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.
Welcome.
I'm Jim Fosso and this is VeteransRadio's spotlight on National Veteran Business Development
Council, better known as NVBDC.org.
VeteransRadio has a partnership with NVBDC, which is the nation's leading third-party
authority for certification of veteran owned businesses of all sizes.
It's a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2013.
It addresses the growing need to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran
owned businesses for commercial or corporate marketplaces, as well as government contracts.
NVBDC administers a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny
of those corporate entities.
And we want to welcome today to VeteransRadio Jim Cowper, who is on the advisory board for
NVBDC.
Jim, welcome to VeteransRadio.
Thank you, Jim.
I'm thrilled to be here on behalf of NVBDC.
I'm happy to talk about anything that helps our nation's veterans.
Well we appreciate that.
And you have a long and impressive history in the business world, a career that's 30
plus years of the making.
The sales you've generated are in the billions.
You are deep and wide in areas of commercial, defense, government, automotive areas.
And actually nationwide, not only nationwide, internationally you have experience.
And we're going to get to talk about it a little bit a little later.
But where I want to start is how did you get involved with NVBDC on its advisory board?
Well we always tease all great things that are invented in Detroit.
And NVBDC is just another one of those.
So when I was the president of a local Detroit technical staffing company, we were veteran
owned.
And one of the things that all of the DOD contracts and the United States government
is always looking for is how do you prove that you're a certified owned business?
And rollback 10 years ago when NVBDC was launched, it was an extreme gray area.
There was really no gold standard for how a company would be deemed certified.
So I went looking for that.
In the business we were running, we needed this credibility for our DOD clients to grow
the business, to gain more DOD clients.
And I came across Keith King in NVBDC.
And Keith was year one into the process of getting NVBDC approved as the certification
entity for veteran owned businesses.
And I saw the value for our company and I saw the value for all the veterans across
the nation.
So I immediately said, how can I be involved?
And can I volunteer my time?
Can I volunteer my staff's time to help drive veteran business?
And Keith was gracious enough to let me be involved.
I did not serve.
So my hat and heart is off to everyone who served, both active duty now and those that
have served in the past.
And I'm, as a technical staffing professional, I've employed thousands and thousands of veterans
in both the public space, you know, convinced the automotive industry here in Detroit that
veterans have a unique talent that they should hire and thankfully they have.
And then obviously it goes hand in hand with DOD contracts.
So I sought NVBDC out.
I was looking for that gold standard to be able to go to my customers and say, we are
veteran owned.
We are certified veteran owned.
And it has helped us win business.
It has helped us maintain and retain business.
And of course, the greatest gift is being able to employ veterans and seeing them do all
the things that all of us do once we're employed and take care of our families.
And of course pay taxes in this wonderful state of the United States.
So short story, that's how I got there.
And I'm thrilled.
10 years later, I'm still involved.
No, it's a great story and it gives you a unique perspective.
You're been on both sides of it.
You've been on the side of, hey, I got to get my company certified.
And then what the value of that certification is.
And now also being on the advisory board, being able to talk with NVBDC about how business
owners think, how customers think.
Tell us a little bit about the value you saw in and continue to see in certification.
Well, it's kind of, I've got kind of three buckets here.
So first off, thank you to all the corporations.
We're 185 plus that send funding to NVBDC so we can keep doing what we're doing.
And as you can imagine, those are the who's who of America.
You can go to NVBDC.org and look at all the corpse that sponsor us.
So the corpse see the value.
The veterans to veterans see value.
So when we have our national meeting in November, or we have a lot of matchmaker meetings throughout
the year, veterans can come into the room and talk to other veterans.
A small business that might be two or three people to a multi, to a billion dollar business.
And the veterans can learn from one another.
And then for me, as a guy running a business and always looking to recruit veterans to employ
them, that networking is just invaluable.
And I'll say to all the veteran owned businesses out there, stay with it.
You'll get certified at NVBDC.
It is the beginning, not the end.
You have to work with corporations.
It takes time to win business, whether it's in the veteran space or not in the veteran
space.
And once you get your NVBDC certification, stick with it.
Renew it every year.
Keep coming to the meetings.
Keep networking.
That's where the value is.
And I don't know if anybody saw the Tom Brady Hall of Fame induction speech the other day.
He talked about it's hard work.
Success is hard work.
And I can't emphasize that enough to these veteran owned businesses.
Many are small and I recognize they're small.
Stick with it.
You will be successful.
The nation is interested in honors veterans and wants to employ them.
But it's hard work.
And 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.
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, VFW Graff 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.