>> Good afternoon, everyone.
Welcome to today's webinar on Working for Yourself with Ticket to Work.
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And with that, I'd like to once again welcome all of you.
Thank you so much for joining us for today's webinar.
We have a wonderful presentation for you all today.
My name is Brittany Taylor with the National Disability Institute Consulting, and I am
going to be joined by my colleague Nancy Boutot in co-moderating today's webinar, and we are
very excited to have Colleen Moynihan from the New England Business Associates and Paula
Ryan from Empower Tennessee join us for today's webinar.
Paula Ryan is a Community Work Incentive Coordinator, a CWIT Social Security Work Incentive and
Planning Assistance Program at Empower Tennessee.
Paula has worked as a Benefits Counselor for over five years, and prior to that, Paula
worked for the Social Security Administration for over 30 years.
She has experience with Social Security Title to Retirement, Survivors and Disability, and
Titled XVI Supplemental Security Income Disability.
Her last 15 years with Social Security was in a highly specialized job as a PASS Specialist.
That's a Plan to Achieve Self-Support Specialist.
And Colleen Moynihan was the Director of NEBA; that's the New England Business Associates
Development Center since 2008.
Colleen assists individuals in planning and implementing their business concepts.
She is responsible for the Ticket to Work program and the PASS Plan.
That's, again, the PASS Plan is the Plan to Achieve Self-Support Plan, and she has spent
25 years prior to that with two Fortune 100 companies as an executive in Marketing and
Strategic Planning.
She has served on National Industry Boards as an Advisor on Federal Regulation and Legislation
and has operated her own Business Consulting firm since 1991.
And some of the topics that we're going to talk about on today's webinar is an overview
of the Social Security Ticket to Work Program, how a work incentive can help with self-employment,
and why you may want to choose self-employment as an option for you or a family member.
And then, look a little bit more at the New England Business Associates Business Development
Center.
And then, we're going to share multiple resources with you all, so continue learning further
and answer some of your questions that you may have.
And hopefully, by the end of the webinar, you all will have a little better understanding
of how the Social Security Administration's Ticket to Work program can help you achieve
financial independence through self-employment, and you can learn how you can begin your path
to work and who can help you get there.
And I know we have a jam-packed agenda today and a lot of wonderful information to share
with you all.
So, with that, I am going to hand it over to Paul Ryan so she can begin to go through
more information for you all on the Ticket to Work program.
Thanks again for joining us today, Paula.
>> Thank you.
And I'm happy to be able to spend this time to talk to you about the Ticket to Work, and
hopefully give you a better understanding about how all of these rules that you deal
with with Social Security will apply when you have that goal to be self-employed.
So, first off, the Ticket to Work is a program for individuals who receive a Disability Benefit
from Social Security if you want to work.
The services through the Ticket to Work are free and voluntary.
The ultimate goal of the Ticket to Work is to assist people receiving Social Security
Disability Benefits and reducing their reliance on Disability Benefits.
The Ticket program also seeks to promote increased self-sufficiency and greater independence
for people receiving Social Security Disability Benefits through work.
Social Security has more than one type of disability program.
Each program has its own set of rules for getting the benefit in the first place and
rules about what happens if you go to work.
Some individuals may receive more than one type of benefit payment from Social Security.
Social Security Disability Insurance, also called SSDI, is one type of benefit.
To quality for SSDI, you must be disabled based on Social Security's rule and have worked
long enough and recently enough to be insured for disability benefits.
SSDI is disability insurance which you pay for with the FIFA taxes, sometimes listed
on your pay stub as Social Security Tax and Medicare Tax that come out of your paycheck
or that you pay on your self-employment tax return.
FICA, or F-I-C-A, stands for Federal Insurance Contributions Act.
If you receive SSDI, your monthly payment comes on the third of the month, or it might
come on the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of the month.
In some cases, other family members may receive a benefit on your SSDI record.
Most individuals who receive SSDI are eligible for Medicare after 24 months.
If a wage earner is retired, disabled, or deceased, their child, who was disabled prior
to age 22, may be able to receive a disability benefit on the parent's Social Security record.
This benefit is called Disabled Adult Child or Childhood Disability Benefit.
When we discuss the work incentives for SSDI, the same rules apply if instead of receiving
disability on their own work record, you receive a disability benefit on your parent's record.
Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is another disability payment you may receive from Social
Security.
SSI is for individuals who are disabled and have limited income and resources.
To qualify for SSI Disability, you must be disabled based on Social Security's rules
and have income and resources, like money in the bank [inaudible] the limits for the
SSI program.
In 2017, the base Federal SSI payment is $735.
It increases to $750 next year.
Some states pay a supplement in addition to this Federal SSI payment.
Your SSI payment comes on the first of the month, and the health insurance you receive
with SSI is Medicaid.
In some states, you automatically receive Medicaid if you have SSI.
Some states make their own Medicaid decisions.
You may receive both SSDI and SSI.
This can happen if you worked enough to be insured for SSDI but the amount of your SSDI
payment is less than SSI for the state you live in.
You will receive your SSDI payment and will receive a separate payment for SSI.
As an example, let's say that your SSDI payment is $700 per month; you meet all the rules
for SSI eligibility, and you live in a state that only pays a Federal SSI benefit of $735.
Social Security does not count the first $20 of your SSDI benefit; so, they only count
$680.
So, $735, maximum SSI per states that only pay the Federal amount minus $680 countable
income equals an SSI payment of $55.
You would receive two payments from Social Security.
You would also potentially have both Medicare and Medicaid health insurance coverage.
