FIRE Social Worker Show
Welcome to The FIRE Social Worker Show, where financial independence meets compassion and purpose. Hosted by Joey Laswell, a Certified Financial Social Worker and military veteran, this podcast is your guide to building a brighter financial future while staying true to your values.
Join us for candid conversations, actionable money tips, and inspiring stories from industry experts, military members, and everyday changemakers. Whether you’re a social worker, part of the military community, or simply seeking financial freedom, this show is here to empower you.
It’s time to ignite your financial independence and create a lasting impact. Start your journey with The FIRE Social Worker Show!
FIRE Social Worker Show
From Combat Boots to Entrepreneurial Roots: Joey Laswell and Chris Benson on Veteran Empowerment and Financial Literacy
Unlock the secrets to a successful transition from military life to entrepreneurship with insights from Air Force veteran Joey Laswell and Army veteran Chris Benson. Joey, a certified financial social worker, sheds light on the psychological facets of money management and the pivotal role of financial literacy for veterans stepping into civilian life. His compelling insights highlight the transformative power of financial education, setting the stage for a conversation that’s both enlightening and practical.
Feel the resilience and adaptability of Chris Benson's journey from the Army infantry to becoming an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Chris shares his story of launching a business without conventional loans, starting with a lawn care venture and evolving into an innovative platform, Veteran Cards, designed to empower veterans in business. Together, we navigate the complexities of civilian transitions, underscoring the importance of networking and the dynamic solutions provided by Meditech's Metacard—a groundbreaking digital tool that combines the benefits of a digital business card and a personalized website.
Join us as we dive into the heart of community-building and technology in business with a focus on veteran support. Witness how the MediCards platform is expanding to become the largest network of veteran entrepreneurs, enhancing connectivity and enabling seamless business operations with cutting-edge digital solutions. With a bold vision for the future, we amplify veteran voices, ensuring their stories are heard and celebrated. Stay tuned for more empowering narratives that embody our commitment to supporting veterans.
Please join me on my different platforms and follow along my journey towards FIRE.
https://laswell.veteran.cards/
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Speaker 2: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. Our military should not be mistaken for our cable news gab fest show.
Speaker 1:We don't care what you look like.
Speaker 2:We don't care who you voted for, who you worship, what you worship, who you love. We'll be right back, raise your sons and daughters.
Speaker 4:Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice.
Speaker 5:Find us on the web at mbradious. I'm a certified financial social worker. I was in the Air Force for 14 years and then I paid off $20,000 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 12 years ago now. So since then I became a 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:So Ladies and gentlemen, your battle buddy when it comes to finances. Please welcome the fire social worker, joey Laswell.
Speaker 5:All right, love that intro. That's really cool to see that. Thanks to H for putting that together. For me, man, I feel like it's been a minute since I've been on the on the airwaves. So I've been out of pocket for a couple of weeks, had some conferences, did some traveling and, man, it's just exciting to be back.
Speaker 5:This is Money in the Military, on Military Broadcast Radio. My name is Joey Laswell and just a real quick recap, I was at the Military Influencer Conference in Atlanta and I actually got to. This is a rarity, I got to meet my guest in person before I actually got to interview him. So that's, that was pretty cool. And then I also went to a conference, a social work conference in New York city. So just a lot of cool stuff happening. And actually just next week I'm going to be going to FinCon in Atlanta, so the financial conference.
Speaker 5:So got a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff going on, but really excited to be back and really excited to introduce my guests. You know time is of the essence. We got a lot to talk about. So, without further ado, my first, my own, my guest today is Chris Benson, army veteran, and he's, you know, just really active in his platform, his mission, veteran cards. He's also got a lot of other irons in the fire too, but we're going to focus on veteran cards. So, Chris, thank you for joining me. We've been working on this for a little while. We finally got linked up, so appreciate you taking your time.
Speaker 6:Yeah, thanks for having me, Joey, great to be here, yeah just like you, I was at the MIC conference and had a lot of things going on and it is very difficult for two leaders in the veteran business world to get together.
Speaker 5:But here we are. So for those that don't maybe not familiar with your background, kind of tell us a little bit about your origin story, like what brought you into service, what did you do while you were in the service, and then maybe we can talk a little bit about your transition out of the service and how that was for you. So go ahead and jump in whenever you want.
Speaker 6:Yeah, well, after. So okay, I'll just start back with after high school. I grew up in a small town made in North Carolina and then after high school I was kind of pushed into hey, go to college, try college, do the whole college thing. The problem with me is I don't know, if you know, I didn't know how to quit. So if I started it and I knew, I knew I didn't like it but I wanted to finish it.
Speaker 6:So I got my associate's degree and I finished it. But I went straight to the recruiting office. My grandfather and my brother were both Air Force. My grandfather served three tours in Vietnam, my brother served two tours in Afghanistan. So I really looked up to them and I knew that I wanted to serve my country as well. I just wasn't smart enough to go to the Air Force so I went to the Army and I chose to go infantry. I know a lot of people get selected for infantry. They select themselves due to their ASVAB score but not me.
Speaker 6:I didn't have that problem. I just decided if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it all the way, and I went infantry.
