All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. Good
day. I'm Jim Fossone. I'm the Officer of the
Deck today here on Veterans Radio and thanks
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to certify both service disabled and veteran
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help your business by going to nvbdc .org. We
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Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability
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You can learn more about them by going to PuroClean
.com. Welcome, I am Jim Fossone and this is Veteran
Radio's spotlight on National Veteran Business
Development Council, better known as NVBDC. which
is a non -profit. It's the nation's leading third
party authority for certification of veteran
owned businesses, really of all sizes. It was
established in 2013. It addresses the growing
need to identify and certify both service disabled
and veteran owned businesses for use in the...
commercial or corporate marketplace as well as
the government contracting. NVBDC administers
a rigorous certification process designed to
withstand the scrutiny of governmental and corporate
entities seeking to utilize certified veteran
-owned businesses. And we want to welcome to
Veterans Radio Douglas Heath. He's the president
of Bravia Services who is veteran owned and we're
going to talk a little bit about him, the business
and the certification. Doug, welcome to Veterans
Radio. Hi, thanks. Thanks for having me. I appreciate
it. Well, we always like talking to business
owners who have continued to advance their professional
goals. Bravia is designed, if you will, to support
a variety of pathways because you're in the recruiting
and staffing business. Tell us a little bit about
Bravia. Yeah. So, you know, I always say it's
important for me when I talk about Bravia services,
they also talk about why I started it. So I was
a partner in a company and, but I had a long,
a different company and along the ways, even
then I was volunteering and helping veterans.
I actually won the 2017 Patriot Award and the
2019 Above and Beyond Award from ESGR. That stands
for Employer Supports for Garden Reserves. And
it was something that, you know, I got a lot
of value out of personally. And I decided with
my wife's support to sell my equity in that business
and start Bravia Services really just to help
veterans. guys and girls coming off of either
active duty or deployment, help them find jobs.
And initially I was gonna set it up as a not
-for -profit, but you can't get certified as
a not -for -profit. So we are a certified company.
through the NDBDC and the SBA and we have three
verticals to our company or three pillars like
we say. You mentioned staffing consulting services
and that was really my background. I'm an engineer
and I worked as an engineer first and then I
got into consulting and I did consulting for
about 25 years. But a lot of veterans come out
and you know as a veteran you're used to working
with your hands, maybe a little bit more. And,
you know, I found that there was a lot of roles
in kind of construction field. So I actually
acquired two small construction companies to
form our second pillar. So our first pillar is
that staffing consulting our second pillar, which
is construction. And again, keep in mind that
our goal is to help veterans, service disabled
veterans, their families and disabled people
find jobs. And then along the way, I had clients
because of my background in consulting and whatnot.
And my background was really supporting Fortune
500 companies. I had negotiated a lot of contracts.
I had people reach out to me and said, hey, can
you just help me negotiate this contract or what
would you do here? And I was just doing it as
favors to people. And some of my clients said,
hey, I don't want you to do this as a favor.
I want to pay you. I want to make it worth your
time. And so it kind of just grew organically.
And it's our third pillar, what we call. procurement
services where we help people source either hard
to find parts or a lot of it is safety products.
And a lot of the safety products, honestly, on
construction sites and manufacturing facilities
and stuff like that. But it's also our software.
I mean, we're actually sourcing a lot of software
for different states and stuff like that. So
our three pillars are really consulting and staff
and construction and engineering services and
then procurement services. Now, what year did
you start? Bravia services? We started in 2023,
so we're three years old basically. And at what
point, Doug, I mean you had obviously had this,
hey I want to help veterans, there's an underserved
niche, I can relate to these guys because of
my time in the Ohio Air National Guard, and we're
going to talk about that a little bit later.
