In 2024, I learned that a business can break your heart. Not because you stopped loving it. Not because you stopped working hard. Not because you were careless with what you built. Sometimes, it breaks your heart because you gave too much of yourself to keep it standing, only to realize that hard work alone could not protect it from everything. That year, I went through one of the most painful and frightening experiences of my life as a business owner. At first, it did not look like a crisis. It looked like a small payment arrangement that had existed quietly for years. A corporate client had an internal setup where their individual members paid separately. Over time, our team became involved in helping coordinate payment proofs, follow-ups, and related concerns. For a while, nothing seemed alarming. And maybe that was the danger. Some risks do not arrive loudly. Some enter the business as exceptions, become habits, and eventually disguise themselves as normal. Because no major p...