It is important to know which type of benefit you receive from Social Security so you will
know which rules apply to you, especially if you get both benefits because the rules
for each program are going to apply in your situation.
If you're not sure of what benefits you receive, you can call the Ticket to Work Help Line
at 1-866-968-7842, or you can ask your Social Security Office when you report your work
to them.
In August and September, the WISE Webinars also talked about another way to find out
what type of benefit you receive.
You can do that by setting up a MySocialSecurity Account.
The webinars are archived if you want to review them at www.choosework.ssa.gov/webinars-tutorials.
And so, that
again is www.choosework.ssa.gov/webinars-tutorials.
Well, why choose work?
There's a lot of reasons why an individual with a disability, or anyone, may decide that
they want to go to work.
They may want to earn more money.
They want to gain more independence, meet new people, and learn new skills.
And starting that journey, the Ticket to Work can help you.
Once y ou decide if work is the right choice for you, and it's a big decision, Social Security
programs can help you understand how working will affect y our Social Security disability
benefits and other benefits you may receive, and provide support that you may need to find
and keep a job.
The Ticket to Work is free and voluntary, and it offers career development for people
age 18 through 64 who receive Social Security Disability Benefits.
So, taking that next step, you're going to want to gather information and resources,
and that's a key step, especially if you're going to be self-employed but for any job.
And then, knowing what work incentives and how do use the Ticket to Work can help make
your journey a smoother one.
For more information about the Ticket to Work, you can call the Ticket to Work Help Line
at 1-866-968-7842 or the TTY number is 1-866-833-2967, and you
can visit the following website, www.socialsecurity.gov/work.
That's www.socialsecurity.gov/work.
Now, we're going to talk about work incentives.
When you hear the word work incentives, there are special provisions in the law which can
help you.
They allow you to test your ability to work or to continue working and gradually becoming
self-supporting and independent.
Some work incentives allow you to protect cash benefit.
Some help you save money for expenses needed for you to work or to make it easy for you
to begin receiving benefits again if you cannot continue to work or have to reduce the level
of your work.
There are work incentives that allow you to maintain medical benefits like Medicare and
Medicaid, which we will talk about next month in the WISE.
Everything we talk about today is explained in an FSA Book, a Social Security publication
called the Red Book, which can be found online at www.ssa.gov./redbook.
Some work incentives only apply to SSDI or SSI and some apply to both.
Some work incentives only apply if you're self-employed.
There are work incentives that only apply if you're blind.
Because it sometimes gets confusing, it's always best to phone the Ticket to Work Help
Line at 1-866-968-7842 if you're not sure what applies to you.
They may refer you to a benefit planner for specialized advice on working and what work
incentives you can use and how working will affect your benefits.
Do you know what type of work Social Security considers to be self-employment?
You may have your own business.
It may be a business in a location customers come to, or your business may be done all
online.
You may work for a company or agency as an independent contractor.
To be an independent contractor, you're not working under their direct control, and instead
of a W2, you receive a 1099.
You may deliver newspapers, be a hairstylist, or a freelance writer or artist.
Before we discuss the three work incentives shown on your screen, I'm going to provide
you with a little background about certain other work incentives so you will better understand
the three work incentives that can help with self-employment.
The Plan to Achieve Self-Support, Unincurred Business Expenses, and Property Essential
for Self Support.
We'll talk about them in just a moment.
If you receive SSDI benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance, the first work incentive
you use is the Trial Work Period.
The Trial Work Period is only for SSDI and no other work incentives apply during the
Trial Work Period.
The Trial Work Period allows you to test your ability to work.
During the nine months of the Trial Work Period, you receive your SSDI Cash Benefit regardless
of how high your earnings are.
The Trial Work months do not have to be consecutive.
Once you have used all nine Trial Work months within a 16-month period, you have used up
this work incentive.
If you have worked since your entitlement to SSDI, you may have already used some or
all of the nine Trial Work months.
In 2017, your work counts as a Trial Work month if you earn more than $840 in a month
or when you're self-employed, if you work more than 80 hours in a month.
Either of these rules will count as a Trial Work month.
So, if you only earned about $500 a month in self-employment, but you worked 100 hours
a month, you used Trial Work months.
You will see as we discuss the work incentives that record-keeping is very important when
you're self-employed.
Since you do not get pay stubs when you're self-employed, Social Security will ask for
your self-employment tax returns and other records to help them decide if you have used
Trail Work months.
Once you use up the nine Trial Work months, you begin your extended period of eligibility,
also called EPE.
The EPE is a 36-month period.
The months are consecutive.
Social Security looks at your records to see if you're earnings are substantial based on
Social Security rules by using a map called SGA, Substantial Gainful Activity.
In 2017, SGA is $1,170.
If you're blind, it's $1,950.
If you earn less than SGA, you continue to receive your SSDI Cash Benefit.
If your earnings are more than SGA, after all the rules and work incentives have been
applied, they're not your Cash Benefit.
However, even if you're not receiving a Cash Benefit, you're still eligible for benefits.
If you have to stop working or must reduce the amount of your work, your Cash Benefit
can be resumed without having to file a new application during the 36 months of the extended
period of eligibility.
After the 36-month EPE, if you're earning more than SGA, your Cash Benefits may end,
but you continue to be eligible for Medicare.
This work incentive is called Medicare for Persons with Disabilities who Work.
Most individuals who work will continue to receive at least 93 consecutive months of
Medicare.
The 93 months are counted, starting with the month after the Trial Work period.
