VCU  
MAY  20, 2009 
WEBCAST 
      
Captioning Provided By:  Caption First, Inc.
      
      
      >> TERI BLANKENSHIP: Good afternoon, and welcome to VCU.  
I'm Teri Blankenship.  This is the second webcast.  Today's 
topic is inclusive entrepreneurship.  The webcast is sponsored 
by START-UP by the office of Disability Employment Policy.  
       
      Now we have three presenters today.  Gary Shaheen, Mirza 
Tihic, and Phillip Moore.
      
      Our first presenter is Gary Shaheen.
       
      Gary is the Managing Dir. for Program Development, for 
Syracuse University's Burton Blatt Institute, and the Dir. for 
Start-Up NY.  His expertise is in the field of mental health 
rehab, homelessness, and social entrepreneurship.
       
      For 30 years, Gary has shaped policy and programs that 
help people with disabilities or disadvantages, fully 
integrate into their communities.   I'll also be presenting 
the other presenters a little later in the program.  
       
      Before I turn our program over to Gary, there are items 
on your web page I would like to go over with you.  Item one 
of course is your webcast link.  Item 2 are your Power Point 
handouts, so you may want to print out the pdf version to 
follow along with our presenters.  Item 3 is captioning.  If 
you'd like to use captioning, click on that link.  It opens up 
a new page where you'll see streaming text.  Item 4 is your 
chatroom, and this is where you can post questions following 
the webcast to our presenters.  Fifth web board, this is where 
you can post questions throughout the week for presenters.  
Item 6 is an online evaluation, and we'd like to you take a 
few minutes following the webcast or chatroom to give 
feedback.  At the bottom of the page is additional resources 
for you.  Let's get started with our webcast.  I'll turn it 
over to Gary Shaheen.
      
      >> GARY SHAHEEN:   Thank you, Teri.  I'm happy to present 
on inclusive entrepreneurship, and this is developed through 
Syracuse University.  And we'd like to share with you some of 
the principles and practices of inclusive entrepreneurship.  
And we're so pleased to have one of our entrepreneurs with us 
also here today.  We have a number of slides to go through, 
and let's get started.
        
      As we know through our inclusive entrepreneurship 
experience at Syracuse and the experience through START-UP-NY, 
people come to us with all sorts of hopes and dreams including 
wage employment and self-employment.  And we're trying to 
assess them to make good decisions.  So people should have 
options to choose from both of those career options.  And, in 
fact, through START-UP-NY and our projects at Syracuse 
University and our partners, we give them that chance.
        
      I'd like to illustrate this by a story.  One of our 
colleagues at the Burton Blatt Institute was recently in the 
hospital for tests.  And as things happen in the hospital, he 
was talking to his nurse.  And his nurse mentioned that she 
knew of Syracuse University where he worked.  And his answer 
was "So how do you know of Syracuse University?  Have you 
heard of the department of law or have you worked with the 
department of law?"
      
      She said, "No, actually, Syracuse University helped me to 
start my business."  As it turns out, his nurse was actually 
one of our entrepreneurs from START-UP-NY.  So for her 
actually working at a job while she was starting her business 
was a viable career option.  So what is this term that we're 
doing at Syracuse University called inclusive 
entrepreneurship.  It's a strategy and process for helping 
people with diverse disabilities to become entrepreneurs 
building upon the local coalitions we've established 
developing a consensus-driven model that really seeks to 
change systems, change the way the university works with 
people with disabilities, and builds upon Syracuse 
University's history of working in the community as 
collaborators and in the area of entrepreneurship.  So this is 
a process that we're developing at Syracuse University.  And, 
as I said, it's really an outgrowth of our experience at 
START-UP NY.
       
      So how do you know what inclusive entrepreneurship 
entails?  And in Onondaga county and Syracuse University we're 
looking that the process to change the way systems and 
services support entrepreneurs with disabilities to improve 
the access and use of mainstream business planning services 
for folks with disabilities.  Where none may have existed in 
the past and with our partners in mainstream community 
partners increasing the awareness and the support of 
entrepreneurship within their organizations.  As you'll hear 
in a few minutes from Mirza, START-UP NY was not intended to 
develop a stand-alone program model.  It was really to invest 
the current systems and practices with new methods to start 
entrepreneurship.
      
