Nancy Brooks-Lane

Katherine Carol

Ellen Condon

James Corey

Doug Crandell

Jim Huston

Jennifer Jones

Marsha Katz

Cathryn Maddalena

Urban Miyares

Jeri Moore

Steven Savage

Corey Smith

Raymond Steffy

Molly Sullivan

Stephen Swain

About Us » Mentor Collaborators

Stephen Swain

Stephen Swain (swainsj@purdue.edu) joined the Breaking New Ground Outreach Program as the Rural Rehabilitation Specialist and Outreach Coordinator in August 2000 and the Purdue University Extension New Ventures Team in January 2004. Mr. Swain has conducted disability, accessibility assessments of farms, homes, and businesses and assisted potential entrepreneurs for Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services with market feasibility assessments, business plans, and business consolations.

Other accessibility assessments conducted include rural counties of Indiana, rural churches, Purdue University Cooperative Extension offices, county fairgrounds, and rural businesses. Mr. Swain is certified as an Assistive Technology Practitioner by the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. Before joining Breaking New Ground, Mr. Swain was employed in production agriculture; livestock feed sales as a salesman and district sales manager and commercial manufacturing.

More about Stephen:

Stephen Swain joined the Breaking New Ground Outreach Program as the Rural Rehabilitation Specialist and Outreach Coordinator in August 2000 and the Purdue University Extension New Ventures Team in January 2004. Before joining the Breaking New Ground Outreach Program, Steve worked in production agriculture, commercial manufacturing, and livestock feed sales. Over the years, he has conducted disability accessibility assessments across various private and public settings, including rural areas. He also assists referrals from Indiana vocational rehabilitation services with a number of business startup activities. Services include assistance with conducting market feasibility assessments, writing business plans, and other select consultations related to business start-up.

Steve's current and past work experiences have helped him develop expertise in the area of assisting individuals with disabilities with developing business plans for agriculture specific ventures. He is part of a team, known as the Vocational Rehabilitation Services Committee. The committee is made up of business professionals, a commercial banker, certified public accountant, and others. Each year, Steve provides business plan development services to approximately 50 people with disabilities. The state's Department of Vocational Rehabilitation funds these services. Some examples of businesses that Steve has assisted include the following.

Example 1: One gentleman wanted to start a lawn care and snow removal business. The man had done this work in the past, however to function in his business he needed accommodations as a result of an amputated leg. He also needed more equipment to maximize work volume and thereby increase the business' profits. Equipment purchased included a zero turn lawn mower, line trimmers and a trailer. Funds were also secured to help expand advertising the services to the community. The business has been operating for a couple of years now. Additional services such as tree and bush pruning and yard clean up have been added to the menu.

Example 2: Another man, whom Steve assisted with starting an organic farm, experienced severe back problems and arthritis. This gentleman had enough money in his personal account to purchase 14 acres of land. After purchasing the tract of land, he obtained funds from vocational rehabilitation to purchase two green houses, a tractor with a loader and a rotary tiller, and other farming equipment. Today, the farmer grows greens for salads and operates a seasonal pick your own strawberries, raspberries, sweet corn, and tomatoes.

Example 3: The most recent example, involves assisting man with starting up a turkey farm. This gentleman had worked in the coalmines all his life and whenever possible he helped his brother-in-law with a turkey farm operation. When the man was no longer able to return to work in the coalmines, due to losing his foot in an accident, he decided to pursue starting his own farm. Steve worked with him to contract with a company to provide the poultry. The new business owner cares for the poultry, which requires housing and feeding the birds until they are mature enough to go to market.

The gentleman experienced some difficulties with mobility due to his foot amputation and needed some technology to help him mange the operations. Funds were secured to set up a track system. The system helps move the birds around from building to building. This reduces the owner's need to carry the birds from one place to another.

Steve advises people with disabilities who are thinking about business start-up to double-check the financials when considering start-up costs and operation expenses. He also believes that while it is important to choose a business/job that would be enjoyable, it must also be a profitable one. Most of the business owners Steve has worked with seem to enjoy the production side of things but often tend to avoid the business side (such as marketing, record keeping, managing, and making tougher business decisions). To be successful, Steve points out that an entrepreneur needs to be willing to perform such tasks or else hire someone else to do them. If these areas are ignored the business is likely to flounder and eventually fail.

Steve recommends that anyone who is considering start-up may want to check out the business-planning tool offered by the Purdue's New Venture team. Individuals can go to this site and start writing a business plan. Anyone can use it free of charge; the address is http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/planner