If your Cash Benefits ended because of work and within five years, you have to stop working
or reduced your work to a level below SGA because of your disability, you may request
reinstatement of your benefits.
This Work Incentive is called Expedited Reinstatement, or EXR.
You may get paid up to six months of provisional or temporary benefits.
While Social Security makes the decision on the request, EXR applies to both SSDI and
SSI.
So, the first Work Incentive that has to do with self-employment that we're going to talk
about is Unincurred Business Expenses, and Unincurred Business Expenses is a Work Incentive
that only applies to Social Security Disability Insurance.
The Internal Revenue Service has its own rules about what are allowable business expenses
on self-employment tax returns.
To claim an expense on your tax return, you must pay for the item or service.
Sometimes, agencies like state Vocational Rehabilitation will pay for some business
startup expenses.
For example, Vocational Rehabilitation may pay for a computer or other equipment for
your business, or if you need a beginning inventory of product for your business, they
may pay for that.
They may even help with utility costs or business rent for a few months.
These items would be an allowable business expense on your tax returns if you paid for
it.
If your state Vocational Rehabilitation paid for some of your business expenses as a part
of your employment plan, you cannot claim this on your tax return.
But since it would have been allowable if you paid for it, it can be deducted by Social
Security from the earnings they count when they evaluate the amount you earned from self-employment.
Unpaid help is another unincurred business expense.
This is when a family member or friend works for free in your business.
For example, a family member donates time to work in your business for free every day
while you take a lunch break and go to the bank and post office.
A reasonable amount you would have paid for this help can be deducted by Social Security
from the earnings they count.
With good records, unincurred business expenses may show that you are not earning over SGA
yet.
For example, Social Security is evaluating your tax returns and other records to determine
if your self-employment earnings are more than SGA.
You've already used up your nine-month Trial Work period.
If after evaluating all the information they have, they determine you had net self-employment
income of $1,800 monthly, which is more than SGA for non-grant individuals, you would not
redo your SSDI Cash Benefit, your Social Security Disability Insurance Cash Benefit unless you
could use the Work Incentive to reduce the amount Social Security counts.
If you had unpaid help and a friend or family member donated ten hours a week, which would
be 40 hours a month to your business, and it was valued based on the Federal minimum
wage of $7.25 per hour, $290 a month could be deducted as an unincurred business expense.
So, $1,800 net monthly self-employment income, based on tax returns and other business records,
minus $290 value of unpaid help equals $1,510 countable income for the SGA decision.
Using the Unincurred Business Expense Work Incentive in this example would reduce the
amount Social Security counts for the low SGA, and you would still be getting your SSDI
Cash Benefit.
Remember, for an item or service to qualify as an Unincurred Business Expense, it must
be an item or service the IRS would allow as a legitimate business expense if you paid
for it, and someone other than you must have paid for it.
Unincurred Business Expense is a work incentive for SSDI only, but there are other work incentive
UPEs if you receive SSI.
For Supplemental Security Income, SSI, your countable income and resources must be under
the limits for the program.
Not all income and resources count.
The amount you receive in SSI depends on the maximum amount of SSI for the state you live
in and how much countable income you have that is subtracted from that maximum SSI amount.
SSI Work Incentives for Self-employment allow Social Security to not count certain things
as income or resources.
Under the general SSI rules, an individual cannot have countable resources worth more
than $2,000; the limit for a couple is $3,000.
Some things that do not count as a resource is the home you live in and one automobile.
Under the general rules, what usually does count is money in bank accounts.
When you're self-employed, Social Security will use your Self-Employment Tax Return and
other records to determine how much net self-employment income you have.
They will convert that into a monthly amount to figure how much you can receive in SSI
payments.
The health insurance you get with SSI is Medicaid.
If your countable self-employment income is too much for you to continue to receive an
SSI payment, you may still be eligible for Medicaid through a Work Incentive called Medicaid
While Working, or 1619B.
So, I just wanted to go over that information for you to see that there's, there's a lot
of steps and a lot of opportunity for you to still continue to receive your Cash Benefit
and your Health Insurance Benefit when you go to work.
Property Essential to Self-Support, PESS, is a work incentive for individuals who receive
SSI.
Social Security will not count as a resource things you own and use in your business, and
this can include your business bank account.
However, it is very important to not combine business and personal funds.
This means that the business account can only be used for the business, and you must have
a separate account for your personal use.
When we talk about the Plan to Achieve Self-Support on the next slide, know that this will apply
to PASS too.
You must always be able to easily identify your personal funds and your business funds
in the various accounts, and it's best to always keep them separate.
When you use the Work Incentive Plan to Achieve Self-Support, or PASS, incomes that would
normally count against SSI or an excess resource can be used to fund your business startup.
This can mean continued eligibility to an SSI payment, a higher SSI payment, limited
to the maximum SSI payment in the state you live in, or even being eligible for SSI for
the first time if the only reason you don't qualify for SSI is too much countable income
or resources.
If you already receive SSI, you need other income that normally counts against SSI for
PASS to help you.
If you already receive two payments from Social Security, SSI and SSDI, with a PASS, you can
use your SSDI to fund your PASS.
Another income source to fund your PASS could be wages from a part-time job.
If you already receive SSI, and you receive a countable excess resource, such as a cash
gift or inheritance, if you want to use that money to start a business, an approved path
can exclude the amount of the resource you plan to devote to the business, which means
that portion of the resource would not be counted against the $2,000 resource rule.
