>> Hi everyone. This is Nancy Boutot. Welcome to today's Ticket to Work WISE event. We have a very exciting agenda for you today. And we are thrilled to have so many people on the line. Looks like right now the numbers are climbing to over 350 attendees. We have over 1300 people registered today. So obviously we have a lot of interest in our topic and are very happy having so many people on the line. This afternoon we are going to be talking about working for yourself with Ticket to Work achieving financial independence. And you can manage your audio using the audio option at the top of your screen. It will look like a microphone or a telephone icon. All attendees will be muted and we encourage you to attend by choosing listen only from the audio menu. This will enable the sound to be broadcast through your computer. So, please make sure your speakers are turned on and that your headphones are plugged in. If you do not have sound capabilities on your computer or if you prefer to listen by telephone, you can dial our toll-free number, 1-800-832-0736. And the access code is 8458462. For webinar accessibility real-time captioning will be provided during this webinar. The captions can be found in the captioning pod which appear directly bellow the slides you were looking at. You can also access captioning online by going to http://www.captionedtext.com/client/event.aspx?CustomerID=846&EventID=3075760. For questions and answers, please use the question and answer pod to submit any questions you have during the webinar. And we will direct those questions accordingly during the Q&A portion to our speakers. As I mentioned earlier, we have a wonderful agenda today. We have a lot of people that are watching and listening. So I will say this several times, we probably will not be able to answer all of your questions today, but we will be giving you resources and we will be telling you where you can go for more information as well as trying to get to as many of those questions today. If you are listening by phone and not logged in to the webinar, you may also ask questions by emailing questions to webinars@choosework.net. Please note that a webinar is being recording and the archive will be available in two weeks on the Choose Work website at https://www.choosework.net/webinars-tutorials/webinar-archives.html. If you experience any technical difficulties during the webinar, please use the question and answer box to send a message or you may also email webinars@choosework.net. So I am your moderator today, Nancy Butow filling in Jayme Pendergraft. I am also with NDI consulting. We have some wonderful presenters today. We have Colleen Moynihan from New England Business Associates. And we also have Marlene Ulisky with the National Disability Institute consulting. So, I want to take a moment to welcome them and talk to you about introducing how Social Security can help you succeed at self employment, Ticket to Work and Work Incentive. We are going to talk about why choosing self employment may be best for you. We are going to hear from the New England Business Associates Business Development Center. We are going to give you a lot of self employment resources. And we are going to be also having several question and answer sessions, so we can try to get to as many questions that you have as possible. So we are going to move into first the Ticket to Work program. And we are going to be hearing from Marlene Ulisky. And Marlene, as I mentioned is with National Disability Institute consulting. And Marlene has worked for the Social Security Administration in the past for over 35 years. So she comes to us with a great deal of knowledge and experience. Marlene work in Florida and she has developed expertise in developing relationship with partners across Florida. Educate them and the disability programs administered by the Social Security Administration. After leaving the Social Security Administration, she works with the Florida Office of Vocational Rehabilitation who established the partnership stuff program under the Ticket to Work program. And she was rehired by the Social Security to conduct training and to assist anything physical, integrity [inaudible]. At National Disability Institute, she is part of the training by technical assistance team and provides support to her colleagues and to beneficiaries and come-- Social Security Administration issues arise. So without further ado, Marlene, I would like to turn it over to you. >> OK. Hi. Hold on just one second. I'm having a little bit of technical difficulties. I'm not seeing the slides. OK. Let's start. OK. OK. Now I see them. Very good. I apologize for that. I'm hearing a slight echo, but I'm here this morning to talk-- this afternoon to talk about the different types of disability of benefits a person may receive. And I'm going to start out with talking a little bit about SSDI benefit. And SSDI is Social Security Disability Insurance. It mostly benefit to person with disability who have actually paid into the trust funds or paid FICA taxes. And benefits are payable not only to the person with the disability but also is payable to members of the family as well. So, in addition to having a disability and leading the insured status requirement, that means they paid in enough money into trust fund. They work long enough and recently enough that they were insured. They may qualify for a benefit under this program. This program also pays benefit to what's called childhood disability benefits or you may have heard it or heard to before as disabled adult child benefits. And that's a benefit payable to someone with a disability. Disability began prior to age of 22 and they have a parent who's either deceased, retired or disabled and filed for a benefit. With this program, there are no income or resource requirements. That means that a person could have much money in the bank as they wish and it doesn't affect their benefit. And with this type of program, medicare entitlement comes with that generally after two years or after a 24-month waiting period. The easiest way to know if you're receiving this kind of benefit is when you receive the benefit check. If it is on the third of the month or on Wednesday, the second, third or fourth Wednesday, you're likely receiving a Social Security Disability Insurance benefit. Now, before I go on to SSI, you may be asking, you know, why do we always start with this information? Or why are we providing you with this foundational information? And the reason is there's different work incentive that is applied to the different types of benefits you may receiving. So if you're receiving SSDI benefits, there may be specific work incentive or specific rule applied to your benefits when you go to work and you receive SSI benefit. There are different rules and there are some that pertain to those programs. So that is the beginning of the presentation. We try to provide you with a foundational knowledge so that you know the type of a benefit you're receiving so that you know which rules may apply to you. So we're going to back up one second and talk about Supplemental Security Income benefits. And Supplemental Security Income benefits, that's a program where benefits are payable to a person with a disability. And the person may not have worked enough or recently enough or paid enough into the trust funds or paid enough FICA taxes that they're not insured. They may have worked just a little in their lifetime or have a spotting work history or just worked intermittently or maybe their impairments didn't allow them to work consistently. So a person like that is they have limited income or limited resources that could possibly qualify for Supplemental Security Income. And Supplemental Security Income is a need-based program or sometimes we say it's means tested. So it's meant for person with little income or little resources. This year the maximum amount payable for an individual receiving SSI is $733. As you know there was a cost of living increase. And that is going up to $735 in January of 