Lacey Jean Enterprises – A Wheelchair and an Ice Cream Cart are a Winning Combination in the State of Washington

In the state of Washington, individuals who receive state support must be working, or on a pathway to employment. With her parents’ help, Lacey Jean Davis http://laceysniceice.com/ , of Montesano, Washington, who is disabled by cerebral palsy, has become not just a valuable member of the workforce, she is an entrepreneur!

Lacey is considered to be someone with significant disabilities. She has cerebral palsy, which affects her ability to speak and walk, and she relies on body language to communicate. She uses a wheelchair to move from one place to another. But the 23-year-old, who weighs in at around 70 pounds, also has an infectiously optimistic attitude.

Lacey Jean Davis’ mother “totally freaked out” when she learned the state wanted her daughter to develop a plan to enter the workforce. “She shows me every day that she is a lot more capable than I thought,” said Dee Dee Garman, Lacey’s mom.

Lacey Jean owns an Italian Ice pushcart business—a very successful one. Beginning July 2007, in her first 3 months of operation, and working only on weekends, she grossed $12,000. “We learned a lot, fast,” states Larry Garman, her step-dad. “We’ll do a lot better next year, but we even paid our employees a few bonuses this summer.” Lacey Jean’s goal? To be debt-free by the end of her second season.

From her wheelchair, Lacey works hard at fairs and events, offering free samples. Using a simple color cue—red mylar ballons on her sample tray, and red mylar balloons at her Italian ice cart—she directs customers to her cart. At the cart, employees scoop the super popular frozen treat, which she purchases from Little Jimmy’s Italian Ices (http://www.italianice.net) in New Jersey. After a taste, the Italian Ice product sells itself—it’s non-fat, non-dairy, and has no high fructose corn syrup. “The flavor’s intense, and this is something you can’t get in stores,” says Garman. “It’s the kind of treat people look for next year, when they come to the fair again.”

In the van she’s purchased to transport her business, Lacey Jean has room for a therapy table, where she can stretch out every few hours. As her budget permits, she’s adding her own branding to the van, labeling it boldly with the Lacey Jean Enterprises http://laceysniceice.com/ logo.

How did Lacey Jean find the push cart business? “There was an ad in Entrepreneur’s Home Business edition, and I had been looking for something that would connect our daughter with a lot of people,” Larry Garman recalls. This very real successful business is a perfect fit for Lacey Jean, who is friendly and outgoing, and she plans to hire others who are disabled as her business grows. She’s joined the local Chamber of Commerce, and plans to sell Italian Ice year-round now, at openings, festivals, and concerts.

“Little Jimmy’s is a great partner”, says Garman. “They make suggestions about ways to market, they send us lists of shows, and they’re always there for us when we have questions.”

Lacy Jean’s first real signs of success came this summer, at a Fourth of July fair. For two hours, Lacy Jean Enterprises was swamped, with a solid line of customers. Total sales went over $1,700, for 5-6 hours work.

At the Surf and Sun Festival in Ocean Shores, the crowd was so large, Lacey Jean ran out of ice, and the crew had to run for more! The company has two high school seniors, Britta and Kaila, who work for $8.50 per hour, scooping and taking cash.

To help her fledgling business, the State of Washington connected Lacey Jean with a nonprofit training and technical assistance organization, WISE (Washington Initiative for Supported Employment http://www.theinitiative.ws/newhome.asp . James Corey, of WISE, says the innovative partnership has won national recognition from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as a leader in employment of people with disabilities. The organization is part of a network of training and support, both public and private, across the country.

Lacey Jean Enterprises, and other businesses owned by people with disabilities, is part of the microenterprise movement. Self-employment is growing over 20% annually across America, with an estimated 20 million Americans owning home-based businesses. Between 1990 and 1994, microenterprise (businesses employing 1 to 5 workers) generated 43% of all new jobs in the United States, and in the past decade, 60% of microenterprises were founded by women. In fact, these businesses created more jobs than all the companies listed in the Fortune 500 combined.

Cary Griffin, Senior partner at Griffin-Hammis Associates, http://www.griffinhammis.com consultancy for networking business opportunity, says, “There is a cultural and economic shift of taking individual responsibility, and turning it into individual opportunity, and it appears to be largely unaffected by swings in the larger economy.”

Companies such as Griffin Hammis offer training and support programs for disabled people seeking to start a business, or get into the workforce. The company networks disabled clients with government agencies and private specialists to find ways to make entrepreneurship possible. Their experience working in this field has taught them that there are no tests or professional evaluations that can identify who will succeed in business—rather, personal commitment and a strong support group can be the best indicators that a disabled person will succeed as an entrepreneur.

Shaw Seaman, of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, remarks that Lacey Jean is outstanding, and she has an outstanding family. “Not everyone who comes to us for help goes this far,” he remarks. “Our goal is to put disabled people on a path to employment, getting them out of sheltered workshops and integrated into the community.

Lacey Jean is someone everyone should meet.”