Veteran On the Move

Glenn Fisher is a highly experienced senior executive, a “rainmaker” driven for continuous improvement with an outstanding record of starting, building, growing and operating companies. Glenn is passionate about making a difference; building teams that are aligned with the mission, committed to innovation and change, laser-focused on priorities that lead to better results.

Glenn’s roles have spanned the country in various industries including: alternative lending, technology systems, debt collections, business process outsourcing, payment processing, insurance, investment, loan servicing, business intelligence, Saas, auditing, construction, waste & recycling management, logistics & transportation, manufacturing, legal services and consulting.

Glenn Fisher- Marine Corps Experience

Glenn spent time in the Marine Corps as an Avionics Technician for a Marine Fighter Squadron stationed in Yuma, Arizona. He spent 4 years active duty in the Marine Corps and 2 years inactive. Glenn worked on Harrier Jets and A-4 Skyhawks, and built some important relationships during his time with the Marines. Glenn was in school during his time with the Marines and also started a part time business.

“When I was in the Marine Corps I had my Marine Corps job, I went to school, and then I also created a business while in the Marine Corps. I printed T-shirts for all types of people. I basically outsourced the printing of it, so I was a sales organization. That allowed me to create a business, and by the time I got out of the marine corps, I had a business and I was making part time $500 to $1000 a month doing that. I thought if I can do this investing part time, what could I do if I did this full time? So I naturally went ahead and created a business called Specialty Design, and moved that to Dallas after I got out of the Marine corps. I started picking up accounts, and before you knew it I was printing around 40,000 shirts a day.” -Glenn Fisher

Progression

Glenn had a full time job at a hotel after his time in the Marine Corps, and this granted him financial security to build up his business. He also worked as a bartender at a comedy club where he met his wife. He then partnered up with 2 guys he outsourced the printing from.

Things went well for the first few years, and Glenn landed accounts with Dr. Pepper and 7UP, but one day he walked into the office to find the IRS tagging all of their equipment. Glenn was unaware that his business partners were not paying their taxes for the business they had created before they became partners. Glenn had lost everything he worked so hard for, and he learned a valuable lesson about who one should - or should not do business with.

“I walked away, but all of the business I built was gone in an instance, because I didn't do a very good job partnering with the right guys.” - Glenn Fisher

Entrepreneurial Company

Glenn had to start from scratch, so he moved to Kansas City with his wife. Glenn was out grabbing a beer with a friend and overheard a man yelling furiously at someone over the phone. He started conversation with the man and found out he was losing a ton of money because his employees on his job site were sitting around waiting for an empty trash container so they could clean up. The company in charge of the trash containers was doing a poor job and costing this man a fortune. Noticing the opportunity, Glenn offered to do business with this guy, and he agreed. Glenn took out a loan to buy the equipment, then got his first contract. He was competing with Deffenbaugh, the same company that caused his first client to switch over.

“I eventually sold that business to Waste Management, then they asked me to turn around a business that had a half a billion dollars in revenue. It had never made a profit in 20 years,

Glenn Fisher is a highly experienced senior executive, a “rainmaker” driven for continuous improvement with an outstanding record of starting, building, growing and operating companies. Glenn is passionate about making a difference; building teams that are aligned with the mission, committed to innovation and change, laser-focused on priorities that lead to better results.

Glenn’s roles have spanned the country in various industries including: alternative lending, technology systems, debt collections, business process outsourcing, payment processing, insurance, investment, loan servicing, business intelligence, Saas, auditing, construction, waste & recycling management, logistics & transportation, manufacturing, legal services and consulting.

Glenn Fisher- Marine Corps Experience

Glenn spent time in the Marine Corps as an Avionics Technician for a Marine Fighter Squadron stationed in Yuma, Arizona. He spent 4 years active duty in the Marine Corps and 2 years inactive. Glenn worked on Harrier Jets and A-4 Skyhawks, and built some important relationships during his time with the Marines. Glenn was in school during his time with the Marines and also started a part time business.