2017. And some folks actually may be receiving benefits under both programs. They may be receiving Social Security Disability Insurance process and Supplemental Security Income benefits. And you'll hear that referred to as concurrent benefit. That means that a person have worked and they paid into the Social Security System, they paid FICA taxes and they were insured. And maybe their benefit isn't that high though, so it's low enough that Social Security can supplement it with Supplemental Security Income benefits so long as they meet the income and the resource requirement social security. So folks like that they actually have medicare that comes with the SSDI program and medicaid which comes with the SSI program. So they may have those benefits. So why choose work? Choosing work is a big decision for everyone. But particularly when your-- a lot of reasons why folks choose work, some individuals, some persons may want more income, maybe their Social Security Disability Insurance benefit or their SSI benefit is low and they need to supplement by working, others they want to become a little more independent. Maybe you are a younger person and you want to move out of your parent's household or maybe you want to purchase your own home or maybe purchase a new vehicle. There are lots of reasons why folks choose work. Another reason is meeting new people. I know that some of my best friends or persons I met on the job. And by working to it's not only meeting other persons on the job, it's meeting other persons who come to your job because that has lead to something another job or a better job in the future. Choosing work also could lead to learning new skills. You may receive some on the job training, training to do new things. You may sharpen your interpersonal skills, you may gain some computer skills and so on and down the road that also can help you to even get a better job. And Nancy could you advance my slide? It is not advancing for me. It seems like the connection is lost. I apologize. Hold on for one second. All right. I think we have lost-- I think the connection-- hold on. I apologize. I'm seeing the circle and hold on for a minute. It's loading. They'll reconnect again. I apologize. >> One. >> So while we're loading, Marlene, this is Elizabeth Jennings. Let's keep going and say everybody-- >> OK. >> I'm guessing the giant moon just had some results on our technology today. So let's talk about taking the next step. First I just want to say for a moment, I'm really impressed that so many people are on the call today, it lets us know how important it is to think about returning to work and to explore what you're able to do even as you're dealing with all of the different issues related to your disability and the other impacts that this may have had on your life. So you did a great job by showing up here today. And this is going to be archived for you. If some of these tech problems have kind of thrown you off just a little bit. So what we suggest is that today is a great start. We're going to give you a lot of resources so that you can start to gather information and start to plan your journey toward employment. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act is just one piece of the process for you, but it's going to help to provide you with a lot of the tools and supports that you need including the Ticket to Work program and Social Security Work Incentive so that your journey can be a smooth one as possible. So as you sit here today and learn and then have more questions as you think about what you've learned today and you start to think for yourself about the path that you're designing for yourself, we want to make sure you know where to turn for help. It's the Ticket to Work help line. So, to call them through voice, use 1-866-968-7842. And if you're TTY, the phone number is 1-866-833-2967. The Ticket to Work help line is going to help you with more information about the Ticket to Work program, how to connect with employment networks. Those are the service providers that are going to provide the support you need as you go down this employment task. And they can also help you to better understand the impact of work on your SSDI or SSI benefits, which is a really important component of all of these. If you need more support, then the Ticket to Work help line is able to provide in regards to your benefits, then they'll connect you with certified work incentive councilors who are folks in your local community who are certified to support you and understanding of rules. If you're not sure you need to talk to someone just yet, but you want to gather some more information for yourself and maybe look back on some of the other live webinars that have taken place to gather more information, you can visit www.socialsecurity.gov/work. And I want to actually suggest that we give you www.SSA.gov/work. I clicked on the socialsecurity.gov today and it rerouted me. So let's not have you rerouted, let's send you to www.ssa.gov/work. Marlene, do we have you back that you might want to talk about this work incentive? >> Elizabeth, I am back in, but I can't play the slides. It isn't opening up for me. >> OK. No problem. >> I apologize. >> No problem. OK. So let's go through some of the work incentives today that applied to some of the self employment rules that we're going to talk to about. Social Security has several work incentive to make self employment easier for you. It's something that social security recognized as maybe the right path for individuals as they return to work. So they have specific work incentives that are designed to help you access some of the money you're going to need to start your business, help with other expenses and also let your earn and save money. So, here's the work incentives that we're going to talk about, property essential for self support, which is available under SSI and unincurred business expense, which is available through SSDI and SSI. The property essential to self support, we'll talk about first. This work incentive allows you to save unlimited funds in a small business operating account. And how that account is setup can be very important. So you're going to want to do this with some support from-- with some benefits advicement. The dollar value of the equipment and tools needed for employment or self employment is not counted towards SSI or your medicaid resource limit of $2000 for a single adult or $3000 for married couple. So what this is saying is that you're allowed to save money in a business account and Social Security understanding that you're going to need some capital for your business. The money you have in that small business operating account is not going to count against the resource limit that you have as somebody who received SSI. So this is a way for you to save money towards operating your business without having to worry about the asset limit. The next work incentive is the unincurred business expense. Unincurred business expenses are contributions made by others at no cost to you towards yourself employment business effort. So there are few examples of this. And some of you might want to think of your own as we talk about it. One might be a vocational rehabilitation agency gives you a computer to use in your graphic arts business or a family member works for your business unpaid. Now, imagine some of you on the line have operated business before, so you can likely think as examples of how you had contributions made to your business that were very, very impactful for you, but really didn't cost you anything. Those are the kinds of things you want to think about. And, you know, we-- we're also mentioning here vocational rehabilitation and we're going to give you a little bit more information about supports like that in just a little while. So the unincurred business expenses are the contribution made by others at no cost to you that supports yourself employment business effort. For an item to qualify, it has to be an item or service that the IRS would allow as a legitimate business