Ralph Braun, Braunability, starting a small business and turning it into a multimillion dollar company!
ByNo one wants or wishes for difficulties, but when the going gets tough the tough get going. When Ralph Braun was six years old his cousin told him that he overheard his parents saying that Ralph would not live to see his 12th birthday. Dumbfounded but determined, Ralph vowed that he would do everything within his power to prove the prognosis wrong. Fortunately for Ralph his diagnosis of muscular dystrophy did not turn out to be fatal.
From an early age Ralph wanted to live a “normal” life where he was accepted by and contributed to this community. Ralph was diagnosed in the 1950s so, because of Ralph’s mobility issues, which included the use of a wheelchair by the time he was a teenager, a normal mobile life did not seem likely. Again Ralph decided that he was going to fight against what was “normal” for the time.
Ralph converted a riding lawnmower into one of the world’s first scooters. Because his scooter was destroying his mother’s home Ralph created a more functional version. His garage made scooter was functional enough to help Ralph get back and forth to work for years.
When Ralph company moved its operations further out of town, Ralph had a dilemma. He lived in rural Indiana and the conditions were often too difficult to drive very far in his scooter. There was no public transportation. He knew the cold and rain and snow and wet would be too much for his homemade garage invention. Ralph started thinking and came up with an idea. What if he could create some kind of vehicle that could carry him and his scooter.
The concept for one of the world’s first wheelchair accessible vehicles was born. Ralph purchased an old mail truck and put a lift on the back. This lift lifted him up in his scooter. He then drove the scooter to the front and moved himself into the driver’s seat. Later he removed the driver seat completely and drove from the scooter. This worked great for Ralph for a few years, but the Jeep was old when he bought it and eventually it wouldn’t work any longer.
Ralph started looking around for other options. He purchased a Dodge van and put his lift on the side of the van. After his new mobility system was written about in a mobility magazine, Ralph’s new invention took off. Through hard work and the desire to solve his own mobility problems, Ralph created a company that now sells over $200 million in mobility equipment annually.
It’s up to you. If Ralph to take his challenges and turn them into opportunities than what’s stopping you. You have the option to look at your challenges as opportunities instead of obstacles.
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