1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,640 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,920 This is Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,560 I am Jim Fossone. 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,880 I'm the officer of the deck today. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,720 We've got some great programs for you. 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,760 I think you'll find very interesting. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,480 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site 9 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,280 or at the web. 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:42,720 VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,240 Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:55,520 We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview, something 13 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,280 you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org. 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,560 And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors. 15 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:13,840 First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 16 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,520 It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran owned businesses. 17 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:26,080 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 18 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,600 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 19 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:35,080 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 20 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:47,040 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com. 21 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:48,040 Welcome. 22 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:53,080 I'm Jim Fosso and this is VeteransRadio's spotlight on National Veteran Business Development 23 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:58,160 Council, better known as NVBDC.org. 24 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:04,360 VeteransRadio has a partnership with NVBDC, which is the nation's leading third-party 25 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,800 authority for certification of veteran owned businesses of all sizes. 26 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:13,040 It's a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2013. 27 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:18,200 It addresses the growing need to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran 28 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:25,560 owned businesses for commercial or corporate marketplaces, as well as government contracts. 29 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:31,960 NVBDC administers a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny 30 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,200 of those corporate entities. 31 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:40,440 And we want to welcome today to VeteransRadio Jim Cowper, who is on the advisory board for 32 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:41,440 NVBDC. 33 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,680 Jim, welcome to VeteransRadio. 34 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,200 Thank you, Jim. 35 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,680 I'm thrilled to be here on behalf of NVBDC. 36 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,800 I'm happy to talk about anything that helps our nation's veterans. 37 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:52,800 Well we appreciate that. 38 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:59,600 And you have a long and impressive history in the business world, a career that's 30 39 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,560 plus years of the making. 40 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,520 The sales you've generated are in the billions. 41 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:14,200 You are deep and wide in areas of commercial, defense, government, automotive areas. 42 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,200 And actually nationwide, not only nationwide, internationally you have experience. 43 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,840 And we're going to get to talk about it a little bit a little later. 44 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:29,280 But where I want to start is how did you get involved with NVBDC on its advisory board? 45 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,400 Well we always tease all great things that are invented in Detroit. 46 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,320 And NVBDC is just another one of those. 47 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:44,360 So when I was the president of a local Detroit technical staffing company, we were veteran 48 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:45,360 owned. 49 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:53,040 And one of the things that all of the DOD contracts and the United States government 50 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:58,800 is always looking for is how do you prove that you're a certified owned business? 51 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:04,240 And rollback 10 years ago when NVBDC was launched, it was an extreme gray area. 52 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:10,760 There was really no gold standard for how a company would be deemed certified. 53 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:12,520 So I went looking for that. 54 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:18,840 In the business we were running, we needed this credibility for our DOD clients to grow 55 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:21,600 the business, to gain more DOD clients. 56 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,720 And I came across Keith King in NVBDC. 57 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:33,640 And Keith was year one into the process of getting NVBDC approved as the certification 58 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,320 entity for veteran owned businesses. 59 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,840 And I saw the value for our company and I saw the value for all the veterans across 60 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:42,080 the nation. 61 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,040 So I immediately said, how can I be involved? 62 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:46,680 And can I volunteer my time? 63 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:51,040 Can I volunteer my staff's time to help drive veteran business? 64 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,840 And Keith was gracious enough to let me be involved. 65 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:55,440 I did not serve. 66 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:00,200 So my hat and heart is off to everyone who served, both active duty now and those that 67 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,200 have served in the past. 68 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:09,600 And I'm, as a technical staffing professional, I've employed thousands and thousands of veterans 69 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:15,160 in both the public space, you know, convinced the automotive industry here in Detroit that 70 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,200 veterans have a unique talent that they should hire and thankfully they have. 71 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,320 And then obviously it goes hand in hand with DOD contracts. 