Investing in Me

A few months ago, I wrote about my desire to micro-invest in businesses starting on the 30th anniversary of my first open heart surgery. Well, I ended up having a pacemaker implanted on November 10th (yes I'm 32 and a cyborg lol) so that didn't go as planned on November 8th. Instead, I decided to invest in me this month.  Although, I did give to a couple of small businesses in October :).

I thought long and hard about my next venture. I've worked in education (former special education teacher), nonprofit (people with disabilities), volunteered with veteran service organizations and helped startups.  I decided that it was time to start my own for-profit social enterprise.  The thinking didn't start in November.  It started last year on a visit to Michigan, my home state.  I was devastated to see empty storefronts.  Later, Borders, my favorite local bookstore (I grew up in Ann Arbor), closed.  I wanted to do something, but couldn't decide what or how.  In November, after the pacemaker implant, I decided to go for it.

I asked a web developer for help, asked a friend for more help and while recuperating, did market research.  I had to learn how to incorporate in Michigan while living in California.  I engaged a great Michigan-based writer to help with articles that I'd need written.  In January, my new venture will debut.  Wish me luck!

I'm not giving up on my promise for micro-philanthropy.  I'll still give and document my $30/month.  Now I'm going to spread what I'm doing even further. 

30 Years later, a pacemaker and lessons learned

Uh oh. I'm getting reflective.  In April, I turned 32.  November 9th I celebrated the 30th anniversary of my first open heart surgery.  I didn't celebrate by having a huge party that day, but by having an electrophysiology study that was supposed to lead to a cardiac ablation. Fortunately, they found put the root cause of my problem.  I had sinus node attacks, which isn't an allergy attack.  It caused extremely slow heart rates and wasn't discovered using an echocardiogram or an EKG.  I was given a pacemaker 2 days later.  In fact, I'm sitting at a friend's house typing with one hand now.  The pacemaker isn't solving the whole problem, but tomorrow I find out if it means I can take new medication and other therapies for my irregular heartbeat.  I think it it is a pretty awesome gift.

These past 30 years, I've learned a few things:

1. I know my body.  If I'm not feeling well, I need to listen and force doctors to listen and act.
2. Life is a gift I treasure everyday.
3. Never make a New Year's Resolution.  That day doesn't have meaning for me.  I make a resolution every November.  
4. Make specific resolutions I can keep.  I never promise to lose a dress size. I promise to be up front about my condition, to ask for accommodations when needed, to volunteer 30 hours for the year, etc.
5. Never hide the scar.  It's a source of pride, strength, love.  It reminds me that I'm lucky.  There are people worse off than me.
6. Give back.  I feel great volunteering.  I may have physical limitations, but I can still help someone else.
7. Know my limits.
8. Never be afraid to ask. 
9. Failure is not doing anything.
10. It's ok to ask for help.
11. Love really is the most important thing in the world.
12. Reach for the stars. 
13. 
    

Why the #occupy demonstrators are selfish

I’m part of the 1%.  I admit it freely.  No, not that 1%, the other 1%....I’m 1 out of 100, the estimated number of people born with congenital heart defects.  I’m also part of the percentage of people who are looking at the occupy Wall Street people and thinking, “you’re selfish.” 

There. I said it. I put it in writing even.  I think they’re selfish.  Where were all of them when gays weren’t allowed to be married in certain states? When they were getting beaten, bullied and killed?  Where was all their outrage when people were being called “retarded” like it was alright?  Where were they when it was deemed that Medi-Cal and Medicare didn’t have to pay for therapies for children with Autism?  Why is it that they aren’t all lining the streets every time the “n” word is used or others are being called wet backs?  The Boycott Arizona Movement seems to have died down, hasn’t it? Voting laws are being passed that are taking us back to the Jim Crow era and they’re occupying Wall Street. 

The Super Committee put social security up on the table.  They’re looking at making huge cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.  This will negatively impact current and future generations, especially those who have disabilities and the elderly.  All research shows that people with disabilities utilizing the federal medical systems do so at a disproportionately high rate.  There are more hospitalizations, medical appointments and prescription drug costs.  These costs cut into the amount of money these individuals receive from federal resources and private savings.  When the occupiers pooled their money, it went towards:

A.      A.  Helping the elderly and people with disabilities make mortgage/rent payments

B.        B.      Helping the elderly and people with disabilities pay for medications

C.       C.      Organizing rides and paying for transportation to the polls for the elderly and people with disabilities

D.       D.     Paying for a commercial

For all of you that answered, A, B or C….I’m sorry.  But, the people occupying Wall Street paid for a commercial.  You know, to tell others what we already know.  That despite the cost of the medication we all need right now, the inability to keep a roof over the head of a person who receives less than $900/month to pay for all needed items in the state of California (without a Section 8 voucher or food stamps), that despite voting is important and many are disenfranchised due to the inability to use public transportation, a lack of pick up by ACCESS services and not enough money to get to the polls, a commercial to inform us that banks are the root of all problems was more important. 

In Los Angeles, the group of Occupiers refused to let a Farmers Market reclaim their spot.  A movement that is for small business owners, the hungry, the unemployed decided that small farmers should not sell their goods, that the workers should get paid less, vendors who paid the city for a booth should not sell their wares, workers, the underemployed, jobless and the unemployed should not eat fresh, local, potentially organic food downtown and that produce should go to waste.  That’s what their actions said.

