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3.21. Business Owner Jim Mullen

For Jim Mullen, being a ventilator dependent quadriplegic was no barrier to becoming a successful business owner.

Jim was shot while serving as a Chicago police officer in 1996. After that he spent 4 months at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago before returning home using a power wheelchair. "Ever since that day, I've remembered that life is precious and dreams are worth chasing", says Jim. "My new reality inspired a passion in me for proving to everyone that life is what you make out of it."

Jim becomes a business owner

"In 2007 I got a small batch of my mother's special blend of apples & spices made and begged to get her apple sauce on the shelf at Happy Foods, the store where my mom shopped with me when I was little. It took a little convincing but they finally put some on the shelves. My mom was happily surprised when I got to show her the sauce all bottled up. More good news followed when people started buying it, too. Throughout this process I was madly giving it away to family and friends as gifts. Turns out, everybody LOVED IT and was telling me to just go for it and make it an official business. Mullen Foods was born."

Jim uses typical email and other commercial business applications to run his highly successful business. The Dragon Naturally Speaking, voice-to-text program and other assistive technologies allow him to manage his business affairs quite handily. Jim's applesauce is now available at hundreds of retail establishments as well as from his website.