All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
Welcome to Veterans Radio.
I am Jim Fausone.
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.
Welcome.
I'm Jim Fossoen, and this is a VeteransRadio spotlight on the National Veteran Business
Development Council, best known as NVBDC.org.
VeteransRadio. America, a nonprofit, has a partnership with NVBDC, which is the nation's
leading third party authority for certification of veteran owned businesses of all size.
It is also a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2013.
It addresses the growing need to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran
owned businesses for the commercial or corporate marketplace and for the government.
It administers a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny of corporate
entities seeking to utilize veteran owned businesses.
We want to welcome one of those businesses here to VeteransRadio.
So we're speaking with Julie Dwyer, who is the president of Express Yourself Promotional
Products down in beautiful North Carolina, and a Navy veteran.
Julie, welcome to VeteransRadio.
Thank you, Jim.
Good to be here.
Well, you spent 20 years in the Navy.
How did a nice girl like you get talked into a naval career?
Well, 21 plus years.
I served in the Navy for 21 plus years and just had the time of my life.
I went from Detroit, Michigan into the Navy after high school.
And talk to us a little bit about some of the assignments that you had over that long
career.
Well, first, I retired as a senior chief aviation warfare, surface warfare, Mjolnan.
My career is the sea duty out of the 21.
I was on five ships, three of the aircraft carriers.
I traveled around the entire world.
I was part of the repair team for the attack on the USS Stark back in 1987.
So that was pretty significant.
I was one of the first women to go on into a combat zone within the Navy to repair that
ship.
I served primarily on the West Coast and primarily on shore duty with flagstaffs.
And then when I was on shipboard within the captain's office.
So I got to know pretty much majority of the crew and be able to help them out.
And the services that we did provide from the Department.
Well you lived the slogan, join the world, join the Navy, see the world.
You got a chance to do that over such a long career.
You got out though and interestingly settled in North Carolina and started a business career.
I should mention along the way after getting out of the Metro Detroit area.
You picked up your associate's of arts degree from the University of Alaska in Anchorage
and your bachelor's of arts degree from the National University in San Diego, California.
But why a business career after you got out of the Navy?
Well I had no intention of really retiring when I did.
I had to come home to take care of my mother who became paralyzed from a back surgery.
So I was on my way to Brussels and then so I had to make the difficult decision to retire
instead.
As far as my business, there in 1998 before I left the service, I was stationed in San
Diego, went to an entrepreneur expo in Del Mar and there they were showcasing numerous
businesses that you could have.
One of them was the promotional products business and so I was pretty interested in that.
I bought into it while I was still in the Navy and as a matter of fact my first customers
were on the aircraft carrier Nimitz.
I would sell the squadrons, their t-shirts, wall caps, pins, challenge coins, all their
re-enlistment memorabilia.
So that was pretty fun.
I was a nervous wreck doing it because of course trying to run the opposite at the same
time working on providing promotional products from abroad.
But that's where I got my feet wet in this business.
There's an important lesson right there.
Right start small, see if you like it.
Hey if it works, maybe it'll grow and maybe it'll hang around for a while and this is
going to hang around for another 22 years or plus.
So it really did grow into something.
But tell us why along the way you decided, hey I think it makes sense for me to become
a certified veteran owned business and why you turned to NVBDC.
Well as you know probably as a veteran that while you're in uniform, your uniform reflects
on your trust level, your capabilities, what sets you apart from the other people in the
military because you wear your ribbons and everything else and people kind of get a window
into who you are, integrity wise and such.
So when I retired from the Navy, I just assumed everybody, they knew I was a veteran, they
provide me contract opportunities as a veteran and I'm knowing how important the actual certification
process was.
The assumption kind of hurt me for a while for a few years and then I met up with a woman
named Annette who pretty much, I shadowed her and she pretty much showed me the importance
of certifications.
And the NVBDC certification has been extremely important and valuable to us ever since we
did receive it.
We picked up quite a few corporate clients but the thing is the certification doesn't
stand on its own.
You obviously have to be who you say you are.
You definitely be able to deliver and deliver right the first time every time like we did
back in the military.
So a lot of skill sets transferred over and that's it only made sense to really pursue
this certification with the NVBDC.
And they try to go out of their way I think to help companies big and small, get corporate
opportunities, get networking opportunities.
Would you consider yourself a big company or a little company?
I'm a small business that has been very successful.
At one time someone had warned me to say if this really takes off because through the
procurement events, the meet and greet and just getting yourself in front of these corporate
buyers and these government buyers, there's going to be a time where it's going to be
like you're drinking from a fire hose.
And that certainly happened and it happened quite rapidly.
So I just can't help but be very grateful for the skill set that I acquired while in
the military that I transferred over into my small business.
Yeah, I think we all learn how to drink out of a fire hose in the military.
Yes, yes.
But it just comes fast and it is so very important to get these certifications whatever
category that you could qualify for.
But the veteran on the SDVOSP certification, like I said, has been paramount to quite a
few corporate accounts that we have.
People are very, very excited about working with the veteran on business.
Well, let me let me let me turn now to talk a little bit more about the business.
It's important as we've just mentioned, but tell us what Express Yourself Promotional
Products is.
You've been in the field for 20 plus years.
Most of us don't probably have a good handle on what that means.
