>> I'm going to start again. Good afternoon, everybody, this is Ray Cebula from Cornell University's Yang-Tan Institute. I want to welcome you to today's WISE Seminar. We're going to be discussing work incentives and how Social Security, your benefits planner, your employment network and what we like to call your employment team can help you make the transition from benefit dependence to financial independence. And today we're going to be talking a lot about self-employment, which is a very good option for folks. It became one of the more prevalent options for folks in 2008 with the economy crash because that was one of the most opportune ways to get a job, and we have some great success stories to share with you. I'm here with Colleen Monaghan, who is going to help me get through today's presentation, and she's with the New England Business Associates, and I'll let her tell you a little bit about herself when I introduce her. I'm going to be speaking with you a lot about our webinar platform and a lot about the work incentives, and I would be remiss to forget Jamie in the background, who is going to be collecting your questions and passing them on to us, and Mike Hollenbeck, who is our tech guy who makes all things webinar happen. So in order to get started, if I can find that little arrow, you've been connected by default through the speakers and microphone in your computer. If you do need to call in today there's a toll free number, it's up there on our screen and it is 1-855-749-4750. They will ask you for an access code, that access code is 643386799. So in case something happens and you lose internet that's the way to get back in here real quick. If you do need that number again just ask for it in the question-and-answer box and we'll make sure you get it right away. Now webinar accessibility is something that we take very, very seriously. We want everybody to be able to participate in these events equally. We want everybody to have access to this information. So what I'm going to tell you is that if you have any issues at all I want to hear about them, you can put them into the Q&A box, you can get in contact with us by any of the e-mails we're going to be giving you, and if you do have a problem and know of a solution to that problem let us know what that solution is, too, because if we know what the problem is and know that you know a way around it it's going to make it much easier for us to fix everything. Real-time captioning is being provided during today's webinar, and that link is www.edi.cornell.edu/captions. cfm?activity_id+=5190. Now that panel, the meteor view panel, is in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. You can make that larger, but just know as you make that panel larger the other panels on your screen are going to be made smaller. If you don't need that you can just close that down and you'll be able to, if you do need to make that larger you will be able to during the presentation, make it smaller so that you can access our Q&A blocks or the participant list. Now the webinar, today's presentation, the transcript, as well as the audio recording is going to be available in about two weeks, we like to as you for two weeks' time, on our website at www.edi.cornell.edu/ m-wise-webinars.cfm. Now you'll find this webinar and you'll find lots of other webinars about various topics or general discussions about returning to work, and you can access them all at no charge whenever you want by using that website. We always plan a question-and-answer period at the end of the webinar, but know that we do take questions throughout. And while I'm speaking Jamie may interrupt me if there's something that's right on point. When Colleen is speaking I might interrupt her. The one thing that you need to know is that there are lots of you out there listening to us and it's not possible to answer everybody's questions, and so Jamie is going to take the questions that are going to pertain to the largest number of people. That being said, if we don't get to your question we are going to provide you with a way to get an answer to your question. And so for today you can use that question-and-answer box, which we'll show you I believe on the next slide, or you can e-mail to webinars@choosework.net, Jamie will get your questions either way. If after today's session has ended and you think of a question or think of something, I should have asked that question, you can always write to support@choosework.net and you'll get an answer to your question. And if you have a very personal question that's probably the best way to get it done. We'll give you some telephone information and e-mail contacts so you can talk about your personal situation. Probably not the best setting to do that when there are a thousand other people listening. So that question-and-answer box, if you look at the right-hand side of your screen you have your webinar console and it has participant lists and Q&A and aviaviewa [Assumed Spelling]. If you click on the arrowhead next to Q&A it's going to open the box that you see here. What you're going to want to do is type your question into this box at the bottom and hit send, Jamie will receive that question and then she'll either interrupt us or ask us after we're finished and likewise I'll do that with Colleen when we start with her. Now we talked about that link. I understand there is weather in parts of the country, so if your internet does go down a quick way to get that phone number is to use the Q&A box and ask for it, but if you want to you can go up to the top of your screen and hit that audio conference box. If you hit the audio box it's going to open audio conference and when you hit that it's going to allow you to use the drop-down menu that I'm pointing at. If you click I will call in, you will get today's telephone number, access code and your attendee ID, so you will be able to get into the webinar that way if you lose your internet. That's all the technical stuff I want to talk to you about. Today's agenda, we're going to talk to you about how Social Security can help you succeed in self-employment by using the ticket to work and work incentives, and we're going to talk about why choose self-employment, isn't this a big risk to be self-employed? And Colleen is going to take us through lots of stuff, self-employment resources, we're going to give you questions-and-answer time. So we've got a great self-employment session for you. However, before we do our session and give you information we always have to get something from you, and I have five very quick questions that I want to ask you and it's allowing us to figure out whether or not we're reaching the right populations and whether we're advertising things appropriately. So I'm going to open the first polling questions, and it's simply how did you learn about today's WISE event, was it e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, a website, family and friends, your benefits planning, the WIPA program near you, or someplace else? And if it was some other way please drop that other way that you found out into the question-and-answer box so we can find out how you found out about us. I'll give you some time to respond.

