The Veterans Growing America Podcast

Alex Sebby | Words of Veterans | Veterans Growing America

• Donnell Johns & Coach R.L. Simmons

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0:00 | 33:27

In this episode of the Veterans Growing America Podcast, Coach R.L. Simmons and Donnell Johns sit down with Alex K. Sebby, a Marine Corps veteran (1999–2003) and the founder of Words of Veterans—an online platform helping veterans preserve their military story in a tangible, family-ready legacy format.

Alex shares a rare side of service you don’t hear often: his MOS as a combat illustrator, his post-service path through digital media and journalism, and the long, honest grind of entrepreneurship—multiple attempts, hard lessons, and learning how to “fail forward” without quitting on the mission.

Most importantly, Alex breaks down how Words of Veterans works and why it matters: veterans can answer guided questions, add photos, and create a hardcover book that documents their service—something their children and loved ones can hold onto for generations. He also shares a major milestone: Words of Veterans received a grant from the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, allowing eligible veterans in Virginia to create their book at no cost.

Topics covered:

  • Marine Corps service, stop-loss, and what it means to carry your story forward
  • The difference between running a business vs. starting a business
  • “Failing forward,” acceptable loss, and entrepreneurship as a long game
  • Why feedback is everything: how VGA helped Alex improve his platform
  • Turning service history into a hardcover legacy book
  • Veteran community, consistency, and building something that outlives you

How to create your Words of Veterans book:

  1. Go to wordsofveterans.com
  2. Sign up + verify your email
  3. Answer guided questions (short responses) + upload photos
  4. Build your book without the intimidation of “writing a book”

Connect with Alex / Words of Veterans:

  • Website: wordsofveterans.com
  • Contact + socials are available directly on the site
  • You can also connect through the Veterans Growing America directory

Connect with the hosts:

If you’re looking for a meaningful way to preserve your service, build legacy for your family, or learn what veteran entrepreneurship really looks like behind the scenes—this episode is for you.

 Like, Subscribe, and Share And as always… Shop, baby.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Veterans Growing America podcast. I am one of your co-hosts, Coach Ariel Simmons. I am here with my illustrious co-host, Donnell Johns, and we have another special guest for you today. We have Mr. Alex Sabi. He is the founder of Words of Veterans, and he is a Veteran Marine. Welcome to the show, sir.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00

Pleasure.

SPEAKER_02

Alex, first of all, thank you for being on the show. We would love to hear a little bit about your military connected background and experience. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01

Sure. Yeah. Um, so I was an enlisted Marine from 1999 until 2003. I was stop lossed and I was almost sent to Iraq, but the last month they they released a number of us, so I got out of the Marine Corps. I then went on to do a bachelor's and a master's degree in digital media and journalism. And then I've been working at a number of different jobs over the last 10 years, and then I've built this an online startup called wordsofeterans.com that recently received a grant from the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.

