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villarrealsj
06-02-06, 10:36 PM
Forums are great places to talk to others with similar interests, which is why I'm posting this.

Are there any Military Entrepreneurs in this forum or any forums out there for this type of community?

I would like to see more Entrepreneurial topics or maybe even a special section here in this forum for this type of conversation.

Maybe a great way to start would be to hear from the creator of Leatherneck.com:

Why Leatherneck.com? How did Leatherneck.com get started? Etc.

I'm really interested in talking to other Military Entrepreneurs. Anyone else?

villarrealsj
06-03-06, 12:10 PM
It is my business. what is your explination
I'm not sure I understand your comments clearly.

If you have a website or blog, would you mind posting it here?

Also, tell me a little about your background. So you're a Military Entrepreneur? What do you do? How long have you been doing it?

I'm currently working on a questionnaire for Military Entrepreneurs to fill out. The questionnaire will help with the development of my project for Military Entrepreneurs.

ekwade
06-05-06, 06:08 AM
Maybe I can shed some light on this subject for those of you unfamiliar with this whole thing.

We Marines often take our motivation, discipline, leadership abilities, and forwardness for granted. Often-times, it is not until we get out/retire that these qualities truly shine against the contrast of the lax civilian world. We have been taught to improvise, adapt, and overcome any obstacle in our way of the objective. Most employers are more than willing to hire new employees with these types of attributes.

The mentality of a guaranteed paycheck is alluring to all former service members and we often assume (falsely) that a job on the outside will provide this. This is a very unwise assumption. Not to mention that employees will pay nearly 1/2 of their paycheck in taxes (employment, sales, social security, you name it).

With layoffs, cut-backs, down-sizing, and economy woes in the mix... businesses are not always loyal to their employees and you can find yourself unemployed in a heart-beat.

Entrepreneurs (French word, meaning risk-takers that have the skills and initiative to establish a business) are often people with Marine-like qualities that don't want to play the layoff game. The key to it is in properly researching your objectives, making a sound plan, and executing the plan. If it doesn't work the first couple of times, do an after-action review to find the errors and correct them and re-execute. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? None of us would drop into combat without a plan, would we?

Being a business owner can be tough. Sometimes it is downright frustrating and almost always challenging. Statistics say that 80% of new businesses fail within the first 3 years. Do you know why? Almost always it is because they did not have a sound plan and if they had one... they did not stick to it.

The successful bussinesses are led by those of us that have stick-to-it-iveness (I know, it isn't really a word...but it works) to keep going. We not only have a plan, but also a main, long term goal in mind. We backwards plan from that goal so that we can reach it in steps that are initially manageable and get easier over time with more experience. We are determined to succeed. We want the American dream. We are willing to work hard for it. We realize the tremendous benefits to a successful business, like huge tax-breaks, unlimited potential of income, ability to exhibit influence over the community, ability to give more to charities, ability to employ others, etc.

If you desire to succeed in being a business owner begin by studying your objective. A great place to start is by reading books like: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", by Robert Kiyosaki and "Think and Grow Rich", by Napoleon Hill. (both available through Amazon.com)

Don't settle for mediocrity... that is a job for the rest of the world.
Put your hard-earned skills to work!
:iwo:


That is all,

villarrealsj
06-05-06, 09:32 AM
ekwade, awesome response and explanation of Marines(military in general) and the Entpreneurial traits and skills we possess. I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks for the comments.

:thumbup:



Maybe I can shed some light on this subject for those of you unfamiliar with this whole thing.

We Marines often take our motivation, discipline, leadership abilities, and forwardness for granted. Often-times, it is not until we get out/retire that these qualities truly shine against the contrast of the lax civilian world. We have been taught to improvise, adapt, and overcome any obstacle in our way of the objective. Most employers are more than willing to hire new employees with these types of attributes.

The mentality of a guaranteed paycheck is alluring to all former service members and we often assume (falsely) that a job on the outside will provide this. This is a very unwise assumption. Not to mention that employees will pay nearly 1/2 of their paycheck in taxes (employment, sales, social security, you name it).

With layoffs, cut-backs, down-sizing, and economy woes in the mix... businesses are not always loyal to their employees and you can find yourself unemployed in a heart-beat.

Entrepreneurs (French word, meaning risk-takers that have the skills and initiative to establish a business) are often people with Marine-like qualities that don't want to play the layoff game. The key to it is in properly researching your objectives, making a sound plan, and executing the plan. If it doesn't work the first couple of times, do an after-action review to find the errors and correct them and re-execute. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? None of us would drop into combat without a plan, would we?

Being a business owner can be tough. Sometimes it is downright frustrating and almost always challenging. Statistics say that 80% of new businesses fail within the first 3 years. Do you know why? Almost always it is because they did not have a sound plan and if they had one... they did not stick to it.

The successful bussinesses are led by those of us that have stick-to-it-iveness (I know, it isn't really a word...but it works) to keep going. We not only have a plan, but also a main, long term goal in mind. We backwards plan from that goal so that we can reach it in steps that are initially manageable and get easier over time with more experience. We are determined to succeed. We want the American dream. We are willing to work hard for it. We realize the tremendous benefits to a successful business, like huge tax-breaks, unlimited potential of income, ability to exhibit influence over the community, ability to give more to charities, ability to employ others, etc.

