On November 11th this week, we celebrated Veterans Day; being a Veteran myself, I took a few extra hours off to enjoy lunch with friends and dinner with my family. During this spare time, I reflected on how many business owners are Veterans and why they are so good at running and operating a small business.
More than 2.4 million U.S. businesses are owned by veterans, about nine percent of all American firms. They employ 5.8 million employees and dole out $210 billion in annual payroll. That’s a lot of revenue these men and women are pouring back into the economy. They served once and continue to serve our country with a brand new mission.
A few reasons these service men and women are successful are:
- Leadership: From the time you enter the military until you leave, an emphasis is placed on the importance of leadership and its role on the battlefield. Have you ever heard the term “There are no bad teams, only bad leaders”? More than likely, you’ve heard a Veteran repeat this term from their time served.
- Grit: Veterans are placed under a high level of stress during training and deployment. Over time they learn how to handle these high-stress situations and develop the grit to get the job done no matter the stakes.
- Self-Discipline: The military and it’s leaders teach young men and women the skill of self-discipline. Self-discipline helps them as entrepreneurs have the skills to start something and see it finished. They don’t need any external motivators!
- Failure: A good amount of time is placed on planning and risk mitigation to avoid failure, but most of the time, you are dealing with external factors out of your scope of control. Veterans learn to fail and fail forward. As business owners, this gives them the skills to take risks early and be okay with that risk, not paying off.
These are just a few of the qualities the team at Arc Media admire in Veteran business owners. What are a few that you notice and admire?