[ Pause ]

It's going really well, this is incredibly helpful information so we really appreciate your participation. We're going to close that and you have 20 seconds left. And all five questions are just as quick and just as easy so we don't need to worry about too much here. Three, two, one, up to question two, what do you hope to learn from today's webinar? Are you looking to learn about the Ticket to Work, work incentives for SSI, work incentives for SSDI, employment networks, legal protection and advocacy or some other topic? And, again, if it's something other than what we've listed let us know what you want to know because we've taken those topics in the past and we've built webinars around them, so you can help us create new sessions by letting us know what else you want to know about. We're getting close to our magic percentage. I call it a magic percentage because I don't let anybody know what it is. All right, 20 seconds, please. Ten seconds more. And three, two, one. Poll three, what's your gender, male or female? Everybody is quick on the draw for this one. When you're answering that fast my magic number goes up. All right, we'll close that one down. Twenty seconds. Ten seconds. And three, two, one. All right, number four, what is your age, 18 or younger, 19 to 25, 26 to 40, 41 to 55, 56 to 65, or 66 and older? And don't worry, we have no idea who you are. Probably click on that E and join me. All right. Thank you so much, you guys are really giving me great percentages here. One of the best groups we've had so far. Ten more seconds. Three, two, one. Last question, this last question wants to know how many people other than yourself are watching your screen with you? We know that sometimes people watch in groups. It will give us a better idea of how many people are actually attending. So besides yourself how many other people are watching with you? Did that one open up? Ah, there it goes, okay. I had a glitch. And you're way ahead of me. Boy, I did have a glitch. Okay, 20 seconds. We have a couple of parties going on out there. Three, two, one. Okay, thank you very much, that information really does help us. All right, now we're going to talk a bit about Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration administers two disability programs. And the first thing that we need to know as part of your team and that you need to know is what type of benefit you're receiving. It makes a great deal of difference because how we approach your return to work very much depends on the type of benefit you receive. The first one I want to talk to you about is Social Security disability insurance. Now as it says it is insurance and because it's insurance what you need to know is that you have bought and paid for this insurance. When you worked and FICA taxes are taken out of your paycheck you are buying insurance from Social Security. We're buying it for the purposes of retirement and we're buying it for the purposes of disability. Now you need to have worked a certain number of years in order to purchase credits and this year if you earned $1,280 gross wages in three months, in January, February and March, you will have purchased one credit. You need - the number of credits that you need is according to your age. The best way to find out if you're insured for SSDI is to create a My Social Security account, and you can do that on the Social Security website at www.socialsecurity.gov, it's right on the home page. And I suggest that everybody do that, everybody, it's important that everybody have one of these accounts. I have one myself. This benefit is paid according to how long you've worked and how much money you have paid. The higher your salary the higher your benefit is going to be with a cap of about $2,700 a month in this calendar year. The other benefit that we're going to talk about and have to deal with is SSI or supplemental security income, and this is not insurance, this is a needs based benefit. It's basically a Federal welfare program and it doesn't require that the person receiving it have a work history, at all. It requires that the person be disabled, using the same definition that was used in the other program, and that this person have a very minimal income, if any, and very low resources. Currently the countable resources that you can have are limited to $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a married couple. Totally different benefit. This year the Federal Government will pay a maximum of $733 to an individual who lives alone. Now if you are receiving more than that it's because the state that you live in decided to pay a state supplement, and that may be paid to you directly from Social Security or paid to you directly from the state, but it is limited and it's going to be affected very, very differently by wages so that the first thing that we need to do is figure out what type of benefit you have. And if you do have a My Social Security account or a notice from Social Security we can generally tell right away. There are also some of you out there who may receive both SSDI and SSI. Now this happens when somebody has worked, but they've worked at a lower paying job. And let's say for instance your SSDI benefit, your insurance benefit is $600, because that's lower than the Federal SSI benefit of $733, provided you have resources below that $2,000 or $3,000 limit you will be eligible for SSI to bring you up to that $733 figure. In fact, if you have both benefits then the $20 disregard, so you'd have $753. Again, that doesn't include the state supplements for those of you who live in states that pay a little bit more. People that have both of these benefits have a little more credit when they're returning to work because SSI work incentives apply to the SSI benefits and SSDI work incentives apply to the SSDI side. It's really going to benefit you to have somebody assist you with that because as your SSDI begins to disappear your SSI can go through the roof, and all of this is going to have to be balanced and the calculations is going to have to help and we'll tell you about folks who can help you do that at no cost. Now I'm going to ask Mike to queue up Ben's video and Ben is going to take us through the entire world of work incentives before we get to talk about some specifics. So if you could queue Ben up, Mike, that would be great.

[ Pause ]

>> Independence, fulfillment, community involvement, these are some of the benefits that work provides. By working you can earn more income, meet new people and learn new skills. What is the Ticket to Work program? How can it help you? Ticket to Work is a free and voluntary program from Social Security that provides you employment support services to help you go to work, while providing access to Medicaid and, or Medicare. It can help you go to work, which can give you a greater sense of purpose and help you give back to your community. With time you will be able to replace your cash benefits with your earnings from work, putting you on the road to financial independence, with the peace of mind that your benefits will be available to you if you need them due to your disability. Meet Ben, Ben qualified for the Ticket to Work program because he is age 18 through 64 and receives Social Security disability insurance. If Ben receives supplemental security income he would also qualify for the program. Ben wanted to work, but needed to understand how work would impact his benefits, especially his healthcare. Ben did some research and found out that over 316,000 people with disabilities have participated in the program. After doing more research he decided that Ticket to Work was just the ticket he needed to be successful in going to work. When Ben contacted the ticket helpline they talked to him about support from Social Security to go to work. He found that with Social Security's Ticket to Work and work incentives that if he needed to stop working due to his disability there would be a fast track back to restarting his benefits. With the ticket program Ben had a choice of service providers, employment networks and state vocational rehabilitation agencies. He was able to select one of these service providers to work with him one-on-one to help him reach his work goals. Both could offer him specialized services and he could choose which was right for him. VR agencies work with individuals who need more significant services. The services that Ben could receive include benefits in career counseling, education, training and job search support, ENs are private or public organizations that may help with career counselling and assistance with job placement and more. Different ENs offer different types of services so Ben could pick an EN that was just right for him. Ben also had the option to receive services from his state ER agency and then when those services end he could work with an EN to receive additional services that would help him find a job or keep an existing job. Ben took some time to think about his options and decided to assign his ticket to an EN. Ben's commitment to participate in the Ticket to Work program forged a partnership between him and his service provider. They both agreed to work together and jointly developed a plan that was just for him. His plan defined his work goals and described the specialized services the EN would provide or arrange for to help him meet his goals. Ben's road to employment through the ticket program is a two-way street. In return for assistance in getting a job Ben pledged to Social Security that he would take specific steps determined by the plan he developed with the EN within timeframes set by Social Security to work at a specified earnings level or complete certain educational or training requirements. Taking the agreed upon steps for employment timeframes set by Social Security is called making timely progress. By taking these steps Ben was able to fully take advantage of the support and protection the Ticket to Work program provided. You can be like Ben, the Ticket to Work program is here to help you become and stay employed, meet new people, and gain fulfillment and financial independence. We know it's a big step, but there is so much help for you all along the way. The ticket program offers many tools and resources to help you learn about starting your journey to financial independence. Are you ready to work? Call the Ticket to Work helpline at 1-866-968-7842. For TTY call 1-866-833-2967 to talk to one of our knowledgeable representatives or visit www.socialsecurity.gov/work to learn more. Good luck on your journey to financial independence. We are ready to help you on your way.