“When I was in the Marine Corps I had my Marine Corps job, I went to school, and then I also created a business while in the Marine Corps. I printed T-shirts for all types of people. I basically outsourced the printing of it, so I was a sales organization. That allowed me to create a business, and by the time I got out of the marine corps, I had a business and I was making part time $500 to $1000 a month doing that. I thought if I can do this investing part time, what could I do if I did this full time? So I naturally went ahead and created a business called Specialty Design, and moved that to Dallas after I got out of the Marine corps. I started picking up accounts, and before you knew it I was printing around 40,000 shirts a day.” -Glenn Fisher

Progression

Glenn had a full time job at a hotel after his time in the Marine Corps, and this granted him financial security to build up his business. He also worked as a bartender at a comedy club where he met his wife. He then partnered up with 2 guys he outsourced the printing from.

Things went well for the first few years, and Glenn landed accounts with Dr. Pepper and 7UP, but one day he walked into the office to find the IRS tagging all of their equipment. Glenn was unaware that his business partners were not paying their taxes for the business they had created before they became partners. Glenn had lost everything he worked so hard for, and he learned a valuable lesson about who one should - or should not do business with.

“I walked away, but all of the business I built was gone in an instance, because I didn't do a very good job partnering with the right guys.” - Glenn Fisher

Entrepreneurial Company

Glenn had to start from scratch, so he moved to Kansas City with his wife. Glenn was out grabbing a beer with a friend and overheard a man yelling furiously at someone over the phone. He started conversation with the man and found out he was losing a ton of money because his employees on his job site were sitting around waiting for an empty trash container so they could clean up. The company in charge of the trash containers was doing a poor job and costing this man a fortune. Noticing the opportunity, Glenn offered to do business with this guy, and he agreed. Glenn took out a loan to buy the equipment, then got his first contract. He was competing with Deffenbaugh, the same company that caused his first client to switch over.

“I eventually sold that business to Waste Management, then they asked me to turn around a business that had a half a billion dollars in revenue. It had never made a profit in 20 years, so I turned that around and it was generating 22% evened out. I then sold that company to BFI Canada.” -Glenn Fisher

Civilian Workforce

Steve Kiewiet is the Chief Commercial Officer for Intalere, a healthcare company focused on working with healthcare providers to improve their patient engagement, clinical quality and financial performance. He has over 25 years of experience ranging from patient care to business development, sales, marketing and operations. Additionally, Steve is a 10 year veteran of the US Navy. He served as a hospital corpsman and left the service as an HM1.

Steve Kiewiet- Navy Experience and Transition

Steve was a Navy Hospital Corpsman in combination of Navy Reserve and Active Navy for a total of 10 years in Navy medicine.  He obtained his paramedic certification while on active duty so his transition was smooth as his first job was as a paramedic when he got out of the Navy.

“I had a lot of connections and worked with local EMS agencies and went through their hiring recruiting process, which is a similar to the fire process I guess so you kind of go to work for a county government and their EMS agency, but you do practical tests and knowledge tests and all of my care experience in the Navy really helped me.” - Steve Kiewiet

Progression

Steve worked as a paramedic while finishing his education.  He then worked as a paramedic for the 911 service as well as for a local emergency room.  Once Steve graduated, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do so he went into pharmaceutical sales.  This was his first time on the other side of medicine and the start of a long journey of many sides of the industry.

“Intalere is a couple of sides of the business, but essentially we’re a part of the group purchasing organization where we have health care members, everything from veterinary, dental, physician office, all the way up to single hospital systems and multiple hospital systems and we help them aggregate their contracts.” - Steve Kiewiet

Entrepreneurial Company

Intalere is an entrepreneurial oriented type company but is also owned by a healthcare system.  Intermountain Healthcare is the owner headquartered in Salt Lake City. Intalere is a for profit organization owned by a not for profit, but their connection to a healthcare provider system.

“It gives us that ability to be nimble and innovative so we are a small company and we get to try a lot of really new things too, to help this journey to reducing costs of health care.” - Steve Kiewiet

Civilian Workforce

Steve shares his thoughts about military veterans getting out of the military and going into the civilian workforce.  

“Well, while we all are very disciplined and know how to follow orders, so to speak, and follow a chain of command.  That ability to make good sound decisions, good judgment, change course when necessary and still adhere to a sound structure and discipline make for really great employees.” - Steve Kiewiet

To hear more about Steve’s entrepreneur success, download this episode now.

