Veterans and Small Business

If you are a military veteran running a small business, we have some good news for you. Americans want to purchase from a veteran-owned business. It’s true.

In fact, two-thirds of the respondents in a national poll revealed that they’d be more likely to buy from a veteran-owned business, according to the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA). They trust veterans, appreciate their skills and respect their work ethic.

Now that you know most people would prefer to do business with a veteran, how do you get the message out that you are a veteran-owned business?  Try implementing these three strategies.

1. List your business in veteran-specific online directory listings. You can tap into several free online business directories specifically for veteran-owned businesses. Consider listing your business in: (more…)

The upcoming surge of job-seeking veterans presents a great opportunity for small business owners nationwide—one you might not see again in your lifetime. Hiring a veteran means you’ll have an employee with a unique skillset, offering experience in:

· learning new skills and concepts with minimal training

· administering and using a variety of hi-tech systems

· leading staff at different skill levels

· remaining calm and productive under intense pressure

And that’s really just scratching the surface. To attract and retain veterans to your business, we’ve identified the two pillars for making your business a magnet for military hires:

1. Develop a veteran-specific differentiation for your business

2. Capitalize on the Veterans Hiring Toolkit (more…)

In the current economy where unemployment rates are already elevated for people in their twenties, the rate for Veterans sits at approximately 5% higher than the population as a whole. At the same time the SBA reports that veterans are more likely to start a business than the general population. Some reasons for this include the discipline and risk-taking they might have experienced in the field- when you’ve risked your life, taking a risk to start a business is put into an easier perspective. When you’ve been trained to get back up and keep going in the field, and to work precisely and closely with others, well, those are extremely useful entrepreneurial traits.

Because of the internet, the options for creating business and services create opportunities exist that weren’t imagined by veterans of previous eras. Even severely impacted people who might have needed in the past to be supported to live, are now often likely to need support to start something.

A welter of loans and grant programs for people with disabilities can be researched through the SBA and the Defense Department. But first it helps to know what one is doing and have a sense of the desired destination.  (more…)

For those actively serving, returning home from duty or looking to leverage skills gained as veterans from different service eras, we’d like to thank you for your service—and help you on your tour of duty in the private sector.

You’re likely already familiar with the 100,000 Jobs Mission, a military-private sector initiative to place veterans and military personnel into full-time employment. In addition, the VOW to Hire Heroes Act offers tax credits for employers that hire unemployed and service-disabled veterans. So finding a job in corporate America is, hopefully, becoming less difficult for former military personnel.

But what if you have that insatiable itch to strike out on your own? If you’re a burgeoning entrepreneur, check out these three opportunities unique to veterans, all designed to help you start your new business or grow its operations.  (more…)