From Military to Marketplace: Veteran Business Ventures and Economic Insights

What if transitioning from military service to civilian life could be your gateway to financial success? Discover the hidden challenges and untapped opportunities of this journey as we shine a spotlight on veteran entrepreneurship. We'll navigate the psychological aspects of financial management and share my own experience of paying off substantial debt while serving in the Air Force. Even though our special guest, Army veteran Chris Benson, couldn't join us, we still unpack valuable insights on launching and growing a business as a veteran, reflecting on both triumphs and setbacks to equip you with essential knowledge.

Curious about how tariffs can impact your wallet and the broader economy? We break down the complex subject of tariffs with a real-world example that hits close to home: a threatened 200% tax on John Deere products if manufacturing jobs move to Mexico. We'll explore how tariffs protect local businesses, their potential costs to consumers, and the intricate balance required in global trade agreements. This is your chance to understand how such financial policies can affect not just major companies but also small business owners and everyday consumers.

Transitioning from military service is no small feat, but with the right support, it can open up new avenues for success. We'll highlight invaluable programs like Boots to Business and local veteran business resources that can help you navigate this transition. Personal stories and practical advice on finding mentors, staying adaptable, and avoiding discouragement will arm you with the tools you need for a successful civilian life. Tune in to hear how veterans like Chris Benson are breaking new ground with innovative projects, and learn how you can share your own story on Military Broadcast Radio.

Chapters

• 0:00 Military Broadcast Radio and Financial Advice
• 16:01 Understanding and Explaining Tariffs
• 32:41 Tariffs Impacting John Deere
• 48:37 Transitioning to Civilian Life
• 59:23 Veterans' Podcast Support and Recognition

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 2: 0:29

This entire military is one cohesive, dedicated force. And the threats to our nations? They don't sleep. They're watching our every move Iran, russia, china, north Korea, isis, al Qaeda they may be watching this right now.

Speaker 3: 0:51

Our military should not be mistaken for our cable news dad fest show. We don't care what you look like. We don't care who you voted for, who you worship, what you worship, who you love. It doesn't matter if your dad left you millions when he died or if you knew who your father was.

Speaker 2: 1:10

We have been honed into a machine of lethal moving parts that you would be wise to avoid if you know what's good for you, we will not be intimidated. We will not back down.

Speaker 3: 1:25

We don't want war.

Speaker 2: 1:27

But if you want war with the United States of America, there's one thing I can promise you, so help me. God, someone else will raise your sons and daughters.

Speaker 4: 1:42

Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice find us on the web at mbradious military.

Speaker 5: 1:53

Um, I'm a certified financial social worker. Um, I was in the air force for 14 years and and then, um, I paid off twenty thousand dollars of of debt while I was active duty within three years as an E3. So that's kind of like I got really into personal finance and so I've been really passionate about that ever since, and that was 10, 12 years ago now. So since then I became a social worker and now I'm a certified financial social worker and now I'm a certified financial social worker. So we kind of get into, you know, dealing with finances, but then also kind of dealing with the psychology behind finances, like the you know, the mental side of things.

Speaker 4: 2:33

So Ladies and gentlemen, your battle buddy when it comes to finances. Please welcome the fire social worker, joey Laswell.

Speaker 5: 2:46

All right, hey, buddy, that's a new intro, thanks to the one and only H-Train. Joel helped me put that together and so thank you, joel. So this is Money in the Military. My name is Joey and I am a certified financial social worker. You might know me as a fire social worker, but I'm just here to talk about some. You know, just talk about finances and you know, just excited to be here and I do so. Unfortunately I do my guest, chris Benson. He is a army veteran that I've been talking to. He actually had to postpone our meeting or our interview, but I do want to still talk about his story a little bit and then we're going to have him on at another time. But this is part of live broadcasting Sometimes things don't go exactly the way they plan. But we're here, we're going to have fun Might have to ask H to kind of jump in every once in a while and we're going to basically just talk about entrepreneurship that we were going to talk about with Chris, and you know I just wanted to, you know, basically talk about the ins and outs, the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Speaker 5: 4:13

I'm kind of like mid-journey, or starting this journey as an entrepreneur, as a veteran, and you know, we'll talk a little bit about, maybe, some of the mistakes I've made already. Or, you know, like some lessons learned, and you know, hopefully I can prevent a future veteran from making some of the mistakes I've made already. Or you know, like some lessons learned, and you know, hopefully I can prevent a future veteran from making some of the mistakes I've made, but then also, you know, maybe some some successes that have come up. So, just, you know, bear with us. Thank you, Terry. She says I got this. Oh, thank you. So, yeah, this is a. You know, this is a. You know, this whole podcasting thing has been a really awesome experience. I've met so many cool people and once again shout out to Military Broadcast Radio, they're, they're just an amazing group. You know, and you know, we're just, we're here to to help elevate veterans and military members. We're here to help elevate veterans and military members and part of my mission that I've stumbled upon lately is to try to elevate, you know, veterans who are really doing really cool things in the entrepreneurial space. And, you know, just to give people something to cling to and some kind of you know, some kind of advice, counsel, guidance to jump onto. So, real quick.