SPEAKER_00

I love that. So how did your military training influence your journey into entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah, so I mean, one of the most interesting things about my military experience was that I was a combat illustrator for the Marine Corps. I mean, it doesn't exist anymore, but it at the time it was one of the smallest MOSs or military occupation specialties. And I I always, you know, some people don't talk about how they they didn't know what they wanted to do, but I I always wanted to be an artist or work in media. So I I at least I had that going for me that I I always had a really good idea of what I wanted to do with my career. Yeah, so I mean I I got out of the Marines and I actually wanted to be an animator for uh Pixar. That was my like Disney. And then I actually took classes on that. I had actually had some other people I went to school with, one that worked on Harry Potter, another one worked on um Ice Age. So I I mean I I got to a pretty far place, but some things happened and it it didn't, I didn't quite go that route. But I I knew that I could, you know, find other work because of my my military experience. But in in like in the background, like rather than getting one of these positions for Disney or for another creative place, I was actually trying to make my own creative business. So I I actually worked for a small 3D architectural imaging company for a year or two as the creative director. Um I worked at a nonprofit for a year or two by doing outreach. And then using that combination of small business skills, I've been trying to build a small business for about 15 years now while having while having a career to afford it. So like wordsofetterans.com is actually the combination of about five different projects that I've put together after, you know, four different attempts at trying to make something work on the internet. Yeah. And it it seems to be working. Like it just took Yeah, they say the typical person that is successful starting a small business is in their fees and they've had four or five attempts. But this this seems to be, if I if I have done it, it's if this seems to be the kind of the Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, you know, when it comes to business, it's not one of those things that you're just gonna put your product out there today and then tomorrow everybody's just gonna buy it. And that's I think that's one of the the biggest uh misconceptions when it comes to entrepreneurship. You know, it takes time for people to, you know, get in the know, like, and trust of your business. So let's switch gears a little bit and let's talk about what inspired you to start your own business. I mean, did you wake up in the morning one morning was like, I'm gonna be the next, you know, input the name and start a business, or was there a person that uh inspired you, like a grandparent or something like that? What inspired you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, uh so when I was at university, a lot of the people graduating, they were like, I need to get a job, right? I I want a job. And I was like, you know, I had a job in the military and that that wasn't so great. I don't know if I if I want to do that job thing, but you know, I mean, obviously I had to work, so I I I kept doing jobs that I was hoping to obtain to get me to an independent employed situation. I actually met a really influential person that that started a Fortune 500 company, and he he actually was a mentor of mine when I ran the 3D architectural imaging company. Initially I was just a an outreach and assistant, but the guy that had started the business actually passed away within the first six months of me being there. So I was put in a position basically to take over the entire business for his family while they were mourning the loss of him and and basically taking care of other things. About a year, a year and a half into it, they actually sold the business to someone and they effort for me to purchase it, but I I was trying to like start my own business. There's a difference between running a business and starting a business. So I've actually ran a f a couple businesses, but the ability to start one is is I think a very different skill set than running. And the the other thing is I I well, in addition to everything else, I actually worked as a demolition tradesman for for about a year, year and a half, driving a yeah, a one-ton truck or one ton truck. You got a resume, don't you? Like I I well I thought that would be good too, but but like after a year of that, I was like, man, this this isn't that great. Like um So yeah, I've I've just uh like see I frankly the only kind of business that I decided that I wanted to start was an online business because it would let me work from anywhere. That's the my main motivation of trying to do that is that the ability to work from anywhere and and to not need to be at a set location like on a weekly basis. I I guess that's always been what I've been trying to achieve with this. Yeah, so that that's that's my motivation is you know I've kind of met people along the way, I've done a lot of things, but like the underlying goal is to to be able to make an income without having to physically be at the same place all the time. I loved it. I loved it. Yes, it's more about like like the freedom than like the the money for me.

