Veteran Influencer Podcast

Matt Hesse is the Chairman and Founder of the FitOps Foundation, helping veterans find purpose and community through fitness. Matt transitioned from the Army in July of 2000 and began a career in the fitness and nutrition industry, ultimately launching his own brand in 2008 manufacturing and marketing health and wellness products. He launched FitOps almost four years ago to give veterans a physical mission and career skills to enable entrepreneurial success, as well as to offer themselves in service to others as a coach and trainer. We discuss how Matt’s program addresses the biggest risk to veterans in transition, their loss of purpose. For those still, “thawing out,” from time in a combat zone, FitOps helps identify and short-circuit self-sabotage behaviors common among returning service members, deliberately seeking mental and emotional breakthroughs during the early weeks of the program. Matt’s team works to replicate the camaraderie inherent in the military, creating a supportive environment that rebuild

Zach Thomas is an entrepreneur, author, coach, and speaker. In this episode, we discuss his journey from TRADOC to Seminary to Chick-Fil-A, leading and motivating people with a sense of purpose at every step of the way. Veterans make great franchise owners, leading small to medium sized teams in fast-paced operations where seamless execution is critical to success. They also serve well in roles oriented around process improvement and LEAN methodology, looking for efficiencies and cost-savings within an organization or process. Zach has cultivated a culture of process improvement within his franchise, and spearheaded the launch of the Lean6Ninja program. Zach’s career combines these disciplines of leadership and process improvement and highlights the value that military leaders bring to organizations in the form of employee development and empowerment. Check out Zach's website to get your FREE copy of Leader Farming: Growing Leaders to Grow Your Business, just pay shipping. Also take his Leadership-Style quiz

Marco Nelson transitioned from the military to a career in technology through a blend of active duty academic pursuits, a hobbyist interest in mobile app development, part-time real estate investing, and eventually additional academics immediately after his transition. He knew early on in his Navy career that he had a strong pull to develop and build mobile device applications, and pursued a path that led him to a place where he’s using software to solve real-world problems he encountered as a real estate investor. His story is a great example of extracurricular skills training and academic accomplishment while still in uniform, blending relevant career milestones with personal interests to set a foundation that positioned him well to transition to entrepreneurship. He's also a tech founder launching a startup from New Orleans, LA far from the software engineering talent mecca of Silicon Valley. We discuss the challenges this poses and how his team has grown despite being located in a city not usually known f

Tom Wolfe joins me for the 50th episode of the podcast to discuss his book Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition. Tom and I share a lot in common, we’re both Naval Academy graduates who served as Surface Warfare Officers aboard ships and subsequently transitioned to careers in military placement and talent strategy. Tom and his firm Career Development, where he was a Principal for 29 years, became a part of Bradley-Morris in 2007. During that time, Tom produced a variety of written and video content that was in use throughout the candidate preparation pipeline when I was a candidate from 2011 to early 2012. His Career College for Candidates video series shaped my early understanding of the process as a candidate, and later became the foundation of my advisory practice when I became a Candidate Recruiter in early 2012. Tom's knowledge and insight into military-to-civilian transition provides a sound model for making career decisions during transition from active duty

Steve Hawley is a Loan Officer with Southern Trust Mortgage, and the brother of one of my recent guests John Hawley. John recommended we connect to try to get to the bottom of why he and I keep getting so much junk mail about our VA loans. Steve is an expert in residential mortgage lending and was gracious to lend about an hour of his time to answer my questions about the VA Loan program, and how veterans are marketed to and why. We discuss: The role of a mortgage broker in the process of purchasing a home. Misconceptions regarding mortgages When to check your credit and understand your financial picture (before you transition!) Steve and I also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the VA loan program, as well as the pros and cons of home ownership versus renting for Active Duty and Transitioning military personnel. My hope with this conversation was to have a really simple explanation of some of the basics around using the VA Loan and avoiding some of the potential sales pitches you might receive on

Today I had a great conversation with Mark Munger about the Marine for Life Network. Mark is the Regional Network Coordinator for the Southeast Region, one of the busiest and most engaged regions due to the high number of veterans that transition back to the southeast following transition. We talked about how Mark got involved with Marine for Life, and what their mission is across the country. Mark and I also dive into how marines and their families can get access to the network both during their initial separation from active duty, as well as throughout their post-service careers. I’m excited to share this episode a few days ahead of the U.S. Marine Corps’ 244th birthday this Sunday November, 10th. Founded at Tun Tavern in 1775, the Marine Corps is one of the three original branches of the armed forces founded before America’s independence. The Marine corps has a long tradition of service to our nation, and the team at Marine for Life cares deeply about continuing that tradition of service, even after Marine

