Hello! I’m Jeanette. I’ve never had to write this sort of thing before, I’ll do my best to explain my situation.
Things were going satisfactory until my love passed away last March (2023), after being in and out of hospitals and physical rehab centers. Denny didn’t have insurance, or money in his bank account to speak of. After he passed, I no longer had his SS check to help pay living expenses. (We lived check to with his SS and my SSD. neither had retirement funds, but we were doing ok).
To make up for the deficit of no longer getting Den’s checks, I sold our things to get money to supplement the SSD that I receive. That “extra” money was short-lived.
In mourning Denny, I was very depressed and only “existing” emotionally and physically. Just going through the motions of “living”, not paying a lot of attention to anything. Including my dwindling finances.
Eight months later, life has smacked me in the face, to wake me up to the fact that I am broke. My Mom has offered to send me $60.00 a month, and although I appreciate the funds, it’s just a drop in the financial trouble bucket. I had applied for work, but employers have no interest in me when they find out I had work related surgeries and collected workers compensation. So I’m “damaged goods”. I know this is illegal, they just didn’t contact me, or when I contacted them, they’d tell me the position has been filled.
I didn’t know what to do, so I “borrowed” from my credit union through “courtesy pay”, where they’ll let an overdraft on the checking account go through, with a $29.00 fee attached for each transaction. This was paid automatically through the next deposit of funds. So now it’s snowballed to where the monies left from SSD (I’d only “borrow” up to the amount of my rent payment) were already gone. I can no longer do this “borrowing” as a result. I’m in arrears with my credit union, and most of my bills. Waiting for the disconnection notices. I know this looks like I’m bad with money, I’m really not, with caring for Denny, and then his death, has put me in a financial tailspin.
I got online on the work from home websites, to try to get money, and got sucked into a survey one. After hours of answering questions for the potential survey only to get a “sorry you don’t fit this survey” message on most of them. It was then that I got suspicious and checked out these surveys to see if they’re scams, and yes, most are. The surveys that are legit a person can’t make a living wage on.
I found out about Tywanna WAHJobQueen, who posts legitimate work from home jobs on her website. With reputable companies (insurance, health, hotels etc.). These want experience, such as three years experience for the specific position, which I don’t have. (I was a scenic artist and then a painter for a major resort).
So my solution is to get into the jewelry business that I’ve been exploring for a few years, along with practicing creating jewelry. When Den got sick, he had the beginnings of dementia, which progressed as time went by. My focus was caring for him, until I couldn’t. The jewelry business was set aside. He also had hip problems, and surgeries for intestinal blockage and a tracheotomy. He contracted pneumonia in the hospital. his trach tube, throat and lungs needing to be suctioned to remove the secretions on a regular basis. I was able to stay for a few nights out of the week with him in his hospital room. He was in a Jacksonville, Fl specialty hospital a two hour drive one way from Orlando, Fl where our home is. Then he was transferred to a “rehab center”, still in Jacksonville. I couldn’t stay the night there, so I made the long drives to visit him there. I was trying to get Den into a place here in Orlando, but before I could, he was found unresponsive in his bed, by a nurse, and rushed to the hospital where he passed. His cremains are here now, home with me in Orlando.
Now that I can handle his passing a little better, I’m ready to continue on with the jewelry business. I looked into Etsy to sell, but it’s saturated withsellers. I attempted to sell on my neighborhood website. I had a heck of a time finding my jewelry posts, they were buried by posts on lost pets, other people selling things and the like. I’ve looked into SquareSpace, they do charge a fee for a domain, the platform seems good, though. I can look into the free sites, but I have a feeling they’ll be like Etsy.
What I really want to do is create custom made cuffs for the client, with their input, to create one of a kind pieces for them. I’ll also offer pre-made jewelry for sale, and I have a name for the business. Jeanette’s Custom Made Cuffs and Jewelry.
To get started up, my desktop computer needs to be upgraded to Windows 10 or 11. (I’m on my laptop writing this) So that I’ll be able to use my printer, (plugged into the desktop) for shipping labels. I can’t afford the upgrade, and I’ve read that the free ones can’t be trusted for security so I don’t want to chance it with my business dealings.
I’m lacking in inventory (memory wire, beading wire, crystals, beads, gems, stones and findings). I have items that I bought through a website years ago. (before I knew what I was doing, that I needed quality products from a reputable vendor). I can’t use those items for jewelry to sell, for I don’t know if the products have metals in them that can cause allergic reactions. Or if the beads are made of cheap materials. So I need to essentially start from scratch. I have a vendor that I like and trust, Fire Mountain Gems and Beads. I’ve purchased a few items from them.
In conclusion, I have a need for :
Financial help to live, get current with and stay current with my bills. While I start my business.
Get the Windows program that my desktop requires.
Jewelry inventory to make ready to sell pieces, with money held back for items required for clients’ custom pieces.
Set up a web store
Starting this business has been a plan of mine for quite a while, life kept happening. Now that I’m alone, I can devote my attention to it, and become a successful venture. I purchased a book a while back, “How To Start A Jewelry Business” by Lauren G. Williams. It covers everything, from setting up, through legal, how and where to sell and resources. Plus everything in between.
I have many designs sketched out in notebooks, eager to be proposed to clients as a base for their jewelry.
I understand starting a business is tough. But I am too! I really believe that the custom jewelry business will be unique enough to fill a niche and be successful. I feel presumptuous giving a dollar amount to help me with all of this, but we’re encouraged to. I’ll say $5,000.
Thank You for reading this!
Paypal.me/JeanetteJewels