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All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.

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And welcome to Veterans Radio.

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I am Jim Fossum with veteransradio.net.

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We are recording today from the Legal Help for Veterans Studio in Northville, Michigan.

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Legal Help for Veterans is a Veterans Disability Law Firm.

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You can reach us at 800-693-4800.

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We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today Andrew Wilson, a captain in the United States

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Army after he got out.

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He got himself into the business world and actually a little bit of both before he got

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out.

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Andrew, welcome to Veterans Radio.

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Hey, thank you for having me.

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While we're glad to have you on, we often talk to veterans in the business arena and

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that's kind of why we're interested in talking to you.

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But before we get there, why don't you explain to the Veterans Radio listening audience a

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little bit about your background, where you grew up, how you ended up in the military

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and some of that experience.

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Sure.

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So, I grew up in Pittsburgh, Kansas.

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And I always was really interested in athletics.

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So I went to North Dakota State first with a football scholarship and finished up at

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Pittsburgh State University.

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And during playing athletics and being kind of involved in that team atmosphere and the

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physical nature of football, I was like, I got to find a job that's going to use those

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skills that I've learned in the real world.

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And I got involved with some of the stuff with ROTC and started to see like, hey, I can

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either go man the copy and machine at a business and work in a cubicle or I can go jump out

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of planes and go to Ranger school and become an infantry officer.

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And that's kind of how I found my way to the military.

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I mean, it comes from a big military family or anything where there's lots of pressure

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to go.

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But I really wanted a job coming out or a career that utilized the skills I had.

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And I loved being part of the team.

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And the military was the next great fit for me, I think, coming out of the university

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with a marking degree and playing football, going into becoming an infantry officer.

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Well, before we get to your military career, I've got to step back.

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And for those who are true football fans, we know that North Dakota State University

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is a football powerhouse.

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So that was a great program that you were with.

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But tell me a little bit about, because it's always good for people to sort of understand

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ROTC and kind of how you, you know, did you go into it for helping pay for education?

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And, you know, is that an option that you'd encourage kids today to look at?

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Yeah, you know, I did it, I already had a football scholarship, but I looked at it as

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a way to, you know, have a leg up and move into my next career and get, you know, training

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that I wouldn't be able to anywhere else.

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But I always tell my own kids and other people, I mean, there's no reason if you have some

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talent, you're physically fit.

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There's millions of ways to pay for school.

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You know, and actually my third year into ROTC, I was able to replace my military scholar,

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my football scholarship with a scholarship from ROTC, which was actually even a little

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bit better, you know, and it helped free up money actually for the football program to

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give a scholarship to someone else so we could have more people on the team with full scholarships.

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You know, the option with ROTC was great.

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I mean, you get some great adventures and training while you're going to school.

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You can even get, you know, some money and a stipend.

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And you know, it's a great place to kind of get developed while you're going to school

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and not just be another student.

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So I really loved ROTC program.

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Well, it's good to hear.

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And again, I think it's good for every parent and grandparent and uncle and aunt out there

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to be thinking about, well, maybe that's the way my relative gets into college and pays

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for it.

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Maybe they ought to be looking at an ROTC approach.

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But let's move on.

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You got commissioned.

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Tell us about your time in the U.S. Army.

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Right.

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So, you know, I became an infantry officer.

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That's what I wanted to do.

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You know, I wanted something that was really physical and focused on being a leader of,

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you know, men and getting out there and doing things that are physical and went to Fort

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Bragg, North Carolina, was my first duty station with 82nd Airborne.

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After going to Fort Benning for about a year and doing Airborne School, Pathfinder School,

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Ranger School, you know, the whole gauntlet of schools that you go to to become a leader

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in the United States infantry.

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And you know, we served and it was pretty quiet up until 9-11 happened.

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You know, we never thought, you know, we thought the enemies of the future were some big country

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out there that would be fighting someday and 9-11 happened.

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And it kind of changed, you know, the path for my life because we got deployed to Afghanistan

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shortly after 9-11 and got to serve there.

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And I was a platoon leader and it was a great experience and I loved it.

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And you know, the weird thing is, being in Afghanistan, it's maybe jumping forward because

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it was where I found my first business, to be honest.

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I was reading a Fortune Magazine article.

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I was going to go to graduate school when I got back because my time of active duty was

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almost up.

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And you know, I said, instead of graduate school, I'm going to take that money and put it into

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something that's, you know, going to make money for me long term.

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And that's what I found 1800 Got Junk.

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One of the businesses I bought was reading a Fortune Magazine from Firebase Loara on

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the Pakistan border in Afghanistan.

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So, you know, it was amazing.

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The trail where it took me and how I found, you know, my passion for my businesses.

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Well, veterans radio listeners were talking to former Captain Andrew Wilson, Airborne

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Ranger, did three tours in operating and during freedom and one tour at Operation Iraqi Freedom.

