National Invest In Veterans Week Launches The American Society of Veteran Business Owners
Earlier this year, National Invest In Veterans Week, a Tech From Vets brand, launched the American Society of Veteran Business Owners to help veteran entrepreneurs nationwide. Created to help veteran entrepreneurs build a community of like-minded warriors that served our nation with distinction, the society is aimed at connecting veterans at every stage of business development. "With so many veterans exiting the military interested in starting their businesses, the need to create an organization catered to serving their needs is an essential element to National Invest In Veterans Week," stated ASVBO co-founder Jeff Shuford. A 2018 study by the Small Business Administration (SBA) discovered numerous issues facing aspiring veteran business owners, and the American Society of Veteran Business Owners intends to highlight those issues.
The study noted the value that veteran business owners bring to communities nationwide. "For decades, military veterans have been a vital part of the nation's business sector—leveraging the valuable skills they gained during their service to start businesses across the country. However, veteran entrepreneurship is facing a generational decline, with younger veterans owning businesses at lower rates compared to past generations. Furthermore, we are now beginning to see veterans owning businesses at lower rates compared to nonveterans," the study notes. The groundbreaking research originates from the Federal Reserve Banks' Small Business Credit Survey and detailed the struggles that veteran business owners face in the infancy of their company's development. The study states, "Of particular concern for policy makers is whether veterans have a more difficult time accessing capital than nonveteran business owners. In order to substantiate policy intervention on behalf of veteran entrepreneurs, it is necessary to size the market and understand the needs and challenges. While anecdotal evidence points to capital access challenges, systematic data collection has been limited."
Access to capital is a primary issue facing aspiring veteran business owners. In response to the study's findings, nationally syndicated columnist and co-founder of National Invest In Veterans Week Jeff Shuford highlighted the need for education regarding business capital options. "While surveying veteran entrepreneurs through private interviews and veteran business summits, the majority of veterans stated that they didn't know where to access the vital financing for their business ideas. Veterans mentioned that digital marketing was also difficult due to the nature of their particular business and the complexity of the digital marketing industry itself. Without the proper capital to hire experts with knowledge of digital marketing, veterans are left to develop inadequate strategies regarding advertising and business marketing online," stated Shuford. This is not an issue of veterans not having the skills to launch successful businesses; instead, as noted in the SBA study, veterans lack resources when launching their business concepts. "For decades, these skills manifested in strong entrepreneurial rates among veterans. A study conducted by the SBA's Office of Advocacy in 2011 found that military service is highly correlated with self-employment probability and that veterans are at least 45 percent more likely than those with no active-duty military experience to be self-employed. This economic engine for the US cannot be overstated; in 2012, there were 2.5 million veteran-owned businesses generating $1.1 trillion in sales and $195 billion in annual payroll," remarked the research study.
Put simply, regardless of the obstacles facing aspiring veteran business owners, the skills and lessons they learn from serving in our armed forces keep them focused on their mission of launching and supporting businesses in our local communities. The American Society of Veteran Business Owners' mission is to advocate for veteran entrepreneurs while connecting veterans with veteran business owners who have risen above these daunting hurdles.