>> Okay, you have just gone through everything you need to know to go to work, Ben took us through that real quick. So we're going to help you a little bit, to get some more information about that. The Ticket to Work program that was created in 2000, it started rolling out 2001, is a free and voluntary program to help you get supports that you need to go back to work. You don't have to pay attention to it. You don't have to use your ticket. It is something of value and it depends on what you need to go to work as to whether or not you want to use that. I would think in the self-employment arena you'd want to use your Ticket to Work so that you could speak with somebody who can help you put together a business plan, who can help you determine whether or not the business you want to start is viable. So there's a lot of value, and that person might be from the state VR agency or it might be a private employment network, that's up to you. You can find who is available using the Social Security website at socialsecurity.gov/work, very easy to find it, there's a map that pops up and you click on your state and you'll find these people. And you need to begin to interview them to do that, but again it's a free service to you and you should choose the person or the organization that is best suited to your needs. You have to gather all of your resources, gather information. You're going to be sharing a lot of information with people like me who need to figure out the map and what's going to happen to your benefits as you begin to earn income. Going to talk a lot to Colleen when she starts telling you how to set up a business and needs to be set aside and what types of businesses you might want to have in your area. But this Ticket to Work and all of the services are, once again, free and voluntary and are really here to help you make this journey back to work as smooth and as comfortable as we possibly can. Now starting the journey is up to you. No one is forcing you to take this step and only you are able to decide whether work is the right choice for you. I can tell you that as a matter of fact if you do decide to go to work and you do decide to take this journey that your employment team is going to do their best to make sure that you are better off at the end of this journey, that you will have more money. Why are people choosing to go to work? Clearly more money is better than what they're receiving now, particularly if we look at the SSI side, those benefits are paid at below the poverty level. I can guarantee you if you're receiving SSI today and begin to work there will be more money coming into your household at the end of the month. I can promise you that. Gaining independence means a lot of things. It means independence from the agencies that are providing you with benefits so that you don't need to tell them when you're going to work, when you're getting married, where you live, how you live. It also is independence to make choices - where do I want to live, how do I want to dress? You just have more options - do I want to go to the movies this week or do I want to rent a video from Web Box and take it home and watch it, do I want to go out to dinner, what kind of car do I want to drive? All of that is because of work and the independence that you gain. Meet new people, it's amazing the number of people that you can meet by working. Everybody on this call, Colleen, Mike, Jamie, Ann I met through work. Colleen and I happen to live in the State of Massachusetts, but this week I'm working in Los Angeles and I got to Los Angeles and I'm meeting new people because I decided to go to work. And learn new skills, you know, we're always - and if you jump into the workforce you're going to learn new skills in order to get your job. If you jump into the self-employment world you're going to learn and have to master some new skills right away because of the types of records you're going to need to keep. Those are all great things, and I can assure you you're going to learn new skills almost every day of your work life. It wasn't until 10 years ago that I even heard the word webinar and now they're almost a daily part of my life. There's constant new skills and that keeps life interesting, believe it or not, it really keeps life interesting. Now the Ticket to Work is available to any Social Security beneficiary whose benefits are based on disability and you are age 18 through 64. Now if you are 18 you would have had to have gone through the disability determination that says you are a disabled adult rather than a disabled child. Everybody goes through that at age 18. And at 64 you're getting a little close to retirement age so it's not likely that you're going to be working a long time. But, again, this is free and voluntary. There are no tickets mailed to you anymore. Some of you may have them, but when they were mailed. So they are virtual tickets now. You all have them if you are between 18 and 64, and I believe in September of this year they are going to begin mailing them out again. It's symbolic, you don't need the piece of paper to participate. So let's talk quickly about some of the work incentives that you can participate in when you do begin to work. Lots and lots of work incentives out there, as I said Title II or SSDI has its own set of work incentives and SSI has its own set of work incentives. And these are meant to both encourage you to work and to make the transition easier. And, as I said, most importantly get more money into your wallets. They're going to help you, as I said, get money, they're going to help you with other expenses. A lot of the expenses that you have now are going to serve as deductions. And we're constantly seeing new ways for people to save money. This is more important to the SSI population because on the SSDI population because it's an insurance benefit you can have as many resources as you want, but on the SSI side we're continuing to see it grow in the ability and the ways that an SSI recipient can save money. So let's talk about a couple of the work incentives that are really, really important to today's session. We're going to talk about property, essential for self-support, what we call PES, which is an SSI work incentive. And unincurred business expenses, which sounds a little strange and I've always thought it was a little strange, how could that be a deduction, but it's going to apply to both SSI and SSDI. PES, or property essential self-support, is going to allow you in the self-employment world to have an unlimited amount of money in a small business operating account. You're going to have to have a small business account, there's no other way to do this without having that separate from all of your other money. Now if you're an SSI recipient I told you that your resources are limited to $2,000 if you're single or $3,000 if you're a married couple. Your business may need much more than that, so what PES does when we consider that small business account, property essential to self-support, it means it's excluded from that $2,000 limit. So if Colleen tells you you need to have $15,000 as a base for your operating account it's not going to count towards that limit and you can continue on this self-employment journey. The other thing that you're going to need, some equipment or some tools, if you're going to set up an office type business you're going to need a computer, you're going to need desks. None of that is going to count because it's essential to your self-support. If you want to be a plumber just think about what a plumber has, a van, lots of pipes, lots of very expensive tools, none of that is going to count towards your resources, so that you can keep those tools or purchase the tools in the process of setting up your business and they will not affect your SSI or your Medicaid so your benefits are all going to be intact. Now unincurred business expenses are a little bit weird. I've always thought it's a little bit weird because if you don't pay for it how can you subtract it from your benefits? But this is a work incentive, so contributions made by somebody else, even though it costs you no money, if it supports your business enterprise might be a deduction. So let's say the state VR agency agrees to help you become self-employed and the first thing you need is a computer, and if you're going, as the slide said, into the graphic arts business you're going to need a pretty powerful computer with some pretty expensive programs in it. Well, if VR gives that to you it's an unincurred business expense, and if you're receiving SSDI the value of that computer and those computer programs are going to be deducted from your gross wages in order to determine whether or not you're working at what is known as substantial gainful activity. So these are significant deductions that are not even out of your pocket. A friend works for you, helps you out at no cost, and I have a great example of that right now. The person that I'm training with this week, her husband was a disabled veteran, received benefits and he restored historic homes, he was truly an artist. He was allowed the account, and Connie, his wife, said every day when you come home the first thing you do is take all of the receipts out of your pockets and put them in that basket, then you can come into the house. And Connie would pick up that basket and spend three or four hours doing the books for his business every month. They live in Indianapolis, so how much does a bookkeeper cost for four hours in the Greater Indianapolis area? If its $25 an hour that's $100 unincurred business expense that is used to reduce her husband's countable income. So this is a great thing, even though it sounds a little strange. There are contributions, again, made by others at no cost to you to help that self-employment. So Connie's bookkeeping skills were being used to help her husband's business succeed, but she wasn't being paid for it, she wasn't being paid for it. And I'm not moving ahead, there I am. Now to qualify it needs to be a legitimate business expense, now that's an IRS rule. So if it would be a business expense if you paid for it and most certainly bookkeeping and a computer are business expenses. You can use it as an unincurred business expense and, of course, somebody other than you has got to pay for it. Now we were talking about substantial gainful activity and SSDI. Unincurred business expenses are not deducted from income when you receive SSI and that's because of that needs based nature of the program. Now if you didn't shell out the money for it we're not going to give you a deduction on the SSI side. That doesn't mean you don't want a free computer from VR, it just means you don't get a deduction, you still want to accumulate as much of this stuff at no cost from any source we can. Okay, now Megan - Megan is truly one of my heroes, she's helped us out for a long time, she was working, was living her life, and in 2008 was diagnosed with clinical depression and had to stop work. In 2010 she decided that I am really not happy sitting at home doing nothing. She had gained a lot of weight. She was just - the depression was not getting better, you know, she was just sitting at home. So she connected with an employment network in [inaudible] located in Maryland, and within a year by 2011 she had successfully begun working. What happened was that in 2013 her unit where she was working was dissolved and she lost her job. Because of work incentives, that one on the screen called the EPE, the extended period of eligibility, Megan was able to simply contact Social Security and say I lost my job, I have no earned income, and Social Security immediately turned her benefits back on. No new application, just I lost my job. Now in 2014, this was a bump in the road for Megan, she was not going to let this stop her, and she did this all with a great sense of humor. In 2014 she started her own business, you know, she was a ballroom dancer, she enjoyed that, so she started getting involved in Zumba, more exercises, and now her business focuses on fitness and exercise and personal training for the elderly. So she goes into, not nursing homes, what am I thinking of - assisted living facilities and runs exercise programs, goes into senior centers and runs exercise programs. There's a little video to show you about Megan, as well. So, Mike, if you could queue up Megan's video now?

