Learn how to take the first steps in building a social enterprise around employing individuals with autism

1. Intro to Autism
Entrepreneurship

2. Tom D'Eri
Co-Founder/COO
Rising Tide Car Wash
Tom Sena
CFO
Rising Tide Car Wash
PRESENTERS:

4. Topics
-WHO WE ARE
-AUTISM EMPLOYMENT MOVEMENT
-"USE" RESEARCH + BEST PRACTICES
-BUILD STRONG FRIENDS
-SMASHING FEAR + FAILURE WITH KAIZEN
-ADDITIONAL RESOURCES + QUESTIONS

5. "Most of what you
hear about
entrepreneurship
is all wrong. It's
not magic; it's not
mysterious; and
has nothing to do
with genes. It is a
discipline and,
like any discipline,
it can be learned."
- Peter Drucker
CanEntrepreneurshipbetaught?

6. Who We Are

7. OUR STORY
C R E D I T : N A T I O N S W E L L

8. CAR WASH
80% OF STAFF ON THE
AUTISM SPECTRUM
FLEX SERVICE
TRACTION TO DATE
FOR PROFIT
BUSINESS MODEL
1 LOCATION
EMPLOYING 35 PEOPLE
WITH AUTISM
IMPROVED BUSINESS
FROM 2,700
WASHES/MONTH TO
14,600 WASHES/MONTH
OPERATING @
25% NET PROFIT
MARGIN

9. Impact to Date

10. Why we're
DOING THIS

11. To inspire a
movement
Of grassroots autism
entrepreneurs

12. OUR FINDINGS
Autism viewed as a disability
that requires sympathy instead
of a valuable diversity
People with autism
excel at detail
oriented routine tasks
Businesses don't understand
how to employ people with
autism
USE RESEARCH PROCESS

13. What We Did
Secondary Research Expert Research
We read everything we
could about autism
employment and the car
wash industry to
understand the
industries, identify
potential partners,
experts and mentors and
identify best practices,
opportunities and
risks/roadblocks.

14. You're Not Alone

15. From Parent to
Entrepreneur
Parent Entrepreneur

16. Advice on
Starting

17. THE USE RESEARCH
PROCESS
User Research Secondary Research Expert Research

18. DO WHAT WORKS
Identify already proven
business models
Design systems to employ
people with autism within
these models

19. You Don't Know your community
until you have...

20. Key questions

21. You Don't Know your market
until you have...

22. Key questions

23. Secondary Research
Why Its' Important:
Best Practices:
Synthesizing existing research
Quicker + easier to obtain
Can affirm user research findings
Scholarly databases, external
information sources, and internet
search engines

24. Expert Research
Why Its' Important:
Best Practices:
Hear from Industry Experts
Answering "Why?" + "How?" Complex Questions
Rich, insightful information
Interviews, phone calls, emails, filling
knowledge gaps

25. OUR FINDINGS
ROOT CAUSE
INDUSTRY: Car Wash
BUSINESS MODEL:
Flex Service
PARTNERS

26. Be Honest.
Ask for help.

27. Build Strong
Friends

28. Be with the right person
Understand what you want
Incline them in your favor
Learn everything you can about them
Do all the work for them
BUILD
What to do before a meeting

29. Structure your time
Treat them like the most important person in the world
Remember yourself
Offer the opportunity to be part of something big
Name the next steps
Give whenever you can
STRONG
What to do during the meeting

30. Follow up fast
Remember to say thank you
Introduce them
Email templates for any intros
Nail the next steps
Do all the work for them again!
Stay on them
FRIENDS
What to do after the meeting

31. Smashing Fear + Failure with
Kaizen

32. Barrier FearHealthy Fear vs.
Fight or Flight response Fears that live in your head

33. What others think?
Uncertainty?
Failure?

34. Map out potential outcomes
Overcome that fear
Have a plan B
Not wasting energy
Taking baby steps with
Kaizen

35. "Don't Waste Your Energy"
­ Adam Callinan
"Let's be straight: nobody wants to fail. But not wanting to fail and fearing failure are not
the same. One is an attitude, the other is a mindset. If you are truly fearful of failure, you
are wasting needed energy on something that has no benefit. Take that energy and
redirect it toward iterating your current processes or diversifying your revenue stream so
that failure is less of an option. "

36. What Role does Failure Play in our Lives?

38. Fail Smart
ReduceRisk
ThroughQuick
Experiments

39. Pilot Program
Before buying retail location
Test to mitigate risk
RisingTideHomestead

40. Kaizen
Continuous Improvement

41. Big Goals can be OVERWHELMING!

42. GOALS:
You gotta start somewhere!

44. Good To Great
-Jim Collins
We kept thinking we would find “the one big thing,” the miracle moment
that defined breakthrough. We even pushed for it in our interviews. But
the good­to­great executives simply could not pinpoint a single key event
or moment in time that exemplified the transition. Frequently they chafed
against the whole idea of allocating points and prioritizing factors. In every
good­to­great company, at least one of the interviewees gave an
unprompted admonishment, saying something along the lines of, “look,
you can’t dissect this thing into a series of nice little boxes and factors, or
identifying moment of “Aha!” or the “one big thing.” It was a whole bunch
of interlocking pieces that built one upon another.

46. www.risingtideu.com

47. ASK ME
ANYTHING