Speaker 5:Nice. It's a bold choice, bold choice. So what was your journey into active duty like? Was that a culture shock for you, or were you ready for it, since you had a family of service?
Speaker 6:Yeah, exactly, I knew that. I knew what was what was at stake and what was what was all involved, and I kind of had a good understanding. My brother had joined the Air Force not too many years before I went to basic training, so I kind of had a pretty good understanding of what was going to happen to me and everything and I knew, kind of you know, the flow of everything. It's basically just eyes front do what you're told, don't think about it. You don't get paid to think, just do so. I think I breezed through basic training pretty well.
Speaker 6:For us, for infantry training is a little different than regular military training, as you don't do basic training and then go off to your AIT as an infantryman. You stay at Fort Bend in Georgia and it's called an OSIT training and you stay with your real sergeants the full 16 weeks your AIT, if you want to call it, and then once you graduate, you're an infantryman and you're off to your first duty station. And that's what happened with me. It was very fast and in a hurry. Within graduating basic training and OSIT, I was at my duty station within maybe I don't know two weeks. Wow.
Speaker 5:What was your first duty station?
Speaker 6:Fort Carson, Colorado. Okay, that's the infantry division. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Nice, okay, and how long did you end up staying? Or did you go to any deployments, or did you any TDYs or anything like that?
Speaker 6:Yeah, so this was 2010 when I got to my unit. I went to Afghanistan in 2012. I spent almost a year in Afghanistan in the RCE East Kunar Valley province, outside of Kabul, outside of Bagram Air Force Base You're probably familiar with that, and yeah. So then I guess a year and a half of being at my duty station, I was in Afghanistan and after that I spent about another year in Colorado and then re-enlisted to go to, ended up at Fort Stewart Georgia. I didn't choose Fort Stewart Georgia, but the Army chose it for me.
Speaker 5:How nice of them.
Speaker 6:I spent another four years at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and then I decided that the Army wasn't for me anymore. I really just stuck it out because my wife was pregnant with our second son and she was finishing up nursing school. So I re-enlisted to where she could get through nursing school and then, once she finished up, I decided to call it quits and I took about a six month break, using my GI benefits, taking some college classes, things like that, Just really trying to settle down and find my way. Then another unsmart thing that I did but I'm glad I did it and tried it is an Army Reserve recruiter reached out to me and said hey, I'll extend your ETS date and you just do one year in the reserves back at your hometown in North Carolina and it was the 88 Mike truck driver job, so it was like a complete 180 from no offense if anybody listened, there might be a motor transport operator.
Speaker 6:But going from active infantry to reserve 88 Mike was quite a shock to me and a lot different than active duty, and it just wasn't for me, so I didn't stick with it, and then I got into business after that. Okay.
Speaker 5:So so you know this is obviously money in the military, so we kind of talk about. You, know the whole spectrum, whether you're active duty troop, whether you're transitioning or you're already separated, tied into your entrepreneurial and business side of things. But, like just you know good lessons learned from from our personal experience about finances and dealing with that transition.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I. So what happened with me was probably a lot of veterans can relate is going from active duty to civilian. The transition process is not. When it comes to financial literacy and starting a business and things. It's very lacking. They don't talk about that. They talk about how to do a resume, how to get a job, how to take an interview. I told myself you'll never see me in front of anyone else. I'll never work for anyone else, ever again. I will not. I did not produce a resume. I told the instructor of the course I'm not going to do it. I signed the little waiver deal saying that you know, I've been trained how to do it, but I'm not going to do it. I am going to own my own business. There's no plan B, I'm just going to do it. So that's what I did.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so how was the initial business Like? Did you go to the SBA, did you do any kind of programs or you just kind of kind of just went for?
Speaker 6:it. No, honestly, that never crossed my mind. To get a loan, um, never crossed my mind. I started out doing lawn care. I already had a pickup truck. I got myself a push mower and a weed eater and a blower just a simple setup, setup and I was going around. I only selected two neighborhoods the one that I lived in and the one across the street, and all the houses were basically the same. All the yards are basically the same. So I was just offering a flat rate to do everyone's yard.
Speaker 6:I hanged a bunch of door hangers letting them know hey, I'm a veteran, I just got out of the service and I'm trying to find my way and I'm just looking for any help I can get. And before I knew it, I had eight, 10 customers really quick. But then maybe, I don't know two weeks I had eight or 10 customers, yeah, every week on my schedule and I was good with that. Like I found peace knowing that. You know I'm making, I'm making money, my wife's got a good paying job now and I can relax. I think I only worked three days a week at the time, monday through Wednesday, and I just did, you know, maintenance and stuff on my mower and things like that. I was trying to really ride it out and take my time with it, but then I kind of stumbled into junk removal.
Speaker 6:I had a lady who her husband had passed away about a year, maybe two years, prior to me starting to mow her yard. He was killed in the line of duty in Iraq. He was in rain, she was downsizing her home, she's ready to move into a small apartment and she needed to get rid of some junk. And I had a pickup truck and she said hey, you know, if you wouldn't mind, next time you come and mow, you know I'll pay you to get rid of this stuff as well.
