100 Entrepreneurs Lessons Learned

Franchise Consultant Faizun Kamal - All About Franchises!

Faizun Kamal, a franchise consultant, shares with 100 Entrepreneurs details about franchises, becoming a franchisee, and why veterans make great franchisees.  Did you know that 1 out of 7 franchisees are veterans and that franchises are looking to recruit veteran franchisees because they are particularly well suited to making franchise businesses successful?  She also talks about VetFran, a program that offers discounted franchise fees to veterans interested in becoming a franchisee.  

Pamela Hess Talks 100 Entrepreneurs about Arcadia's Veteran Farming Programs

Pamela Hess, the Executive Director of Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, joined 100 Entrepreneurs to talk about the Arcadia farms, which were farmed by George Washington, after he retired from the military.  She also talked about their Veteran Farming Programs, including a full-time, one year program and a Reserves-like program, one weekend a month and 2 weeks during a year.  Veterans and their spouses learn all aspects of food production, farming strategies, finance, taking food to market and more.  Arcadia provides a mobile market to sell their healthy food in lower income neighborhoods in the DC area at lower prices. 

Pam describes the programs as well as how the participants have turned their experience into a career in farming.  The Veteran Farming Programs can help veterans to learn how to run large acreage farms, specialty farms, and backyard farms.  They even offer a portion of their farm to veterans who have attended the program to build a business.  Arcadia is now taking applications for the program.  Applications are available at http://arcadiafood.org.  

Jim O'Farrell, Veteran and Co-Founder of AMSG, a Government Contractor

Jim O'Farrell, a veteran, graduated from the Naval Academy and went on to work with several large government contracting companies and consulting firms.  Eventually, he co-founded Advanced Management Strategies Group (AMSG).  He talks with 100 Entrepreneurs Foundation about his background, how he came to start his company, how he and his partner have grown the business, and the government contracting industry.  He also works with the Travis Manion Foundation to help teach middle and high school kids about character.  

Dennis Foutz, veteran, Travel Guru, and Franchisee

Dennis Foutz, a veteran, business owner, Travel Guru, and franchisee spoke with 100 Entrepreneurs about his experience transitioning out of the military, after 20 plus years, and finding his next steps.  He started by looking at what he didn't want to do, then began to narrow his focus on what he wanted to do.  One of the positive experiences in the military was traveling.  So he became a franchisee of Cruise Planners, a company associated with American Exress, and created his own business, Travel Guru.  He talks about how he created and grew his business and his experience with a franchise.  Dennis says, from his experience, if you are break even in year one, and making money in year two, year three should see a significant increase in income from recurring customers and more relationships with potential customers.  

Justen Garrity, Founder of Veteran Compost

Justen Garrity, veteran and founder of Veteran Compost talks about starting his business.  He had no experience with farming or compost, but decided to help reduce waste by turning 2/3rds of waste produced into a sellable product - organic compost.  He has built the company to picking up compostible materials from commercial and residential clients, turning it into highly desirable compost, and selling the end product to farms and residential gardeners.  

John Gallina and Dale Beatty, Founders of Purple Heart Homes

John Gallina and Dale Beatty were both wounded in Iraq and when they came home, had the full support of their communities.  They realized that this was not the case for Vietnam veterans.  In the military, they learned to never leave anyone behind, and this included all veterans.  Together, they decided to provide housing solutions to veterans throughout the country.  They started their first project almost 10 years ago.  They have organized communities in 30 states to help them make homes accessible, secure, and comfortable for fellow veterans.  In 10 years, they have completed 100 projects, are working on 50 more and have 141 projects in the pipeline.   Throughout the process, they have learned how to build a nonprofit organization, which is ultimately a business with the help of mentors.  

Les Owen, Veteran and Documentary Filmmaker

Les Owen, Army veteran, produced the documentary film, "Victory Remembered, Legacy of the Black Devils," about the First Special Service Force and the first joint US and Canadian fighting force, created to fight in Europe during WWII.  This secret unit was named the Black Devils by the Nazis.  The First Special Service Fource was undefeated in a military campaign that liberated Italy and ultimately lead to victory for the Allies.  The film is now distributed on Amazon, iTunes and various cable channels.  He spoke with 100 Entrepreneurs about how he created and produced the film, how he funded it, and what he's working on now.  

Bob Nilsson, Founder of 100 Entrepreneurs Foundation

Bob Nilsson is a Marine Corps veteran who was in Vietnam.  His next career was at Turner Construction.  He was president of Turner International when he retired.  After 9/11, he began visiting wounded veterans at Walter Reed hospital occasionally and ultimately commuted to spend time with them four or five days a week.  Bob realized they needed help finding the next steps in their careers.  As a result, he founded 100 Entrepreneurs Foundation and for the past decade has been providing wounded veterans and caregivers with monthly classes and lunches in Bethesda and at Ft. Belvoir to help them find their great idea.  100's of entrepreneurs and business experts have joined the participants to talk about their businesses, their industries and their lessons learned.  Veteran program leaders have joined us to talk about the opportunities they provide.  These include Dog Tag Bakery, Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture, and Bunker Labs.  

In this Podcast, Bob talks about starting a nonprofit foundation and the 100 Entrepreneurs program.

Sarah Steel Interview About her 2 Construction-Related Companies: Urban Referrals and Steel Management Group

Sarah Steel owns two businesses, one is Urban Referrals, an online contruction referral business for residential clients, and the other, Steel Management Group, is a construction project management company that works with commercial clients.  Sarah is hiring veterans!  Check out how she started Steel Management Group and purchased Urban Referrals.  The companies have synergies because many of the contractors work with both companies.  

Interview with Tammy Phipps and Josh Himan from Driver Rehabilitation Center of Excellence LLC (DRCE)

Tammy Phipps, an Occupational Therapist in the US Army, developed a driver training and vehicle modification program at Walter Reed and was interested in expanding the program to all drivers after she retired from military service.  She met Josh Himan, a wounded Marine and business major, at Walter Reed.  Josh has a Masters in Science from George Washington in Finance and a Masters in Science from Johns Hopkins in Economics.  Together, with the help of a lawyer who was volunteering for the Red Cross at the hospital, they created the foundation of their new company, Driver Rehabilitation Center of Excellence LLC, or DRCE.  The business is capital intensive, with vehicles and space requirements, so the partners needed funding, and with an excellent business plan they brought in an angel investor.   In this podcast, Tammy and Josh talk about how they started their business, how they launched it with all the major local networks covering the launch, and their lessons learned.