VOB Network | Community News

Saki Melius

Sunday Jul 19, 2026

Category: General

Partner with a VA Intern at No Cost Through the Lakas VA Internship Program

Lakas Solutions is now accepting applications for partner clients for our upcoming Lakas VA Internship Program.

Our interns complete two weeks of self-paced training in administrative support and social media management before beginning their supervised fieldwork on August 2. During this time, your business can receive support from a VA intern at no cost while they gain valuable hands-on experience.

If you're interested in participating as a partner client, please complete our Google Form:
Lakas Solutions Client Partnership Inquiry Form

We look forward to partnering with you and helping both your business and our interns succeed!

Comments

Gilberto “Gb”

20 Jul 2026

This sounds like a great opportunity for anybody. Thanks for sharing. I need to keep this in mind if I run to anyone that fits the bill.

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VOB Roundtable Recap — July 21, 2026

We had a full house this week, with a great mix of familiar faces and first-timers, and conversation ranged from social media algorithms to NASCAR pit crews to a homeless veteran's mail delivery — which pretty much sums up what makes this group great.

Bill Clement (energy broker, Wise Energy Solutions; bill@wisenergysolutions.com), who walked us through how he helps commercial businesses cut their gas and electric bills — "we discover, then we recover, and put money back in their pocket." Andres Inciarte (Founder, Design Desk — designdesk.tech), joining us from the Atlanta area, introduced himself next. He runs an agency helping nonprofits build monthly giving programs through email funnels, websites, and ad campaigns, and he brought some good energy about the heat — turns out being from Venezuela gives you a different perspective on what counts as "hot."

David Eastman (finance mentor, Startup 425 / Seattle University), a first-timer, shared his path from CPA to nearly two decades at Microsoft in corporate and consumer product finance, and now spends his retirement mentoring entrepreneurs through Seattle's Startup 425 program and Seattle University's business mentorship track — he's not a veteran himself, but has family and friends who are and wanted to see where he could help.

Keith McNally (Dr. Keith McNally, Marine Corps veteran, founder of Trail to Transformation Foundation; drkeithmcnally@gmail.com, it3mission.org) also joined us for the first time. He's a five-time suicide-attempt survivor who's channeled that experience into a nonprofit focused on veteran suicide prevention.

Dr. Gina Di Nola (Veterans OneSource, Military Spouse University; military spouse, El Paso TX) welcomed everyone back and gave an update on Veterans OneSource — her free event calendar is worth checking out, and VOB is already listed on it. She also spent some time helping JR Bilbes (transportation logistics, San Diego, Navy veteran) troubleshoot how his homeless veteran employees can set up general delivery mail through the post office — a simple, free fix most people don't know about. JR also shared details from Stand Down, the annual event Veterans Village of San Diego runs for homeless vets, connecting them with the VA, nonprofits, and local providers all in one place.

Lisa Bowers (Office Allies, admin support for entrepreneurs — Lisa@officealliesllc.com) talked about how her team takes administrative chaos off business owners' plates, and specifically prioritizes hiring military spouses whose resumes often look scattered because of frequent moves.

Shaun Penrod (fractional CMO, Boundless Connections Marketing, Navy veteran) introduced himself as someone who helps founder-led companies build marketing strategy — especially companies gearing up to exit. JR Bilbes then gave more detail on his transportation logistics business, where he intentionally employs homeless veterans and non-veterans alike.

Dorothy Smith (DMS Bookkeeping, Memphis TN, Air Force veteran, Enrolled Agent) is helping with a couple of my own client engagements right now and is also doing books for Deb's Honor Box project. Alicia Nordman (social media management and short-form video editing, St. Augustine FL) shared some sharp, current advice on the platforms — working with the algorithm instead of against it, why Meta suppresses new business accounts, and why YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Nextdoor tend to outperform for free reach right now.

Bill Haase (Money Mindset Media) gave an update on the USS Missouri event planning — still waiting to hear back from the venue — and shared a great line worth repeating: shoot for impact, and the income follows. Brian Cate (commercial finance, veteran-owned government contract financing) talked about his work financing veteran-owned businesses on government contracts, and also shared that he's been helping a new startup incubator, Launchpad Tech Ventures, restructure their deal rooms for investors — he's looking for mentors if anyone's interested.

We spent some time comparing notes on bookkeeping software — QuickBooks/Intuit continues to take a beating in both stock price and user sentiment, with several people in the group already moved or moving to alternatives like Digits.

Mark Spenelli (Army Veteran, commercial truck driver; also developing "Nature's Edge," a veteran-centered RV park and tiny-home concept) checked in, and we talked through logistics for potentially connecting with Ram in Iowa this coming weekend.