Speaker 5: 5:29

We're going to talk a little bit about, maybe, some current events, financial current events. So we got some stock market performance. So last episode we talked about the Fed rate cut, the 50 basis points, and how that might impact things. And, as we saw with the stock market, basically there were gains driven by the economic data strong corporate earnings. The Dow Jones increased by 0.62%, s&p rose by 0.4%, including the Federal Reserve. They were expected to implement more moderate rate. Well, they did implement the moderate rate cuts. So, yeah, I mean, we'll kind of see. It seems like the markets liked the idea of the market or the Fed Reserve cuts. So so far it seems like nothing. The sky isn't falling and the markets are kind of stabilizing with that news and kind of processing it. But but yeah, so we'll also see what we got. Oh, I missed. Yeah, so we got.

Speaker 5: 6:39

You know, inflation is coming down still in most major economies, you know, but there are concerns about public debt and some, you know, obviously, geopolitical stuff going on the central banks, including the Federal Reserve. So we've got the, yeah, more moderate rate cuts and let's see what else. And let's see what else. Yeah, so we also got Costco's financial results. So we'll talk a little bit about that. So they released their fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 earnings, reporting net sales of $78.2 billion, a slight increase from last year, and then a 1% rise in overall revenue, with membership fees contributing significantly to the steady performance. So, uh, you know, things are going generally good, it seems like for the account, at least for the big companies. Um, maybe not for the little, the little guy as much, but um, uh, and then the, the last topic of the uh kind of like news cycle stuff oil prices and commodities. So oil prices remain steady despite concerns over decreased demand from China. So there's a lot of push for EVs in China lately, and then US stockpile reductions help balance the market. And then copper is in demand to do its essential role in renewable energy products, demand to do its essential role in renewable energy products. So, yeah, those are kind of like the top line kind of financial industry stuff, yeah, so if anyone has any additional comments to that, just let me know. Yeah, and so basically back to.

Speaker 5: 8:25

So I did want to talk a little bit about the Military Influencer Conference that's coming up in Atlanta, georgia. Hopefully we're not going to be rained out, but I mean, with the weather hitting soon. Hopefully by Monday things will be cleared out. So hopefully everyone is going to be safe during this storm. It's going to be pretty, pretty, pretty intense. Tallahassee looks like they're going to get hit pretty hard, so hopefully, if you're in the path, stay safe, stay, stay dry as much as possible.

Speaker 5: 9:04

Yeah, so the Military Influencer Conference is going to be in Atlanta from September 29th to the 3rd. It's just like three or four days, but it's man, it's got. It's just going to be chock full of really great speakers sessions. You know I'm looking at it, you know, as a budding entrepreneur, but then also as an advocate for veterans, mental health, um, and you know, obviously, learning about the financial industry, um, you know, learning more from cause. There's going to be tons of people from all different walks of life, all different. You know careers and professions and you know so Terry's going to be there from Tracer Rounds, we're going to have Amber from Into the Weeds and, I believe, john from Retirement Military Retirement Podcast I believe he was going to show up too. Military retirement podcast I believe he was going to show up too.

Speaker 5: 10:06

So we're going to have a little bit of a um, an MBR um meeting. Uh, very first time, at least for some of us, to ever meet in person. So we've been on each other's shows and and and, and, you know, been part of the MBR family and I'm just really excited to to meet them in person. And you know, we might try to do to meet them in person and you know we might try to do maybe an offline podcast. It might be really impossible to do a live stream because there's going to be so many people in this venue and who knows what the internet's going to look like. But you know, stay tuned, we'll see what we can try to pull together.

Speaker 5: 10:40

But, yeah, so I think Jon Stewart is actually going to be speaking at some point during this event, if I remember correctly, and just so many, so many different opportunities. And you know, like, I'm also hoping to connect with other podcasters to help, you know, spread the word about MBR and, you know, maybe even encourage some of them to join, to join us and, uh, you know, join that the MBR family, um, because we're still growing. And um, you know we got new, new shows launching um, pretty, actually pretty much regularly. We got uh H. Do we have a couple coming online pretty soon, do you? You remember, um, but yeah, I know we got, I know we got at least one or two coming down the line. But so, yeah, like this is another part of my entrepreneurial journey. You know that I'm trying to learn about businesses and starting businesses and growing businesses, so I'm hoping to kind of learn from a lot of these sessions, these breakouts, these speakers. It's going to be really fun.

Speaker 5: 11:51

You know, I'm generally an introvert, even though I have a podcast, that's kind of contradictory, but you know I'm usually a quiet person and yeah, so, but I mean, I'm getting a lot of good. Like there's an app that you can download and talk to people and network with the uh, with other attendees, so it's just really. It's just a really cool um uh event that I'm really excited about. And yeah, according to Terry, we had a new launch today. Awesome, um, yeah, so we we've got MBR is just chock full of great, great content. Um, there's and there's new content coming on the on, almost on the weekly at least. Uh, multiple times a month it seems like there's a new, a new show launching and uh, you know these are all veterans that are, you know, just like, like me and Terry and and and H.

