Nicholas’ Story

Nicholas Sampson, Twenty One - Twenty Four Enterprises
GA

When I left the Armed Forces I started a new chapter in my life writing and self-publishing children’s books. I wanted to help children learn and grow while instilling values of acceptance and tolerance. My books teach children to respect all people—no matter if they are different—and treat people with kindness and dignity. 

Until this year I’d found a good rhythm of publishing a book and using the sales from that edition to finance new projects. I’d also invest some of the earnings into our communities—my wife and I started a scholarship at our alma mater, called the First Step Scholarship, that helps first year students with school supplies. 

As our communities have suffered so too did my sales. I applied for both the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan. I didn’t request much; just enough to help me finance my latest anti-bullying book. 

The application process wasn’t as straightforward as I thought and my application for both programs were rejected. The rejection notices I received were pretty vague, too. Was it because I didn’t have high enough revenue? That seems like the opposite of how things should be done. It’s exactly businesses like mine that need the most support. Which is why it was so frustrating to see larger companies get help while those of us just getting by were rejected. 

I understand that we are all in the middle of a crisis and getting small business funding to stay afloat is challenging. The process would have been much better if there were some way to ensure true small businesses received that funding as opposed to bigger businesses.