expense if you paid for it and someone other than you must have paid for it. So that gives you a little bit more information. And like I said, we're going to want you to do this with folks who are knowledgeable about the self employment rules. Social Security does not deduct unincurred business expenses from your earnings when your SSI payment amount is calculated. And I'm sure for some of you on the line that leads to some additional questions about, how is my SSI payment amount is calculated. And while we're not going to go in to all of that today, these are the kinds of questions that it's really great to jot down as we're talking today so that you can bring them forward to the Ticket to Work help line or you can do some exploring on your own before you make those calls. So these items to qualify, again, they have to be a legitimate business expense under the IRS rules and someone other than you must have paid for it. So why would you choose self employment? Self employment may be right for you if you want to meet your work goals, supply your own accommodation transition from benefits to financial independence and seek opportunities in different fields of work. Again, I believe many of you on the line have probably thought about self employment for quite some time. It's what brings you here today, almost 500 of you. And if you're new to self employment, please as I mentioned write down your questions in the chat box. Let's make sure we put them forward to our speakers so that we can get as many of them answered today as possible. Now, I'm going to hand this back to Nancy so she can introduce our speaker for the day. >> Thank you. Great. Elizabeth, thank you very much. Before we move on to our next slide, we do have several questions that came in. So, I'm going to open it up to some questions so we can try to get some of those answered. And I will let either you or Marlene answer those questions. And the first one is how can I find out what type of benefit I am receiving? >> OK. >> I can answer that if you would like. The easiest way for you to find out what type of a benefit you're receiving is to telephone the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213. And they can tell you what type of a benefit you're receiving or if you are conducting other business in the office. And if you are doing that, it's always to have an appointment so that your wait time is limited. They can tell you what type of a benefit you're receiving at that time. Another way you can find out what type of a benefit you're receiving particularly if you are thinking about going to work or if you are working is by telephoning WIPA, work incentives planning and assistance grantee. And the folks who worked for these projects are called CWIC or certified community work incentive coordinator. You can find the name and the telephone number for the list of project which serves your area by telephoning the Ticket to Work help line or by visiting Ticket to Work website at www.choosework.tcw.net. >> Great. Thank you very much. And we have another question, which is where can I find more information or resources on Social Security Administrative work incentive? >> OK. And that also you can find that information for Social Security Administration again or another good resource is their website, www.socialsecurity.gov. Another good resource is the Choose Work website. Again that's www.chooseworkttw.net. On the Choose Work website, there's a link at the top which takes you to the Social Security website and to the Red Book. And the Red Book is a real good resource which provides information on a variety of social security work incentive so that you can take a look at it and see how many work incentives you can actually use when you choose work. Another good resource is as we talk about it a little bit earlier is build with us, the work incentive planning and assistance folks. And they can provide you with a lot of good information to-- it is always best I think before you even contact the web app or visit Social Security is take that first step on your own and maybe visit the websites and see what's out there, see if you understand the information that's there, then telephone or visit. >> Great. Thank you very much, Marlene. I think we have time for just a couple more questions. And one of those is if I am self-employed, can I also use other work incentive like the exclusions during income exclusion or impairment related work expenses? >> That's another great, great question. And Social Security-- the Social Security Administration really wants you to work. And they encouraged individual receiving their Social Security Disability Insurance benefits or Supplemental Security Income to work. And they provide so many different work incentives that you can use whether you're working as an employee and receive a W2 or if you're self employed or if you received a 1099. So, some of the work incentives you can use if you're self employed are impairment related work expenses or the trial work period, the student earned income exclusion, it's a fantastic work and plans for achieving self support. There's just a wide variety of work incentive that you can use. You can use more than one. You don't have to limit it. >> That's great. That's knowing-- that's wonderful knowing that people can use more than one work incentive at a time. And we're going to take one more question before we go on to our next speaker. And that is what if I have my own business and I'm working from home? Can I use Ticket to Work for sales employment from home? >> That's a great question also. Yes you can. No matter where you're-- whether you have a business and you have a store front or you work out of your house, yes you can use Ticket to Work. And yes you can use other work incentives as well. Working from home is really great because for many persons with disability, sometimes it's hard to keep to a certain schedule particularly if you have-- if your condition worsens periodically. Self employment really, really is a good option for persons with disability when they would like to work but they're not really certain whether or not they can sustain employment, you know, each and every day. Working from home is a great option. >> Great. Thank you very much, Marlene. Thank you, Elizabeth. This was some great information. I would love to keep asking some of our audience questions, but I would like to move on to our next speaker. So, having said that, I am happy to introduce Colleen Moynihan, and Colleen is the Program Director of the New England Business Associates Business Development Center. She's been in that position since 2008. And she assists individuals in planning and implementing their business concept. She is responsible for the Ticket to Work program and also for past plans, plans to achieve self support. Colleen has had over 25 years experience with two fortune 100 companies as an executive in marketing and strategic planning. And she has served three boards as an adviser on federal regulation and legislation. She has had her own business consulting firm since 1991. Colleen, thank you so much for being here. And I'm going to turn the presentation over to you. >> Thank you very much. And it's a pleasure to be here. What-- dear to my heart and I think something that I hope you are interested in pursuing and that the information we shared today will help you have a little more confidence in taking that step. But who is New England Business Associates? We go by the acronym NEBA. And as you can see, we are an employment network. And you can find more information about us in the find help tool located on the choosework.net website. There are many EMs across the country. They can also help you with your self employment goals. Some of them may have not done a lot of work in this area, but they have the information and they have the tools, they can help you understand. That was discussed earlier, the kinds of benefits that Social Security provides to assist you in developing a business. NEBA's mission is to enable