All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. Good
day. I'm Jim Fosson. I'm the Officer of the Deck
today here on Veterans Radio and thanks for joining
us. We've got some interesting stories for you.
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to thank National Veteran Business Development
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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. And
finally, PuroClean. PuroClean is the paramedics
of property damage. It provides water damage
remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke
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So listen in wherever you're at to veteransradio
.org and its podcasts. We're talking today on
Veterans Radio with Keith King, CEO and founder
of National Veteran Business Development Council,
better known as NVBDC .org, about an upcoming
conference they have on October 29th and 30th.
Keith, welcome back to Veterans Radio. Tell us
about this upcoming conference. Well, thank you,
gentlemen. It's good to be back. When you hear
something like that on the radio, it's another
conference. No, it isn't. This is the greatest
opportunity most veterans will ever have to work
with our corporate members. And I say that because
in two dates, October 29th and 30th, down in
Spartanburg, South Carolina, we have currently
33. Corporations already signed up to attend,
but they are specifically looking for veteran
-owned businesses to talk to. We call that one
-on -one. Those one -on -one meetings have proven
so successful that our corporations love them.
At the end of, well, it was yesterday, I got
three emails from our corporate members asking
me to send them the 26 conference details and
I know I should have them. Hey, let's get through
October 29th and 30th, 2025 down in Spartansburg,
South Carolina first. And actually, I missed,
I didn't read the title of this conference. It
really goes back to what you said. This isn't
just a, oh boy, another boring conference. This
is the National Veteran Business Matchmaking
Conference and Veteran Marketplace. As you say,
you have 33 corporations coming there to talk
to veteran business owners and do business. I
see Sunoco on the list. I see Denny's on the
list. I see Stellanus on the list. I mean, this
is cutting across all industries, isn't it? Of
course. And, you know, I mean, I don't like necessarily,
you know, pointing out the what I would call
the cherries, you know, on top. But, you know,
I got a little companies, I'm sure most people
have heard about called like Wal -Mart Coca -Cola.
Right. Right. Oh, wait, that little. Oh, that's
Amazon. You know, so when you start looking at
who is actually here, or not here, but will be
at Spartanburg on the 29th and 30th, this is
an opportunity, regardless of what you do, to
come in and sit down and actually have a one
-on -one with these various corporate people.
And the good news of this is that they... have
chosen. I mean, they select on a one -on -one
because they want to know what's new. They want
to know what's great. They want to know what
our veterans are bringing to the table. So we
just find it to be one of those things where,
well, I know you've been there and it kind of
takes on its own energy. It takes on its own...
Oh, there's so much networking that you could
never do otherwise by getting all these big shots
and purchasing agents in a room where veteran
business owners can talk to them. Keith, if they
want to know more, I'm going to direct them to
nvbdc .org slash events. This National Veteran
Business Matchmaking Conference and Veteran Marketplace
is. Coming up, it's October 29th and 30th, but
go to the website, click on the conference registration.
They've got hotel information. They've got the
agenda there. As you say, I've been these things
and the energy is dynamic. Nobody will really
walk away disappointed. Well, the other thing
here too is that I've upset my entire staff because
they have. wanted to and basically put out, hey,
registration is closed. No, it's not. It's never
closed. If you hear my voice, if you hear my
voice saying, hey, registration is open. And
one of my people say it's closed. You say, I
heard Keith King say it's open and then I'll
take the heat. So as far as I'm concerned, you
can show up on the morning of the 29th. and register
and join the rest of these corporations, but
frankly, our fellow veterans. Well, this is a
great program. We recommend it to folks. We're
going to move on to some other things that are
going on at NVBDC. Beyond this conference and
beyond planning for next year's conference, you've
got other things going on besides certifying
veteran owned businesses. Tell us a little bit
about that. You know, if you're a business owner,
I have been working behind the scenes for 10
years on this idea that we know that we have
a lot of Americans overseas owning and running
a business. Now, how many of them are veterans?
Well, in talking to the various organizations,
a lot of them, I should say, These organizations,
we actually have a lot of Americans overseas
now in the group. That we have put together is
the ITA, the International Trade Association,
the Department of Commerce, that those guys have
been phenomenal. They said, we didn't know about
you. I said, I didn't know about you and let's
see what we can do together. They have worked
now with me and, of course, the Export -Import
Bank, who has been supporting us for a long time,
and they're opening up their doors of information
and all the different backgrounds. And we're
working with the SBA. We're working with a lot
of, there's a group out there that says Vetsco
Global. One of the two guys who are the founders
of that. work for the government and I know both
and they're now excited with the rest of the
team that we've built. I am going to announce
all of what you're hearing today at the event.
We are going to have representatives of the organizations
I just mentioned there as well. And usually what
we all try to do is do an individual breakout
session. for people who are interested, not only
in importing, but exporting. And we have phenomenal
ideas and support. I talked to one of my guys,
says he's got three plants overseas. Well, the
companies, the ITA, all these guys I mentioned
to you, said, hey, I wanted a name right now
because the thing that they would love to have
happen. is to see what they can do to help bring
him back to America. I mean, I'm talking about
money to move the plants. I'm talking about financial
and civic and all kinds of support that I didn't
know existed. Well, that really highlights it,
doesn't it, Keith? We don't know what we don't
know. And unless you go talk to people like this,
you're not going to know. Well, exactly. Some
people said what what you took ten years to find
this out? Yeah What am I supposed to be embarrassed
that I've been working on something for ten years
no Because what I wanted to do is make sure That
once we come public and say hey if you're interested
in doing any kind of international business either
import or export Come to this meeting You would
talk to the right people. These are the people
who do this every day. And thankfully, they love
what we do. And, you know, so I get to announce
this, and we're going to be up and running. So
well into the future, you can imagine the companies
that I mentioned earlier who are part of the
matchmaking one -on -one conference. You wouldn't
be surprised, I'm sure, Jim, that if I start
naming these names all over again, you'll know
that they're doing international. Oh, absolutely.
