have been accomplished by someone else (you’re welcome for the leggings idea, LuLaRoe!), but I like to think my ideas were ahead of my time.
While I was fortunate to start my entrepreneurial journey as a child, as I gained more experience in business I observed that many of my business-owning peers started later in life. Most often, their business ideas would form around their passions and how they could solve problems they saw within the world. I also noticed that many of my friends were propelled by the confidence they had gained through their military experiences.
And then it dawned on me.
Maybe it wasn’t just my lifelong interest in business that helped me gain success. Perhaps the military life I had been a part of for the previous ten years also played a big hand in providing me with the right set of skills to be an entrepreneur?!
As I thought through this idea on a deeper level, I realized there were many reasons why military life was conducive to business ownership. In fact, they were really strong reasons, too…so much so that I eventually named them “secret weapons.” Let’s take a look at the top ten “secret weapons” from military life that creates great entrepreneurs.
Top Ten “Secret Weapons” (from Military Life) That Create Great Entrepreneurs:
1 1. The Powerful Military Network
It is common to hear that business is all about “who you know.” Fortunately, the military community is one giant network of great contacts. With each new move or Permanent Change of Station (PCS), a military family meets a whole new set of people through work, school, base neighborhoods, church, and other community organizations. People who retire from the military usually move at least a handful of times, creating a large network of similarly suited contacts.
Word spreads quickly within the military community once they recognize the value of a great product or service on the market. In fact, “word of mouth” marketing is actually an organic process in military networks. Why? Everyone heavily relies on the opinions and suggestions of their counterparts. In fact, every time we find out we are relocating to a new area, the first thing we do is think about who we already know there and ask them for their recommendations.
The first three questions I always ask are:
• “What are the best schools in the area?”
• “Do you have a favorite hair stylist and how much do they charge?”
• “What is your favorite restaurant?”
The fun part about all this is that military families love to share their favorites. So, when any entrepreneur develops his or her business concept, your local military network is an invaluable resource for marketing! Additionally, because military families are frequently on a regular relocation cycle, their connections extend far and wide across all continents, allowing for quick expansion. Having “boots on the ground” in simultaneous markets can allow for quick growth into multiple areas.
When I launched my social commerce business in 2010, I didn’t exactly know whether it would work. But I did know that it had a lot of utility for military spouses. The business model was lean, it did not need a lot of inventory, and the marketing was done by leveraging the power of social media. That created a huge opportunity for portable work, if people could digest the concept and get over the stigma of similar business models of the past. That left the big question: would my network want to share the message?
Despite my concerns, I jumped in and gave it my all. In just six years, my organization blossomed from a party of one to an organization of over eight thousand entrepreneurs spanning six continents, fourteen time zones, countless military bases and producing over eighteen million dollars annually. Even though the number of civilians on the team now outnumbers the military members, the military values of hard work and being a part of something bigger than yourself have permeated everything we do. Our team has rallied around the idea that being able to serve others with business success is far more motivation than merely just earning a paycheck. I truly believe that the majority of our early growth would never have been possible without the power of our military mindset and the connections within my military network.
Knowing all this, don’t be shy to put your network, whether it’s military or not, to work. As you are developing your business concepts and ideas, use your Rolodex (that’s a contact list, for you Millennials) to reach out and share the details of your business plan. You might be surprised at how eager they are to help you! Describe your ideal client in detail, so your well-connected colleagues and friends can be your eyes and ears in their community and help extend your business ideas quickly.
1 2. The Beloved US Military Brand
Brand names like Apple, Nike, Starbucks and Chick-fil-A all provide a sense of trust and reliability, no matter where you visit them. They are brands you can depend on without a second thought. The same is true of the United States military community.
As a member of this community, the rest of the population holds you in high regard as a person that is reliable, trustworthy, loyal, and disciplined. Investors, clients, supporters and even your competition give you instant credibility due to your years of military experience. It’s not just “civilians” who hold military businesses and employees in high regard. According to the Harvard Business Review, military consumers are recognized for their affinity to buy from other military businesses. This support is “rooted in institutional culture and reinforced” by members of the community whether it’s with purchasing power or hiring power.
While other small business owners have to work tirelessly to build that type of trust, military entrepreneurs and businesses who hire military veterans get the privilege of having it organically right from the start. Military entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity to create businesses that seek to hire fellow military community members. As colleagues who can interpret the unique skills and abilities of a military spouse or service member’s resume, you have the pick of the litter when it comes to hiring and building something that can truly leverage the power of the military brand. So, use it strategically to increase the speed of your growth.
1 3. One of the Best Investments
As a trustworthy, driven and reliable individual with the backing of the military brand, people are eager to help you succeed. Whether it is veteran resources, scholarships, higher education or loans, there are ample opportunities if you just look.
If you are looking for a modest amount of funding, I recommend you begin your search by looking at a range of nontraditional investment options for small businesses. Often, they are quicker, easier and less stringent to obtain than traditional bank financing for a small business. Some examples are crowdsourcing, microloans, and angel investors.
I remember lying in bed at night, thinking about my big dreams of starting my first business. I was ready to launch, but the timing for us financially couldn’t have been worse. I had just transitioned from the active-duty Air Force to the Air Force Reserves, and I was only working one weekend a month. On top of that, were burdened with a hefty mortgage in California, right before the housing crash caused the value of our home to plummet. We were in a tight financial position, to say the least.
Even though I knew my idea to start a decorating business for military families was viable, the thought of scraping together a thousand dollars to get a certification in home staging was daunting. I looked at business loans, but there weren’t a whole lot of options for less than ten thousand dollars and the thought of taking on more debt was even more depressing. Thankfully, I found a way to fund the training by selling a few household items online. But I will never forget that feeling of helplessness knowing I had an effective business idea that I was willing to work for, but had no funds to get started.
So when I began my second venture in 2010, I made it a priority to find ways to give back to the start-up businesswomen like me who just needed a little kick-start to get themselves on their way. I partnered with a young branch of a national lender, Accion, in San Antonio, Texas. I asked them to earmark my donations for military women who wanted to start small businesses. Then, those donations became small loans that, along with Accion’s