Every risk is an opportunity.

And every opportunity comes with risk.

I’ve always tried to live by faith, trusting that things will work out no matter the direction I am guided.

Well, in 2021, I made three big investments or what I’m calling “bets.”

The “Bets”

1. $30,000 → Amazon “done-for-you” store

2. $110,000 → Freight trucking investment

3. $2,500 → Starting my own e-commerce business

At the time, I had about $95,000 to my name (not counting retirement accounts). I essentially put all of it and more into these opportunities.

How It Played Out

Bet #1: “Done For You” Amazon Store – $30K

I hired a company to create and run an Amazon store for me. They bought personal care products at wholesale costs and sold them for a profit on my Amazon store. I saw early returns in month two.

But by month four, the account was permanently shut down by Amazon. Apparently this is against their policy.

Game over. No appeal. No second chance. Banned for life.

Bet #2: Freight Trucking – $110K

This one required me to take out a $50,000 personal loan just to get in.

• Loan: 5 years at 14%

• Payment: $1,165/month

I paid this company $110,000 to profit share on hauling hazmat loads across the country. They needed the capital to expand their fleet of trucks. The deal was a 70/30 profit split in my favor on a truck that was “assigned” to me.

The expectation was I wouldn’t start seeing profit splits for 9-12 months.

Sounds great, right?

I never saw a single dollar. The business slowly collapsed over two years.

Bet #3: My Own Business – <$2,500

I bought an e-commerce course, a computer, and started building based on what I learned from the course.

At first… it lost money every single month for a few years.

The Reality (2021–2023)

At this point, I was working full-time at Humana And Kara was still in PT school. We had our normal living expenses plus an extra personal loan and all three investments were either failing or already dead.

I thought I’d have income coming in from at least one of them to cover the personal loan.

But I was wrong.

By end of 2023, I had to accept: The money was gone and not coming back.

What We Did Next

We didn’t panic

• Kara graduated PT school and started working → second income

• I kept grinding on the business every day

• We consolidated and attacked other debt aggressively

• Used a 0% balance transfers + strict budgeting

We weren’t winning yet…but we were still in the game.

2024: Pressure Gets Real

We wanted to buy a house and start a family. But:

• We refused to sell the condo (it had ~$120K equity → future rental)

• I still had a large portion of the personal loan balance

So I had to make another move:

I took a 401(k) Loan ~$33K

• Paid off remainder of personal loan

• Personal loan dropped from my credit history and freed up enough space for home loan mortgage approval

• Paid myself ~9% interest (back into my retirement)

• Resulted in 4-years worth of payroll deduction loan payments

But as I mentioned, It gave us the flexibility to qualify for a home.

Within the same month:

• We bought the house

• Found out Kara was pregnant

AND Everything accelerated again!

The Breaking Point

At this time:

• ~$50K business debt

• $33K 401k loan

• Still sharing one car

• Business still struggling

Honestly… we were about 6–8 months away from shutting the business down.But we believed in it.

The Turning Point

Fall 2024, I made a decision:

I went all in on humidors.

No more scattered focus. No more trying to do everything.

Just one niche. Done right.

The Comeback

In 2024 the business profited $8,000. Small win but proof it worked. So I went all in

• Took a small business loan to clear ~$40K debt

• Repayment terms: 10% of every sale

I paid it off in about 6 months.

In 2025 we profited $50,000

Now it’s real. We became debt-free from the business by Sunny’s first birthday in December 2025.

Where We Are Now (2026)

• After Q1 2026 we already profited $50,000

• My 401(k) loan: Paid off

• 2025 Income Taxes: Paid

• Car loan: ~$10K left (will be gone by summer)

For the first time…

Everything we earn actually goes toward our life and not digging out of the past.

The Lesson

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this:

Bet on yourself.

I don’t regret the other investments.

They didn’t work but they taught me what matters:

• Do better due diligence

• Understand the risks

• Don’t rely on others to build your outcome

Because the smallest bet I made…was on myself. And it turned out to be the one that worked.

Final Thought

It took 5 years to get here.

• 2021-23: LOTS OF LOSSES

• 2024: $8K

• 2025: $50K

• Q1 2026: $50K

Nothing happened overnight. It was just showing up every single day stacking effort, even when it didn’t feel like it was working.

What’s Next?

Over the course of the next month. I will officially be rebranding Trusted Home Goods to Trusted Humidors. It’s a strategic pivot to position myself more as the authority in a close knit niche. I believe it will accelerate growth even more.

I don’t know what the rest of 2026 will look like. But I do know this:

I’ll still be showing up.

Love You All!

Georgie B

Pics of Sunny Bunny