      It also includes policy changes to open up markets for 
people with disabilities.  So part of the work from Syracuse 
and with its partners is to look at ways to shift policy, 
change policy, to increase access to markets for entrepreneurs 
with disabilities.  Including them in the markets that are 
likely to grow in the community and in the state as a whole.  
And then this is something that we often don't think about but 
what about when local communities are talking about economic 
development and business creation and growth economies?  How 
well are people with disabilities entrepreneurs particularly 
able to get access to those decisions and actually have their 
needs on the table?
        
      So when Syracuse University works with its partners in 
the community around START-UP NY and around inclusive 
entrepreneurship, it really is also to find a place at the 
table for these entrepreneurs to help them grow, establish 
their business within a context of an emerging economy.  And 
ultimately the success of our START-UP NY project and success 
of inclusive entrepreneurship really rests with the people 
we're trying to serve.  For those individuals, it's supporting 
hope and opportunity that they too can own a business, grow a 
business, sustain a business through the services and supports 
we provide.  It's also to provide assistance in achieving 
identifiable business goals so folks may come to us with a 
business concept that is not well conceived or a hope and 
expectation that they want to be self-employed but in fact 
really need help on refining that goal.  So our work with 
folks in the community to assist them to refine their goals 
around entrepreneurship is another key component of this 
process.
      
      And then really hope must be coupled with opportunities 
to gather skills, strength and support to people do understand 
how it is they can actually develop business plans and grow 
their businesses and sustain their businesses over time.  And 
that's where the link to a university entrepreneurship program 
like the Whitman school of management, our partner in the 
project, is so essential.  That's where also our partnerships 
with community providers like the small business development 
center and the career 1 stuff and a host of local provider 
agencies are also essential because this process of 
inclusiveness wraps in and develops and includes a variety of 
community partners each having a role in the entrepreneurial 
lives of people with disabilities in the county.  So also we 
want to help individuals establish their supports, and we 
certainly have employed the discovery and customization 
principles throughout our process.  And a little bit later on 
in our conversation here, we'll talk about how actually these 
principles really underpin a brand-new course offering that we 
have through the Whitman School of Management that is feeding 
into our inclusive entrepreneurship paradigm.  We want to help 
people establish, grow and operate their businesses.  And we 
want to help these individuals become sustainable 
entrepreneurs in their communities.  And essentially 
entrepreneurship can be a road out of poverty for many folks.  
As Mirza will talk about in a little while, we've also woven 
into our project some strategies and some skills around 
helping people escape poverty as entrepreneurs as well.  And 
finally, last but not least, entrepreneurship can really be a 
life role for individuals.  It changes the way they look at 
themselves, they look at their community and the way the 
community regards them.  So entrepreneurship can be a very 
empowering opportunity for individuals as well.  
       
      So here we are at Syracuse University.  And how has this 
concept of exclusive entrepreneurship helped to shape the way 
we as a university interact with our community, support 
entrepreneurship, work with community partners and ultimately 
assist our students to better understand the impacts on 
disability on entrepreneurship and increase the enrollment of 
students with disabilities in our courses? 
      
      Well, you know, at the Whitman school of management and 
the course we'll talk about in a while, this inclusive 
entrepreneurship philosophy is really becoming ingrained 
within that school.  So the Whitman school of management and 
the Falcone center working with Burton Blatt Institute are 
looking at new ways that we can involve students with 
disabilities in the course work, have students as mentors with 
other students, and integrate a disability sensitivity and 
awareness curriculum within their entrepreneurship training 
courses and of course provide the accommodations and supports 
so that students with disabilities can take full advantage of 
the course work that we offer.
       
      During the summer Mirza and I and other faculty at the 
Burton Blatt Institute and at the Whitman school will actually 
be creating a brand-new text, a text we'll use in the fall on 
entrepreneurial consulting.  And we hope that this text will 
really begin to cement the concepts, the principles and 
practices within the core curriculum of the Whitman School of 
Management and the Falcone Center and thereby create a whole 
new cadre of students who will go out into their future lives 
having a better understanding not only of business planning 
but also how to assist folks with disabilities to become 
entrepreneurs and have a better sensitivity and awareness 
about the needs, expectations and the skills and abilities of 
people with disabilities.  An important component of inclusive 
entrepreneurship is part of what our chancellor has envisioned 
for our university, which is scholarship in action.  
Chancellor Cantor has recognized that we can provide a whole 
host of expertise and knowledge and cross fertilization of the 
practices of entrepreneurship and community inclusiveness.  So 
our inclusive entrepreneurship project and paradigm actually 
works with community agencies and works with our students to 
create value in the community and that is one of the 
foundations of the approach that we want to share with you 
today.
      Now back to Teri.
       
