#mrcharles

You may think having a bakery is cool and easy, but no—long hours, unpredictable customers, and a never-ending list of things to do. But I love these rushes, my customers and vendors. I never want to mistreat them. For years, my wife Martha and I have worked hard to keep our little bakery afloat. But like most small businesses, we’ve had our fair share of struggles.

One of the hardest times we faced came about five months ago. At the time, things were starting to look really bleak. We were behind on a few bills, and suppliers were starting to get antsy. The last thing I wanted was to see our bakery close or disappoint our loyal customers. Yet, there I was, staring at overdue invoices with no clear way out.

I remember that morning clearly. Martha had already left to take care of some errands, and Jake was in the back preparing the pastries. I was sitting at the counter, looking over our finances. The reality hit me hard: we didn’t have enough cash to make it through the week. 

I called the bank to explain the situation. They promised to set up a loan for me. But thinking about how to repay them back made me more tense. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make. 

For a moment, I just sat there, lost in thought. But then something snapped. A few months earlier, my grandson Joe told me about credit cards. I never thought I’d need it, and to be honest, I didn’t want to rely on it. But here we were, in desperate need of a solution. 

That afternoon, when Martha got back, I told her what had happened. I wasn’t sure how she’d react, but she just gave me a smile and said, “We’ll get through this together.” Isn’t she the best? Yes, she is!

The next morning, I walked into the bakery early, as usual, to get everything ready for the day. I pulled Jake aside and let him know what had happened. He was happy to know that everything was solved. But this was not the end. One of our vendors came and told me he needs to receive payments via wire transfer. 

Seriously? how can I make a wire transaction when there is no money with me? I was going to repay everyone with the credit card, and now everything is topsy-turvy. There came Joe, my savior and my grandson; he introduced me to Zil Money, where wire transfers can be funded by credit cards. I am saved!

He taught Martha and me how to make a credit card transaction online. He opened the platform on our laptop and made the transaction to the vendor in just a minute. I was amused. Was it this simple? Wow! Later, the vendor messaged me that he got the payment in wire. We are saved for now.

There’s no doubt that we’re still facing challenges. The credit card didn’t magically solve all our problems. But it gave us time. It bought us the breathing room we needed to plan for the future, make smarter choices, and keep doing what we love. We’re back on track now, and I’ve learned two important lessons along the way:

It's okay to ask for help from our younger ones. They are ahead of us now, and they know better than us (not my baking skills!). If Joe hadn’t been there, we could not have saved our bakery. 

Change is inevitable. It’s part of being human. To move forward, we need to change accordingly and try new methods, mainly in financial management. There are new techniques and methods out there, and it's better to familiarize them to create a good business. 

This incident also opened my eyes to just how outdated some of our methods were. I’ll admit it—I’ve always been a bit reluctant to change, especially when it comes to technology. I grew up in an era where you handled everything in person or over the phone. Payments were made with cash or checks, and that’s how I liked it. But times have changed, and honestly, I hadn’t kept up.