The Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University recently launched a program that will help veterans start their own businesses.

The two-day program allows participants get an outline of what it is like to be in a career as a business owner, outline what goes into a business plan, how to recognize opportunities and an introduction to the available public and private resources, according to the Boots to Business website.

Experts in entrepreneurship and business from the U.S. Small Business Association lead the program. The two-day course is taught at more than 180 military installations — domestically and overseas, according to the Boots to Business website.

Research done by the IVMF found that by the five-year mark, veterans are three times more likely to be in business than their civilian counterparts.

“Through the research done by IVMF, they found that veterans are uniquely positioned for success in entrepreneurship,” said Michael Schoeneck, the program manager for Boots to Business.

Boots to Business: Reboot is an entrepreneurial education program offered to veterans of all eras, service members and their spouses by the U.S. Small Business Administration in partnership with the IVMF and other organizations. The program is completely free of cost to participants and is designed to inform them about the challenges and opportunities of business ownership, according to the Boots to Business website.

Boots to Business is a relatively new program, which originated in 2012 and had a soft launch in 2013. It became a fully funded program under the SBA in 2014, Schoeneck said.

“There is nothing more American than entrepreneurship and owning your own business. It’s the backbone of this country,” he added.

After the initial two-day program, participants can opt into an eight-week online course led by the IVMF. The eight-week course offers more in-depth instruction of the elements of a business plan as well as techniques and tips for starting a business. To date, about 35,000 people have gone through the program, Schoeneck said.

Shad Lorenz, a veteran of the U.S. Army, went through both the two-day program as well as the eight-week course.

He was one of the first 4,500 people to participate in the course, and was the only participant to open up his own business within a year of taking the course.

Lorenz said he happened upon the program through a flyer and saw it as a great opportunity especially considering that he and his fiancée had been trying to figure out what they would do after the military.

“The courses helped open the doors for a lot more possibilities,” Lorenz said.

Through Boots to Business, Lorenz was able to make a business plan and model that he later used to open up his business, CrossFit Germantown Performance, a CrossFit gym in Germantown, Maryland.

Lorenz was able to make connections through Boots to Business — which he continues to use today — including officials at the SBA.

“I don’t know if I could have done it without (Boots to Business), but I’m glad that I found it,” Lorenz said. “I thought it was just a two-day class, but it has turned out to be so much more.”

Published on November 11, 2015 at 11:05 pm

Contact Stacy: sfern100@syr.edu | @StacyFernandezB