But at what point did you say, I really need
to be a certified veteran -owned business? That's
a great question. Pretty early on, having worked
as a consultant, like I said, for 25, 30 years
and working with a lot of Fortune 500 companies,
they're all busy, right? Everybody's busy. Nobody
has time. And what the NVBDC does for corporate
America, for companies in general, is it gives
them an easy button, right? They know if you're
certified, that you're legit. The NVBDC goes
through a pretty rigorous process to make sure
that you're real. The Department of Defense has
a definition of a veteran and the NVBDC follows
it to the letter. Companies know that if you
carry that certification that they are working
for a veteran -owned business, not just the front.
They know that you're certified, you're running
the business, you're active in the business,
you have control of the business. So I recognized
pretty early on that this would really be an
important thing for me to get. And it is a rigorous
process. There's some time, resources, cost associated
with it. From your viewpoint, has it been worth
the effort that you had to put into it to get
to the certification level? 100%. No, I wouldn't
even hesitate to say yes. One, the people at
the MVVC are great. uh every single one of them
um and you know i've been fortunate to be on
panels with them and talk to them um they they
make it about as easy as you can it's not easy
uh and i'll be the first one that paperwork is
not really one of my strengths but um you know
they they uh they they make it about as easy
as you can while also holding you accountable
um but i i will tell you like i said you know
um Some companies more than others, but a lot
of companies want to work with veteran -owned
businesses for a variety of reasons. And if you
have the certification, they know that they're
working with a veteran -owned business that's
controlled by the veteran and run by the veteran.
As you said, that's kind of the easy button.
That's really interesting and it's a great way
to phrase it. Yeah, that's the phrase I've kind
of used that now, the easy button. I like to
be, you know, we're an easy button, not just
the fact that we're certified, but you got to
be easy to work with, too. Yeah. Right. So so
and the MVBDC is great. Well, they really are
great. Let me back up a little bit because I
mentioned it, but we haven't talked about it.
Talk. You were a member of the Ohio Air National
Guard for six years and an IRR for a couple of
years. How did a nice kid like you end up in
the Ohio Air National Guard? Tell us about what
you did there. That's a funny question because
I actually come from a family of military. My
dad was Army. I'm the youngest of six kids. My
sister is the oldest and I had five brothers.
And three of my brothers were all in the Army
National Guard. And I'm the youngest. So I like
to say, and I joined the Air Force right there
in National Guard. I like to say we got smarter
as we got younger. And your brothers probably
agree with you. But all joking aside, the truth
is, you know, my parents, being the youngest
of six kids, you know, they could get us through
high school. And if we wanted to go to college,
you know, we had to pay for it ourselves. And,
you know, I tried to go to college. That's the
truth. And I dropped out. And, you know, it's
funny because my kids sometimes say, Dan, why
do you tell people you dropped out of college?
And I say, well, I did, you know, and. Well,
you know, that's one of those things where it's
really important to pass lessons along, right?
Just because you went through that phase where
college wasn't the thing at that time. Yeah,
you found a way back to it, became a practicing
engineer now running this successful business.
So. So you went into the guard a little bit to
get, I suspect to get some dollars for education.
Exactly. So, and I, I, so I dropped out of college,
joined the NAS, I was, I was working at the fish
department for a pet store. Uh, and I said, nothing
wrong with that, but I didn't want that to be
my career. And, um, I joined the national guard
really to help me pay for college. Um, and you
know, I like to say people join the military
for a lot of reasons. Some people that's their
calling and they do it right away. Like I said,
I did it to help me get through college. But
once you're in there, you realize there's more
to it. There's camaraderie. There's your peers,
your friends, the people you meet in there, and
the calling. And you realize there's a lot more
to it than why you enlist sometimes. So, um,
you know, the same recruiter that recruited all
my brothers to the army was, was recruiting me.
And at the last minute I changed my mind and,
uh, it was funny cause he said to my dad, he
said, tell your son to sign the contract and
you know, we can celebrate. My dad said, well,
this is his decision. And you got to understand
I'm the youngest of four boys and that was the
last thing he should have said to me. Cause this
last thing I want to do is walk in their footsteps
anymore. So I threw the pen down on the contract
and called the Air Force and signed up without
reading the job description. So it was kind of
a funny story. There often is a little twist
in how one gets into the military. I've had all
kinds of stories, including mothers who have
called recruiters and said, you come get my kid
because he needs this. You know, you know what?
