This week's Roundtable had a real-time quality to it. People asked for help and got it before the hour was up. Clay hosted and kept us moving, and the room did the rest: wins, introductions, and plenty of hands raised to help each other.
Clay Hicks (CEO and founder of H7 Network, a B2B networking platform, and a VOB board member; clayton@h7network.com; h7network.com) opened with celebrations. I kicked it off with a quick VOB update: Monday was full of good meetings, including introductions for Mike Forrest and progress on a job sourcing program we're building with Brian Nichols. Michael "Mike" Forrest (92-year-old Army veteran and founder of ALMA my friend, a free voice-first AI companion app for seniors and veterans; mike@almamyfriend.com; almamyfriend.com) shared that ALMA started live testing in his Central Florida neighborhood this week, with no complaints so far. Mike Verret (founder of Verret & Associates, who helps business owners talk about their business with clarity and impact; vapresentations@gmail.com; verretandassociates.com) offered on the spot to help put ALMA in more hands, and I'm making that introduction. Welcome back, Mike V! He's now working with two startups on retainer and gives his first paid keynote on Thursday, with more than 650 people registered.
The wins kept coming. Bill Haase (author, podcaster and money-mindset educator; bill@billhaase.com; moneymindsetmedia.com; garage-talk.com) has the fourth part of his three-part GLP-1 series out Thursday, this one on the investment side. Bill Higgins (president of NORA Mental Health in Central Indiana, offering therapy, including EMDR, by telehealth and in person, and accepting insurance; billhiggins@noramentalhealth.com) attended his first Roundtable and shared that NORA just hired a new therapist, which adds capacity. David Mohammed (Crosshair Digital Marketing, helping business owners show up in both AI and Google search; david@crosshaircommunications.com) taught about 60 people from the military community how to build a professional portfolio on GitHub. He also started a Sandler Academy and launched Portfoliomatic, a tool that tailors your resume and runs a mock interview, free for the next two months. Jake "The Flagman" Droge (Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional with Luminate Bank, running a half marathon in all 50 states while carrying the flag; Jake.Droge@luminate.bank; jakedroge.com) is back with Luminate as of last week and got his second clear-to-close that morning.
AI and automation came up from a few directions. Frank DiBartolomeo (USAF Lt. Col., retired, and a public speaking consultant to engineers and technical professionals; frank@speakleadandsucceed.com; speakleadandsucceed.com) has connected ChatGPT to ClickFunnels, so he can build and revise funnels, and even his website, from a prompt. Kathy Swanson (founder of Integrated Marketing Werx, who helps expert consultants scale with AI and automation; Kathy.swanson@mktgwerx.com; mktgwerx.com) launched her YouTube channel, Automating By Design, in May. On it she documents, in real time, how she's building Thrive Here, a social app that tackles isolation through curated dinners, coffees and events. It starts in San Antonio for anyone 30 and up, and she has members as old as 105.
On the social media side, Alicia Nordman (social media manager and short-form video editor in St. Augustine, FL, and the force behind VOB's social channels; linktr.ee/Aliciassocialmedia) reported that VOB's YouTube Shorts have passed 3,000 views across four videos and are already showing up in Google's short-form video results. Her ask is simple: follow VOB on every platform you use, and when our posts show up, hit save, which tells the algorithm the content is worth pushing. She also needs raw video clips, which you can send through our content upload portal (linked on the website, right under the Roundtable Zoom link). She has a new video with GB, Frank and me coming out soon. Alicia and Mike Forrest connected on the spot to get him on camera, which works well since they're both in Florida.
Introductions brought a few new and familiar faces. Shaun Moore (retired Army MSG on Maui and Edward Jones partner who combines strategic business planning with personal financial planning; Shaun.Moore@edwardjones.com) attended his first Roundtable. He's looking for business owners doing more than $750K in revenue who don't yet have a transition plan, whether that's a sale, passing the business to family, or protecting against death, disability or other risks. Ed Jarecki (founder of Jarecki Business Coaching & Concepts, working with ex-corporate professionals, retired military and side-hustlers through his CLEAR+ framework; ed@jareckibcc.com) now has a course for new business owners on the VOB platform, alongside courses from Clay and Nikki. GB De León (retired Army officer and independent health and life insurance broker who's building a path for veterans into ranching; gdeleon@usabg.net; usabg.com/gdeleon) checked in from his tractor and reminded us that one critical illness can derail a business owner's dreams.
The asks turned into real-time help. Mike V is gathering contacts in cold storage, especially on the East Coast, for a client building what he calls "Airbnb for pallets of frozen goods." Deb Plennert (founder of Precision With Honor Bookkeeping; deb@pwhbk.com) offered to post it to her bookkeeper group's Slack, Kathy has a contact on the end-user side, and David has a friend in cold storage in Plant City, FL. Mike Forrest asked for veterans groups to test ALMA. Deb is getting him her American Legion post commander, David passed along a contact at Veterans Counseling Veterans, and I'd add that any of your local VFW or American Legion posts are good candidates. Mid-ask, Mike got a text inviting him to present ALMA at the Georgia Senior Living Association in Atlanta on October 29. Deb asked him to bring some of her one-pagers for the elder group home crowd. Deb also asked Jake two good reverse mortgage questions. Jake explained that most of his current clients still carry mortgages, that cash flow is the number one reason they come to him, and that more than half the people he talks with are veterans. He's also connecting a contact who started an Airbnb for veterans with Alicia, Mark and me.
Mark Spenelli (VOB Incubator veteran building Nature's Edge Group, an RV campground and glampground that serves veterans and first responders and helps rural veterans with housing stability; natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com) is looking for partners interested in veteran housing. The plan and the cash flow model are solid. What he needs is partners who can help acquire the land, which is remarkably affordable: 40 acres in Tennessee for $249K. Deb is introducing Mark to Lauren for economic development and to a contact looking to redirect tax dollars. Kathy suggested using AI and LinkedIn to find economic development leads, and David added a tip: get to know your county commissioners, because they can earmark funds for projects. Frank is looking for referrals to engineers, scientists and IT people who give presentations, and Kathy, the self-described "geek goddess," is already thinking through her Rolodex for him.
Afterward I noticed in the chat that Kelvin Ching (Kelvin Ching and Associates, a Hawaii-based financial advisor focused on tax-free retirement planning; kchingandassociates@gmail.com) had chimed in on the cold storage thread to say he'd just been at Unicold here in Hawaii. Glad you were listening in, Kelvin!
To close, I shared a quick VOB update. Our Community News page is where this recap, and every previous one, lives, and you can post your own news there too. Our new event calendar is live, and we'll start filling it in next week. Building slows down for a couple of days this week because Shankar, who built our website directory, is visiting Hawaii and I'm showing him around the island.😎🤙
Don’t forget to check out the 3 new Course on the Course page, and the several podcasts that play embedded right on our own VOB podcast page. If you and/or want to post your own podcasts or course reach out to me. We definitely want more. 👍
Everyone is encouraged to complete their free VOB member profile. I can see that several people have registered but have not yet finished setting up their profiles. If anyone runs into difficulty completing their profile, adding a business listing, posting Community News, or navigating the site, please reach out — I'm happy to help.
Thanks again to everyone who attended, shared, asked, offered, and connected. This is exactly what we want the VOB Roundtable to be: veterans and supporters helping each other find the people, tools, services, and opportunities that move missions forward.
Mahalo,
Kevin 🍍🇺🇸