MILCOM Founders Podcast – Episode 46: Nick Bradfield, Marine Corps Sergeant Turned EOS Implementer

Join host Rod Loges as he sits down with Nick Bradfield, a Marine Corps infantry veteran turned fintech founder who now helps growth-stage business owners find clarity and focus as an EOS Implementer. Nick shares the real story behind building and exiting a fintech company, scaling a veteran-focused nonprofit across the country, and coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs through the same patterns he lived himself.

In this episode:

• How Nick went from Iowa wrestler to Marine Corps infantry in two weeks, and broke the news to his mom at dinner
• The speeding ticket in a 14-ton military vehicle that remains his only ticket to this day
• Why being a terrible employee pushed Nick toward building his own fintech company
• How EOS gave him the clarity to shut down what was not working and scale what was
• Building the CEO Circle program at Bunker Labs with J.P. Morgan to support growth-stage veteran founders
• The success formula: a coach, a peer group, and an operating system
• Why the military community builds trust faster than any other peer group
• A law firm that set a $1.3M EBITDA goal and came back at $3.6M in one year
• How a wealth management firm went from 15 wrong-fit employees to being named one of the best places to work in their city and state
• Why AI is on almost every EOS client's issues list right now

Key takeaways:

• The most successful entrepreneurs have a coach, a peer group, and an operating system
• Leaders need to pull themselves out of the weeds and spend time in thought
• Being coachable is not optional for growth; every great athlete and entrepreneur has a coach
• The fastest way to get value from a peer group is to get vulnerable early
• EOS is not a magic pill; it gets harder after the first year, and that's when the real work begins
• Asking for help is the biggest thing the military community needs, on every level

Guest: Nick Bradfield, EOS Implementer

• Website: https://www.eosworldwide.com/nick-bradfield 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickbradfield

Nick Bradfield is a United States Marine Corps veteran who served four years in the infantry, where he learned to adapt and overcome, stay calm under pressure, build high-performing teams, and simplify complicated situations. After the Marines, he spent a decade in the corporate world while always running some kind of side business, a mix of wins and losses that confirmed entrepreneurship was in his blood.

Nick eventually went all in as an entrepreneur and started a fintech company. His first market did not work, and he came close to losing everything before a pivot took him to the highs of pitching at SXSW and working on deals with Fortune 100 companies. EOS gave him the clarity and focus to steady the business during a season when shiny objects were everywhere.

After exiting that company, Nick became an early employee at a nonprofit that helps veterans start and grow businesses, using EOS to scale it across the country. Coaching and listening to hundreds of entrepreneurs, he kept noticing the same patterns he had lived himself, which led him to become an EOS Implementer. Today he works with growth-oriented business owners who are frustrated but ready to commit to what it takes to change.

Looking ahead: Nick continues working with growth-stage business owners through EOS implementation, helping founders build businesses they can step away from without everything falling apart.

The MilCom Founders Podcast champions and celebrates military community business founders. Each episode brings practical insights from successful veteran entrepreneurs.

Sponsored by One Degree Financial www.onedegreefinancial.com

Want to support veteran entrepreneurs? Learn about the Dick Loges Veteran Entrepreneur Scholarship Fund at https://www.milcomfounders.com/