Hi, my name is John, most call me Holtz. My wife Denise and I started a business this last year and have had a horrible string of luck. After 30 years of driving for everyone else, we decided it was time to try. I will follow this intro with the story but up front want to let you know that if this business fails, we stand to loose everything that we have worked so hard to build. So please read on before you make any decisions. Thank you in advance.

In February of 2022, I was diagnosed with Covid-19. Four weeks later, although I was no longer positive for Covid, I had long term issues including shortness of breath, elevated blood pressure and a chronic cough. My primary care provider approved short

term disability while I was referred to a cardiologist and a pulmonologist. After a series of tests, it was determined that I was struggling with post-covid complications, and the best recourse was time. In June of 2022, my shortness of breath was resolved, but I

continued to have elevated blood pressure. Because of the type of work that I do - Specialized Heavy Haul Driver - I was unable to return to work due to DOT and company requirements. because of a misunderstanding when enrolling for benefits with my employer, I was not paid the expected 2/3 of my salary for STD. I was offered roughly $100 per

month, before taxes. Even then we were still able to keep bills current somehow.

After a medication change, my blood pressure issues were resolved. I was still unable to complete and pass the company’s fit for duty test and was not being allowed to come back to work. We refinanced our mortgage and used the funds to pay off all credit cards, put a down payment to finance a truck and trailer to start our own heavy haul business as an owner-operator. Unfortunately, about three weeks after purchasing the truck from a private party, I became aware that the seller was less than forthcoming about the condition of the truck and had hidden many issues with mud and cow manure saying that Dad wouldn’t let him wash it. The money we received from the

refinance allowed for approximately $63k in savings to be used as startup capital - to maintain our household expenses as well as the overhead of starting the business. The repairs on the truck soon used up all of the money in savings as well as maxing out

every credit card that we have. We have also borrowed money from family and friends to try and move forward. I have saved us a lot of money by doing 90% of the repairs myself and not having to pay for a mechanic. While I have been working and billing customers, the money is playing catch-up and not gaining because every time we start to get ahead, something else would break. We managed for quite some time to make all of our payments on time for our mortgage, utilities, creditors, etc. but we have had three business occurrences and one personal issue in the past few months that have pushed us over the edge. I had one customer that refused to pay me after a delivery, and I lost a load because of another customer's employee behavior. These two loads combined were about $15,000 income that I would have made, and would have put us back on track. Also, because of this, I had to pay out all the operating costs for both trips out of our pocket to the sum of about $5k. The final straw was a blown transmission on the truck that has sidelined me at this point, until the repair can be made and I return to work. This was a very high paying government load that would have gotten us back on the positive side and gaining ground. I was forced to release the load to another carrier and therefore did not get paid for it. This ended up costing me 3 tow bills, 2 nights in hotels and now a new transmission. During this time, my wife also injured her knee and has incurred medical expenses that are going to increase as she is going to require replacement surgery once we are stable again.

At this time I am fighting for my life and trying to save everything that we have worked so hard to achieve. If I can’t get the truck back on the road we stand to lose it, the business and our home just to name a couple things. I can do the job. I have been for over 30 years. We’ve just been hit with some really bad luck last year and quite honestly I am begging for help. Because everything is maxed out and behind now by 2 months or more, our credit has taken a huge hit and I have been turned down for a

number of business loans. If I can just get someone to believe in me, I will make this work and be successful at it. We have about $20k in credit card debt, $8k is personal debt with family and now this repair I can’t physically do myself so we are looking about $15k I believe on it. I am waiting for estimates but that number is going to be close.

I have been asked why not just go get another job and the answer is simple, nobody will pay me what I would need to cover our bills after the massive refi on the house.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

As a veteran, I don’t know how to quit, but in this case I need help or it won’t happen.

John and Denise Holtz

Holtz Heavy Haul LLC

Veteran Owned and Operated