Military members are always viewed as the heroes of our country. They’re saluted in grocery stores, they’re given first class seats on airplanes, and they enjoy a bevy of other perks. But beyond those perks is a hard life filled with few job opportunities and dwindling benefits. This makes the world of entrepreneurship all the more attractive to veterans and military family members alike. Fortunately, one program is offering entrepreneur training for veterans, military family members, and personnel.
Boots to Business Reboot is a training program that provides participants with an overview of business ownership as a career vocation, an outline and knowledge of the components of a business plan, a practical exercise in opportunity recognition, and an introduction to available public and private resources. The two-step program facilitates entrepreneurship by giving participants the tools and resources they need to start a business.
The first step in the process is an introduction to entrepreneurship, in which veterans of all eras, service members (including National Guard and Reserves) and their spouses are privileged to basic information that can help budding entrepreneurs decide on whether to take the plunge. The second step involves an eight-week online Foundations of Entrepreneurship course instructed by a consortium of professors and practitioners led by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University.
The need for these kinds of programs is more than obvious. Not only are veterans in need of a unique means of financial stability, they are also ripe for the picking when it comes to starting a business. Veterans own approximately 2.4 million businesses, or 9 percent of all businesses nationwide, generating $1.2 trillion in receipts and employing nearly 5.8 million people. In fact, veterans are 45 percent more likely to take the plunge into entrepreneurship than people with no military experience, according to Boots to Business.
The program kicks off in Chicago on November 7th. To sign up for the entrepreneur training course, interested participants can register here.
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