people with disabilities to be fully included in the community primarily employment. And self employment is one form of employment. We currently serve a wide range of individuals with skills, abilities and interest who are between the ages of 18 and 60. This key however to our working with anyone who's interested in starting a business is, one is a feasible or practical business idea. And number two, what will it take for the holder to be able to run this business. So what we do is we try to spend time interviewing the ticket holder so that we can make certain that the thing that you are interested in doing is not only feasible, not only practical, but that at some point will also generate-- of in order to be self supporting, all of the individuals of whom we work in our program, that is the primary goal. We're trying to assist them to move forward in a real competitive business. Our self employment positions and our business plan approach does not fit for trying to assist someone to make a hobby more profitable. So when you are looking at trying to develop a business, we're going to ask you to be very clear on your idea. And if you can really figure it out, we'll help you. We'll then work with you to write the business plan, but we'll realize the plan is only a tool. It's like a hammer and a tool case. You need to be able to use that plan to implement your business. So we will work with you with up to three years to get that business off the ground. So what are some of the things that you will be doing in this business plan? And why write a business plan? I'm sure most of you have heard of Bill Gates, who-- not have a business plan when he got started. He had an idea. And he became able to develop that idea to the point where he needed to move to the next level. And at that point, he needed a business plan. And what was that next level? Develop funding resources to get him to the next level. So when the business plans that Bill Gates did and then the one that you are going to do, you have to have a state under the goal. The business goals you have to attain, a plan for reaching for goals. What many people do when we meet with them, they, "Oh I have a business plan, I've written it." And when I look at that business plan, they have in fact written about their goals, they have a plan for getting to those goals, but they do not have any financial projections. A valid business plan must have three year projections of what you think is going to cost to run that business. And you've got to have three years projection of revenue or income that that business will generate. So you can demonstrate that there will be profit, there will be something for you after all operating costs are paid so that you'll have something live on. There is also in a business plan in addition to the business background a marketing strategy or marketing plan that you will be using to get your message out. Here's something interesting. And you think about it. When you're riding around town, there are a lot of businesses. And when you look at them, they all seemed very different. And they are. There may be a PC repair business, there may be a cleaners, there may be a gas station, there may be a grocery store, a doctor, a dentist. All of these businesses have a different product or service. Every single one of them having this plan, the business plan form one kind of business to another is exactly the same. You must have your business goals, you must have your marketing plan and you must have your financials. And we at NEBA can help you do that. The NEBA BDC, Business Development Center therefore can help you develop your business idea, will help you write it and will help you implement it. It's a common thing for me to sit down and listen to someone talk about their vision, their idea and help them move that to a place where they begin to see for themselves that oh yeah, this is really what I'm trying to accomplish. And this is where I need to go to either provide that service or sell that product. So for you, whatever you have right now is a vision, it's the starting point. And we can help get you to the next place. That is our hope, anyway. So do we do this? Let's take your idea. Let's get the finances done because the finances tell the story. That is the exciting part of a business plan. And all of you sitting out there, oh, numbers, I hate numbers. Will you find that those numbers are your best friend? They are the things that help you know whether you are succeeding, why you are succeeding, how you can succeed more and the things you have to do in order to move that business to the very next step. And for all of us who are trying to in fact move into that next step, having support that you would get from developing your plan with an organization at employment network like NEBA is critical. So, you can work with someone from NEBA. You can also work with other organizations in your area that have a lot to do with developing businesses such as a score office. And we're going to talk about this a little bit more. Anyone who does get exception at your program based-- is usually because there's a very strong possibility their business is going to succeed and that they are willing to make a commitment to NEBA's program requirements. For most of you it simply means that you need to have access to a computer and an email address. Now, when we start with folks, they probably have email addresses that are pretty interesting. And you may be asked to make an email address that's a little bit more professional, more in-- and recognize as a business. We talked about a computer because a business does need to run of a wide range of materials. Sometimes if you're a restaurant, you may have to run off menus. If you are a website designer obviously you're going to need a website to help other people create theirs. And that is only possible for our computer. And I make this point because many people today think that a tablet is going to be all they need. And that is misinformation. You need to be able to have a computer, a laptop, either one and you must be able to do word processing and do spreadsheets. So you have to have software that does have Excel and Microsoft on it. Many times you can work with your vocational rehab office to acquire these tools so that you can then move forward to do a business plan. Your-- about what specs in developing a business plan must be completed within 60 hours or six months, whichever comes first. Most people complete their plan between three and four months. And that is usually the norm. But some folks have a different taste. That's one of the wonderful things about doing your own business is that depending on your situation and your flexibility to get things, you're going to be able to accommodate the process with your own individual approach. If you do not complete the plan within 12 months, we will have to figure out what it is we have to do to help you move forward a little bit more effectively. Since 2009, which is when we started keeping tracks, we've been doing this since 2007, we have the work towards a lot of people. And we've had 241 people participate in the program. And I'm going to tell you, when I did these numbers, these numbers are greater now than they were the day I did this because we are always having new people come in to our program. And that therefore is a number that was there probably a month and a half ago. We have completed a 110 business plans. Well since then, I know we have completed five more. So we have a bout a 115 business plans that are completed. That is a number that is also rather interesting. We have statistics so we know that we get about twice as many people inquiring to our program than actually finish it. And those people who do not complete a business plan, we have been able to develop skills for them. That means that they go on and find better employment than they might have had, had they not gone through-- So our experience is that most of the folks who come to NEBA to look at self employment may not end up