Good advice

One of the strange features of this invention is the peculiar interest it attracts - like a teenage girl walking through a bad neighborhood. Lots of long glances, a few loud calls, whistles, comments and offers, and then the occasional "helpful" stranger who gloms on and follows for a while, giving the appearance of friendship. But god help her if she lowers her guard for a few minutes around this new "friend". There's always another motive under the crocodile smile. 

After ten years I'm a cool customer. Don't trust much. I've had lots of offers, but its been a long time trying to get the type of support I need to make this fly. I'm looking for a life-partner, not a few regrettable minutes in the back seat of a Ford so thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass.

Don't get me wrong, there are some good guys - good motives, but without the skills I need to make this work. Early on I kept hoping I would find someone who could pick up some of the burden - but now I realize that it was always going to be me. It had to be me. In a way, its taken ten years of slogging through a lot of other jungles to get to this point. I'm ready to take it on, carry this through to the end and shuck the dead weight. 

Today, at a Panera Bread in Reston I met with a new ally, someone who filled in a few missing pieces for me. He was a lawyer with specialized knowledge in startups and he helped me figure out how to structure this. Drew a few diagrams, and recommended courses of action. The relief was immediate and amazing. I know its going to be a series of ugly fights but at least I know where I'm going and what I need to do to get there. And, as a bonus, he's taking payment up front instead of wanting a piece of the action himself (thank god). Good advice is worth its weight in gold. 

"Why is this so difficult for you?" he asked as we looked again at the list of names I'd brought. 

"I don't have difficulty being honest with people," I confessed. "But these ended up being more difficult than business relationships. They were more like men I'd dated and rejected for various reasons, but who still expected me to meet them at the altar. When I have to address their unrealistic expectations, it is going to be ugly and difficult."

 

"Better to do it now, when there isn't any money," he said. 

So, I guess now, while I'm shit-broke and lawyers bills coming to my house in luxurious 9x13 envelopes, its the perfect time to try and manage everyone else's expectations. I have nothing. I've poured every last cent into this. There isn't any money to be had. 

And, as Mac and MIVD learned to their consternation (and will continue to learn as the years go by), fucking with a woman who has nothing to lose is a bad proposition.