All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
Welcome to Veterans Radio.
I am Jim Fossone.
I'm the officer of the deck today.
We've got some great programs for you.
I think you'll find very interesting.
We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site
or at the web.
VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org.
Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well.
We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview,
something you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org.
And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors.
First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org.
It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses.
You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org.
We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans.
Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation.
You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com.
We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today business owner, visionary Scott Lopez.
He is the driving force behind Zepo Production Inc., better known as ZPI.
We have him on today because we have a relationship with National Veteran Business Development
Council, NVBDC.org, as it's better known, to Spotlight.
He's involved with NVBDC, which is the nation's leading third-party authority for certification
of veteran-owned businesses, really of all sizes.
This 501C3 non-profit was established back in 2013, and it addresses the growing need
to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses for the commercial
and government marketplace.
NVBDC has a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny of governmental
and corporate entities in seeking to use veteran-owned businesses.
Scott Lopez and ZPI are NVBDC certified.
Scott, why don't we start with this?
Tell us why a nice kid from Texas went from high school to the U.S. Army to drive around
M1A1 battle tanks.
Yeah, actually, I grew up in Southern California.
I live in Austin now, but I grew up in Southern California, and I think like most combat arms
soldiers or anybody in the military, I don't know, college wasn't for me, right?
So it wasn't great in high school.
It wasn't my favorite thing.
So I also want to say thanks to the country.
I remember being in basic training, and every day, the dole sergeant is getting in front
of you, and what do you hear for?
And some of the guys were in court order to be there.
Some were there for just the GI Bill, and the dole sergeant got in front of you and
he goes, what do you hear for?
I was only 17 years old in basic training.
He goes, Lopez, what did you do in the Army?
I said, just to say thanks.
He said, God, that's the best answer I've ever heard.
Get up here.
You're our P2 leader.
So I don't know.
I've always just been very patriotic.
That's for a little reason, but didn't have a whole lot of options, I guess, but worked
out really well for me.
Well, as we're going to hear later, as you figure, life after service has been great.
And you're in a great position now, and you get to not only thank the country, but also
recognize your Hispanic heritage, and we'll talk a little bit about that.
But tell us what ZPI does.
So ZPI, actually, is Zepo Productions Inc.
And Zepo is just Lopez backwards, right?
Everyone has asked what's Zepo, and I grew up, my best friend growing up, his name was
Scott.
So he was long, I was Lopez.
So since I was a really young, I always been called Lopez, and then when you joined the
Army, no one uses his first name.
So everyone just always called me Lopez.
So I was Lopez backwards to Zepo.
So Zepo Productions Inc.
We actually produced private labels and exclusive brands of services or hardware for distribution
partners or reseller partners in the IT space.
So Ingram, Microtek, Data, Stenix, DNH, these are all big gigantic computer distributors
that don't have smaller groups within them.
We offer an opportunity for them to offer, other than alternative OEM service and support
to their customers and have a little bit of arms distance from their OEM partners, like
I say Cisco and Dell and HP, these big guys, right?
We offer a third party support to be able to support those, that hardware, further on
down the road, right?
Legacy gear.
So it's all an extension of life for, again, supporting of legacy equipment.
And when you go to the website, which is Z-P-I-A-O-M dot com, you'll learn more about Zepo Productions
or ZPI.
And this whole IT space is interesting and how you get help, maybe the smaller businesses,
not the biggest businesses in the world, get that IT support that we all need nowadays,
it's imperative, and we need the latest and greatest at the best cost possible.
Why was it important after you started the business, you've been at this a while, to
become a veteran owned certified company?
Yeah, so it's funny.
So I worked, luckily when I got out of the Army, I was 26 when I went to work for a company
called Ingram Micro.
Ingram Micro is the world's largest IT distributor, or they were at one point, I think a couple
of guys emerged, but anyway, still $50 billion global gigantic company, and I got to go work
for them.
They support, they're kind of the biggest unknown company out there, right?
They support every reseller in the world.
So a reseller would be companies that you may be familiar with like CDW or SHI or Insight
on the IT, pure IT play.
But even guys like Best Buy and Staples and any of those retail guys as well, they're
actually shipping only IT products for the reseller that we know and we partner with.
So working with distribution, I wanted to break out and start my own company, have my
own brand offering alternative OEM product, just ways to save money.
So a lot of things are private labeled these days, and I'm able to source product from
the exact same contract manufacturer as the big names that we mentioned before, with my
name on it, at a huge discount, hardware and support.
So because we do that, we offer that through a sales channel, I thought it would be important
for me to be able to let my other partners utilize my certifications as well, right?
So we're minority owned, veteran owned, SB88A certified on the Texas DIR contract, but I
don't sell to end users.
So those certifications really didn't help me out very much, but bigger partners, and
again, like CDW or Insight, these big resellers that have been around for 40 years, they don't
have any diversity status.
And their enterprise customers are asking for diversity spend.
Well, how can they do that if they're not?
They need to partner with guys like me.