Speaker 6:And I said sure, and uh, I showed up and she gave me. I don't know how you feel about sharing numbers or all, but I used to mow her yard for like 40 bucks, I think it was, but it took me 45 minutes to an hour. But by the time I showed up to to Mo blow tram, go, um. But she paid me, I want to say like $120, $125 to remove a couple items of junk like a couch and some other things. You have a car or anybody to help her pick up anything, but anyway, I removed those items so she could get her home staged.
Speaker 6:And it only took me maybe 10 minutes to do this and I was like how I just made three times the amount of money in a quarter of the time and it just went off in my mind. I said, if I'm going to be in business this, I can make more money and work less. And I've always done that, ever since all the way up to leading up to where trips all junk has made it now as a national franchise. It's just and we teach our franchisees and our employees and everything.
Speaker 6:The same thing is just. You know, know your value, know your worth and you know charge accordingly. Don't be the cheapest in town, don't be the most expensive, just honest work, fair price and make your money. And you know and you're using your time and resources, so get paid well for it. So I did that and then she told her neighbors and friends and other people started talking. Next thing, I knew I had more and more people asking me to do junk removal. It got to the point after a few months that year after about, I'd say, three months.
Speaker 6:I wasn't even doing lawn care anymore. I was slowly telling my customers, hey, I'm not gonna be able to do that anymore, I'm too busy. It got to where my my lawn care customers were my becoming my junk removal customers in my referrals and it's just wild how it happened. It just kept growing from there. And then people started seeing me all over the community and there's this guy in a camo truck hauling junk and everybody was on it. You know um area. Even five and a half years later we're the first phone call, the only phone call. We're local veterans. That's who they want to call. They're not shopping anymore.
Speaker 5:That our reputation is just where it's at that's, that's amazing and, honestly, that's how most businesses I would imagine want to grow. Is organically, word of mouth and, you know, just based off of strong work ethic and, you know, providing a good service, you know my clients.
Speaker 6:A lot of my clients have become our friends. They know that they can call me any time of the day. They're in my networking group. I have a veterans networking group that I meet every other Thursday with. I would say at least half the members are previous clients of Troops Hall Junk and now becoming clients of veteran cards as well. It's kind of crazy that they follow you. Chris Benson is as big of a brand as Troops Hall Junk or veteran cards is.
Speaker 6:They know that I'm going to show up and I'm going to do them right.
Speaker 5:So that's awesome and honestly, we could probably we're going to probably do a whole nother show on just the franchisee stuff. We'll talk about Troops Hold Junk in much more detail, but we're going to take a quick break, but I do want to transition to veteran cards. You know, that's something that I'm just really. I really think is is a game changer. It's a great product and you know just something that I think more veterans should be aware of. So so we'll play a quick musical interlude from Noah Peterson, my favorite Marine Corps retired veteran jazz musician. So we're going to play a quick music video and we'll be right back.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you so opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the All right, we are back.
Speaker 5:Thanks for joining us. This is Money in the Military. On Military Broadcast Radio, we're streaming live from Memphis, tennessee, good old Memphis. Just want to do a quick shout out to a former guest on the show, my first guest actually. We have vetted, vetted CEO Alistair Mercado. He's doing some great things, uh, marine Corps, um, retiree. And man, he's just doing some awesome things in his business out in California. So, just uh, thanks for the support. Love to have you back on the show, man, just uh, if you're watching, uh, hit me up. We'll, uh, we'll try to set up another time to get you back on and then Into the Weeds, another MBR podcast sending some love this way. So thanks for everybody watching. So we're back with Chris Benson and he was about to tell us a little bit about the newest, I guess or I don't know how new it's been, but this veteran cards venture Can you tell us a little bit about? You know the origins of it and then, just how you're, how you've kind of how you got to where you are right now.
Speaker 6:Yeah, sure, so you know, as I was saying, with the junk removal thing, leading into that would be how I got involved with it would be with at the time I was ran a company called Vets Hall Junk, so it was specific to veterans and as we were going through the rebranding process to get to Troops Hall Junk for the franchise, we wanted to encompass first responders as well into the mix. So we named it Troops Hall Junk. Kept the same branding, camo logo, everything but a company called Meditech. We were on board with them. Company called Meditech we were on board with them. They were helping us with our website, transitioning from Vets Hall Junk to Troops Hall Junk, building all the SOPs, the operations manuals, all the things that are required to bring a franchise to fruition, the CEO, jeff Glass.
Speaker 6:We became really good friends and he developed a product, I'd say about two and a half years or so ago, called a Metacard. Underneath the Meditech umbrella they do websites and a bunch of other things, but he developed these cards and he said hey, chris, you know, I would like you to try this card out, see how you like it, share it with your friends, see how they like it and let's. We don't really know what the vision would be. We didn't know anything about veteran cards or any of that stuff. We didn't think about that. We just thought, wow, this is a really cool way for people to share their information and grow their network. So I started using it and showing to people and everyone was like, wow, that's really cool, where'd you get that? And I would tell them Meditech. And then, and on and on and on.
Speaker 6:Well then, here recently, within the past few months I'd say about six months ago my friend Jeff Glass approached me and said hey, chris, you know you like the card. A lot of your friends are signing up for these cards as well. What do you think about having your own line Like? For example, if MetaCards were like Nike, you would be like Air Jordan. You know of Nike, so that's really what it is. I run veteran cards and Patriot cards.
