Inspirational Thoughts On Third-Generation Small Business (Alan Ruprecht #2)
Imagine a Solution
In 1952 most individuals with physical disabilities were neither seen nor heard. Society took it for granted that these individuals should be shut away in institutions. By using emerging technology, a handful of pioneering mechanics and engineers pushed back against the idea that a disability meant the end of one’s independence, livelihood, and family life. Alan Ruprecht was one of those individuals. He saw that by designing and building mechanical hand controls that didn’t require the use of his legs, he would be able to regain much of his lost independence. He also realized that he had the ability to manufacture and provide this technology to others with disabilities. He transformed the tragedy of his adult onset polio into an opportunity to provide economic security for himself and an independent lifestyle for thousands of individuals with disabilities.
Make a Plan
At twenty-five years old, Alan Ruprecht had seemingly lost everything. He had served in the military and had worked to establish himself as a businessman running two small gas stations. Polio struck him down in the prime of his youth. He lost his gas stations, much of his independence, and his ability to move around without the restrictions of a wheelchair.
Undeterred by misfortune Ruprecht chose not to live with these restrictions and instead focused on building a business using cutting-edge technologies. Hand controls are instruments that can assist those with lower body mobility restriction helping them to drive. Disabled individuals with paralysis, amputation, and many other lower limb limitations use hand controls to operate the gas, steering wheel, and brakes of an automobile without the use of their legs. One of the first individuals to use these devices was the US president Franklin Roosevelt. He had loved driving and had traveled extensively using automobiles in his political campaigns before contracting polio. After the onset of his illness, a local mechanic near Warm SpringsGeorgia, told him that he could create controls to enable Roosevelt to drive independently. The hand controls industry was born.
While automobiles had become widely available in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, relatively few cars were manufactured in the first half of the 1940s. This was a result of US industrial capacity being diverted to building tanks, airplanes and other military equipment during the Second World War. When the war was over, the “Big Three” US automobile manufacturers, Chrysler, GM, and Ford quickly retooled their factories, and started making automobiles at an unprecedented rate. The result was a flood of affordable vehicles for millions of returning veterans. A large number of these veterans had physical disabilities from combat injuries.
For many returning troops, the war had instilled a new appreciation for life and an independent spirit. Ruprecht was one of those inspired individuals. The hand controls that President Roosevelt used had been effective, but there was room for improvement. Ruprecht’s plan was to refine the technology, slowly expand his network of dealers, and make his products available to an ever-expanding pool of clients. Starting with local businesses that had begun helping individuals with disabilities equip their vehicles for driving, he found a market to sell and distribute his innovative products. Eventually, through constant networking, improving his products, and word-of-mouth, he was able to expand his dealership network into the hundreds.
Like many successful entrepreneurs, Ruprecht began with a challenge he was intimately familiar with. This is often the key to successfully turning problems into opportunities. He became an expert in the automobile mobility industry by solving his own mobility problems. He then began selling his solutions to others with the same challenges. He made a plan to use the difficulty of mobility that he shared with thousands of others. He turned his inability to use his legs and thereby control the foot pedals of an automobile into a home-based business. He decided to start manufacturing equipment so that he and others could control their vehicles using their hands alone. By overcoming his own challenges, Ruprecht opened the door of accessible driving to thousands, and eventually millions of people with disabilities—not just those with polio, but individuals with spinal cord injuries, leg and arm amputations, and many other challenges.