So when they partner with me, now their end user gets to retire tier two spend and their
reseller gets to retire tier one spend.
And some of these partners like Dell and CDW are actually part of the billion dollar roundtable
who takes prior diversity very seriously.
And we both have a really cool solution and some really cool software around letting partners
use my software and I do life as a manager for them, and they get to share diversity
spend with me, even if they're not diverse partners.
And NVBDC.org is sort of a leading certification entity nationwide for veterans.
It's a rigorous certification.
Really have to prove yourself up.
And you've done that.
And in fact, you're actually on their board of advisors, I guess they're so impressed
with you and you're so impressed with them.
Tell us what does impress you about NVBDC?
Well, like you said, you know, there's a certification process.
There are a few other companies out there, not NGOs, they call it non-governmental organizations
that offer certifications for other than just veteran as well.
It could be minority, right?
But there's only several that are recognized by the billion dollar roundtable.
And the billion dollar roundtable is where the Fortune 500 companies are all members
of the BDR.
And that's the certifications they accept are NVBDC for veteran, WeBank for women, and
NMSDC, even those other ones out there, these are the three.
And the reason the BDR chose them is because of that stringent process to get certified,
right?
One of the things that we've seen with NVBDC is its ability to, I think I always use the
network and I get corrected, it's really not networking, but sort of networking between
the veteran businesses and guys on the billion dollar roundtable of putting folks together.
It's more of a matchmaker than maybe networking.
But have you experienced that sort of value from NVBDC?
Yeah, it was actually just in Louisville for their annual show and absolutely, right?
You've got the biggest things out there.
Dell and gigantic logos are there and the people from their supplier diversity groups
are there and they're speaking at the event and talking to veterans and explaining them
how do you do business with companies our size?
You realize that most veteran-owned businesses are small businesses, right?
We're all small businesses.
So how do you work with Apple?
Pretty hard to get into Apple, right?
But if you got that NVBDC logo in there, it opens the door for you at least, right?
It gives you the conversations and they can help you navigate a little bit easier than
having doing it on your own, right?
It's not very easy to open those doors these days.
So do you get asked by other veteran-owned businesses, hey, is it worth going through
this process?
And if so, what would you tell them?
Like you said, I'm on the board of advisors and like I just said, it's not easy to open
doors at companies like Dell and Apple and Disney and these gigantic companies, right?
So you need to have everything you can possibly do to get your foot in the door.
And because these gigantic logos are members of the BDR, it incents them.
They have these goals that they put on themselves, by the way, right?
They're not like the government where they've got these government-mandated goals for supplier
diversity.
These are things that they put on themselves.
So it only makes sense for them to back their investment if you will, right?
So, you know, I let everybody know, like, yeah, if you're an veteran-owned company, join
the everybody seat, you know, work the system and you'll get business out of it.
So we're talking to Scott Lopez, who is the owner, visionary of ZPI.
Talk to us a little more about sort of ZPI's vision for that, as I said earlier, you're
proud of your Hispanic heritage and try to work in that space to help other entities.
Talk to us a little bit about how you get to do that.
Working with other companies?
Yes.
Well, you know, we're being part of the community.
We attend a lot of events that we try to network there and help each other out as much as we
can there.
I'm really more focused on the veteran community.
I'm also a member of the founding chapter member of the USA CARES chapter here in Austin.
I'm actually trying to create my own or start our own nonprofit called On the Way, which
helps guys just like me, right?
A lot of people that join military that get further along our lifers, right?
They did 20 years and they're usually officers that are entrepreneurs or guys that have been
for longer, and there's not a lot of guys like me that only did four years active or
three years active, seven reserved, and was a short-term guy that have actually started
its own business.
So we're creating a nonprofit called On the Way to help guys just like me, right?
Our whole point is, if I can do it, you can do it.
Let me show you how.
So sort of working with other vector minority companies, we attend a lot of the shows that
you would imagine.
One of the things that I think becomes important is just what you said, but I'm going to make
you elaborate on it.
Hey, if I could figure it out and do it, you could do it.
But there's a lot of learning and experience that goes in before you make the jump.
So for guys who are going like, I just don't think I've got it, talk a little bit about
how you get yourself to the point of going, now I'm ready.
Well, it's funny.
For me, I luckily was put into a sales position and when I went to work for you on my grow
and for anyone that thinks they're not a salesperson, everybody is a salesperson.
Every time I talk to somebody, they go, oh, I'm not like you, I'm a sales guy.
Like, you have a girlfriend?
Yeah.
She's better looking than you.
I can tell you that right now.
That's because you're in sales, right?
Or I tell people, like, do you have children?
And they say, well, yeah, do you ever tell your kids?
If you want to deserve, you're going to have to eat your vegetables.
That's sales.
We're all in sales.
We do it every day.
So that's the first thing I do is tell people, being an entrepreneur, you're going to have
to be a salesperson.
We're all in sales, right?
And I think that the other biggest thing, and I just, I wish I could remember who said
this, but basically ignorance is bliss.