Jamie Desautels was a supply officer in the Navy who transitioned into a logistics role with a Fortune 100 company via their military officer hiring program. He is now the Sales Director for Glen-Gery Corporation, a manufacturing leader in masonry, brick, and stone construction materials. In this episode, we talk about how his first job showed him that your military branch or MOS does not and should not predetermine what career you pursue when you get out. Jamie shares how flexible different service backgrounds really are, and the drastically different communities veterans come from in corporate hiring programs where they may share a job title. This is an encouraging conversation because Jamie has clearly benefited enormously from the way companies view veteran leadership talent. He is also holding up his end of the bargain and the promise of veterans in corporate America, leading revenue-producing teams and pushing himself and the people around him to grow. That’s only possible through the commitment his fam

Dan Manning is the Founder of Firepower Concepts, a strategy practice that works with executives from business, non-profits, and government to use applied creativity to unlock ideas and solve tough problems. Dan creates what he calls a Designed Strategy, a roadmap for a strategic decision maker based on the principles of Design Thinking. He is also the author of Stuck on Stuck Street : Unstick Your Creativity for a Better Business and a Better Life. Dan retired from the U.S. Air Force where he flew the A-10 Warthog and served in diplomatic affairs and international security coordination. The second half of his career afforded him the opportunity to earn his PhD in Development Economics and International Development which drove the direction of his roles for the final 6 years of his active duty service, where he focused on foreign policy and leadership decision making. In this episode, Dan shares his belief that austerity is the father of creativity, and how he carefully launched his business during his tran

John Wayne Mullins is an officer in the Coast Guard Reserve and the founder of JWM-Coaching LLC. His leadership coaching practice offers entrepreneurs and small business owners a formal process for actualizing structured goals. He writes frequently for LinkedIn about Employee Engagement, Succession Planning, and expanding your Comfort Zone.   We discuss his decision to start this business, gaining confidence from the support of his wife and his own personal business coach. We also dive into how to avoid distractions and learn how to say "No" when you need to prioritize your time as an entrepreneur trying to grow a new business.   Check out more of John's writing on LinkedIn HERE

Bronchae Brown is a former Marine Corps aviator and the CEO of Zoomiee, a company tackling the challenge of providing photography on-demand for attendees at school events, sporting games, and live performances who want to get out from behind their smartphone and be present in the moment. Bronchae left a lucrative career in computer science after graduating college to pursue his passion and goal of becoming an aviator in the military, accepting a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served for 20 years before making the transition to civilian life and entrepreneurship in 2014. He opens up about the good and bad elements of his journey to becoming a CEO and Founder, and how his deliberate planning skills from the military gave him a solid foundation for a career in business. He shares his advice for: Planning the transition from a financial perspective, including making a budget for a 6-month sabbatical to reset priorities and take a breather before jumping into the next chapter of your career. Transla

Robert Woods transitioned from the Air Force using the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to earn an education and launch his career. He is now the founder of Banneret Career Consulting, focused on helping other veterans do the same. He also hosts his own podcast called The Knight’s Tale Podcast where he interviews other veterans, employers, and talks about how companies can work with veterans to create on the job training programs. We discuss how he was able to increase his income by relocating, earning more education to advance his career, and network in a major city. Robert also shares his ambitions about impacting veteran housing, based largely on his experiences during transition trying to find a place to live in a major city while attending school.   Robert's recommendations: Listen: GaryVee’s Podcast Read: The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone  

Anthony DeToto's career is in private wealth management and in today’s conversation we hear about his transition as an Army officer, but the reason why we were introduced and the focus of this podcast is on 1836Veterans, an organization he founded to help veterans in the Houston area create small businesses in the lower-middle market. His group at 1836 believes that veterans have a competitive advantage in business due to their leadership, work-ethic, and character and that they have a natural inclination to feel comfortable with risk while creating performative teams that operate successfully in dynamic environments with incomplete information. They strive to offer a strong local network, mentorship, and experienced legal, financial and operations resources to help Houston-area veterans build successful companies. In this conversation we discuss this program, how he’s looking forward to the future of veterans in business, and his advice for others looking to start their own entrepreneurship journey.

Bill Kieffer is the President and Chief Advisor for Kieffer & Associates, LTD. He is also a TEDx speaker, former U.S. Army officer, and Ohio native. His career has focused on training, leading, and shaping organizations from within the talent management and human capital department of the companies he has worked for. I was excited to have Bill on to talk about how decisions are made at the front lines of talent management in corporate America as it relates to hiring, training, and retaining veterans. Bill's experience during his own transition and career offers a unique and complete perspective from both sides of the uniform and civilian hiring process. I was really struck with how often we agree about the topics discussed during our conversation, areas like interview readiness, asking questions during the hiring courtship process, and managing money and negotiating compensation. In this conversation, we cover best practices for a job seeker leaving the service and trying to peel back the psychology behin

Josh Duntz is a Navy EOD Master Technician experienced in leading small, high performing and dynamic teams of special operations personnel. Josh has done seemingly everything possible to engage proactively with his military-to-civilian transition. Over the last couple of years he has finished his bachelor’s degree, completed the 6-month transition fellowship with The Honor Foundation, worked with Elite Meet to network with other veterans, and is jumping into a DoD SkillBridge internship with a company on the west coast he was introduced to through Shift.org. Josh is also a founder and member of the leadership team at the Navy Special Operations Foundation, a not-for-profit organization which ensures Special Operations personnel and their families have the tools needed to overcome the challenges they face.   I wanted to talk to a currently transitioning service member like Josh because his perspective is based on a very modern, holistic approach to leveraging transition resources. During the last couple of yea