If you already receive only SSDI, Social Security Disability Insurance, but you want to use
PASS for your business startup, you will need to be able to devote enough of our countable
income to your PASS to meet the SSI eligibility rule, and you must be able to meet your regular
living expenses with what is left.
Will you be able to meet your regular living expenses with the income not devoted to the
PASS, the SSI you're eligible for with PASS, and any other income not counted based on
other SSI rules.
The plan to achieve self-support must be in writing, and Social Security must approve
it.
Social Security prefers you use the form SSA545 Plan to Achieve Self-Support.
PASS is for a specified period of time, so it will have a beginning date and an expected
ending date.
When a PASS has a self-employment goal, a detailed business plan is required, and most
people need help in developing a detailed business plan.
Business plans will be discussed more by the next presenter.
If state location of Rehabilitation and Employment Network or another agency is assisting you,
be sure to include that information on your PASS.
So, why choose self-employment?
There's a lot of reasons why anyone might choose self-employment over working for an
employer and especially reasons for people that have a disability.
You may want more flexible hours.
When you're self-employed, and you're not having to show up at a certain time to your
job, you may be able to work more around schedules that you need to work around, such as if you
need to have medical appointments and different treatments or therapies that would make it
hard for you to work for an employer.
Is finding reliable and affordable transportation to and from a job difficult?
If that's a problem, then working in a self-employment type job from home might be an option you
might want to think about.
Do you need the freedom to work at your own pace?
Are you able to accomplish tasks but in your own time, not when you're in an environment
with other people that don't have disabilities that you're expected to keep up with?
Do you enjoy working on your own?
Do you have a passion that you can build a business around?
And are you self-motivated?
The self-employment might be the right choice for you you if you want to meet your work
goals, create your own accommodations, transition from benefits to financial independence, and
seek opportunities in different fields of work.
>> That was great.
Thank you, Paula.
So, before we move on to Colleen, Paula, we had some great questions that came in while
you were talking.
So, I'd like to ask you a few questions first.
>> Okay.
>> The first question is how do I report unincurred business expenses to the Social Security Administration?
>> Okay.
Remember, recordkeeping, and so when you're self-employed, when you're employed in any
job, but especially when you're self-employed, you want to be sure that you're keeping good
records.
And so, if unincurred business expenses is a Work Incentive that you know you're going
to use because you're earnings are potentially going to be over SEA, then you want to be
sure that you're keeping records that you can give to Social Security to use to support
that Work Incentive.
If Vocational Rehabilitation paid for an item, they should be able to give you information
about what they paid for that item, and so Social Security should be able to accept that
as your proof of an unincurred business expense.
If your unincurred business expense was unpaid help, then you're going to need to keep a
record of the amount of time someone is donating in your business.
And so, just remember that these rules are only going to apply or be important if your
earnings are going to be enough where you're going to be approaching the substantial gainful
activity level for the year because unincurred business expenses can be deducted and may
mean that you're not earning over SGA yet.
>> Great.
That's fantastic!
Thank you very much, Paula.
And one more question, is there anybody who can help me put together a PASS?
>> Okay.
When you are thinking about using the Work Incentive Plan to achieve self-support, if
there's someone that helps you with other paperwork, then that's somebody you might
start with to get familiar with the form and understand what you need to fill out.
But a lot of people need other help, and so you can call the Ticket to Work Help Line
and ask them to refer you to someone who can help you with PASS.
If you're already working with an Employment Network or a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor,
they may be able to help you, or if the Ticket to Work has already referred you to a Benefit
Planner, the Benefit Planner you're working with may help you put together a PASS.
>> Great.
Thank you very much, Paula.
That was interesting and great information, and I think it's a perfect introduction to
Colleen, and she is going to pick up next and talk to us about self-employment and NEBA.
So, thank you, Colleen.
>> Thank you, Nancy, and thank you, Paula.
Lots of information that all of you listening right now you've decided to learn about starting
a business That's an important background, and what we're going to talk about now is
going to be a little bit different.
It's going to be about the actual process of writing a plan.
We happen to be New England Business Associates.
We call ourselves NEBA, N-E-B-A, and we are one of more than 500 authorized Employment
Networks, or EN, in the Social Security's Ticket to Work program nationally.
And you can find information about NEBA on the Find Help Tool at choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp,
and that would be, again, c-h-o-o-s-e-w-o-r-k.s-s-a.gov/f-i-n-d-h-e-l-p, choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp.
NEBA's mission primarily is to enable individuals with disabilities to be fully included in
community life, primarily through employment.
In 2007, NEBA realized that self-employment is a very unique form of employment that can
often better meet a ticketholder's needs, and Paul gave you a great overview of what
some of those circumstances may be.
As a result, we started our current Self-Employment program to a joint grant with the Massachusetts
Department of Developmental Services.
We serve a very, very broad range of individuals from the ages of 18 through 64.
These individuals have various levels of skills, interests, and abilities, and what is interesting
about the business aspect of being self-employed is that you can have as many different kinds
of businesses as you can have people.
For example, some of the businesses that we have been working with over these years include
personal service business; some obvious ones like yard work, dog grooming, hair dressing,
people who might be interested in retail operations, that type of thing.
We have people who were involved with light manufacturing.
We've had individuals who were actually working from home.
So, the range of the kinds of businesses that can be held by an individual on the Ticket
to Work program is rather broad.
One of the questions you may be asking yourself is what is the NEBA Business Development Center,
which we often abbreviate as BDC.
The NEBA BDC is a private nonprofit.
We are located in Massachusetts, but we do serve the Ticket to Work program nationally,
and we strive to provide an individual approach to helping individuals start their own business.