I needed it too. In hindsight, it was probably
one of the best things I ever did. because it
really got me separation from the life I was
living. And it gave me, I spent a year on active
duty and then I got deployed a couple of times.
I did get deployed to the Middle East during
the first Gulf War, but that separation, that
time to really focus and say, hey, what do I
really wanna do and kind of get my act together?
So I was, I can tell you for certain, I was a
different person and a different student. Having
spent that time on active duty and coming back,
I was on a mission then. And then it helped.
I used the GI bill to pay for my college. And
by that point in time, because I went to college,
and then I dropped out and I worked for about
a year. And then I was in active duty for a year
and whatnot. I was two, three, four years older
than a lot of my peers in college. So I was a
little older than them. But I was a different
student. I was focused. So it really helped me
a lot. So I would recommend it. My dad, you know,
like I said, I had three brothers and my dad
was Army. So, you know, it was kind of something
I had in the back of my mind anyway. Yeah. But
it really helped me. So talk to us a little bit
about because I think this is interesting from
a business owner's perspective. What you learn
in the service that you still apply today and
why do you look at employing and helping veterans
find jobs today? Yeah. You know, I guess it was
kind of already there, but maybe reinforced that
you get up and go to work every day. You know,
whether you're tired, whether you're, you know,
you got work to do, you get up and you do it,
right? And you support each other. I'm big into
teamwork. You know, and you kind of learn all
that in the military. You know, you don't get
any accomplished alone. You're not going to build
a business alone. And I think that really helped.
And you know, that drive, that focus, that commitment,
you know, you kind of, you know, I hit a spot
was tough and then I got direction and I realized,
hey, you know, if I really put my mind to something,
I really get up and go to work every day and
get a little bit better every day. You know,
we can accomplish a lot. One of the things you
quietly get in the service because you get a
lot of responsibility for a young person is confidence.
Yeah. where you think there's no way I can do
this. And then you look back and say, Hey, my
team and I, we got this done. Well, and even
basic training, you know, the first couple of
weeks in basic training, what did I get myself
into? I should have joined the army. And then
you come out and you're like, Hey, you know what?
I got through that, you know, and, and, and then,
you know, you get deployed and you say, Hey,
you know what? I got through that. So there's
definitely that confidence, um, and the support
of your friends and the support you give them
and the support of the mission. you know, all
of that stuff, you know, kind of gets rooted
in your gut a little bit. And, you know, it gives
you that, hey, I know I can do this. I just got
to go do it, you know? Yeah, some of that is
you look back and say, well, this doesn't suck
as much as that last thing I did when I was in
service. And that's an important, that's kind
of the part of that confidence and keeping going.
I want to come back, though, to tell us a little
bit more about Bravia services. the staffing
consulting silo, if you will, and again, why
is it important to focus in on veterans in this
area? Well, one, first of all, you know, the
staffing, I did that for a long time, so I know
the industry. And what I was doing when I was
volunteering with ESGR was I was helping guys
and girls that were coming off active duty. Some
of them had never written a resume. I like to
tell a story that I met a guy, he is married,
had a wife, two kids, and he was working at a
gas station. He was a network engineer in the
Navy with a secret security clearance. And I
met him. I said, why are you working at a gas
station? You know, and he said, well, I can't
get a job. And I said, what do you mean you can't
get a job? You're a network engineer with a top
secret security. Yeah, that's crazy. And he had
never written. So I helped him write a resolution.
I said, dude, I can get you a job in two weeks.
This is crazy. And, you know, you know, two,
three weeks later, he got an interview and he
got a job between one of the big government contractors,
but he was making, you know, 80 grand a year
with full health insurance. And he said, man,
this changed my life. This is amazing. I can't
believe this. And, you know, I like that a lot.