72 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,920 So I sought NVBDC out. 73 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:30,520 I was looking for that gold standard to be able to go to my customers and say, we are 74 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:31,520 veteran owned. 75 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,640 We are certified veteran owned. 76 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:35,240 And it has helped us win business. 77 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,280 It has helped us maintain and retain business. 78 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:44,720 And of course, the greatest gift is being able to employ veterans and seeing them do all 79 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,880 the things that all of us do once we're employed and take care of our families. 80 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,360 And of course pay taxes in this wonderful state of the United States. 81 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,760 So short story, that's how I got there. 82 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:55,760 And I'm thrilled. 83 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:57,320 10 years later, I'm still involved. 84 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:03,680 No, it's a great story and it gives you a unique perspective. 85 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,760 You're been on both sides of it. 86 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:11,400 You've been on the side of, hey, I got to get my company certified. 87 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,620 And then what the value of that certification is. 88 00:06:15,620 --> 00:06:22,040 And now also being on the advisory board, being able to talk with NVBDC about how business 89 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,960 owners think, how customers think. 90 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:30,120 Tell us a little bit about the value you saw in and continue to see in certification. 91 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:35,440 Well, it's kind of, I've got kind of three buckets here. 92 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,320 So first off, thank you to all the corporations. 93 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:45,560 We're 185 plus that send funding to NVBDC so we can keep doing what we're doing. 94 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,000 And as you can imagine, those are the who's who of America. 95 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,480 You can go to NVBDC.org and look at all the corpse that sponsor us. 96 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:54,600 So the corpse see the value. 97 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,000 The veterans to veterans see value. 98 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:02,080 So when we have our national meeting in November, or we have a lot of matchmaker meetings throughout 99 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,560 the year, veterans can come into the room and talk to other veterans. 100 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:10,720 A small business that might be two or three people to a multi, to a billion dollar business. 101 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,120 And the veterans can learn from one another. 102 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:19,640 And then for me, as a guy running a business and always looking to recruit veterans to employ 103 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,960 them, that networking is just invaluable. 104 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:28,680 And I'll say to all the veteran owned businesses out there, stay with it. 105 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,960 You'll get certified at NVBDC. 106 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,120 It is the beginning, not the end. 107 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,000 You have to work with corporations. 108 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:40,120 It takes time to win business, whether it's in the veteran space or not in the veteran 109 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:41,120 space. 110 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,960 And once you get your NVBDC certification, stick with it. 111 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:46,360 Renew it every year. 112 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:47,720 Keep coming to the meetings. 113 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:49,040 Keep networking. 114 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:50,960 That's where the value is. 115 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:55,440 And I don't know if anybody saw the Tom Brady Hall of Fame induction speech the other day. 116 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,760 He talked about it's hard work. 117 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,160 Success is hard work. 118 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,400 And I can't emphasize that enough to these veteran owned businesses. 119 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,080 Many are small and I recognize they're small. 120 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:08,080 Stick with it. 121 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:09,280 You will be successful. 122 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:14,280 The nation is interested in honors veterans and wants to employ them. 123 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,120 But it's hard work. 124 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,040 And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. 125 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:21,600 I am Jim Fawcone. 126 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,920 It's been a pleasure to be your host. 127 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,800 I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans. 128 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:36,200 And you can reach us at 800-693-4800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web. 129 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:41,080 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio 130 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,720 shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org. 131 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,440 That's veteransradio.org. 132 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,640 And until next time, you are dismissed. 133 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:56,080 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for 134 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,320 Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 135 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:04,320 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 136 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,280 Your number again, 1-800-693-4800. 137 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:13,880 We again want to thank our national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development 138 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:22,840 Council, NVBDC.org, VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, the Vietnam Veterans of America, 139 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:31,760 Charles S. Kettles Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan, VFW Graff O'Hara Post 423 in Ann Arbor, and 140 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:37,720 the American Legion Press Corn Post 46 also in Ann Arbor. 141 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:39,200 We appreciate all your support. 142 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:46,240 You can go to veteransradio.net, click on the sponsor level, and continue to support 143 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:49,240 keeping Veterans Radio on the air. 144 00:09:49,240 --> 00:10:03,280 And until next time, you are dismissed.