Speaker 5: 12:46

You know we've all had our struggles, we've all had our you know our journeys and we're kind of trying to share what we've learned along the way and then also lift up veterans. So I mean it's just a really, really great organization. I can't I can't speak enough about it. I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it's just been a really enriching experience. A great group of people and just like-minded veterans that are just trying to help each other.

Speaker 5: 13:19

And we all have our own niche, our specialties. Mine might be personal finance, but you know, I'm still learning about personal finance and learning about, you know, how to, how to help people with their finances. So I'm a work in progress. Um, I don't know much about business and I'm still learning all that stuff too. Um, so, yeah, we're all, we're all learners.

Speaker 5: 13:41

Um, none of us are experts at podcasting. We're literally growing and learning on air. So so, yeah, we, we appreciate all, the, all the listeners, all the supporters, whether it's financial or just giving us a like or thumbs up. Man, we, we, just, we just love you guys, we love the, we love the MBR family and and all and and um supporters. So, um, yeah, so um, we got, yeah, jose Flores right on Joey learning also. Yeah, another new, um, new podcast podcaster. Um, just just great stuff going all around.

Speaker 5: 14:19

We've we've got, um, you know, a lot of different topics to talk about, or all of us collectively have different topics that we like to talk about. But if you're interested on being featured on MBR, then you know find one of us or go to the MBR website, mbradious, and, you know, reach out to us. If you have a cool story to tell or if you just, you know, have something you know that you're passionate about as a veteran, let us know. You know we're definitely down to entice and encourage all kinds of veterans from all walks of life to share their story. You know, we're just giving you a voice.

Speaker 5: 15:04

So, um, so, yeah, that's the that's kind of my long winded way of saying thank you to MBR and thank you to Joel and everybody. That's uh kind of helped, uh, guide all of us to where we are and where we're going to go. You know, and who knows where, where this is going to take us. But I mean, mean, I never thought I would be going to a conference, uh, a military influencer conference, but it's, um, it's a, it's really cool and exciting. So, um, so, with that being said, we're gonna take a little bit of a break and have some, uh, musical interlude. So, um, let's see, I really I, I do love me some noah, but you know, I've also recently discovered Andrew Roboro, yeah, so I've been really feeling this song lately.

Speaker 7: 15:54

So I'm going to start off with hey Joey, I was going to say when we come back off of this music break. The one question that I have from a listener is there's a lot of talk between this tax, tariff stuff that they keep on throwing, this political agenda thing. Can you break it down and explain to us what this 200% tax is that he's warning John Deere about?

Speaker 5: 16:26

Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, we can talk about that for sure. All right, so we'll do a quick musical break and then, when we're back, we'll talk about some tariffs.

Speaker 8: 16:52

Been ten years since I'd seen his face. Not much had changed, just a different time, different place. When I shook his hand, I knew something had changed. This was a different man from the one I knew back then that's when he said we do the goals. Yes, I stand in line and watch the flag wave and grind.

Speaker 9: 17:42

You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed red, white and blue.

Speaker 8: 17:56

He told me the tales of his journeys far away, three times gone and land most on his seat on the front page With honor and glory. He stood so tall and fought for you and I so we could be free From it all.

Speaker 9: 18:32

That's when he said With duty calls, yes, I stand in line and watch the flag wheel go by. You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed a little out of the room. When duty calls, yes, I stand in line and, once again, we pray. You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed. This is what I do. Yes, I bleed. This is what I do. Yes, I bleed. Oh, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed, little I know. Thank you, veterans of Voice. Find us on the web at mbradious.

Speaker 6: 19:59

Opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.

Speaker 2: 20:09

Find us on the web at mbradious.

Speaker 5: 20:14

All right, we are back, we are live. This is Money in the Military, on Military Broadcast Radio giving veterans a voice. So before the break we were talking, joel actually had a question from a listener and wanted to kind of have a breakdown of tariffs. So I actually had to kind of you know, and during the break I wanted to refresh and kind of you know, because it is a buzzword, a talking you know, a political talking point, and I think it's one of those things that a lot of people hear, think about but maybe don't fully grasp, and so I actually use a little bit of chat, gpt to kind of like break it down for me, help me explain it in a way. And then also, you know, just for me to brush up on what, what it is that you know, the more nuanced definition, what are the implications you know, and how would it be implemented or how is it being implemented now? So basically it's essential.

Speaker 5: 21:15

A tariff is essentially a tax that the government places on goods and services that are imported from other countries. So it's kind of like a fee that foreign companies will pay to basically have their products into our country. So that's kind of like the very basic definition of it idea behind tariffs as far as a a tool is, you know it basically makes imported goods like more expensive and it encourages more companies to to produce local goods, so american-made products. So that's kind of like you know other countries will might be disincentivized to to import to america because they're like, oh, it costs more money for us. So it'll essentially encourage, you know, local owned business and you know local manufacturing and you know, protect American jobs. So that's that's kind of like the you know the big pro and you know it also brings in money for the government which we can use that money to. You know fund public services, infrastructure, education, national defense, things like that.