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Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

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“I have slept on the dirt, the green yoga mat and military cot many a night during my days in the military and now I sleep in lots of hotel rooms when I’m on the road.  So I know a good mattress when I see one. A few weeks ago we got our new GhostBed and let me tell you…..it’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. We don’t ever see ourselves going back to a traditional mattress.” -  Joe Crane

What separates GhostBed Mattresses from the others?  They are found on the principle of delivering a bigger, better and more comfortable mattress at a lower cost.  GhostBed has three mattresses all designed to help you sleep better, they offer a 101 night hassle free return and amazing customer service.  GhostBed has over 20,000 customer reviews so you need to check them out at http://www.veteranonthemove.com/ghostbed

Danny Lane is a highly decorated US Marine. He was awarded two Purple Hearts, the Marine Combat Action Medal and numerous other commendations and valor for his service in Vietnam. Danny is a retired police officer and homicide detective. He is martial arts master in the Chuck Norris System, former bodyguard to stars and corporate VIPS and private investigator. Danny works high profile criminal and civil cases nationwide.

Danny Lane- Drafted

Danny was 19 year old and when the draft was instituted and he got a draft notice in 1968 that he was being drafted by the Army.  In the meantime, Danny joined the Marine Corps. His stepfather was a Marine and out of respect for him and his premature death, Danny paid tribute by joining the Marines and go to war.

“I went to Paris Island and South Carolina for basic and went to Camp LeJeune and Camp Geiger and on to North Carolina for the ITR training, which is  the infantry training. Came home for 20 days then went to Camp Pendleton in California for advanced infantry training and the prisoner of war training in the mountains of California.  Arrived in Okinawa for two days and then by November 20, 1968 I was in Vietnam.” - Danny Lane

Transitioning

When Danny was in Vietnam, he started thinking about what he would do when he returned home.  Again, out of honor for his father, he decided that he would like to go into the police force and emailed a few of his step dad’s friends who agreed to help him in any way they could if he made it home.   Danny retired law enforcement after 15 years and started his next venture in martial arts with Chuck Norris.

“I  had already been in martial arts since I was in the Marine Corps, but I also had a chain of martial arts schools.  I started those in 1971. So I had about a 14 year history of having a second job already, as being a martial arts teacher and things of that sort.  So I had a fall back plan when I retired. I went right into martial arts and went into pushing myself more nationally and doing martial arts full time.” - Danny Lane

Career Phases

Danny then went on to the next phase of his career and became a private investigator and eventually and bodyguard.  The preparation in being a bodyguard who had a hit on him from the mafia made him vulnerable as well. Danny drove around in bullet and bomb proof limousines and tried to get his clients in and out within 3 seconds.

“We know that these veterans are coming out and I mean they have, depends on what their, job description was in the military.  But you know, people are looking to hire people that have discipline, have a good work ethic, are hard workers, and dedicated, things like that.” - Danny Lane

Some Gave It All

Danny wrote the book Some Gave It All and it has been out since May of 2018.  It was released by Ingram in observance of Military Month.

“I struggle everyday still with post traumatic stress with the atrocities and things I did, I saw, witnessed.  I'm still part of, I'm still under medical treatment for that. This is 50 years. And for some people it never really goes away.” - Danny Lane

To hear more about Danny’s entrepreneur success, download this episode now.

Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you!

Some Gave It All by Danny Lane

Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

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“I have slept on the dirt, the green yoga mat and military cot many a night during my days in the military and now I sleep in lots of hotel rooms when I’m on the road.  So I know a good mattress when I see one. A few weeks ago we got our new GhostBed and let me tell you…..it’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. We don’t ever see ourselves going back to a traditional mattress.” -  Joe Crane

What separates GhostBed Mattresses from the others?  They are found on the principle of delivering a bigger,

John Bates’ why is to bring out what is awesome inside of you, so it can live in the world and make a real difference. Hilarious, entertaining and actionable, his large and small group trainings, keynotes and 1:1 coaching are famous the globe over. His offerings thrill audiences, meeting planners and HR, alike.

After getting his start by absolutely blowing his first talk on the TED stage, John has gone on to train hundreds of TED/TEDx speakers in countries from the US to Yemen in what he learned, the hard way. He also works with C-level executives at top global corporations to make their communications "TED-Worthy." Executives from organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA (where he most recently trained the Astronauts), Boston Scientific and more recommend him to their colleagues as the best, and most fun, leadership communication trainer working today.