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You have just explained to us that a magazine article led you to a franchise opportunity.

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I think by this point, almost everybody in the country has heard of 1800 Got Junk.

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But go ahead and tell us what that business is about and sort of how it was attractive

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to you and why did you get involved?

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You know, I was looking, I was going to go get my MBA and, you know, I was looking at

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a year or two of going to school and getting in a lot of, you know, different studying

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again and being in books.

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But I found a business and I looked at a few different ones, but it really related to me

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because, you know, owning 1800 Got Junk, which is, it's kind of a waste removal company that

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really prides itself in kind of a high level of service in an industry where it's never

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expected and it kind of revolutionized that and changed an industry with the way they've

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done business.

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And I just really loved the aspect of, you know, leading teams of people heading out

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there every day kind of, you know, accomplishing a task and it might be removing junk, but

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it's, you know, it's wowing every customer that they possibly can get in front of and

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completing a mission.

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And it kind of related to being a platoon leader in a sense, you know, I mean, so many

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of the skills I learned as an infantry officer related right into owning a business like

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1800 Got Junk and just kind of motivating, providing purpose, direction, motivation for

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these guys to go out there and, you know, not just accomplish a mission, but make money.

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And you know, it's just a great transition.

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I got lucky.

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I was the 24th franchise partner in a system now that has like 300 franchise partners.

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You know, we were a small business back then and now it's a huge, you know, multinational

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company, I mean, a company that's in many different countries across the globe and it's

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pretty amazing to get in there at the ground floor and it was a great run when I did own

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one of the underguts, Joe.

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And what year did you get involved and what territory?

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How did you settle on your territory?

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Like, so I was from Kansas City.

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I was living at Fort Bragg and me and my wife, she had a, we had a child right before I went

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to Afghanistan the first time.

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And you know, I wanted, when I got out of active duty to move back to Kansas and Kansas

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City was a great city.

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So I chose that it was an available city that hadn't been purchased yet in the franchise

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system and I decided to buy a 2800 cat junk there.

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And we, when I got out of active duty, when I came back home, we relocated and we started

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kind of really on a shoestring budget and a big dream.

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And luckily it all worked out.

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It was a big gamble.

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This sort of starts with, you know, one guy in one truck, right?

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So, so what did you, what were you able to build it to?

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Where did that gamble lead you?

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Right.

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So we started in 2003 with one truck and myself as the only employee and my wife.

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And then we started, you know, I hired a few people I knew and friends in the area to help

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out when we needed it.

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And you know, the first few years, I'm not going to lie to you, we're very challenging.

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I mean, we were used to being in the military where everything you have is pretty much covered

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and paid for health insurance.

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You know, you've got a place to live.

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You never go hungry.

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You get paid vacations.

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You might get sent off to war once in a while, but to be honest, sometimes that's more relaxing

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than business ownership.

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But you know, right now, when we sold that business, it was probably doing close to 2.5,

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maybe pushing closer to $3 million of revenue.

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You know, we started out.

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What did you sell in Andrew?

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2014, I believe is the year that I sold out to and I sold that business because, you know,

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it's a long story, but while I owned that business, I still went back and did a couple

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more tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as a reservist.

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I became a civil affairs officer actually.

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And I also went back and did almost two and a half years during that business ownership

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period as a civilian in Afghanistan and running a counter-surgency program.

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So, you know, the first four years was my life almost, I mean, three to four years building

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that business.

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Once I built it to a certain level, I was able to continue service in the reserves.

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It wasn't active duty anymore, but the wars just kept going on and on and I wanted to

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serve more and I was able to do that.

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And then, you know, I was able to even go back again as a civilian and support the war

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effort.

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You know, the business really provided a lot of opportunity to me and my family and then

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my wife had moved to Oklahoma because her family was here.

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I've gone so much and when I came home finally, she didn't want to come back to Kansas City,

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so we decided to move to Oklahoma and that leads us to the next business adventure, which

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was the You Move Me franchise that we now own and operate here in Oklahoma and Oklahoma

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City in Tulsa.

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And tell us what You Move Me is in terms of a business operation.

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Right.

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So You Move Me is a, you know, it's a moving company.

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We moved people's household goods, so we moved businesses from one location to another and

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it's really built on the same aspect and focus that 1-800-GET-JUNK was built on.

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It's part of O2E brand, the family of brands, but You Move Me is one of their newest brands.

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We were the first franchise partner in the system basically.

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We were able to launch it with Brian Scoot-A-More, become one of the first franchises, but, you

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know, we built this business now.

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We almost do 2,000 moves a year.

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We sometimes are employing up to 50 people.

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We have an office in Oklahoma City in Tulsa and, you know, it's a really interesting industry,

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but it focuses on a high level of customer service where people don't expect it, you

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know.

