Hi everyone!

At the beginning of this year I took a massive leap into taking control of my life, my autonomy, and my overall happiness. I left a salaried job that made me miserable to become a barber full-time, taking the plunge into the world of the self-employed.

I began this journey with buffers and multiple contingency plans in place to support me if business didn't pick up as quickly as I needed it to, but all the while I was seeing a fast growth in my number of clientele and in my skills and the services I could offer as a barber-stylist. Each week was better than the week before. In addition to this, I'd finally found something that made me excited to get up and go to work each day.

Things were uncertain, as is the nature of self-employment and financial independence, but I could see success on the horizon.

But of course, the universe has a funny way of doing things sometimes. In the midst of everything, I suffered a bad fall and shattered my left elbow on a sidewalk.

The injury is commonly known as a "terrible triad" which in short means I had to get surgery and a plate in my elbow to replace my shattered radial head.

The recovery process for this sort of injury is long (4-5 months) and puts me at reduced capacity as a barber. The types of services I can do with one hand are limited to very few and are typically cheaper services. I anticipate these services taking longer than they normally would as well which impacts how many clients I can take on a daily basis (not to mention my reduced stamina and agility while healing). Basically, due to the impact of this injury, income will be sparse for a while.

It's hard not to be discouraged when something like this occurs right when you make a big change for the better. However, as difficult a position this injury puts me in, I refuse to let this setback take me from my passions.

If you are in the place to offer any financial assistance for rent and bills until I can work at full capacity again, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you to all who have supported in a multitude of ways thus far!

-Abby