Where it all began
Buidling an ABA and autism treatment business is no small task. Many have approached it, some have been successful, and many have failed. It took me nearly 20 years in the field and countless people encouraging me to start a business, before I was even remotely close to ready. Even now, as I sit here and build (two) businesses, I still have my doubt on my ability. But a task without any doubts, is far from a challenge.
The purpose of this blog is to share my expereinces that have led up to buidling a business, and a bit of a journal as I go through the process of building my companies. This is by no means meant to be a guide or “how-to” but rather a set of writings describing my thoughts, steps, and challenges that I have encountered during this process. I in no way endorse or encourage you to follow my steps, but rather I intend to use this as a discussion “behind the curtain” of my experiences to share with others.
Flying Toward My Future
As young as I can remember, I wanted to attend Western Michigan University. I had purchased hats, planned to put all my eggs in the WMU basket, and dreamt of the day that I was a Bronco. But not for the reasons you are thinking…
Around the age of 12 or 13, my uncle (at the time) asked me to join him in a flight. He was studying to earn his private pilot’s license and had offered me a chance to fly with him. Up to this point, I was fascinated with flight and astronomy. In fact, I dreamt of becoming an astronaut and traveling the stars in a NASA Space Shuttle. With my love of flight, I instantly jumped at the opportunity to fly with my uncle when asked. For those of you interested, he was taking lessons in a Cesna 152. This is a really small aircraft that barely fits two adults. During this flight, he allowed me to take the controls, learn the instruments, and enjoy the freedom of being in the air. It was incredible and will forever be a memory I hold close.
This was the icing on the cake of my love for flight and my pursuit of attending WMU. I was going to be a pilot.
At the age of 16 I began taking lessons to earn my own certification as a private pilot; flying a Cesna 172 Skyhawk (N690SA). Experiencing the freedom of flight, seeing the world from above, and venturing across the state of Michigan was a dream come true. WMU was in my future.
Dreams Don’t Always Work
During my senior year of high school, still flying and working at the airport, I started to experience some medical challenges. I noticed one night when watching a Detroit Redwings hockey game, that I suddenly couldn’t see the score at the top left of the screen. There was a large black spot that restricted my ability to see the score when looking squarely at the screen. Being 18 and an arrogant young man, I didn’t think much of it. I just turned my head to find the score. However, as time went on, I noticed the amount of space that was black and I was unable to see, was growing. There are many details at this point that are likely not worth your time, but the long story short is that I attended countless doctor’s appointments, saw many specialists, and was subjected to some horrible tests. After nearly a year of appointments, the issue in my left eye began to extend into my right eye. I was losing my vision.
At this point in my life, I had been accepted to my dream school, Western Michigan University. I was going to attend to earn flying ratings in pursuit of a long term career in flight. But my vision challenges continued to haunt me.
During my freshmen year of college, the majority of my courses were dedicated to introductory courses, and a few specific flight related courses such as weather, navigation, etc. I wasn’t flying at this time. With the vision issue moving to my right eye, we were desperate for help. After finding a speciailist that was familiar with the issue, I was prescribed steroids to support the return of my vision. These steroids were extremely helpful in returning the vision to my right eye but the damage was done in my left eye. This disease left a permanent “Pac-Man” shaped blind spot in my left eye. As far as I could tell, I was going to have to live with this vision issue in my left eye for the rest of my life. What was I going to do?
Time To Pivot
As you can imagine, the vision issues forced me to make some tough decisions. In fact, I was not able to continue flying as my long term career was not likely to happen. I had to make a change. This was one of the toughest periods of my life. It felt like the dreams I had been chasing were no longer in my control. My love of aviation was as strong as ever, but it was just outside of my reach.
Already being at my dream college, I was forced to switch my major. But to what?
Western Michigan University was known for its business program, its engineering program, and its psychology program. But how do I even choose?
I greatly appreciate you reading this blog and I look forwrd to sharing my expereinces building businesses and venturing into the field of applied behavior analysis.
This blog is not intended to be used as a guide or “how-to” for building your own business. I recommend that you find experienced professionals to help you establish your business and conduct all activities in accordance with local, federal, and apprporiate laws and regulations.