Deb Plennert (Precision With Honor Bookkeeping) closed us out with a big update on QRF Up — their suicide-prevention and crisis-intervention work with 988, a rebrand launching September 11th, a NASCAR ARCA series event in Salem, Virginia that same day, and their Warriors to Racers program, which walks veteran clients through a stress-management pipeline that can lead to ASE certification and even a shot at a NASCAR pit crew slot. She's also heading to Cedar Falls, Iowa this weekend for QRF Up's third annual Heroes Appreciation Weekend, and the group is continuing to build out cross-pollination between QRF Up and VOB on the training and wraparound-support side.

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 joined, 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 🍍🇺🇸

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Honored to be part of the Veterans of Business community.

Honored to be part of the Veterans of Business community. 🇺🇸

I actually recorded a video introducing myself and sharing a little more about my story, but unfortunately it's too large to upload to the VOB newsfeed.

I'll be sharing it on LinkedIn if you'd like to watch the full version.

Here's the short version:

For those I haven't met yet, my name is Gilberto De León. I'm a retired Army officer and an independent health and life insurance broker. I help individuals, families, self-employed professionals, nonprofits, and small businesses build insurance strategies that fit their needs—not just sell a policy.

If you're a veteran-owned business, a veteran supporter, or know someone looking for an independent broker, I'd truly appreciate the introduction. Referrals are one of the best ways you can support a fellow veteran-owned business.

Every client I have the privilege of serving moves me one step closer to building my future holistic regenerative ranch for veterans—a place where veterans can reconnect with the land, learn regenerative agriculture, build community, and discover new opportunities after military service.

Helping people protect what they've worked hard to build is my mission today. And with your support, I'm working toward building something that I hope will serve veterans for generations to come.

Thank you for welcoming me into this incredible community. I look forward to learning from all of you every Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

If we're not connected yet, I'd love to get to know you.

#VeteransOfBusiness #VeteranOwned #VeteranEntrepreneur #Networking #HealthInsurance #LifeInsurance #SmallBusiness #MissionDriven #Leadership

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VOB Roundtable Recap — July 14, 2026

Aloha everyone,

We had a full house today, plenty of good energy, and one especially great new addition to the VOB family. Between weather chat (yes, it really is a weird summer everywhere), some ranching talk, and a genuinely inspiring introduction, this was one of the better Roundtables in a while.

We welcomed: James Di Nola (linkedin.com/in/jamesdinola; 20-year Army veteran, two tours in Iraq ? wounded in action on his first ? plus a deployment to Afghanistan) joined us for the first time alongside his wife Dr. Gina Di Nola (drginadinola@gmail.com; CEO of Di Nola Consulting, PMI Authorized Training Partner, and a leader on Military Spouse University and PMology). James is Founder, President & CEO of Veterans OneSource ? a project that started as his capstone while earning his master's in social work. The idea came from a hard lesson he and his family learned firsthand: once you leave active duty, a lot of the support systems built for service members simply close their doors to you. James described being told he could no longer use the USO after retiring, despite years of volunteering there, and realized the same gap exists across dozens of other veteran-specific resources. Veterans OneSource is his answer ? a Military OneSource equivalent, but for veterans ? and Gina, with her own 40-plus years in federal government service, has been the driving operations force turning it from an idea into a fast-growing platform. In about three months they've gone from local to global, and they're now working with a programmer on a geo-searchable, AI-assisted, vetted resource database. Here?s the Veterans OneSource link for everyone ? check it out, and if you know an entity or event worth listing, they're actively taking submissions. (Event Submission Page)

Brian Cate (brian@getacuitist.com; private lender specializing in government contract financing, and more recently building Acuitist, a security-first AI tool for accountants and bookkeepers that integrates with QuickBooks) gave Gina and James a warm welcome and shared that Launchpad ? the startup incubator/accelerator he's been working with in the Upstate of South Carolina ? is standing up a dedicated veteran division, with cohorts currently running across South Carolina, North Carolina, and New York City. He mentioned introducing me to Jennifer, who's leading that effort ? I'll be following back up with her directly. Brian also gave us an honest update on Acuitist: the demos land well with accountants and fractional CFOs, but almost nobody is willing to pay for security-first AI tooling yet ? only 3% of accounting firms surveyed consider security critical. He's putting it on the shelf for now to see if the market catches up. On the automation front, we talked through what we're building on the VOB site to auto-reformat Community News posts out to LinkedIn, Facebook, and X with an approval gate in between ? Gina pointed us to a tool called Blotato for multi-platform posting, which I'll be checking out.