      >> TERI BLANKENSHIP:  Thank you, Gary.  Now we'll hear 
from our presenter, Mirza Tihic.
      Mirza works and teaches at the Syracuse University, 
Whitman School of Management's, Department of Entrepreneurship 
and Emerging Enterprises.
       
      He is the program manager for the Falcone Center for 
Entrepreneurship, where he supports the "Entrepreneurship 
Bootcamp for Veterans with 
      He also leads the Start-Up-NY program, and coordinates an 
internship program, along with many other Center initiatives.
       
      In addition, mirza founded Tihic Construction in 2002. 
which specializes in residential remodeling.Let's turn our 
program over to Mirza.
       
      >> MIRZA TIHIC:  Thank you, Teri and Gary.  Before I talk 
about the START-UP program itself, let us address the question 
where entrepreneurship for individuals with disabilities.  For 
many people it is a choice that they choose being 
self-employed over the regular wage employment.  Realize in 
the last 20 months that I've been working with START-UP 
clients, they have the capability and skills and desire and 
passion to be self-employed.  And also they have the support 
systems they didn't know they had in place that can help them 
really start and grow the company.  Furthermore, a lot of them 
prefer to be in control instead of stocking the shelves with 
cans all day, they can choose and do things they love the 
most.  Developing support around them, they can spend time 
doing what they love the most.  So add value to themselves, 
fulfill their life.
       
      Also, a lot of them like change.  From clients and being 
a client and customer to now being a business owner and 
entrepreneur which gives them the sense that they're free.  
Gives them a sense of -- entrepreneurship gives freedom.  So 
that's why really entrepreneurship is really a trend -- not a 
trend but important tool for individuals with disabilities to 
empower them and add value to their lives and also the lives 
around them. 
       
      So, as you know, START-UP NY is one of three sites for 
START-UP USA.  It's led by the county sponsored by U.S. 
Department of Labor, Disability Employment Policy and its 
management.  Burton Blatt Institute Syracuse University 
partnered with Whitman.  Small business development center, CI 
works and many other local partners.  What are key component 
to START-UP NY.  Year one we developed a stakeholder coalition 
and infrastructure where we identified what are the resources 
and capabilities of all organizations provided in the county?  
Two and 3 was really developing our curriculum of accessible 
entrepreneurship and curriculum.  I joined the START-UP team 
in 2007 and developed the curriculum and started training and 
entrepreneurship disabilities in September, 2007.  We provided 
benefits planning for them, help entrepreneurs establish the 
business plans, business feasibilities, learned how to do 
effective research.  Helped them with the financials and 
personal as well as business financials.  So START-UP NY's 
goal was really to train 150 individuals in the course of the 
three years and establish about 30 businesses.  Now you can go 
to our Web site START-UP NY.org and learn more about our 
program, what we've been doing.  We have a lot of speeches 
extraordinary speeches that we provide to entrepreneurs 
quarterly.  We brought individuals from outside the county who 
were successful entrepreneurs with disabilities to share the 
stories how they made it, what support systems they used.  And 
really motivate and encourage other individuals with 
disabilities to yes, you have a disability and that doesn't 
prevent you from being self-employed and being successful by 
doing that.
      
      So looking today the outcomes after 2 and a half years 
and entering the final stretch last six months so far we've 
served more than 130 individuals.  109 are still enrolled and 
participating in one way or another meaning in different 
stages which we're going to go down which we're going to 
explain in a little bit.  48 individuals have registered a 
business, meaning they filed a DBA or LLC or incorporated a 
business.  Actually out of those 48, 32 are operating 
businesses, operating meaning they have at least one 
transaction, be it for profit or not for profit.  For profit 
they sold a service or products.  Not for profit, they raised 
money at fundraiser or got grants to grow.  Also, a very 
important component came up during the last  2 1/2 years, 
financial literacy, where we empower our clients with 
financial literacy for the personal budget as well as the 
business budgets in the business process. 
       
