For many of us, a regular job is hard to get or impossible because of paperwork. That door can feel closed. The door to owning a business is open.
You are the boss
When you own the business, you do not ask permission to work. You create the work.
- There is no hiring manager. You do not pass an interview or show papers to a boss. You only need to convince a customer that you can do a good job.
- No one can fire you.
It is legal
Even if you cannot be an employee, you generally have the right to own a business and work as an independent contractor. You can use an ITIN to pay your taxes and run your business honestly. There is a whole guide on this: Business and immigration status. Read it, and bring your questions to the ITIN session.
Your income is yours
At a job you are paid the same no matter how hard you work. In your business, more customers or better work means more money. You keep the profit.
Use the talents you already have
Fixing things, cleaning, cooking, sewing, driving, organizing, caring for people. Every one of these is a service someone on the South Side will pay for. You do not need a new skill. You need a customer.
How this clinic works
The goal is simple: your first paying customer in 30 days. Not a perfect business. One real customer who pays you.
Here is how we get there.
- Your plan. On the first Saturday you talk with the clinic's interviewer on your phone or a laptop. It asks about your business, one question at a time, and writes a one-page launch plan with dates and a checklist. The plan is yours. It only says what you told it.
- Your pod. You are in a small group with a volunteer mentor. The same mentor, the same two or three students, every week. Your pod is where you report how the week went and where you get unstuck.
- Saturdays. We meet for 90 minutes. The first 25 minutes is one topic. The rest is you, working your plan, with your mentor beside you.
- The practice run. Before the first paying customer, you do the job once for a friend or a member — free or cheap — and ask for honest feedback, a photo, and one sentence you can use.
- The first $100. When you earn it, tell your pod. We celebrate it in December.
Pick one business. Not two. Not "whatever people need." One specific thing you do well. Everything else follows from that.
This week
- I picked one business. One.
- I did the interview and I have my plan.
- I read my plan's checklist and know the first thing on it.
- I know who my mentor is and who is in my pod.