Gilberto "GB" De Leon (retired Army Armor/Cavalry officer, Airborne Ranger, independent insurance broker with USA Benefits Group, regenerative farmer, and founder of De Le?n Valor & Virtue Legacy; gdeleon@usabg.net; usabg.com/gdeleon) kept it short and short as always ? full-market independent broker with access to 80 carriers, protecting families and business owners while building toward a ranch that trains up future veterans in re-gen agriculture. Good to hear he and Dustin connected this week too.

Mark Miracle (Marine Corps veteran, Gulf War and Somalia, 1987?93; Fractional Sales Leader with Miracle Sales Advisory; mmiracle@salesxceleration.com) gave us his now well-practiced introduction ? sales consulting and execution for B2B businesses in the $5?50 million range, about eight months into building his own practice.

Kelvin Ching (Kaneohe, Hawaii-based financial strategist with Kelvin Ching and Associates / Mod Financial, focused on tax-free retirement and financial efficiencies for families and businesses; kchingandassociates@gmail.com) was back from a trip to Hokkaido, still shaking off the jet lag, and introduced himself to our newer faces.?

Lisa Bowers (founder, Office Allies ? executive-level admin/ops support, with a focus on hiring military spouses for remote roles; Lisa@officealliesllc.com) joined us mid-cooking a diabetic-friendly casserole for a friend having surgery ? multitasking at its finest. Office Allies is growing and she's hiring again, so if you know a military spouse looking for remote work, send them her way. She also connected with Gina, and I saw that meeting is already on the calendar. ?

Mark Spenelli (U.S. Army veteran, CDL-A driver, building toward a rural hospitality concept through Natures Edge Group; natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com) had a great weekend helping out at Owosso Speedway in Michigan ? turns out the connection Lisa made for him introduced him to the owner of Must See Racing, a multi-state sprint car series running from Florida up through Canada, and the two of them talk shop nearly every week now. Small world, good outcome.

Jake "The Flagman" Droge (South Dakota Army National Guard veteran and Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional with LoanDepot, working to complete a half-marathon carrying the American flag in all 50 states; jdroge@loandepot.com) had to jump off early for a work call, but not before checking in ? state 21 is done (Brighton, Michigan on the 4th), Illinois is next month, and he's off to the National VFW Conference in Reno next week. I'll follow up with him on getting some VOB material into his hands to take along.

Bill Clement (Navy veteran and energy broker with Wise Energy Solutions; bill@wisenergysolutions.com; wisenergysolutions.com; linkedin.com/in/billclement99) shared some genuinely eye-popping numbers from his utility-audit work with National Utility Refund ? a Michigan manufacturer saved $120,000 a year after a rate reclassification, and a New York company recovered $160,000 in tax incentives. He's looking to build relationships with CPAs and tax preparers, since utility audits pair naturally with tax-savings conversations ? makes sense to me. ?

David Kidd (Marine Corps veteran, IT leader, and Foundation Board President at The Lighthouse for the Blind; davidkidd@outlook.com) was with us again this week but had to drop early ? good to have him stop in regardless. He and Mark Spinelli have both connected with Ramese of QRFup planning more projects together.

A note on our site

One more housekeeping note: attendance was a bit lighter than usual today ? about 10 of us, versus the 15+ we've been getting most weeks. Kelvin flagged it during the call, and it's likely tied to a Zoom link change I had to make this week. The correct, current VOB Roundtable link is now posted on the VOB website homepage, about halfway down the page, just above the scrolling photos ? so if your calendar invite stopped working, that's the place to grab the fresh one and get it back on your calendar.

Mahalo,

Kevin 🍍🇺🇸

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VOB Roundtable Recap — July 7, 2026

Hey everyone,

We kicked off this week's Roundtable comparing Fourth of July stories before diving into a room packed with new faces and some great cross-pollination between financial literacy, franchising, AI, and veteran resource navigation.

We started with a few new introductions. Virginia Cruse (combat veteran, LPC-S/NCC, and author of "The Soldier's Guide to PTSD" and "Acknowledge & Heal"; militarycounselingsa.com) is finishing a neuropsychology fellowship at the Dayton, Ohio VA and heading back to South Texas within two weeks. She's a 2025 Pat Tillman Scholar and will be speaking at the Pat Tillman Leadership Summit in Chicago this month, and she'll be the lead trauma clinician at the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center along with a postdoc at Strong Star, the PTSD Center of Excellence ? her focus has been military mental health and trauma work for the last 20 years, and the 2022 Uvalde shooting is what brought her home to do that work in her own community. Vince Lindenmeyer (retired Army Colonel; Principal, Beacon 4sight Group, a nonprofit advisory firm) clearly already knew of Virginia's Tillman Scholar status before she explained it to the group, and gave the group a quick overview of his emergency-planning work relevant to school and community safety.