      In addition to that, we provided benefits planning 
assistance for the clients who are receiving social security 
income, social security disability income to make sure that 
they can maintain the benefits and also grow their business 
while doing that.  We were fortunate to collaborate with one 
of our corporate credit unions in Syracuse that provided 
individual development accounts with our Kaufmann initiative 
on campus.  We were able to start 16 IDAs, individual 
development accounts.  The way they work the entrepreneur 
saves $1,000 and get matching -- we match that $1,000 for the 
business purpose.  Also, we're working right now on 
replication of the START-UP New York.
       
      In New York City and we also incorporated START-UP NY 
program in inclusive entrepreneurship at Burton Blatt 
Institute for the class we're providing currently.  I 
mentioned the 4-stage process before.  After this the 
department of entrepreneurship Whitman School of Management 
and we work together with our stakeholders, partners, Burton 
Blatt Institute and small business development center to fine 
tune it.  
       
      Really, the stages, the stage 1 is one of the biggest 
innovations or challenges we have seen and contributed to 
START-UP NY is individuals who come -- have an idea or they 
don't have an idea, but they know they want to be 
self-employed.  In this stage really what will be developed 
and implemented is discovery.  Well-known discovery that we 
used through START-UP USA.  The support team building, the 
added financial literacy component really in order to graduate 
from stage 1 and move forward, individual has to go through 
financial literacy, has to have business feasibility and a 
support team.  So by the time an individual is done with stage 
one, they have strengths and weaknesses and have portfolio.  
As Gary mentioned before, it helps them be self-employed.  But 
also this is nothing for them, then they have a good portfolio 
and can go and get wage employment because they know what 
their capabilities are and it makes it easier, okay.  This is 
what I love to do.  I'm going to pursue this self-employment 
or mainstream employment.
      
      Once the individual has done discovery, support team, 
benefits planning actually, is also component of that that I 
forgot to mention.  They have to go through our partner and go 
to the analysis of benefits making sure that they keep the 
benefits and see if they qualify for any incentives provided 
by the government.  
       
      So once they're done with stage one, then they go to 
stage 2.  And here we call them the nascent entrepreneur.  Our 
partner small business development center helps them write the 
business plan.  Initial industry research and opportunity 
recognition, fine tuning the idea, market research and then 
writing the whole plan together.  And now again, we bring the 
financial literacy portion back to the stage 2, and add 
business literacy component to that and help them really 
understand the business plan.  Why the business is done.  
Purpose of the business plan is and how they can utilize it 
and adjust it while they grow the business.  Once they have a 
business plan done and why they do the business plan, revisit 
the support team.  Move along stages to have adequate 
resources available based on the needs at that stage.  So 
stage 2 we move to stage 3 here and entrepreneur has a 
business plan and they're ready to start a company.  Company, 
they secure the location, they're going to be most of them are 
home based businesses.  But a lot of them go to the incubation 
centers that we have in Syracuse like the south innovation 
center which is one of partners, technology garden and many 
others. 
       
      So stage 3 once they start a company and grow it, and 
they're ready to hire new employees, raise more money and 
expand, then they go to stage 4.  Throughout stage 3 and stage 
4, really, it's about inclusive entrepreneurship also adds 
additional value and provides student teams to work with 
entrepreneurs in order to sustain and grow the business.  Not 
only --  but we also have SCORE where they bring in mentors 
for one-on-one counseling centers if an individual wants to 
start a minority or business or wants to do government 
contracting they have a specific mentor who only deals with 
issues and mentors entrepreneurs.  So again we reach out to 
the community and leverage all the potential resources out 
there.  Our economic self-sufficiency strategy was really to 
help the individuals in START-UP NY with the business 
planning.  Provide resource and provide skills for training 
and innovation center, small business development center 
university really understand how to develop a viable business 
plan.  How to develop viable financial plan, and how to 
analyze and use the financials as a tool for the growth.  And 
also address personal income goals.  Help them plan the future 
what they want to achieve especially collaborating with the 
benefits planning assistance that we provide.  Another part of 
the strategy is financial literacy and asset development.  As 
I mentioned before, Burton Blatt Institute has a great vision 
for their develop financial literacy which has been provided 
now twice a year to all our participants and even went beyond 
that and partners with the community stakeholders to provide 
FDIC training.  So these days in Syracuse we find every 
organization that deals with individuals with disabilities has 
an understanding of financial literacy and can provide some 
assistance and training to the stakeholders.  So we train them 
how to manage personal finances, learn them how to get tax 
credits, childcare.  Also we learn them how to manage debts, 
how to get out of debt, how to save, how to invest and also 
how to accumulate assets.  I'll also identified the resources 
that top individuals with disabilities and especially 
entrepreneurs to file their own taxes.  If not their own, then 
we provide a free resource in the community to help them for 
free file their taxes.
      
