Meet Candice Jones of ARM Financial Solutions, Inc.
I am a single, divorced, mom of a special needs child that has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a feeding disorder and Global Developmental Delay. I have always had a desire to be an entrepreneur, yet never had the real push to do so until the birth of my daughter. Before I ventured into business, I was already navigating the music and creative arts world as a singer/songwriter in the Christian & Gospel genre, and had hopes of being known as an inspirational vocalist, speaker and author (I have authored several books available on Amazon & Kindle), however I knew that I needed steady income to be able to do these things.
After my daughter’s birth and diagnosis, I realized there was no way I’d feel comfortable allowing her to go to school and be cared for by someone other than myself, and decided I would take the leap into working from home full time. Shortly after this decision, husband left us abruptly, and since he was the only one working we were in dyer straits! My mom had to step in to help my daughter and I get back on our feet once more. Once papers for divorce were filed and the dust was settling, I decided to begin my credit repair and financial health journey with another company and realized this was something I needed to learn how to do for myself so that I too could help others reach financial freedom. Thus, ARM Financial Solutions was born with ARM being the acronym for my daughter’s name! Starting my own business has awarded me the ability to remain present and available day-to-day in my child’s life and allows me to bring in income necessary to sustain a household. I can also be there for all of my daughter’s therapies and appointments and since her diagnosis, I have become an advocate for other parents with children that have developmental disabilities which is something I never expected but fills me with sheer joy. A bonus is that I also have the freedom to travel for music or speaking engagements without fear of losing a 9 to 5 job due to needing time off.
It has not been a smooth road AT ALL! Thankfully I had a business mentor that helped me save a ton of time setting my business up correctly but even with that help it was still a huge challenge. As a business owner you are the answer to everything in the beginning, meaning you are sales, support, marketing, customer service, retention, IT etc! While wearing all of those hats, I was also ‘mommy’ to a little girl with constant needs and so learning to prioritize and juggle those roles was very difficult. I cried in the closet MANY days because I didn’t know how I was going to do it all and do it all WELL. Quite the learning curve but I’m so thankful for the people that were willing to help me push through the roadblocks, both emotional and literal, so that I could still have a grasp of the bigger picture.
ARM Financial Solutions is a full service financial solutions company that offers Life Insurance, Credit Repair, Student Loan Relief, Budget Planning with our specialty being Credit Repair/Credit Education. I am known for being the Worship Leader that is also the ‘Credit Repair Lady’! I am most proud of the trust I have built within the different communities I have been a part of. I moved from San Antonio, where I had lived a few years, which is very slow to change and reluctant to try out new ideas, and had to really think outside of the box to get people to be willing to take a chance on me in the beginning. After a while, and after people started seeing real results from clients, people began seeking me out and now most of my business is from referrals which is amazing. I believe my faith in God and my tenacity sets me apart from others. Everything I do is filtered out of relationship with God and it is because of this that I am determined to do business with integrity and excellence no matter what the resistance may be. This has served me well in every area of my life.
Success is Freedom. Freedom to go and live out the purpose assigned to your life without being hindered by finance, time, etc. Success is a resounding peace within because you know that all is well and will be well no matter what is happening around you. Success is the real relationships surrounding you that bring additional color to your world and being able to be a gift to those around you with ease. I don’t necessarily have a bulletpoint diagram of definitive success because I think that is a bit rigid and can induce feelings of failure if each marker isn’t achieved. I think it’s important to have fluidity…be flexible, pliant and be open to change because as you grow and mature and live your definition of success should also evolve, but the definitions I gave above will stand for a lifetime I think.