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I mean, that's really what O2E brand is all about.

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It's going into businesses and industries where people have done it for 100 million

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years, but, you know, there's never been that real focus on customer service and that's

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what we do at You Move.

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We really focus on the customer here for their move.

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And I think many veterans, those transitioning out of service might be reluctant about the

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costs associated, maybe not the risk, but the costs associated with entering into a franchise

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arrangement.

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Can you talk a little bit about that, how you decided and sort of what your mental process

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was to jump in and make that financial commitment?

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Yeah, I mean, you know, if I go back to 2003, to be honest, there was a great program called

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VETFRIENDS and I don't know.

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I mean, I still does exist, but it was an organization that got franchisers to join in and help,

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you know, Americans, America's best veterans get into business at a lower cost than it

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might be for other people because they would actually give you not a full franchise, but

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a reduced franchise fee.

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They'd give you a free territory if you bought one.

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Every franchise had a different deal out there, but 1-800-GET-JUNK decided to give me basically

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a free territory if I bought one and that covered the whole city of Kansas City pretty

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much.

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So I got into it about for a 50% discount.

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You know, I mean, we did extensive budgeting to make sure we were viable and we'd be able

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to survive, but I think that's the one piece of advice to give any veteran out there is

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they really need to go into this with a realistic approach and idea of what is possible.

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They need to, you know, really think that in the first few years, you're not going to

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be paying yourself out of that business.

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So you have to have a very secure financial footprint, but for a lot of guys coming out

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of the military that have been deploying a lot, hopefully they do have a good nest there,

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some piece of money out there that they can draw on, or they have their retirement, which

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would be great.

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For someone retiring out of the military, I think moving into a franchise system would

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be an awesome idea because we're used to in the military going to a school.

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We're not reinventing the wheel.

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We're just kind of figuring out how to make the wheel spin faster.

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You know, it's like the flywheel effect.

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But you know, and that's why franchising seems to be a great fit for veterans because, you

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know, we're used to going and being trained and getting kind of a playbook and going out

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there and executing it, you know, at a very fast speed.

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And that's what franchising really is.

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I mean, we don't want to reinvent the moving industry.

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We wanted, or the junk industry, we wanted to learn it from someone else and go out there

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and make money by doing it better than other people can do it.

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And I think you mentioned something that's worth repeating here, which is, and now that

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you've been a business owner for almost 15 years, you've probably talked to a lot of

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business owners who've had the same experience that you commented on, which is, hey, in the

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first couple of years, you're not making any money here.

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You're reinvesting everything so that you can build a long-term asset.

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Can you talk about that a little bit?

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Yeah.

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And, you know, when I came in, when I first started the business, to be honest, I had

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a marketing degree and I'd been an infantry officer.

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And there wasn't a lot of resources to kind of give me a realistic idea.

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The good thing about a franchise system by law, I mean, they have to give you a realistic

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idea and they let you talk to other franchise partners before you sign up, even ones that

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have quit.

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So you're being a realistic idea of that, hey, I did $500,000 and I made $30,000 off

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that in the first two years or something.

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So, you know, I really, I probably wasn't as prepared for the first few years as I could

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have been, but I was more than a lot of people moving into.

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I mean, it took the third year before we really started to see even me replacing my infantry

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captain's salary, which didn't mean I was getting rich at that point by any stretch

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of the imagination.

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But you know, a lot of people in the military would ask me like, why the heck did you leave

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a great career?

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You're doing awesome.

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You would have a retirement if you'd stayed in for 20 years.

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And you know what I said to them, six or seven years into the business is I own a business

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that's ticking off more money than your retirement is already and someone else is running it

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for me.

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So, I mean, there's a lot more risk.

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I'm not guaranteed that income forever, but you know, I mean, there is a big siege upside

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to taking the risk.

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It's just, I think people got to be realistic.

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You're not going to come out and just be making money your first two or three or four years.

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I mean, you might make a salary or pay yourself and you know, and some people get lucky and

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then make it big and quick, but it's not very likely in a franchise system.

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I mean, you're not likely to fail if you execute the system like it's designed, but you're

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not going to get rich in one or two years.

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I mean, it's like you said, it's a long term investment.

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You're building an asset that you can either sell or you can hire or bring on partners

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to run and continue to get a residual income at some point, you hope, while you don't work

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at all in the business per se, you might work on the business some, but not in it as much.

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Another correlation I wanted you to talk about between sort of the military life and running

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a family business is the role of the family.

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You mentioned your wife a couple of times.

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Can you kind of talk about how that structure, that partner support is important in both

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aspects there and sort of similar?

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Yeah, I think, I mean, in the military, I mean, all of us have deployed.

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We know we are only as good as the people at home taking care of the family.