John Bates- Early Days

John grew up in the Marine Corps.  His father was a Combat Marine in Vietnam.  John wanted to fly but wasn’t allowed to so he ran away with his rock band.  

“But it turns out that performance experience is actually tremendous value in business, you know   So I don't feel as bad as I used to about doing that. It was pretty fun too. ” - John Bates

How I Got Started

John has been an entrepreneur his whole adult life and had debt and stock worth millions from start up companies he was part of.  He got married and wanted to provide a better life for his wife and decided he would like to be a speaker coach. He was passionate about being a great speaker and saw how he helped transform others.  John began as an Internet entrepreneur & consultant in 1994 and has always been a Founder or early employee and senior executive team member at startup companies.

“I called my friends who would be the kind of people who would hire speaker coaches and they all said, John Speaker Coaches are a dime a dozen.  You don't want to do that. That's a nightmare. Do something else. So I cried about it for a little while and then I finally just said, you know what?   I know I provide value. I have seen people come alive when I work with them and this really provides value. So I did it anyways.” - John Bates

The Big Lesson

When John was solely focused on money he realized that he wasn’t successful.  When he switched his focus to providing value he started making money. John found that it was a powerful transition and that he need he had the value added component.

“I think it's important to think about money, right, because money, the funny thing about sustainability is you have to sustain it and that's what money and profit does.  But the sole focus for me, the focus being so much on the money and not really as much on the value. I had heard that before, you know, provide value and you make money. But that was when I actually experienced it.” - John Bates

To hear more about John’s entrepreneur success, download this episode now.

Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you!

Executive Speaking Success Website

LinkedIn

Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

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“I have slept on the dirt, the green yoga mat and military cot many a night during my days in the military and now I sleep in lots of hotel rooms when I’m on the road.  So I know a good mattress when I see one. A few weeks ago we got our new GhostBed and let me tell you…..it’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. We don’t ever see ourselves going back to a traditional mattress.” -  Joe Crane

What separates GhostBed Mattresses from the others?  They are found on the principle of delivering a bigger, better and more comfortable mattress at a lower cost.  GhostBed has three mattresses all designed to help you sleep better, they offer a 101 night hassle free return and amazing customer service.  GhostBed has over 20,

Brandon Schatz is a passionate technologist that loves to build things. He has nearly 20 years of experience developing software and helping businesses become successful from idea to market.

Brandon Schatz - SportsPhotos.com

Brandon founded SportsPhotos.com in 2012 and it is quickly becoming an industry leader in race photography. They utilize computer vision for Search by Selfie™, their facial recognition system, that enables athletes to find themselves by simply uploading a selfie. SportsPhotos.com has a huge focus on quality that is currently missing in the industry. 

RoadTrip.com

Additionally, Brandon recently took over the day to day operations of RoadTrip.com. Right now it is a social way to plan and share your trips. They have around 6 million places throughout the US that they have categorized really well into different interests. RoadTrip.com is tracking a lot of data that will enable it to become a recommendation engine customized to its users.

Army Days

Brandon was already deployed to Bosnia when we declared war on Iraq.  He was a communications specialist and was responsible for setting up networks to help officers communicate during missions.  Brandon was also deployed to Kosovo on a peacekeeping mission.

“So it’s a pretty big responsibility for 20 year old specialists at the  time. They just opened up a warehouse and they're like, hey, go for it. You know, good luck, you know, don't let us down. ” - Brandon Schatz

Transitioning

While Brandon was in the Army he was already consulting on the side.  He had his feet in the business side for a while so he already knew what that he would transition into business.  Brandon founded SportsPhotos.com and lived in a google fiber house in Kansas City.

“I wanted to pursue this project since like 2009.    wanted to build a photo ecommerce platform for sports photographers. I just kind of shelved that idea and was  like if I can get the best domain, I perceive, the best brand for this business, then I'll go after it.” - Brandon Schatz

To hear more about Brandon’s entrepreneur success, download this episode now.

Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you!