      Another component is leverage new resources.  As I 
mentioned before the individual development accounts, 
introduce those, the training resources through the one stops.  
We identify what the transportation vouchers are.  We have 
strong ties to the microenterprise loans again provided 
through innovation center, through credit union, also the 
Whitman business center.  And also we reached out and started 
better collaboration with the vocational  rehabilitation 
centers and the commission for visually blind.
       
      Also work incentive plans and collaboration has helped 
many individuals with the past plan to exercise work centers, 
how -- this regards and also always have ongoing benefits 
planning making sure you let individuals wants to start a 
business, open a restaurant, there's several issues with that.  
Is it going to be LOC, DBA, are they on SSI and what impact 
it's going to have on Medicaid or Medicare, so we have all 
those components established, and it's actually working 
process right now.  The process, as I mentioned, as Gary 
mentioned in the beginning, this is not a stand-alone entity.  
This is a process.  And in order to make it really sustainable 
when he several brainstorming sessions what can be done?  How 
can we develop new models to implement the process in the 
community?  One of our partners, as I mentioned, was small 
business development center.  And they identified a lot of 
their clients and come to them are really shopping around 
seeing if this is something for them.  If they didn't have 
tools to test the idea.  Furthermore, a lot of individuals who 
came in, even if they were passionate and driven, once they 
saw the guides for business plan, they get afraid and never 
came back.  A lot of wasted hours.  Unfortunately, a lot of 
dreams being pursued.  And they loved when we worked and 
discovery and support team building, financial literacy, they 
saw that as a great tool and overall the wider community in 
the county  saw this as a great tool for a no doing wrong, 
entrepreneurship that we can have a process applied not only 
to individuals with disabilities but also to individuals 
without disabilities.  Because a lot of them don't know how to 
utilize the resources.  A lot of them don't understand what 
the business plan is.  A lot of them like individuals with 
disabilities doesn't know how to leverage and utilize these 
disabilities.  So our goal in this last stage of START-UP NY 
program that we have now is really to map out the available 
resources for entrepreneurship and implement our process that 
we have.  We used for START-UP NY and then applied to overall 
community in the county.
       
      >> GARY:  As Mirza mentioned, START-UP NY was the 
catalyst for a whole lot of changes in the community and also 
on campus.  One of the most exciting changes was the creation 
of a brand-new course which actually wasn't a brand-new 
course.  We took a course called entrepreneurship consulting 
at the Whitman School of Management and imbued it with the 
principles of inclusive entrepreneurship for people with 
disabilities.  It's a course that Whitman and Burton Blatt 
Institute collaborated on developing.  Mirza and I taught it, 
cotaught it this last semester.  And it's going to be 
continuing in the fall.  Our students received course work in 
not only entrepreneurship principles and practices but the 
essentials of business planning and learned about marketing 
techniques and a whole host of other business development 
tools and resources.  But through guest lecturers and new 
course work understand the needs, the abilities, the 
expectations and the systems that both surround and challenge 
people with disabilities who want to become entrepreneurs.  So 
it's really a 2-track course.  Very closely woven together.  
And it's not just about learning about new systems or tools or 
techniques.  Students in this course actually get involved 
with entrepreneurs in START-UP NY and work with them as part 
of their customized team.  So Mirza and I were very pleased 
the first day of class we had 26 curious students seniors and 
graduate students to find out what we were all about.  And we 
retained 22 of them.  Those 22 students worked as members of 
five teams to work with entrepreneurs and actually our guest 
today, Phillip Moore, was one of those entrepreneurs and we're 
so delighted to have him talk about his experience in a little 
bit.
       
