Based on how you choose to look at it, your disability can be the thing preventing you from achieving greatness or a stepping stone for showing your idea to the entire world.
Thousands of disabled individuals have made a name for themselves, whether it’s through the entertainment industry or by starting a business of their own, usually one that caters to the needs of the disabled community.
This goes to show that there’s nothing out there that’s an actual barrier between you and success, so long as you devote enough of your hard work and effort to it.
Naturally, no business will prosper unless you sink countless hours of work and planning into it, and once you’ve got that down, your disability will practically become negligible.
Keep reading to learn more about what it means to be a disabled business owner as well as what you can do to keep your business running against all odds.
Be ready for the challenges ahead
Even though the government may offer a wide variety of assistance options for disabled individuals, this by no means indicates that running a business or living life as a disabled person is easy.
In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth, and disabled persons disproportionately experience financial issues compared to Americans without any disabilities.
Much like you’d expect from running a business, certain obstacles will be in your way, and it’ll be up to you to handle them accordingly.
Sometimes it’ll come in the form of hateful customers whereas other times your business won’t be as respected as much as it deserves solely due to your disability.
Learn to overcome these things and embrace that your differences are what makes your business so unique, and your experiences with disability make it much easier for you to understand the disabled community and what they want.
Let others do the work for you
While it may sound counterproductive considering your main goal is to overcome the constraints of your disability, it’s perfectly fine to let others do some part of the work as well.
Running a business on your own doesn’t mean you should be doing all the work, but rather, that you’re tasked with the administrative work, whereas your employees will fill in the rest.
Doing this also helps you remain focused on what really matters, that being your profits, and if you’re looking to improve something in the community, the satisfaction of your disabled customers.
Starting small is the way to do it, and if you just begin with a personal assistant you can quickly move your way up to having an entire group of people tasked with ensuring everything is running smoothly.
Networking is key
Knowing the right people goes a long way, and as scary as it may sound, these people won’t come on their own.
It’s your task as a business owner to create connections with influential figures in the market you’re aiming for, and once you’ve established a relationship, everything else will slowly settle into place.
Knowing just one person who is connected to the right people can make the difference between a failed business deal and a successful business between you and a potential investor.
Usually, business owners will interact with and take advice from other business owners in the industry, and this is a great way to know what to expect if you’re completely new to the entrepreneurship scene, which is something thousands of Americans can now say considering self-employment is more popular than ever before.
Learn what your shortcomings are
Of course, every disability comes with its drawbacks, and your task as a disabled business owner is to carefully navigate around the things you cant do as well as the rest.
Presenting someone with a 10/10 product/service will quickly make them forget that your business is being run by a disabled person, as oftentimes, people only care about the end product rather than the work that want into making it.
Ideally, you’ll want to create a support group consisting of all the small business owners you may know already because sharing ideas and getting a second opinion on something is what can make or break a business plan.
Work around your shortcomings and develop a marketing strategy that will capitalize on your good points while also masking the things you struggle with due to your disability and you’re bound to see success within a short time period.
Bottom line
Even with a disability, running a small business isn’t as difficult as most make it out to be, as it’s mainly just a lot of hard work and dedication to your idea.
Turning your dreams into a reality is tough, but not impossible, and while you may have a disability that makes things significantly harder, you can employ some of these strategies to keep your business running even when things get tough.
