"We had no business plan, just an idea"

You can help our veterans start stronger businesses and make more successful returns to civilian life.

Through my Indiegogo crowd-funding project, serving military personnel and veterans alike will be able to access a free startup eBook geared to their specific needs.

“Startups for Heroes” (tentative title) will offer the best business information and startup guidance from “Based in Business,” a one-week business bootcamp being held for Canadian Forces veterans later this month in Regina. I’ll be there to cover the lessons learned and tell some of the participants' stories.

Why do veterans need this help? Because while the Forces and Veterans Affairs offer military retirees lots of advice on how to find a job, they don't do such a good job on starting your own business. Given today’s economy, many veterans are eager to start a business – but don't know what to do first.

Help them start their new lives on the right foot. Please visit “Startup for Heroes” and support one of my funding levels.

How can a startup bootcamp change people’s lives? Here’s a new story by Amanda Moore of Niagara This Week on a veteran who retired this month and just completed a “Based in Business” course in St. John’s. Leendert Bolle served one tour in Bosnia and two tours in Afghanistan. He and his wife Annemarie now own Hero Dog Treats in Beamsville, Ont.

"We had no business plan, just an idea that we put into action," says Leendert. Based in Business "made a difference in my business, taking it from surviving to thriving."

Besides creating a living for the couple, the business employs veterans who may be struggling with their own return to civilian life. "The struggles of veterans became apparent to me two years ago," Leendert told Niagara This Week. "I told my wife we had to do something to help them."

With the information he learned at Based in Business, Leendert hopes the company will grow to the point where it can employ 20 to 30 veterans. "The program has given me the tools to make it happen," he says. "It has given me the opportunity and support to go out into the world and give it all I've got."

This is the power of a smart business: the ability to create confidence for individual entrepreneurs, value for customers, and jobs for those who need them.

But “Based in Business” is an expensive program. It can only help a few dozen veterans a year. Please support my eBook project so we can get this information into the hands of every veteran – and every Forces member – who wants it.

Click here to read the full story of Hero Dog Treats.

Click here to visit the “Startups for Heroes” page on Indiegogo.