Speaker 6:Obviously veterans is specific to veterans and Patriots is specific to anyone else, that is. You know, I don't want to say any. I don't want to get into any politics or anything like that, but everyone knows what a Patriot is.
Speaker 6:So that's that's for Patriot business owners. So, but anyway, um, when he asked me to do that, I was really honored to do that because I've I've always been known for um, getting out in front, of getting out in front and, uh, leading and um networking and helping my brothers and sisters that are were my clients but are now, you know, friends, referral partners. You know they asked me for mentorship. I asked them for mentorship, anything like that, and it's just a camaraderie and everything. It's, coming back from the military, what you've missed having your brothers and sisters that you can lean on and ask questions and you're never alone in anything. So that's really what veteran cards is all about.
Speaker 6:This is a network to connect veterans, but it brings all the social digital assets into one easy to use platform known as a metacard, and I can go into that, explaining what it is if you want me to, but the easiest way to explain it would be in. Thirds is that one part of it would be your digital business card, your branded profile that's specific to you. There are a lot of digital business card companies out there, but not a single one of them allow you to brand your card specifically to you and that they do it for you, that there's a team to set everything up for you. There isn't, to my knowledge, a single company that allows you to do that. You can upload your own content to it, but when someone clicks on it, that entity is the one who's getting the SEO optimization clicks. All that thanks to their website, not you. It's not specific to you. If you stop, you don't own it.
Speaker 6:The next thing would be the website, the card itself. As you scroll down, the digital business card that pops up is a website. If you keep scrolling all the way down your veteran card, that website itself has its own unique URL that's specific to you and ranks right alongside your existing website. If you already have a website, you can plug that into the card, but you do not need a website. It's kind of like having a pickup truck and a boat. A pickup truck is great and having a boat is really great, but you don't need a boat. But having the pickup truck gets you around town, gets things done. It's just a fish on the bank, you know.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, while we're talking about this, I just wanted to. You know I've been using Met Veteran Cards for a little while now and you know I wanted to share what it looks like. And, granted, I know this is a podcast, for some it's audio only, but you know, if you're, I encourage you guys to, this will be on youtube and um and uh, different video platforms as well. But uh, just wanted to highlight kind of what while you're talking, uh, and just show you um what, what it kind of looks like, and then you know just and what we'll kind of describe it, um audio, uh, you know, uh, while we're while we're talking about it.
Speaker 6:So, yep, go ahead it's an all-in-one platform, as you can see here. Um, I know you have it in like a small window so you can't get like the full view of it, but it's. It looks amazing on your mobile device, it looks great on your tablet, it looks great on a PC as well. It is a full-blown website. It's not a portion of a website, anything like that. It's its own landing page web page that ranks just like any other website out there, because a lot of people don't know, this is your website does not actually rank on Google or any other social media.
Speaker 6:It's your pages, your contact page, your homepage, all those things. So this is a one page. Anywhere you click on this, anything you do on this is generating SEO optimization to your website. It's adding to your existing website, if you have one. If you don't have one.
Speaker 6:This is a very cost-effective option to have a legitimate website for a very low setup fee and a very small monthly hosting fee. That includes all as much. It's unlimited. It's an unlimited update. If you're running a new special every week in your business, maybe you want. For example, I see here that you have your CTA set up for email call text and Calendly. Some people have like on mine for Troops Hall Junk it says dumpster rental. You can click instead of Calendly. You can click to rent a dumpster. Someone can book it with two clicks on their phone. They don't have to go to my website and find a certain page or anything.
Speaker 6:It's right there. So that's your link. Tree is what people call it with your account, you chose. Joey chose what social media icons he wanted. We didn't pick that he did that?
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's just clickable. Hyperlinked, it just goes right to wherever you want it to go, basically.
Speaker 6:Yeah, right here where it says add to contacts. You can save it in your phone or in your client's phone with a click of a button, but you can also save it on their phone as well. So imagine being right in front of your clients at all times, just like any other app on your phone. You can add it to the home screen and you've got your own branded icon that shows Joey and his business right there in front of your client. So you're in their phone and on their phone.
Speaker 6:And then it goes through here through Joey specific branding. So no other, no other digital business card will allow you to fully brand your business card like Joey has done here. He has it specifically written for him, his bio, all the information about his company and his services. He doesn't have to pick through a handful of predetermined cards like some of the other outfits out there. So this is specifically branded and approved and shaped by you through our Meditech team.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and and working with the team has been very responsive. They, you know, like, if you want to make an update, like I, I made an update to mine within the last month or so to highlight my Kickstarter that I that I launched and you guys were able to do that and no issues, so it was really seamless. So it's like a live thing that you guys can, you know, work with and tweak and things like that. So, yeah, it's a great product and ADA compliant, right? You want to talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 6:Yeah, with the ADA compliance. Not that every website necessarily needs ADA compliance. It's just a nice feature to have a way that Meditech protects every single person's card. It's any product that they work on, whether it be a traditional website or whether it be your veteran card like this they make sure that everyone is taken care of from all aspects, especially when it comes to litigation over ADA compliance. American Disabilities Act If people aren't familiar with that not that it's required on your website, but you know wink wink you could have an issue someday. Somebody could report and try to start. You know problems for you. So it's not something that Meditech necessarily charges our users for. It's just something they do. They implement for every card.