Bill Haase (Founder, Money Mindset Media ? author of "Our Mindset on Money," 38+ years in finance, formerly 20 years in the Chicago trading pits) gave us an update on his financial-literacy program moving into the Indiana State Prison System, with a pilot starting in a few weeks and nine more states already reaching out. The same program is expanding into community colleges and ? his real goal ? the military, including a planned event in Oahu. That sparked a good back-and-forth on how to find a trustworthy financial advisor, with Jim Mills (Co-Owner, EnCompass Background Screening Solutions ? 21+ years Navy submariner) sharing a personal story about the cost of not knowing where to turn, and Todd Mitchell (Owner/Consultant, CyberSecurity4biz ? Navy veteran, author of "The Small Business Owner's Cybersecurity Guide") and Joseph Wexler (recently partnered with Gatherly, a virtual event/exhibitor platform he thinks could work well for VOB speaker series and virtual meetups) both weighing in on fiduciary standards and finding advisors who ask about goals before assets.

Marc Cole (Senior Franchise Consultant, The YOU Network ? not a vet himself, but his father, stepfather, and father-in-law all served) introduced himself to several people meeting him for the first time and offered to help anyone exploring franchise ownership evaluate fit and process. Dr. Di Nola (?attending in place of her husband?; Founder, Danila Consulting/Veterans One Source, a growing nationwide directory of veteran events and resources; also a PMI-authorized training partner and founder of Military Spouse University) walked us through both sides of her work ? helping transitioning families find community and helping military spouses translate their experience into project-management careers. She also flagged a San Diego Stand Down on July 17 for JR Bilbes(U.S. Navy veteran; owner, SUM DUM GUY LLC trucking ? San Diego-based) to pass along to the homeless veterans he's been working with.

Brandon Schmidt (AI engineer based in Germany supporting Palantir contracts, currently pursuing his dissertation) introduced himself as he starts building out his own AI consulting LLC to help small and mid-sized businesses that can't afford enterprise-scale AI vendors ? with a plan to train clients' own teams rather than create long-term dependency. Alexander Snyder (financial advisor, Kaplan Family Financial/New York Life; five years Army, 82nd Airborne) jumped in with some quick, practical advisor red flags before he had to head out. Steve Ferman (Founder & Chief AI Officer, 4 Pillar Coach; also CEO of eTegrity; U.S. Marine veteran) added his own perspective on spotting advisors who lead with "how much do you have" instead of "what are you trying to accomplish."

Ryan Ballou (U.S. Army intelligence/operations veteran, pivoting from drone photography toward website and small-business tech support) gave an update on that pivot. That led into a strong resource-sharing stretch: Rameses "Ram" Yebra (Founder & President, QRFup a crisis-intervention app and support network for veterans and first responders, now with roughly 400 housing units including 220 in Florida) offered free, rent-free transitional housing for veterans ready to relocate, plus a connection to Onward Ops for SkillBridge transition support. JR Bilbes (San Diego-based, running a small trucking company and personally employing several homeless veterans out of his own pocket) asked about wage-subsidy programs to help him hire more. The two clearest paths worth him chasing: the VA's VR&E Special Employer Incentive, which can reimburse up to 50% of a veteran's wage for six months for employers like JR, and the Department of Labor's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program, which funds nonprofits and workforce boards specifically to place homeless and at-risk veterans into jobs ? exactly the population JR's already hiring. On the housing side, the VA's Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program funds rapid rehousing and rental assistance directly for veterans experiencing homelessness. Deb Plennert (Founder, Precision With Honor Bookkeeping; Program Director, QRF Up; Gold Star widow) offered to help JR track down the right local contacts for these.

Rounding things out, Chris Hunt (Navy veteran; President/CEO, Blue Prairie Synergy Solutions ? program/project management and technical integration for government and commercial clients) has been quietly running between commitments but wanted to flag a possible connection: a woman who helps veterans find housing loans that he's followed but hasn't formally met, and offered to send her info along to Kevin and Deb. He also loved seeing how organically the group has grown and is looking forward to a deeper conversation about referring between VOB and the live-events network he's part of through the Fort Worth Chamber. (btw I reached out to Gretchen Smith, Founder of Code of Vets (COV) Inc. this afternoon. Thanks Chris.)

On the VOB side: we're building out the back-end platform with member profiles (LinkedIn-style), direct messaging, and a coaching course platform launching the third week of July. Community News is part of that same build, and where this recap lives now.

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.

Mahalo,

Kevin 🍍🇺🇸

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