An example of this is a person may need additional assistance in understanding how to create
a financial projection.
Now, if you're going to be looking at starting your own business, and you heard Paula talk
about a PASS Plan, and she said you're going to need a detailed business plan to accompany
that PASS Plan.
One of the details is having a three-year projection of both what you expect to get
for revenue or what you believe your operating costs are going to be and what is your net
income or profit.
So, we help people understand how to work through that, do it themselves, and have it
be pertaining to their specific business.
We also help you in taking the concept that you have to focus on the basis of that plan.
Now, again, Paul mentioned that you might have a passion about something, and many businesses
do start from a passion or a hobby.
And one of the other things that we very much require our participants to recognize is that
this business plan that you're writing is simply a roadmap on what you think you're
going to take to get your business going.
Most people, once the plan is done, all of a sudden realize, well, I need some help to
implement, to start this business based on this business plan.
And so, we will continue to work with Ticketholders so that they are in fact able to use that
plan to build their business.
I think the best example I've ever been able to come up with is when you were younger and
you had a hammer or a screwdriver or a saw, you'd seen people using it and thought it
was easy, but when you tried to use it the first time, it wasn't quite so easy.
Someone needed to help you figure out how to actually use a hammer well or to use a
screwdriver or the right kind of screwdriver as well as what type of saw should you use.
A business plan is your tool chest, and we're going to work with you to help your figure
out what tools work best; in other words, how to help you work smart.
So, what in fact is this thing called a business plan?
NEBA works with individuals to write what we define, and we don't mean we by NEBA, the
business world.
We work with what is called a "bankable" business plan.
This is the business world's definition of a business plan.
It has to be a statement of business goals.
You have to have a strategy or a plan for reaching those goals.
Once you've determined what those goals are, whether it's for the amount of revenue you
want to have each year, whether it's the number of clients you want to have each year, whether
it's the location you want to work in or grow from each year, you need an approach, a strategy
to get there, and that is called your marketing strategy, the thing you're going to do to
promote the business to reach out and find clients.
If you've been doing a business now, you've probably developed a following with family,
friends, people you know close to you in your community.
But if you truly want a viable business, then you're going to have to have a much broader
approach to reaching a bigger audience.
You're also going to have to have a three-year look at what you think it's going to cost
you to run that business.
You know, sometimes, people have to hire people.
Do you know that one of the biggest reason for a new business to fail has nothing to
do with not having enough business; it has a lot to do with the business owner not being
able to delegate responsibility so that other people, employees, can do the basic work while
they go out and continue to meet people at other businesses to grow their services.
Well, that's a cost, and you got to figure out, well, where do you think that cost might
happen?
In addition to looking at your costs, you do want to have an idea of what you're going
to have at the end of the day, three years of projected net income.
So, this information is going to be able to determine whether or not your business can
support you.
We do not, here at NEBA, we do not as a general rule, work with individuals who are trying
to make a hobby more profitable or to expand their hobby.
We work with individuals who are very serious about starting a business that will ultimately
allow them to reduce their reliability on Social Security benefits.
So, when we work with a person, we're trying to determine all the time, along with that
person, what do you need in order to be self-supporting, or what is it going to take in terms of client
activity?
Are you able to actually do that level of client activity, or do you need to hire another
person?
So, to kind of review a little bit, how does NEBA help with that business plan?
Well, you have the idea, and we're going to work with you to help develop that idea in
a business fashion and help you write the plan.
We do not write the plan.
You write the plan.
It is your plan.
It is your property.
So, we will guide you in the "protocol" or standard practices of a business plan.
NEBA has always used the business template from the Small Business Administration's Score
program.
We're going to talk a little bit more about that later in the hour, but it's a business
plan outline that is recognized and approved by most lenders and most other business authorities.
So, we will use that template and help you fill it in.
It's sort of a joint application that we kind of go through that moves from your business
idea all the way through to the financials.
I've already mentioned that we assist you in implementing the business plan, and we
do that so that we can also assist you in navigating your process through the Trial
Work period so that you can make your reporting to Social Security to your completing your
tax return.
All those things that Paula touched on, we're going to work with you as well as you actually
have to do it.
So, you're not given a situation where all of a sudden you've got this very important
report to make or this very important presentation to give to a client.
We're going to be there to help you in fact be successful.
One of the other aspects we do once your business plan is completed because this doesn't happen
in the business plan, we work with you to do a sales presentation.
We help you with your sales presentation.
We work with you to develop your elevator talk.
Now, if any of you out there have already started to watch programs like Shark Tank,
for example, you know that those folks are expected to give an elevator talk.
Well, you're going to get one.
You're going to work on it.
We're going to help you develop it so that you can use it in the development of your
client relations.
So, the three parts of a business plan are the business concepts and goals, those you
are going to come with; the three-year projection of business costs and how much profit your
business is making; and then your marketing plan for your identified target market.
So, as you look at all of these three areas, these are the keys to what I already mentioned
as the bankable business plan, and when you give your business plan to a lender or another
business authority, they are going to look at that to make certain, aha, what do those
financials look like?
Do you have the three-year projection?
Do you have a profit and loss?
How does your balance sheet look?
You will be given assistance in developing all of that.
What kind of goals did they set?
Are those goals consistent with what those financials look like?
How are the marketing strategies meeting the market they want to be in?
For example, I know that one of those people that has been very successful in our program
has started a dog grooming business.
How effective was she in her marketing?
Well, she decided to use Facebook; so, we helped her develop her Facebook approach.
