My Best Friend Embezzled $1.5M From My Company. Here's What I Learned About Trust in Business. After losing everything to someone he trusted, this entrepreneur developed a system to protect others from the same fate.

In 2013, entrepreneur Steve Distante discovered that his childhood best friend and senior executive had systematically embezzled $1.5 million from his business over several years. The betrayal came to light when Distante noticed $300,000 missing from his account shortly after making a down payment on a new building.

"As I was going through this, I realized it's not a matter of if but when someone will steal from you," Distante says. "Many people approached me afterward, sharing similar stories." This revelation not only helped him process his own trauma but also inspired him to assist other business owners in preparing for the inevitable.

The experience taught Distante crucial lessons about financial oversight. He emphasizes the importance of having bank statements mailed directly to your home address, not your business. Regular review of processed checks and credit card statements might seem basic, but these fundamental practices are often overlooked. "These aren't just controls," he says. "They're your business's immune system."

Related: Driving Growth: Why Your Company Needs A Fractional CFO

Turning pain into purpose

Rather than let the betrayal destroy him, Distante channeled his pain into writing. His journey as an author began with Pitchology, a book aimed at protecting fellow entrepreneurs from financial predators, particularly in dealings with private equity firms and capital raises.

His second book, Once Upon a Time in Entrepreneur Land, takes a unique approach to sharing business wisdom through fables. "Writing is therapeutic," Distante explains. "It helps me not relive the trauma but relieve it." The book includes stories like "The Watchmaker," which parallel his own experience of betrayal and recovery.

Related: Employee Theft is More Common Than You Think. This is What You Should Do About It.

Crisis management toolkit

When the 2008 financial crisis hit, Distante developed a four-column system for survival that he still uses today. The first column addresses easily reducible expenses. The second tackles harder decisions, like staffing levels and facility costs. The third focuses on vendor relationships, where Distante found unexpected flexibility. "I approached vendors honestly, telling them I was in trouble," he says. "Many gave me six to nine months of relief."

The fourth column represents the point of no return—decisions that would mean the death of the business.

Distante learned that piecemeal cost-cutting can actually accelerate a company's decline. "What most businesses do is they take one or two employees and fire them, then next Friday take two more," he explains. "Your A-players hit the road because of the uncertainty." Instead, he advocates for making all necessary cuts at once, going deeper than initially seems necessary.

Building forward: the next generation

Distante's latest project focuses on nurturing future entrepreneurs through a children's book targeting 8-to-12-year-olds. "We bring them through a circus that determines if you're an entrepreneur," he explains. "Do you like roller coasters? Do you like jumping out of a plane? If you're an entrepreneur, you probably say, 'Give me more.'"

The book challenges the stereotype of entrepreneurs as merely profit-driven. "Yeah, we like money because it's like food and air. If we don't have money, we can't do anything," Distante says. "But once we have enough, we want to be good to the people who help us and make the world a better place."

Managing risk and reward

Today, Distante approaches risk management as an ongoing practice rather than a reactive measure. Creating contingency plans and developing multiple revenue streams has become second nature. "You need these systems in place before the crisis hits," he advises. "They're like insurance for your business's future."

Distante understands that assets can also be drawbacks for entrepreneurs. "We like risk—it's in our DNA," Distante says. But the greatest thing about entrepreneurs is their confidence, and the worst thing about entrepreneurs is their confidence."