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Entrepreneurs with disabilities are businesspeople like any others. And like most businesspeople, the successful ones start from a base of excellent products or services that supply customer needs, supported by sound business plans.
Gene Golliet of G Force
Gene Golliet's 10 percent disability as a service-disabled veteran is not always obvious.
"Most of us are not in wheelchairs, but we have continuing situations that require medical attention," he says. "Our disabilities may not be noticeable to the general public, but believe me, we pay for them over the years."
Golliet established G Force (San Diego, CA) in 1991. It's a QA management company, offering engineering, staffing, materials testing, inspection and other services in the construction arena. G Force has worked on schools, universities and hospitals, military projects, public works and commercial and residential projects in Southern California.
"Relationships are built over the years," Golliet says. "It's tough to break in, but tenacity pays off." Tenacity, indeed: G Force recently won a contract with San Diego Gas & Electric, a goal of Golliet's since he started the company.
Working around the world
Golliet chose trade school as a teenager and became a skilled welder. After graduation he served three years in the Marine Corps as an aviation structural mechanic, emerging as a sergeant. He went to college on the GI Bill and earned a BS in industrial arts from San Diego State University (San Diego, CA) in 1962.
Work as a teacher while he was in college inspired him to start his own school after he graduated. He ran South Bay Trade School from 1966 to 1976, then operated an auto body school for ten years.
After that Golliet took on assignments around the world, constructing tracking antennas in Ethiopia, Alaska and Hawaii, and launching a tracking business in Montana. All the time he continued to renew his welding inspection license, and in 1991 he started G Force.
The company employs about thirty people. Its customers include school districts, hospital boards, federal agencies and many others. "Analyze your customers and tailor what you are doing for them," Golliet says. "The customer is king!"
Anna Bradley's Criterion 508 deals with accessibility
The establishment of federal accessibility standards created a business opportunity for Anna Bradley. Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act was adopted in 1998 and went into effect in 2001, and Bradley founded her company, Criterion 508 Solutions (Des Moines, IA), in response to it.
The rise of the Internet, Bradley notes, opened doors for many people. But in the beginning it was making life harder for some folks with disabilities. Early GUIs were tough on folks with visual impairments ranging from color blindness to total blindness, or with mobility problems that interfered with use of the almost essential mouse.
The law requires federal agencies to give employees and members of the public with disabilities access comparable to what they give people without disabilities. And it applies to development, procurement and maintenance of electronic technology as well as its use.
Cheerleaders for compliance
With passage of Section 508, federal agencies had to learn how to comply. Bradley built her business on showing them how, training them in 508 compliance.
"After we train clients, they really understand why Section 508 is around," she says. "By the end of the project they not only understand how to comply in the future, but they become real cheerleaders for compliance. 'Why weren't we doing this ten years ago?' they ask."
Bradley hires techies with disabilities through the Iowa Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. She has employed as many as fifteen people, and currently has a staff of eight. When they're not training clients, they're testing new programs to see if they need improvement. "They have a perspective you can't have unless you have the disability," she says.
A less stressful career
Bradley has MS and EdS degrees from Drake University (Des Moines, IA) and has completed its doctoral program in educational leadership. For more than ten years she was an executive e-com management consultant to Fortune 500 companies.
But chronic pain in her head, neck and shoulders, the result of a head injury exacerbated by the high pressure and intensity of her work, made her look for a less stressful career. Criterion 508 was the successful result, allowing her to control her work day from her home office.
"My education stressed adult training and development," she says. "Accessibility was always on my mind. I was very focused on who the user was."
Today most of the stress is gone, and Bradley finds herself enjoying her contacts with her clients. That, she says, "is how you know you are doing it right."
Bob Collins: marketing strategy comes first
"You have to have a marketing strategy that transcends the fact that you are disabled," says Bob Collins. Collins, who was featured in Diversity/Careers' October/November 2006 issue as a service-disabled veteran, owns Collins Consulting, Inc (Schaumburg, IL).
The company is an IT services and systems integrator. It has, for example, provided Web development and both mainframe and small computer programming for claim processing to Caremark, the pharmaceutical services company.
Collins served in the Marine Corps from 1966 to 1971, and has a service-connected back injury which left him 60 percent disabled. When he left the service he attended a technical school on the GI Bill and went on to a 1982 BS in computer technology from Purdue University (Indianapolis, IN).