[ Pause ]

[ Music ]

>> The last time we chatted I was working for Well Stat [Assumed Spelling], which is an advisement company, and I was a document control specialist. And then in 2013, in February, I actually got laid off, so I called Transcend to let them know that I was no longer working and what I needed to do to go back onto my disability. And so they set up my Ticket to Work and everything just kind of flowed seamlessly. I filled out some paperwork and let them know, and I was receiving benefits that month. I had been teaching Zumba part-time in the evenings after work, and I let a whole bunch of people know that I was laid off and that I was ready to work during the day, and I just started taking more classes and as I did more classes and was teaching more I really fell in love with it even more and decided to actually make it my business. I would definitely recommend the Ticket to Work program to others. I would say don't be afraid to do it, you have really nothing to lose because they only stop it when you're making too much and who doesn't want to make a lot. So I'd say don't let your fear hold you back, and I'm the perfect example of someone who started and who got laid off and nothing bad happened. Choosing work has made a big difference in my life by making me feel useful and being able to contribute to other people, but also choosing to work has let me ...

[ Background Conversation ]

>> All right, I think I was muted, but now I am going to tell you that Megan will be with us next month. She's a great inspiration to all of us because she has lived this, experienced it, and come out at the other end as a much happier person and has done it all with a great sense of humor. So that being said I'm going to ask Jamie for any questions before I turn this over to Colleen.

>> Hi, Ray. We do have a couple of questions for you. We have someone wondering how they report those unincurred business expenses? Do they have to use an employment network or VR agency to do that?

>> Not, at all. You know, the Ticket to Work gives you the option to use a VR agency or an employment network, but if you were to do this by yourself or to do it with a benefits planner or to work with Colleen what you would do is simply keep track of what the VR agency gave you. You could ask them what the value of the computer or the desk was and then report that yourself to Social Security when you make your report of income.

>> Okay. Thank you, Ray. You also mentioned substantial gainful activity, can you tell us what that is?