And again, if people are interested in this area
and want to be following along, the nvbdc .org
website, resource website, go to Global Initiatives,
and it has a whole explanation and more detail
on this. So it really has come together. Just
one of the many projects you're working on. Do
you want to talk about another? Okay, we lost
you. Let me start it back again. Do you want
to tell me about some other projects you're working
on? Yeah, I want to tell the veterans here in
Michigan about another great victory for us.
The state of Michigan, and BDC in particular.
has awarded us a grant so that we can take this
grant and put a program together for our veteran
businesses in Michigan to one, help pay or pay
in full their certification fee. Training, entrepreneur
training, the idea that One of the things that
we have run into over the years, and I know you've
seen it live, Jim, but our guys who have been
working in the federal space don't really seem
to understand or realize that when you're talking
to a corporation, that's a different conversation
than if you're talking to a project manager or
a buyer at the federal level. Because when you're
talking... Absolutely. You're talking to Delta.
You're talking to Amazon or, you know, Apple
for God's sake. They all have pretty much a standardized
process and procedure that we have to train,
or we do train anyway, our veterans on how to
do, act, interact, and work with our corporations.
So the state... has done a phenomenal positive
effect for our veterans. We are going to roll
out the campaign probably by the end of this
year. We're expecting it in December. We'll roll
it and then roll it most of 26. But the fact
is, is again, this is the kind of thing that
because of working, you know, with the state
and the state said, hey, We want our vets to
be successful that we've gone ahead with this
grant, and we're really excited about rolling
it. And it's one of the few times I'm going to
ever have to work with our vets where I have
somebody basically supporting us financially,
supporting them financially, and wanting them
to be successful. So we have a lot of positive
things on the table, and we're working hard to
make them all real. Well that's an amazing grant
from the state and actually it sounds like a
great pilot program. Once you do this in the
state of Michigan and prove it up, you just know
your friends down in Ohio and Virginia and Florida
are all going to say we ought to be doing the
same thing for our veteran -owned businesses.
So again, it's all about being a certified veteran
-owned business. Well, I think you must be psyched
because I just a couple of months ago did a full
-blown presentation to basically the state of
Ohio and a lot of their corporate members as
well as the state members about what we do. And
although I always have to be careful with the
Michigan, Ohio state issue. In this particular
case, it's like, okay, we can, for our veterans,
we'll make an exception and we'll actually sit
down. So I know that you're absolutely right,
Jim, in the sense that the states that you mentioned,
we have either already talked to or have them,
you know, basically in our sites so that we can
sit down with these guys and say, okay, here's
what we do and look at the people who are. supporting
us. And oh, by the way, besides the work in Michigan,
we're already doing similar work in California
and yada, yada, yada. Now these are, this is,
yeah, that's exciting stuff. And again, I think
even more reason why value is received. It's
all about ROI, right? Return on investment for
a business owner, a veteran owned business owner
to say, I'm going to go through the process of
getting certified, which is rigorous. But in
the end, I can see there's a lot of value of
having that stamp of approval from an outside
organization like NVBDC. Well, I know that whenever
you and I are together, we always talk about
knowing the return on investment of the certification.
But what we're realizing, even more so, is that
When a veteran calls things and says, I just
want you to know because of your certification,
you saved my business, my marriage, all these
different things that we never can say, hey,
get certified, we're going to be able to save
your marriage. We can't say that. We would never
say that. But the vets who call us will. And
what we know is exactly what you're talking about.
These are the ancillary benefits. Because again,
the call and events will be at the event. You
may have heard it as well as when they'll come
up to us and say, oh my God, you know, ever since
we've been certified, we have been talking to
X, Y, and Zingy and we're having great, you know,
response. You know, and this is really, you know,
been beneficial to me and, you know, my job and
my business and all those things. So, you know,
we're believers. Absolutely. Well, we appreciate
the time you've given us today, Keith King, CEO
and founder of NVBDC .org. You've got this great
upcoming conference in October, early 29th and
30th, and we look forward to talking to you next
year about both how that all went, but also how
this new program with the state is going to work
out, and the international aspect of it. A lot
more to talk about in the future. You got it.
And thanks again for all of your help and support
with our vets and NVVDC. So we'll just keep on
working, buddy. You got it. Thanks, Keith. We'll
talk soon. And I want to thank everybody for
listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fawzone.
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. We would again want
to thank our national sponsors, the National
Veterans Business Development Council, nvbdc
.org. Legal Help for Veterans, a veterans disability
law firm with a national practice before the
VA can help you on your claims and your appeals.
It can be reached at legalhelpforveterans .com
or 1 -800 -693 -4800. And PuroClean, a leader
in property emergency services. It's the paramedics
of property damage, providing water damage remediation,
flood water removal, fire and smoke damage remediation,
mold and biohazard cleanups. You can reach them
at puroclean .com. or 800 -775 -7876. We also
want to thank our local sponsors. This would
include the Charles S. Kettles chapter of the
Vietnam Veterans of America, that's chapter 310,
VFW Graf O 'Hara post 423, the American Legion
Erwin Preskin post 46 in Ann Arbor as well. the
VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, and certainly
the National Vietnam Veterans of America Association.
You can be a sponsor by going to veteransradio
.org, clicking on the About Us in our sponsors,
and help us out. Keep this program alive for
the 21 and 22 years. Keep us going for another
20. Thank you.