Like I was like, this is something I want to
do. That's the motivator, isn't it? That's I
mean, a lot of people think all business owners
are just in it for the money, but you're really
in it for that that adrenaline shot you got when
the guy says to you, I got the job and it's changed
my life. Yeah. You know, he didn't even work
for me. You know, we do staffing. So, you know,
we hire people, we put them out at customer sites.
This is why I just try and help people find jobs.
And I really believe in karma. What comes around
goes around, you know. I just got him a job.
I said, man, there's no way. You just got nowhere.
Let's put a resume together. Let's get. So, you
know, if you look at what we do, all of them
involve people, right? Staffing, consulting,
construction, and procurement. They're all involved
people working. And I know I can help them all
find jobs, good jobs. And I like that a lot.
So, you know, I say if we focus on the mission,
which is that's our mission. And I always say
to, you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't say this
again. You know, a lot of times the military
families pay the price too. So that's why I throw
them in like military brats. If you look at the
leadership team of Braavius Services, they're
all military, military brats, you know, and a
lot of the folks we hire, they all are. And so,
you know, and I think that you find that They
kind of like it too. So everybody's kind of got
a little bit oomph, if you will. They get after
a little harder because, you know, that's part
of our mission, you know. Well, and we're talking
to Doug Heath, who's president of Bravia Services,
and you can find more about Bravia Services by
going to braviaservices .com. B -R -A -V -I -A
services .com. Doug, you mentioned earlier you
got three daughters. I do. If they came to you
and said, Dad, I'm going to follow the family
path and go into the military, what's mom and
dad going to say? I would tell them to do it.
My wife might not. But like I said, it helped
me a ton. Um, no, I don't think my kids need
to help quite as much as I did. Maybe that's
just me, you know, we're not drawing any conclusions
between boys and girls here. No, I don't mean
boys and girls. I mean, because I needed probably
that break in that focus. My kids are a little
more focused and probably a little better students
and a little more driven than I was coming out
of high school. Um, but you know, I, I don't
know how I could say no to anybody because it's,
helped me so much, right? It really set that
foundation for me. Like I said, I dropped out
of college. I spent a year working at a pet store.
And I said, hey, and then when I went into the
military and got that foundation and got that
kind of base to grow from, if you look at my
life and kind of where it's gone, it was a pivotal
point. So I don't know how I wouldn't be. It
would be remiss for me to say otherwise, you
know what I mean? I would never discourage anybody.
Matter of fact, I've encouraged a lot of my friends
because, you know, I've been in the employment
world, let's say for the last 25, 30 years, and
I get a lot of people asking me, hey, what do
you think my son should do? This, that, the other
thing. I tell them all if they're not, if they're
unsure. Military and the National Guard and the
Reserves are a great place to go. You get great
experiences. You get some benefits like the GI
Bill. You meet all kinds of people and learn
how to work with all kinds of people. Yeah, there's
a lot of advantages. I want to back you up, though,
to one of the columns of BRAVIA services on construction,
because it's sort of interesting. You said, I
bought a couple of small construction companies
to fold in here, and I started putting people
to work in the construction field. Expand on
that a little bit. Yeah, so, you know, I'm from
Cincinnati. I went to the University of Cincinnati
as an engineer, but I've lived in Indiana now,
Indianapolis for the last 26 years. So I acquired
a small business out of Cincinnati and one here
in Indianapolis. So we have an office in both
places. The one in Cincinnati is more engineering
focused and we have some unique services there.
We are the only UL certified, which is lightning
protection certified company. in Indiana so and
that's becoming really a big deal because you
know federal buildings and you know all every
company it's not the building anymore it's what's
inside the building that clients are worried
about and I was very fortunate when I acquired
the company I didn't didn't realize the value
that but it's really something that's differentiating
us because you know clients need that certification.
And then the one here in Indiana, we're more
like owners reps, general contractors. We've
got a big safety, we call it safety as a service.
So we've got about 25 safety resources that are
on sites at different customers, providing safety
across the board. We do training, we do consulting,
we do auditing. And then we have safety resources
just out there managing the safety practices
of our customers. And the person who runs that
whole program for me is an ex -Marine. So I guess
once a Marine, always a Marine. So he is a Marine.