>> Wish I could. No, substantial gainful activity is an amount of money that Social Security allows you to earn and continue to be disabled. This year in 2015 Social Security set the substantial gainful activity level at $1,090 in countable income each month. So what they do is take your gross wages and then subtract a lot of work incentives, a lot of work incentives from that gross wage and come to a figure of countable income, and if your countable income is below, either at or below $1,090 a month you continue to be eligible for benefits. And that's really applying to the Social Security disability insurance program. Now there are some periods of work incentives where you're going to not have to pay attention to that, where you can work as much as you want and get your full benefit, and then there's another phase where that is going to matter and benefits are going to turn on or off depending on whether you're above or below SGA. And that's why a benefits planner is a good thing to have, but that SGA you just can't think of it as a number because it is countable income and you need to work with a benefits planner in order to determine what your countable income is. If you're making $1,500 it's still possible that you're not earning countable income of $1,090. I hope that was explanation enough.

>> How can people find a benefits planner?

>> People can find a benefits planner by going to socialsecurity.gov/work. Every service that you need, your state VR agencies are going to be there, all of the employment networks that serve your zip code are going to be there, as well as the WIPA program, the work incentive planning and assistance, they're labeled WIPA on the website, and you just click on your state and everything you need is going to come up. If you want to narrow it down you're going to put your zip code in there and you'll get a smaller group of people to pick from. And those services are all free.

>> Great, wonderful. Thank you, Ray. You mentioned that Megan was in her extended period of eligibility, so you have to go back on benefits when you're in your EPE, do you receive the same amount as you were getting before?

>> Absolutely, you know, you're still eligible for SSDI during your ETE, you're still considered a recipient, and the question is was Megan performing substantial gainful activity, and she was when she was working. When she got laid off she was not, she was earning nothing, so all she had to do because she was still eligible for the program was call Social Security and they turn on that spigot and the checks start coming again.

>> Thank you. Our last question for now, we have somebody out there who heard about a pass plan being really helpful for self-employment, can you talk a little bit about that?

>> Yes, very quickly, a pass plan is a very useful tool. We talked about pass has a shelter, right, you can keep all of these tools and all of these trucks and plumbing equipment and none of it counts as a resource. Pass, a plan to achieve self-support, pretty much does the same thing, it allows you to set aside income or resources and they don't count towards that $2,000 limit, but you need to have a vocational goal. So if your vocational goal involves self-employment this is a great way to start saving, to build up that nest egg so that you have the operating budget to buy equipment that you need, and none of it is going to count as a resource level so it will allow you to do that. It is a specific process, the plan has to be written for you and it has a very specific amount of money you're putting into a bank account every month and a specific amount of money that's coming out at very specific times to purchase that computer, to fund your operating account, but it's a great way to start self-employment.

>> Okay, thank you, Ray. I'll let you introduce Colleen now.

>> Okay, we have with us Colleen Monaghan and she is from the New England Business Associates, and she is going to be our expert today on self-employment. And, first of all, tell us why you choose self-employment and then probably talk to us a little bit about pass plan and how the things that can help us set up our own business. So, Colleen, take it away?

