The Last Chapter: An Open Letter to Ruben

Your story has touched my heart and inspired me to share a bit of my own story and personal thoughts, as this may be my very last chance to do so. Many of you might think I am cold. I can assure you this is not the case and that if you knew me in person, you would discover one of the most genuine persons you have ever met. Rubin's story has inspired me to share a bit of my history so that you all know my situation. While I may not be willing to share my methods at this moment in time, I would feel more comfortable doing so once I am further upon my journey.

For the moment the challenge appears insurmountable, so let me say it plainly and honestly: my current runway is 5 WEEKS.

If I have not rectified the numbers within that time frame, my resources for continuing my work, maintaining my tool sets, and my residence will be depleted, entirely. Should that moment come and you all not hear from me again, you should know that the worst has happened and that I found no solution. I should not speak of these things again for my heart cannot take it; what little of it remains... Below is a bit of the history, a small piece of it that's led me to this moment, and which this very morning I posted as comment in your thread Ruben. This is my own story and this is either the last chapter or the first. Time will tell. My position is deteriorating rapidly and once again I feel abandoned. That is not a commentary on the people of this community, just the reality of this world. I do not know what the future holds but let me state my thoughts and feelings plainly. If it were not for Jake and the people of this community, I would have truly no hope at all. It is only you all who have given me a sliver of hope and a chance to possibly rectify my situation. Below is a copy of my comment to Ruben's post and it is but the preamble to my current predicament.

Wow mate! You have my full support, but not an ounce of my sympathy, as I'm quite sure that's not what you're after anyway; let me explain: First I can't believe you're doing all that from El Paso! I'm in DFW myself. What's my worst month in my current operation? The one I'm in right now, the next 30 days will determine literally EVERYTHING! What's my worst month in business ever? 10 years ago, when I had started my first company, it was producing the very same product/service that I currently am, only it was for the first time. It was my best opportunity for success, so I thought at the time. It was 2 years in, things were going well, I had 7 contractors working for me, and I was about to make a major push to scale the entire operation, which I had started from nothing and without a single investment from anyone. The numbers were clean and I had made my best friend of more than 20 years my partner for 10%, in exchange, as he was a software developer, he was to produce an order management system that I had envisioned, similar to Jira, only simpler and better, the prototype was phenomenal and this product was obviously property of my company and he was simply creating my vision. There were likely multiple patents which I had planned to file when the code was ready. After a few months of live testing I believe the bugs have been worked out and I told him to deliver me the code so that we might file for the patents and then license the technology. His jaw dropped and he looked over to me and told me that he was already in fact licensing the technology to some of his own clients of his own personal venture, of which he had very few. I was in total disbelief that he thought he had the right to do such a thing in the first place. It was clear from the beginning that this would be the property of my company, of which he was a partner, and I really had no words to say at the time regarding that particular betrayal so I said nothing. About two months later the entire system crashed in the month of December, which in my business is the busiest time of year, it was more than twice as busy as any other month. At which point in time I called my friend because there were so many orders in the system and so many emails to sort through and prioritize that without the system queue available, we had no idea where to begin.

Upon calling my friend for two days, he did not answer. Then on the third he finally called to tell me that he was at his family's ranch with his new wife, who was in fact the former wife of one of our other friends. A recent predicament and entanglement, which I thought was ungentlemanly. Nevertheless he could not be bothered to leave this ranch and come fix the problem which his system created. His betrayal and the actions rendered the company destroyed and our friendship along with it. That was the worst month ever and my dreams at the time did not survive it.

The company I am running now is the same venture because it's a service and product which is very close to my heart. I offered you no sympathy. The reason why, is that since that betrayal I've had no sympathy to extend. Not a soul came to my aid in my worst moment and that's when I learned that I'm on my own. I do still have a heart, but it's been broken for a decade and I am still alone. So my advice is this my friend: pick yourself up, dust yourself off. You've got many challenges in front of you and the only way you'll overcome them is if you're at your best. You might not have my sympathy, but you have my respect and I promise, it's worth a lot more.

And now I must return to my work for it is the only hope I have.

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The Last Chapter: An Open Letter to Ruben