Speaker 5: 22:19

So I mean you know there's there. You know there's a lot of good that comes from tariffs. You know Um, so you know there's like an example of uh like a Chinese company might might make a bicycle and want to send them and sell them in the U? S. So without a tariff, you know know they would sell the bike for like 200 bucks. But if the government has a 25% tariff, let's say on imported bicycles, and the company now has to pay an extra $50 per bike to bring that into America, so they're going to lose money. China's going to lose money, but we're going to make money off of that tariff, you know. So it's kind of a win-win for everybody in that sense. Well, it's not a win for China, because now they're going to lose profits, but it's a win for America because you know they're bringing in extra money from a product that we're going to, you know, sell in America.

Speaker 5: 23:18

So you know that's kind of an example. And then as a result, you know consumers might be like, well, it's makes more sense to buy an American made product because in theory it will be cheaper, you know, because you don't have to import it and there's not an extra fee or anything like that to to associate with it. So you know some people say it's going to raise the price of goods. I mean it might raise the price of goods for, you know, for small business owners, you know that is a possibility because of the tariffs, like you know, it'll cause some prices to go up. So there is that risk. But the idea is, you know, it's going to encourage American-made products and people to buy American. So that's kind of like a general, you know, kind of an illustration. You know. So the positives you know there's, you know it might help reduce competition. So if you're a new business in America and you know your your basic, because I mean, look, let's think about, like Timu and and these you know really cheap Chinese products that are coming in, you know a small business that's starting out might not be able to compete with that those pricing. So you know, like it it, it does uh affect, you know, those new businesses. So by encouraging, um, you know, people to to buy American by local, um, then that's good for the locals, economies all around, um, so yeah, so there's uh, there's yeah, there's a lot of uh, there's a lot of pros and cons. I mean, obviously, the global economy. Then you have, like, you know, american economies. I don't know if there's a right or wrong. Necessarily, I mean, there are going to be implications and things that we don't foresee. You know, like, if they, um, if they do raise tariffs, then then you know, people are going to say, yeah, like, uh, um, you know it's going to, it's going to raise the price of some goods. It just just, it just kind of is, or it is possible that it's going to raise the price of of goods because, let's say, a Chinese company brings in a product and you know, they know they're going to get tariffs, so then now they're going to raise their prices. So now, what would have been? You know that $200 bicycle, and now they raise the price to $225 or $250 to recoup the cost of the tariff.

Speaker 5: 25:52

So, in in, yeah, it could cause prices to go up. In general, it could also affect small businesses because they're reliant on some of these imported products. So, yeah, I mean it's a tricky balance, but it is one of those things. It's politics there's all kinds of ins and outs. Yeah, some of the other negatives, possible negatives. Yeah, some of the other negatives, possible negatives.

Speaker 5: 26:20

So, yeah, so it says that tariffs can lead to higher price for consumers, not just on imported goods, but also on domestic products. The local companies have to raise their prices due to reduced competition. So if there's less competition, then they could potentially, you know, have to raise their prices. It could provoke a trade war where other, basically, they might retaliate the country and say, okay, well, we're going to import, we're going to put tariffs on your products and then that's going to take money away from us. So you know, there's going to be, there is a potential for things like that, and then domestic industries might become less innovative without the pressure of foreign competition.

Speaker 5: 27:02

To approve, yeah, I'm not really sure. I mean competition is good for companies and capitalism and things like that. But yeah, between the different candidates you've got two very different ways of of how to to generate money into the economy. But you know, like tariffs work for for a lot of things, and so it's not like it's uh, it's tariffs equals bad, you know, um, but then you know like, for instance, uh, for the veteran community, you know like, if a lot of veterans are trying to start businesses, you know, or running businesses, so this could affect their bottom line. And then, as a kind of a you know personal well, I don't really have any products that I'm selling per se like an actual physical product, but, like you know, if I was, you know, had a storefront and I was selling XYZ product, you know a new tariff came into place and then that directly affected my bottom line, because now the same products that I was getting at, let's say, $50, now cost me $75 or $100.

Speaker 5: 28:12

So, yeah, I mean there are real world impacts for these tariffs and and and some good, some bad, and so it's just, you know, it's kind of a I'm not a that's. That's kind of like the global economy, economics, and that you know there's so many factors at play there that it's really hard to predict what's what's actually going to work. It's really hard to predict what's actually going to work, and you know like that's kind of the tricky balance of just managing that level of finances. But yeah, so you know, it's one of those things where you know it's a political talking point. A lot of people maybe understand it, you know. And even if you do understand it, it's kind of like, well, what's what's actually going to happen, you know, when the rubber meets the road, so, uh, that you know. That kind of remains to be seen.

Speaker 2: 29:08

But uh, you know it is.

