START UP | Self-Employment Technical Assistance, Resources, & Training | Business Ownership for People with Disabilities

Resources » Factsheets

Self-Employment Q and A: Disabled Veterans and Self-Employment (April 2008) - According to the Small Business Administrations’ (SBA’s) Office of Veterans Business Development, the number of veteran-owned businesses stands at more than 4-million. However, service-disabled veterans are self-employed at a rate significantly lower than the veteran population as a whole, according to a study released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The needs and challenges experienced by veterans with disabilities often require a different and innovative mode of self-employment structure, management, marketing, and operations than those experienced by other individuals with disabilities. This Q and A on self-employment for veterans with disabilities and service-connected disabilities provides information on resources that are available to assist them in starting and operating a business.

Self-Employment Q and A: Community Resources for Small Business Development (March 2008) - Individuals with disabilities who want to start a business can find assistance and support from a number of different local agencies. These generic resources usually are funded by taxpayer dollars and are available to anyone including people with disabilities. Some of them include Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), the Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE), One-Stop Career Centers, Business Leadership Networks (BLN), and others described in this Q and A.

Self-Employment Q and A: Successful Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Speak Out! (September 2007) - Not until the rise of the corporation at the turn of the twentieth century, did wage employment take precedence over personal enterprise in the United States. Today, a new economic shift is bringing more and more people back into business ownership. Currently, 20 million business owners operate one-person companies. Annually, almost 700,000 new businesses are started in the United States. In 2004, the Small Business Administration reported that 12.2 percent of the general population chose self-employment. In contrast, a slightly higher number or 14.3 percent of people with disabilities started businesses (SBA, 2004).

Self-Employment Q and A: Accessing Vocational Rehabilitation Services to Facilitate Self-Employment as an Employment Outcome (July 2007) - This Q and A fact sheet is the first in a series on accessing resources to support self-employment outcomes. Self-employment is recognized as an "employment outcome" under the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, which are contained in Title IV of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). There are two sections of the Act where self-employment, telecommuting, and establishing a small business are mentioned as employment outcomes.

Self-Employment Q and A: Developing a Business Plan (May 2007) - A functioning business plan assists the individual in identifying personal and rehabilitative support needs such as flexible work hours, assistive technology services and devices, bookkeeping services, and transportation. The development of a plan also is important for the identification of funding.

Customized Employment Q and A: Self-Employment as a Customized Employment Outcome (November 2006) - Prospective entrepreneurs with disabilities, their families and friends, and CRP staff involved in supporting these efforts may find themselves with questions about where to begin, and this fact sheet will address some of those questions.