I've just been through the most difficult summer of my life. Building a business under adverse conditions like housing insecurity, evictions, disability, and
trauma is not for the faint of heart. Panicking to find a way to make rent, we launched
m before it was ready. I was sleeping every other night to bring it to launch, and I completely burned out with debilitating long covid symptoms.
I am just getting around to recovering now.
No one has the spoons to work on the mockup or marketing needed to make Forjery work, so we have decided to sell off the assets so myself and my partners in business can recoup losses and pursue something else. For me, Forjery was just a pathway to Villej. The loss feels big. I had high hopes that would solve income problems for myself and my business partners.
At the same time, there are multiple pathways to success here, and I'm now dedicating myself full time to the Villej marketplace and to building a community brand around solidarity and collaboration for the neurodivergent community. I will be posting videos on my personal profile and the Villej profile on all the socials. Simultaneously, I am building the marketplace and an onboarding system.
The way it works is pretty simple.
I have reached out to Michelle Brandt of Universall Feelings (
) to be our print on demand supplier. For things we can't get through Michelle's business, we will go through POD suppliers until we find a neurodivergent person who is able to make the things and wants to be a supplier. That's the manufacturing level.
On the marketplace level, I am building it on Shopify (as the marketplace earns revenue, we will build our own platform) as a multivendor marketplace, so any neurodivergent person can apply to come on board as a vendor. I have help from Lavra Tamutus of The Moneyless Society (
On the public side, I'll invite designers and makers to set up shop. For designers, it's similar to RedBubble, with a process for using Michelle Brandt's products. For makers, it's like Etsy, only you'll get hands on help with the listing process with mutual aid systems I've learned about through microsolidarity.
For marketing, I'm creating a social media Community Brand centered on neurodivergent Community Wealth. I'll establish an affiliate system and engage with neurodivergent influencers and companies to promote the system, onboarding, and co-creating solidarity. We'll also share our stories and collaborate with other community wealth builders to build support systems.
By supporting our marketplace, you're reinvesting in our community. As the marketplace team gains stable income, we'll allocate proceeds to mutual aid funds and community initiatives.
There are many other components to this, but this is the broad overview of how a circular community company will work.
I better get back to getting the basic onboarding system ready. Can't wait to show you!
Friday
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