I was a schoolteacher. I don't know how to be a businessperson.
When I lost my vision I had to stop teaching and that was the hardest thing for me. I felt like my life was over and I spent two or three years in just... I was not a graceful. I did not become a blind person gracefully. I was miserable and terrible and horrible to everybody I knew. It was not a pretty time.
When I started taking classes at Hadley, they weren't initially business classes. I never envisioned being an entrepreneur or businessperson, I was taking life skills classes. Nobody realizes what it means to take a class or a webinar... I took one on how to put on makeup without being able to see and that was life-changing.
And my confidence grew by taking these classes. It gave me the confidence to even try something new. And when I tried something new and this business started happening, Hadley then, after giving me the confidence, gave me the skills. You know, they taught me how to do a spreadsheet and a marketing plan and it didn't cost me anything other than believing in myself as much as my instructors at Hadley believed in me.
So Hadley doesn't just help businesses. I mean, they gave me my life back.
For more information on Hadley Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship, visit hadley.edu/fce.