Oops, I accidentally started a Veteran Owned Small Business: Another Veteran Transition Story.

So, there I was, sitting in TAP Class preparing for the outside world (outside to a military member, just the world for everyone else I suppose...). I was feeling confident as I heard all the horror stories veterans had finding employment. This wasn't going to be me!

First, a little about me, I am a 20 year Naval Aviator with a Bachelor's & Master's Degrees, PMP and CSM and working on an MBA. Not to be overconfident, but I have a great deal of experience in high-stress regimes, managing highly successful projects and overall leadership skills. My resume has been scrubbed multiple times by resume professionals. There is no "military jargon." I have attended countless workshops with the USO Pathfinder program. I live in MilitarycityUSA (The City of San Antonio). I have met many amazing people like Charles "Chuck" Bunch, Jacqueline Contreras "That Resume Girl", Kathy Smith, Quincy D. Harper Sr., Sean Passmore (Yes, I read his suggestion, What color is my parachute?) and countless others.... This will be easy, I am doing everything right! However:

Rejections were all that followed. Good News for the businesses of San Antonio, because they have all found candidates better qualified than I am by the hundreds so they should have a lot of really, really good people currently working for them. This is not meant to sound bitter because I am not. In fact, it is what has gotten me on the path I am currently on.

I found an ad for a company looking for PMP Instructors. I met with Jordan Davis from Dynamic Advancement. I told him I was looking to keep a little income stream while I looked for a job. I taught a class (something I loved doing while in the Navy, I spent half my career as a training officer) and it was awesome. As we chatted, it became apparent that these types of consulting opportunities work best as an entity and my new transition strategy fell into my lap.

Since then, I have applied for an LLC from the State of Texas, Received an EIN from the Fed, and received multiple emails and calls to teach. I will update this post with my new company name as soon as I hear back from the State of Texas but in the meantime... I hope my business continues to grow as I believe I have found the color of my parachute and continue to look for new teaching opportunities. While my transition has not been as smooth as I had hoped or thought, I feel like I have a way forward now. Stay Tuned...