Roadtrip.com

Sportsphotos.com

LinkedIn

Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

Show Sponsor

“I have slept on the dirt, the green yoga mat and military cot many a night during my days in the military and now I sleep in lots of hotel rooms when I’m on the road.  So I know a good mattress when I see one. A few weeks ago we got our new GhostBed and let me tell you…..it’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. We don’t ever see ourselves going back to a traditional mattress.” -  Joe Crane

What separates GhostBed Mattresses from the others?  They are found on the principle of delivering a bigger, better and more comfortable mattress at a lower cost.  GhostBed has three mattresses all designed to help you sleep better, they offer a 101 night hassle free return and amazing customer service.  GhostBed has over 20,000 customer reviews so you need to check them out at http://www.veteranonthemove.com/ghostbed

Join the Veteran on the Move on Facebook!

Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests! It’s a great place where you can stay in touch with other veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship.  Get updates and free gouge on the people, programs and resources to help you in your transition to entrepreneurship.

Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 250 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane . The podcast features people, programs and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 1,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one ...

David Feinman is the CEO of a fast-growing video production company called Viral Ideas and an on-demand video editing service called Flixation, based in Philadelphia, PA. Dave has been featured on several news outlets and over 30 podcasts. In addition, he has spoken at several conferences including Trajectify Live and Visit Philly Social Media Day. He started his first company at 16 in high school, started The Zombie Run generating 1.4M in 9 months using Facebook advertising, grew Viral Ideas to 200 clients in 3 Years

David Feinman- Early Entrepreneur

David found that a job outside of entrepreneurship was not for him.  It was too stifling and wasn’t what he wanted to do. He was already successful and wanted to continue on that venture.

“We started Viral Ideas and Flixation when I was in college and started out as a couple small projects and now 4 years later we have clients based all over. ” - David Feinman

On-Demand Video Editing

By putting their ears on the ground and listening they noticed there was a lot of waste in the video editing arena.  There was excess footage left on the hard-drive doing nothing. They started turning it into videos for clients.

“We started approaching clients and saying with all this extra footage we have why don’t we turn this into videos.” - David Feinman

Flixation

Clients can bring in raw video and Flixation turns it into a final product.  They can bring in videos off their phones, cameras and Flixation puts on the finishing touches.  The hardest part is when a client isn’t for sure what they are looking for. Processes must be set up to extract the direction of the video for the creative editing to begin.

“Through Viral Ideas and Flixation we have 2 definite processes that extract that from them whether they know it or not.” - David Feinman

To hear more about David’s entrepreneur success, download this episode now.

Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you!

David Feinman links:

Viral Ideas Website

Flixation Website

Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

Show Sponsor

“I have slept on the dirt, the green yoga mat and military cot many a night during my days in the military and now I sleep in lots of hotel rooms when I’m on the road.  So I know a good mattress when I see one. A few weeks ago we got our new GhostBed and let me tell you…..it’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. We don’t ever see ourselves going back to a traditional mattress.” -  Joe Crane

What separates GhostBed Mattresses from the others?  They are found on the principle of delivering a bigger, better and more comfortable mattress at a lower cost.  GhostBed has three mattresses all designed to help you sleep better, they offer a 101 night hassle free return and amazing customer service.  GhostBed has over 20,000 customer reviews so you need to check them out at http://www.veteranonthemove.com/ghostbed

Join the Veteran on the Move on Facebook!

Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests! It’s a great place where you can stay in touch with other veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship.  Get updates and free gouge on the people, programs and resources to help you in your transition to entrepreneurship.

Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 250 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane . The podcast features people, programs and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 1,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.

Christian Corley is a lifelong inventor and entrepreneur with a zest for life. His products are in Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's and many other stores around the world. Check out YOLOtek.com and enter code VETONTHEMOVE for free shipping.

Christian Corley- In the Navy

Christian was in the in the Navy and was an electronics technician.  He was in aviation fire controls and worked on radar weapons and navigation.  Christian was in the navy for 3 years, 7 months, 13 days, 4 hours, 4 minutes and 4 seconds.  The Navy required to sign up for 4 more years or get out 4 months early at the time. Christian chose to get out early.  