You don't know what you don't know.
And then when you're doing it, you don't think it's that hard.
You're just working.
It's just work.
You're just doing it.
It's not that hard.
I've always thought better, you know, I'd rather have my, the headaches that I have,
I'd rather have for me than somebody else.
You know, I went, I didn't start this business.
I went on my own until six, seven years ago and I got successful pretty quick after that.
But before that, I made a lot of other guys very successful.
I made a lot of other guys a lot of money and I was joke around.
I used to live in Newport Beach, California.
And these guys that I worked for were buying nice cars, nice houses, and I was making pretty
good commission at the time.
I mean, for being, you know, college, I mean, high school graduate and, you know, I graduated
at the 1.3 grade point average.
I wasn't going to build any jets out there.
Right.
So, you know, I was just a good people person, I guess, but, you know, I got sick of buying
other guys boats for them.
I was, I was joking around.
Like, I'm going to buy the sales book and it'll be me and a little small boat in Newport
Harvard passing big boats that say, thanks Lopez.
Thanks Lopez too.
That's the name of their boat because I was buying other guys boats for them.
And I was finally was like, you know what, I'm going to do it on my own.
Well, one of it is just having the gumption, if you will, to go do it and you get there.
And I think those are some of that comes out of your probably your experiences in the army
where you're like, I don't know anything about this tank.
And X number of months later, you're going like, oh, I'm the expert on this and this
dumb new private's coming on board.
He don't know anything about this tank.
So you learn a lot of skills that you don't even think about in the service.
Do you still kind of every now and again think, well, that's an approach I learned in the
service that sticks with that.
You learn very quick that I mean, I love it is that Israel or that everyone has to join
the military.
I think that everybody should do it because you're just literally not afraid of anything.
You have to go through in basic training, you go through the confidence course and the
night assault course.
And when you get to those two things, you know, when you're young and you got live rounds
going over your head and you get through stuff like that, you're, everything else is pretty
pretty stupid, pretty easy.
You literally are like, hmm, and it's frustrating for people that aren't in the military.
Like, you don't, you think everything is easy.
I'm like, yeah, I really do.
I really think everything's easy.
You can make it difficult.
And that's what most people do is make these difficult, but it's all pretty easy, especially
nowadays because we're all doctors now, we're all astronauts now, we're all lawyers now,
we are now everything, we're all everything now.
I love, that's my new favorite thing now is how do you know that?
I'm an astronaut now.
What?
I just Google it.
Right.
You know everything now.
So really it's getting out of your own way, right?
Ignorance is bliss.
Just go out and do it.
And if you screw up, you won't even know you screwed up until you figure it out.
It's not a big deal, but those, those start some kind of business, man.
Go be a pool cleaner.
You'll make more than lawyers.
Believe it or not, look it up.
So let's bring, we'll wrap this up.
I think you just gave everybody the advice I was hoping you would and that is, hey, if
you've been in the service, you've been through hard times already, you've conquered those
things, you can make it in business.
We're talking to Scott Lopez, who's the owner and founder of ZPI, his up all productions
Inc.
You can find him on the website.
And he's a NVB DC certified veteran owned business.
And your advice is get out there and do it and get yourself certified.
Just go do something on your own, start your own business.
It's not that hard.
I don't care if you're a pool cleaner.
The one that let me finish with it.
I love giving people this example.
I love telling people how much you think a dentist makes in your town.
I'm going to be a lawyer.
You could go and Google average income of a lawyer in zip codes 78681 and that's going
to be and then you're going to get glass doors, sorry.com.
You're going to get all these companies that you say, and I love telling people like, well,
I want to make this much money.
I'm like, well, Google how much you think a lawyer makes $102,000 a year is the average
income for a lawyer at eight years of college, half a million in debt.
I guess how much a pool cleaner makes 90 grand a year pool cleaner.
I'd rather be out the pool.
You know, so just go start a business.
Don't think you have to work for anybody.
If I could do it, you could do it.
Go start a business, you know, the matter no matter what it is and get companies like
NVBDC organizations like NVBDC certified and they'll get your name out.
It'll help you get there and you can make a decent living working for yourself.
That's great advice.
Scott, thanks for spending a little time with Veterans Radio today and giving us some insight
into the value of being with NVBDC.org.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.
I am Jim Fawcone.
It's been a pleasure to be your host.
I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at
800-693-4800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web.
You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio
shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org.
And until next time, you are dismissed.
If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for
Veterans at 1-800-693-4800.
They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Their number again, 1-800-693-4800.
We again want to thank our national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development
Council, NVBDC.org, VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, the Vietnam Veterans of America, Charles
S. Kettles Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan, VFW Graf O'Hara Post 423 in Ann Arbor, and
the American Legion Press Corn Post 46 also in Ann Arbor.
We appreciate all your support.
You can go to veteransradio.net.
Click on the sponsor level and continue to support keeping Veterans Radio on the air.
And until next time, you are dismissed.
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