For many veterans, the most daunting aspect of life after service is the unknown. Where will they work? Will anyone understand what they have been through? What many veterans do not realize is that their military service equipped them with the skills to be highly successful in almost any industry. Boots to Business, an entrepreneurial education and training program, wants to help former servicemembers recognize those skills and apply them to civilian life. It is part of the U.S. Small Business Administration and Department of Defense's Transition Assistance Program.
Boots to Business programs are available in 165 military installations across the country and offer programs like Introduction to Entrepreneurship and the Foundations of Entrepreneurship. It has educated veterans with ideas ranging from running their own organic farm to opening a nano-brewery to growing medicinal marijuana in Colorado. The program is designed to make veterans feel comfortable applying the skills they learned during their service to civilian jobs and teaching them to market those skills.To date, Boots to Business has educated roughly 25,000 troops and helped strengthen the American workforce, which includes 2.5 million veteran-run businesses.