Some background. My family owned two deli's for 11 years. We decided four years ago to open another. We leveraged against the equity in the other two and our home to open the third. Took us a year of planning, a year back and forth with the bank, and a year to build and open. I dropped out of college to help complete the project. We finally get the thing open and the economy heads south. SO we're in a low cash position during the most important time for a business to have cash.

Additionally I can see we're not doing the numbers daily to make the nut expenses. So I'm watching the project my family and I have bet it all on tank. I start drinking pretty heavily in the weeks leading up to the inevitable door closing.

I get a DUI. So now I got a bankrupt family, no drivers license, and lost my job. I found some day to day work with friends of the family.

I learned a lot from all this, but how am I supposed to spin this positive, as its been a knock on my game ever since.

You truely knew what it was like to hit rock bottom. Picture yourself in the middle of the lake sinking to the bottom. You were afloat until the econonmy went south, you got a DUI, and you lost your job. You were sinking to the bottom with no way to push up until you actually felt the solid ground (aka rock bottom) and pushed off it it.

And you also have a very vivid duality in your life. you know what it's like to be riding high and be at rock bottom and you learned from both experiences.

You did everything to save the family business, and watching it go down was hard and you drank a bit? Sounds like one of the main DHV points, protecting and valuing family members.

Just keep the spin on the whole story so that you are upbeat, positive, and headstrong. Dont come off as a loser alcoholic. Come off as the guy who fought and learned and keeps on fighting. What the hell! Lets party! Remember to smile when you tell the story, laugh out loud at some of the tragedy.