If you are blind/visually impaired looking to become employable and still want to know more, we suggest that you follow the steps below:

1. Read the article below, to understand the philosophy of Project Starfish better and what we do, and why we do it.

2. If you feel its a good fit, check if you are ambitious enough to become employable. Frankly its not easy, and its not easy for anyone. We invest a lot of time on our members, so the program is intended for those who are really serious.

3. Send us your resume for a discussion. Please send it to star@projectstarfishusa.org or if you prefer send email to subs@pstarfish.org

4. Good luck!

Introduction:

If you want to know the one thing that we do at Project Starfish – it is ” We Create Opportunities for the blind”. That is the one most important thing you need to know.Project Starfish is an opportunity platform to learn, earn and grow.

However, if we want to know more, there are two parts below. It will take 5 minutes to go through both, which we strongly advise.

Part 1: What we do from a high level point of view :

1. We find talented blind/visually impaired people.
2. We train them on several contemporary business skills like sales, marketing, social media, content writing, research , customer service , operations
and virtual administration. Every thing is hands-on. Learn while working on live projects or case studies. In short we make you quite business savvy!
3. We help you learn from the best in the industry by inviting speakers from all over the country and around the world.
4. We bring in leaders from businesses all over the world to express their journey.
5. We help you network with businesses, and train you to do that.
6. We build your confidence.
7. We build leadership skills.
8. The platform is free , at no charge – but we select the people who we feel has the potential to lead.

The result – we make people employable , create opportunities , create a great workforce that generates money from within, augments the countries economy, create jobs and creates business value. You live with pride, dignity and honor. We are a model how the blind can be a great workforce to be tapped to make businesses expand, who need talent. This ends Part 1. Please read Part 2 below.

Part 2: This explains the whole opportunity model, and why the opportunity model has been created. Advised you go through this.The article was written by Daniel Aronoff , one of our talented members. It sums it up pretty well. Read on … below.

A New Opportunity Model for Employment for the Blind
By Daniel Aronoff

Have you ever realized all of the incredible ways in which the rites and
abilities of people who are visually impaired have evolved over the past
centuries? As someone who is totally blind, I have studied the history of
people with disabilities and it is refreshing to discover how many
privileges we possess nowadays. In most areas of life including technology,
travel, and cooking, we have the capability to perform on the exact same
level as our sighted peers!

Even though times have changed, many attitudes and barriers have
unfortunately not. I am particularly concerned with unemployment among the
blind. For years and years I have been regaled with stories about how high
this rate is and the reality has finally set in. Given that we have the
required knowledge, skills, and assistive technology, what is the real
problem? The truth is that it is multi-faceted:

Issues:

1. While many people have the required education, there is a need to
develop business skills such as Sales, Marketing, Customer service,
Research, Analysis, and social media promotion. In other words: when you
graduate with any kind of degree, employers are already looking for people
with years of experience that you don’t possess. Many employers will choose
to interview somebody else so that they don’t have to invest time and money
on training someone new because an experienced employee can hit the ground
running on the first day.

2. In today’s business world: “what you know” is very important, but “who
you know”
 can be a game changer! It is critical to increase your expertise
regarding professional networking, keep making contacts with business
people, and find opportunities to network face to face or virtually. Using
sources such as LinkedIn is important, but understanding how to maximize
this type of networking is vital.

3. Opportunity is critical. While many may have the education, the right
skills and even the professional network, one needs an opportunity platform
to get into the employment game. An opportunity platform and its creation are
extremely important. Imagine you own a phenomenal Ferrari. Can you expect to
get the best out of it using flat tires?

4. Perception and Awareness: this becomes the next important criteria to
sustain proper functioning and keep moving forward. Many employers have
never even met someone who is blind and therefore have no idea about how the
blind can function. We need to show them that we have the potential to get
the job done. Helping employers see our value is the biggest change and
paradigm shift to create awareness. In other words: our Ferrari is ready to
drive But it often feels as if the road is unpaved with potholes and big
bumps to navigate. Showing our capability, value and work ethic straightens
the bumps on the road ahead.

5. One needs to understand there is no job security. There never has
been, and there never will be. It’s a myth! However, a candidate who is
blind can build employment security not just by learning skills in one or
two areas but by gaining a well rounded experience. For instance, if a
person who is blind has experience in customer service but can’t find a job,
the next step to employment would be to learn additional skills in sales,
social media promotion, or marketing, which are associated professions. In
this way, the person creates more value than any of his/her peers which
stands out to an employer.

Solution: Welcome to the next evolution for talented blind people!

Project Starfish America aims to offer a new type of opportunity; a
socio-economic platform for talented individuals who are blind or have other disabilities
seeking to learn , be productive, make money , raise awareness and be
employable. Participants in Project Starfish work virtually from home via
phone, internet, and Skype, and can be based anywhere in the United States.
By joining, you can be part of a talent pool of management consultants.

Project Starfish offers a variety of hands on opportunities which
allows its consultants to learn. They not only discover how to focus on
their best skills, but learn to work together as a collaborative team,
giving them a feeling of working in an office . As you start to sharpen your
skills, you are pooled into what is known as a shared service. In order to
define this concept, think about a number of skilled resources which can be
shared among multiple businesses. As you may know, Small businesses and
startups are America’s biggest employer, and they either are not aware or
can’t afford the right resources. Businesses work and collaborate with the
talented blind via the Project Starfish platform and can get the work done
at an affordable cost because the same resource can be used by multiple
companies. This is exactly what small businesses need because cash flow is
their biggest challenge. This combination creates a win-win camaraderie
between these workers and businesses.

Project Starfish hopes to change the face of employment among the
visually impaired, and it’s aim is to create professional blind management
consultants for business. Based on the value of the services offered, the
businesses pay a token of money directly to the consultant. The potential to
earn money ranges from person to person but on average you can earn some decent money without losing SSDI benefits. If you choose to stay with the platform
for some time, it will provide you with all you need to become employable
with other larger companies.

To summarize, Project starfish can offer a great amount of assistance to the
blind through gaining experience, professional networking, augmenting your
skills, acquiring recommendations, and proving to society about the talent
and capability that the blind, as well as persons with other disabilities, offer to the business world. This kind of opportunity would allow you to work from home, and while the learning and amount of work is flexible , there are absolutely no scams! I
have found this to be a phenomenal work environment where people help each
other, but most importantly everyone has fun and sharpens their creativity!

Project Starfish is looking for Consultants with a strong educational
background, having some business skills and /or willing to learn new things.
They prefer that applicants are savvy in the areas of communications,
technology, and social media. If you are ambitious and are willing to prove
and improve your capability, Project Starfish is right for you!