writing a business plan or having a business, but they do have the ability to take on employment in an area they may not have considered in the past and they are able to be fully employed in sustaining some level of incomes that will again help them to get off of their benefits. We currently have 13 plans in process at this moment. By the end of this fiscal year for us, which is June, we probably will have written about, oh I'd say 25 plans. As of this time, we have created 33 new jobs. That doesn't mean that it's the business owner, we're talking about the fact that some of the business that we have started hired people. They have employees. So you may have a business idea that as we develop it-- you need to hire someone to make it to that next level of running your business. So this is not just about writing a plan, it's about building opportunity. It's being an economy engine in your community. One of the things that you may not have paid much attention to is the importance of small business in the economy of the United States. We always think about big corporations, employing hundreds, if not thousands of people. And we hear about this corporation many, many times laying off people. And you wonder, my gosh, what do those people do? Well, some of those people who get [inaudible], some of them start around business. But there's another, a bigger sector of the economy, much bigger that is the result of all of those small businesses that you see as you drive around where you live. Those cleaners, those PC repair shops locations. All of those places higher people, and you, as a small business person may work out of your home or you may work in some setting outside of your work where you have employees. Do you know that it's even possible to work out of your home and have employees because you provide a service that they, your employees can be working with customers in the community? So this is the double blessing of self employment is that you find work for yourself and you help to create employment in the community. You heard me say a few minute ago that one of the goals that NEBA has when working with an individual in the area of self employment is that we-- off of their Social Security Disability benefit. We-- In the process of doing that, we work very, very closely with CWIC. You heard earlier today about working with the WIPA, working with a certified work incentive councilor, we require that all of our people do that. I should stop and tell you that we work with people across the United States. We are currently in about 39 or 40 states in the United States. We work with people from all kinds of businesses and in all kinds of settings, but we do require that they meet with the CWIC in their community and to stay connected with that CWIC. We also help them work with Social Security in their area because when you are employed as you know, it's also true for self employment, you have to submit information to NEBA or the employment network and the Social Security about the revenue and work activity that you are doing. CWIC helps you understand the impact that's going to have on your Social Security income benefit and on your health benefit. Those are two distinct benefits. They work on independent tracks and while your income benefit may change with Social Security many times your health benefit does not change. So again, it's that relationship that you have with the CWIC through your local work incentive and planning office that will assist you in knowing what's going on for you. So in front of us on this slide, we have what we call our stars. They are moving off of their social security disability benefits to becoming fully, fully sustainable on their own. And you can see they come from all parts of the country, Georgia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, we have folks in Washington state that are also moving off of their benefits. And we will continue to work with those individuals once they are off their benefits. As I said to you earlier, we will work with you for up to three years because we want to make certain that your business is going to be successful. That you will be able to continue to support yourself and your business as you move forward. So, how do you get more information from NEBA? Well, you can go to our website which is www.nebaworks.com or you can check us out at NEBA-- excuse me tickets@nebaworks.com and we can-- we'll return your email and we'll give to you the information you are interested in. You will also find a phone number there that you'd call to get more information and you can follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nebaworks, N-E-B-A-W-O-R-K-S. And you can-- also, I want to talk about a little bit about some resources that are very, very important to us. Everybody here we talk about CWICs, they're sort of your Ticket to Work mentor, a person who helps you understand what your benefits are and your circumstances and relationship with Social Security. But we have other resources that we like to talk about in terms of the [inaudible] that NEBA gives. We have a very important one, the service core of retired entrepreneurs or SCORE, it's a non-profit program that is supported by our federal government, it is a program of the small business administration and most communities have a SCORE office in their community. These individuals provide free service-- we've talked about today, are free to you under the Ticket to Work program. And you're going to end up with a business plan that is based on a SCORE business plan template because they work with people across the country in terms of helping start businesses. We happen to specialize in individuals who happen to have a disability. And so we work closely with SCORE. Once your plan is done we're going to connect you with a SCORE mentor so you now have two mentors to help you directly in your community to get your business flourishing through SCORE and you will continue to work with NEBA to help you work your way to self-sufficiency and ease yourself off of Social Security. And those two mentors, the NEBA mentor and the SCORE mentor will provide ongoing businesses support that you're going to need to be as successful as possible. We've already talked about the WEPA program. We feel very, very much strongly that without WEPA people do not succeed to the extent they could. We know this because in the first couple of years of doing this program we did not work that closely with our WEPA people. Once we started doing that, we were stunned at the level of success that our ticket holders were able to attain because they have the information that was specific to them, important to them and a place to go where they get all of their questions answered in a timely manner. So as you can see we are really believers of that process. And you've heard it before you can go to the choose-- to find the help you need. If you have any problems with getting the information for your area WEPA, NEBA is very happy to provide that information for you. It's as simple as a phone call and you'll have that information in the slides. Another great resource is the American Job Center. They used to be called one-stop centers. They help individuals who are looking for both employment and sometimes in writing a plan. But they have resources there that will help you and the kind of information you need that will help you in identifying maybe even clients who might be helpful for you in developing your business. It is a free service just as SCORE is a free service, just as the program that we're talking abut today is free to you. The other resource that we have is a small business development center. Every state in the United States has a small business development center. The problem with them is that they are-- they tend to be affiliated or located in the state university but they are out there and is a resource that you can gain access to very, very easily through-- maybe you have an extension program in your area that is part of the university program. But they do