Recently, I was talking to a friend of mine who has been incredibly successful in business. His background is in real estate where he progressed from flipping houses to investing in rental properties to building custom homes – to assembling large-scale development projects valued in the tens of millions of dollars.

Ahhhh…. the boom years.

Things are different now, of course.

He sighed as he described banks doing things recently he had no idea they were allowed to do. Other developers he knows have had their requests for note extensions denied – and then had all their other accounts ‘swept’ to cover the outstanding balances without warning. Overnight, these firms were literally pushed out of business.

And, they weren’t behind on anything… they had simply requested more time on their open lines.

He laughed as he said he could write a compelling book on what he’s learned in the last 18 to 24 months – but is holding off because he wants to see how his own story will turn out before putting it out there.

Makes sense, as the story certainly will be more marketable if it has a happy or uplifting outcome. At present, it could best hope to serve as a cautionary tale for future generations.

For now, he is just hoping to come thru the other side “as gracefully as possible.”  He wants to look back at this time and be able to say he fought a good, fair fight and even though he might have fallen down or gotten a little banged up in the process – he handled it with dignity and grace.

That struck me as something we should all strive to do in these trying times.  We might not all win the battle – in fact, there are many who will lose their jobs, their homes… even their current way of life.

Sadly, in these uncertain economic times, this is an unfortunate reality for many.

However, there is a lot to be said for fighting the good fight. Doing what needs to be done every single day to move forward and not sink under the incredible pressures of a global economic meltdown.

Because, at the end – don’t we ALL want to look back and say “I handled that the best I could – with dignity and grace … and come what may – tomorrow is a brand new day?”

Another opportunity to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off – and rebuild.

So, the purpose of  Beyond The Bank is to share creative ways to bring more money into your life – and keep more of what you already have. To provide insight on ways to continue to build your business, enjoy your life and get through these challenging economic times intact.

After all, money is just a tool – and like a hammer – it can be used to build a wall or smash a window.

Knowing where and how to use it properly is what makes the difference.