Listen in as Alexz and Katherine discuss Bankruptcy and procrastination.
| Katherine: | Hello everyone. It is that time of year again where you need to decide if you’re going to make a change, or if you’re going to put it off for tomorrow, and let another year roll by. Our friend attorney Alexz Adams is here with us to help us put in place a plan, set some goals on how to not procrastinate. Welcome back attorney Alexz to This Needs To Be Said, and I’m excited about the topic, but I just want to know how you’re going to get us into gear to stop procrastinating? |
| Alexz Adams: | Well, that’s a good question. I think it’s an important… I have a lot of experience in terms of goal setting, and long term planning with my firm, and I see some parallels in my client base that it’s a good time to take a step back, set some goals, and see where you’re at. Where I come in, and our topic is what I do, which is bankruptcy. After the holidays it’s almost like a sugar rush at the holidays with lots of good times, and celebrations. Then after the holidays the bills come due. You’re in January, and there’s a downtrend there. I think that procrastination, and getting out of debt is a real thing because it’s such an overwhelming topic to do. I think January is a good time that that if you’re investigating what I can do for you, it’s a good time to check in. |
| Katherine: | Is this some time of year now? I know for me, just as a consumer, this is the time of year where you’re trying to just make it the January, tax refund time, and get some breathing room from the holiday celebration that started in October. For you, is this the time of year when you’re seeing people, I guess more like January, February. Is that when you’re seeing more people come to you to see what you can do for them? |
| Alexz Adams: | Well, January and February, March is a big time in the world of bankruptcy. Lots of clients make their new year’s goals to take some action, and a lot of them go down that road, or there’s certainly a spike in activity, and inquiries at that time of the year. Why I suggested this topic is, what I also find in January is a lot of people who have inquired before but have disappeared come back to talk again. What I see it’s almost a mouse wheel that someone perhaps I talked to a year ago or two years ago, come back, and really nothing’s changed in this situation. The thing that concerns me is that they haven’t taken any action one way, or the other. |
| Alexz Adams: | Whether it’s what I do or, or some other way, I think it’s a good time to talk about goal setting, financial goal setting. If getting out of debt is a priority, for you and your family, or perhaps it’s something you looked a while ago, it’s a good time to reset the switch on that, and see if it is an option, or if it makes sense for my client base. |
| Katherine: | If you had to put it into steps, attorney Alexz, what would it be like? What would be my first step? Well, I guess what will be my second step because the first one is to recognize I need to do something, so what will be my second step? |
| Alexz Adams: | The thing is that to do something. |
| Katherine: | It’s that simple, we’re done, thank you for joining the show. |
| Alexz Adams: | Whatever it is. Action creates reaction which creates more action. If you live in your head all the time, and you put your goals down to I’m going to take some abstract change of position in the future, but you don’t do anything, nothing changes. There’s certainly a percentage of people that I’ve helped over the years that the really hard part is getting them moving because the resolution of it is oftentimes much easier when you understand what’s at play, what can happen and how the system works. It’s a lot less scary. I’ve talked about this before, which is a term I’ve come up with called ostriching. Where it’s just too much. It’s too overwhelming, it’s too stressful, so you put your head in the sand. I think January is a good time to pull your head out of the sand, and see if financial restructuring in this manner is in your future, this is the time to do it. |
| Katherine: | It doesn’t hurt to contact you at all to see if this fits because you’ve also shared with us in the past when you’ve visited with us, is that you’re not just taking every client on, every client isn’t your client. If it’s not a good fit, if it doesn’t make sense for the person coming to you saying, “I need help, you don’t do it.” Even if you not going to take a step, but calling would be taking a step, look into it because sometimes it’s not as bad as you think it is. When we started this conversation, bankruptcy was a bad word. We’ve discovered that it’s not, so already we know it’s not as bad as you think it is, right? |
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| Alexz Adams: | That’s my experience over the years. What heartbreaking for me is people that pop up five, six years later, and say, “Geez…” This is a recurrent theme for us bankruptcy’s attorneys, “Geez, I wish I would’ve done this three years ago when I met you first. It’s my own fault. I’ve liquidated my 401k, I’ve taken a lot of other steps that perhaps we could have avoided, and saved an enormous amount of time, frustration and money- |
| Katherine: | And heartache. |
| Alexz Adams: | … but here we are today.” With that being said, do something. Please. |
| Katherine: | Do something. |
| Alexz Adams: | This isn’t just about me, this is a big picture. If you’re stuck on something in your life, take some action to learn about it. If it’s diet and exercise, if it’s relationships, if it’s your finances, just do something. Get off the sidelines, and get into the game, or you’re going to wake up three, four years down the road wondering what happened. |