SPEAKER_00

Like yeah, that's that's that's one of those things where where you have to find your own peace, whether that that is the money or have the money to create the peace, but it sounds like just having that level of freedom inside of your business is is the peace that you chose.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like uh yeah, like I I I think you gotta if you're gonna do this, and hopefully you're doing something you really enjoy. Like if you're not, then you you might just want to have a job.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. So let me ask you this though. I really want to talk about words of veterans. Let's get into your business, um, tell folks what it is, and then give us a unique proposal business proposition.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. So I guess I guess before I go into words of veterans, I'll just talk about the other attempts along the way that kind of got me to Words of Veterans. I had a vintage classified website, kind of like Craigslist, but but a little more upscale. I eventually found out that wasn't going to work because vintage clothing is kind of only viable in at a local sort of community level. Once you start shipping in and returns and all that, it it doesn't really it doesn't really make sense financially. I then had an invoicing app, and uh then I realized that invoicing is basically free everywhere and it it's pretty hard to like make money invoicing. My third idea uh was actually the very first variation of words of veterans, and it was called veteran quotes. So I was working in South Dakota, and I started a little hobby business called Veteran Quotes, and the idea was I was gonna share military expressions, influential sayings of military people and and founding fathers and whatnot. And uh I actually got traction. Like that's the first time in like five years of me doing anything that I started getting people like sharing and liking my content. I was like, wow, that's that's actually a big step. If you can get traction, you're you're doing something, you know, good. And it was actually like kind of like a takeoff of the the invoicing website. So I converted the invoicing website into that to save money. And um, because I had built that website from scratch, though, it had some some problems with it that I hadn't had with the classified site that I had bought a template of. And it was different content management systems, but it still was getting the traction. And then the problem with it was was I couldn't figure out how to monetize it. Like so it didn't have a meaningful product. So I was trying to figure that part out. So I had the traction, I had a site that was okay, but I I didn't have like a way to offset the advertising costs. And you you need that. If you can't offset the advertising costs, then you don't have a viable solution. Um, I then took another position and then went through a really difficult family tragedy. And I basically stopped. I basically threw everything out for about two years because I had relocated to another state, so you have to redo all the legal paperwork. You got to get all the contracts re-rewritten for your state, you gotta find an attorney. So I I did all that about, you know, three years ago. And uh, as I was registering the website, I was gonna register as veteran quotes again. And the the business lady that was talking to me, she's like, what do you do? Do you like do estimates for veterans? I'm like, no, like that no, I do like written in expressions, right? But because she was coming from it from a financial context, it it made me think, I was like, that that isn't such an identifiable name. So how how can I find an identifiable name that people aren't gonna like misunderstand? Uh, which was then words of veterans. So I it took me, you know, about a month to to figure that name and make sure all the handles were available. Get the dot com, and it was all available, which that that's that's in itself is really unique. Like the ability to find like a good handle and a name that tells you what you're doing that's not already taken or somebody's not trying to sell it for, you know, a thousand dollars or more is is very rare, actually. So I raised the domain and then I took the other experiences of me trying to build things on the internet, and I took all the parts that I knew that worked. And somehow, you know, the last three years of me working on this has it works perfectly. Like it it has it, everything about it works, which I've never been able to do that before. Like the other, you know, three or four attempts, they there's always some challenge with it that that made it like not work. And that's actually really easy to do. Like something along the way happens and it has the abilities to kill the entire idea of what you were working on that that that happens. And like you have to be knowing enough to know if that's gonna happen so that you can like cut off your losses and then fail forward with that. Like that's a really important part of this, I believe. The ability to fail forward when you know that you're you're cooked. That's a really that's a super like that. What do you think, Darnell?

SPEAKER_02

Hold on, I need you to repeat that one more time. That was pretty, that was pretty profound.

SPEAKER_01

It's funny. It's not funny, it's not funny when it happens a couple times. Yeah, it's funny, yeah. So when you're cooked, the ability to know that you're cooked and to take the parts that are good and meaningfully move forward with it. That is that is an enormous like skill set. Because if if you get stuck and you hold on to, you know, something, you know, okay. So actually, one of my other ideas that wasn't on my business was was Volkswagen coffee and chai business. So I I had a Volkswagen bus and I went to music festivals and sold coffee and tea, but the damn bus kept breaking down on me and I I loved that Volkswagen bus. But like eventually I realized like I can't afford the Volkswagen bus and I gotta like move on and do something else. And then I then I bought a Honda. So I I was cooked and I I had to let go of that thing that wasn't working for me. Yeah. So yeah, so if something's not working, regardless of how much you like it, you you have to like figure out a better way or do something else.

SPEAKER_02

You know what's funny? Um, I think people think that, you know, when it comes to entrepreneurship, that if one business fails, you have to start all over again where that's not true. The lessons that you've learned from each business can help catapult you into another stratosphere as long as you're learning, because business is all about learning and growing and moving forward. And so let's talk a little bit about transition, right? Because that's what you had to do from the military to entrepreneurship, and then from entrepreneurship, one business after the other until you found the one words of friends. Excuse me, words of veterans. I don't know why I said words of friends, but words of veterans. Let's talk about transitioning. Yeah, let's talk about transitioning into the business world and and how that went for you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so like I mean, I got out of the military when I was 21. Um, I joined at 17. Uh, I I also had, you know, the GI Bill on the college fund. So I I was I did a lot of my initial entrepreneurial stuff that that didn't work out when I was getting my degree. And I'm I'm not, you know, a Zuckerberg or a Larry Page or you know, whomever that Bill Gates. Not one of these my degree has, at least at this point, been absolutely the most valuable thing that I've I've obtained. So I I I can't recommend that you like don't get your degree and then go try to start a business. That didn't work out for me. It might work out for you, but didn't work out for me at all. So like, but my take on it is when you're in your twenties, like try it. You know, just try it. And and even if it turns out to be an absolutely terrible idea, you hopefully will learn a lot of very valuable lessons about doing something that that you know, like having a Volkswagen bus. I always I always wanted to have one. I'm glad I did it in my twenties. I will never own a Volkswagen bus ever again. Like, like so yeah, do something like that if if you're inclined. Like you you know, you'll learn from it, and that that lesson probably will help you the rest of your life. So, but in my 30s, yeah, I had a job. That that's my number one rule for entrepreneurship is that you you have a job when you're actually like trying to start your business. Because like otherwise I don't know how you're gonna afford it. And if it doesn't work out, then then at least you know, when you're 40, you have a career. So yeah, so my my first lesson is is do something you know interesting in your 20s. Second lesson is have a job in your 30s. And then, you know, if you do everything correctly and and you know you meet the average, which is still you still get lucky in your 40s, you hopefully will have a thriving you know business.