When they surround the banks, do they think of the small business owner who is bringing cash and checks to the bank to make payroll? How he or she must fight through the crowd of angry people before the bank closes?  Do they think of the people who have disabilities who must arrange for public transportation to drop them off at a certain time and pick them up at a certain time or else they don’t have a way home?  That those people have accounts there too and must decide if as someone who is elderly, uses a wheelchair, walker, cane, fear of crowds, has a seeing eye dog (or miniature pony as my allowed assistive animal due to the Dept of Justice ruling), no computer for bill pay because they never were able to afford one even before the mortgage crisis, can get through the crowd and take care of their business without being afraid of getting hurt? On top of that, I alluded to people who have a fear of crowds. Not everyone has a visible disability, one that comes with “hardware” or assistive technology.    

I’m all for protesting, but where were they when Medicaid rates were cut?  Where were they when the elderly didn’t get a raise in their cost of living?  Where were they when voting rights were getting cut in certain states?  Where were they when their representatives in the senate were voting on the jobs bill?  That’s right….they weren’t occupying their offices…no.  They were occupying Wall Street.  When key votes happen on a nonpresidential Election Day tomorrow, where will they be? Occupying Wall Street. Once their demands are met and they get what they want, where will they be when historically disadvantaged groups need assistance?  At their high paying jobs with health insurance and 401k glad they occupied Wall Street and still uncaring about the injustices that happen to the people with disabilities and people of color who stood next to them, who will still be Occupying Wall Street and the Capital without news coverage.  

Where Should I Invest? Putting my money into the mouths of startups

This November marks the 30th anniversary of my very first open heart surgery.  At age 2, I had a partial correction of a congenital heart defect.  In honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to become a year-long philanthropist.  Well....a mini one.  Each month, I will invest $30 dollars into a US-based start up, small business or micro-enterprise using sites like Kiva, MicroPlace, KickStarter, IndieGoGo and 33Needs.

For August, I've decided to choose between 5 companies that caught my fancy, 1 from each site.

Here's My Chance
Creating an interactive, video chat based fundraising tool
Diane
A woman who after brain surgery has created a fashion line 
Secret Science Club
Hosts live science events for the public
50 for 50 
A woman celebrating her 50th birthday by donating $50,000 in 50 days to WriteGirl, an LA nonprofit that benefits girls.
Accion Texas
Invests in minority entrepreneurs in Texas.

Where should I invest? Click here to vote!

Entrepreneurship and Disability: Where's the focus?

Warning: I'm not going to get too deep, but I may say things others will find objectionable.....

I've been to a lot of workshops, seminars, and events for entrepreneurs.  At those events, I never saw anyone with a visible disability. When pondering that, I began to wonder if any were like me, with a non-visible disability.  Sadly, I began to doubt it because I started thinking about the various disability rights groups and their foci (plural of focus).  Many of those groups focus on Medicaid funds (which many of us do not receive), maintenance of social security benefits (which many of us were denied), research (to eradicate and cure people of the disability) and part-time employment in retail positions and entry-level positions (where those of us with college degrees don't work).  There are some that focus on entrepreneurship, but it's on a microenterprise scale and limited to certain industries (the push for clean tech, environmentally sustainable businesses and tech start ups are not the focus).  All this pondering led me to the following questions:

• Where does this leave people with disabilities in a changing economy?  
• Where are they to get the information that is given to their peers who do not have disabilities? 
• How can people with disabilities form start-ups in growing industries such as biology, health care, green industries and technology?  
• Are universities and colleges advertising their hiring partnerships to those with disabilities who are not registered with their disability resource center (Dept of Labor campaign)?
• Are the universities and colleges with incubators and accelerators encouraging those with disabilities to join, state their ideas and create businesses beyond the microenterprise level?
• When entrepreneurs are creating devices and apps for people with disabilities, are they paying their focus subjects or bringing them in as partners?
• Why aren't disability rights organizations and disability specific groups advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities into high growth fields at management levels?
• When I read blogs decrying the actions of politicians in taking away so-called "entitlement" benefits, why aren't I reading blogs from people with disabilities decrying our lack of participation in and outreach about Start Up America?
• Should type of disability matter (visible vs internal, developmental vs acquired)? Note: If you answered, "yes", then you failed the test and should read ADAA (the reauthorization of the American with Disabilities Act and the definition of disability).
• Is a lack of perceived need for accommodations what keeps me in the loop, while locking others out?

Again...just a few questions I pondered.  

Clean tech incubator

LA CleanTech is throwing an office warming party on July 28th. What makes this incubator different? It is a partnership between a nonprofit and the department of water and power. Eco friendly companies only. To RSVP, send an email to RSVP@centralcityeast.org by July 25th. To learn more, visit http://laincubator.org.

Yap-Take voicemail to the cloud (and gain analytics)

I'm a busy person.  I volunteer, I consult, and I run a nonprofit.  I don't always have time to answer the phone and when I return phone calls, I like to know how to prioritize.  Yap helps with that.  I've used Google Voice (free numbers are nice), but I wanted to give something else a whirl.  I like that I can text/email the caller back.