Speaker 6:It goes much deeper than just the icon that that's like a little widget icon for media compliance so that you can increase the size of the screen and all that stuff. There's a lot of backend through the through the tech support side of things that really protects and keeps up to date with the current regulations. That involve compliances of any kind. Like, if you're in the financial, we have people that are involved in banking and mortgages and things like that healthcare, so HIPAA compliances, all those things depending on your industry Like I'm in junk removal, we don't have to worry about any of that stuff. But we do have clients in the health industry and banking finance like you that do have to have added measures of protection through their website and Meditech takes care of that. That's not something that they charge to do. They just do it to make sure all our clients are taken care of.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I just pulled up for, for anyone that wasn't paying attention to can't see, I pulled up Chris's card and just showing you know, like you can, you can you know the the background is going to be different, like you can make it, tweak it, have your own logos and make it personalized to to each individual veteran or business owner. So, yeah, it's like as soon as I stumbled upon it, and yeah, you can embed videos, right, you guys embedded. Yeah, if you have a podcast or YouTube channel.
Speaker 6:a lot of real estate agents that have the cards. They like to have their MLS, like their live MLS, like one week they'll sell a house but then they have an it's coming soon or an open house or something like that. They want to be able to have that video broadcasted it may change every week, you know.
Speaker 6:so they're going into the medicine or an inputting uh, right here. A lot of people like this feature where you can click to get a Google review. Um, people set up multiple review channels like they want. I like Google in my area. That's what works and we're the highest rated junk removal service in the area I service and that's where I get my reviews from Some people put up next door and just different outfits that you use to get reviews. You can put them in that quadrant right there or really anywhere else. That's just where I chose for it to be down at the bottom. It is fully customizable at any time. Even if they set it up for you and you decide a week later, hey, move this around, move that around. You know yourself, they'll change it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely, like I said, very responsive, it's in your monthly membership. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, well, we're going to stop sharing for a second, and so that's just kind of an overview of what it looks like. And the third portion.
Speaker 6:So the first that's a digital business card. Second, that is your website. And then, third is the biggest and most important, it's your network, and what I mean by that is every single veteran card that that signs up, we create and launch, goes into a database that can only be accessed by veteran card members, patriots. For the same thing, veterans can access the veterans group and the Patriots group. We are working on a way that Patriots can have limited access to the veterans group, just to where they can help the veterans. They can promote veteran businesses and use veteran businesses. We're still kind of taking shots on that and getting people's input. As far as, should Patriot business owners have direct access to our veteran clients? We don't know that yet, so we will be able to take a vote on that, obviously from all of our existing clients, but veterans will have access to both.
Speaker 6:As a private, decentralized group. It cannot be taken down for what you say, what business you have if you want to sell firearms, whatever it may be. It's a decentralized network that Google, facebook, things like that, cannot crawl and remove based on their views and beliefs.
Speaker 6:You are free to it's free market. You can sell what you sell, as long as you're not breaking any law illegal, immoral, unethical. You can have a veteran card and be in the network. I think that's the biggest key to all of this is a decentralized, private group of veteran entrepreneurs.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and then I like the idea of veterans helping other veterans, so connecting and I've learned that firsthand and I know you've seen it too. Like the networking side of business ownership is huge and and you know, you never know when a connection you know out in California might be somebody that knows, somebody that that can connect you to you know. So it's it's all about connecting veterans and helping you know us have that sense of camaraderie again and I really, I really resonate with that.
Speaker 6:I totally agree. I've made so many connections you wouldn't. You wouldn't believe, just by having a card myself I don't know if you've ever heard of the six degrees of separation or read that book is that you can get and not all the time, but the odds are is you can get in front of the person that you want to meet, no matter who, no matter how big of their status, within six connections of yourself. And I truly believe that and I've seen that work in real life and I've met some really incredible people by doing so.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So I really like the platform for that aspect alone, just to be able to help encourage and foster those types of connections.
Speaker 6:One thing I would like to mention on that is with veteran cards, anyone, every single signup $17 and 76 cents from every card goes into a separate fund to fund charitable organizations that are within our network. We divide that at the end of the year we'll be dividing that amongst the charities that are in our network. So $17 and 76 of every sign-up.
Speaker 5:Nice. That's an awesome concept and obviously a powerful number to contribute that. So actually we're going to take another quick musical break and then when we come back we'll maybe talk about a little bit about what the future of veteran cards looks like and from your guys's vision and perspective. And you know, maybe we'll talk about you know just the logistics of getting signed up and set up and everything. So we'll talk to, or we're going to listen to, andrew Roboro, a really great song I just discovered recently. So we'll be back after this musical interlude.
Speaker 10: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.
Speaker 3:That's when he said we do the goals. Yes, I stood in line.
Speaker 10:And watch the flag wave and drag.
Speaker 3:You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed Red, white and blue.
Speaker 10:He told me the tales of his journeys far away and 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 3:That's when he said we do the goals. Yes, I stand in line and watch the flag wheel grind. You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed. Red, white and blue when duty calls. Yes, I stand in line and watch them weep and 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.
