Reliable numbers on deaf and hard of hearing unemployment are hard to come by, with estimates ranging anywhere from 50% to 80%. That's just deaf and hard of hearing employees. How many deaf and hard of hearing people are actually employers? Not merely entrepreneurs running a one-person business, but actually creating jobs for other people?
Not too many. But they do exist - like Tom Anderson of Prism Realty. Or Tayler Mayer of TayerMedia. Or Robert Esposito of Abbondanza Pizzeria. Or John Yeh, who founded Integrated Microcomputer Systems.
Running a successful business requires a variety of talents – managing money, managing people, promotion, marketing, persistence, even stubbornness. When the world is telling you that you can't possibly succeed, it takes a stubborn, persistent person to prove them wrong. If you're the hard-headed sort who doesn't listen to negative chatter, that could be an advantage.
The skills needed to start and operate a successful business don't grow on trees. Some people are born with the right mix of ability and drive, but most of us need some schooling. You can get a general education in any number of places, but what about the skills specifically needed to run your own business?
You could work for someone else's business and learn there. There's nothing like real-world experience to find out what works and what doesn't. But there is a catch. Working for someone else means you fill a specific role – you make widgets, or maybe you shuffle paper, or you communicate with people, or move things around. Basically, you wear one hat and other people wear theirs. If you stay in one place long enough, maybe you get more hats and more responsibility, especially when you work in a smaller company.
Starting your own small business means you wear ALL the hats in the beginning. You may delegate some chores, depending on how complicated your business is and how much startup capital you have. But most of the skills you need will be coming from a single source – you. Where are you going to acquire those skills, if you haven't gotten them elsewhere?
The Merrill Lynch Entrepreneur Leadership Program at Gallaudet University is a good place to start.
Some of the skills the course covers include financial accounting, management, marketing, business law/taxation, entrepreneurship and developing business and marketing plans.
That'll be enough to keep you busy for quite a while.
The program began with a $50,000 grant from Merrill Lynch to the Gallaudet Leadership Institute. Two key people aided the funding process – Steven Hlibok, a Gallaudet alumni who works for Merrill Lynch, and Christopher Sullivan, who is a vice president at Merrill Lynch and serves on Gallaudet's board of trustees.
The underlying concept for the program wasn't new. Bernard Brown, a widely respected assistant professor at Gallaudet, had already organized the Business After Hours program back in 2000, which was intended to bring business people together with students and give the students access to first-hand knowledge of how to become successful entrepreneurs.
The association with Merrill Lynch and Gallaudet gives the effort prestige and additional credibility, and furthers the aim of increasing the number of deaf executives and entrepreneurs to a more appropriate proportion in the business world.
Another player in the deaf entrepreneur field is the National Deaf Business Institute. Their website is clearly still a work in progress, but their board of directors is a who's who of successful deaf businesspeople. They are organizing to mentor the next generation of deaf entrepreneurs, and working with the Gallaudet Leadership Institute to enhance the Merrill Lynch Entrepreneur Leadership Program.
A new Entrepreneur Leadership Program class will begin this summer in Washington, D.C., from July 20th to August 8th. Will you be there?
Links
Merrill Lynch Entrepreneur Leadership Program at Gallaudet University (PDF)
Gallaudet Leadership Institute
National Deaf Business Institute
Successful Deaf Entrepreneurs and Careers
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Kevin McLeod is a dual Canadian/American citizen with a diverse background in creative arts. His web development experience includes work for Gallaudet University, iXL and the Washington Post. His writing, graphic design and editorial service for the deaf press has included the GA-SK Newsletter, the NAD Broadcaster, and Silent News. He currently works as a Mental Health Technician at the National Deaf Academy in Mount Dora, FL, the world's only psychiatric treatment center designed for deaf residents.