Emily, Trey, & Simon's Big Recovery
Donation protected
We're Emily, Simon, and Trey - you might know us better by our business name, Nightengale Needles - and we need your help to get our finances back on track.
UPDATED FUNDING STATUS, 11/22/2016:
What we've raised so far: $5880
* $2.5K to resolve our outstanding obligations to our current landlord
* $1K to sever old lease
* $1980 to pay 1st month and 1st deposit of new lease
* $400 to cover moving expenses (rental vehicle, utility deposits, supplies, etc)
WHAT WE STILL NEED: $3995
* $990 to pay December rent to our new landlord (due: before Dec 1)
* $1015 to resolve our severance fee obligation to our old landlord (due: Dec 31)
* $1K to pay the most pressing medical bills (most are overdue)
* $990 to pay 2nd deposit of new lease (due: Dec 31)
We're halfway there, but if we don't stick this landing, it's all for naught. Making our rent payments on-time at our new place is of utmost importance, but unfortunately, our next convention begins ON the 1st of December -- just barely not in time.
We want to show our new landlord that he was right to take a chance on us. We're saving everything that comes in, being as frugal as we can. And we have put a lot of effort into our Black Friday Weekend sales. We're working our butts off, but we don't want to take the chance that we'll fall short. We have too much to accomplish, in too little time remaining.
We wouldn't be here without you, but our situation is still tenuous, far too fragile. Please help us -- this next $990 is the most important milestone yet.
* * * * *
Original campaign text continues below:
For the SHORT VERSION, please read below! For an in-depth, brutally honest assessment of what we've done to help ourselves, how this situation came to be, and who we are, please continue reading to the end!
OUR SOLUTION:
We have identified neighborhoods - and available properties - that we could move to, which would slash our expenditures in grocery, rent, and utilities. It would also reduce our public transit costs by putting us closer to places we need to take buses to.
We will be using the money raised through this Go Fund Me to pay our outstanding debts: first utility & housing bills, then medical bills, then credit card debts if there's any left over.
Our need is immediate. Paying our back rent and securing a new place to live is of paramount urgency. If we can't land a place to live in time, we'll finish out our contract in our current apartment, but we'll probably be paying more in the long run due to energy costs through the winter, and rising grocery costs in this neighborhood.
We intend to use the money in the order listed above, with highest priority on bringing ourselves current on our current obligations. We've set the goal amount optimistically, but please be assured that howevermuch this campaign raises, minus the 8% of fees that GoFundMe gets, will be used fully and directly to help resolve our crisis situation.
That's the short version. Here's the long one:
HOW WE GOT HERE:
2016 has not treated us well. (1) We've had just as many customers, but as is typical in election years, everyone's nervous and wallets are drawn tighter. This year, it's been worse than usual. (2) Last winter, we were taken advantage of by a contract employee who lost us a huge amount of money over the holidays. (3) We used our savings up in recovering from this. This past March, a huge (seriously, the box was bigger than me) shipment of our fabric was lost in the mail on its way to us, which (4) caused financial strain as well as making us unable to stock any units of our most popular products for several key conventions, includingTekko. (5) As a result we were unable to make the sales that we were counting on. Our budget tightened further. (6) The random lottery selection processes of many of our usual conventions did not favor us, leaving larger than usual gaps between our points of income. (7) Negotiations for a large custom order abruptly fell through in August, leaving us emptyhanded after two months' unpaid development & labor. (8) And the final straw broke at the end of last month, when two solid conventions, where we've always made solid margins, both experienced a record low of sales across nearly all vendors there -- including ourselves.
"A series of unfortunate events," you could call it, and you'd be right. Up to this point, we've scrimped and cut corners and gone a little hungry...and then a little more hungry... because we trusted that it would turn around. We figured the streak of coincidences would break soon. We kept working hard, kept our noses to the grindstone, and kept pushing through. That's what being self-employed is: You know that sometimes it'll be rough. You commit to pushing through when you choose this line of work. You absorb losses as best as you can when they happen, and you adapt to protect yourself for the next time.
But somehow, this time, every next "it" that we worked for didn't pan out, and now we're facing facts.
The gap isn't closing, and we need to take drastic measures before our situation erodes any further. We're broke, and we have tried our hardest not to be.
We need your help.
WHAT WE'VE DONE TO HELP OURSELVES:
We've looked at our situation critically. We've identified where the weakest links still are, and what can be done about them. We've considered abandoning the business and getting retail jobs. (It would actually pay less to do that - but yes, we did run the math.)
We've asked our parents for help and they've generously given all they can. We've taken extra orders and offered new products to try to inspire additional income. And we've taken out low-interest loans to pay down our highest-interest accounts, in an attempt to chip away at the gap between our expenses and income.
Right now, aside from credit card interest payments, we're bleeding money primarily due to living near city center, where prices on everything from groceries to rent are higher. Also, our apartment is - despite the essential repairs to close holes in the windows which we fought to have done by the landlords - and despite repairs we've made ourselves - still dismally energy-inefficient. And we pay for electric heat.