SPEAKER_02

You know, you see something there. Um always tell people, you know, it's it's okay to have a job and because your business needs funding. Let's uh let's just be clear with that. Every business needs funding. However, you could either borrow the funding or you can work for the funding and have your business or your your job be your business partner and that will help you fund your business. Either way, your your business is gonna need some sort of funding.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean I I follow that the the thought process, which is pretty typical, that that borrowing money to start a business that you don't have is like not a good probability. Like like you're gonna have to pay that back, and that's gonna come with debt. So you're guaranteed gonna lose money off of the money that you borrow to start a business. Um, but if you work for it and then you you know live frugally, you won't have that that high probability of having debt. Because like what's the statistics of a small business making it the first three years? Is it 50% or less? It's a lot less than that. It's like 75% of so like you know, the the also thing too is whatever I've done with my entrepreneurial stuff, at the end of the day I'll I'll be able to to retire and have a pension and have medical. There is a level of of improbability with it, is is what I what I note and I believe. Yeah. So yeah, that that's my rule. So you you try something interesting in your 20s, 30s, you get a job, and 40s, hopefully you you beat the improbability of having a a little viable, successful thing that maybe becomes a big thing.

SPEAKER_00

Let me ask you this. What are some key things that you learn in the service that you're able to use for your businesses?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I do think that military training and military community does leave a lot of valuable personality characteristics and skill sets. So we'll I will agree to that. I think the community, so like for example, we're on a veteran podcast right now. That is an opportunity. And there's a lot of other things in the military community, like getting a grant from the Virginia Department of Veteran Services that can enable you as an entrepreneur. So the community and the pro-veteran focus is is enormously beneficial to veteran entrepreneurs. And you don't have that if you're not a veteran. Like that, that's not, you know. Historically, I might get a little intangible on this, but the military industrial complex of the United States since World War II is the largest industry that's ever been on the earth that I know of, like at least, at least, you know, since you know AD or BC. Uh, I think if you make something viable, making it viable within the context of the military, it's more achievable, is what I think, because of the robustness and the size of that industry and the opportunities that are available to veterans within it. Does that you guys agree with that or am I being too?

SPEAKER_02

I concur. There's a lot of uh, I think there's a lot of you know benefits that we get intangible to starting a business. You're a Marine. There's a level of stick tuitiveness that you learned while you were in the military. There's a certain level of grit that you need to have. And not everybody has that level of grit to stay with the process and the system of entrepreneurship. I was on a podcast earlier today, and I asked this entrepreneur who is doing very well, and she's a veteran entrepreneur, and I said, if you had to give a veteran advice on starting a business, or anyone advice on starting a business, what would that be? And the number one answer was stay consistent. It's consistency. And that consistency in reps, getting out there and putting yourself out there will create opportunities for yourself. And that's one of the things that we learned in the military was be consistent at everything that we do. There's an SOP that we have to abide by. There's every morning formation and getting up and working out, and there was a process for everything. And business is all about consistent processing processes over and over and over again when it comes to your product. So yeah, I I agree with you. All of those things that you said are what people need in order to be successful in the business world, especially from the military standpoint and the community that we have together. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it I mean, it's not just the mentality, though. I I think that the consistency is part of our community. Now, like we we have a demographic of, I think, 16 million veterans alive in the United States and then their families. That that's a small economy. And then you have, you know, military installations or VA hospitals or other locations that have a density of that community that regularly visit it. There's just a lot of information and locality that's based in our community that can be utilized, is what I think.

