The long road, Chapter 7
Updated: Nov 17
CHAPTER 7
Dreams
FLEETWOOD MAC
The next year was even better. I secured a full schedule of landscaping projects, invested in a little CAT excavator, and worked myself right to breaking point. Maybe pushed a little to hard? I will admit I was 100% focussed on the bigger picture and failed to focus in on the things important to Narc.
The conversations with Narc
had started improving (or so I thought) and this made sense to me. I think she started to believe that maybe, just maybe this was something she could believe in. We started talking about babies again and she took herself off birth control. I had cash in the toolbox at home (schlep) guilt free money. And Narc could use it for that feeling of freedom similar to Africa or so I’d imagined.
She even started to handle some of my business calls and emails. This was inspiring as it reminded me of our working partnership dancing around each other back in Africa. Calls and emails were my least favourite part of running a business. Our dynamic worked because Narc was extraordinarily good with customers. The bank rarely appreciated her for how amazing she can be given a little freedom to be herself. Instead they continuously tried to box her in tighter and tighter each year.
It may have taken 8 years, but we were on the verge of making it. From a successful business: Narc could leave the bank and be herself all day, everyday. Have her own hours and really boost our productivity. It would’ve been the best thing for the business too because customer service took me the longest and I struggled with it the most. This would at least double the productivity and therefore we could pay both our incomes.
Narc had a plan for her escape from the bank and we were talking about babies and family again. Little Pepper the Weiner dog had opened our eyes to the dynamic change of having a living creature we both loved and adored.
I had to put money aside every year to cover my expenses over winter. All my jobs were lined up to do exactly that. Then one customer, who I bent over backwards for, decided not to pay me. I was short about $7,000 that winter and it really took the wind out of my sails, but I learnt from my mistake and never stopped believing.
Below are some pictures of the projects that year. Doing all the marketing, estimates, designs and filing taxes on top of the actual work. This was at least a 2 person business.
An amazing year.
I had put thousands of dollars into the acre we rented; gardens, soil replacement, feature rocks, plants and lawncare. There was space for cultivating perenials and saving trees that I could use on future projects. And a little greenhouse.
Here are some pics.
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