A complete pivot of our situation is needed to allow us to shake off this dismal year and proceed forward with as much independence and strength as you all know we are capable of.
A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR LIVES & BUSINESS
Hi, I'm Emily Smith. (Gale.) This isn't an easy post for me to make, because asking for help isn't really in my nature. Growing up, there was a newspaper clipping on our fridge that I looked at every day: "GUTS AND HARD WORK." I tried to live by that ideal as I navigated school and started my own business, and I still try to, today.
Nightengale Needles began in 2008. From 2008 to 2013, I was a one-woman storm of LGBT+ positivity & cute fleece hats and stuffed animals. I developed a big customer base and a solid reputation among the attendees, staff, and other vendors at the events I participated in. I even took a spin at running an event, and did a good job of answering vendor needs, convention needs, and pleasing attendees, too. I sold online as an early adopter of the Etsy selling platform , and I was one of the very first vendors to adopt the now-ubiquitous Square platform for accepting in-person credit & debit card sales.
Simon and Trey Yacek are my partners in love and in business. In them, I found what I had been unable to find in a singular romantic partner, no matter how hard I looked. (It's called ethical polyamory, I encourage you to look it up, it makes a great read.) I hired them on to work with me at NN as customer demand continued to outstrip my ability to keep up.
And things were great. Production and demand both boomed. We invested time in our business creating new patterns and inventing new products. We invested in ourselves, using our new health insurance to seek treatment for longstanding health challenges, both physical and mental, which had long gone untreated. Our relationship grew and healed and grew some more, and the three of us have knitted together into an ever-tighter unified family.
We're mentally healthier and physically healthier than we've ever been. We're here, we're queer, we're neurodivergent, we're survivors, and we're loud about all of that. We're focused, we're inspired, we're strong. We have been pushing through every challenge put in front of us and we've been doing it with love and enthusiasm. We put ourselves and our identities out there for the sake of every person who needs to see a role model, a survivor, a success story. Our outreach efforts at conventions and online, and our support of the youngest generation of our queer LGBT family, continue to expand and become ever-more robust. We've literally and directly saved lives (we know because the lives told us so).
We love what we do. We also make a solid living doing it. We help others, we help ourselves, we make ends meet, we feed our cats and our Yorkie. We pay our bills and we get our shit done.
Except, right now, we're out of resources.
Money is the only thing we can't create. Money is what we need to keep making everything we do, to keep living our best lives and to keep our business going. To keep our apartment, and to keep our lights on. To keep being able to help the people that we need to help, we need help.
Please help us pull out of this before it's too late. Please help us never have to make this plea ever again.
Thank you.
With infinite love,
Simon, Trey, and Emily/Gale.
UPDATED FUNDING STATUS, 11/22/2016:
What we've raised so far: $5880
* $2.5K to resolve our outstanding obligations to our current landlord
* $1K to sever old lease
* $1980 to pay 1st month and 1st deposit of new lease
* $400 to cover moving expenses (rental vehicle, utility deposits, supplies, etc)
WHAT WE STILL NEED: $3995
* $990 to pay December rent to our new landlord (due: before Dec 1)
* $1015 to resolve our severance fee obligation to our old landlord (due: Dec 31)
* $1K to pay the most pressing medical bills (most are overdue)
* $990 to pay 2nd deposit of new lease (due: Dec 31)
We're halfway there, but if we don't stick this landing, it's all for naught. Making our rent payments on-time at our new place is of utmost importance, but unfortunately, our next convention begins ON the 1st of December -- just barely not in time.
We want to show our new landlord that he was right to take a chance on us. We're saving everything that comes in, being as frugal as we can. And we have put a lot of effort into our Black Friday Weekend sales. We're working our butts off, but we don't want to take the chance that we'll fall short. We have too much to accomplish, in too little time remaining.
We wouldn't be here without you, but our situation is still tenuous, far too fragile. Please help us -- this next $990 is the most important milestone yet.
* * * * *
Original campaign text continues below:
For the SHORT VERSION, please read below! For an in-depth, brutally honest assessment of what we've done to help ourselves, how this situation came to be, and who we are, please continue reading to the end!
OUR SOLUTION:
We have identified neighborhoods - and available properties - that we could move to, which would slash our expenditures in grocery, rent, and utilities. It would also reduce our public transit costs by putting us closer to places we need to take buses to.
We will be using the money raised through this Go Fund Me to pay our outstanding debts: first utility & housing bills, then medical bills, then credit card debts if there's any left over.
Our need is immediate. Paying our back rent and securing a new place to live is of paramount urgency. If we can't land a place to live in time, we'll finish out our contract in our current apartment, but we'll probably be paying more in the long run due to energy costs through the winter, and rising grocery costs in this neighborhood.
We intend to use the money in the order listed above, with highest priority on bringing ourselves current on our current obligations. We've set the goal amount optimistically, but please be assured that howevermuch this campaign raises, minus the 8% of fees that GoFundMe gets, will be used fully and directly to help resolve our crisis situation.