SPEAKER_02

My favorite thing to tell about our story is uh if you look at uh most of the Fortune 500 companies out there, they were started by veterans. Uh Nike, Chick-fil-A, GoDaddy, Walmart, FedEx, FedEx. There's a there's a ton of uh organizations that were started by our community, and that's something to be proud of. And that's a that's the story that we need to be telling about our community that we're out here being leaders, we're entrepreneurs, and we're heroes, you know, in so many shapes and forms, not just on the battlefield, but right here in America and the work that we do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I totally agree with that. But I I it's also again, it's it's also the context of the military and and you working in such close proximity to a lot of other people. You you can get so much life experience and you can develop a skill set just from the exposure of working with that many people. One example of that is is Sailor Jerry. Do you do either you know who's Sailor Jerry Sailor?

SPEAKER_02

No, educate me.

SPEAKER_01

So he's one of the most influential ta tattoo artists that I think believe came out of World War II. He was I think he was just some sailor that was basically tattooing military people for a bit of extra money. But he he's he's one of the most widely known, recognized tattoo artists that has artwork that you know has defined, I think, Americana. Have you ever heard of the term flash tattoo? When you go to a tattoo shop and you look on the wall and they got like a standardized piece of clip art that they that they're willing to tattoo you. I believe he was the guy that that started that. Wow. Yeah. So he's just another example. Or um, who else? You have um Evil Knieval, I think was also a veteran.

SPEAKER_02

That was my boy right there, Evil Knieval. He got a lot of kids hurt back in the day trying to start.

SPEAKER_01

You got uh you got Johnny Cash. Well else. I mean, there's just there's a lot of influential veterans in in in his in history. Sometimes the ones that didn't make it through the first four years are pretty interesting as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, there's there's there's a lot of there's a lot of people that I've served that are doing amazing things. Speaking of amazing things, what bit of what bit of advice would you have for an entrepreneur starting out that you learned over the years?

SPEAKER_01

So I I don't know if this is accurate, but I I I think it is. I mean, again, I I'm not viable yet, so like I haven't done it. But I think there's three things that you need to have in order to have a successful business. I think you need to get the technology right. So you have to use or have some access to technology that that gives you a competitive advantage. Um, I think you need to get the legality right. So you you have to have, you know, a legally solid solution. Uh it can't obviously be illegal. And often that either opens up or closes. So, for example, AI right now, I believe, is is the current patent goal mine. And there's other things in history that that you know have open and changed. So you gotta get the legality right and you gotta catch it the right way. The third bit is you gotta be able to market whatever it is that you're you're providing. So people need to understand it in about five seconds. So if you have those three things, I think you have what is called a uh value proposition. And and those things, I mean timing is arguably everything. So some things you know were and then aren't, and some things are, but were. So you gotta you gotta catch that moment and And own that moment basically to obtain that that value proposition. And I think it's combined with those three things. Uh again, statistically is you know, three or more attempts and then your mid forties to obtain that that value proposition. And I I've I've read I've listened to a lot of entrepreneurs. Once you have the value proposition, I've been told that's about 80% of having a successful solution. And then the other 20% is just push, push, push, push, push. Like you just got to keep moving forward and until it it it you know it's it's accepted or or it's like brought into the mainstream context. And I think I think that's the best thing, best bit of advice that I've listened to on different entrepreneurial stations is that 80-20 rule of of value proposition, and then the rest is just effort. And nobody can tell you what that is for you. Like you can't like because it's it's it's about it's about your life experience and your skill set and who you've met along the way. And and that's that's different for everybody. So if somebody has like one one size fits all solution, you you might want to be hesitant to to do that, is what I think.