Well, what we do is we provide promotion items, promotional items that promote brand corporate
identity and keep valuable messages out front for these clients.
You can't crane your head without seeing a logo on something.
And that's very subliminal to the business world.
You always want to keep your brand out front in good light and also it's reciprocal.
You provide someone with a branded item.
They're grateful for it.
And most likely it results in a reciprocal response.
And this is this is just not cheap knockoff stuff.
You're not you're not talking about that kind of promotional like the giveaway.
The trinkets you're you're probably referring to trinkets.
That's the word.
I couldn't come up with it.
I'm sorry.
No, no, we actually, you know, branded materials, you know, such as packaging as well, you
know, no, we also very high end products, you know, writing instruments, plaques, awards,
custom coins, high end coolers, tumblers, and oh yes, it's, you know, it goes.
There's some very nice products out there that can be branded with a corporate logo.
Well, and that's that's how you leave the good feeling about the brand behind is that
it's on a, you know, quality promotional item.
Give me an example of two or three things that are popular these days.
Oh, well, I know yeti has really taken off and that's a that's an item that clients are
using to show appreciation for their their staff and on the employees.
It's very important that you also, you know, recognize the hard workers, you know, the
part of the team.
So we've seen a lot of that last, you know, through Christmas, holiday and everything
else.
Also the trade show giveaways, I notice trade show giveaways are getting a little bit higher
quality because it's very important to show a potential client that, you know, you obviously
care enough about, you know, providing them something that they can use and also keep
your brand in front of them.
We do a lot of custom coins like I know the corporations are doing challenge coins for
their veteran employees.
Like you know, carrot corning.
And do you know what I had lunch today with a retired army guy and he handed me a coin
in the handshake and they never cease to bring a smile to you.
Right.
I can see why they're so popular.
Yes, because you know, we all, you know, we all have, you know, a bunch of them from the
military and, and that did, yeah, they bring, they bring around a camaraderie and the disc,
you know, it starts the discussion.
And I don't know about you, you walk into a room and you, you find somebody in the military,
me, especially if they're been in the Navy and instantly, you know, there's a conversation,
there's a connection.
Absolutely.
And you know, NVBDC has done that for us too.
You know, the veteran connection, even the buyers, the buyers were, some of the buyers
were once veterans.
So there's that connection.
So as you assist companies with promotional products, talk about that service that assists,
because again, some of us are linear thinkers and maybe not great designers or color choices
and help us understand the services that express yourself, promotional products also provides.
Well, for the most part, corporate, corporate buyers already know exactly what they want
and how they want it branded.
But for example, we have a corporate client in the insurance industry.
So what we do is we, we serve their pain point, quote unquote, where we, we do the footwork
for them.
And we will put together a package of swag, merge promotional product ideas for them to
hand out to those individuals that, that are within their insurance realm.
In other words, they're talking to a group of people about an insurance package.
They're always providing a branded item.
Well, that way you can keep it fresh too, because you know what's fresh on the market
as compared to maybe somebody who says, well, just by the same thing we bought for the last
five years.
Correct.
And that's, I think that's where people go wrong with branded items.
They don't, they don't realize the power of the branded item.
You know, sometimes if you provide something that's quality and, you know, obviously something
that they'll be able to use, they can refer back with that information.
You know, if there should be a phone number on it or a website or the brand itself.
Because some of these, obviously a lot of these corporate clients have powerful brands,
you know, and but they come with, they also come with competition.
So, you know, that's where you better not do the same thing your main competitor does.
That's kind of, there's a mistake, right?
If people are interested in promotional products, how do, how do they reach express yourself
promotional products and talk to us a little bit about the size of the customer, the geographic
location of the customers, your service territory, if you will.
Well our service territory is nationwide and also too, we are required, we do work with
a few that are broad.
One of our corporate clients has facilities all over the world.
So we'll go to...
And do you have to be, you know, a Fortune 500 company to work with Express yourself?
Absolutely not, but Express yourself is healthy.
So we're capable of handling pretty much extremely large orders on down to small orders.
And people can reach us through our website, expressyourselfpromote.com or contact us here
at expressyourself, sales at expressyourselfpromote.com.
And one of us will definitely jump on it right away and get the discussion going and it goes
from there.
So we really appreciate Julie Dwyer, Navy Veteran, an NVBDC certified veteran owned
business owner of Express yourself promotional products.
I suspect those guys you sold t-shirts to on ship when you started never thought it would
grow like this did they?
No, no, well you're talking to a sailor who never thought it would grow like this either.
And the funny thing is, is I knew that I had that demographic that I was used to and I
did for quite a few about five, six years after I retired and I did, you know, kind
of target career counselors on ships and everything else for the reenlistment swag.
So it was fun and interesting.
I kept it familiar.
But then I turned that corner, that corporate corner and government corner and it just
took off.
Well, again, you have to be, you got to get comfortable with it.
You got to grow it a little both on a cash flow basis and a resource and networking basis.
But you do it kind of one step at a time and build your career, right?
That's correct.
Well we appreciate it, Julie, that you get to spend a little time here with Veterans
Radio today to talk about NVBDC and your military career.
And more importantly, maybe about Express yourself promotional products and the value
of such branded products to business owners and others.
Well, thank you.
I appreciate it, Jim.
And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.
I am Jim Fawson.
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.
That's 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.
Your 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, VFWGRAPH, 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.