We helped her to put together her message and her logo and those kinds of things that
are needed in a marketing plan.
So, for you who are thinking about a business and have not really thought about all that
goes into a marketing plan, we can help you work on that bit by bit as you proceed to
develop the overall marketing plan.
How do we work with you?
We've talked a lot in these last few minutes about what the plan looks like, but what are
the actual processes and protocols that NEBA uses when working with a Ticketholder?
First of all, you will be working with an individual who has experience in developing
business plans and has been doing it for a number of years.
We also will have intake process that allows us to identify if the idea that the individual
has for a business model is what we call viable.
In other words, can it be done?
Does this business have the ability to appeal to people both as a service or as a product?
In other words, will someone buy it?
Will someone pay money for that product or service?
We also expect that the individual will have the ability to commit to the time and the
physical hands-on effort to have this business be successful?
Now, you heard Paula tell you that when you are starting a business SSA in the Trial Work
period, we'll look at how many hours a month are you working.
In the beginning, as with most businesses, there needs to be some recognition that some
time has to be spent on the development of that business in order to be successful.
So, you're going to have to look at, keep track of your hours to see how it fits with
the hours structure that Paula had indicated, which is 80 hours a month.
We also want to make sure that you have the physical stamina to do that.
So, for the beginning of this process, you will have a lot of time and opportunity to
talk with the NEBA BDC instructor to look at all of these questions in addition to the
questions that you may have about the actual business.
We have other requirements that are much more practical once we determine that you are a
candidate or your business idea is viable.
And basically, do you have access to a computer?
You're going to need a computer.
Let's face it; you're going to be writing a document that in some cases can be quite
substantial, 30 to 40 pages.
You're going to have to be doing work on Excel spreadsheets so that you can create those
financial projections.
And right now, I'm going to stop because some of you are thinking, oh my goodness, I can
never do that.
That's untrue.
I've already told you we're going to work with you.
We're going to help you understand how to use an Excel spreadsheet.
We will take the time to get you through that software, but that it means then that in addition
to access to a computer, your computer software is computer compatible or works with Microsoft
Office.
We've also learned that many times people believe their cell phone or their tablet can
accomplish those things that a computer can do.
That is true in many instances but not when it comes to doing a business plan.
So, what we have found is that many people can go to their local library and work on
your library's computer.
And to help facilitate that, to help people have that arrangement with their local library,
we have developed a letter, we call it the library letter, that we address to your local
library so that you can talk to them about having a time to work on a computer so that
you can talk with us and work on your plan.
In all of the cases that we've used for our library letter, we have been successful in
getting an individual to work with their local library to have that computer access.
And what is also interesting, we find that the librarians often end up giving additional
assistance once they're done talking to us if an individual has forgotten or is still
having some awkward moments.
So, there are a lot of people out there that are interested in helping to get folks into
the world of self-ownership when and if it's something you would like to accomplish.
Other requirements that are involved with this program is not only does your business
idea have the ability to be sold to other people where they pay money for it?
Do you have the capacity to, in terms of during a full time business, be able to do that?
Do you have a computer that is accessible that you can use?
But your business plan must also be completed within 60 hours or six months, whichever comes
first.
We want people to be able to move forward with their business idea as quickly as possible
so they can start the magic of getting the business going.
Most people can complete their business plan within four to five months.
We will work with you every week for at least one hour.
You will also have homework or an assignment, as we call it, so that you can take on your
own time to think through and work more on your business concept.
So, time in terms of doing the work of writing the plan is part of the requirement.
If you do not complete the plan within those timelines, NEBA does require a review to see
if ongoing support will make a difference, or additional support, and a person whose
plan is still incomplete at 12 months without just cause may have to reapply to the program.
Now, let's be real; sometimes a disability flares up; sometimes there's a need for medical
procedures; sometimes a person has to go into some special rehabilitation situation.
All of those types of things that are tied to the disability are justifiable reasons
to have to stop for a while and not work on the plan.
When you're ready to reconnect and to begin working on your plan again, then that is what
we plan on doing.
We plan to keep it going as long as viable, as long as possible.
Well, you know about NEBA.
You know that we have been assisting individuals in the world of self-employment for a number
of years.
We have been working with the Ticket to Work program since about 2009.
During that time, approximately 316 Ticketholders have participated in the program.
This does not mean that is the number of people who have inquired to participate in the program.
Remember, we had some of those preliminary requirements that had to be met, but 316 Ticketholders
met those requirements at some degree and participated in the program.
Because of the number of circumstances which can occur, many of our people when they're
writing a business plan, it's rather interesting, decide that maybe employment is more their
track, and they will shift from being self-employed to being employed.
One of the reason is when you're doing a business plan, you do an awful lot of talking about
what do you want to do, what do you want to be, where do you want to go, when do you want
to have that happen, and they begin to see that they can probably do that with employment.
About 50% of the folks that start in this program do move over to supported employment,
which is not an uncommon thing to do.
It's just a different form that they didn't think that they could do, and then they realized
that they can.
So, that leaves our population much reduced, but we still have in our population 129 plans
that have been completed over this time because some people realized their health isn't adequate
enough or other circumstances occur, and they do not complete the program.
We are currently serving Ticketholders in 40 states, and we are serving a live range
of individuals with different types of businesses, as I already mentioned.
We're very, very proud of the folks that have gone through the program and are no longer
receiving Social Security benefits.
We have 15 as of, I would say, early November, who are no longer receiving Social Security
benefits, have gone the Trial Work period, and are doing a very good job of supporting
themselves through their business.
