---

For Rehabiliation Counselors

---

Expanding Your Self Employment Tool Kit

---

As more individuals with disabilities select self employment as their vocational goal, VR counselors are increasingly relied upon to provide information, advice and resources to help clients achieve their dream of business ownership.  To help assist with your self employment caseload, we hope you will take advantage of the numerous publications that will help you facilitate business success for your clients.  

We recommend adding the field-tested resources described below to your self-employment tool kit.

Smart Steps to Smart Choices: Testing Your Business Idea
by David H. Bangs, Jr. (ISBN: 1-57410-021-1).

This workbook-style resource is designed to help readers make an informed decision about whether or not business ownership is the right choice for them. A series of personal workshops and worksheets help readers explore critical issues about their personal readiness for business ownership, fully develop their business concept, and conduct a thorough feasibility assessment of their business idea.

The Business Planning Guide: Creating A Plan for Success in Your Own Business
by David H. Bangs, Jr. (ISBN:1-57410-099-8).

This no-nonsense workbook is designed to help entrepreneurs develop comprehensive business plans. The Business Planning Guide is packed with understandable examples, sample forms, and practical tips that make the information easy to put into practice. A particular strength of this book is its remarkably straightforward explanation of the financial data required for a business plan.

If You're Clueless About Starting Your Own Business and Want to Know More
by Seth Godin (ISBN: 1-57410-093-9).

This book offers a general overview of the business start-up and development process, written from the perspective of someone who has "been there, done that." Seth Godin not only provides sound business advice, but his approach is both entertaining and motivating. This guide is a quick and easy read, serving as a great general resource for those who are hungry for practical tips and advice. Topics covered include forms of business organization, business planning, securing financing, and more.

If You're Clueless About Accounting and Finance and Want to Know More by Seth Godin and Paul Lim (ISBN: 0-7931-2881-1).

Finally, someone wrote a book about accounting and finance for the mathematically challenged! Seth Godin and Paul Lim cut through the jargon and get right to the point. They do not just explain the how-to's of accounting and finance, but they also explain why. The authors translate accounting and finance into plain English and manage to do it in a way that does not put the reader to sleep.

Working from Home: Everything You Need to Know About Living and Working Under the Same Roof
by Paul and Sarah Edwards (ISBN: 0-87477-976-6).

Many vocational rehabilitation clients are interested in working from home as a practical means of accomodating disability related issues. If you only buy one resource for starting or expanding a home-based business, make it Working from Home. No single resource can possibly address all of the questions that will arise as you start and grow a home-based business, but this one comes close. Paul and Sarah Edwards have taken a mountain of detailed information and put it into a user-friendly format. The organization of the book makes it easy to find the answers you are looking for without wading through a lot of unnecessary information. Practical insights and step-by-step instructions get right to the point. Topics covered include deciding what type of home-based business to start, home office technology, tax and legal issues, getting and staying organized, balancing work and personal commitments, pricing your products and services, what to do when your business outgrows your home, and more.

Financial Planning for your Microenterprise

This practical guide for potential entrepreneurs was developed by the National Endowment for Financial Education and walks clients through the steps necessary to prepare for this lifestyle change. From examining credit to setting up monthly household budgets this wookbook is invaluable for aspiring entrepreneurs.
(available in print and digitally as text only)

The resources described above are general in nature and apply to a variety of broad business interests. If you are looking for resources on a specific business topic or industry, let us know -- we may be aware of resources that address your specific needs. Finally, if you are aware of any additional resource materials that you believe would benefit your colleagues and/or clients, please share them with the EWD Office.