        So our student teams worked as consultants to start up 
entrepreneurs to deal four products of value of growing and 
sustaining business.  Of these 22 students.  5 businesses were 
assisted and they were varied types of businesses.  We had an 
entrepreneur from START-UP NY who was an artist.  Another 
entrepreneur, Phillip, who was into the auto repair and car 
detailing service.  Another entrepreneur who was one of our 
students from the entrepreneurship bootcamp for vets with 
disabilities and actually lives in Texas is an entrepreneur 
that's doing materials handling and distribution.  So that 
team had a really great challenge of working with that 
entrepreneur long distance through teleconference and so on to 
help him develop his business plan.  Another entrepreneur, an 
individual who lives with autism and runs his own furniture 
manufacturing business was assisted by our graduate student 
team to help him redesign his whole production shop so that it 
was easier for him to build the products he markets to the 
public through craft sales and so on to develop a Web site.  

	It was just a couple of examples of the work this that team 
did with this entrepreneur and another entrepreneur was 
engaged in property management doing mine row repair and 
renovation.  These entrepreneurs really mirror in some ways 
the diversity of business that's have been created through 
START-UP.  So the important part about linking our college 
campus curriculum to what we're doing in the community is that 
our students now become part of the entrepreneurs 
individualized custom support team and work with them to help 
manage the development of their business.  Again really truly 
scholarship in action but also one of the key elements of 
sustainability for START-UP NY.  So what happens with this 
course in the future?  Well, we're looking at -- and this is 
really based on what our students were telling us.  They said 
we don't have enough time.  We would really like to spend more 
time working with these entrepreneurs that this experience of 
working with entrepreneurs in the community was one that we 
would like to devote more time to and would like to spend a 
longer period learning about them, their business and 
assisting them.  

	So our plans were to expand this to a 
year-long course beginning in the fall of the coming year and 
then publish -- develop and publish a brand-new text on 
inclusive entrepreneurship as I mentioned earlier.  And that 
will involve not only the principals of customization and the 
business planning principles but have sections on how do 
consultants actually conduct research into markets?  How do 
consultants work as effective members of the team?  What would 
a team leader for a entrepreneurial consultant team have to 
know to engage the students as members of the teams and get 
them working as a whole?  This will be a brand-new course 
curriculum we don't believe has been developed at any other 
campus quite solidly linked to our START-UP NY program.  We're 
also talking about cross listing this with other colleges so 
that we might have students from the school of rehabilitation 
counseling or social work take this course and learn about 
community systems that support entrepreneurs and become part 
of the customized support team that would actually work with 
the referral sources for our START-UP NY entrepreneurs.  And 
the Whitman school over the past number of years has had a 
relationship with Stalenbash university near Capetown South 
Africa where students go over and work with the comment and 
what we're talking about now is having inclusive 
entrepreneurship students work at the South Africa program but 
work with entrepreneurs with disability in South Africa to 
give them a feeling of entrepreneurship in developing 
countries and take the tools that they used in helping 
START-UP NY entrepreneurs and apply them to a whole different 
culture, a different environment, and working with 
entrepreneurs in South Africa.
       
      >> So at the end of the day, how do we measure?  What are 
the changes that we're looking for for this inclusive 
entrepreneurship shift both at Syracuse campus and in the 
community?  We're looking for changes in power.  So at the end 
of the day when START-UP NY leaves the table, when that 
project is done but the principles and practices of 
entrepreneurship are imbued within the Syracuse University 
curriculum and partners, are there changes in power?  Are 
there new designated leaders who are responsible for involving 
people with disabilities and entrepreneurship and promoting 
and championing entrepreneurship for people with disabilities 
in the community and campus?  Are we looking for changes in 
money so we look at blended and braided resources for 
entrepreneurship.  Using micro finance, individual development 
accounts, stimulus money or whatever packages we can put 
together to ensure that anybody who wants to start a business 
is able to have the financial resources to do that?  