“I got out in May, so it was a little bit of a jolt to the system.  But, I always say it's better to get kicked out of the nest then not.” - Christian Corley

Transitioning

Christian loved his time in the Navy and the opportunities he experienced.  Another guy in the Navy had great stock knowledge and Christian wanted to learn about stocks.  The guy sat down with him and taught him everything he knew. Being in your twenties when transitioning out of the Navy it’s not always easy to find a job.  Christian found that his interest was in graphic interface and working with computers.

“In 1987 I actually did a world cruise on an aircraft carrier working on planes.  So all that was awesome.  And that was actually, when two guys that I was in the navy with that were a lot smarter than me and I noticed he was on the phone and I overheard him talking business and I said, hey, I heard you are selling stocks or something.  He said, yeah. Would you mind sharing? You know, the one thing I always found about people in the services, they'll just take the shirt off their back and do whatever you need.” - Christian Corley

Entrepreneurship

As Christian transitioned from the Navy to civilian life, he started his entrepreneurship path and began working for an individual that could not pay him.  He exchanged room, board and his car payment for work. Additionally he quickly learned that his payments were not being made so he ventured out on his own. Christian made his own business cards and literally started his own company and became a competitor of his previous company the next day.

“About five months later after that and things were rocking, so it was one of those feast or famine deals when I would go sell a couple and when I would close a deal on something, then I would have this big stack of cash.   I'd go out to eat steak and then when we delivered the ad, I would eat another steak and in between that eat top ramen for about three meals a day.” - Christian Corley

Inventions

Christian says that everyone is an inventor up to a certain point and he loves to invent things.  He had an idea to invent a blanket that went around his chair instead of the bag it goes in so you would never forget your blanket.  Out of this came ToastyTote. Next was an idea for a USB charger for a boat so your cell phone can charge, then a USB charger for your GoPro so you can videoing at 70 mph.  That’s called YOLOtek POWERStick 53. Life is good.

“So just like anybody that's listening to this in your car, you have a USB car chargers you plug into the 12 volt cigarette lighter basically and turn it into Usb to charge your cell phone or whatever else.  And that's exactly what POWERStick does on your boat. It plugs in the NavLight turns a 12 volt into Usb, and then you can power your GoPro or other action camera.“ - Christian Corley

To hear more about Christian’s journey, download this episode now.

Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you!

Christian Corley links:

YOLOtek POWERStick 53

YOLOtek.com

Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

Show Sponsor

“I have slept on the dirt, the green yoga mat and military cot many a night during my days in the military and now I sleep in lots of hot...

Marshall Morris is a serial internet entrepreneur and an Army Veteran who sold his first online company at the age of 28 for over 7 figures. Since then he has been actively involved in scaling profitable 7 and 8 figure internet based businesses that focus on high quality products and services that give back to humanity in a measurable way. His current company iHeartDogs.com , co-founded with partner Justin Palmer, has funded over 10 million meals to shelter dogs, donated over 100,000 toys to animals shelters and provided over $250,000 dollars to pair Veterans with service animals.

Marshall Morris- Army Infantry

Marshall was in the Army Infantry in 11 Hotel which is now 11 Bravo.  He wanted to go to college so he signed up for the National Guard so he could attend locally.  9/11 happened during right before his basic training. Marshall was from New York so when he returned from basic training he was immediately deployed active duty with top secret clearance to watch air bases in New York City against domestic terrorism.

“All my other friends went overseas.  So I had this guilt there for a long time because I didn't choose that destination.  But I got assigned it and I felt like I should be overseas.” - Marshall Morris

Down Time Reading

While in the Army, Marshall had brutal hours when watching air bases.  They required him to work from 7pm until 7am so Marshall did a lot of reading that stimulated the brain.  Therefore, he focused on business books and discovered that you can create a hunger and a passion for things by just acquiring knowledge.

“I had read up all these successful people and I think that's knowledge.  It's such a great starting point, right to the next thing.  And also the other thing that I learned in the military was it's a mental game. Business is a mental game.  Um, you make it mentally or you don't make it mentally.” - Marshall Morris

Transitioning

Marshall decided that when he got out of the Army that he was going to go straight into sales and not go to college.  He was going to apply the determination and mental game he learned in the Army and work hard and smart. As Marshall was doing well in his business he then transitioned into real estate in 2007.  Then he started his own company and 3 months in it fell apart.