SPEAKER_02

And so my final question is so tell you tell our audience about your experience of being a member of VGA.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, so VGA has been phenomenal. I've I've been there for about four months now. Both myself and Mr. Darnell, we both have a grant from the Virginia Department of Veteran Services. Um so you mentioned consistency. The number one thing that I I I appreciate about VGA is consistency. I know that I can go there any weekend. I know that I can set up a table. I know that I can hand out vouchers in a in a secure and safe and place with, you know, decent foot traffic. I don't know of any other place that I can do that as a veteran entrepreneur. I've tried to do it at the nonprofits, and it's it's it's just not really the right context for that. I could do it around the military base or other military events, but that that might not go so well for me. I think actually it's illegal on military bases. Yeah, so like in terms of trying to get some feedback about whatever it is that you're doing, VGA is the only place I know that you can do that and and not potentially get in trouble while doing it. And getting feedback is critically important. There's a number of veteran or entrepreneurs that have talked about that, but like if you're not ashamed of your first offer, you you probably haven't released it soon enough. And another one is that nobody ever survives the first contact with the market. So like the the big thing that I learned from VGA over the past four months, after getting it about a hundred people using the website, which I mean also was me handing out vouches and pliers and a bunch of other things as well, but but VJ was part of this community. Initially, I Words of Veterans initially was a writing platform. So for me, it was a place to like write. And then if you wanted to, you could then like go to the Library of Congress and have your web your story published on a federal website. So I was trying to be like a bridge. And then a number of people said it's like, you know, we look at your site and and we we we you know, we we expect to make a book. So the the whole book creation process actually was an afterthought. And that's an example of one of the books. So now when people go to my website, they're like, What why are we making a book? What what's this like writing platform stuff? And uh so what I did was I actually took apart the website and put the writing the make the make your book section on the very top of the website now, which is which is what people are expecting to do. That's my brother's book. And that that was a really, really important bit of feedback that I got from you know the first hundred people that had looked at what I was doing. Another really funny bit of feedback that I got, and this is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. So initially, so I'm I'm not a publisher. All I do is is allow people to to answer questions and then to print a book, right? So the the the the form the functionality was called print your book. It was an example of my dad's book. Um the feedback I got was was that we don't want to push the print button because we're afraid we're gonna print a book. Like like you know, like the the print the print button on your printer, and people were afraid to they were afraid to click the button because they they hadn't made a book yet. And like we don't want to let's like like print a book, right? So but the feedback I was getting is people didn't want to do it. So what I did was I changed it from print your book to make your book. And now people are okay with doing that because they want to make a book, but not not print a book, and they don't want to use the writing platform because they they don't really want to write. They they I thought you had to write before you you made a book. Is that yeah? Anyways, this is the kind of stuff that you run into when when you're trying to like release something, you know, that that's that's your your innovation or your idea. It just takes one word or or you know, a different idea of how to go about doing something that you may have never even thought about, and and then you gotta like spend like a month or two like changing it again. VGA is allowing me to do that. And and I there was no other place I I could find that would do that. And it's conveniently located to me.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's been amazing watching your journey and watching you grow throughout this time frame and the transition that you've done with your website. The book has always been the same, but the way that you put it out has changed over uh a period of time and a period of feedback. And I thank you for being a part of trusting the process with the work that we do. So we appreciate having you.

SPEAKER_01

Uh yeah, it's it's like I highly recommend it. It's a great community. Um leader of our community, a retired command sergeant major, and his son's a reservist now.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Can't hold them against him. Um yeah, no, it's it's a good spot. Yeah, it's been exceptionally beneficial and helpful to be part of that community.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, Alex, I definitely want to um thank you for your your time and sharing your experience. But before we get out of here, I wanted to open up the floor to you so you can give some final words to the viewers and listeners. Keep in mind these viewers and listeners may be current business owners, future business owners, but they all have that one thing in common that they appreciate veteran in our experience. So just this um I'd like to open up the floor to you.