We have in that population a couple of folks that I'd like to talk about.
We call them our success stories.
One of them is Julie.
Julie came to us about two years ago.
She was interested in a working from home situation, and Paula had alluded to the fact
that you can be an independent contractor working from home, and that's exactly what
Julie wanted to do.
She wanted to be an independent contractor working from home, and she knew that was self-employment,
but she wasn't too sure about how to go about it and what to do.
And so, we said, well, this is a business, so do you want to do a business plan so you
can figure out what it might cost you, the kinds of things you might want to consider,
and also it might help you in identifying where your skills as an independent contractor
might be marketed to an employer or a company, in this case, not an employer.
So, through that process of analyzing her skills and how she felt she wanted her business
to grow, she was able to identify an industry where she could be an independent contractor
working from home, and Julie has some very interesting talents.
Julie works on the Internet doing research, finding images based on what a business may
need for marketing their product or services.
She is what we call a photo image or an image researcher for people seeking to augment or
enhance their marketing message, and that's what she does, and this year she earned $70,000
doing that.
So, it's a talent; it's a business that you wouldn't hear much about; maybe never have
heard before; but that is the kind of business that we can assist a person in, working from
home as an independent contractor.
The most common kind of person doing that kind of work is usually doing marketing, answering
customer service, or being a medical transcriber.
But in this case, a very unique case, we have Julie hunting through the Internet for unique
photos that will help other businesses enhance their marketing.
A recent person to get off of her Social Security benefit is Doris, and Doris opened a dog grooming
business.
Now, that's something I think more of you could relate to.
You see dog grooming businesses throughout your community.
And she started very slowly, working at first in her home, and then she started to build
a big enough clientele that she had to find a shop, a retail location.
So, one of the things that Doris did was to start a PASS plan, and so using the PASS plan,
she had a business plan, so she could just overlay or include that when she submitted
her PASS plan.
She was able to use the money from her PASS plan to pay some of the rent on the business
and to purchase some of the equipment she needed to open the dog grooming business.
Today, as I've already indicated, she is off of her benefits.
She has a thriving dog grooming business.
She has a Facebook marketing approach she uses very vigorously to attract more clients.
So, if you're interested in finding a way to start a business, check it out, talk with
someone, talk to your VR counselor if you're with a Vocational Rehab in your area.
They may be able to connect you with someone who does business plans in their area.
Check with other ENs and see if that is something in your area, again, that's available, or
you can contact NEBA on our website, and we can connect with you and see if that is something
that you might want.
So, when you look at all of the things that we've talked about today, you've got to be
wondering, okay, you need [inaudible] help.
Your benefits counselor here, your [inaudible], your [inaudible]; they are a huge resource
for you, by the way.
We found that our success rate with people who are doing self-employment ran up significantly
when we worked more regularly with a C rep [phonetic], so keep that thought.
So, you can get more information on Ticket to Work and NEBA by visiting www.nebaworks.com.
That's nebaworks.com.
For any kind of questions on Ticket to Work support, just ask your questions; send us
an email at ticket@nebaworks.nebaworks.com.
I'm going to spell that again for you, ticket@nebaworks.com.
You can follow NEBA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nebaworks.
That's www.facebook.com/nebaworks, or join us on the second Thursday of the month.
We have a monthly podcast which really focuses on all things Ticket to Work and self-employment
and supported employment.
So, you can join is; you can subscribe, and we do stream also on our website, which you
already have the address for, and our feed is http://whynebaworks.podbean.com and that
would be whynebaworks.podbean.com.
There are other resources that are in your community.
You need to find them.
They have lots of resources for you and your business.
The Small Business Administration, which is SBA, they are located somewhere in your community.
They have a number of self-employment resources that can help you find your way from the idea
through the business plan out to a source of financing if you need it.
SCORE, S-C-O-R-E is a program of the Small Business Administration that is free.
All of these programs that I'm talking about are free.
Working with NEBA is free.
You have SCORE, which is comprised of volunteers who have a lot of experience in running a
business, and they are important to you and your neighborhood because they know your neighborhood,
and they can help you market more effectively.
You also can work with your American Job Center, as I mentioned, your VR office.
These are our resources that can provide maybe additional computer support as well as maybe
some training that you might need.
We've already talked about SCORE, the Service Corp of Retired Entrepreneurs.
It is a nonprofit association.
It's dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground.
That's key.
You are trying to get off the ground.
They also help businesses get to their next level, to grow, and to attain goals over the
period of about three to five years through education and mentorship.
I also mentioned we use SCORE's business template.
You can find a copy of that on www.score.org; www.score.org.
We talked about American Job Centers; they provide single access points to key federal
programs.
They are a resource.
They're critical, a local support to help people find jobs.
Remember, I said some of us start writing a plan and then we decide maybe I'd rather
look at a job.
They help with identifying those training programs that you need, and also gain skills
in maybe some industries that are out there.
Many American Job Centers are also ENs, and so you should be able to to work with them
very, very effectively.
We have a nice long website for you, so here we go, www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/onestop/onestopmap.cfm,
and all of that spells www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/onestop/onestopmap.cfm.
And last of all, something that we don't hear very much as a resource, and this is an important
one.
You start your business, you are working with SCORE, and you are able to grow your business,
and then you want to move to the next level.
Your Small Business Development Center called SBDCs are critical for that particular grown
up step.
You know, businesses are like people.
They're young, they're teenagers, and they're older or mature.
