The Complete Guide to Business Ownership for Parents With Disabilities

By: Lydia Chan

Raising children while living with a disability brings plenty of challenges. And these challenges can be compounded when you do not have an understanding employer. If you are currently at a job that leaves you feeling overworked and underappreciated at the end of each day, it may be time to start thinking about alternative career paths. In fact, you may be better off working for yourself as an entrepreneur rather than getting a job with another employer.

If you’ve never considered entrepreneurship before, now may be the time to take the idea seriously. In the meantime, these tips and tricks from Real Abilities will illustrate how parents with disabilities can succeed in business.

Decide on Your Business Model

First, you’ll need to nail down your specific business idea. To keep your overhead costs low, you may want to focus on a product or service that you can offer through a home-based business. Consider your own talents, how much time you’ll have each day to focus on the business, what kinds of resources you’ll have access to, and, of course, which potential ideas you feel most passionate about! You want to go with an idea that has a high chance of success and makes you feel genuinely excited about your new career direction.

Forming an LLC

It is possible to run your business without choosing a specific business entity. However, it’s best to select a business structure in the early days of your company; when it’s time to file your taxes, you will be grateful that you took care of this. Each state has its own regulations set out for forming an LLC, so prior to getting your paperwork together, make sure that you go over your state’s rules and fulfill all of the requirements.

Once you’ve filed the paperwork, you might be thinking, “I registered my LLC, now what?” You get to reap the benefits! For instance, you will get tax advantages that you would not have been granted before. Furthermore, this particular structure allows you to be flexible when it comes to your company’s operations and management. Perhaps most importantly, you can keep your business and personal assets separate for asset protection.

Get the Funding You Need

You’ve settled on a business idea, registered for an LLC, and even drawn up a business plan to lay out all of your objectives, but you know that you don’t have enough money saved to cover the costs associated with launching your business. Seeking outside funding could be the solution. For instance, Merchant Advisors recommends applying for a Small Business Community Advantage loan and finding out if your company could qualify for an assistive technology loan.

You may be concerned about how income that you earn through a business could affect any other payments that you currently qualify for because of your disability. If this is weighing on your mind, you may want to speak with a financial advisor to clear up any questions that you have and chart your course forward.

Hire Your Team

At first, you’ll probably try to tackle all of your business responsibilities by yourself.  Yet while you might be able to pull this off for a little while, this is not a long-term strategy for entrepreneurial success. That’s why it’s a good idea to start hiring new team members before you start getting too busy. That way, you won’t need to rush the hiring process.

You may want to think about hiring a personal assistant, a customer service specialist, or a bookkeeper. Hiring a marketing specialist is also crucial. Even if you previously worked in marketing, you may not have time to balance your managerial duties with implementing marketing strategies and promoting your offerings. Look for someone with expertise in both print and digital marketing so that you’ll be able to effectively advertise your product online and offline!

Delegation can take some time to get used to, so make sure to communicate openly when you assign tasks to someone, give them plenty of instruction, and provide constructive feedback on a regular basis. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with delegating, you’ll notice that your own workload feels much lighter!

Another quick tip: the formatting of your business correspondence can pose some problems but you can use an online tool to convert from PDF to Word for free.

Make a Plan for Childcare

Most days, you and your partner might be able to handle childcare at home while you run your business. But on other days, you might be juggling too many business tasks to manage working and caring for your child simultaneously. Even the most devoted parents need to rely on their loved ones for support sometimes, and you may want to talk to a relative or friend about providing childcare on your busiest days. Alternatively, you could begin interviewing local babysitters in order to hire someone who you can trust.

Prioritize Your Health

Many entrepreneurs are particularly susceptible to burnout. Burnout can be damaging to anyone’s mental or physical health when you’re running a business, but this is especially important for parents with disabilities to keep in mind. If you work long hours to the detriment of your wellbeing, you might not have enough energy to care for your health or to be there for your family.

Therefore, setting firm boundaries in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance is key. MikeWalterz recommends taking regular, scheduled breaks throughout the workday to give yourself some time to breathe, prioritizing your sleep schedule, and asking for help when you need it. Remember, this is where your fantastic team comes into the picture; when you need to take a day off, they should be ready to step up to the plate to make sure that projects keep moving forward.

When you have a disability, you might face obstacles as you forge your own career path. But it’s entirely possible to build a business that allows you to support your family. By following these tips, you’ll be well-prepared to begin working on your entrepreneurial venture.

Real Abilities is intended to enhance the behavioral intentions, cognitive attitudes and social interest of typical child viewers towards their peers with disabilities. We’d love to hear from you!

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