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah, so again, I I haven't made it. I've only lost money as an entrepreneur, but uh it's it's an intelligent way to spend your money and to lose your money. If you at least if you're doing it, I think correctly. So I I've learned, you know, an immense amount of things and I've made an enormous amount of connections by following this path. So e even if I don't become a successful entrepreneur, meaning financially, I've still greatly benefited from everything that I've tried to do along the way. Uh and that that's had to do with learning how to fail forward. Another term also that I believe in is um acceptable loss. You only invest what you can lose. And once you get to a place where you can't do that anymore, you do you just stop. So these skill sets of restraint and perseverance and being a lifelong learner is what I believe it's really all about. Um yeah. So like that that's that's how I've gone about it. It's it's you know, incremental improvements and then realizing that you know little things eventually can can make a really, really, really big difference. Yeah. So that that's that's what I've would recommend. Also, if if you are a veteran uh you know in Virginia and you would like to make a very nice hardcover book of your military service completely for free. I've I've not only built the website, I've I've got this all going together, I I also got a grant. This is a gift to the veteran community of Virginia. You have the option to make one of these and and give them to your children or your loved ones and what have you, and it won't cost you anything. So I I I hope you do do that.

SPEAKER_02

How do they do that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so to do that, you go on the wordsofetterans.com website, you sign up, um, verify your email, uh, and then you you answer 50 questions. Um I've had somebody do it in three days. It it's literally a thousand words. It's like a sentence or a paragraph per question with with a photo. I'll show you one example. Don't like writing a book can be intimidating. I wouldn't I wouldn't consider this comparable to writing a book. It's literally like a sentence or a paragraph, a meaningful photo that was 29 palms, which is where I was born, which is meaningful for me. Um then you can add a photo caption. And that that's really all it has to be. Like, and that's that's why you can literally do it in three days. I mean, you can do more if you choose to. I'm not gonna tell you you can't, but like don't think that I I can't write a book. Like you you you can do this, and it really won't take you that long, and then you'll have something to show to your friends and family the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, before we get out of here, I want you to give us your socials, your websites. How can people get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, sure. Um, so just if you go to wordsofveterans.com, you'll see that you can email me or you can call me. All the social links are there. I'm on LinkedIn. You could go to Veterans Growing America and ask Darnell for my contact details. If you Google my name, like you'll you'll see that I've got like like at least 10 or more pages of content, probably more like 20. And I've I've been doing this a long time. So like like the if you just look for my name, Alex Sebi, I I guarantee you will find me.

SPEAKER_00

And Darnell, how do uh people get a hold of VGA?

SPEAKER_02

Before I start talking about VGA, let's talk a little bit about Coach R. L and what you bring to the fight.

SPEAKER_00

Definitely. So if anybody is thinking about, hey, I'm having this financial problem, and the problem doesn't necessarily have to be debt or credit, just you're having a really hard time with understanding some financial concepts wherever you are in your life. Our goal is to simplify finances. So if you have that question, I'll be glad to help and answer and guide you through any financial situation that you have. Just go to your moneygoat.com and I will help you change your mind, change your money, and change your life. Donnell, back to you, my friend. What was that website again? Your moneygoat. G-O-A-T.com. Your moneygoat.com. Greatest of all times. The greatest.

SPEAKER_02

No, I love that. So Veterans Growing America. So Veterans Growing America is a platform for veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs to showcase and grow their business. And what I need y'all to do, if you're within the sound of my voice, is go to our website, veteransgrowingamerica.com, click on the directory button, and you can find these two gentlemen's business and support the work that they're doing. If you want to say thank you for your service, the best way to say thank you for your service is supporting a veteran entrepreneur's business. You're supporting their passion, you're supporting their purpose, and you can lead them and their family into prosperity. They said that they would die for this country. So support their passions. There's things that are on our website and individuals that are on our website that have some amazing gifts that could help you thoroughly. Also, if you're in the DC, Maryland, or Virginia area, come out and support our events. We do a pop-up every weekend. Our stores open seven days a week. We do multiple events that support our military connected entrepreneurs. For instance, if a veteran has a gift, we provide them a platform to showcase their gift in our platform. So go to veteransgrowing America.com. Also on any social media platform, with the exception of TikTok, go to Veterans Growing America. And it's not because I don't like TikTok, it's just I didn't create or my team didn't create a TikTok page. And support our entrepreneurs. We tell stories like Alex Sebies and so many other veterans out there that are doing some amazing things in this world. Come by our store and all you got to do is what?

SPEAKER_00

So thank you. Thank you again, Alex, for coming on and sharing your time. Donnell, thank you for sharing this platform with me. And with that being said, we are over and out.