Speaker 5: 29:09

It is one of those talking points and and um, you know, it is something that, as as citizens, we do need to be mindful of and be aware of. That. You know, okay, what does what does a tariff 200% for John Deere tractors you know how does that affect a farmer, you know, is that going to basically make their, their products, more expensive in? In theory, I mean, I would say it probably would, but I I mean, is that going to bring in more, more money into the economy? Yes, it would. Um, so, I mean, yeah, it's just, it's really it's, it's a tough. It's a tough. Um, uh, threading that needle. I, I mean that's why I'm not in politics, because I, I wouldn't know necessarily, I mean, I would have to look at, like, a lot of different data sets to really try to make sense of, like, okay, what is the right percentage of terrorists? Like what? What you know how much on which type of product? And and, yeah, so, um, so there's a couple of historical examples, um that that I came across.

Speaker 5: 30:15

Uh, in 2018, the U? S imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to protect the domestic producers. This move was intended to bolster national security by ensuring strong domestic metal industry, but also led to increased costs for American manufacturers using these materials. So, yeah, that was 2018. I vaguely remember that and I remember hearing that, yeah, local industries were kind of affected by it and you know, it did cost national security by ensuring strong domestic metal industry, I guess so. But yeah, so let's see.

Speaker 5: 31:08

Yeah, we can play a quick clip and see what this Iowa economist weighs in on Trump's proposed 200% tariff on John Deere products. Let's see how is it working. Let me see, is it playing? I don't know, I can't hear anything, joel. I don't know I can't hear anything, joel. I don't know if it's working or not. But yeah, there's a video on screen that Joel popped up his screen, or a video that we can try to play. But yeah, like, what are you guys' thoughts on tariffs and what is it? Does it mean anything to you? I don't know. Like it's one of those things that's, it doesn't affect people until it does.

Speaker 8: 32:10

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Speaker 11: 32:17

I had to play open a chocolate shop to make unique, colorful world-class chocolate.

Speaker 8: 32:22

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Speaker 5: 32:28

Oh, there we go got a good for this ad.

Speaker 8: 32:32

Sorry, it's a really good people I'm alexandra clark, founder and head chocolatier of Bon Bon Bon.

Speaker 3: 32:41

Donald Trump is threatening Deere and company with stiff tariffs if it goes through with moving some manufacturing jobs to Mexico.

Speaker 11: 32:48

Now, if he's reelected, Trump says he'll impose a 200% tariff on John Deere products if the company shifts production work to its planned Ramos Mexico plant. Kcrg TV9 state capital reporter Conor Hendricks looks at the impact that proposed tariff could have. I'm just notifying John Deere right now.

Speaker 5: 33:06

If you do that, Looks like it's frozen up a little bit, so we'll try to get that video to play. It's probably buffering or something.

Speaker 7: 33:31

There we go. Sorry about that, I was on mute. Can you hear it or can you not?

Speaker 5: 33:37

I can hear it, yeah, but it just kind of froze for a second.

Speaker 7: 33:40

Okay, I'll fix that.

Speaker 3: 33:41

Everything that you want to sell into the United States. John Deere has made several moves as farm income has fallen for the past two years.

Speaker 6: 33:49

Happening today. More than 300 John Deere workers in Waterloo are now without a job.

Speaker 3: 33:53

Hundreds of employees at John Deere may have clocked out for the last time 34 production workers will be placed on indefinite layoff effective May 31st. The company has laid off more than 1,600 employees. It has also started shifting some of its production to Mexico. It's hurting our farmers. It's hurting our manufacturing. Trump wants his threat of higher tariffs to force companies like John Deere to keep production in the US. Iowa State University economics professor Peter Arazum says higher tariffs won't likely do what Trump wants.

Speaker 12: 34:23

Making parts more expensive for John Deere is not going to help John Deere either, and it probably would not help jobs in the United States. So I think some of this isn't perfectly well thought out.

Speaker 3: 34:35

Arazam says it increases the cost of the parts brought into the US and increases the cost of the finished product. So the consumer loses and the company loses.

Speaker 3: 34:48

I asked Iowa's members of Congress and their Democratic challengers about Trump's proposals and what it would do to producers. Representatives Miller, meeks and Henson sent a statement. They didn't answer directly, but both blame President Biden for rising costs. Erasmus says that a president can't just decide to impose a tariff because we have trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. If Trump were to do this, it would require an act of Congress. That said, he doesn't foresee a 200 percent tariff on John Deere products becoming a reality anytime soon. At the Iowa Capital Bureau, I'm Conor Hendricks reporting.

Speaker 5: 35:21

Yeah, okay, well, there you go. It's one of those things where the intention is to keep the companies from, that's, the domestic side. They want to keep things in the domestic side of production, which is great, you know, because yeah, that's gonna, it's gonna lose jobs or you know, like you know they're gonna lose jobs to Mexico or Canada. But yeah, I mean, like, the practical reality, like like they said in the video, was that you know it will raise prices for the company and you know, eventually the consumer might feel. The video was that you know it will raise prices for the company and you know, eventually the consumer might feel the impacts of that, because if the company is having to raise prices or is being charged more than in theory, they're going to have to put that pricing down to the customer. So, yeah, so I mean that's that's uh, once again, that's what it's a trick, it's a tricky balance to try to uh figure out how to, how to manage um global. You know you have trade, global, trade agreements, um, things like that. So I mean it's, yeah, it's, it's really tough to uh to kind of manage all that. But uh, but yeah, what do you guys think? It's a? You know it's an interesting topic of discussion.