>> Thank you, Ray. And I want to welcome all of you to this very, I think, interesting and important webinar. When you think about self-employment many of you sitting out there have not even met too many folks who took that plunge, that are self-employed. And self-employment, therefore, becomes sort of a mystery or something we don't think about as an option when we go forth to think about how do I get back into being more self-sufficient? Well, first of all, let's look at the slide that talks about why choose it. It can be right for you because it will help you meet your work goals and those work goals could be driven by not only the wish or desire to become more self-supporting, but to do it within a framework in which your disability is not a factor and, therefore, you can use your disability and its whatever I would call challenges to help promote you and propel you into the world of self-sufficiency. You can supply your own accommodations, many times in the world of work this becomes a bit of a challenge, but in self-employment you're able to set that scenario, set that environment yourself. You may because the type of self-employment you seek, and I'm seeing a growing world of working from home because you're working self-employed as an independent contractor you don't even have to rely on transportation or have funds for gas. The transition from benefits to financial independence is often a lot more manageable because you are determining your work hours, as well as what you get paid, and you can be seeking opportunities in fields of work that have always been of interest to you, but you never could find them as an employee. So NEBA [Assumed Spelling], this is what we call ourselves, as NEBA we are a national certified EN and work closely with Social Security Administration to assist individuals both in the area of self-employment and employment. We are, as I've just said, an authorized employment network. You can find more about us on choosework.net. Our mission is to enable people with disabilities to be fully included in community life, primarily through competitive employment. So who do we serve? It's going to sound very familiar to what Ray has mentioned a few minutes ago, we focus on individuals between the age of 18 and 60 who have a wide range of abilities and interests because, as I say, many self-employed people develop their business concept from a hobby or something they've been doing already. Slide, please? I work out of an organization called the NEBA Business Development Center and we provide what is considered an innovative approach to helping individuals start their own business. Basically, that is a highly personalized and individualized approach to developing our business. We try to seek out what it is you are already capable of doing in terms of the vision that you are interested in exploring as a business. In addition to developing your business concept and writing a business plan, I think the most important aspect of what we do, which again is an innovative approach, we assist you in the implementation of your business. A business plan is a tool, and just as you know when you were younger or at some point in your life while learning how to use a hammer and a screwdriver and a drill that didn't mean you were a carpenter until you were able to integrate all of the ways of using those tools. This is also true, so we assist and participate in the implementation of a business once a plan is done. Next slide, please? So what in the world is a business plan? Many of you out there have taken trips, whether you fly somewhere or you drive somewhere, you stop and you take time to figure out what's our itinerary, what is it going to be, where are we going, how long will it take, and what are the stops along the way. That is what happens with a business plan. You set up some goals, how much income do I want to earn, where do I want to be in three years? Do I need to have employees? When and where in my business plan will I have that employee component begin? How am I going to pay for those things? What are my anticipated costs? And what kind of income does the business have to generate in order to carry those costs? We also provide information on the kind of experience, expertise or tools that you may need, given the business that you're seeking to employ. Now here's something everybody should realize, when you walk down any busy business street you see many kinds of businesses. It could be a bakery at one end, it could be someone doing a Zumba class, a business at another end, it could be somebody doing carpentry, it could be a lawn maintenance business. Those are technical skills. They each have a specialty, a specific skillset that they bring, but they are all running a business and they need to all understand in addition to their technical specialty what are some of the things we need to know to run this business. Ray happened to mention earlier about, well, the kinds of reports or information you have to collect, that's one aspect of running a business, and those are the things that we talk about as it pertains to the specific market or segment that you're trying to work with. Slide, please? So how does NEBA help you with your business plan? Well, first of all, you're going to come in, and I had a person come in today who wants to start a business. Well, tell me about your idea, what is it that you hope and think you can be doing? Some people are not too sure, they just think, well, can I do this? Well, we just saw a video of a young woman who took an enjoyable activity and she made it into a business that is allowing her to be self-sufficient. How did she get there? She probably wrote a plan that contained in it the various activities she had to do in order to make sure that she was on the right track. Once she had that plan written she then was able to implement that business because she has made enough contacts to know that she was going to be able to succeed. We call this implementation part, by the way, the post plan support session. So we're going to give you assistance in working with a WIPA, your WIPA area organization because to us we know that once you understand how to integrate your business plan idea with your current SSA benefit you're going to have a little bit of a concern with how to knit all of this together. So you're going to be encouraged very vigorously by NEBA to sit down with a CWIC [Assumed Spelling], a benefits counselor, to go over your specific situation, both in terms of what you're receiving for income and what your health benefit is, so you're going to be ready and prepared to know how to take your business plan, move it forward vigorously and confidently knowing that you're integrating it well with your existing Social Security benefit. And that is one of the really important benefits of your Ticket to Work program. So once you have all of this in place - if you move to the next slide, please - we're going to help you break down over the course of the first three years of your business what you're needing for other resources and other activities. So your three-year projection, how much is it going to cost to run your business and how much will you earn. We want you to understand that because of these other incentives, these work incentives that Ray covered, for example, the Pass, that you will not run into any roadblocks as it pertains to your Social Security benefit because you're going to be able to see what it's going to cost, how much you're going to have to put aside - it's called planning. You can communicate that to not only your CWIC, but keep your local Social Security office apprised of what you're doing so that you can have no surprises. One of the biggest concerns that everybody has is, oh, my gosh, what happens to my benefit? You also want to make sure you're not getting overpayment of a benefit, which can create another problem or concern. So we work very closely with the WIPA program, the on-the-ground Social Security office, and try to make sure that your plan is effectively meeting all of these things that you require. We also try to provide for you what I would call mentors, in addition to what we currently provide. So on the slide that we talk about, what was how do we help you with your business, plan you'll see at the bottom, it says the service corps of retired entrepreneurs, called SCORE. That is a program of the Small Business Administration. This is a national network of individuals who give their time on a volunteer basis, are retired from maybe running their own business, but certainly have experience in helping businesses develop and thrive. And we ask our people who write their plan, no matter where they live in the country, to visit their SCORE office and have their plan reviewed so they can get a mentor. The success rate for individuals who have mentors, whether it's just working with NEBA or working with SCORE or in your own state, every state has what is called a Small Business Development Center, which can also assist. SCORE and the Small Business Development Centers are free resources to every citizen in this country. Those mentor programs assure that you're going to have a success rate of about 80% in your business. Folks who start a business without these mentor programs, the success rate is 30%, so we try to encourage you to get a mentor, either us or someone else because it's much preferred to be in the 80% ranking than the 30% ranking. We also encourage our folks to get involved. For women who are starting their business, Dress for Success, that is a program that is nationwide that assists women moving into the work field, developing their own business, going into any kind of a profession, to acquire up to three professional outfits at no cost and that includes everything from the outfits, themselves, the shoes, accessories, everything. We are working right now with a national organization to see if we can't start something similar to that for men, using a voucher approach, because men also need to be professionally attired because you need to be getting clients. Now I would suggest that if you're starting a lawnmower maintenance business you may say, well, I don't have to be wearing a suit. True, but you do need to have a nice pair of slacks, you need to have a nice golf shift type of jacket so that if you are trying to develop your lawn maintenance service to be focused on business properties they want you to look a little bit more professional and they will relate to you more comfortably if you are dressed that way. So we extend our network of resources from not just NEBA, but also to these other kinds of services. I do want to say, also, that we work very, very closely with the VRs in our region because we know that there is something that the VR can provide for an individual in the course of developing a business that we may not be able to gain access to. And we do encourage the writing of a pass plan where appropriate given the individual's particular