By Emily Zitek

Growing up, there were two things my mother constantly said that always stick out in my mind: (1) stand up for what you believe, and (2) no matter what you do, try to be as successful as possible. Since then, I've always tried my hardest to accomplish both. And right now, my mission to do this lies within my career as a Business Enterprises Program (BEP, part of State Services for the Blind) operator.

I started my business in August 2008 as a temporary operator at the Departments of Health and Agriculture in St. Paul. I maintain 20 vending machines, 2 coffee clubs, and a convenience store. At the time I was asked to run this business as a temporary operator, it was still being decided whether this business would remain open because no operator was able to make enough money for it to be classified as making program average. My agreement with the BEP staff was that I would run the business for six months starting August 18, the day of my grand opening, and then after those six months, they would evaluate the structure of the business again and decide if the business would indeed remain open.

So I began running the business without much starting inventory and without much credibility with the customers. In fact, for the first week or so, customers wouldn't come into the store because they didn't realize that someone else had taken over. In most cases, customers were coming down planning to buy something, and the store was seldom open. But despite that, I began filling my machines twice a week, being consistently open, keeping products in stock and in date, and listening to what the customers wanted to see in the store.

By October, I was beginning to form a routine of daily responsibilities of running a business, such as keeping and maintaining book records, filling the machines, putting together orders, stocking the coolers and shelves in the store, and maintaining a friendly atmosphere for the customers so that they would remember their experience in my store as being a pleasant one. I was thinking that I had six months to continue enjoying this experience, and even if they decided not to keep it open in February, I would walk away from that business knowing that I had tried my best to ensure customer satisfaction.

Then suddenly, in about mid-October, BEP notified me that after further evaluation of the growth of the business, they had decided that Stand Number 165 would become open for bids. When I asked why they had made this decision so hastily, their response was that I had brought the sales of that business up much faster than they had expected, and BEP started getting many, many calls from satisfied customers, reporting how good a job the new owner was doing and how no one wanted to see the ownership change. Reports indicated that the store looked much cleaner and more organized, and they were happy that more variety of products was available, and best of all, the vending machines were always clean, filled and working.

This says a lot about being successful. As I learned in my BEP training, it's not that you have to be a great vendor; you just have to be better than the last operator was.

BEP has been around for many years, as most of us know. But what some of us don't realize is that things have changed since the enactment of the Randolph-Sheppard Act. The standards are much higher, and many vendors make a very good living. And let's face it: I could name four or five Metro Chapter members who have recently gotten involved in the program.

Every morning, all of us get out of bed with some sort of goal in mind. As members of the National Federation of the Blind, one of those goals is to work as hard as possible to educate the public about blindness and change the misconceptions that many people still have. What I do for a living is very hard work.

There are still misconceptions about the vending program, one being that it is a sheltered workshop. At one time, this may have been the case, which is understandable. But we must get with the times here and realize that the dynamics have changed in recent years. To my understanding, many years ago, some state agencies would place a client in the vending program if there weren't any other job opportunities for that client, almost like a last resort situation. It wasn't uncommon for a blind person to sit behind a counter all day, and all they had to do was collect money. Coke and Pepsi and whatever other distributors they had would stock the store for that operator. But in the past few years, there have been many requirements each applicant must pass before getting into training, such as good manual dexterity, excellent travel and computer skills, efficient reading and writing, and a certain degree of math skills. In addition, there are tests to evaluate whether each applicant is suitable for dealing with customers, stressful situations, and other aspects related to owning a business.

And I must say that once in the program, you are on your own. After you graduate from class and get a stand, you will take an initial inventory with the help of the BEP staff. Afterward, it's up to you. They will let you be successful, or they will let you run your business into the ground; it is your choice. It's sad to say that some operators have failed, but it has happened. Service technicians are available if there are problems you can't fix yourself, but you need to know how to make some repairs on the machines. There is support from the staff if there are problems beyond your control to help with the protocol of the general operations of your building location. But like any other small business, you are responsible for every decision you make, every set of records, every machine, and every problem that arises in that business.

