Getting Down to Business

Georgia Nonprofit Agency Helps Veterans Become Their Own Bosses

By Stephen Prudhomme

Ostensibly, veterans make great business owners, possessing qualities such as leadership, discipline, performance under pressure, willingness to sacrifice and working as a team. Due to various economic and social challenges, however, the number of veteran-owned businesses has dropped dramatically in the past 20 years. In Georgia, a nonprofit agency— Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC)—is helping veterans become their own bosses and doing its part to, perhaps, return the country to the halcyon days of post World War II for veteran-owned businesses. Fresh off a winning campaign, World War II veterans returned home and eventually made up nearly half of the nation’s business owners. Veterans from Sept. 11, 2001 to the present, numbering some 3.6 million, own only 4.5 percent of the country’s businesses. The precipitous decline is attributed to drastic changes in the economy and the loss of manufacturing jobs that previously served as a bridge between the military and civilian sectors; fewer resources, such as the World War II GI Bill that provided access to low-interest loans; and, due to the lack of veteran owned businesses, fewer employment and networking opportunities. Enter the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource (VECTR) Center, which was established by the state to help veterans and their families through career counseling, educational coaching, and workforce training. Funded by the state, it’s the only one of its kind in the country and attracts students worldwide and officials from across the country interested in opening a similar facility in their home states. The VECTR Center’s services include helping to translate military and civilian transcripts toward certificates, diplomas and degrees and offering accelerated training programs, via Central Georgia Technical College, in high-demand careers at little or no cost for Georgia residents or those transitioning from active duty.

Three years ago, VBOC for Georgia and South Carolina opened in the Georgia VECTR Center and provides one-on-one counseling, start-up assistance and Small Business

Boots To Business Success Stories

Army Veteran Relizes Dream of Private Chef Business

Among those who have benefited from the veterans’ programs in Warner Robins is Scottie Johnson. A 27-year Army veteran who served as a cannon crew member in a field artillery unit and had five deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia, Johnson is an award-winning chef and author who has a private chef business—Blessed and Highly Flavored.

A key ingredient in Johnson’s recipe for success was the Boots to Business program.

“The class helped me figure out my product services cost and how to make it valuable in the market,” said the Warner Robins resident. “If it’s not of value, it will not sell. I learned that business ownership carries a lot of responsibility and hard work. Since there are many other similar type businesses out there, you have to set yourself apart while at the same time giving people who you are—a brand.”

Retired Marine Opens Community Art Studio

Keisha Renee Dennis is an artist and owner of K Dennis Art Studio in Fort Valley, Ga. She served on active duty in the Marines from 2004 to 2015 and in the reserves from 2015 to 2018. During her last tour she worked as administrative chief and legal chief for the 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Ca.

Although she had talent, Renee Dennis didn’t truly pursue art until 2016, when she and her children painted flowers for Mother’s Day. Soon, the neighborhood children got involved with creating themed paintings for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and the idea to open a community art studio was born.

Calling on her service ties, Renee Dennis took the Boots to Business program in 2018 and said it helped make her art studio a success.

Boots to Business

The director of the VBOC is Tim Craig, who retired from the Air Force following a 20-year career in project management and personnel administration. Craig heads up a four-person team that visits 14 military installations in Georgia and South Carolina on a periodic basis to teach the SBA’s Boots to Business program—free, two-day classes on business ownership.

The classes are divided into eight modules: 1. Military skills and how they can be applied in the civilian sector 2. The business idea and its demand and viability 3. Marketing and working with, among others, government contractors 4. Profit margins 5. Legal issues and the need to set up a business the right way by employing a banker, accountant, insurance agent and lawyer 6. Finances, highlighting that 60 to 70 percent of the funding comes from the business owner 7. Putting a business plan on paper 8. Calling on partners and friends to provide support in making the business successful

For the past year or so, due to the pandemic, the classes were virtual. Starting in July, they’ll go back to holding the classes in person. For individuals who don’t have access to a military base, they can take Reboot classes at various locations, one of which is at the VBOC in Warner Robins.

“We have quite a few individuals who want to start businesses,” Craig said. “We’ve had well over 700 calls this year. We help them understand the resources at their disposal and not grasp at straws. We want them to know they’re not alone and they have support.”

Through the Central Technical College of Georgia, which serves as administrative host for the Georgia VETRC and has 11 locations in central Georgia, veterans can take a number of accelerated training programs that include HVAC, CDL, welding, electrical construction, industrial management, and cybersecurity.

A Passion for Serving and Helping

Craig’s interest in the military started in high school, after some friends joined the Army, Navy and Marines. Six months after graduation, he decided to take a different flight path from his buddies and signed up with the Air Force.