situation. Slide, please? So what are our requirements for participation? Well, anyone can inquire as to whether or not they have a viable business idea. You heard earlier we work with individuals between the ages of 18 and 60. You will work directly with an expert in the area of business plan development, and we try to help you understand what the requirements might be within your community to start a business. So we would work with you because, again, we do work nationally, what does your town or community require for business permits, how do you get them, where do you go to get the kind of assistance you need if you need to get specialized training in your community? For example, if you're starting a restaurant you need to have a serve save [Assumed Spelling] certification, how can you get that, where can you get that? Many times we will also assist individuals in how to be more computer confident and we have access to an online program that has no cost that allows individuals both to become a lot more competent in computer, I should say, capacities. And we also in the marketing area have access and encourage our folks to take a LinkedIn program because LinkedIn is that new word of mouth and it is something that's invaluable for marketing a business effectively and successfully. So as we look at what we require we also require one thing that is not on this particular slide, and that is once your business is moving forward we will work with you and assist you in reporting quarterly to Social Security Administration as to what your business is earning for revenue, what your business expenses are, and what your net income is. The reporting process for income is a little different for self-employment, it is done on a quarterly basis, it is not done monthly, and there is a specific form that is given by Social Security to be completed and submitted to the individual's local Social Security office. At the end of a calendar year it is expected that the individual business owner will submit an IRS Schedule C along with a tax return, and we will assist a new business owner in the work of compiling the information for both the quarterly report and the Schedule C. So there is a lot to running a business that is not apparent on the surface that you will learn about as a form of entrepreneurial education in the course of running your business plan. Next slide, please? So if you do decide that you want to write a business plan you're going to need to have a computer and it should be a PC-based computer, an Apple computer is not always the best computer for running a business unless you're in the graphic arts area or the more creative fields. The business standard for business reports and that type of thing do not necessarily get effectively done using an Apple, it doesn't interface well with certain required worksheets. So that said, your computer must be able to prepare word processing and spreadsheet work that is compatible with Microsoft Office. Next slide, please? Now it doesn't mean that you're going to take forever to write a plan and it doesn't mean a plan is done in a week unless you work every day for eight hours. It does take time because it's a thinking process that is very important to make certain you're on the right path. So we generally say that within 60 hours or six months, whichever comes first, our people when they're doing a plan they're averaging about four months to complete a plan. If you do not complete a plan in the 60-hour or six-months' timeframe we're going to have to sit down and figure out why is this not happening? Now sometimes this doesn't happen, and I just had a situation, but the individual had a medical concern that flared up and had to stop working on the plan for about two months. That is certainly going to have a lot of impact on your ability to meet that 60-hour or six-month criteria. But if you are at the end of 12 months and you're still not with a plan that's pretty close to completion we may require you to reapply for the program because we do really want to have people have a plan that is going to be realistic and practical and will work on that right from the get-go. We do not support hobbies, we believe very strongly a business is a business is a business and that your goal is that you're going to become as fully self-sufficient as possible and that you are going to be working the number of hours a week it takes to realize the financial goals that are realistic for a viable business plan. So supporting a hobby that NEBA has never ever engaged in and we determine if it's a hobby or a business very early on in the assessment session of our process, and that begins with starting the numbers and we do that immediately upfront. So it helps you, the ticket holder, determine whether or not this is for you, as well. So it's not something that's going to be a surprise at the end, oh, my goodness, this isn't going to work. We're going to get that done within the first three to four weeks. You're going to know whether or not your idea works, whether you are a good candidate for running a business, and whether or not the idea is going to be sustainable, all critical parts of determining whether self-employment is for you. Next slide, please? Now at the moment we have been working with individuals with disabilities since approximately 2009, which was when we got our first business plans, 101 people have participated in the program. That doesn't mean that's the number of people that have initially asked to be in the program, that number is probably closer to 300. We've completed 91 plans. Now I just said a few minutes ago that sometimes you've got to figure out whether or not this is the right path for you, and we try to help you make that decision very early on in the process. So by the time we get a quarter of the way through people self-select and decide this is not for them. Through that process we have today, actually, that 91 plans is incorrect because since giving the information to Jamie, who organized this terrific program, I completed an additional three business plans in the last two weeks, so that number is more like 94 people have completed a plan. So it's an ongoing number, it's never still. Twenty-three plans are currently in process, that's not true anymore because we've just taken on at least four more new people, so that plan is different, that number is different. Most of those individuals who work with us are usually the type of business that does not require employees, but we do have some lawn maintenance people, people who start a restaurant. One individual in New York who is working on developing unique dyed yarns and she has one person in her operation. There's another person I'm working with down in Georgia who has a part-time person helping in shipping. I have a person out in Seattle area, they're in the dog training business and they have two people that are working with them. So if it's a restaurant you're going to have several people. If it's lawn maintenance you're going to have several people. So that some jobs are created, but most of these individuals who start their own business it's usually by themselves. I have an accountant in Tennessee who just opened an accounting firm this year and she's bringing on two accountants to work with her shop. We have currently, and this is across the board, we currently have 25 active tickets that have been assigned and the number that is not up there is that I have two people this year who will be going off of their SSA benefits because of the success of their business. So let's move on to the next slide and look at some of our stars. I mentioned Leslie already, the accountant who is moving very aggressively towards self-sufficiency, and part of that is being because she has hired two people. Cheryl is out in Nevada and she's a real estate stager and she has - was one of our early ticket holders and she has a part-time person that helps her with the heavy lifting. If you know anything about real estate staging you're moving furniture around, and so because of her disability she is not able to do that, but she has a part-time person who does. John is an inventor and he has inventoried a device that is used as solar energy that will allow individuals who are living in apartments to have emergency backup in case something happens to power during a storm and power outage goes beyond a couple of days. And so he is not a person who really needs any staff, much of the work he does he contracts it out. Julie is a research photographer, she's an independent contractor. She is going off benefits this year by the end of this - by end of June she will be coming off of benefits. And she works for, as an independent contractor and is hired by organizations such as Smithsonian Magazine or Encyclopedia Britannica to help find photography for articles or units within a large book, textbook publishers who are doing textbooks for colleges and schools. And Kim is a HIPAA consultant in California and she works with people across the country to assist them in making sure they're HIPAA compliant, and she will be probably in another year off of her benefit herself. Her business is growing fast and furious. So if we go to the next slide you can see where you can get more information on NEBA, but I have to encourage you to please go to Choose Work, find out what is out there for Choose Work. Get the information on finding where you might have a WIPA connection in your immediate area. We are constantly evolving and changing. You can contact us at ticket@nebaworks.com [Assumed Spelling] and someone will get back to you within 24 hours to answer your questions and help you if you need to get any more assistance. If we go to the next couple of slides, let's talk about some of the resources. We did touch on SCORE and that is a national program, it is funded by the Federal Government, it is a program of the Small Business Administration, and it is free to anyone who uses it. Our program is listed in the SCORE resource guide that they put out every year, and my understanding is that you can find us located in that. Next slide? We've talked about the WIPA program, I cannot say enough about the WIPA program. If you, sitting out there, as an SSA beneficiary or as the member of a family of a beneficiary you must understand that this is probably one of the best programs going for you. American Job Centers, we work with One Stops and we will send some of our people to a One Stop if we feel they need to have more assistance in computer training, and some of the centers do it for free, some charge, but we do work with One Stops for that purpose. I've already talked about Small Business Development Centers, every state has them, they are located usually in a University setting and they are free and they will help an individual with developing a business plan. I think I've covered it all, Jamie, so if you have any questions or things that you want people to talk about I am open and ready.

