What do you think about when you hear the word "homeless?" Can you imagine having a friend that you spend time with who is actually homeless? I never thought so, but one of my friends has been homeless now for a couple of weeks.
Last year, I met Sharon Harris at my local synagogue. She was was an Uber driver at that time, and told us about her entrepeneurial activities. She has a business called MyHebrewRoots.us that she is trying to get off the ground. As a nurse, she found that a lot of products contain unhealthy ingredients, so she created her own line of personal care and skin care products.
Sharon went on to drive cars for a company that was selling cars at auctions, and while on the job, was T-boned in a wreck, resulting in numerous pains and doctors visits, and the ability to do certain types of work. She received Worker's Compensation for a while, then they suddenly cut that off. Unfortunately, the legal system grinds slowly and her lawyers are working with her. She had just recently rented an office/warehouse space for her business, and was actually living there. That's how dedicated she is to her business.
One of the things that amazes me about Sharon is her positive attitude throughout the whole ordeal. I'm sure she has her ups and downs, but she is always cheerful when I talk to her. She definitely has the attitude of gratitude, and a strong feeling that everything is going somehow work out.
In her case, being homeless doesn't mean being uneducated or even totally broke; it means she doesn't have a home or apartment of her own in which to live and sleep. That results in staying at friends, or facilities that I imagine are similar to Salvation Army. She actually did a radio show with a mutual friend on the topic of "Homelessness in America". She didn't even give a hint during that show that she was homesless herself.
You can hear that interview here: radio show
Sharon's Worker's Compensation stopped, and she couldn't pay her rent. Being a commercial space, the landlord was legally allowed to what's called a "lock-out" (i.e. changing the lock on the door) which made her homeless. Now, after a couple of weeks, he's filed the eviction process.
I'm working with Sharon to get her some gigs as a content writer. Many businesses need articles written for their websites or for search engine optimization (SEO), so I made a video and posted to some of the SEO groups that I'm in. I do SEO in the Dallas area.
We did two different videos a few weeks apart. The first was her entry into the UPS video pitch contest. We did it late night, right before the deadline, so we ended-up using props from around my apartment. I think it turned out to be one of the most interesting submitted, but she didn't have enough votes to get into the final round.
Then, I did this one to promote her as a Content Writer (which is one of the purposes of this current post):
This month, Sharon is graduating from a woman's entrepreneurial series of courses, tied to Ebby Halliday realty company in Dallas. She attended a variety of classes including pitching, bookkeeping, and marketing, and she was assigned a mentor to help work on her business plan.
She has a desktop computer in her office, but she currently has to wait get access to a computer at the library during her current lock-out. I had her write a test SEO article on three geniuses of cryptocurrency: Satoshi Nakamoto, Vitalik Buterin, and Dan Larimer. She didn't know anything abou the topic, but she googled the info and came up with just what I needed for an SEO article. I think she can kick out one high quality article per hour, or two shorter lower quality "SEO" articles" per hour.
I like to see her step back into the "real world" by getting a month-to-month hotel/apartment, and start doing the content writing and other work as a Virtual Assistant (V.A.s). A lot of people I know have V.A. in India or the Philippines, but many realize the extra value of having a someone local, in the same time zone, with nursing degree and 20 years of life expereince.
I recently asked her what her BHAG was - that stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. I knew her immediate goal is to get a home, and get her business going. But I asked her what she would do after she made a million dollars in her business. She didn't bat an eye, and tole me that she had a vision for getting a warehouse and creating her own homeless shelter with guards that helped people be and feel safe, and provide those staying there with better quality food. This is the kind of people I like to hang with!
If you know anyone who immediately needs a Virtual Assistant, or a content writer, please contact me from the instructions in the above video. Please follow and encourage Sharon when she starts blogging on SteemIt. https://steemit.com/@myhebrewroots. I've told her how great it is, but it will take a while to build up on it.
[I took the liberty of using the IntroduceYourself tag, as I'm introducing Sharon on her behalf.]