For Jake Sahr, the solution to problems with standing for long periods was to get more mobile – in a big way.
Sahr, whose cerebral palsy creates frequent difficulties with tight, weak, and spastic muscles in his legs, was working in health care several years ago when he decided it was time for a change.
“Regular work has been difficult for me to maintain, because I have to go to the doctor a lot,” Sahr said.
With help from the Vocational Rehabilitation Services division of Iowa Workforce Development, Sahr found an answer to his career difficulties in self-employment. Sahr’s new business, The Mobile Barbering Company, allows him to set his own schedule while servicing a mix of individual clients and community organizations, such as assisted living facilities and group homes.
“Right now, it’s primarily still an individual, community-based clientele,” Sahr said. “But we have some recurring community-based contracts. I would like to be more organization-focused, because that would allow me to serve people who don’t normally get the access to this kind of thing.”
Vocational Rehabilitation’s Self-Employment program helped Sahr launch his business by paying for part of a mobile barbering trailer, including some cutting equipment and a special barber chair that Sahr can raise and lower via hydraulics instead of pumping it with his foot. The program also paid for experts to help with branding and the MobileBarberingCo.com website .
Self-employment sometimes is the best possible option for Iowans who aren’t able to work on a predictable basis, said Vocational Rehabilitation counselor Courtney Anderson.
“This way, you can control your own schedule,” she said. “You can decide what you want to do. If you’re having a bad day, you can accommodate yourself as much as you need to. You’re in control.”
Sahr’s business is still evolving. He is planning to take part in a local Des Moines business incubator, and he wants to continue developing a nonprofit arm as a way to provide haircuts to charity – all while continuing to reach out to more and more potential clients.
“I’m still growing,” Sahr said. “But I’m better off than I was.”
For more information on how Iowans with disabilities can develop their own businesses, visit the self-employment page of IWD’s Vocational Rehabilitation Services website.
