Digital Age Entrepreneurship for Veterans

I wanted to discuss today in this blog a subject matter that affects the military and veteran community specifically.

What I want to talk about is the choice that is given to you when you were about to leave your military service. 

The 3 general choices after military service

The choices that you are usually given are to continue to serve in the military, get out and go to college or university, or to work in the civilian sector.

Many of these jobs are very similar to the one that you did before but in an entry-level position that you surpassed years prior.

Is there another way? I believe that there is… and it is in the world of entrepreneurship.

 The two courses of action on the path of entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship can be discussed in so many ways, but I believe that there are two main courses of action:

• The Traditional Course
• The Digital Age Course

he Traditional Course

The first course of action is what I would call the traditional course, and the second I would call the digital age course.

For clarity, I would say that the traditional course would involve more resources invested in operating spaces. Opening a small business with an office, storefront, or shop tends to be the norm.

Examples could be things such as a service shop, a coffee shop, food-based shop, or a franchise. Many times these traditional course options include large fees for franchising, overhead, and licenses. Many types of licenses aren’t offered whole in the military for private sector use. Also, an element of time is needed to be invested to obtain such licenses.

Most people are aware of these particular businesses or the definition of what I mean by traditional at this point. Now let’s define what digital age business means. 

The Digital Age Course

The type of businesses that you would find that the digital businesses are such things as blogging, creating a YouTube channel, creating a social media marketing agency, authoring a digital self-published book, online arbitrage with Amazon FBA, drop shipping, affiliate marketing, creating digital products, and vending services. 

Most digital age entrepreneurs work from home with 1 vital piece of equipment.

Their laptop!

Most of these businesses are run solely through the usage of back-office software, browsers, and other industry-standard software. In comparison to the traditional, you will save costs by not paying related costs. Lost are franchise fees or royalties, upfront inventory(in some cases). Additionally, not paying to rent or lease a workspace, since your workspace is literally your home.

Why you need to consider Digital Age Entrepreneurship

As the digital age of entrepreneurship is growing, you will see that new opportunities and new businesses are created almost every day. The thing that you should ask yourself as a veteran or a military person is, “ Do I want to do something that I am truly passionate about“? This happens to be why digital age entrepreneurship is something that all veterans should consider in their plans. By design,  it allows you to achieve this specific goal.

There are many skills that you were taught in the military. The most important one is the ability to follow through with a task to its completion. This is why digital age entrepreneurship is a perfect course of action for veterans and soon to be veterans.

Where should I get more information?

So the question is this: “How do I prepare or start”? The way that you prepare is that you do your research. The best way to start doing this is to look up some of the terms that I presented when I defined digital age course of action. Search Google or YouTube for videos related to these subjects. Also, continue to follow this blog, and The Postrepreneur Youtube channel to keep up to date and learn.

 You will quickly gain a wealth of information on what these specific businesses and entrepreneurial pursuits can provide to you. Next, to gain an even further and more grounded experience in your education on digital age entrepreneurship, I suggest listening to podcasts.

For example, if you are interested in what you saw on YouTube about blogging, I would suggest you head over to Pat Flynn‘s podcast “Smart Passive Income“. If you saw YouTube videos about podcasting and you’re interested in that subject, I recommend you look at John Lee Dumas and his podcast “Entrepreneurs on Fire“. Many podcasts that you will find on your own, are related to various digital age entrepreneurship subjects.

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Don’t forget that there are more opportunities than you think!

So worry not my fellow veterans and soon to be new entrepreneurs. There are more opportunities available to you than what is presented in the TAP classes. Yes, they prepare you for transition out of the military. Yet, don’t feel like you are backed into a corner and don’t have much choice. 

Consider the ability to write a self-published children’s book and selling it on Amazon. Create a podcast where you talk about the value of freshly canned homemade sauces. The point is that it is now more easily possible to follow your vision in something that you are passionate about, and use the tools to turn it into reality.

So in that spirit, I challenge you to write down three digital age entrepreneurship ideas that you learned from this article, find a youtube video about it and then write down something interesting that you learned from it.