	We also have to look at changes in habits, new ways of  
interacting that becomes the norm not the exception.  I take these from a 
very wonderful piece that comes out of the corporation for 
supportive housing that has developed these principles that 
I'm going through right now and they talk very powerfully 
about the power of changes and habits so that in fact 
entrepreneurship is at table in all of the agencies that help 
individuals, any individuals and seek employment and new 
careers in starting their own businesses in the county.  Are 
there changes in technology and skills?  Is there a new cadre 
of skilled practitioners to implement, grow and sustain the 
initiative.  As Mirza mentioned, we're already seeing some of 
the benefits coming out of this project.  The small business 
development center has gotten training on our Phase I 
discovery process because they have come to realize that many 
of the folks without disabilities can be better served in 
their counselors understood how to work with people around 
identifying their hopes, their skills, their dreams, their 
abilities.  Using many of the tools that we use and START-UP 
NY and our partner at the one stop career center also 
beginning to use some of the tools.  So this technology and 
skill of the four-phased model that we're developing at 
Syracuse University and Onondaga County represents a whole new 
technology for many of the partners that we're working with on 
this project.  And fundamentally is there a change in ideas 
and values?  Is there consensus on a new dimension, new 
definitions of success?  

	When we began START-UP NY in Onadaga 
county, we did a process of mapping in the community and found 
that while many people were interested in entrepreneurship, 
the opportunities for them to pursue that were quite limited.  
So now through the work that we're doing in the county and 
with our partners, we're already seeing that entrepreneurship 
is becoming more on the table in provider organizations and 
helping people to think about entrepreneurship as a viable 
career option.  So to summarize some of the changes that we 
hope to have out of these projects and almost as a series of 
indicators for any organization, or any coalition seeking to 
implement entrepreneurship in the same manner as we're doing 
in Onadaga county in START-UP NY and inclusive 
entrepreneurship strategies, we have to demonstrate that 
there's the power of leadership.  There has to be a necessity 
for collaborative planning.  We have to understand how to 
leverage the money, not only from grants but from mainstream 
resources.  We have to understand how to build the 
infrastructure that is important but also needs to be 
appropriate to the economy and the climate of particular 
communities so that the programs and the services that are 
developed are those that will work within that location.  You 
need to have the power of credible data, understanding how 
many individuals are entering the program, how many are 
achieving business planning success.  Developing business 
feasibility move from the feasibility process to the main 
steam service systems and establishing and sustaining their 
business and ultimately are people escaping poverty or 
reducing their dependence on social security benefits through 
entrepreneurship?  That kind of data will sustain our programs 
like ours in the future.  And essentially forging new networks 
to effect change in our communities and where we live.  So 
with that, I'd like to turn it back to Teri.
       
      >> TERI BLANKENSHIP:  So for the last part of the 
webcast, I'm going to turn our program back over to Gary.  And 
he'll be talking with Phillip Moore.  Gary?
       
      >> Phillip, it's great to have you here with us today.  
You're one of the entrepreneurs that we worked with through 
START-UP NY and also our class.  Tell us a little bit about 
but yourself and how you got to start your own business.
       
      >> PHILLIP MOORE:  My dad established a business in 1964, 
and I started working for him as a young man and in 19 -- I'm 
sorry, 2001, we retired.  I retired on the disability.  In 
2006, I decided to go back and open up the business.  I was 
introduced to START-UP NY by Gina Christianson who was a 
consultant and also a friend and she mentioned and I was 
telling her that I wanted to reopen but I needed some 
assistance as far as financing, as well as some marketing 
strategy.  So this is how START-UP NY came into my life.
       
      >> Into your life.  So your business again, I visited 
your shop.  It was auto detailing business when I visited it.  
But it actually before that was a garage and full service 
repair shop, right?
      >> Correct.  We had five entities under one roof.
      >> Gary:  Okay.
      >> Auto body mechanics, towing as well as auto car 
dealership.
      >> Okay.  Great.  So here you are, now, you've decided to 
go back and become an entrepreneur.  How did START-UP NY help 
you out in that process?
       
      >> START-UP NY actually increased my vision ar far as the 
business is concerned.  It also helped me to organize my 
structure that was already pre-existing but needed to be 
perfected. 
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: Okay.  So as an entrepreneur, I'm sure 
you've had a lot of challenges, you know, not only running a 
business but challenges getting back into perhaps that kind of 
a business.  Do you want to share what some of those 
challenges were and how you're over coming those now?
       
