How many veteran owned businesses are there

The US Veteran Entrepreneur Portal VEP is a virtual one-stop shop for veterans seeking information on all federal services available to help them conceive, start-up, fund, and make long term plans for their businesses. The VEP also promotes education , by connecting veterans to best practice tutorials and other pertinent up-to-date information. Mental toughness is a mandate for those in the armed forces. The harsh reality of military service is that service members make sacrifices for our country.

Active military duty means long periods of time away from friends and family, often in mentally and psychically trying conditions. It can also mean risking life, limbs, and friends. Many veterans have been injured or disabled in action. Out of the more than 20 million veteran business owners in the U.

These disabled veteran entrepreneurs are the very definition of fortitude and perseverance. Veterans sacrificed themselves by serving in the US military during their active duty. Now, veteran entrepreneurs continue to serve the US by creating huge numbers of corporate jobs while boosting the economy with sales and business revenue. Employer firms were responsible for The SBA knows that proper funding is necessary for a new businesses to succeed.

Without enough capital to get off the ground, the business will fail. For that reason, the SBA offers multiple financing programs for veterans to help secure funds for their own business needs. The SBA offers services for entrepreneurial minded veterans starting new businesses in addition to continued support for established businesses.

Educational programs are coupled with lending programs so that veterans have both capital and support on how to maximize that capital. As to how veterans are starting their business, they initiate their enterprise by themselves. In terms of employment, the majority of veteran-owned employer firms are small with The good news is veterans get support from public and private organizations when it comes to encouraging their entrepreneurial journey.

If you are a veteran looking to start or grow your business, there are many resources available to you. It is particularly helpful because it provides the necessary resources as vets transfer to civilian life. On its site, you will find everything from mentors, which is what the organization is known for, to funding options entrepreneurship resources and much more.

These are volunteers who want nothing but the best for you as you embark on your entrepreneurial journey. Even if your business has been up and running for some time, you can find mentors to help you. It has inspired me to do some changes at our platform and we are the biggest consumer lender in Sweden.

It gives quick update on what's going in the market. Thank you very much for all that info. Allen Taylor. Add Comment. You may also like. April 13, About the author. View All Posts. Click here to post a comment. Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Thursday December 5 , Weekly News Digest. Alternative Lending Goes Mainstream. Comment Share This! Here are a few of the most enduring lessons I learned.

Whether you have served or not, you can take some of these golden nuggets and apply them to your business:. The moment enlisted or officers start their initial training — the core value is the same. No one person is greater than the team.

From the minute your service begins, you learn that the sum is more significant than its parts. The team is everything. Over time, our team grew stronger through proximity and shared adversity. I was a chow runner, which meant I ran ahead of the formation to the chow hall to sign our unit in.

The fastest runners guaranteed their units ate first. I could run fast. In fact, on a good day, I could get signed in minutes before my unit would arrive, which meant I had time for a bit of shut-eye. One day, I was fast asleep leaning against a pole.

Click, click, click. I heard the boot taps of my drill instructors as they circled me. I woke up and stood at attention. They yelled at me for what seemed like hours. I had already learned to take ultimate accountability for my actions.

My unit had to wait because of my actions instead of eating early. I stared into a sea of hungry, impatient eyes and realized I made a mistake that affected everyone. I learned to never repeat that mistake again! Military teams take care of each other. As a result, one person rarely does anything alone. And no one is ever left behind. Strength gets forged in unity.

How do you check to ensure your people are never left behind in the activities that drive your business? Build strong teams that look out for each other and make your organization strong. Get rid of inadequate training, unclear expectations or guidance or a lack of support. In the military, you learn that the subtle details can cause big problems.

For example, foreign object damage FOD is anything that should not be on the runway. The smallest of items can wreak havoc on jet engines resulting in fatal outcomes. Pay attention to the small things and their impact on the broader operation.

Teach your people to be on the alert for these little details. Condition them to spot things that may otherwise go unnoticed. Instilling attention to detail can help your business avoid unpleasant outcomes. Consider creating more detail around safety, ethics, governance, compliance, and fiduciary matters.

In the military, there is a significant amount of planning done for many things. You can talk, plan, and prepare. There is a need to act and put the plans in place. Standing still tells you nothing. Military battle planners will often admit their plans rarely survive the first bullet. It does not mean to stop planning. Instead, some things are clear when you observe them in action. Take flying a plane. You can preflight a plane, but flying in the air is dynamic based on many changing variables.

If you miscalculated wind speed, you need to adjust your plans. Headwinds may cause you to burn fuel faster, and may call for you to make deviations to your course. When you march a unit in a formation, you may need to make minor corrections.

But they happen once the unit is moving and marching. If someone gets out of step, make the cadence clear and consistent for everyone to follow. The same is true of many things in business. Get started and expect to make minor pivots along the way. You can learn a great deal when you move past your best plans and test them in the market.

Know when to lead from the front, stand beside and serve. What makes them exceptional leaders is how they model excellence. They have solid missions and visions, and they communicate them from top to bottom of the unit.

Everyone knows the mission. Being able to create clear goals and focus on them is a critical skill. As a military leader, you learn to feed the troops first. I recall how my commanders demonstrated how to serve. Joe Paranteau During the holidays, leaders served in the mess halls, cooking and serving others.

As a business leader, find similar opportunities to serve your people. Figure out what behaviors you can model that will make your team stronger. Yet, fellow servicemen and women who have served can all relate to one or all these examples.

How would it look if you applied them to change your business culture? What results should you expect? The military has been using these principles for centuries. Take a lesson from tried-and-true leadership practices, and see how your people respond.

These principles show you care, and build trust and strong teams dedicated to the mission. He leads a sales team and serves as an industry leader for healthcare customers. He is a sales coach and mentor, keynote speaker, small business owner, entrepreneur and investor.

He supports causes to end child trafficking and exploitation. Visit him on LinkedIn or at. To help you better understand how to secure government contracts, we asked contracting experts and business leaders for their best advice. From cybersecurity training to ensuring worker safety, these seven tips below may help you better understand how best to go about pursuing a government contract.

As a part of HB, state and local government employees are required to complete a Department of Information Resources DIR approved cybersecurity awareness training program on an annual basis. If your organization is seeking government contracts, be aware that most government agencies require contractors and vendors to be HB compliant.

Most government agencies have budget cycles that run on very specific timelines. Even when the need is discovered and secured, getting your product or service to those agencies takes more time than other deals.

Build relationships early with your ideal customers, identify timelines appropriate for initial discovery, bidding on the project and secure the contract. Businesses should be prepared to go through a rigid qualification process for both time and resources.