Being in debt sucks. I’m sure you’d agree with me that dealing with debt and enduring financial losses are an incredibly painful and challenging situation. If your family is struggling with job insecurity, looking for work, facing unemployment or underemployment, it can really put stress on your relationship and a strain on the whole family.

Living in debt can bring up tremendous feelings of shame, guilt and loss. The fear and uncertainty of not knowing how to cover your expenses can lead you into a state of depression. I understand that only too well.  

I also know from personal experience that long-lasting and loving relationships can crumble under the weight of financial stress. Marriage counselors agree that financial challenges are the single biggest cause of divorce. 

Why Traditional Loans May Not Be Right for You

When your family is up against the financial wall and doesn’t have the money to pay rent and bills, you may think that taking out a loan is a good idea. But any bank or accredited lending institution will require you to have a good credit report and a source of collateral. 

Collateral is something that you pledge as security for repayment of a loan. Let’s say you own a home and your credit is good. But you need fast cash to pay a tax bill. To get a bank loan, you would sign a waiver to the deed naming the bank as the new owner of the house. And in the event you default on your loan meaning if you can’t repay the loan or miss any payments, the bank can take away your house. Bingo! You’re homeless.

If your credit has already taken a hit from being in debt and making late payments or defaulting on financial commitments, a traditional loan is out.

Asking to borrow money from friends or family can stir up a lot of uncomfortable issues and emotions. Being at your most vulnerable, you may cry or stammer at the prospect of being so ashamed to reveal just how bad things really are.

What I Did After Covid Wiped Out My Income

In 2020 when Covid swept through the United States, it wiped out millions of jobs and left many people unable to pay their rent and bills. That happened to me. Almost overnight I lost all my clients. And all of a sudden my husband, Angel and I went from a very comfortable 2 income family to a 1 income household and we couldn’t afford to pay our rent and bills.

Terrified of eviction I followed a friend’s suggestion to do research to find out if grants could help us. As an author, coach and online course instructor, doing research is in my bones. I was thrilled to discover that grants really could help us out of a very tight financial spot.

Grants are free money programs provided by the U.S. government for the purposes of providing financial assistance to people, their families and their businesses. Here is a small sampling of the help available:

• free debt counseling assistance
• loan forgiveness
• free legal assistance
• free food
• free clothing
• rebates on purchases
• rent or mortgage relief
• free job training
• free or low-cost medical care
• free business counseling
• free and low cost pet care

And there’s so much more.

My first research stop was to go to YouTube. I found videos from Matthew Lesko whose books I used to purchase in the 90’s. Matthew is a 5 time New York Times best selling author and he has been in the business of helping people to get grants for over 50 years. I began to watch Matthew’s videos and followed his guidance.

The more I watched Matthew’s videos the more I learned. I discovered that the United States government is in charge of ⅓ of all money in the U.S. And the government pays experts in private business, non-profits, charities, foundations, state, city, local and regional agencies and organizations to provide financial assistance and resources through free government programs and services for the purpose of helping people in need.

Grants Are Not Advertised

You won’t see any of this advertised, because the government has already paid for the services. People are sent to the experts through an internal system of referral. The referrals come from local political elected officials who are responsible for serving their constituents.

The whole reason for this system is to circulate the American economy helping people and their businesses to become more financially stable so they can pay their income taxes.

Why I’m Passionate About Helping You Get Grants for Financial Relief

Grants are a huge opportunity for financial relief and abundance that most people don’t know exists. Talking about money is a very vulnerable topic for a lot of people that makes them feel uncomfortable. As a women’s empowerment coach, I’ve been talking, coaching and writing about tough topics and helping my clients overcome the challenges in their lives since I first started coaching in 2004.

I’m a coach because since I was 10 years old and went to live with my dad I’ve been fascinated with the field of personal growth and helping people to recognize and manifest their potential. I’m an empowerment coach because I’m a warrior and a survivor. For decades I used to have a victim mentality because I didn’t know how to control my fears and insecurities. I’ve had a lot of abuse in my life and I thought of myself as powerless for a long time.

Seeing those two sides of me as fiercely confident and completely vulnerable led to a lot of years of depression feeling like something was wrong with me. My father used to be my biggest advocate and best friend. We used to have a great relationship. In 1985 he faced a crisis and was unable to run the family real estate business. I wanted to help him as he had helped me when I was as kid. Without thinking twice, I left college to step in and run the family business together with my 80 year old Nana. My father was angry and resentful of his situation and he took it out on us, yelling and screaming every chance he got. After 18 years of being verbally abused and undervalued by a dad I adored, I came away from the experience feeling shattered.

