Hello,

I’m currently the co-founder of a startup that’s in idea phase. My co-founder is also my partner and we live together. We’re both students in junior year at university. He studies engineering and I study computer science.

Our company has been able to secure a little seed funding money. We’re currently working on the app portion of our platform which won’t be finished until December. I’m in charge or building the app so it’s pretty low cost. What will cost the most right now is the prototyping of our device. Especially if we need to try different things before settling on a design.

Our living expenses are fairly low but rent might be a problem soon. I don’t want to divulge too much on our personal lives but currently we’re living rent free because of my partner’s parents but we’ve decided to get a place together because our current living conditions aren’t great. There’s a lot of tension with him and his family. Part of that tension is because I live with him and that makes his family upset. If we move, we’ll have to cover rent ourselves.

I’ve been a hair braider for 6 years and stopped about a year ago for multiple reasons including the fact that my hands would cramp severely (recently recovered from that), it takes so much time, I wasn’t passionate about it, and I wanted more time to focus on coursework without the mental stress and tiredness that braiding hair brings. I also completed a summer internship this year at a Fortune 500 company and made decent money but wasn’t able to secure a fall internship. So I’m unemployed.

My boyfriend is also unemployed for whatever reasons. So we’re broke. But we’re building our startup and even though it’s not profitable now, it has the potential to be in the next 6 months or sooner if we grind. But we need money now.

Our living expenses are starting to creep up on us. Right now I have like $400 to my name. Groceries alone are very expensive and my boyfriend alone eats for two people. I have my phone bill, subscriptions for school + a few others, credit cards to pay down (less than $1,000 total) and just day to day things to cover. If we move (which seems inevitable atp), that will add another $800 - $1,000 to my monthly expenses. My boyfriend has a ton of credit card debt, some of it (about $2,000 - 3,000) is money I owe him from him covering groceries + buying me a new work computer so I can build the app + other day to day expenses).

Objectively, I don’t mind working again and braiding hair to make money to cover living expenses but I fear it will 1. Take time from us building our business and 2. Landing me where I was before when I didn’t feel passionate and was in physical pain from braiding hair all the time + failing classes. It seems like the best option right now because I need cash like yesterday, but there might be a better way.

I’ve gotten way better with my mindset towards braiding and I’ve learned many tips that will help me be more efficient + prioritize self care.

Any suggestions on what we should do would help greatly.