Jul
19
Starting a successful business is the dream of many. Heck, it’s one of ours. What could be better than doing what you love and making a living out of it? Then we came across Joel Maxwell’s story. Joel’s dream was to set up a restaurant selling his secret recipe fried chicken. Hence in August 2005, The Lazy Susan was born. It seemed to be going well, he made $10,000 in the first weekend, the future was looking bright.
Less than 90 days later, everything came crashing down. Creditors were pounding at his door demanding money for equipment, furnishings and contractor’s fees. He owed $556,848.35, 53 creditors wanted his head and his beloved restaurant was forced to close barely three months after it opened.
Faced with the responsibility, Joel decided that he couldn’t let the debt monster overcome his life, it was time to be proactive and take charge of his finances. Since then, Joel has cleared $214,007.52 in just 18 months. 18 months! We were flabbergasted when we read that. Joel, you are the man!
Find out how he did it after the jump.
The steps Joel took to clear his debt:
- He read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and followed the 7 steps. He credits it for turning his life around.
- He stopped eating out 12 - 15 times/week and started budgeting.
- He immediately set up an emergency fund.
- Instead of running away, he bravely contacted all 53 creditors. 7 of them were willing to write off his debt on the spot and he negotiated repayment plans with the others.
- He shredded all his credit cards to “stop the bleeding”.
- For extra income, he sold treasured items for cash and took on a second job as a server earning minimum wage.
- He created a Debt Snowball.
What we were completely floored by was Joel’s strength and dignity in handling his debt, here’s an excerpt from his response to a critic who questioned Joel’s integrity :
My side of the pancake is living in a one room motel room paid for by the Army. My wife, four year old son, and three year old daughter also live here with me. I have a microwave and a mini-fridge. I have $150 dollars budgeted for food every fifteen days. I eat at least two bologna sandwiches a day, and sometimes four. When not in school for the Army, I am thankful that the Texas Roadhouse saw fit to hire me as a server knowing that I was leaving in April, and I am able to make some extra money to pay off debts.
Read the full comment here. Scroll to the bottom, Joel actually offers to send his personal copy of The Total Money Makeover to his attacker. What a doll.
All the best Joel, all of us at WBD are rooting for you!
Read more about Joel at his blog: JoelMaxwell.com
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[…] reading about Joel Maxwell’s success with Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover program, we wanted to hear from the man himself. In […]
Yep, that’s my man! Thanks.
[…] awesome idea and a great web site! One of their early features is a story about me; you can read it here. I could not have written a better story to describe our experience. Thanks Jules! « […]
Amy: You’re a lucky woman :)
Yes, God is very good to me.