“The whole world fell apart.  You know what I mean? So here's what happened.  I panicked for the next year I lived, I lost my mental game.  The situation I was in felt real.  And it's so easy when you rub up against something very real and painful and you just kind of retreat.  The next year was what I called my year in the desert because I literally didn't have a job. So went from earning and kind of building and investing and being brave and fearless to a different person.” - Marshall Morris

Being Mentally Tough

Marshall spent time away from everything and eventually found himself going back to the principles of what he learned in the military.  He had to change his mindset and had to be prepared to win from the beginning and know he was not going to fail.  Marshall decided to become an expert at something people would pay him to do.

“So I learned a skill set and I applied it and we sold that company for seven figures three years later.  And it was like, okay, this is cool. It was an internet company. It was kind of like Auto-Trader. It was basically a company like that, cars online, things like that.“ - Marshall Morris

iHeartdogs.com

After selling his first business, Marshall continued to network and surround himself with successful people.  This ultimately led to starting the business iHeartdogs.com. In 5 years they have sold over 63 million dollars of revenue.  iHeartdogs.com sells products to people who have pets, who celebrate their pets.

“The only reason I've been able to do that is because I've been able to apply principles that really were taught and ingrained in the military.  Those principles of not giving up,

Scott Mann has spent nearly 23 years in the Army, of which 18 has been as a Green Beret with deployments in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan. During Scott's last combat tour to Afghanistan, he was one of the architects of the Village Stability Operations program. He has a book on this topic entitled "Game Changers: Going local to defeat violent extremists."

Scott Mann- It's Time 

Scott was a career Green Beret and spent 18 of a 23 year period in Army Special Forces, mostly in 7th Special Forces Group.  He was working in Central and South America before 9/11 and then after 9/11, his primary focus with Southwest Asia in particular southern Afghanistan where he did four tours.  Scott retired as a Lieutenant Colonel and knew that it was time to transition.

“I felt like it was time for me to go.  My Dad had always told me like, you'll know when it's time to retire.  And I just felt like I could do more good on the outside than the inside.  I was still passionate about the mission. I was still passionate about stability.  My brother and I, a former paratrooper, we had started buying real estate.” - Scott Mann

Transitioning from the Military

After retiring from the Army, Scott founded the non profit Stability Institute where he still advises senior commanders and law enforcement officers on community-based operations. Scott is also a passionate advocate for veterans transitioning to civil society. He is a consultant to the Green Beret Foundation on military transition and has written a book entitled "Next Ridgeline" on this topic. Scott lives in Tampa, Florida, as a real estate entrepreneur, speaker, trainer, and author.

Storytelling to the Start of a Business

Scott found himself in some pretty dark places after retiring and had trouble transitioning.  He had lost his sense of purpose and knew he needed to share his experiences as a Green Beret with others.  Scott credits storytelling as the catalyst to pulling him out of the dark.

“I just started learning how to tell my story from the stage and bringing out lessons from those trust depleted places.  I coach executives at Capital One, Fannie Mae, Sempra Capital, and I use my story to bridge those two worlds.  It saved my life, but it also gave me a business. I've just found that storytelling for veterans, I believe is one of the most powerful transition tools you can have.  The ability to develop and share your experiences, your struggles, your lessons from your time in the military with your community, your family, and the businesses that you work with.” - Scott Mann

Rooftop Leadership and The Heroes Journey

Scott and his wife have a business for profit which is called Rooftop Leadership.  He trains corporate leaders and entrepreneurs in how to use old school Green Beret interpersonal skills and their low trust environment to build connections.  Additionally, on the nonprofit side, they have The Heroes Journey. They teach that same high end storytelling skill in workshops.

“In my book Mission America, I have an online video series that's free and we're building this whole tribe around storytelling where we train.  I've got kids books that parents can use storytelling with their military kids. We are also building this culture of storytelling as a transition tool and we have all these different mediums to deliver it.“ - Scott Mann

Play About Combat

Scott recently decided to write a play about the war using storytelling from live theater from the stage to help civilians and politicians understand that they keep sending the same people over to this war.  He shares that it is starting to affect our families and our resiliency.  Scott reminds them that our children are not fight this war.  He tells the real story about this war and what is going on.

To hear more about Scott’s journey, download this episode now.

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