Small Business in a Box: Enabling Entrepreneurship with Accessible Tech

J.J. Meddaugh, Ted Drake CSUN 2015

slideshare.net/7mary4 BizAbility.Org

This  presentation  was  developed  for  the  CSUN  2015  conference  by  JJ  Meddaugh  and  Ted  Drake.    http://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/2015/sessions/index.php/public/presentations/view/152  For  more  information,  visit  http://bizAbility.org  Business  in  a  Box  evaluates  tools  and  services  to  make  small  business  management  easier  for  entrepreneurs  with  disabilities  and  recommends  next  steps  toward  attaining  universal  access.    

INTRODUCING TED DRAKE

J.J. Meddaugh, A T Guys, Blind Bargains - entrepreneur @atguysTed Drake, Intuit - small business software @ted_drake

Entrepreneurship provides employment opportunities for many individuals with a disability. Efficient management requires a set of tools that enable sales, business management, financial reporting, and education. This presentation seeks a solution to discovering these resources.photo: Child Entrepreneur Lemonade Stand 50 Cents Each Qiqi Lourdie June 24, 2011 by Steven Depolo on Flickr

Benefits

• Not bound by location

• Choose your technologies

• Set your own hours

Problem for small businesses

• What technologies are accessible

• Lack of peers and mentors

• Finding education resources

• Unsure where to start

Small Business Accessibility Toolkit

BizAbility.Org

BizAbility.Org is an online collection of software, applications, devices, and resources that provide an accessible experience for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and employees. This is to be a living document and depends on feedback from users.Toolkit includes basic information on a product and their accessibility functionality.Photo: Toolbag with power tools by Mark Hunter on Flickr

Product Inclusion• Provides a function necessary for establishing

and running a small business

• Factors for being considered accessible:

• Product has been tested for accessibility

• Endorsed by a user

• Product has an accessibility team and making progress

While the items within the toolbox are affordable, and many are free, cost was not a determining factor. While researching products for this toolbox, surveys were sent to small businesses, product accessibility managers, forums, and social media for suggestions.

Mobile

Mobile technology has become key to small business management. Mobile payment solutions enable low cost credit card processing.Invoicing, estimates, note taking, and account management can be handled on location.Many mobile applications are more accessible than their older desktop equivalents.There are tools and backend functionality that is not available on a mobile application. photo: Even Elmo has a mobile phone by Ed Bourdon on Flickr

Product Categories

• Accounting

• Education

• Inventory

• Management

• Marketing

• Online Stores

• Payroll

• Point of Sale

• Shipping

BizAbility is broken into the key categories for business management.

Point of SalePoint of Sale is where the consumer completes the process of purchasing goods and services. There are several mobile solutions for credit card processing. This also includes bar code scanners and devices that improve communication.Photo “we take cards” by Joel Wachs https://mifarmersmarket.wordpress.com/tag/credit-cards/

Square

The Square Stand for iPad bypasses the headphone jack, which is a common accessibility problem. Square provides an accessible interface for consumers and business owners. https://squareup.com/stand

WireTap

Wire tap is a headphone splitter that separates the input an output. This means you can record via one port and listen from another port. Originally this was design ed for musicians, but it also works for credit card scanners and listening to a screen reader at the same time.Wire tap works with Square and reportedly with PayPal.

AfterShokz Bone Conducting Headphones

It’s difficult to listen to a screen reader while also having a conversation with a customer or paying attention to ambient sounds. Bone conducting headphones leave the ears exposed and send the sound waves through the skull.

