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J.J. O’connor first experienced the franchising business at age 15 when he witnessed the life style of his friend’s father, who owned a convenience store franchise.  He liked what he saw.  A year later, he had a hockey accident and ended up as a quadriplegic.  This disability did not prevent the former hockey player from pursuing his dream of owning a business.  Together with a marine veteran and his best friend’s nephew, he will soon operate four Sport Clips hair-cutting businesses, as reported at Entrepreneur.com.

While he requires 24-hour care and can’t stand on his own, he can use a computer mouse and voice-recognition software to run the back-end operations of his Sport Clips hair-cutting business, which he operates with partner Dick Marak, his best friend’s nephew.

O’Connor, who graduated with a business degree from Lake Forest College outside Chicago, opened two Illinois stores with Marak within a two-week period in 2008, purchased another in Wisconsin in 2010, and are in the process of opening a fourth location. And they hope to open a fifth, O’Connor says.

Running the business allows O’Connor to work from home, where he lives with his parents, grandmother, three of his five sisters and his dog. He also works as web manager for the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois, chairs USA Hockey’s Disabled Hockey Section and does motivational speaking.

Because of his disability, it’s hard for O’Connor to sit and work for the 10- and 15-hour days entrepreneurs often have to log.

“Sport Clips was fitting for me because I didn’t have to necessarily be there all the time, all day long,” he explains. Marak, a Marine veteran who served a tour of duty in Iraq, spends time in the stores, while O’Connor handles marketing and accounting duties on the computer.

Neither knew anything about cutting hair, which wasn’t necessary for being a franchisee of Sport Clips, which offers a “just-for-guys haircut experience” in a sports-themed environment.

When O’Connor and Marak talked about what kind of business to open several years ago, a friend mentioned Sport Clips to O’Connor. The franchise has more than 800 locations across the U.S. Startup costs range between about $150,000 and $275,000.

In addition, Sport Clips is a veteran-friendly company that, like other franchisors in the International Franchise Association’s VetFran program, offers incentives to veterans like Marak.

For someone who has participated in team athletics since early childhood, the sports theme and teamwork fit well.

Photo by Redirections Sign & Design