That's the short version. Here's the long one:
HOW WE GOT HERE:
2016 has not treated us well. (1) We've had just as many customers, but as is typical in election years, everyone's nervous and wallets are drawn tighter. This year, it's been worse than usual. (2) Last winter, we were taken advantage of by a contract employee who lost us a huge amount of money over the holidays. (3) We used our savings up in recovering from this. This past March, a huge (seriously, the box was bigger than me) shipment of our fabric was lost in the mail on its way to us, which (4) caused financial strain as well as making us unable to stock any units of our most popular products for several key conventions, includingTekko. (5) As a result we were unable to make the sales that we were counting on. Our budget tightened further. (6) The random lottery selection processes of many of our usual conventions did not favor us, leaving larger than usual gaps between our points of income. (7) Negotiations for a large custom order abruptly fell through in August, leaving us emptyhanded after two months' unpaid development & labor. (8) And the final straw broke at the end of last month, when two solid conventions, where we've always made solid margins, both experienced a record low of sales across nearly all vendors there -- including ourselves.
"A series of unfortunate events," you could call it, and you'd be right. Up to this point, we've scrimped and cut corners and gone a little hungry...and then a little more hungry... because we trusted that it would turn around. We figured the streak of coincidences would break soon. We kept working hard, kept our noses to the grindstone, and kept pushing through. That's what being self-employed is: You know that sometimes it'll be rough. You commit to pushing through when you choose this line of work. You absorb losses as best as you can when they happen, and you adapt to protect yourself for the next time.
But somehow, this time, every next "it" that we worked for didn't pan out, and now we're facing facts.
The gap isn't closing, and we need to take drastic measures before our situation erodes any further. We're broke, and we have tried our hardest not to be.
We need your help.
WHAT WE'VE DONE TO HELP OURSELVES:
We've looked at our situation critically. We've identified where the weakest links still are, and what can be done about them. We've considered abandoning the business and getting retail jobs. (It would actually pay less to do that - but yes, we did run the math.)
We've asked our parents for help and they've generously given all they can. We've taken extra orders and offered new products to try to inspire additional income. And we've taken out low-interest loans to pay down our highest-interest accounts, in an attempt to chip away at the gap between our expenses and income.
Right now, aside from credit card interest payments, we're bleeding money primarily due to living near city center, where prices on everything from groceries to rent are higher. Also, our apartment is - despite the essential repairs to close holes in the windows which we fought to have done by the landlords - and despite repairs we've made ourselves - still dismally energy-inefficient. And we pay for electric heat.
A complete pivot of our situation is needed to allow us to shake off this dismal year and proceed forward with as much independence and strength as you all know we are capable of.
A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR LIVES & BUSINESS
Hi, I'm Emily Smith. (Gale.) This isn't an easy post for me to make, because asking for help isn't really in my nature. Growing up, there was a newspaper clipping on our fridge that I looked at every day: "GUTS AND HARD WORK." I tried to live by that ideal as I navigated school and started my own business, and I still try to, today.
Nightengale Needles began in 2008. From 2008 to 2013, I was a one-woman storm of LGBT+ positivity & cute fleece hats and stuffed animals. I developed a big customer base and a solid reputation among the attendees, staff, and other vendors at the events I participated in. I even took a spin at running an event, and did a good job of answering vendor needs, convention needs, and pleasing attendees, too. I sold online as an early adopter of the Etsy selling platform , and I was one of the very first vendors to adopt the now-ubiquitous Square platform for accepting in-person credit & debit card sales.
Simon and Trey Yacek are my partners in love and in business. In them, I found what I had been unable to find in a singular romantic partner, no matter how hard I looked. (It's called ethical polyamory, I encourage you to look it up, it makes a great read.) I hired them on to work with me at NN as customer demand continued to outstrip my ability to keep up.
And things were great. Production and demand both boomed. We invested time in our business creating new patterns and inventing new products. We invested in ourselves, using our new health insurance to seek treatment for longstanding health challenges, both physical and mental, which had long gone untreated. Our relationship grew and healed and grew some more, and the three of us have knitted together into an ever-tighter unified family.
We're mentally healthier and physically healthier than we've ever been. We're here, we're queer, we're neurodivergent, we're survivors, and we're loud about all of that. We're focused, we're inspired, we're strong. We have been pushing through every challenge put in front of us and we've been doing it with love and enthusiasm. We put ourselves and our identities out there for the sake of every person who needs to see a role model, a survivor, a success story. Our outreach efforts at conventions and online, and our support of the youngest generation of our queer LGBT family, continue to expand and become ever-more robust. We've literally and directly saved lives (we know because the lives told us so).
We love what we do. We also make a solid living doing it. We help others, we help ourselves, we make ends meet, we feed our cats and our Yorkie. We pay our bills and we get our shit done.
Except, right now, we're out of resources.
Money is the only thing we can't create. Money is what we need to keep making everything we do, to keep living our best lives and to keep our business going. To keep our apartment, and to keep our lights on. To keep being able to help the people that we need to help, we need help.
Please help us pull out of this before it's too late. Please help us never have to make this plea ever again.
Thank you.
With infinite love,
Simon, Trey, and Emily/Gale.
Organizer
Emily Smith
Organizer
Pittsburgh, PA