Today's conversation is with John Boerstler CEO of Combined Arms, an organization helping veterans transition to Houston and the greater Texas market after their military service. John and I discuss how he is approaching this mission and the unique way his team is creating a bridge for service members looking to network, go back to school, and generally get connected to the Texas economy after their service. We also discuss briefly how the lessons learned developing regional resources like combined arms are being shared around the world with other countries. We talk about how putting former military members back to work in gainful employment is not only the right thing to do, but also a stabilizing force on countries that have been at war or recently experienced conflict and have not yet discovered how to re-deploy their service members into society. Without overstating the point, Combined Arms' mission is helping to address a challenge not only in the Houston and U.S. economies, but also around the globe in

Today's conversation is with Naval Academy graduate and former nuclear-trained naval officer Tom Schwab. Tom transitioned to corporate America after his service and leads a media marketing business called Interview Valet. His focus is on making introductions between guests and podcasters to help clients tell their story and share their ideas with new audiences in a popular, high-converting medium. Their slogan is, "You are the guest, we take care of the rest." Tom's career began in the early 90’s in medical device sales where he quickly found his strength introducing people and helping create new conversations. This led him to develop a career in technology and conversation-based marketing strategies, ultimately found a business that gives him the ability to do what he loves while employing a team of 16 geographically-dispersed, remote-work marketing professionals. Listen to this episode if you're curious about what it takes to make a start in the medical device sales industry, how that skill set and experien

Jon Macaskill is a U.S. Navy SEAL, Mindfulness Practitioner, Expert Monotasker, and Certified Wrong Thinker. After 20+ years as both an enlisted sailor and a commissioned officer, he is transitioning out of the military and launching a mindfulness and emotional intelligence coaching company - Macaskill Consulting, aiming to bring meditation, mindfulness, and EQ to organizations and creating a strategic advantage within high-performing teams. In this conversation Jon defines terms like meditation and mindfulness and discusses common misconceptions surrounding these practices, as well as shares his first encounters with the discipline and how it helped him both at home and at work in stressful situations. We also get into how he decided to create a business for himself as a part of his transition based on input from a trusted mentor. This episode covers the financial planning that has gone into his transition strategy, how he has begun building his business in order to respect the DoD -- Civilian balance, and h

Claude Burns is the CEO and founder of Office Libations. After exiting the Navy following six years as an Information Professional Officer, Claude attended the MIT Sloan School of Management where he earned his MBA, taking the plunge directly into entrepreneurship after graduation. In 2014 he founded Noble Brewer by scaling-up specialty craft beer recipes created by homebrewers and delivered them by mail to consumers across the country in gift boxes. Although this business was showing signs of success, in 2018 he launched his current company which has grown to almost 20 employees while answering a clear demand signal from his customers. For those of you considering entrepreneurship, this is a great example of how to pivot and adapt when you're receiving market signals, as well as a good example of a post-MBA career track that doesn't just lead into investment banking or consulting. We discuss how he's been tackling challenges, some of the lessons he's learned as an entrepreneur, and the best parts about laun

John Cordle, Dr. Eng, leads a 12 person team at Huntington Ingalls Industries teaching Maintenance Management to over 12,000 U. S. Navy personnel, including all officer pipeline training across the waterfront. He is the USNI Proceedings Author of the Year and Surface Navy Literary Award winner for 2018, having written about implementing a Circadian Rhythm watch rotation while serving as CO of the USS San Jacinto (CG-56). His crew was awarded the 2010 Vice Admiral Bulkeley Safety Award for improved watch stander resilience. In our conversation, John shares what it was like when he transitioned to a role with Huntington Ingalls Industries in mid-2013 with the goal of remaining in the local area, where a high concentration of other senior officers with similar experiences were vying for jobs at a time when sequestration had disrupted the local job market. We also cover how he made the decision to pursue additional academics as a civilian, and what led him to earn his Dr. Eng from ODU while also traveling extensi

If you are an active-duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces with 12-18 months before the end of your service commitment, you have to check out this episode! Today's conversation is with Tyler Bloecher, one of our newest Recruiting Managers and the first-ever DoD SkillBridge Fellow that we've had here at Bradley-Morris. This program is relatively new and is designed to connect active-duty service members with fellowship opportunities at companies during their final six months of service to expose them to new career skills and facilitate a smoother and more informed transition process. Tyler and I discuss how he first learned about SkillBridge, the steps he took to pave the way for approval with his chain of command, and what he's doing now to make sure as many service-members as possible are aware of this great DoD program. Learn how you can test-drive your next role through a DoD SkillBridge fellowship by connecting to Tyler on LinkedIn or through email at tyler.bloecher@bradley-morris.com.