Online Stores

Online businesses are great opportunities for individuals with limited mobility. Today, there are many platforms for starting an online business, the only limit is your time and imagination. http://bizability.org/product-category/online photo: www by Daniel Kulinski on Flickr

WordPressWP Accessibility

Woo Commerce

bizAbility.org uses WordPress + WP Accessibility + Woo CommerceWordPress is an open source platform that is extremely flexible and offers many accessible templates and plugins.WP Accessibility by Joe Dolson fixes and improves the accessibility of WordPressWoo Commerce is an open source ecommerce solution. The default theme is accessible.Drupal is also a great content management systemphoto: the Three Musketeers by Pascal on Flickr

Etsy Amazon eBay

Many businesses tie into large e-commerce solutions for selling, receiving payment, and managing inventory.Etsy is an online market place for hand crafted and vintage items.Amazon allows companies to list and sell their items within their platforms. It also provides great affiliate opportunities for highlighting their merchandise and receiving a commission on sales.eBay and PayPal allow companies to sell online and collect payments.

AccountingAccounting includes much more than balancing a checkbook. It also includes projecting sales, tracking popular products, watching invoice due dates, scheduling payments, and organizing employees and their wages. Today’s accounting tools are also flexible and tie into third party Point of Sale, inventory, and payroll systems.Photo: Accounting the old way by Laura Gilmore on Flickr

Intuit QuickBooks

QuickBooks is the industry standard for small business accounting. QuickBooks Desktop is the most accessible solution, when combined with scripting for JAWS, Window-Eyes, and NVDA. QuickBooks Online works seamlessly with mobile applications. http://quickbooks.intuit.comMore on accessibility: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/Support/Articles/INF26892

Online Banking

Chase PNCPayPal - payment

Marketing and Social MediaHow do you acquire new customers and tell the world about your business? These tools provide marketing advise, management, and social media presence. http://bizability.org/product-category/marketingPhoto: layout zz by Dolina Wiedzy on wikimedia

Accessible Twitter Clients

• Chicken Nugget: Windows

• Easy Chirp: Web App

• Twitter.com: Web App

Chicken Nugget and Easy Chirp are built to be accessible from the ground up. Each allows you to create tweets and view your Twitter stream. Twitter’s web site provides the most accessible option.

Email Mailing list

Sendy: self-hosted mailing list software. Works with Amazon’s Simple email service.Mail ChimpDemand Force from Intuit, provides integrated marketing, emails, and appointment reminders for small businesses.photo: email by Dennis Skley on Flickr

Education and Training

These online resources will provide the education and training needed to efficiently start and run a small business. Many of these resources are free and range from economics theory to the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship.photo: education by Sean MacEntee on Flickr

Featured Education Product

These three provide transcripts and/or captioning. They may also provide downloadable course outlines, handouts, and supporting web sites. iTunes U and Khan Academy are free, while lynda.com is a subscription-based business. Lynda: http://bizability.org/product/edu/lynda-com-online-trainingiTunes U: http://bizability.org/product/edu/itunes-universityKhan Academy: http://bizability.org/product/edu/khan-academy

Payroll ToolsPayroll can quickly become a complicated process for companies. A robust accounting software will make it easy to track employee’s hours, wages, taxes, vacation time, and much more. photo: payday by JD Hancock on flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3583835507/

Intuit PayrollIntuit Payroll is a subscription service that integrates with QuickBooks. It provides paycheck distribution, tax documentation, and employee management.The iOS applications are very accessible. The QuickBooks Desktop integration is also accessible.

Shipping

Completing a purchase is only the first step for many businesses. These tools will help your business track inventory, package, and manage shipping costs.photo: drop shipping by Grisel D´An on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/128454566@N06/16082871437/

Endicia

Use the Dazzle Endicia software to print postage from a desktop interface. The Windows version has been tested and is mostly accessible for shipping needs. This also works well with the Dymo scale: http://bizability.org/product/ship/dymo-usb-shipping-scale

Current Progress

Resources

• AppleVis Forum

• Accessibility Clearinghouse - FCC

• Blind Bargains

• Images are creative commons from Flickr and WikiMedia

Future Steps

• Identify funding and resources to ensure site is properly maintained and updated

• Develop a best practices guide for companies who wish to implement accessibility in their business tools, or link to existing guides which serve this purpose

• Explore training modules, classes, or other educational tools to enable business ownership and management by individuals with disabilities

bizAbility.org @biz_access