Yeah, there you go. And I think that helps, because
he runs it like a Marine. So it's very well run.
And I think all that kind of rolls up together.
And we train a lot of people. We've hired five
people that had zero safety experience. And we
trained them. And they're working for us now.
So it's great. I love that. Well, again, there's
a lot of value in being a business owner. You
get a lot of satisfaction beyond the dollars,
as you say, helping people get jobs, training
them up for jobs that they didn't know they could
do, working with the team. Let's go back. It
sounds like you've been able to use the veteran
certification from NVBDC a little bit with both
staffing and consulting and construction where
clients or customers look at you and go, I want
to work with that guy if he can actually do the
job. So do you see the certification as sort
of opening up the door, but you still have to
prove yourself up, don't you? Oh, absolutely.
I mean, yes and yes. Yes, it opens the door.
And yes, you still have to prove yourself. I
mean, I would be remiss if I didn't mention a
couple of customers that just gave us a chance.
Like in the staffing space. AGS, Kelly, Guidant,
and Tyler Tech are companies that, you know,
right out of the gate when they found out we
were a veteran -owned business, they said, hey,
you know, I'm interested in talking to you guys.
Let's see what you got, right? And that was because
of that certification, that NVBDC certification
that they said, hey, okay, we know you are a
veteran -owned business. Like I said earlier,
that easy button, we got you there. Now tell
us what you can do and do you really, you know,
can you do this? And it just opened the door.
to have that conversation. So it definitely helped.
In construction, a really great partner of ours
is Johnson Controls. They met with us and they
wanted to talk to us about what we can do supporting
them and some of their customers with all of
their products. And that's where that procurement
even comes in, because we can help scope out
and resell some of their products. They've been
great. And we signed a national partnership agreement
with them because, you know, resources is the
hardest thing to find even in construction. And
we can find those resources with our recruiting
engine. And they've been great to partner with.
And, you know, Gaylor Electric, Upchurch Services,
some of these customers have been fantastic that
gave us a chance. Right. I like to say to everybody,
you know, you got it when you're starting a business
and even when you're running a business and even
if you're a big business, you got to get a chance.
And it's companies like I mentioned, um, that
just gave us a chance and, and then, um, you
know, we got in there and we work hard, right?
And we're trustworthy. We're honest and you know,
we're really doing it for the right reasons.
I mean, I, um, I just had a client call me and
say, Hey, we really liked your guy. Can we hire
him? And I said, absolutely hire him. And he
said, boy, that was easy. Yeah. He said, that
was, I expect to be, I said, no, my goal is to
get these folks jobs. I said, they'll call me
back if I can help them in the future. Don't
worry about it. And he said, you know what, Anne,
I got something else I can work with you guys
on. I don't want to take. I said, no, just I
said, call me if you need us. We're here. And
and he pretty much gave me work right away because
of that. There's a company called Meet Electric
up in Wisconsin. So, you know, those companies,
you know, they gave us a chance. And it was that
certification, you know, that that helped that
easy button. OK, we know you're legit. We don't
have to worry about that. Right. Because, you
know, companies are worried about that. They
know that I think And I don't remember all the
criteria. It's got to be 51 % owned, and it's
got to be run by the veteran. The NVBDC takes
care of all of that for these customers, right?
So it definitely helped. Well, I really appreciate
Doug Heath, president of Bravia Services, you
taking some time with us today to talk about
your business, your certification. Your business
philosophy of wanting to help people get their,
and veterans in particular, get that good job.
Doug, thanks for your time today. I really do
appreciate it. Oh, no, thank you. Anything I
can do to help, you know, the MVBDC and just
veterans in general across the country and service
-stable veterans, you know, I'm here any time
to help. So, the thing I can do in the future,
anybody that owns a business out there, think
about starting a business and just want to contact
me. I'm happy to help. I do it anyway. Love to
help. You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook
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