He worked at a department store and other companies and in county government before joining a consultant firm, and in 1992 he began Collins Consulting with himself as the sole contractor. Today he employs 175 consultants, working on multi-year contracts with a number of large companies as well as the federal government.
"You have to know what the client is buying, and you have to be persistent," he advises. "One phone call does not constitute a business relationship."
Support services from the SBA
Businesses with 500 employees or less are considered "small" by Small Business Administration (SBA) standards. The SBA has helped many small business owners with disabilities.
Help, for example, is available from the small business self-employment service of the office of disability employment policy (janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/sbses). One-on-one counseling is available, and business information assistants will speak to callers during business hours at (800) 827-5722, or answer their queries by e-mail (answerdesk@sba.gov).
Iowa offers aid
Entrepreneurs-to-be who happen to live in Iowa or Nebraska can get in touch with the Abilities Fund (www.abilities fund.org), a nonprofit that works with both states' vocational rehabilitation services and departments for the blind.
The Abilities Fund works to develop entrepreneurs. It helps people with disabilities put together the business packages they need to succeed, which generally include a mix of government funding, commercial funding and the person's own financial contribution.
"We encourage inclusion, which means going to the same business capitalization resources that everybody goes to," says Patti Lind, executive director. "We like to see personal investment, too. There's a correlation between success and having one's own finances in the deal."
Abilities Fund advisers help clients work through the business idea, the planning process and the all-important step of capitalizing the business. Entrepreneurs who apply may be working solo, or may already have launched their businesses and have a few employees.
Applicants, like all would-be entrepreneurs, must realize that the fund is a "marketing opportunity" that can help them in many ways, but there's no guarantee of success, Lind notes. "To succeed, they must have a quality product that is needed, and a competitive edge."
USPS works through JWOD
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an "independent establishment" of the executive branch of the U.S. government. Under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act (41 U.S. C 46-48c), the USPS and other federal agencies must purchase certain supplies and services from vendors that employ people who are blind or severely disabled. The Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled administers the JWOD program, finding appropriate supplies and services and determining their price. The procurement list is available online at www.jwod.gov.
Small businesses can contact USPS HQ (www.usps.com/purchasing) to learn how to do business with the agency. Some affinity groups also help advocate for their members, notes Janice Williams-Hopkins, USPS program manager for supplier diversity.
Caremark studies certifications
Determining who qualifies as an entrepreneur with a disability raises the issue of certification. Reuben Hamilton, manager of supplier diversity for Caremark (Northbrook, IL), has observed an increase in inquiries from contractors with disabilities. He's working with the City of Chicago, which is developing its own certification.
"The Caremark Rx supplier diversity program is founded on the principles of fair and equitable business practices and commitment to the communities we serve," says Steve Littel, VP for strategic sourcing and procurement. "We are committed to establishing partnerships with business enterprises which include persons with disabilities and service-disabled veterans."
Sempra Energy sets higher goals
Sempra Energy (San Diego, CA) sets higher goals for itself than those recommended by the clearinghouse of the California Public Utilities Commission for contracting with minority and women-owned businesses, says Francisco Urtasun, director of diverse business enterprises for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Co, two of Sempra Energy's regulated California businesses.
The companies network with groups like Elite Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (www.elitedvbe.org) and the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Alliance (www.cadvbe.org) to identify service-disabled veterans and find ways to do business with them. "Working with these industry groups is an important way to get in," Urtasun says. "Show how you can offer value to us. Set yourself apart from others."
Internal advocacy
Robert Olivas, supplier diversity manager for diverse business enterprise at SDG&E and Southern California Gas Co, considers himself an internal advocate for small businesses. Most big companies have someone in that role, he says, and that person can help open the door.
"We look for high-quality small companies and help them grow," he says. "We want them to succeed as our suppliers, and we also want them to be bigger and more profitable because they are in our service area."
Olivas is willing to help likely candidates by reviewing their business plans and offering guidance. He's particularly eager to give help with websites.
"Decision-makers are going to make judgments based on your website," he believes. "The days of routing a brochure through a company are gone. Not having a good website is like not having a telephone."
D/C
Christine Willard Heinrichs is a freelance writer
who lives in Madison, WI.
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