Starting a Businesss And Being Disabled

by Jeff M
(Metairie)

5 yrs ago I Became Totally Disabled! Starting a Business


My name is Jeff, and five years ago I became totally disabled due to an illness. I did recover from my illness, but not enough to go back to work full time.

Unfortunately, Social Security Disability does not give me enough money for my family and myself to enjoy all we would like to. My wife works full time but we still needed something to supplement our income. I was not able to do physical work, so I had to find something that used my other skills.


A friend of mine was working for a company that was not treating her well. She was responsible for cleaning several gyms and was the supervisor of about five employees. After getting frustrated with the way she was being treated by her boss, the two of us came up with a plan for her to start her own business. She knew how to do her job, but did not have the ability to run the business side of a company.

I was able to use my organizational, financial and business skills to support her in this endeavour. We wrote a business plan for her to create her own cleaning service. Because she was a minority female, she was able to obtain a small business loan to get all the equipment that she would need and to finance the start-up business.

I was hired as a consultant, and agreed that I would be paid based on the contracts for cleaning different properties. Once I had the business plan in place, and we had secured the initial funding that we needed, we were ready for the next big step.



We talked to the people who worked with my friend at the gyms. Because my friend was their transportation provider, they would probably lose their jobs if my friend left.

We explained that we were going to start our own business, and would like them to work for us. They agreed. The next step was to contact the gym owner. We informed him that we would no longer work for him. But we offered to clean his gyms with our newly formed company.

We offered him a price that was comparable to what he was spending currently for employees, benefits, and supplies and convinced him to sign a contract with us.

I am now responsible for the administrative functions of the business, which I do from my home. I am able to outsource much of the work over the internet, and my friend takes care of making sure the work is done properly.

We are going on six months and now have two businesses that we take care of. The work is something that I can physically do without having to leave my home thanks to the phone and the internet. If I’m disabled and can get something off the ground you all should have no real problems starting your own business, whatever that may be!