Dog Whistle Branding

I get hit up by countless veteran entrepreneurs seeking advice on their entrepreneurial journey. Some take my advice and run with it, others not so much. All I try to do is point people in the right direction. Today’s guest, Dominique Wright reached out to me over two years ago, in order to discuss her idea for an app serving collegiate athletes. With the change in policy allowing college athletes to earn income based on their name, image, and likeness, commonly referred to as NIL, Dominique so an opportunity to leverage technology. A few months later, she officially launched FAND, NIL Operations Software that automates communication, streamlines notifications and provides 24/7 athlete support. 

Dominique is a former collegiate athlete, and Naval Officer, and holds a law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law. She’s spent time working at the NFL Players Association and the National Football League, working on contracts and other legal affairs. FAND is a Hivers and Strivers portfolio company, which only invests in military veterans. On the show, Dominique and I discuss the origins of FAND, the challenges of bringing tech to the sports and entertainment industry, and what category her product falls in. 

Visit our website to Download your free copy of the Dog Whistle Branding Playbook here: https://ironboundmedia.com/

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

I know it’s been a while since I’ve been on the Mic, but make no mistake, I’ve been work hard behind the scenes on all things IRONBOUND and DWB. I launched a new series FRAGO Friday, which I drop each week via our newsletter. I got a fellowship to the Fund For New Leadership, a social impact fellowship supporting change makers across the country, and I went on Vacation to Peru. Needless to say it’s been an eventful summer. 

With that said, I am back and happy to announce our official sponsor for Dog Whistle Branding, Mission Plus, a tech platform that helps nonprofit organizations upgrade their websites and leverage technology to deliver services online. The Mission Plus team is based in Newark, NJ and has actually been supporting me for over 5 years, through their nonprofit the G.I. Go Fund, where IRONBOUND Media is incubated. Now, I get a chance to return the favor, by highlighting their efforts on the DWB Platform. 

On today’s show, I caught up with Mission Plus CEO Jack Fanous, to talk about the platform and the market opportunity with the nonprofit sector.

Visit our website to Download your free copy of the Dog Whistle Branding Playbook here: https://ironboundmedia.com/

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Today on DWB, I discuss why you need to build a damn email list. In case you haven’t noticed, Social Media is rented and if you want to own your audience, you better start building the last. 

Visit our website to Download your free copy of the Dog Whistle Branding Playbook here: https://ironboundmedia.com/

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

When it comes to creating content, implementing a new marketing strategy, or wanting to try something new in general, the biggest hindrance business owners have is perfectionism. Rather than trying to be perfect and hit a home run out of the gate, I want to challenge you to start ugly, which I discuss in today’s show. 

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Who already has a reason to know, like, and trust you?

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Today on DWB, I’m joined by fellow Naval Academy grad turned culinary entrepreneur, Jordan Foley, Founder, CEO, and Head Chef at Let’s Chow, a nonprofit Nonprofit providing vocational training in the culinary arts for veterans & military spouses using food trucks. 

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Learn more about Let’s Chow here: https://www.letschow.org/

Everyone who has worked with or heard me speak at workshop knows my favorite question to ask when it comes to building a Dog Whistle Brand, 

Who's Your Perfect Customer?

If you’re having trouble answering this question, what if instead, you asked yourself, How does my perfect customer self-identify?

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

One of my frustrations for the longest time in the veteran space was a lack of agency. That’s one of the reasons’ I wrote the book Black Veteran Entrepreneur, and also why I’m excited about today’s guest Ruben Ayala, An Army Veteran, Green Beret, and Co-Founder of Triple Nikel, a veteran-owned streetwear brand promoting unity and honoring veterans of all shades and color. The name Triple Nikel is derived from the 555th Parachute Infantry Regiement, an all-black unit formed in 1943. 

Ruben, along with his three co-founders, saw an opportunity to launch the brand, after George Floyd’s death, when so many other veteran brands took a polarizing position, alienating minority veterans like Ruben and I. 

On the show, we discuss why so many of us felt alienated from the mainstream veteran narrative regarding social issues, how Triple Nikel is changing that, and what the future holds for Ruben and his team.

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Learn more about Triple Nikel here: https://triplenikel.com/

You know how much I love to geek out on Category Design, and most of the time, I find myself focusing on creating new types of markets, not new kinds of humans. Which is why on today’s show, I’m excited to chop it up with Mason Hamlett, CEO of Woobies Inc, a veteran-owned shoe company serving the protectorate class, you know, the kind of guys and gals that fly below the radar, work for three letter government agencies, the military, and first responder community. Mason and the Woobies team refer to them as the Freedom Loving Protectors or more commonly the “Everyday Elite.”

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Checkout April’s book here: https://amzn.to/3x4sJd4

Everyone knows that Veterans love Swag, there’s a reason you constantly see us wearing hoodies and T-shirts of the brands we love. Here in Newark, I’m constantly rocking my IRONBOUND Boxing hoodie, not only to bring more visibility to the IRONBOUND brand, but also to symbolize that I’m part of the team and a movement. 

Apparel is a hard business model to scale, but that hasn’t stopped Army Veteran and West Point graduate, Dean Wagner, from taking his chances. Dean is the Founder & CEO of Authentically American, an American Made apparel company that provides corporations and organizations high-quality branded apparel and accessories. Dean and his team are on a mission to bring jobs back to America by selling competitively priced, premium branded apparel, and believes it’s his patriotic duty to do so. On the show, Dean shares insight into the market opportunity he saw with Authentically American, tapping into the growing American made movement, some of the pivots he’s made along the way, and his overall strategy for scaling the brand nation wide. 

Be sure to subscribe to the Dog Whistle Brand Newsletter on Substack here: www.dogwhistlebranding.com

Order my book, “Black Veteran Entrepreneur” here: https://amzn.to/3gme7kg

Learn more about Authentically American here:  https://www.authenticallyamerican.us/