Veteran-Owned Businesses March

Heading to New Orleans?

This coming week, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Interagency Council are hosting a special conference. The conference is geared for Veteran Owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. It is the largest annual conference of its kind, teaming up these small businesses up with key decision makers and program managers.

The over 4,000 attendees will expand their business knowledge, learn about future procurement, and expand their current contracting knowledge. There are over 200 sessions geared to educate both new and established businesses with the hope to connect them directly to government procurement decision makers.

Over 13 percent of all small businesses in the U.S. are veteran owned. This results in employment of 8 million workers and over $1 trillion in economic growth and development.

For those who have followed my blog, I have worked hard over the years to gear up disabled veterans for their Vocational Rehabilitation meetings. Here is what this has entailed: helping CBS Evening News investigate the Voc Rehab, writing the Voc Rehab Survival Guide for Veterans, and spending a ton of time and student loan money to make it all happen. And let me tell you, blogging while completing your first year of law school is HARD!

Finally, I am hoping to team up with Voc Rehab and Director Ruth Fanning to bring my self-help strategies to all disabled veterans who qualify for the program. Unfortunately, with my limited resources, I can only do so much. A partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs could result in all veterans being equipped with the same information.

So, unabashedly, I am joining the ranks of veteran and social entrepreneurs, hoping to help those in need while being able to afford the best tools necessary to help as many vets as possible. Sadly, while the benefits are supposedly “free” to get, it costs quite a bit for SEO and Internet Marketing to get the word out.

I have gotten some push-back from the veteran community for daring to actually start a business that helps veterans get a Square Deal through education, advice and equipping. It seems they fail to realize people need money to help, whether in the government, non-profit or private sector.

I know that these veterans believe that being an entrepreneur and making a profit is bad. That’s ok. We will need to agree to disagree.

Feel free to look me up if you’re in town via the Contact page above.

 

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