Up in Smoke

I've been reading Wild Men, Wild Alaska by Rocky McElveen — a professional hunting and fishing guide and outfitter who has spent decades carving out a life in one of the most unforgiving places on earth.

Chapter 10 stopped me cold.

Rocky had built a remarkable guide business in the Alaskan wilderness — a hunting and fishing lodge and cabins, constructed piece by piece through hard work, sacrifice, and sheer stubbornness. Then one day, fire took it all. Just like that. Gone.

Insurers don't offer fire policies on hunting lodges in the Alaskan wilderness.

Most people would have walked away. Rocky didn't. He pushed through the grief and — with his own personal cash reserves, at tremendous cost — he rebuilt. Every board, every cabin, every loving detail: one beautiful lodge, eleven guest cabins, and three outbuildings.

The scrapes, nicks, scratches, and scars on Rocky's hands told the story of his love for his family and his business as he locked up the lodge for winter and flew home to California for the season. A few days later, Rocky got a call from Henry, an Alaskan bush pilot who had flown over the property. Arsonists had torched the lodge and every cabin. Then, as if that weren't enough, they shot holes through his boats and motors. His business, his livelihood, his means of providing for his wife and children — up in smoke.

Imagine getting that call.

Rocky flew back to Alaska to survey the wreckage. He stood in the silence of everything he had built — twice. Overwhelmed with grief and exhausted from the cold and the journey, Rocky lay down in the ashes…

And then he did the only thing Rocky McElveen apparently knows how to do: he started making plans to rebuild again.

The Loss Isn't the Story. The Response Is.

I think about Rocky's story when I sit across from small business owners who have taken a real hit — a slow season that turned into a bad year, a partnership that fell apart, a flood, a lawsuit, a pandemic, a key employee who walked out the door with half the clients.

The loss is real. I'm not going to minimize that.

The loss doesn't define the outcome. The response does.

Rocky McElveen didn't rebuild because the numbers made sense. They didn't. He rebuilt because giving up wasn't something he was willing to do. That decision — made in the rubble, not in comfort — is what separates the businesses still standing five years from now from the ones that quietly closed.

If you're in a rebuilding season right now, I want you to hear this: the fact that you're still showing up, still running the numbers, still trying to get your books in order — that matters. Keep going.

A Few Things Worth Your Attention This Month

Q2 Estimated Tax Payment — Due June 16

If you pay quarterly estimated taxes, that deadline is right around the corner. Use your actual year-to-date income and expenses to calculate what you owe — not last year's figures. If you're not sure where to start, call us.

Mid-Year Financial Check-In

June is the halfway point. Pull your year-to-date Profit & Loss, reconcile your accounts through May, and take an honest look at where you stand. Knowing your numbers now gives you time to make adjustments before year-end.

Start Thinking About Q3

The Q3 estimated tax deadline is September 15, 2026. If your income has shifted significantly this year, now is the time to project — not in August.