Monday, November 10, 2014

National Veterans Small Business Week

Veterans graphic

If you’ve been reading previous articles you know I have a tendency to correlate my experiences in the army to the precepts of entrepreneurship, economic development and small business ownership. I am not drawing at straws – being an entrepreneur means working absurdly long hours, it means time away from family and it means braving hostility.

Monday, November 3rd marked the beginning of National Veterans Small Business Week and next Tuesday is Veterans Day.

It is for these reasons that the US Small Business Administration claims that veterans in the US are responsible for one in ten small business start-ups. Veterans are nearly twice as likely to be self-employed as non-veterans. SBA.gov has a great many resources for aspiring entrepreneurs both veterans and non-veterans.

Veterans gross 1.5 trillions of dollars of revenue each year through businesses like Casey’s General Stores, FedEx, Verizon Communications and thousands of small businesses. You can search local veteran-owned small business at www.buyveteran.com. Sioux Falls is hosting a Yellow Ribbon Entrepreneurship Training event for vets on Saturday, December 15th from 8 – 5 pm at 3520 West Maple Street.


Take some time over the next week and honor the veterans of our community and dedicate some resources in the next year to supporting local small business owners.  Next Tuesday, at 7:30 pm, American Legion Post 42 is hosting a Veteran’s Day Program at the Main Street post.

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