| "Can
You" Lifestyle
I served our country as a bioenvironmental engineering specialist
for about a year until I was involved in a car accident in
1993 that ended my career and left me a quadriplegic. I was
then sent to a Veterans Administration Hospital in Richmond,
Virginia for rehabilitation where I spent a year learning
the tricks of the trade, also known as life in a wheelchair.
I was then on my way back to Annapolis where I bounced around
living with different family members in search of my independence
within my new lifestyle of CAN YOUs (Can you do this for me?
Can you help me with this? Etc.). I met my husband in May
of 1998 and we were married in August and by September we
were off to the Sunshine State: Florida!
Artistic Inspirations
Growing up, art was everywhere around me considering the majority
of my friends are artists; crafts, photography, watercolors,
oil paints--you name it and someone was creating it. While
in the hospital and waiting on my first wheelchair the idea
to paint my spokeguards came up. I drafted my friends to execute
the idea I had visualized and next thing I knew I had a peacock
on one spokeguard and sunflowers on the other. The peacock
was inspired by the fact that no bird in the world needs it
legs to fly and the flowers were labeled "turning sun"
in French. I wore that set of spokeguards for a long time.
Since they were done with oil paints, I decided to hang them
on the wall as art. Having so much fun with my creative guards,
I decided the rest of the world needed Spokeguard Art and
that is how the business got started.
Production
Since I do not drive I depended on my neighbor to drive me
throughout Florida in search of the right plastic to use.
I must say I know more about plastic now than anyone ever
needs to. We also decided to bevel the guard so it would hug
the spoke for a better fit on the rim. Now for the art part:
anything to do with paint was messy and expensive so we invested
in a printer and the designs are output on vinyl. We are able
to offer a variety of choices as well as customized designs.
Our result is decorative spokeguards that are durable yet
affordable and those are key words for someone in a wheelchair.
Marketing
I realized: how is anyone going to know I am offering this
creative product for the disabled if I don't tell them? Since
I have no business background I rely on common sense. Where
and how am I going to sell my guards is the first question.
Thanks to modern technology and the Internet, I was on my
way. (Feel free to checkout my site: www.spokeguardart.com.)
I have exhibited at some expositions and often run ads in
the different magazines offered to the disabled. I wrote a
letter stating who I am and what I was doing with my art on
spokeguards and then spent hours untangling the World Wide
Web so I could send that letter to the right people. I feel
it is my mission to spread the word about Spokeguard Art.
It also helps that I have become a rolling billboard with
my guards. Anybody who stops me gets my business card and
a brief story about what I am doing. Since my product also
breaks the ice of others' wheelchair phobia it has become
easy to just take a few minutes and talk with people not only
about spokeguard art but also about being disabled. I answer
a lot of questions in hopes of helping them to think the next
time they come across a person with a disability that we don't
bite, we just get better parking. :)
Hard Work &
Devotion
In conclusion, my dream for Spokeguard Art and
my life in general is continued success. I believe with hard
work and devotion that this can be achieved. I have been through
a lot with my life on wheels. Starting and running my own
business has had its ups and downs but no matter what I have
never given up. I am often told if it were easy everyone would
be doing it. I look forward to the day when I can sit on stage
with Oprah Winfrey and tell her and the world about Lisa Miljevic
and Spokeguard Art. | 
