04/17/2020
The Pilates Hive is NOT open.
For those of you who are my clients and friends, I thought you might want to know what is going on with small business owners (self-employed).
Unemployment was never made for the self employed. So when the federal government opened it up several weeks ago to us, that was great news except for one thing: No one was prepared for it.
I applied for unemployment that day. It was clear it didn’t like my answers, being self employed (they didn’t have time to update the site). My claim immediately went into “denied” status. For the last 3 weeks, I have been trying to get answers or help, to no avail. The website kept crashing the first 2 weeks, so I couldn’t even log in. When you called the phone number, it just hung up on you. Same when you call MARVIN (the number you have to call every 2 weeks to prove you are still unemployed so you can get a check). Online chat times out the minute you open it.
I called my state representatives and the governor to apprise them of the situation.
I heard back from my federal reps only, who told me to contact my local rep for this issue. I did, and got a return call from my local rep the next day, who is supposed to help us navigate this. They said they had an inside person at the unemployment office to help and would pass my file along to them. That was 4 days ago, and I still haven’t heard back. In the meantime, I updated a form, and saw that my claim was yet again denied, and that any benefit dollar amount I would receive is $0.00.
I also applied for the federal aid package. Crickets.
I am going on 4 weeks with no income, but still have my monthly bills that have to be paid. Due to the Governor’s order, I can look forward to a minimum of 2 more weeks. This is unsustainable for small businesses.
Just wanted to share my experience.
I believe that we can be creative enough to find a both/and solution to this crisis.....yet all I see right now is an either/or.
Today's post was supposed to be about pretty outdoor home decor to zhush up your patio, but all that changed when I read that the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) funding designed to help small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis has
