Post-military Employment (entrepreneurs seem to be striking gold)

2015-06-03T13:11:20-04:00

Starting a business is hard. Really hard. So sometimes you need a little inspiration to push yourself harder, faster, farther. The best place to find that inspiration? Other veterans just like you. Here are 7 young veterans whose businesses have blown up over the last 3 years.

This is straight from Military1 but seems very appropriate for RP. I've seen lots of questions regarding how folks can get a foot in the door when it comes establishing a foothold (pun intended) into a post military career. Read on.

'Paul Szoldra (Marines), Duffel Blog

Duffel Blog. Heard of it? If you haven’t, you must have un-friended all your veteran friends on Facebook. Duffel Blog is the leading satire site for the military with headlines like “Army Plans ‘Dad Bod’ Physical Standards For Males With Dependents” and “Gronk Spikes Nuclear Football”. Paul Szoldra, Marine veteran, started the site in 2012 while attending college. Fueled by controversial headlines that you’d expect to see on The Daily Show, the site has quickly grown to nearly 5 million monthly readers in three short years.

Lesson: Be bold and creative. Taking shots at the military isn’t hard - we all did it when we were in. But taking those shots publically can rub some the wrong way. But if you understand your audience and boldly say the words they want to say, you can quickly grow a following around your product.

Blake Hall (Army) & Matthew Thompson (Army), ID.Me

Tons of companies, like Under Armour and Home Depot, have discount programs for veterans but no way to verify that you’re actually a veteran. Blake and Matthew, both Army vets, originally developed verification technology for their company, TroopSwap, where they sold daily deals for veterans. Soon large companies were knocking on the door asking to use the same technology, so they pivoted in 2012 to focus solely on verification services. Since then, they’ve raised over $18 million from various investors.

Lesson: Keep your eyes open for opportunities and be willing to make huge changes to grow your business. Transitioning from daily deals to government verification can’t be easy, but it paid off in about 18 million ways.

Kim Jung (Army), Emily Miller (Army), Benjamin Bines (Navy), Keith Alaniz (Army), Rumi Spice

Remember that time you left Afghanistan and said you’d never go back? Not the case for this team of entrepreneurs. They took the experiences and connections they gained in Afghanistan to create an international company selling Afghan saffron. Why saffron? From Rumi Spice: “Saffron provides an alternative to poppy and opium farming, which is one of the primary sources of income for the Taliban.” Rumi Spice is quickly gaining support in both the US and Afghanistan by building a company on top of a world-changing mission and a high-quality, hard-to-attain spice.

Lesson: Have bigger goals than to just “make money.” Just like Tom’s Shoes, Rumi Spice’s customers buy their products not only because they are incredibly high quality but to do their part in creating social change abroad.'

source:
http://www.military1.com/military-career/article/2779014-7-successful-young-vets-and-what-you-can-learn-from-their-entrepreneurship?utm_source=?utm_source=newsletter_2830007&utm_medium=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story6Title&utm_campaign=M1Weekend&nlid=?utm_source=newsletter_2830007&utm_medium=email

7 successful young vets (and what you can learn from their entrepreneurship)

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Jun 3 at 2015 1:14 PM

2015-06-03T13:14:06-04:00

Outstanding for those 7. They are true inspirations!

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 1:14 PM

2015-06-03T13:14:54-04:00

I like to see Veteran owned business suceed for sure. It's a tough battle, but you can be successful!

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jun 3 at 2015 1:26 PM

2015-06-03T13:26:47-04:00

Awseome advice. The key to starting your own business is having the right partner if you start an LLC, know how much cash flow you need for the first year of operations, know what your expected revenue will be from sales or successful operations, and be willing to sacrifice your own salary needs during start up operations. Now if you have saved a lot of cash over the years then the cash issue and salary issue aren't going to stop your progress or impact you. That will also save you from bowering a large amount of start up cash. Have a solid business plan and make the necessary adjustments as you proceed forward. I learned through the school of hard knocks on several of these fronts! Of course I'm just scraching the surface!

Response by Nick Petros made Jun 3 at 2015 3:04 PM

2015-06-03T15:04:01-04:00

Didn't see LTC Yinon Weiss or CPT Aaron Kletzing listed here. Do we think RallyPoint makes the cut?

In the mean-time, there's a pretty impressive population of veteran business leaders right here on RP: https://www.rallypoint.com/positions/chief-executive-officer-ceo/followers

We'd have to add these folks to the list of success stories as well (entrepreneur or not).

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | RallyPoint

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jun 3 at 2015 10:57 PM

2015-06-03T22:57:11-04:00

Good story. I've often thought that I would like to have my own business but unfortunately I don't have any idea what I would want that business to be! LOL...

Response by Wayne Soares made Jul 1 at 2020 2:28 PM

2020-07-01T14:28:34-04:00

Great info/advice Ahmed