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I mean, you've sucked so many families fall apart during deployment.

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I mean, from whatever reason, the whole family structure was not there.

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You know, I mean, in a business, it's the same exact way.

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Like, my wife for years has done the books.

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She's done a lot of the HR stuff.

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My daughter who's older does the Facebook pages.

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She takes pictures.

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Some of my other kids have gone out on jobs when other employees haven't shown up.

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I think, unless you just have deep pockets, I think you've got to move into this thing,

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thinking of it as kind of like a unit has a family support group.

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You better have some type of support group to make your business successful.

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And most of the time, that's a, you know, a nuclear family like I have a wife and kids

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and everything, parents and grandparents.

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You need that support because there's going to be lots of challenges.

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There's going to be times when that bank account and the cash flow is low and either you just

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have great credit and great banking relationships or you turn to some type of same way for,

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you know, those ups and downs.

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But you know, I think it totally relates.

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I mean, if you've got a weak family structure and a weak family support in the military

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when you're deployed, you see what happens.

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It's the same exact way in a business, I think, especially when you do start a family-owned

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business.

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That's a great point I had thought of before, but it is important.

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Well, one of the other things I guess I'd like you to talk about as we begin to wind

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down this interview process.

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And we're talking to Andrew Wilson, who was in the U.S. Army, is a terminal rank, was

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captain.

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Andrew, as you looked at this, how long did it take you to, and you got to think back

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15 years now, it's a whole different story, right?

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Back in 2003 when you're thinking about this, is this a 30-day decision, a three-month decision?

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What do you find when you talk to both in your own experience but with other business

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owners, how long does it take somebody to wrap their mind around this?

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You know, for me, it was almost, it was over six months.

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I mean, I think a good timeline for someone would be to start looking now.

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I mean, you're never too early.

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Start coming up with ideas and even go work in part of the industry part time, as you

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could, just to see if you like it or not.

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But I started about six months out.

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When I was in Afghanistan, I sent an email off to 1AundergotJunk and I thought I was

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probably crazy, like telling him, hey, I'm here in Afghanistan and I'm interested in

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looking this as an option.

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And, you know, fast forward six months later, I think it's when we finally actually opened

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our doors or more, or a little bit more.

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So I mean, it wasn't an overnight thing.

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And the good thing about franchising is by law, they have to go through a certain process.

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So you can't just call them up and be like, I'm ready to sign up and buy the business

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and open tomorrow because they want you to succeed.

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I mean, if you succeed, they succeed because they make money up, you making money, and

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they make money up, you succeeding because they want to show everybody that their system's

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awesome.

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I have to say, not all franchise partners are created, or franchise e-pours are created

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equally.

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And I think that's why people have to really do their homework and find one that, you know,

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has a history of success, provides the support, and their franchises are profitable and make

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money because a lot of them, you're buying a job instead of buying a business.

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And that's, you know, I was lucky and found O2E Brands, which, you know, the track worker

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speaks for itself.

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There's lots of people making a lot of money and one that got jumped for sure.

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But it's been a great experience for sure.

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I've enjoyed being a franchise partner.

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Andrew Wilson, if folks want to learn more about O2 Brands or about you and your franchise

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businesses, how do they follow you?

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How do they track you?

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Right.

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So, I mean, with O2E, I mean, you can search the different.

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You can put an O2E on Google and there's going to be a million things.

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Brian Scootemore is, you know, one of the most sought after entrepreneurs out there.

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If you look at Brian's story, I think you'll learn a lot about, you know, his humble beginning

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to now owning a multi, you know, $300 million franchise organization.

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You know, as a veteran, I would personally, I mean, if you look me up, you can find me

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on LinkedIn, Andrew Wilson, you can look up, you move me, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, you can

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find my contact information.

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I'd be willing to mentor or discuss this step with any veteran that's interested in the

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future.

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I love, my goal this year was to try to help two veterans get into business and, you know,

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it's August now and I haven't succeeded yet, but I've got a few much left.

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So, I wish someone would call me and that's interested in starting a business and I'd

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love to look at it with them and at least tell them honestly what I think.

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Well, we want to thank you, Andrew Wilson.

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That's a great offer.

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We're glad to be able to bring it to our veteran radio listeners.

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This is a, certainly a step many veterans should consider.

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I think I saw somewhere something like 9% of business owners are veterans.

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So, you know, you won't be out there alone.

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There'll be a lot of folks with you.

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I want to thank you, Andrew, for being on Veterans Radio today.

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And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.

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I am Jim Fawson.

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It's been a pleasure to be your host.

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I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at

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800-6934800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web.

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You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio

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shows by going to veteransradio.net.

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And until next time, you are dismissed.

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If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for

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Veterans at 1-800-6934800.

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They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

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Your number again, 1-800-6934800.