have a website, www.spa.gov, SPA stands for Small Business Administration which funds both SCORE and SPDCs, so it's www.spa.gov/SPDC. For any-- >> I'm going to stop you there because we have so many questions. >> OK. I am ready to take them on. >> All right. We've got-- Thank you so much your enthusiasm is wonderful and this information is wonderful. One of the recent questions that came when you were talking about SCORE was, what does SCORE cost? >> Free. >> It's free? >> It's free. Everything that we've talked about today is free. >> Wonderful, thank you. And then another question we had is, can somebody with you with NEBA and vocational rehabilitation at the same time? >> No. Ticket to Work is a one-user time only. So if you are working with your vocational rehab agency continue with what that program is, and then once that has finished up and you've closed that case you can call us or in any other EN who offers business plan support and then we can start working with you under your ticket. >> OK, great. Thank you, so that leads perfectly into my next question about a business plan. Somebody says that they need help with a good business plan and is there a Ticket to Work coordinator that can help to get that support? >> I didn't hear the whole question, you cut out. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> You can repeat the question? >> Sure. A person needs assistance with a good business plan and is wondering if there's a Ticket to Work coordinator that can assist with getting that support in writing a business plan. >> Again, Ticket to Work work with the ENs that provide small business plan development. The Social Security Administration itself does not have a coordinator per se. So an EN like NEBA can help you and as they say there are other ENs across the country. You can get that information again on the Choose Work website which will show you an EN in your area if there is one that does do business plan development. Or you call off, because we do work across the United States and we've been doing that for many years now and we work with all kinds of folks in all kinds of business and we will work with you for up to three years. >> Up to three years, wonderful. Great, thank you. And another question, we've got lots of questions for you, is how can I get help for business startup cost? >> Forgive me why I laugh. Well, that's a-- I'll tell you how. First you've got to write a business plan. No one will give you any financial assistance unless you have a business plan. And it has to have those three things we talked about. The business background, the marketing plan and those wonderful numbers that many of us go err about, but you got to have them. So, once you have had business plan then you can consider going to your local lender and getting financial assistance. However, it's important that you understand that most lenders expect a business person seeking financial assistance to have been in business two years. Do you remember my saying earlier about turning in your wage stubs or turning in your earning that you get from your business? Well what I didn't add is that you need to also when you are starting your business you have to start reporting taxes. You have to fill out of scheduled fee. You have to submit that to the IRS because that lender is going to want to see the tax returns for the last two years. So if you haven't been filing you have nothing to show. Now, you may say I may not make much money and by the time I get my expenses paid there's nothing left. And you know what, that's true. However, you can show that on a scheduled fee the bank or the lender-- They want to know number one, have you filed your taxes and number two, what kind of development or revenue from your one to your two is going on with that business. The only document that they will usually accept for having being the truth is a tax return. So it's that two years of being in operation and I tell everybody the many you start doing a business even though you don't have a plan and you're not planning on getting a plan yet. Start saving those receipts, keep track of what you earn and file a tax return. I love it when someone comes in and they say, I want to start a business I've been doing it for a couple of years. And I say to them, have you filed your tax return, yes. Great, you're going to be able to get some funding. A past plan is another way to get some funding indirectly and the past plan take so much time to explain in this particular session, but it's certainly something you can go online and see what a past plan is. There are some interesting [inaudible] with it but you can certainly consider that as a way to get money. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> I thought the wrong answer. >> No, that's great. That's a-- has been great information. We have several people asking about age questions and age requirements. Can you talk a little bit about the age range for NEBA and is that the same age range for ticket holders? >> Our age range is a little different and I think you caught that. We tend to work with people up to age 60. The reason for that is if I started business plan when they are 60, it's they're gong to be moving in to allowable retirement age at 62, you know, and up. And so that it means that we would take probably would do that and we can't support them at that point. So, we do not generally work with folks who are over the age of 60. There may be some exceptions that adapt this at a current time we have founded that it just doesn't work. We used to do it but they ended up just all of a sudden just vanishing. And we are a limited resource and we want to help people who are going to be able to really have a business for their community, so. >> OK. >> I know someone won't like that answer but I, you know, it is what it is. >> Thank you. And yet another question for you Colleen is does NEBA work with people who receive SSI or SSDI or both? >> All the above. All the above, we work with anyone who is under the Ticket to Work program. >> OK. Wonderful thank you. And then I have a plenty of questions for you, I'm going to ask you one more and then I'm going to go back to Marlene and Elizabeth we've got a couple of questions there regarding the first portion and then I still have a few more follow up questions for you Colleen. But right now I'm going, well I'm going to ask you this one question first which is, can you turn a hobby into a business? >> Always. Always. That's the best kind of a way to start a business. >> And on top of that, I guess I will ask one more question, some people were saying have you ever worked with an artist? So I guess a lot of people has art-- have art as a hobby. >> One of our areas of specialty is in the area of arts, writers we happen to be quite, we have a special discussion group on our LinkedIn for our writers and we have done-- we have quite a number of artist. I'm working with an artist right now who just won a grant so he can support himself to do some shows in a spring next year. Oh yeah, we do a lot with art and any kind and with writers. >> Wonderful. Thank you. All right, I'm going to ask you just to bear with us and I'm going to go back to the question was for Marlene and the question was, what kind of services do vocational rehabilitation offices offer? >> Nancy could you repeat that question? >> Sure. The question is what kind of services do vocational rehabilitation offices offer? >> Well, vocational rehabilitation offices provide a wide variety in services to persons with disabilities. They do everything they can to help a person with a disability to become job-ready. So that means testing them to see what their interest possibly, maybe looking at their past work, looking at what's available things whether or not there are any needs related to their disability. Possibly discussing training or on the job training or support a person they need. Some of the vocational rehabilitation projects provide benefit planning services similar to what a work-incentive planning and a