In September of 2004 our old family business found itself in a deplorable state. From a deeply rooted sense of responsibility, I decided to get back on board but the decline was irreversible. Mismanagement and fraud by people who seemed worthy of my confidence, have taken the profitable business down.

In December of 2004, I registered myself as managing director of Smals B.V. for only ten days. I filed for bankruptcy myself before new year's eve. In January of 2005, I effectively recovered the business in a trimmed down version, got the operation back on track and sold it off to another installations company. This period of four months was, to say the least, rather disconcerting. Enough material to fill a book with.