Help for Debtors (legacy service site of BDA Workshops,
BDA members helping BDA members ... and DA members too)
About BDA
Business Debtors Anonymous (BDA) is a distinct and dynamic but not separate part of DA, created to focus on the recovery of members of the fellowship who are business owners. Together, members of BDA support one another in applying the DA principles and tools when owning and running a business.
However, as part of DA, there is no separate membership for attending Business Debtors Anonymous meetings. As it states in DA’s 3rd Tradition, "The only requirement for DA membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt." This applies to both personal and professional debt. It is understood that paying bills for goods and services rendered according to agreed-upon terms does not constitute debting.
How do you know if you are a compulsively debting business owner? Some of the experiences and behaviors that led to compulsive debting were:
We neither knew when bills or taxes were due, nor did we remember if and what we had paid or still owed.
We confused our personal finances with our business finances.
We often did not know the exact costs of our overhead, operating expenses, or profit margins.
We had no business plan.
We lived in a state of deprivation for the sake of our business.
We undervalued and under-priced our goods and services.
https://debtorsanonymous.org/getting-started/business-debtors-anonymous/
In modern times, BDA membership includes not only business owners, but also independent contractors and the self-employed. If you attend this or other BDA meetings, you will also hear members who are in management and sales positions, using the DA principles and BDA Tools to bring their recovery and spirituality into their work lives. Plus so many artists and writers and musicians. Oh, my!
Some BDA members are retired, or on fixed incomes for other reasons, and are working to develop multiple streams of income, some active income streams and some passive. Last but not least, BDA is home to countless members who have an idea or an inspiration for a business or to be a business owner and are growing spiritually as they prepare to take new actions in pursuit of their visions.
All the DA members described here, and many more, are welcome to attend BDA meetings. Once more, because it's one of our most important DA and BDA principles, "The only requirement for DA membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt." In our experience, every BDA meeting is a DA meeting, but not every DA meeting is a BDA meeting.
— Host group members of BDA Workshops
As grateful as we are for [the] tools for business owners and other tools of DA, we have found that it is only through working the Twelve Steps of Debtors Anonymous that lasting solvency, recovery, and serenity may be obtained for our businesses and ourselves.
from the pamphlet "Business Debtors Anonymous"
BDA Help for Debtors
Responsibilities and Activities (no longer active)
Reaching out to and fielding inquiries about BDA from the public, the media, and various professional communities.
Handling other inter-meeting communication, especially publication of a BDA Help for Debtors newsletter.
Maintaining and distributing a current list of interested BDA meetings — days, times, and locations.
Maintaining a website with relevant information for the worldwide BDA community — BDA events, free DA and BDA literature, meeting support materials, public information, and other resources — and for people interested in finding out more about DA and BDA.
Reaching out to the international community of BDA groups and members.
Hosting BDA workshops and special events.
Offering the following pieces of physical or digital DA and BDA literature at no cost to anyone who requests them, anywhere in the world:
DA’s A Currency of Hope (paper or digital)
DA’s “12, 12, and 12” book (paper or digital)
DA's 2020 Pamphlet Collection (digital only, available only in the US)
Please use the form at Free Literature to submit your request.
DA's Threefold Purpose
In DA and BDA, our purpose is threefold: to stop incurring unsecured debt, to share our experience with the newcomer, and to reach out to other debtors.
BDA Help for Debtors Mission
To create and develop a spiritual and service environment in which Business Debtors Anonymous (BDA) and its members can grow and thrive.
BDA Help for Debtors Vision
We are a peaceful, collaborative, high-functioning service team, energizing each other and fueling each other’s recovery and participation. We are focused on the recovering debtor and business owner, plus those still-suffering, both inside and outside our DA and BDA rooms, and are enjoying great diversity, including ages, genders, cultures, and nationalities. We have fun in BDA service!