      >> PHILLIP MOORE:  One of the main challenges was to my 
marketing strategy.  I needed to get the word out to the 
general public that I was back into business and somewhat 
doing differently instead of the body work, that I was doing 
strictly car washing and detailing.  And that's good.  So one 
of the things you did actually was you were one of the 
entrepreneurs that had a student consulting team.  That was a 
group of four students who worked with you for a whole 
semester and how did that go from beginning to end?  You know?  
How did you guys warm up to each other and work together as a 
team?
       
      >> We worked very well as a team.  As a matter of fact, 
we almost became family.  Because in my industry as well as 
location that I'm in, when I went back, I didn't really trust 
a lot of people.  And so, by being introduced to the team, we 
became a family close-knit and really opened up to each other.  
And they were very instrumental in taking me to the next level 
that I needed to go.
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: That's right.  And they had to do four 
things of value for your business, right?
      >> Correct.  
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: What were those types of things again?
      >> Marketing, financial planning.  Also securing funding 
for the next phase.  I needed to go into secure equipment.
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: Yeah.  Okay.  So you know, as an 
entrepreneur, you sort of have to have a lot of vision and 
determination, right?
      >> Right, correct?
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: So here you are, you know, you're 
expanding your business, and with the help of the team of 
course and this inclusive entrepreneurship course that we're 
doing.  But what kind of advice would you have for other 
entrepreneurs, folks with disabilities who want to get started 
in a business?  Any tips for them?

      >> Yes.  You have to have a determination to go into 
business.  You have to have the confidence that you're going 
to be able to do it as well as secure the proper funding to 
take you to the next level from spending all of your life 
savings.
      >> Okay.  Good.  So I know where you're located, you're 
on a nice little corner there.  And you've got your shop.  
And, if I were to come in to Moore's detailing and auto 
service center, I got that right, a year from now, what might 
it look like?  What kind of things are you going to be doing 
out of that shop? 

      >> Within the next year I'm going to go to car washing, 
expand upon that into also a New York state inspection 
station.  Which will require that a vehicle be inspected 
dealing with brakes, batteries, things of this sort in order 
to pass the inspection phase that New York state requires.
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: That's great.  What about employees?  
You going to do this by yourself forever and a day, or are you 
planning to hire employees?
      >> I'm planning to hire at least one to two employees and 
do basically the managing aspect of it and the marketing 
aspect.
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: Okay, that's great.  Well, you know, 
it's just wonderful having you with the project and working on 
this inclusive entrepreneurship strategy with us and 
especially that you're doing so well in your business.  Any 
final words for folks who are out there thinking about 
starting their business or anything else you'd like to say 
about the challenges on entrepreneurship?

      >> Phillip Moore:  I would like to encourage anyone who 
has a disability or even those who don't have a disability to 
seriously consider self-employment.  Because the way the 
economy is today, there are a lot of jobs are being lost as 
far as the manufacturing industry.  
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: Yeah.  And you know, one of the things 
you talked about just a minute ago was family and how you have 
the team as an extension of your family.  What does your 
family think about you now undertaking this business with this 
expansion?  Are they supportive of all of this and on your 
side?
      >> PHILLIP MOORE:  My family is supportive and one reason 
because I have a son that's going to be going into college.
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: Ah, tuition payments.
      >> Right.  And so I needed something that was more solid 
as far as income was concerned.  And didn't have to depend on 
social security disability.  And this also gives me a 
reaffirmation of being useful as well as utilizing and being 
of service to the overall public.
       
      >> GARY SHAHEEN: Yeah.  Well, I don't think -- that's the 
best testament to any of the services that we're working with 
in Onondaga County, and we're just so pleased you're doing so 
well.  Thanks for coming.  Okay, back to you, Teri.
       
      >> Thank you, Gary and Phillip.  And I'd like to also 
thank Mirza for presenting today.  And we'd like to thank you 
for joining in on this webcast.  We now look forward to 
getting your questions in the chatroom or the web board.
      Upcoming webcast in this series is on Three Models of 
Self-employment,   June 17, 2009
      We hope you can join us.Thanks.  
      
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