A Panic Attack Cured by EFT Leads to A New Direction in Life

As my time managing the 3 buildings was coming to a close, I knew that I wanted to write a book to empower women in business to recognize their value. I knew that in order for me to help other women, I had to first learn how to empower myself. In 2004, I was going through a coaching certification training program to get my Master Practitioner Certificate for Neuro Linguistic Programming. Something I heard in class triggered a traumatic memory from my past and all of a sudden my body began to shake and tremble uncontrollably. I was having a panic attack. That had never happened to me before.

A colleague rushed to my aid and showed me how to use Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to calm my nerves. EFT, also known as tapping is a powerful stress-relief technique scientifically proven to lower the body’s cortisol levels by up to a remarkable 41%. Learning about EFT that day changed my life. Armed with the knowledge of how to manage my anxiety, fears and traumatic memories made it possible for me to move from being a victim to in charge of my life.

Thanks to EFT, after decades of feeling powerless, intimidated, and exploited in one abusive environment after another, that day I finally had the courage and audacity to speak out, step up and get myself free. My inspiration for change was a song written by my mentor, singer/songwriter Jana Stanfield. For every day of the following year, I asked myself the question in her song, “What would I do If I Were Brave?” And I used tapping to face those fears head on and give myself the confidence to take the action necessary to change my life.

And for the past 18 years I’ve been helping others to face their fears and get free too.  As an empowerment coach I teach people how to see their challenges as their greatest gifts, give them the tools and the knowledge to see themselves as worthy and confident, fiercely strong and powerful so they can get themselves out of any tough predicament. There’s nothing more empowering than knowing that you can handle any challenge. 

Since beginning my pursuit of seeking out grants in 2020 to protect my family from eviction, I’ve gotten over $45K in grants and helped others get over $31K.

Sadly my life was overturned in 2021, when my beloved husband, Angel passed away on April 21st. He died just 2 days before we were supposed to move out of the home that we had been renting for the past 6 years. We had made an agreement with our landlord that she would forgive a portion of our debt if we would agree to move out by 5/31. That gave us a 5 month window to find another place to live. It was winter time and in the middle of the pandemic. We had to downsize from a 2500 square foot 5 BR home to a 2 bedroom apartment. Our life was a living hell at that time. With all the grief, blaming and arguments, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And through all the craziness in my life at the time, I was doggedly looking for grants. I could not have been so focused with so much outside pressure if I had not without relied on the tapping and meditation that I know and love. It was my way of keeping myself calm.

After nearly 4 months of constant daily pressure and stress, we found a great place to live: a 1000 square foot apartment not far away. We were looking forward to starting over. But the precarious situation with debt, being under a deadline, looking for a place to live and trying to downsize to move eventually killed my Angel by escalating his diabetes and causing a heart attack one day while working.

I was bereft with grief. In the blink of an eye, a whole precious 32 year history of knowing and loving my husband was changed forever. The loss of my Angel triggered a lot of my old fears and left me with the enormous task of starting over. Terrified of being on my own, my son, PT graciously agreed to stay with me ’til I got back on my feet. Soon after Angel passed away, PT and I were evicted from our apartment. Now it’s nearly 21 months since my precious Angel’s death and our lives are still very much in transition.

Through it all grants has become a new constant in my life. And the more I learn about grants, the more I am able to help myself, my family and my business and I share that with you. As I continue to redesign my life, I’ll share my wisdom with you on how you can create more abundance too.

Since October 2020 when I got my first $1800 rent relief grant from Catholic Charities thanks to the assistance of my local New York State Senator Sue Serino, I’ve been dedicated to teaching others how to get grants.

Every week in my Grants Made Easy with Andrea Amador Facebook group I hold Zoom webinars teaching my Grants Made Easy system to empower people to get out from under their financial burdens.

I’m really passionate about helping you get through your financial rough spots. Sadly I’ll never be able to turn back time and get my husband, Angel back with the grace of knowing that financial relief for us is right around the corner. But I can help you, your family and your business by teaching you how to use grants.

My life and my families’ lives have transformed dramatically since I learned about grants and I know that by learning my Grants Made Easy system can help provide so much financial relief for you and your family too.

If learning about grants is of interest to you, check out my Grants Made Easy with Andrea Amador Facebook group.