>> Okay, Colleen, thank you very much, that was some great information. And we do have a couple of questions. The first question that came in was when you talked about hobbies, is it possible to turn a hobby into a business?

>> Absolutely, and that's an excellent place to start. In a way when we were looking at the video earlier that young woman turned her love and even though it may not have appeared to have been a hobby, it was a part-time job, I can call that a hobby. She didn't do it as a full profession, she turned that interest into a full profession. So, yes, you can, it happens all the time.

>> Okay, and how do I get the financial support I need to start a new business? It sounds like it's an expensive proposition.

>> You'll be amazed, most small businesses do not need that much upfront money or capital generally speaking to start a business. Those are called micro loans and, again, we help individuals to find the organizations in their area that offer micro loans. You must understand, though, that most lending institutions expect that a business is in operation for two years before they will consider giving any lending above I would say $10,000. There are two other organizations that can be of assistance, there is the National Association of Self-Employment, NASE, that is their call letters, if you will, you can find them on yourbusiness.org. And they give out a $4,000 grant every month to individuals who can complete an application that convinces them that they have a viable business idea. They generally require a business plan. Another organization that can be of some assistance is called Your Freelanced Union. Freelanced Union and the National Association of Self-Employment are two national organizations that are specifically for people who are self-employed. It includes providing group benefits, group price benefits that are not available to an individual who does have a standalone business.

>> Okay, Colleen, when you talk about starting a business you're talking about a profit making business and not necessarily a nonprofit, right?

>> No, we have started four nonprofits. One of these two folks that I mentioned earlier, who will be going off their benefits, is actually because she started a nonprofit to help individuals with Lyme Disease, and she is currently the Executive Director. They are doing extremely well, and she's anticipating that she will be off of her benefits and she, as the Executive Director, starting a nonprofit as an employee, but she considers it her legacy. I mentioned that I have met with somebody today who is just starting a new business. She is going to be starting a nonprofit, also. I have a nonprofit who is up in the Boston area, Ray, who is in the arts and that was the best vehicle for her. She's up in, oh, Salisbury, Mass, that area.

>> The next town over.

>> Yes, so that's right, I knew you'd get it. So there are - it's not a question of just being for profit, there are opportunities for nonprofits, as well. I just remembered another nonprofit I just started and she's going to be working with trying to establish in her community a tiny house community, this new tiny house concept if you're aware of it, but it's going to be to provide alternate housing for the homeless.

>> Oh, that's a great use for tiny houses, those are wonderful things. I actually think that's a great idea for downsizing.

>> It is, it is, it is.

>> Does NEBA provide services only face-to-face or virtually? You've told us about people all over the country, so wondering how you provide ...

>> We do it virtually, we do it virtually. Many of the - when we first started offering self-employment - NEBA has been doing self-employment since 2007. I joined them in 2008. And, as I said, our first plans were done in early 2009. We discovered that many of our potential clients were not able to get to a face-to-face meeting, so we started experimenting with doing a virtual approach, and it's worked effectively. And I think it moves the process faster than if you're face-to-face. You'll get caught in conversations.

>> Okay, and we actually did have a question from somebody who wants to know whether you worked with artists? I know from my end of this business working with artists and writers can be a little bit more complex, so what kinds of supports did you provide that artist in Salisbury?

>> That particular artist we've obviously done a business plan with them. We helped determine whether they would be better off as a nonprofit or as a for profit. And we helped them figure out how to network to get their business out there so that they could be connecting with the decision makers to help hire them. I've worked with two writers, and both of them have self-published and are working. One was in the area of a self-help book. And so we worked with on demand publishing, we have some connections with a couple of those particular kinds of entities. But the trick with them is getting - even though you're doing self-publishing you want to get into the area of the big box stores, as well, so we helped them figure out whether they should have an agent, we worked with that, helping them to find the right agent. And I think this is a good time to bring up the fact we also help people do crowd funding. I'm working with an artist right now who is doing - I can't even remember the name of it - it's this Japanese small figurine kind of thing, and she's doing it in resin, and so we're trying to put together a crowd funding marketing approach for her so that she can do her figures and develop licensing and that type of thing. So we all ...

>> Is that really?

>> Yes, it's that kind of thing, absolutely. Thank you. And then I do the traditional artists, and there's an organization in New York City, an art gallery down there that works only with individuals with disabilities and we try to connect, but she has very high standards, she's on Madison Avenue. We work very hard to get some of our people who are in the quote-unquote traditional artists category to be working with this person in New York City.

>> Those are some great stories. Thank you very, very much. Okay, we are closing in on four-thirty, so I am going to take you through a bit more information. We have lots of questions, and I have to apologize that we couldn't get to them all. But if you do want some information specifically about your situation or we did not get to your call please call the Ticket to Work helpline and they are at 1-866-968-7842 or for TTY users 866-833-2967. You can also, as both Colleen and I have told you, check out socialsecurity.gov/work. All of the information that you could possibly imagine is there, and it's a really great safe way to start. Because no one is going to know, you know, no one is keeping track of who is on that website, so it's a great way to get your basic information if you want to check that out before you want to talk to anybody. If you want to keep in touch with us you can like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/choosework, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa, or watch our Ticket to Work videos on YouTube. Lots of people, like Megan, who have gone through this journey successfully and have shared their stories with us, www.youtube.com/choose work, and we would invite you to share your success story and maybe you would become part of that library. Now we are having a Facebook Q&A session on April 29th of this year from three-thirty to five o'clock p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. If you want to get involved with that you're going to want to visit www.facebook.com/choosework, and we're going to have several experts available to answer your questions about working from home, about self-employment and about the Ticket to Work, so that is April 29th from three-thirty to five Eastern Daylight Time. And our next webinar is going to look at folks with mental illness, how can we help support your journey to employment, and that's going to be happening on May 27, 2015 at our regular time, three to four-thirty p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. You can register for that webinar at www.choosework.net/wise or give a call to 1-866-968-7842 or for TTY 866-833-2967. And I just want to thank Mike in the background, thank Jamie for getting these questions to us, thank Colleen for some great information and a great presentation. And I wish you all a good day and please join us at our next webinar. Thank you very much, everyone, have a great day.

>> Adios.