One of the most difficult things I've had to face thus far is something we all hate dealing with on a personal income level — taxes. I worked at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND) for almost ten years, and not once in that ten years did I ever have to worry about taking taxes out of my paycheck, because that was already done for me. All I had to do was make sure to file by April 15 every year, which was painless. In fact, most years I usually got a refund. But now, it's all in my hands. Nobody's going to look over your shoulder and make sure you pay your quarterly taxes. If I don't estimate my quarterly taxes within a certain percentage, the IRS and state revenue department penalize me. I can't just blame my employer, because I'm the employer myself. And this especially goes for problems that occur on a daily basis.

It isn't uncommon to want to blame another co-worker in your office because something didn't get faxed, turned in on time, ordered, or mailed. But I can't do that, and even if something isn't my fault, the customers know it's my business, so they automatically assume it's my fault. I might hire Cousin Joey to fill the machines when I'm sick and he may have been the one who put the diet Coke where the regular Coke should be. But customers don't know that. When a problem comes up, the sooner you take care of it, the more reliable your customers will perceive you to be. I'll use a classic example: about two weeks ago, I had a Coke machine that froze, which meant that every single can of product in that machine froze, expanded, and blew up. This happened over the weekend, so when I opened it up one Monday morning, the whole inside of the machine was like a huge snow cone that began avalanching toward me. Fortunately, all I had to do besides clean the mess was call Coke to come and change the temperature controller in the machine, but that machine was out of order for about two days, which means I was losing money. Customers don't always understand that it takes time to have service done on a machine, or that I'm waiting for a part to arrive from Japan. All they know is that Emily needs to get it fixed, and they get really grumpy if they don't have their pop available at break time.

Managing both the store and vending machines can be challenging, and this is why time management is so important. If I preferred, I could sit in the store all day and hire somebody else to fill my machines, which is something I don't like to do even when I'm sick. Or, I could go in early and stay late to fill the machines, which is what I do on a regular basis. But many times, I hire someone to mind my store for a few hours in the middle of the day while I go out and fill the machines. Doing this allows customers on their lunch break to observe that I'm the one filling the machines; I'm the one you need to talk to about a candy bar that was stuck in the machine or about your dollar getting jammed in the bill acceptor. They also realize that I'm not just pawning my responsibilities off on someone else.

It's up to you how hard you want to work. If you're willing to give it 110%, you'll do really well and make program average in most cases. If not, you'll see the results in your monthly sales and in the feedback from your customers. I can honestly say that I've earned the pay for every hour I work every day, but I have to work hard to be successful. This is both a mentally and physically demanding job, and I work among scientists and other food safety professionals who prefer a very neat, clean, and organized environment. Making such a group of individuals happy is one of the most rewarding things about my job, because they have such high expectations that I know I can meet on a daily basis.

My instant success in the program has paid off. I was lucky enough to be the successful bidder as the permanent operator of Stand 165 after it went on bidline, and I've continued to succeed and make the business grow. According to BEP staff, e-mails are still coming in from customers saying how much they appreciate me being there, and this alone makes me want to get up and go to work every day.

Before graduating from BEP training, each student must go through several weeks of on-the-job training in both counter and vending machine locations. I was surprised that after running my business for only eight months, BEP staff asked me if I would train students by having them do on-the-job training at my location. I got the call late one Thursday afternoon, and I asked the instructor of those students, "Ed, why me? I'm only a rookie at this business thing.” And he said, "Emily, you took a business that was just about run into the ground and turned it around in just two months. Doesn't that say it all? We want students to learn the alternative techniques of running a business from you.” Until that precise moment, I had no idea just how well they thought I was doing; because my perception in life is that the standards I set for myself every day should be the standards everyone must set.

What I've done for my customers is teach people that a blind person can successfully run a business. It was easy to please the customers; all I had to do in the beginning was show up every day and be in the store, and that in itself was better than the service customers had been getting before.

My job as a BEP operator is no different from the jobs and responsibilities of any other sole proprietor. Believing that the work of blind vendors is comparable to a sheltered workshop is just another misconception about the success of a blind person that we don't want from the public. I believe that the vending program is something we should promote and encourage blind job seekers to explore if that's their interest. It's not the only career in which blind people can succeed, but it is a great way of teaching responsibility, independence, leadership, and rewarding success. This is how I choose to show people what it means to be a successful blind business owner.