3 Thoughts on Building a Business that Employs Disabled Adults (Ep 127)

We just added another AMAZING speaker to our Master IEP Coach VIP Weekend in Milwaukee!

And this new speaker has me thinking about all the things I've thought about a lot as a special needs sibling, as a former Special Education teacher in the classroom, as the founder of Master IEP Coach and helping parents and teachers have their own business making an impact in special education. Some are speakers, some are consultants, some are parent advocates - there's so many different things that are happening inside our Master IEP Coach community. That's exactly why I wanted to bring a new speaker and a new point of view to our VIP conference in Milwaukee!

I know you've seen companies in the disability community that parents or teachers started to help their students or family members. Maybe you even have a Be Kind to Everyone Shirt from Jackie and Jordyn or a pair of John's Crazy Socks. If you're a teacher you 100% have seen schools creating Coffee Carts at high schools for students to learn skills for employment. You might've even thought to yourself, how can I make this happen? We need this!

That's exactly why I'm bringing Kristen, founder of Sweet Abilities, to our VIP Master IEP Coach Weekend in Milwaukee!

Kristen was a Special Education teacher for 12 years. Now she's traveling around the town creating sweet experiences for Milwaukee and surrounding suburbs with locally made popsicles and ice cream.

Her 8 employees all have different abilities.  Kristen is going to share how she made Sweet Abilities a reality and how you can take your business ideas for adults with disabilities and implement them in your community or school!

Here's a teacher who said, "Yes! I can help my students after their time in the classroom," and helped create an inclusive employment environment for adults with disabilities. It's an awesome opportunity to provide! My brother and I had a direct sales business at local vendor fairs. He loved to greet people at the table, answering questions about where to find products, setting up the table and asking for email addresses. He was the one who helped me with Master IEP Coach in its early days - stuffing envelops and sending out snail mail. We need more opportunities like this for our students with IEPs.

It's Not as Hard as It Used to Be

I haven't had a "traditional" job in 22 years and I can tell you that working on your own is so much different than it used to be! It's easier than it's ever been to build you business from scratch and to work on your own time! Building a website? Minutes to create if you know where to look (or who to hire). Sourcing products? So simple! Sharing in your community and building relationships? Child's play. It's easy as in it's possible.

You Have the Opportunity to Solve a Problem in Your Community & Show a Value

I don't want to encourage you to get "pity sales" — "Oh, I'm buying this because he has Down syndrome". Trust me, I saw this when I was working with my brother.

No, you want to solve a problem, to create a service, to deliver value to your community. Build a microbusiness that solves a problem in your community AND happens to employ adults with disabilities. There's that sweet spot!

Build a Business that Evolves with YOU!

How awesome would it be to have a business that evolved with you and your lifestyle. Maybe you're going to be in a season where you are hustling, putting everything into it. But then like many of us in the Special Needs community, you have a season of struggle where you need to step back from the business a bit.

Now, if you do this right, that doesn't mean you business has to scale back. You can set it up to run without you, or with minimal input when these struggle seasons arise.

To have something that you can connect with, build these opportunities for adults with disabilities, provide a service to your community, and be able to take care of life as it comes at you? That's amazing!

We're going to take that one step further at VIP Weekend. You absolutely could have your entire business plan created by the time you leave this training!Yes, our VIP IEP weekend is focused on IEPs, but IEPs are all about preparing for an awesome life. Building a business in your community could be part of the big IEP picture!

Sign up for the VIP IEP Weekend here and meet Kristen + so much more! 

Become a Master IEP Coach today: www.masteriepcoach.com/info