November 2nd begins National Veterans Small Business Week. During this week, the federal government, lead by the Small Business Administration (SBA), works to help empower veterans to make the transition into small businesses and recognizes the small businesses that are owned by veterans. Along with events such as First Lady Michelle Obama appearing on ABC’s “The Shark Tank” to promote veteran entrepreneurship, the SBA provides training for these return veterans to learn about the best ways to go into business with the federal government and other organizations. We at Goose Creek Consulting also provide a pro bono Veterans Transition program and we will be highlighting it and other resources for veterans on our social media feeds on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.
Other programs include the Department of Defense transition assistance program offers a program called “Boots to Business,” which includes a two day entrepreneurship course that teaches veterans to utilize the skills they have learned in their military career into beginning a business. The course provides participants with modules on business related topics like how to get financing, constructing a business plan, analyzing your market, competing space, economics, legal matters, and more. Programs like this are readily available to active duty, veterans, and their spouses. The federal government wants to make sure that their service members are continuously being invested in.
Other programs that will be highlighted include those of some states that have or are in the process of passing legislation that waives certain business fees for veteran owned businesses. One example is in West Virginia, where the State Senate recently passed legislation waiving the registration fee and the first four years of annual report filing fees for new businesses if they are launched by veterans.
Military personnel are often asked to perform well under pressure, leadership skills, and discipline. These are characteristics that often make good business owners, which is why many veterans go into business for themselves.
Servicemen and servicewomen who leave the military face many areas of transition, including challenges surrounding where are they going to live, what are they going to do for a living and how do to live in a much less structured civilian world. At Goose Creek, we provide a pro bono transition coaching program. We work with clients providing them with four one hour long sessions free of cost, to work on any goals that veterans find themselves struggling with such as finding housing, finding a new job, or developing structure in their new unstructured lives. At no cost to a veteran or transitioning service member, we offer four hours of our time to help with transition. Our current coaches offering services as a part of the program are Irina Maksimets and Jayson Blair.
Contact us today for more information or visit our Veterans Transition page by clicking this link.