systems grantee offers. There's just a wide, wide variety of services. With regards to self-employment, they-- a lot of the VRs what I've seen over the years, they've always think outside of the box and they look at you as a person and what you can do and they focus on what you can do and not what you cannot do. And that's really, you know, what you need particularly if you're thinking about work and your thinking about employment. You want someone on your team who can help you to move forward. But there's-- it just depends, I would encourage you to contact your vocational rehabilitation office in your area and talk to them. All of them conduct orientation session they provide you with information on what sources they provide and what are the next steeps and many of the vocational rehabilitation services once they help you and once you're working they participate in a program under the Ticket to Work program called Partnership Plus where they work along side employment networks who can also provide you with some follow-along services once you are working. Contact VR, very, very quick resource. >> Great, Marlene, thank you for that. So you just mentioned also in EN can you talk a little bit about the difference between vocational rehabilitation and unemployment network? >> Well, prior to the Ticket to Work legislation, there was basically one place where persons with disability could go to be provided with the services they needed to help them to become job ready and to find a job and that was vocational rehabilitation. But when the Ticket to Work program started the pool of providers has increased substantially where providers, their contract with Social Security are called employment networks. Some of them joined in to provide services and what that did for persons with disabilities is provide them with more choice on where they go for the services they need. So some individuals may chose to go to VR because they're interested in maybe training or education or something along those lines, but others may feel that maybe a smaller employment network maybe able to work with them a little better and maybe they just need something like some supports on the job or the purchase of something, a small piece of equipment or something to keep them working. So, thus provide services. Vocational rehabilitation provides a lot of different services. Employment network some of them provide a wide variety of services, but some provide just focused services or services in a particular area. When I say that, I'm saying maybe services focusing on a person with a specific disability or maybe an employment network focusing on just providing transfer patient services, or supported employment services, or something along those lines. It's really good to shop around to look at vocational rehabilitation and look at employment network, someone you're thinking about working. Call the Ticket to Work help line or visit the website and look at all of the employment networks and vocational rehabilitation and look at some of the services they provide to say what's best for you. All of them will have a telephone number listed you can telephone them to discuss what they can do for you. Because you want to take that next step, you want to get ahead and you have to do what's best for you and look out for yourself. >> Thank you Marlene. And here is another question if I am self-employed do I get credit for my work on my Social Security number? >> OK. And that extends, it actually depends. When you are self-employed I assume you will be filing a tax return and she should be filing and it depends how much you're paying into Social Security. Remember a little earlier when we talked about some of the foundational knowledge and we talked about it sets the benefits and you have that worked recently and often long enough to meet with what they call an insured status requirement. And we didn't really go into that very much but what that is, is you're paying social security taxes and for every, oh, I'm trying to think of the number off the top of my head. Let me think. Oh next year it's $1300, so for every $1,300 you're earning you're occurring one credit or what they call a quarter of beverage. If you're an employee that's gross, if you're self employed that's net. So for every $1,300 net you are earning and coining on that tax return, you're getting one credit and you could get up to four credits a year. So when you're working and you're self employed you are paying your FICA taxes. You will be on your way if you're on SSI receiving an SSI benefits you would be on your way to becoming insured under the other program, the SSDI program and if you already receiving SSDI program your praying more into the system and what that can deserve to do down the road is additional earnings that are posted on your earnings record it could actually pump up your benefit just a little bit when the computer is filled what they call re-computation. So it's a good thing, when you're working, you're self employed, you're filing your taxes here is a benefit to that. >> Thank you very much Marlene. We greatly appreciate your expertise. I am going to go back to Colleen. We've got a few more questions that are coming in and the first there is, can NEBA assist with developing a non-profit business? >> Yes, that is still a business. Even though the tax call in non profit or not for profit it is still a business it's just that it's relationship or it's structure relative to paying taxes is different. So we do both and we have found that for many individuals for example is developmental challenges that a non-profit sometimes can be a wonderful tool to assist that person in becoming more self-sufficient. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And somebody else asked if NEBA will help them in acquiring an already established business. >> When you're trying to purchase a business that's really a dollar transaction. If you need a business plan to get that loan, I think that is where we could be at assistance. There are-- there's a little bit more [inaudible] than it is writing a business plan which is what we specialize in. I would strongly-- if you need to have more information on that you can reach us by going to our website and we have to have a little more in depth of conversation. >> Great, wonderful. And then for individuals that you've worked with in the past is there a general time frame between planning to actually implementing and running a business? >> When I say implementing a business I mean you're running it. And the difference would be how long it takes for all the pieces to come together so that you have done the plan and then you've got to start putting the pieces together. So it's--the minute you get that plan done you're implementing and you're running it, for many folks they've already started running it especially if you being a hobby two table and you want to built it to a business so, yes. Implementing and running are often happening concurrently. >> Thank you. And then another question is, how does the Social Security Administration view self-employment in terms of evaluating earnings? >> They approach it the very same way that they would implement with one difference. You as an employee have, you get paid for services rendered to an employer, you as a self employed individual-- oh, and I should add one more thing, and the employer submits all of your earnings information on a regular basis, and so it goes to the IRS and so they can track you. A self-employed person is very different they have to submit if they're wise, quarterly information so that they can be paying their taxes quarterly and tracking their revenue quarterly. That's why at the end of the calendar year you should start to plan on paying your taxes to that year because all of that information has been submitted to Social Security quarterly. And now you're going to bring all those four quarters together on the tax return using the schedule fee so that they can see how you should be taxed for your income tax. And that's why