| Katherine: | Absolutely. I can speak as a consumer, the hardest thing is having to face what I think it is. What have I done? How did I get myself into this place? Once we get over the emotional part of it, and realize that one, it’s one of our rights as an American citizen. Two, it’s a great way to reset your finances, and you don’t know what you don’t know. Yes, you may have talked to a friend at a water cooler, maybe you Googled some stuff online, but until you talk to an attorney yourself about your specific situation, you’ll never know what it can do for you. |
| Katherine: | Bankruptcy is a synonym for reset. Reset to begin again, to get another chance to begin again. I just can’t see it being a, lose- lose. Once we get past the self- sabotage, we’re going to beat ourselves up over life happening. You could have done everything right, and still something goes wrong. I encourage people like you say, to do something, to take a chance and bankruptcy is part of your financial education. Those of you that have a tax refund coming, you may want to contact attorney Adams, so that you can reset your life. Don’t wait, don’t be in pain. Don’t just be the dog sitting on the nail, just whining. I’m just thinking attorney Alexz, it would be hard for me to call you for advice because I know what you’re going to say, “Do something. You don’t like, what’s going on, do something different.” You got to be ready to take action. |
| Alexz Adams: | I take that step in my own life all the time as well. When things get stuck in my own personal life I have to do something. Not always easy to admit that to myself, but I think if we’re truly self-reflective, it happens to all of us at some point in different ways in different matters. |
| Katherine: | Yes it does. What I like about when you come on the show is you give us something so simple, so straightforward that it can be applied in every part of our lives. It’s almost like we’re not talking about bankruptcy, but we are in this particular case, but it’s just, I don’t know… I can’t even think of a word for it right now. I’m stumped. It’s just that simple. It’s something simple that you can apply. It can be used everywhere. You can’t say, “We tuned into the show, we read the blog, and all we got was…” No, you got a big message in a very little sentence. Know that you need to do something then do something. You even encouraged us to overcome being overwhelmed with everything that we want to try to fix about our lives. To learn a little bit, to do a little bit as we go. Very simple but big message, and I love that it applies to everything. Finances, personal life, you know everything. |
| Alexz Adams: | Yep. I think you’re right. I think over the years, if you’re going to run a thousand mile race, you do it one mile at a time. The second mile is always easier than the first because then there’s a mile behind you, and the third mile is easier than the second. I think if you take baby steps towards your goals, and perhaps eliminating your debts is one of your goals. Educate yourself, talk to myself if you’re in Oregon or Washington, and take some steps towards it because it is different than you think it is in terms of the nuts and bolts of how it works, and how it may affect you with where you’re at in your personal life. I have routinely clients with substantial medical bills, substantial credit cards, substantial issues from car repossessions. They’re almost living paycheck to paycheck, trying to struggle to make payments. If that’s not working, the toll it takes on you emotionally and physically is enormous. Then there’s oftentimes other options out there, specifically through bankruptcy for clients in that type of position. |
| Katherine: | We can’t make it any simpler because we don’t want you to be overwhelmed. We already as a human, want to put things off, want to do it later. Can it wait? We’re at the top of the year, and you’re ready. Your mind is refreshed, you’re casting the old year behind you. Know what you need to do, and do something. That doesn’t mean you know all the answers, but make a phone call to someone like attorney Adams. When you need to talk about bankruptcy, financial situations. If you want to get physically fit, everybody has a gym membership. My point is that education is out there. You don’t have to already know all the answers, just know that you need to do something, and begin one step at a time. Attorney Adams, I don’t want you to feel like I’m stroking your ego, it is simple, but it’s like boom. Wow. We need this, we’re refreshed, and let’s take action before we talk ourselves out of it again. Tell people how to get in touch with you, and any closing remarks before we wrap up this interview. |
| Alexz Adams: | Sure. My name’s Alexz Adams. My phone number’s 503-278-5400 you can reach me at my website, portlandbk.com. I accept consumer bankruptcy cases in the state of Oregon, and the state of Washington. We do practice in some other areas. I wish everybody out there a happy holidays, and if it’s something that you think I may be able to help you with, I’d be more than happy to schedule a time to talk with you, either in person or perhaps on the phone to see if this is a match for you. Happy holidays, everybody. |
| Katherine: | Absolutely, happy holidays to you as well. Until next year, have a super day. |
| Alexz Adams: | Take care. Bye-bye. |
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