Junior runs business for a cause

Junior Nathan Hartley never thought woodworking would change his life. He simply walked into class on the first day of freshman year, eager to begin creating projects. But when he completed the course, he discovered his passion. Today, his hobby has developed into his company, Uniquely Able.

“I just became obsessed with it,” Hartley said. “Woodworking was so addicting.”

In the early winter of 2013, Hartley channeled his love for woodworking, entrepreneurship and desire to help others into something tangible. He created a business that gives disabled people the opportunity to help him create wooden magnet boards.

Hartley has dyslexia, a developmental reading disorder, and he has always wanted to find a way to provide opportunities to others who are disabled.

“I always told myself that if I ever have a business, I’d want to help out people with it. I wouldn’t want to just make money and get rich,” Hartley said.

Hartley said that the idea for his business came from a Youtube video he watched of a man creating a wooden frame. To him, the process looked both fun and easy. He wanted to try building frames too. And despite his success, Hartley inevitably ran into a few obstacles after starting his business.

He said that the biggest challenge he’s run into is something that initially didn’t even cross his mind.

“Building a website and all the taxes and all that stuff that goes into it is way more complicated than I thought it would be,” Hartley said. “You’d think all I have to do is make a product and sell it but getting from A to B isn’t that easy.”

However, Harley feels the whole experience has been highly rewarding.

“Seeing how people get inspired by me is just really cool,” Hartley said.

One of Hartley’s co-workers, senior Kody Pollitt, has also found his time with Uniquely Able to be a gratifying experience.

“I think we’re making an impact,” Pollitt said.

According to Hartley, he’s not the only one with intentions to help disabled people. Companies like Office Max and Walgreens have opened warehouses where they specifically hire people with disabilities to work.

“What I really hope is that people will see this and see that people with disabilities have abilities too,” Hartley said. “Just because they are disabled doesn’t mean they can’t work.”

Someday, Hartley hopes to open an Uniquely Able store. He already has elaborate plans for the layout of the store and the way his business will work.

“In the front, I’ll have people with unique abilities who have very good social skills selling frames,” Hartley said. “On the other half of the store, I’ll have an entire wood shop and a glass wall where people can walk into the store and see people working.”

In the future, Hartley hopes to make this idea into a reality.

“That’s my dream,” Hartley said. “My goal is to just wake up every day and go to work and to do woodworking. I think that would just be so much fun.”