthouses by handing it over to them. From that point forward they would handle all the expenses and running of everything. In exchange for doing almost NONE of the work, I would receive 25% of the profits. Since I was already damn near burnt out and ready for a bit of relaxing I agreed.

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I think i let my laid back attitude and general good nature get the best of me because almost immediately things started to go badly. Because I had been friends with this couple for years, we didn't have a written contract. The first couple of months went very well, and it seemed like everyone was making money. Because at this point I had 8 years of experience in this industry I informed the couple that since this is a seasonal business, they need to save the money that they make in high season in order to cover the costs of low season.

They didn't listen. Every time i turned around they had new stuff. They bought a new car, they bought lavish birthday gifts for their son like a PS4 and massive TV, they were out to eat at fancy places and posting it on social media. They were completely ignoring my advice.

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a great Jay-Z quote

Lo and behold, the low season came around and you can't give away your rooms for free and have customers... I told them this was coming. They couldn't afford to pay the rent without dipping into one of their salaries unrelated to the business and all of a sudden they were looking at me as though I was stealing from them. Then the deception started, the altering of accounts to the point where I had to call them out multiple times for misrepresenting their figures. Did they really think that they were going to be able to trick me inside of an accounting system that I created?

They ended up walking away from the business right after the following high season (basically after making all the money, thus leaving me with the shitty time of year)

All in all, this partnership, that I didn't really even need to do and it was more of a favor to help out a friend with a new project, ended up losing me 15 thousand dollars or so. Such a great friend right? The couple now live their lives exactly the way they always have: If they have a little bit of money they spend it all and then put more on credit.

I learned a valuable lesson dealing with these two and that is to not get involved with friends in business because you are going to lose one of them.

I get no pleasure in seeing someone else fail, especially if I had a friendship with them at one point in my life. However, it is really astounding to me that this guy and his wife can so continually make the same bad choices financially and never learn from them. The last I saw them they lived in a shitty apartment in Bangkok and were living paycheck to paycheck. I know I will never get the money they owe me back and they don't even acknowledge that it exists.