“I didn’t like wearing green, I didn’t want to be on a ship, and at six-three, 140 pounds didn’t have the body to be in the Marines,” Craig said. “The Air Force was a great experience. I made the right choice.”

Following retirement from the Air Force in 2003, Craig pursued a number of vocations including owning a real estate company with his wife, mortgage financing, teaching adult education at the Technical College System of Georgia, and working as a substitute teacher in the Houston County School System.

In 2018, he applied for his current position and was subsequently hired.

“I needed a change from teaching,” Craig said. “This job allows me to use my military, project manager and teaching skills. They’re all being employed now.”

Just as the Air Force was a good choice, so, too, was the job of center director.

“I have a passion for serving and helping,” Craig said. “I want to help veterans identify and grow their passion. My team and I have the same goal—service to veterans and their spouses.” n

info@gavectr.org www.gavectr.org/vboc

“I feel like I gained a deeper understanding on how the whole entrepreneurial system worked,” Renee Dennis said. “At first I thought it meant doing a lot of things on your own to get started, but the Boots to Business’ explanation of the BAIL team, I think, is what has stuck with me the most. Teamwork makes the dream work.”

Veteran Realizes Dream of Owning his Own Food Business

Hank Howard also discovered his meal ticket through the veterans’ center. A threeyear Army veteran, Howard worked as a civil servant and contractor after leaving the military in 1977. In the meantime, he said he harbored the dream of owning his own food business. When a friend suggested he take the Boots to Business course at VBOC in the fall of 2019, Howard saw an opportunity to fulfill his longtime ambition.

The move paid off last year with Howard opening up his restaurant at a flea market in Macon and bringing in a food truck. He credits the classes at the vet center as being key to opening his own business.

“They presented some good information I needed for having the right people in my corner—insurance agent, banker, lawyer —people I didn’t think about,” Howard said. “Tim (Craig) followed up with me after I took the classes and attended my grand opening. That made me feel good that he took an interest in my business and wanted to help me.”

Through the VBOC program, Howard learned not only about marketing, funding and devising a business plan, but he also received confirmation that he was on the right track toward business ownership and just needed a support system that’s geared to helping veterans become successful entrepreneurs.

“They were really helpful,” Howard said. “They gave me other resources to tap into. It’s just a good program that I recommend to veterans who want to own their own business.”

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Wayne Chambers Art Show August 15-21 at the Salon de Baile, Pooler GA. Opening Reception: August 15 from 1:00-6:00pm

Savannah artist Wayne Chambers is having a new gallery show in August. “It’s a one man show and will run for a week, with an opening artist’s reception on the first day,” Wayne says. He adds that the show came about because, “I have been painting more than ever—and that’s after 59 years of painting!”

The show will feature new work and classic favorites, originals, prints, cards, and both framed and unframed art. At the show will be paintings of Savannah homes, cityscapes, city garden squares, Savannah penthouse views and the outlying marshes. Wayne says, “I just love Savannah because everywhere I look is a painting.”

Wayne’s other great love is the tropics, from Key West through the Caribbean. Art depicting tropical motifs will be available at the show, including his latest painting of a Caribbean jungle scene. He says, “I will also have several paintings of birds—Great Egret, toucans, cranes, parrots, flamingos and even a peacock.”

Historical Homes

Well known for his painting of the famous Mercer House, (from the book and movie “The Garden of Good and Evil”), Wayne says it came about in a serendipitous way. “In 2000 I came to Savannah on a three week visit and painted many houses and scenes. On my last day I was painting the Mercer House from the street, met the owners and was fortunate enough to land a contract with them. I have since sold over 500 lithographs of the Mercer house all over the USA and Europe, even in Malaysia.”

Many of Wayne’s paintings depict the iconic houses of Savannah—homes he has been painting for many years. “I was commissioned to design and paint the ‘Tour of Homes’ program cover for 12 years” he says. Artwork available at the show will include depictions of the Critz House, the Hamilton Turner House, the Keho House, the Pink House, the Ducan House and the Owen Thomas Home.

Virginia to Savannah

Wayne was born and raised in Crewe, VA, and had a 31-year career with Phillip Morris in Richmond, VA. After retirement, he moved to Savannah and became a full time artist, devoting himself to painting. As a young boy drawing came easily to him and he remembers drawing in the fields and forest on his family’s small tobacco farm. He has studied art at the New York Arts Students League and VA Commonwealth University, and he himself has taught art through the Georgia Southern Continuing Education program, as well as privately.

Wayne says, “I have a passion for teaching painting. I have taught people who are complete novices, and with instruction they totally bloom.” Currently he offers private group and individual lessons. Interested in all the arts, Wayne is an accomplished ballroom dancer and also plays the piano. He is looking forward to launching a new venture as an entertainer in the Savannah area while continuing to paint “this majestic city.”