Veteran vs Civilian Entrepreneurs: Bridging the Gap
By: Josh Harris - Agency Growth Secrets
Tags: Veterans, Marketing, Entrepreneur, Agency Growth Secrets, Josh Harris

Joshua Harris is a successful entrepreneur and the creator of Agency Growth Secrets (AGS). Harris is passionate about mentoring other agency owners and helping them thrive as entrepreneurs. Agency Growth Secrets offers a high-end training platform that helps partners start and grow their own digital marketing agencies. Harris’ passions include aiding military veterans on their entrepreneurial journeys. He set out to help veteran entrepreneurs and inspire veterans to create businesses of their own. His business expertise has been shared in Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Business Insider.

Most civilian entrepreneurs struggle to stay disciplined and focused on their mission.

They get started on their priorities, but then the urgent, unimportant tasks start flooding in.

This is where I see the biggest divide between civilian and veteran entrepreneurs.

When you see a veteran entrepreneur putting in work, they’re actually putting in real work.

They don’t let anything stand between them and their mission.

Not to say that it’s easy for veterans by any means.

It’s absolutely not easy.

Veteran entrepreneurs have just as many (if not more) obstacles, challenges, and let downs.

I once had a veteran explain to me that one of the hardest parts of coming home was losing his purpose. He felt like he was no longer part of a brotherhood. He was no longer part of a mission. He was struggling.

That hit home for me. As civilian entrepreneurs with access to training materials, resources, and experience, it’s our duty to help veterans find their bigger mission and purpose outside of the military.

Because once a veteran identifies and locks into their mission, they’re dang near unstoppable.

Just look at Vietnam war veteran Bob Parsons.

Bob is the founder and former CEO of juggernaut GoDaddy.

He used his Marine training to start his first business in his basement. Then he stayed focused on his mission and became a self-made billionaire.

Fast forward, and Bob is continuing on his entrepreneurial path with YAM Worldwide, Inc — a parent company for a dozen other passions (aka profitable companies) that Bob has created.

Bob is only one example of what veteran entrepreneurs are capable of when they discover their mission and purpose in the civilian world.

But it’s not easy to get there.

Forget being a billionaire, just identifying a mission and purpose is a challenge.

Then once you identify your purpose, the next big challenge is learning how to both design a strategy and execute the mission at hand.

Most veterans can execute a strategy with precision, but there are fewer veterans who are skilled at starting from complete scratch.

When there’s no roadmap, no strategy, and no SOP in place, veterans need to dip into their problem-solving skills.

A great place to start is by studying veteran-owned businesses. These are businesses that you can go to for support — whether it’s by talking to the owners or simply analyzing their roadmaps, strategies, and SOPs.

Beyond veteran-owned businesses, there are civilians eager to mentor, employ, and support veterans. As civilians, it’s really our duty to connect more veterans with the resources and training they need to thrive in the civilian world.

If you’re a veteran entrepreneur (or you know one) who needs entrepreneurial support, have them visit https://joshuaharris.co for resources that may help.

- Josh Harris