If you desire to succeed in being a business owner begin by studying your objective. A great place to start is by reading books like: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", by Robert Kiyosaki and "Think and Grow Rich", by Napoleon Hill. (both available through Amazon.com)

Don't settle for mediocrity... that is a job for the rest of the world.
Put your hard-earned skills to work!
:iwo:


That is all,

villarrealsj
06-05-06, 09:55 PM
Shaffer, exactly my point. Leatherneck.com IS a perfect example of a Marine with an Entrepreneurial Spirit and he took action. I must say, pretty impressive results. I'm still hoping he pops up in here some time.

As for the added question, "Do you own a business", if only I could figure out how to edit my profile(I never said I was a genius :) ), I would update that info.

As for me, I've started a few Entrepreneurial projects (http://www.trepnetwork.com/2005/09/30/what-the-heck-is-trepnetworkcom-about/)in the past and have had the greatest time doing it. Not to mention the OJT lessons learned... priceless. All this while currently serving on active duty in the Corps(with 2/5 at the moment).

Military Entrepreneurs are in a unique Entrepreneurial position. This can be both good and bad.

The Good: We know the military like the back of our hand, inside and out, which puts us at an advantage.

The Bad: Your business ventures must be portable, limited in scale and able to survive deployments with you away for long periods of time.

Thank God for the internet.

Currently, I am working on a few projects:

TREPNetwork (http://www.trepnetwork.com): A blog about all things Entrepreneurial. Although not actually a business, it's always fun writing about Entrepreneurship and interacting with readers.

My Military Classifieds: (http://www.mymilitaryclassifieds.com) After about 4-5 months in the works, I finally was able to launch My Military Classifieds (http://www.mymilitaryclassifieds.com). Thanks to the help of a buddy of mine who's a wiz at programming, we were able to create a Buy & Sell site with similar features as Craigslist... with a Military Twist!

:idea: Please pass the word to fellow Military folks. There is no fee to post ads.

In a few months, there will be a small fee, but only for those who post ads for Real Estate and Business Listings. These fees will range between $5-$15. This is primarily to cover the cost of managing the site. I am also adding a "Featured Ad" option, which will cost between $1-$6, depending on the duration of the ad is posted, so you can see there's not a lot of money to be made. Remember, the OJT I talked about earlier? Well, this project is another example. There's more to life than money and TRUE Entrepreneurs do it for the love and passion... not always the money. It's definitely a great motivator! Wouldn't you agree?

To make My Military Classifieds (http://www.mymilitaryclassifieds.com) unique, ads are placed by Military Installation/Base instead of the traditional city. I realize this may not be very appealing to the average user, but to the Military Consumer, I believe it's practical.

I don't intend on generating a large amount of income from this project. That was not my intention. My intention was to create something online and build a community of users around it. I want My Military Classifieds (http://www.mymilitaryclassifieds.com) to be the first place people go to when moving, PCS, EAS or just have some stuff they want to get rid off.

If anyone is willing to place a link or small image link to My Military Classifieds (http://www.mymilitaryclassifieds.com), I would definitely appreciate that. Just let me know and I will send you the image... or you can simply save the title image on the My Military Classifieds Homepage (http://www.mymilitaryclassifieds.com)

The Military Entrepreneur Blog (http://www.themilitaryentrepreneur.com): I'm currently working on my new blog, The Military Entrepreneur (http://www.themilitaryentrepreneur.com). This blog will be much like TREPNetwork (http://www.trepnetwork.com), but again... with a Military Twist. I'll feature Military Entrepreneurs and their stories, resources for Military Entrepreneurs and basically anything I want to talk about.

2 PENDING PROJECTS

UnNamed Project 1: TOP SECRET. You'll have to keep in touch with me to find out about this one. Very excited about this one. I anticipate to launch this project NLT 1 OCT 06.

UnNamed Project 1: TOP SECRET. Again, keep in touch. This one is going to be big and I anticipate launch to be on/about JAN 07'ish.

The Military Entrepreneur Group Hosted By goBIG Network: (http://www.gobignetwork.com/groups/GRPHOME.ASPX?GROUPID=3619) I have also created The Military Entrepreneur Group (http://www.gobignetwork.com/groups/GRPHOME.ASPX?GROUPID=3619)at the goBIG Network. Surprisingly, it has received lots of interest with over 5 group members and lots of inquiries at this time. I personally review each Member Request before approving.

This is to ensure only true Military Entrepreneurs join. Hence the name. Unfortunately, I did not expect this good of a response, so I have not prepared better for that. However, during the next few weeks I expect to get myself organized and get The Military Entrepreneur Group (http://www.gobignetwork.com/groups/GRPHOME.ASPX?GROUPID=3619)started.

That's my list of projects, in a nutshell. I'd like to learn about projects you all are working on.

Let's see what everyone's got. :idea:




Gentlemen,

You have touched on a subject I am very interested in. In fact if you have noticed within the last fews months, an additional profile question was added for Marines which asks if you "own a business".

As it is clear to see Leatherneck.com was the brain-child of 1 Marine's Entpreneurial Spirit.

I am interested in where this thread goes and what thoughts and ideas you have villarrealsj.

Semper Fi,
Jerry