Three Cheers for Streaming!

What would I do without the 24-hour program stream? (Silent reflection)
Now all we need is Cool Ranch Doritos in Trieste and I would NEVER have to go home again. Except for the whole friends and family thing...

Prepping for the Big Trip

We are leaving on Friday to take the little meatball to America for the first time. She is almost 9 months. Of course when I bought the tickets she was closer to 8 months and had all those adorable characteristics of an 8-month old: giggly, smiley, stayed put when you set her down (I realize some meatballs are mobile before that)... NOW, however, we are crawling around and SCREAMING at the top of our lungs FOR FUN (no pain or fear needed).

So, um, I just want to APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE to anyone who may be sitting ANYWHERE NEAR US (you may want to choose the Exit row after all). This picture may be you when we're through!

This NEVER Happens

I think Leo, our President, has been walking little old ladies across the street or something because today when we went to the post office to pick up a piece of REGISTERED MAIL (which for us usually means big past due bills or lawsuits), for ONCE IN THE HISTORY OF HISTORY, it was... get ready for this...

A CHECK. And it was for the ASSICIATION. It was from the electric company for 400 euros!!

Is this karma? Let's hope so.

How we wiped out 75 percent of a 30 year debt in one year

The other 25 percent will be paid (if things keep going the way they have been. Touch wood) by December of this year.

When Leo and I took over the Association last year (he is president, I am director), we found a mega debt that apparently went back as far as 30 years (the creditors changed, but the debt, not so much) that was accompanied by some bad habits, like always paying the rent late, updating accounting every 3 months or so, spending more than was coming in, etc. Considering that the Association takes in about 80,000 euros per year, a hole of 40,000 was pretty daunting. After we had about 3 heart attacks each, we decided to take action. We needed to be absolutely drastic in  order to stay alive. Here is what we did.

First step: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. We committed ourselves to doing what was possible not only to save the Association but to give it a future. Well, not really, we just went into panic mode and put out fires with our legal friend, Federica, for the first three months. Then we asked our friend, Davide, to help with the accounting. From there we could finally concentrate on filling up classes and planning fundraisers with our colleague, Denise. Here's what else we did to save money and boost revenue. We plan on being completely debt free by the end of the year and as of yesterday it actually looks more possible than ever, thanks to a lot of team work and honesty.

1. Started treating the business accounts like a personal bank account. Started tracking EVERY penny that came in and went out.
2. Changed phone plan, down-graded ADSL, got a company cell phone for cell calls (which cost a lot from a land line). Saved over 100 euros per month.
3. Stopped updating website (600 euros per year) and started a blog (free)
4. Made the director (me) a volunteer (300/month)
5. Asked Davide to do the day to day accounting and make payment plans (Key decision).
6. Went to all creditors, asked forgiveness and made payment plans, stuck to them.
7. Gave our teachers a raise (best decision we made. Good teachers are like good hairdressers. They have a following). Made sure all teachers are paid the same (we only want the best, btw, so this is not a problem)
8. Bought office supplies on-line.
9. Stopped paying for expensive dinners for VIPs, having coffees out
10. Asked illycaffè to donate a coffee maker, they did. Now we have VIPs for coffee.
11. Changed our payment terms for classes (pay before, not after)
12. Asked big companies for help (some did!)
13. Held fund-raisers (Thanksgiving, 4th of July)
14. Received a grant from US Gov for materials, opened a children's library which revitalized our image.
15. Asked US Gov to donate our magazine subscriptions (500 euros/year)
16. Created a team of volunteers: Accounting, Legal, Fundraising, Graphics and marketing, Library, Public School Liasion, Programs and Events, IT. (savings LOTS).
17. Created a positive, family-oriented, volunteer-friendly community
18. Teachers donated teaching hours (no one forced them. It was voluntary and says something about the awesome atmosphere I work in).
19. Found an accountant who would provide tax help for free (Hopefully we will be able to pay him one day) saving us 2000 euros/year
20. Split the cleaning lady bill with our sub-renters.
21. Paid serious attention to energy consumption.