Speaker 5: 36:33

You know, um, how does that impact um local businesses? If you're a veteran entrepreneur and you have like a storefront, you know how would that impact you with um higher tariffs? Would you support it? You know so yeah, so, uh, comment, if you're, if, if you're a business owner and that you know what are your, what are your thoughts on um, on more tariffs to bring in more money to the local economies? So, while we digest that, we're going to take another quick break and actually I wanted to highlight one of that, chris Benson, his project a little bit and just talk about what he's been working on, and then we're going to have him back, hopefully soon, or have him on the show, and you know he's got a really cool story to tell, so I'm really excited to have him on eventually.

Speaker 6: 39:26

But in the meantime we're going to have a little Noah Peterson and his funky jazz. Funky Jazz, thank you, Thank you. Opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent find us on the web at mbrRadious.

Speaker 5: 39:53

All right, we are back. My name is Joey the fire social worker and we're here with Money in the Military on Military Broadcast Radio where we're giving veterans a voice. So before the break we were talking about tariffs and kind of breaking that down a little bit and yeah, so kind of breaking that down a little bit and uh, yeah, so kind of wanted to transition and you know, we originally were going to have Chris Benson on the show. We had a kind of a scheduling, um conflict happen, and so, yeah, we're going to have him on the show. But I did want to highlight, um, you know, one of the things that he's. He's introduced me to a project that he's kind of been a big part of and that's these veteran cards. And if you're on like the veteran business Facebook pages and things like that, you might have come across these or seen the advertisements. They're really kind of starting to roll out more and more, but it's essentially kind of like a digital business card slash, website slash, you know, kind of like a landing page for your business and specifically geared towards veterans. I mean, they have them for, you know, civilians as well, kind of like a network that they're kind of building and promoting for veterans, to help support veterans, either through, you know, networking with other business owners. You know, be like hey, part of my veteran network is XYZ, you know like an appliance repair person, or you know like, so basically, these veterans are creating business, um, uh, pages and uh, and are able to connect with with other people. So I'm just gonna quickly show um, show what, what his looks like. Um, and you know I'm I'm sure he'll be fine with me showing this, but yeah, so we have. So his, he's part of a company that is, you know, troops Hold Junk is the name of his company. It's actually a franchise that he's a part of.

Speaker 5: 42:08

So this is what it looks like and you know it's. It's, you know it's. It's a fully functional website and you know it basically has basically has what you're trying to do or what you can do, and I really like this part. So you pull it up on your phone, on your mobile browser, you click on the QR code and then basically somebody can take out their phone, scan it and then basically it will pull up their veteran card page so they don't even have to type anything in and then they have access to your veteran card page and then you can have it basically quick linked to your Facebooks, your Twitter, linkedin, all these different social, because, let's be honest, most businesses have to manage like five or six different accounts, so this kind of keeps it all in one nice place.

Speaker 5: 42:59

And then, yeah, there's also, you know, all the hyperlinks down here. It's a quick function to, basically, you know, you pull out your phone and then you add to contacts and then basically it comes up with like the full contact information with your picture, everything it's really snazzy, really cool. You can link to your website and you know all these are customizable. You know you can basically, yeah, I mean, every little thing is hyperlinked. So you know, if you want to set it up to where you can do a consultation, you can do that, you know. If you want to set it up to where you can do a consultation.

Speaker 5: 43:38

You can do that and yeah, so kind of you can text and kind of talk about your business, a little bit of your backstory. You can put videos in there, like he's got a video about his, about his journey, and you know just, it's just a really clean, cool website design. And yeah, just, you know, instead of having to carry around a bunch of business cards, you can use this as your business card. Because, I mean, everyone has a smartphone nowadays and it's just really kind of cool and helpful to just pull out your phone, have somebody scan, pull out their camera app, scan it and then suddenly now they have access to all your business information how to book you, how to contact you, everything. It's just boom, instant. So I mean I think it's really cool, it could be a game changer. And there's other services. That's other you know services that are out there that are kind of similar. You know Linktree is it's kind of like Linktree, but I mean obviously it has much more functionality. But it's also, you know, built for veterans. You know to connect with other veterans and it's just really it's a really cool platform and you know to connect with other veterans and it's just really. It's a really cool platform and you know it's just. It's just really, yeah, really cool.

Speaker 5: 45:04

And you know I'll go ahead and just highlight that I had one too. You know, in preparation for the conference, I went ahead and signed up with them and I just wanted to try it out. And you know this is what they built. You know just has. It's what they built. Um, you know just has. It's just really cool. I mean, it's just something that I'm like nerding out about, but it's just really cool. Um and uh, you know like it has. Basically, you make it however you want. You know I work with them. You can put in like a ticket and and they can kind of tweak things for you, um, on their end. So very professional, very, very cool team to work with. And yeah, I mean you can just, you can just have all kinds of things on there. And this is obviously shameless self promotion for me, you know, because I do offer financial coaching if you're interested.

