DISRUPTIONS!!!

DISRUPTIONS are inevitable but how we handle them determines IF WE’LL overcome them. UNKNOWN

A few weeks ago, the pastor preached a sermon entitled, “Preparing for What’s Next”.  One of the points he made during the sermon, was that “when GOD CALLS you to do something, expect DISRUPTIONS. As the pastor continued his sermon, it felt like he was speaking directly to me.  Because what GOD had called me to do months before, was now experiencing some serious DISRUPTIONS.  Since, I hadn’t expected or prepared for them, I began questioning if the vision was from GOD and if it was something that I was called to do.  But what is a DISRUPTION?  According to the dictionary, a DISRUPTION is a: disturbance or problem which interrupts an event, activity, or process.   Have you ever encountered a DISRUPTION?   Did it alter your plans or processes?   How did you handle it?  Do you believe that when GOD calls you to do something, you’ll have some DISRUPTIONS?  I DO NOW!! So, for this week’s blog, let’s talk SHIP about the importance of being prepared for possible DISRUPTIONS!!!!

In May 2022, GOD gifted me a business ideal, and I ran with it. I followed HIS step-by-step plan, including who HE selected as a business partner and on October 22. 2022, one year ago today, my business partner (a college friend) and I launched nappyXpressionz, a company that creates comical, cynical, and sassy all occasion greeting cards. By December of that year, we had earned close to $10,000 in sales, just from selling Christmas cards.  I was ecstatic and knew the business that GOD had called us to do, was about to take off.  But by January 2023, 2 months after the launch, the partnerSHIP began to experience some DISRUPTIONS.  He began claiming that he was too busy with his personal business to meet and discuss our business.  In an attempt to organize the business’ financial records and create an inventory system, I asked him for the business receipts, and he’d responded, “you think I’m stealing?”   Who says that?  Yet, I remember in February sharing with a friend that I believed he was stealing cards and selling them through his side business.  She dismissed my thoughts, but I couldn’t shake that feeling.  From January to June, we continued to operate as partners, but I felt locked out of the business and our profits were meager. My attempts to talk was always shut down for one reason or another. As a result of these DISRUPTIONS, the business went from generating $10,000 in 6 weeks to $1,500 in 6 months.  For me that was problem.

In June, while at a vendor fair, I was finalizing a customer’s purchase, and the receipt printed his business name not nappyXpressionz.. Which meant that all of the monies earned that day was being deposited directly into his business bank account not ours.  When I asked him about it again, he responded the same way he’d always did when I make any financial inquiries, “you think I’m stealing? My business has a trillion dollars in the account, and I don’t need to steal from nappyXpressionz.” For me, the vendor fair was the last straw for me. I was fed up with his endless DISRUPTIONS, his immaturity, his lying, and his dishonesty. It was obvious, we both had different visions for how and where the business was going and as soon as the vendor event was over, I told him that I was going to start the process to dissolve our partnerSHIP.  He looked shocked but dismissively agreed.  Now be mindful, the extent of his thievery was still unknown or if it was actually happening, all I knew was that he wasn’t a good partner for me OR for the business.  Eight months after launching what had the makings of being a major contender in a 76-billion-dollar card industry, the business had to be put on hold.  When GOD gifted me nappyxpressionz, I wasn’t prepared, nor did I anticipate this type of DISRUPTION!!! 

The Monday after the vendor fair, I EAGERLY began the process of dissolving the partnerSHIP, and that is when things got very, very interesting.  He decided that in addition to dissolving the partnerSHIP, he wanted nappyxpressionz and the LLC shut down completely. This was baffling to me since all that needed to be done is for me to buy him out, split the inventory, and go our separate ways. But NO, he wanted everything shut down but didn’t realize that to do so, he needed to be transparent, something he had refused to be with me.  Now, he had to submit the receipts and the books to the tax specialist, if he wanted to shut down the business.   Eventually he sent her the receipts that I’d requested 6 months before and they indeed validated my suspicions he had been stealing…….a DISRUPTION.   The receipts proved that he had started stealing from the business in January 2023, 3 months after we launched. The receipts verified that he had printed about 800 cards that month, that I’d never received, and each month thereafter, he’d print 700, 800, and 1000 cards and used nappyxpressionz funds to pay for the cards but kept the profits from those sales for himself.   Now it made sense, his efforts to shut down the business and the LLC was his attempt to cover up his criminal deeds.  He thought if he demolished the business, no one would ever know of his criminal actions. He took every dime out of our business account and left it with a negative balance.  Naturally he denies it but how can he? The receipts reflect that he printed over 3,000 cards. So where are they?  I never received them and more importantly, where is the money from the sales of the cards? I’m not sure how much profit he actually made but estimate about $20 to 30k, maybe even more.

Now, let me be clear, I was hotter than fish grease about the DISRUPTIONS he caused but realized that since June, I’d been more focused on getting back at him instead of rebuilding nappyxpressionz. Truth is, I don’t expect my former partner to tell the truth and admit he was stealing. I don’t expect him to apologize, and I don’t expect him to return the monies that he stole from nappyxpressionz. I just don’t, that’s just NOT who he is.  Nonetheless, before leaving church, I prayed for him, forgave him, and left the DISRUPTIONS he’d caused at the altar.  Ironically, when I was leaving church, a friend told me that she was interested in purchasing 100 New Year cards and I immediately shifted my focus to the money that I could be making instead of the money he’d stolen.  So, the next time a DISRUPTION makes you feel as if you’ve failed, reflect on the image of GOD and his NAILS!!! Just remember that when GOD truly CALLS us to do something, HE will provide the resources needed to get us through any and ALL DISRUPTIONS!!! HE did it for ME!

Note: My NAPPINESS is BACK, and our newly improved website and our beautifully illustrated Christmas cards will be available for purchase in the next few weeks. Check us out at www.nappyxpressioz.com on or about November 20th.!! cause I’m solo yall!!!.

SHIP TALK: Have you ever experienced something where your vision was clear but still encountered a DISRUPTION?

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