Dear Me: FOCUS, DAMMIT, FOCUS!!

I am becoming ever-so-slightly irked by my own lack of focus lately. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that I am irked by my inability to control where I am focusing lately. I’m hyper-fixated on problems at work, and having a lot of trouble focusing on anything OTHER than that.

Which led to a rather awkward problem this week.

My new job, see, is a bit different from most – instead of being a W2 employee of a contract agency, I reorganized our Enterprises from a general partnership to a limited liability corporation. That’s right. It is now Enterprises LLC, and you are talking to the chief executive member. {attempts to look dignified and business-y…fails…}

Anyway, I filed all the governmental paperwork way back in April. The LLC-1A to do the reclassification is done. The articles of organization properly written out. The business license is safely stored. Appropriate insurance policies purchased.

There was only one thing left to do, and that was to open a business banking account – because one can’t trot into their bank with a check made out to ‘My Corporation LLC’ and try to deposit it into Sarah Jane Smith’s account – even if My Corporation LLC is technically a ‘disregarded entity’ (meaning that Sarah Jane Smith is the sole ‘member’ and will be paying the corporations taxes via her own 1040 come April). Or even if the name of the company is “Sarah Jane Smith LLC.”

But then, well, I was waiting for all the paperwork I’d need to present to the bank in order to open the account to be finalized, and then…um…well, I got distracted. And while I have a list of excuses a mile and a half long, I still really shot myself in the foot there.

For those of you not keeping track at home, I started this job in May. I just got my first check. That’s one of the downsides to working this way: I bill the client at the end of each month, and then they have thirty days [or so] to get around to paying me…I won’t get paid for work I did last week until mid-September [or so].

 So I got this check, which I’ve been anxiously awaiting because, well, let’s just say that the cash on hand situation around here has gotten somewhat hairy. I’ve had “working full time” expenses (most particularly, Vanessa the Great’s paycheck, which is a fairly major ‘cost of doing business’ for me), but no “income” since April.

 And then I looked at the check, which as totally expected, as is right and how it should be, was made out to Enterprises, LLC.  And I said, “Aw, @^*&@!” and slammed my forehead onto my desk a few dozen times because GAH!! I never got around to opening the blasted business checking account!!!!!

Opening a business checking account isn’t quite as fast as opening a regular personal checking account – there are a few more forms to fill out, and the bank also has to do a little more due diligence to ensure I’m not a terrorist, money-launderer, or drug runner. Fair enough.

 And no matter what kind of account you open, the first thirty days or so are always the most restrictive you’ll have; for the first thirty days, it is regular practice for longer holds to be placed on new deposits.

 Which sucks from where I sit right now, but can’t really argue with – I understand why they do that.

 Not to digress, but sometimes I hate my heavy background in banking…understanding why things are done a certain way makes it hard for me to maintain a sense of outrage when, darn it, they should just do it differently for me. Because they should! Because I am not a check-kiter OR a terrorist, and also I am NOT running drugs NOR am I laundering money!

I AM A SOUND FINANCIAL PARTNER, DAMN IT. PLUS ALSO, WELL, I AM ME. WHICH MEANS I AM SPECIAL AND SOME JUNK. NOW, BEND OVER BACKWARDS AND GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, EVEN IF YOU DON’T MAKE THE SAME OFFER TO EVERYBODY WHICH WILL TOTALLY GET YOU SUED FOR BAZILLIONS OF DOLLARS IF AND WHEN YOU’RE BUSTED DOING IT! (Um…yeah, uh, about that…well…I promise I won’t tell…?)

Anyway, I’m looking at between three and five business days to even get the account opened, followed by (probably) a ten business day hold being put on the funds. Whereas if I had gotten off my arse and gotten it done back in May, when I meant to, well. I’d be past the 30-day window, and could have deposited that check three days ago and had the money transferred to the household checking account to cover such trivial details as Vanessa the Great’s next paycheck and gas money.

 Crap-apples.

 …sigh…

 Oh well. Serves me right for letting myself be that way. Being tired or out of sorts, or too busy or too sick or whatever doesn’t mean you get a free pass to not do things you don’t feel like doing – if anything, it just means that it is more important than ever to keep the “first things first” mantra going.

 Which I totally know. But occasionally still decide to ignore, even though I also know it will lead to something like this – I’ve got the cash I need right in my hand, but I can’t actually use it for another couple weeks. Argh.

 Being a grown up sure can suck sometimes, can’t it?!

 …even if we can sneak downstairs right after we just told one of the kids “NO, you can’t have ice cream right now! AFTER dinner, AFTER dinner!” to dish ourselves up a bowl of rocky road, eating it in secret behind a locked bedroom door under the cover of “paying bills”…

 (Well, it sounded really good. Plus I always end up not getting any, because lately after I’ve eaten actual food my stomach likes to go on strike so when we’re dishing up dessert I’m usually going, “…eh, nah, I don’t think I can handle it…” so the entire box of ice cream is gone and I don’t get any.)

 (I’m sure I can come up with a few more rationalizations if you guys give me a minute. Probably could come up with dozens of them. I need the calories to maintain weight? Or how about, Because I need the calcium, to help with the charley horses? See? I excel at rationalizations! It is my calling, y’all…)