Speaker 5: 45:53

But but yeah, that's not the intent of this podcast. So so, yeah, I just wanted to highlight what, what a cool product this is and a really, really great team of people, and so, if you're interested in in. You know, getting something like that set up, you know, just type out veteran cards and you know you should be able to to up. You know, just type out veteran cards and you know you should be able to to find. You know how to how to set that up. So it's really, yeah, really cool. Yeah, tracer rounds podcast says that's cool. Yes, it's a cool thing. You know, it's just one of those things that you never thought would be like like, oh okay, yeah, that's that's interesting. But yeah, as far as being an entrepreneur, business owner, you know, as I'm getting in in learning about businesses and and being one a business, a business owner myself, I'm realizing that networking is huge, you know, and it's not something that comes naturally to me, but I also realize that there's a lot of value in networking. So this is just one of many tools that you can use. And you know just something, something you know cool it's. It's it's like I said, the team is really cool to to work with. So, yeah, we're going to have Chris on in the near future and, you know, kind of pick his brain.

Speaker 5: 47:21

Like I said, he's got a cool story to tell and his journey from army to, you know, kind of struggling and then, you know, finding, basically finding his, his niche, his passion, and, uh, you know, once again, that's just that's that, really. That really lights me up here and hearing these really inspirational stories from veterans, um, because there's no, there's no roadmap for transitioning out of the military. You know, like they, they try to give you some, some guides to help you along the way. And, like they, they try to give you some, some guides to help you along the way. And like transition, uh, transition programs are great and all I'm not going to, you know, talk bad about them, but you know, there's just only so much they can cover. And so, you know, by by telling some of these veterans stories, I'm hoping that, you know, if you're an active duty military member right now and you're listening to this, you might be able to learn from another veteran's journey. So I think I've mentioned it before Like I feel, like I'm a, I'm a time traveler, I'm in the future, you know, and I'm I'm trying to distill and instill in people that are active duty to say, hey, you know, look over here.

Speaker 5: 48:37

Like this is something that you either should do or shouldn't do. One thing I would say should do is, if this is something, if entrepreneurship is something that you're interested in. Boots to business I learned about that kind of after the fact and I'm still working through the Boots to Business program. There's VBOX, which are local veteran business I forget the acronym, but there's so many acronyms. But yeah, so there are tons and tons of resources out there and I think that's part of the problem too is that it's so hard to navigate so many resources and a lot of veterans get overwhelmed and you know they take the first thing that comes, you know to them and you know I get it.

Speaker 5: 49:26

I, my first job out of the air force was a life insurance salesman and uh, that wasn't a good fit for me. I'm generally not like the salesman-y type and I went into that actually thinking that I was going to become a certified financial planner because they had like this kind of trajectory where you start off as a life insurance agent and then you can transition to the CFP program. So that was kind of how I, how I envisioned it. But you know, when it came down to it, it just wasn't a good fit. And I would say to other active duty members you know you're going to have not good fit jobs, you know, and that's just the reality. So don't don't get uh, don't get so fixated on having to find that unicorn job that is like the perfect job for you, um.

Speaker 5: 50:22

So yeah, just just, you know, like it's a journey, it's, it's a um, it's a process and it's not. It's not always easy and it's not always easy clean and fun. And you know, sometimes you just got to roll with the punches. And every one of, from what I've seen on, you know, all the different NBR podcasters, we've all been on a journey and every I feel like every veteran, every active duty member that transitions, is going to be on a similar journey.

Speaker 5: 50:56

Some people make it look easy and some people have everything figured out, but don't use them as the blueprint because just because they might've gotten that dream job right out the military, you know, you don't know what all they did to get to that point, you know. So I mean, maybe they worked their butt off and and they were hustling from day one day one of the military and they were. That was their trajectory, their plan. You know so good on them and that's awesome. But yeah, I mean, your journey is your journey and you know I would not. I would encourage you not to compare yourself to your peers. And yeah, terry makes up a good point.

Speaker 5: 51:39

Every experience prepares you for your next step. We fall forward and that's a great you know, it's a great idea because you know, you know, sometimes you do feel like you're falling, you know, and we're all falling, you know. But you, you, you catch yourself with that next step. You catch, you know, you catch your footing and you're moving forward. You know it might be an awkward step, it might not be the most efficient step, but you're, you're moving forward. So if you do, you know, if you do mess up, you do make a mistake, or you, you take a job that isn't a good fit. Then you just regroup, man, like we, we're all, we're all military or former military, we've all had to adapt and overcome.

Speaker 5: 52:26

So, um, if you're, if you're struggling in that transitional period, you're, or you're about to get out, and maybe you're, you're really just in your head and you don't know what's what, what's your next step is going to be. That's okay, you know, like that is perfectly okay. And even in some cases, years out, like I'm almost yeah, I'm four years out and there's still days where I'm like, am I doing this right? Am I? Am I on the right path? You know? So I mean, even when you think you've got things figured out, it's okay to pivot, it's okay to regroup, and you know, and look at the terrain, you know and reevaluate, and you know, all our military training is helping to prepare us for these kinds of things.