I'll tell you who DOESN'T have a problem with under-earning!

Christian Louboutin. I just read an article about him in Vanity Fair. I mean, come on! $6,000 for a pair of shoes?! And I feel guilty for getting paid my piddly hourly rate?! Clearly I need to change my marketing plan.

I mean you have to have some serious self-confidence to get that kind of dough. I will take THIS with me, though. He NEVER gives away his shoes for free. Even stars have to pay for them. He plays with the desire thing. If you are not required to pay, you don't want it as much.

I agree. I remember one time I took a big pay cut in order to help one of my students continue taking lessons with me even though times were tough for her and her family. Result: she stopped coming regularly, she was often late, everything else in the world became more important for her than our lessons. Apparently doing what I saw as the Right thing actually communicated that I was worth less than before. Not cool.

So Louboutin has something there. Believe in your own value first, then others will too. Unless you really suck. In that case, you should change your line of work.

Is the Sinking Ship Coming up for Air??

On Friday I have a very important appointment to see about getting some funding for the Association. This same foundation gave us a grant last year that saved us from having to close with a lot of debt that we found out our new President would be personally responsible for (Thinking about opening a non-profit in Italy? Make sure its status is RICONOSCIUTA and not NON-RICONOSCIUTA to avoid this problem). This helped explain a few things like 1. Why the old president was in such a hurry to get out and 2. Why past presidents kept smiling, pretending nothing was wrong and passing the debt on to the next president. Like I've said in earlier posts, they say our debt goes back about 30 years with creditors changing and getting paid depending on how loud they complained. Payment priority went to the creditor who sent the lawsuit threat letters. What changed the situation was the piece of advice our old accountant gave our last president about the rental situation which had been paid after it was due instead of before it was due since the Association moved to this building. The rent was always very past due. Finally, when the landlord threatened to sue and then did, no action was taken. The old accountant's words, I believe, were "We're in Italy, they can't throw you out!"*

Um. Yes, they can. But we solved that problem.

Anyway, today it turns out that I can finally report some GOOD NEWS. According to my friend Davide, who took over the day to day accounting at the Association last August (Rule number one, ask for help!), we should be debt free by December. Can you BELIEVE THAT? After 30 years of ignoring the debt, our team will have ELIMINATED IT IN A YEAR AND A HALF. Incredible. So that's it. We just have to live until December. Zero will never feel so good!

At least there is an end in sight. In later posts, I will tell you how we are achieving this amazing feat. But for now I am on cloud nine and I must feel the thrill for a moment.


*He is no longer our accountant by the way, he was one of the Baddies we eliminated, actually he eliminated himself-- THANK GOD. He was just recently in the paper for giving more stellar advice to another company in Trieste. I believe the words were "Sure, go buy that expensive machinery! OF COURSE the Region will pay for it!!" so they did, and then the Region told them "Hey, we can't pay for machinery that you already have!" Boom. Bankruptcy!).

I'm not the Only One

Since I started trying to turn my sinking ship into lemonade, or, when I took over a non-profit that was 40,000 euros in the hole last year, I have been putting out fires (first of which was an eviction notice. With help from some very nice people, we got that taken care of by doing a lot of begging, establishing a payment plan, and taking responsibility. We were able to get a new contract for 6 years to come up with another plan and I am happy to say that if we live until December, our Association will be officially out of debt for the first time in 30 years). Other fires included lawsuit threats, a couple of stalkers, you know, the usual. If you can imagine it, I have probably dealt with it over the last year.

I have also been reading about management, personal finance, being successful, anything to get some ideas on how to save our library/cultural Association/language school. A lot of the books are older, since they're library books that have entered our library any time over the last 50 years.

Here's what I'm reading today:
Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt by Harvey Mackay

The title of chapter 4: "YOU'RE A LOT BETTER OFF BEING SCARED THAN BEING BORED"

Isn't that chancey?