Why is it that when someone is in desperate trouble, help only ever seems to arrive in the last moment, if at all?

I have a pair of clients, husband and wife, who are in some of the worst trouble I have ever dealt with.  They lost their business, have children with disabilities and now they are about to become homeless potentially.  These clients have been great to work, and despite everything they are going through, they have always prioritized their mother-in-law’s property, which is also in jeopardy.  This pair has no where to turn and no resources to rely on and so they attempted to reach out to family and friends.

This is always one of the hardest things to get clients to do as it hits them emotionally on many levels.  They tend to feel a range of negative emotions when contemplating asking family and friends for financial support.

Someone who has to ask people they respect for money normally feel like failures.  They feel as if they are doing something wrong, reprehensible.  Most feel dirty, as if the idea of even asking someone for help in that way could physically soil them.  They feel guilty.  They know better than anyone what it feels like to have no resources and they feel guilt that they have to take away from someone else.  They feel weak.  Like they are less than someone else because they needed support to survive.

This couple swallowed the pill and moved forward in spite of these feelings as they have children and they were not willing to put their kids through any more stress simply because they had emotional hang-ups.  The sent out an S.O.S. to their personal network and hoped someone would come forward who could keep them in their home.

A few people responded, but ran away shortly after realizing that this was not a highly lucrative investment opportunity.  It was not a risk, but it was not going to net a high profit and the small margin anyone would gain would be far down the road.

We now have 2 days to get something accomplished and a family member has decided to get a loan to help out.  This is a good sign, but stopping a foreclosure auction that is 2 days out is rarely something easily accomplished if it is possible.  There are multiple banks to get into agreement and paperwork to draft.  If this person had come forward months ago when we originally asked, they would be all set and so would my clients.  What is it about people that they feel they can wait until the last minute?

We will be successful, but my clients went through a much greater emotional toll than needed.  If you are out there and contemplating taking an action, especially if it is to help someone.  Just do it.  The only true mistakes in life are the chances you chose not to take.  If you choose not to act, you are still making a choice, it is just the easy choice.  We all know the easy choice is rarely the right one.