Am I a Faithpreneur?

By the power of the Holy Spirit, you bet I am! Read on!---------------

For all of you solopreneurs who may be on the fence about taking a stand on something, I walked away from a tortuous place where I had been doing some part-time consulting.

After some initial excitement, red flags about the company's MO started appearing all over the place. It was nice to have the additional income because of a huge vet bill I had because of beloved dog Starr but I felt that I was paying a huge price.

Long story short the "company" (because it now has only one employee and that is a relative of the owner) literally tried to force/coerce me into signing a very unreasonable non-compete agreement. The carrot? They said they couldn't pay me for my latest invoice lest I sign the non-compete.I'm sure there is something illegal about holding compensation currently DUE unless someone signs a non-compete and I will be making legal inquiries on this for sure.

At any rate, I don't think the owner of the company anticipated that I would walk, but I couldn't sell myself out like that. It will have to rest on the owner's conscience the underhanded deed of holding my payment hostage to a non-compete. I don't understand how this person can sleep at night if this is the way that they operate.

By the way, I was not an employee, although the owner had me sign an employee handbook early on (I was a little reluctant to sign it but since no W-2 ever appeared I figured signing the handbook wouldn't carry much weight). I presumably was an Independent Contractor so I am now in this neverland of not being able to pursue the traditional wage collection resources of payroll employees such as the Department of Labor and even the Employment Commission.At any rate I will get it straightened out even if I have to go Small Claims Court.

I feel a little funny about that being a Christian but the owner has forced my hand.If anyone else has had to battle something like this as an independent contractor,then I would love to hear your story. NO ONE has stayed at this company longer than a year and it seems that most people have left in a cloud of smoke.

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It was a bad alliance and I have learned my lesson about trusting my gut instinct. Fortunately I only spent about 90 days there. Ugh!

I really don't like to make judgements about who is and is not a Christian but I felt a real uneasiness about being there, especially with the arrival of this relative. The meeting today seemed like something out of "The Firm." Clearly the whole holding my payment hostage lest I sign a non-compete was the devil at work.But you know what? I anticipated this would happen and concluded that GOD is my source of supply, not this diabolical company.

So while I am not thrilled about not having my due compensation at the moment, by the power of the Holy Spirit I was able to walk away knowing that God will fix this and this "showdown" was his way of getting me out of a very un-Godly place.

I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me.

Are YOU a Faithpreneur?