Speaker 5: 53:14

But I will say you're not in the military anymore, so that is a challenge, because sometimes we have the military brain and it does not compute with civilian world. So that is definitely part of the transition too, is you're going to have to unwire and rewire your thinking sometimes. So that's just part of the transition process too. You know, the military trains us really well and we're, and we get really good at our job in the military, but they don't always train us on how to succeed in the civilian world, you know, and that's okay, and it's not necessarily their responsibility or their job, Like their job is to train us to be military professionals.

Speaker 5: 53:58

So yeah, so I mean that's just a long-winded way of saying you know, if you're a veteran, you're struggling. You know, find a mentor. I mean reach out to. I mean I'll volunteer my services. I mean, like I said, I'm still figuring a lot of this stuff out myself, but you know we're all works in progress. So you know, I'm willing to be a mentor and help out the veteran. You know, even if it's a finance question, that's fine, you know. Or it's not finance, that's fine too. You know, I'm just here to serve and be an advocate for the veteran community in any way that I can.

Speaker 5: 54:36

And you know, once again, going back to the military conference, um, you know there's some really inspiring people doing some really inspiring stuff. Um, so I'm really hoping to to kind of learn from those people and really kind of pull back, you know, the curtain and see, okay, what's what, how do I do what you're doing? You know, like, how do I, how do I get to your level? You know, and and yeah, it's just, I'm just really excited about that. And and also I'm hoping to network with and learn from other finance professionals, because there's a lot that I still have to learn about the financial world and I'm still learning and I'm always going to be learning. So, um, I'm really excited about those opportunities.

Speaker 5: 55:25

Um, but uh, yeah, uh, that's, that's kind of uh, you know, uh kind of a meandering um show today. I apologize, you know, like I said, I um kind of a meandering show today. I apologize. You know, like I said, I my guest. We kind of had to, we, we adapt and overcome, and so we're, you know, making it work and do, do less with more or do more with less, right, that's what we're taught in the military. So, yeah, so, if you guys have any, we're going to try to do at least some kind of broadcast, or maybe we might not be able to do a live show, but we're going to try to do something and we're going to have fun. I think there's a couple runs that we're going to do.

Speaker 5: 56:12

Also, just a quick shout out for Irreverent Warriors. Just a quick shout out for irreverent warriors. So, if you're, I did a on one of my previous episodes. I talked about them. They're a nonprofit that does what's called the silkies hike hikes. So you basically go out and you get you some silkies, some short shorts, some running shorts, and you go walking through the, the, the city, the downtown area usually, and, you know, just blow off some steam, have a good time. And there's actually one in memphis this weekend and I'm actually going to be attending.

Speaker 5: 56:50

So, if you, if you hear about irreverent warriors they're. They're a great group of people. They're essentially trying to combat veteran suicides by providing fellowship and camaraderie and that sense of togetherness that we miss from being in the military and most people when they're isolated, that's when they're at their lowest or their worst. So we're trying to. You know, this organization is trying to bring people physically together, you know, because digital is one thing, but, yeah, bringing people together in person to, you know, commiserate, vent, you know share successes, network and, you know, get jobs. Even so, yeah, irreverent Warriors check them out. If you're going to be in the Memphis area, I think you can still buy a ticket. I'm not sure at this point, but it's going to be Saturday.

Speaker 5: 57:46

So, yeah, looking forward to that, I might post some pictures, some videos. We'll see. But yeah, look out for those types of veteran um outreach. You know organizations they're popping up left and right and you know that's part of what mbr I think we were. We're good at like, trying to highlight some of those um entities and organizations. So, um.

Speaker 5: 58:12

So yeah, look up irreverent warriors. You're a veteran, a veteran active duty. It is an exclusive group. They don't allow families and everything. I don't even know if they allow military spouses. To be honest, I'm not sure, but it's meant to be inclusive in that sense where it's exclusive to just military and active duty or active duty and veterans. So, yeah, so just looking forward to that. Active duty and veterans. So, um, yeah, so just looking forward to that. Um, if there's, if you guys have any, any topics, uh to discuss in the future, uh, hit me up, um Joseph, at the fire social worker, at fire social workercom. Uh, hit me up on Facebook, all the different mediums. You know where to find me, hopefully, and if you can always just comment on the stream and then I'll come track you down. So, with that being said, that's going to end the stream. I appreciate everyone who stuck through with this and looking forward to the conference and just meeting up with people. So, thank you for everybody. We'll see you guys on the next stream.

Speaker 4: 59:23

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to Military Broadcast Radio as we wrap up today's show, we want to remind you that the podcast of today's episode will be available right after we go off the air, so if you missed any part of the show or want to listen again, be sure to check it out. And remember we're here to support and honor our veterans. Your stories and experiences matter. Your stories and experiences matter and we are committed to giving you a platform to share them. That's right. We're here to give our veterans a voice, so don't forget to catch the podcast and stay connected with us Giving our veterans a voice.