Take a drive sometime through an expensive neighborhood and you are likely to see landscapers hard at work. Those topiaries don’t trim themselves after all. And you don’t think that successful anesthesiologist, or the guy who owns a chain of dry cleaners is going to be out there hacking away at overhanging tree limbs do you?
Our client once had a booming landscape business. Well… it was as booming as it could be, considering he was both the owner and the only employee. He preferred to work alone and keep things simple, so he worked strictly for himself and by himself.
He did it all; from cutting the grass to climbing palm trees for their summer haircut. He had a small number of loyal clients in neighborhoods throughout the city, and he took care of them well.
He didn’t make a ton of money, but he made enough to live a modest lifestyle and he loved what he did.
Where Have all the Flowers Gone
Things were going well until the day he fell out of a tree. It was about a 20 foot fall. Luckily, he didn’t fall straight down. This reduced his acceleration and may have saved his life. Unfortunately, the multiple branches that broke his fall resulted in multiple fractures of his bones and his skull.
Our client spent several weeks in the hospital, and several years in physical therapy. He was unable to work for the first several months of his recuperation. Once he got back to work, he could only put in a few hours a day at first.
Due to his absence, he lost almost all of his clients. It took him more than a year to build his business back up to what it once had been. In the mean time, he lived off of credit cards and amassed tons of medical debt that he had no money to pay.
Dust in the Wind
He knew things couldn’t continue the way they were. Our client was finally making enough money to live on again, but there was no way he could afford his credit cards and medical bills. So he came to our office to find out what his options were.
He decided to file chapter 7 bankruptcy with our office. Our client instantly eliminated all of his credit card debt and medical bills. He was able to continue on with his landscaping business, earning almost as much money as he had prior to the fall. His injuries have slowed him down a bit, but he now has a helper to pick up the slack. And he still dares to climb the highest trees, but never without a harness.