Speaker 4:Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice.
Speaker 2:Find us on the web at mvradious.
Speaker 8: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:Find us on the web at mvradious.
Speaker 5:Find us on the web at give veterans a voice, we help train veterans on how to basically launch a podcast and I'm an example of what is possible. I still have a lot to learn, but it's been a great journey and just always going to give a shout out to MBR and the team behind the scenes that's running the show. So thanks for joining us, and we're back with Chris Benson. We've been talking about his journey from Army infantry to successful business owner and also entrepreneur and franchisee franchisor. What's the actual verb? You got it Okay.
Speaker 6:Yeah, franchisor what's the what's the actual verb? You got it, okay yeah.
Speaker 5:so, uh, we're gonna have to do. We'll have a whole new, whole different show on on the franchise stuff. But because I'm actually curious to, to, to pick your brain and, and you know, think and I've been thinking about this for a while of kind of like branching out into something like that too. So, more to come with Chris, but for now we're going to keep talking about veteran cars, because this is a great service, that he's providing a great product and if you would, maybe you could get into, like, let's say, there's a new veteran transitioning out of the service, he's got an idea for a business, um, or he's got a business and he's trying to trying to network and grow and develop. So what would you, uh, how would you? How would they go, um, get a veteran card themselves?
Speaker 6:Yeah, first getting out of the service. I hope it's gotten better since I got out, but uh, they're probably going to guide you more towards getting you know, getting a nine to five for someone else and taking you down the rabbit hole of you know getting locked into a salary. But I'm obviously against that and that's why I've gone my own way. My advice to them would be to get to at least look into getting a veteran card. I'm not saying get a veteran card, but at least reach out and see if it's right for you. I can tell you that we can save you thousands of dollars over getting a traditional website that you're going to get nothing else for unless you pay to have any upgrades that you want. This is going to be fully upgradable at any time for a very small fee every month. It's not going to set you back, no matter what business you're in, you'll be. You'll be glad you did. You at least reached out and got some information about it before you went forth with getting a traditional multi thousand dollar Web site.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's definitely as. I initially started looking into Web sites and you know now they have all these templates and platforms and AI-built website stuff, but it's just not the same and you lose a lot of that human element to the product. So what is it like working with a team? Can you give an example of maybe some updates that somebody decided to make and you know what kind of a process does that look like?
Speaker 6:I've only heard the good side of things. Obviously, I'm just basically an affiliate. I don't, you know, I don't build the cards or anything. The feedback that I get from my clients that sign up for a veteran card is that Meditech did a very good job of explaining and holding their hand and telling them this is the step to get to this step, and they're very. They communicate very well. They answer their questions to get problems resolved.
Speaker 6:Just like you were mentioning earlier, you had an update you wanted to make and they're very quick to get to. You wanted to make and they're very quick to get to. With us you won't talk to somebody you know in India or something and you won't call a 1-800 number and you know wait for a call back. You won't get automated messages and all those things. You will get live people, live Americans and patriots that really want to do right by you, by veteran and patriot business owners.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, I love, I love that and and, like I said, I'm a living testament of how responsive the team can be and and, you know, it seems like I could probably throw out an idea and they'll try to find a way to implement it. You know, it's not like they're, they're, you know, going to shut you down or necessarily, you know, say no right out the gate. So it's not our way or the highway, joey, it's.
Speaker 6:It's when people bring constructive criticism and something that, hey, I, does the card do this and if not, can it? Yes, we're not going to say no, this is what it is. We don't offer that. If you have a service that you currently use at a digital service, a certain app, whatever it is, we can have that plugged into the veteran card, no problem. It really is an all-in-one platform that covers all things digital. If you're thinking it, oh, I wonder if it does this. I wonder if it does that. Yes, the answer is yes, it does.
Speaker 6:I could talk for five hours about all the features. There's 25 plus features and growing. The benefit of that is, for example, with Joey here, as new features come on. There are things in beta testing that you aren't aware of right now, and once they get to fruition and we actually implement these to everyone every existing veteran card and every new veteran card, those that are in, whatever price you came in at and whatever monthly rate is agreed on with you, that stays. It doesn't change forever. Even though the new price of the card might go higher due to the new capabilities and features that have been added on, it won't change for the members that are already in.
Speaker 7:So people that are coming in while it's still a new product, they win ultimately.
Speaker 5:Okay, so you know, just while we, while we have you on what's the main website, if they wanted to just initiate an inquiry or a request.
Speaker 6:Yeah, our main website would be veterancards. You can reach out to me directly at bensonveterancards. That is the URL that each card gets by default would be your last name. That's kind of how you identify a veteran is by their last name. You learn that in the military you're always addressed by your last name. So I'm Bensonveterancards, but yeah, the main website is just veterancards.
Speaker 5:Okay, yeah, I wanted to pull it up real quick. So this is basically what it looks like. You're now recruiting veteran business owners, yeah, so I just wanted to basically show people how easy it is to get set up. You click on order now and you know, we get the ball rolling and yeah, it's just, you know, I just can't. I can't talk enough about it. You know, I've been using it at the different conferences that I've been at recently and I'm going to use it at FinCon as well, and all the feedback that I've gotten it's like oh man, that's, you know, so cool.
