Hannah Olson – Chronically Capable
Her mind was fully capable but her body could not keep up with the demands; having made it through college in three years Hannah Olson then had to quit her “dream job” at a design agency because of a chronic illness. She had been diagnosed with Lyme’s disease in her sophomore year of college and it got to the point where she had to be on an IV treatment for 6+ hours a day. Amazingly, she used this very trying time in her life as a catalyst to help others who experienced similar challenges. (Personal experience as a means of problem-finding).
Hannah co-founded Chronically Capable, a company that geniusly links market resources to simultaneously meet the needs of two parties by facilitating connection between them. On one side, there is an entire workforce of intelligent individuals that want to work but have a chronic illness that makes the structure of many jobs not feasible. On the other, there are companies that need capable, dedicated employees but are not successfully employing chronically ill individuals. Fittingly, Chronically Capable is “a job platform that connects people with chronic illnesses to flexible work opportunities.” Beyond connecting companies and chronically ill individuals, they also work with the company to help them develop the flexibility and awareness needed to make the employment mutually beneficial and sustainable.
From an entrepreneurial perspective, this balance of profitably helping two parties by being the bridge between them is fascinating and takes applied wisdom to execute well. Hannah addresses this some when she states, “you need to focus on each buyer as an individual.”
Hannah shares that connecting individuals with suitable work opportunities “is something [she cares] so deeply about.” She carries incredible empathy and compassion in the way she engages others in their stories by taking action to help them. Additionally, her willingness to be personally vulnerable and share about her story builds trust. Consistent with her personal values, Chronically Capable also provides community for chronically ill individuals: shared empathy, understanding, awareness, and knowledge.
Hannah does a beautiful job of using a challenging personal experience, that helped her identify a problem, as an opportunity to innovate how resources are connected to find a feasible and profitable solution that positively impacts people’s lives.
3 Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Great post! I think this is such an interesting story and it’s so cool to see how she took an unfortunate situation and turned it into something that could benefit other people. I think this company is such a great idea and there is a real need for it in the world. I also think it’s cool that she can connect with her customers and users through personal experience, this much be such an advantage in business.
It is so inspiring to see Hannah Olson focusing on each individual. Every person has infinite value. Even though they may have a chronic illness finding what strengths these people possess rather than focusing on what they can’t do really opens up a world of opportunities.
This is such a fantastic story. Its always hard to see someone go through something that makes common, everyday functioning difficult, but it makes the triumph all the greater. Moreover, though Olson’s situation is difficult, it allowed her to address a problem see would not have come to if she was not diagnosed with Lyme’s, and therefore would not have improved the lives of those with similar stories.