you will see for Social Security Administration if you're self-employed they tend to look at people who are self-employed, some a little more critically some time around May, June and that time in the latter part, after the first quarter of the year. Because the assumption is they have a tax return now to look at your income and see how you're doing relative to your Ticket to Work program. There is a little difference and it's a little bit more, the timeline is a little bit different and it does require a little less-- week to week or month to month charting that you do when you're employed. But again, that's why you need to be engaged with CWIC because it all comes together somewhere around June, July, August that they begin to see how you rate on the Ticket to Work trial work period. >> Nancy could I add something to that? >> Sure. >> OK. And what I wanted to add to that is when someone is self-employed social security looks at it just a little bit differently in that they're looking at net self-employment income, gross self-employment income. So what that means is your gross is how much you've made and your net is after all of your expenses, what you're self-employment or your profit is. And they actually look at that and if someone [inaudible] the SSDI benefits, Social Security always-- it gets a little more complicated-- -- project for some of the information that you need because you always need to deal what's best for you. You need to know the facts upfront and you don't want any surprises. So that's one thing to keep in the back of your mind is Social Security is actually looking at your net not your gross. So that's really, really important. And I'm going to add and that's why you do a scheduled fee because your net will be on the schedule fee. And that is what they're going to use. >> And the way-- what it would actually does work to is once you do file your tax returns, can't stress the importance enough of filing a tax return because once that tax return is filed with the IRS the computers that the IRS popped to the computers of Social Security and that information, your net income is brought over to your specific Social Security number or your earnings record or it postpone your earnings record and it gives you credit for that work you're doing. So I just can't stress enough with about filing the tax returns also. >> Great information. Thank you very much. We have a few more questions before I go ahead and finish up our last slides. And these can actually I think be answered by any of our presenters. So I will let all decide that. One of the questions, and this is a great question, most new businesses have a lot at the beginning of operations and do I still need to report to the Social Security Administration that I'm working even though I'm not making a profit. >> I can take that one and then others can jump in. The answer is yes. I mentioned to you that you would be reporting to the Social Security of-- and there is a form that they have specific to self-employed ticket holders. And what you're just going to do is to show them because remember what we just talk about your net earnings since self-employment we called that NESC, N-E-S-C because they're going to be tracking that on a more, you know, as a casual basis because they're going to be looking for the tax return ultimately and there are other things that we haven't talked about. Also when you have your net earnings and self-employment you also can apply in some circumstances some of those work incentive that were talked about earlier too, which will bring the tax and the links to them more so. So, two below-- to zero-- so having a zero net income or not earning to the self-employment is not that bad thing. The IRF allows for three years out of five for not making any income for a new business. >> OK. And then I'll just add to that also Nancy that, yeah it really, really, really is crucial that you always report to the Social Security Administration even if you are having-- if you have zero as net income or you have a lot. And it's particularly important to those folks whom we see the SSDI benefit because even though they may have had a lot, they may be working significant numbers in the business particularly when the business is starting up where those months actually may be construed as working-- a trial work period month. And there's nothing bad about that because during the trial work period month, you could earn any amount of money and still receive your check, or you could have that loss and you'd still receive your benefits check. But it's early important to report it timely to Social Security because if they have everything in the computer and so that their determination on your work activity or accurate because again you don't want any surprises. You want everything to be current in the computer you wanted to be up-to-date. >> Wonderful, thank you both. All right, so we have more questions, unfortunately we are not going to be able to get to them. Thank you all very much for your patience in terms of trying to get to as many questions as possible to our audience. What I'd like to give you each a chance to do and I'm going to go with Marlene then Colleen and Elizabeth. If you could just, you know, give us a 30-second, you know, what would be your advise for next steps in terms of motivating people towards self-employment. Marlene. >> OK. Put the time on. OK. Let's say well, the first thing I want to say is for all of the beneficiaries who are on this call today, I applaud you for taking this first step because it's a big step in choosing to work is a very big step, particularly if you've been out of the work force for awhile or you're just deciding if you want to work again and you're not certain what you can do or whether you can work full time again or part time. But you've taken that first step so I pat you on the back and I applaud you for that. I think the second step should be probably if you can doing a little bit of research or talking to the Social Security Administration just to see what work incentives there are out there. Their website is very good, www.socialsecurity.gov and you could get to the information you need from the Choose to Work website, that's www.choosework.net. And from there you could find the red book. And the red book has all of the information that you'll need, just as foundational knowledge so that you know what work incentives you can or can't give. And then I think the next step should be, your third step, is calling the Ticket to Work help line. And I think that Ticket to Work help line at 1866-968-7842. You'll be able to ask any questions you have and they will be able refer you where you need to go to take futures step. So, all of those, those four steps actually are big steps that you've taken I think the biggest step ever by participating in this webinar today. Thank you. >> Thank you so much Marlene and I'm actually I want to make sure that we get to our next-- our final slides, so thank you very much for that. Please remember everyone that at the end of this presentation, a survey will pop up. Please take the survey. We love to get feedback from you. For more information, you can call the Ticket to Work help line at 1866-968-7842 for voice. And 1866-833-2967 for PTY, or as you've heard several times, visit www.social.security.work/-- I'm sorry dot gov, forward slash work. You can connect with us. You can like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/choosework. You can also follow us on Twitter, www.twiter.com/chooseworkssa. You can also watch Ticket to Work videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/choosework. And you cab also follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ticket-to-work. And lastly, I want to remind you to please join us for our next webinar which will be Wednesday, December 21st from 3:00 to 4:30. Thank you very much for joining us. And in order to register for that, please go to www.choosework.net/live. Or you can call 1866-968-7842 for voice or 1866-833-2967 (TTY).