Speaker 5:Because, you know, a lot of people are still figuring out how to. You know, with a social media age that we're living, you know you have to manage multiple platforms sometimes, or you have to. You know, there's just so much that you have to manage. And having an all-in-one one-stop shop, you know, versus a printed out business card, you know, it's just it's so, know, it's just it's so. You know it's it's it's just not not up to the times. You know, and and it sounds like you know you guys are are in the thick of the current technology, but then you're also building towards future technology as well. So, as far as from what you know and what discussions you've had, are there any major like anything you can tease or any any kind of upcoming features that you guys are going to roll out in the near future?
Speaker 6:One feature that's already out that a lot of people aren't really using or may not be aware of, is that the card is in 130 languages currently and growing within a second.
Speaker 6:If you're talking to some if you're maybe you're at a conference in Japan you can put up your QR code on the screen behind you. Maybe they have one of those big white projector screens. Have your veteran card QR code pop up right there. Everyone in the audience that wants to listen to what you're saying can just open up their phone, download that QR code and it's everything you speak in English is being relayed to them within a second. It's 130 languages. I can't go through all the languages, but it's all the ones that you think that you're thinking more.
Speaker 6:That is a pretty cool feature that a lot of people do, like there is a. There's some AI capabilities. Some are already there, some are coming. Let's see. I can't think of any like off the fly that are in beta testing. There are several we do have. A lot of people are familiar with the tap cards, where it's almost like a credit card and you can tap it to pay. You can wave it over someone's phone or wrist Apple Watch and it'll download, like that. That is in beta testing as well.
Speaker 6:Let's see, I can't think of there's a there's a lot of features now that I think about it, but, uh, I can't see any, the ones that are in beta testing. I'm not privy to every single, every single one of them, but I do see them there when we have meetings every week. Um, but whatever your mind is wondering to and alluding to and you're thinking of, that's digital. If it's not already implemented, it's in beta testing.
Speaker 5:Okay, and I think you had mentioned I don't know if you had directly mentioned the price, but what's the current pricing and initial setup fee and all that stuff going to run, initial setup fee and all that stuff going to run?
Speaker 6:The initial setup fee. At the moment, if you go through the MediCards website through Meditech3.com and you sign up for a traditional MediCards, it's $399. That's going to be your setup fee.
Speaker 6:It's $39 a month or $399 annual, which saves you the last two months. It's like a $68 or something like that. That's the most popular. Most people just sign up for the full year instead of paying 39 a month. That saves them a little money and it's done. It's one payment. It's done at the end of the year. Obviously, it's tax tax deductible as well. You're a finance guy. You know that your website wink wink. If you have an ADA compliant website, which you do if you have a veteran card I'm not I can't give you tax advice, but I would encourage you to look up IRS Form 8826. That covers having a website with that is ADA compliant. There may or may not be tax credits in there as well.
Speaker 5:All right and for all you, audio only listeners.
Speaker 6:He had a very subtle wink to the camera, so on that, joey, I wanted to mention if they go and if you can pull it up if you have time. But if you go to my veteran card through my link, bensonveterancards, you can get 15% off your initial setup. It will make your card $339 for setup and then $39 a month reoccurring or $399 annual and you basically pay for 10 months and get 12. Alright and $1776 for every card goes to charities within our organization.
Speaker 5:Yeah, let me just pull it up real quick, but that's you know. Once again, this is. I think all veterans, business owners should be looking into this. It's a great platform and it's growing Like. Do you have any data on you any? Data on how many people you have. What was that?
Speaker 6:I said how much time do we have?
Speaker 5:Oh, we got about eight or nine minutes left.
Speaker 6:If you wanted to play the veteran cards intro video. If you scroll up right there, yep, keep going a little. Scroll up right there. Oh, yep, I'll keep going a little bit more right there. Okay, give people a better understanding.
Speaker 5:Okay, yeah, we'll do that.
Speaker 9:Imagine uniting as a country to build our economy, to build families, to build communities. Imagine not relying on government or Superman to save us. Imagine working together to create jobs, to create opportunities, to create connection, to create opportunities to create connection. We are the laborers, the mothers and fathers, the movers and shakers, the friends and families. We are the entrepreneurs, those that clean our buildings, race on our tracks, paint our homes. We stand for something. We kneel for no one. We are the decentralized network connecting veterans and patriots that serve our great country. Meditech, imagine, create.
Speaker 5:Connect.
Speaker 6:That was cool, every single every single actor, if you will, in every scene that you saw. None of them are actors at all. They're all veteran card clients. Nice and they all signed up they wanted to be involved in the video. They weren't paid actors, none of that. They were there for one.
Speaker 5:That's awesome, that's legit right there, and it just goes to show how, how, how you know this is a network or this is. It sounds like a family too. You know, uh, you know, like I feel, since we've been interacting, like you know, like I saw you throwing darts and I'm like I was on a dart league in korea, man, I think, uh, we need to have a little dart, a dart championship or something going on. But you know, like it's just that sense of community and connection and I just really love that. So I mean, I'm going to, I'm going to obviously be an advocate for the. You know, real quick, as we're finishing up the stream, what is your, I guess, vision for the company, the organization, the network? And maybe you know, like, what do you guys hope to achieve and continue growing and things like that?