So, the Small Business Development Center will work with the more mature business, and
they provide assistance to small businesses in a number of ways that are much easier and
more effective than maybe SCORE or someone like NEBA can do.
They work on a much more regional economic development level.
They are tied to the financial sector of businesses, and they are very much involved with job creation
and job retention.
So, as a result, when you're getting ready to think about employees, this is where you
want to go.
Small Business Development Centers are usually located in a college setting or a business
office setting, but the best thing to do is to Google either a Small Business Development
Center or the website that we have here, www.sba.gov/sbdc, and at every state, the first letter of the
state will be used with that sbdc.
I live in Massachusetts, so we talk about the msbdc.
If you are in Florida, like Paula, you will have fsbdc.
So, www.sba.gov/sbdc is a very key place for you to find information on your growing business.
At this point, I think we've pretty much covered a lot of information about small businesses.
I know a lot of you have a lot of questions at this point; so, Nancy, I'm going to turn
it back to you.
>> Thank you very much, Colleen.
That was excellent information, and I just want to say that we had somebody in the audience
say to please thank you for your support of [inaudible]; that's the webinar [inaudible].
So, how wonderful, and thank you very much.
So, we have more questions than I know we're going to be able to get to, but one that I
think is, I want to make sure we get answered is when someone is in the process of working
with Vocational Rehabilitation, should that person also reach out to NEBA?
>> They can do that, but most folk; yes, they can do that.
There's no question about that.
The problem will then be we have to have a conversation, and this happens all the time,
and the intake process for us to make sure that where they are with their Voc Rebah person
or situation has met their current needs because the Ticket can only be used by either a VR
or an EN or another entity.
It can't be used by more than one entity at a time to assist a Ticketholder.
So, we really strive to make sure that they are getting what they need.
When your case is done, we encourage them to come back.
That's a long yes, but we can.
>> Okay.
Wonderful.
And one more question, you mentioned Supported Employment Services; can you share a little
bit about what NEBAs Supported Services includes?
>> Certainly.
We provide probably everything that you would find at any local office in your area except
that we aren't there by your side.
So, if you're looking for resume assistance, you're looking for cover letter assistance,
if you're looking how to figure out how do I apply for a job online because it comes
back to computer skills, many times, we will help walk you through that.
We're a huge advocate of Linkedin.
We work really hard to help folks get their Linkedin account done, work their skills that
they've identified to be part of their profile, and then teach them how to leverage their
Linkedin presence with the applications that they've submitted so that they have a more
immediate connection with an employer.
We do mock interviews; we help them with an interview evaluation, and then we have what's
an after they're employed.
We're a big believer about being around for a while.
So, whether you're doing a business plan or whether you're employed, we're going to be
with you for at least another 18 to 24 months so that you will have someone to talk to to
take the pressure off because I always tell folks through my work and employment I don't
want you kicking the boss.
Call me and yell at me because sometimes it's necessary.
But we also want them to know that they are going to have to comply with some certain
SSA processes in terms of reporting, and we're right back to that VPQ why, that ripple connection.
We want them to know where they are in the Trial Work period, and so we become a team,
and that's what we do for Supported Employment.
>> That's fantastic.
Great information.
Thank you again, Colleen.
I would love to ask you more questions, but I know it's time for me to turn it back over
to Brittany Taylor.
So, Brittany, back to you.
>> Thank you, and just want to echo Nancy and thank Colleen and Paula again.
What a wealth of information you both have shared today.
It, you know, really will help put so many people on a path forward.
I agree with participants that noted "best webinar ever."
Thank you so much.
For those of you that want to learn more, and I hope and imagine that it's all of you
that have joined today's webinar.
You can subscribe to the Choose Work Blog and learn more about self-employment, Ticket
to Work, work incentives, job search tips, and there's so much more on there, and you
can sign up for email updates at http://bit.ly/SubscribeCW.
I hope all of you will take advantage of learning more and checking out the blog.
I do want to take a moment and invite all of you to join us on our next webinar.
I'm going to point out that it is on a different day.
It's going to be on a Tuesday in December, on December 12th from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
So, that's next webinar, Tuesday, December 12th, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
And you can register online at choosework.ssa.gov/wise, that's w-i-s-e, or you can call 1-866-968-7842,
or you can reach us via teletype at 1-866-833-2967.
And again, for more information, we've mentioned it a couple of times on the webinar today,
is the Ticket to Work Help Line, a really great place to start getting some of your
questions answered and start setting you on the right path, and that number to reach the
Ticket to Work Help Line is 1-866-968-7842.
And again, via teletype at 1-866-833-2967, and you can also visit that online at www.socialsecurity.gov/work.
Lots of other ways to get in touch with Ticket to Work, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/choosework.
If you want to follow us on Twitter, you can find us at www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa.
And if you'd like to check out some videos on Ticket to Work on YouTube, the place to
visit is http://www.youtube.com/choosework.
And to find us on Linkedin, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ticket-to-work.
That's t-i-c-k-e-t dash t-o dash w-o-r-k.
We've had quite a few questions answered, and thank you again, Colleen and Paula.
We would like to hear what you think of today's webinar, and please take a moment to take
the webinar survey.
After the webinar ends, a link will pop up through the webinar, or you can visit choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/wise.
That's s-u-r-v-e-y-s backslash w-i-s-e.
Thank you so much again, Colleen and Paula.
This was just an incredible amount of information wonderfully laid out and look forward to,
hopefully, [inaudible] of you may be starting self-employment and starting your own business.
Thank you everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to having you all join up
next month on December 12th.
Thank you everyone.
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