GETTING STARTED

TO OUR FUTURE CLIENTS: The U.S. Small Business Administration requires all clients to complete the Request for Counseling (Form 641). This form will act as our Confidentiality and Code of Conduct Agreements. All client information is held in strictest of confidence. To start the process, please click on the eCENTER button below to access our electronic Request for Counseling form

2012 FEBRUARY

Congressional Small Business Committee
Website Invites Your Comments
and Concerns

Have any concerns regarding your small business? For Vets, I know we take issue with VA’s refusal to follow Vets First under PL 109-461, as reiterated by the HCVA Subcommittees for EO & O&I, and as sustained by GAO. We also have issues with the CVE verification process that has and is hurting many of us. You can go to the following link for small business information and to submit any and all concerns you may have. http://smallbusiness.house.gov/OpenMic/default.aspx

Thanks to Veteran Kevin Treiber for sending this information to us. (Submitted by Wayne Gatewood, President and CEO of Quality Support Inc.)

Vet Focused Program
Provides Shipping Discounts.
Donations to charities

JoeShipping.com is offering discounted shipping rates to veteran owned businesses and will make a donation to the charity of your choice.

A Michigan-based firm, JoeShipping.com was launched by a veteran in 2010 who negotiated a discount for services with FedEx as well as a platform for charitable giving.

Businesses can save an average of 20 percent on shipping costs through the program. In addition, a donation is made to the charity of your choice.

For more information, go to www.JoeShipping.com and sign up for a shipping label.

The program has made contributions to Wounded Warrior Program, Ronald McDonald House and others.

Connecting Vets with Jobs

LANSING STATE JOURNAL~Louise Knott Ahern

HIRING HEROS: For too many veterans, jobs back home are far too few.

When Steven Goward was in the Marines, his title and duties made sense to everyone in his world.

He was in charge of "fire direction control," an administrative and logistical artillery position.

But when he traded in military life for a civilian one, things didn't translate as well.

"Obviously, there's not a huge demand out here for 'fire direction control", said Goward, 33, now a manager of a Lansing Quality Dairy store. "When it came time to put together a resume, I had to learn to pull out the things that didn't pertain. You know, like blowing things up. The challenge for military members in finding a job is figuring out how to explain what they did."

Veterans' advocates say that's one of many reasons behind a staggering statistic. The national unemployment rate for young veterans is 30 percent, double that of civilians in the same age range.

Though Michigan has the ninth-largest National Guard in the country, the state ranks third for the number of unemployed Guard members, said Michigan National Guard Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais.

In one National Guard unit out of Mount Pleasant, 44 percent are without jobs, said Vadnais.

Some of those are students, but the number is still unacceptably high, he said.

"I recently took the governor to Camp Shelby in Mississippi to visit our units there who are training for Afghanistan", Vadnais said. "The number we got was 20 to 30 percent."

"If not for deployment, that's how many would be unemployed."

DAUNTING GOAL

Vadnais has joined National Guard directors around the country in calling for a 25 percent decrease in veteran unemployment rates by the end of next year.

To that end, the National Guard recently launched a program called American Jobs for America's Heroes.

The program is an alliance between several organizations to create an expansive online veterans job portal and to encourage businesses to post their open positions there.

Lansing was one of the national launch sites at an event in December.

Vadnais said he recognizes what a daunting goal they face.

REST OF ARTICLE
(Page 2 link towards bottom)

Detroit Launches Effort
To Help Veterans

As Our Patriots Have Come Home, Detroit Will Lift Them Up

(HuffPost Detroit, MI) --- A large number of Detroit's veterans are impoverished or homeless. This is absolutely disheartening since they have served this nation on our behalf. These are skilled and talented Detroiters who can join with us to create a thriving city. Detroit ranks as one of the lowest in obtaining veterans' benefits, although we have one of the nation's highest veteran populations. We are 53 are out of 53 U.S. states and territories according to the United States Veterans Administration. In November, with the support of my Detroit City Council colleagues, we created the Military and Veterans Affairs Task Force.

By GARY A. BROWN

Top Lists
Of Top 10s

(INC. MAGAZINE)~Eric Sherman

The following are lists of things entrepreneurs should consider. Creating Success is applicable to your business venture, start-up or existing, as well to life. The lies to Never Tell Investors provide food for thought and an exercise on the importance of presenting your company to potential investors.

10 Lies Never to Tell Investors

All the confidence in the world won't convince a VC these statements are true. Here's why these 10 fibs hurt you -- and what to say instead.

Serial entrepreneur and VC Guy Kawasaki recently wrote a post listing the 10 lies entrepreneurs tell investors. These are classic lines that he hears in virtually every company pitch he sits through. I've added my own analysis below as to how they translate to investors' ears:

1> "Our projections are conservative." If you were really conservative with projections, you'd see that conditions could be bad enough to cause your venture could fail. When you pretend that failure is not an option, investors know that you haven't done your homework.

2> "Jupiter says our market will be $50 billion in 10 years." It doesn't matter what any analyst says. Their projections are often wrong. (How many times have they predicted the paperless office?) Even if they aren't, that doesn't mean you'll get any slice of the eventual market size. A handful of giants might split it and leave you with nothing.

3> "Several Fortune 500 companies are set to do business with us." Either companies have signed a contract or they haven't. If they haven't, then they are at best a prospect. Hyping sales efforts is a bad habit to get into.

4> "No one else can do what we’re doing." No one and nothing is irreplaceable. You will have competition and you have to assume that they will be good.

5> "Hurry up because other investors are about to do our deal." If they're about to do a deal, why do you have to talk to these people?

6> "Our product will go viral." Everything says their product will go viral. Almost none do. The odds are heavily against you—even if your mother likes your product or service.

7> "The large companies in our market are too big, dumb, and slow to compete with us." Large companies have enough money to crush you at the start, should they choose to. There are reasons those giant competitors grew to their present size.

8> "Our management team is proven." As your venture is new, no one has proven that he or she can make it work. Otherwise you wouldn't still need funding. You'd be Charlie Sheen and winning.

9> "We filed patents so our intellectual property is protected." If you don't have the money to sue other companies for infringement, then the number of patents doesn't matter. If someone can design around your patent, they don't even need to infringe.

10> "All we have to do is get 1 percent of the market." If everyone who sought "only" one percent of the market actually got it, markets would be 10 million percent in size.

Such lies, whether intended to be or not, are proof that you're unrealistic and may not have the experience to succeed. When you're trying to sell an investor on your start-up, assume that they've heard anything you could say a thousand times before.

Kawasaki's advice is to at least tell investors new lies. You could say that he's jaded, but that reaction is indicative of how thoroughly and often entrepreneurs fool themselves.

You don't need to make up new lies. Try these 10 alternatives that will make you stand apart and appear competent and business-like:

REST OF ARTICLE

Back to the top

CONTACT US

FAX: (810) 767-8662 or
Mail: VetBizCentral
501 South Averill Ave.
Flint, MI 48506

E-Mail: ed@vetbizcentral.org

OTHER USEFUL FILES

SDVOB Application Form 0877 ][ Lost DD-214 Dept. of Veteran Affairs Locator