Speaker 6:Well, if you think back to the beginning of our conversation, when I do something, I'm going to do it all the way, so I'm going to you have me on record. When I do something, I'm going to do it all the way, so I'm going to you have me on record. We are going to become the largest network of veteran entrepreneurs there has ever been in this country.
Speaker 5:I love that. That's bold. That gave me chills a little bit, man. So are you able to kind of give a little bit of you know, some numbers or some data on what the network looks like now and what you guys hope to get?
Speaker 6:to. We've only been officially launched and selling veteran cards through our website maybe two, three months now. Um, we have around 35, I believe, just veterans, not counting the Patriots as well in the network. Card-wise there are over. There's somewhere in the 125 to 145-ish range of metacards out right now. We think that by having this network, this decentralized network, is really going to propel things to the next level. There is no other product out there that is anything like this. The CEO at Meditech, jeff Glass, even put this out there that if anyone shows us a product that they feel is superior whether it be a digital business card, a website, anything that brings them all together like this, he would just give you a veteran card.
Speaker 5:Um, nice so that's, that's pretty, that's how serious we are on this.
Speaker 6:Um, you know we're not from silicon valley, we're not from, you know, the west coast, california. We're not helping down the streets in our ferraris with our top downs. We're real people. We're in the trenches with you guys. We own our own businesses, just like the video that it says we're the movers and shakers. We're the ones getting things done. We're not relying on anyone else to get it done, but we're going to stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone in the group and we're going to network together and refer each other and make sure we all win.
Speaker 5:Yeah, because gather and refer each other and make sure we all win. Yeah, cause I mean, I've, I've come across it myself, you know, as a social worker. We connect people to resources and people and I've had to, unofficially, as a you know, not not getting paid for anything, but, like you know, this person is looking for this resource at the VA and you find a way and and this, I think the veteran cards is is a similar thing where you, if you build the network, eventually you'll be like, oh yeah, I know a guy that can do that, or I know a gal that does that, you know, and they're veterans. So it's like you want to, you want to help your fellow vets and you know this is just one way of doing that. So, so yeah, I mean, I'm an evangelist, I'm going to spread the gospel of the veteran cars, I'm going to use it and, um, you know, it's also a great conversation starter.
Speaker 5:Honestly, at the, at the conferences, like it's, it's been a great way. I mean whether it was intended to talk about the product but, like, inevitably someone has questions like oh, that's cool, that's cool, where do you, where do you get that, or how did you get that. So it really kind of sells itself and everything, so just that people need to see it in action. Sometimes, you know, and you guys are talking about maybe a referral program at some point.
Speaker 6:Yep, we are we actually have initiated it, I guess a soft launch of a referral program. I can basically make you aware of it. Obviously, you have to have a veteran card first. We will never do anything where we go out and reach out to a celebrity and we tell them to promote our product even though they've never heard of our product or never used our product. You must have a veteran card. You got to meet the meta, the team at Meditech, and you got to see all the benefits of the card and understand the card and the functionalities and capabilities and obviously, just be a brand ambassador, just like you're saying, spread the gospel.
Speaker 6:That's, that's the only way this is going to grow. We all have to come together to grow this. Chris Benson can't talk about veteran cards all the time and it grows has to be each individual person that believes in it and signs up sharing it with every veteran and Patri patriot business owner that they know in their community, in their network, and it's going to just grow rapidly. With the referral program there is financial compensation, obviously commission-based, to where you get paid a certain amount as you bring in, amount as you bring in every time you tell your friend or your buddy or some I don't know one of your clients that owns a business and they sign up through you. You'd have a special link on your card that they could sign up for and that's how we would be able to track who's getting that referral bonus commission, whatever you want to call it. So you are getting that and then you're also sending funds in 1776 of every single card to the veterans that are within the Veteran Cards Organization. Veteran-focused charities.
Speaker 5:Right? Well, man, this time has just kind of flown by. We're actually running out of time, but obviously we're going to have you on again. We're going to talk about the Troops All Drunk and the franchisor stuff. We're going to have you on again. We're going to talk about the Troops All Drunk and the franchisor stuff. I've got a lot of questions and I know a lot of people. A lot of veterans are interested in entrepreneurship and starting their own businesses that way.
Speaker 6:I'll say this a little teaser is that. I started a franchise because I don't like franchises.
Speaker 5:Ah, yeah, yeah, we're going to dig into that, that's a good teaser, yep, but, man, chris, thanks again for your time.
Speaker 5:We're gonna have to cut the stream off, but, man, thanks for everything that you've done so far with the veteran cards and you know, if there's anything else I can do, just let me know and I'm glad to help out. But, um, uh, thank you for your time and uh, that's the stream for the day. Um, please hit me up, follow me on different platforms and um, uh, if you have any, any last words or any, any, uh, wise, wise words of wisdom for us no, I'll just say this to everybody is, uh, you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take.
Speaker 5:Appreciate you having me on, joey, look forward to seeing you next time Talking about troops all junk. All right, sounds good. Thanks, all right. Well, that's everybody. That's it for everybody. Uh, we'll talk to you guys on the next stream.
Speaker 4: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 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.
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