One of the most challenging parts of interacting with my clients is identifying and addressing the emotional baggage that we all bring to the Bankruptcy table.  Some of that emotional baggage can be ignored.  Some of it needs to be addressed head on, and some of it had to be addressed before the client picked up the phone to call me in the first place.

A friend of mine in another State was telling me about a billboard that she had seen recently.  It uses the slogan, “Life has a RESTART button.”

She actually misremembered it.  She remembered, “Life has a reset button.”

This slogan (which is being used by a fellow NACBA member, but not one whom I know, he is just getting a free plug here, because I really like his billboard) has the ability to cut through some serious emotional baggage.  The word bankruptcy has a way of becoming an emotional monster under the bed, and otherwise intelligent, rational adults start investing the bankruptcy monster with the same kind of absurd powers that terrified children bestow on their own monsters in the dark.

So, if you know someone who is contemplating bankruptcy, or just in financial trouble; ask them if what they really need is a reset button.  I’ll bet their whole expression changes, in a way, a Bankruptcy filing really is a reset button.

Elaine