Made In Chicago: Jerome Hopkins' Baby Puzzles
Steve Miller profiles Jerome Hopkins, for Newsradio 780's weekly feature, Made In Chicago
Jerome Hopkins of Chicago took a success story and made it a failure.
He was doing all right in life.
"I spent 45 years with a great lifestyle," he said
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Until that day a dozen years ago when he let his temper get the better of him.
He was charged with aggravated battery of a peace officer.
"Yeah, it was a very bad stumbling patch at that point," he said. "To that end, what really occurred was that I saw what I was made of. That meant that I could just lay down and die. Or I could try to rebuild a business - or rebuild myself."
A few setbacks along the way, but Hopkins has gone ahead with his life and tried to rebuild.
Several years ago, he came up with an idea to convert photographs of kids into jigsaw puzzles: Babiesfirstpuzzle.com.
"Business has been very slow but we're moving in the right direction," he said.
Hopkins says people can place an order - and get a jigsaw puzzle back in seven business days.
"They select whatever photo it is - of a child, of a wedding, of an event that they want to create a memory of."
Jerome Hopkins - making a pitch he hopes will help him keep turning his life around.