The below has been shared with us by our friend Nikki Gianni The GovCon Architect:

In honor of Veterans Week, join the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Veteran Entrepreneur Tribe of Sacramento (VETS) for an interactive webinar dedicated to empowering military-connected entrepreneurs.

Date: Thursday, November 12

Time: 9 AM - 10:30 AM PST

Where: Online event

Link to register: Empowering Veteran Business Owners: SBA Resources & DGS Surplus Property Tickets, Thursday, November 12  •  9 AM - 10:30 AM PST | Eventbrite

Once you join our webinar, you will learn:

• CA DGS Federal Surplus Property (FSP) Program: How eligible veteran-owned businesses and qualifying non-profit organizations can acquire federal surplus property, heavy equipment, vehicles, and assets through the Office of Fleet and Asset Management at significantly reduced costs.

1. Navigating SBA certification pathways for veteran-owned small businesses, loan programs, technical assistance.
2. How to plug into local peer networks and transition military execution into business growth.
3. Direct access to regional support networks, workshops, and specialized counseling.

Featured Speaker

• Tim Swaney – Keynote Speaker, Veteran Entrepreneur Tribe of Sacramento Tim will highlight the mission of VETS, sharing how the non-profit bridges the gap between military service and business execution by providing peer accountability, mentorship, and local growth opportunities.

Veteran Entrepreneur Tribe of Sacramento | Empowering Veteran Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders

1. Federal Surplus Property Analyst – California Department of General Services (DGS), Office of Fleet and Asset Management

Regards,

Oksana Zubrytska

Oksana Zubrytska, CPPB

Business Opportunity Specialist

Sacramento District Office
U.S. Small Business Administration
(916) 735-1701
Cell (202) 604-5043
oksana.zubrytska@sba.gov

Mahalo Nikki,

Kevin🍍🇺🇸

We had a full room and a lively one this week: lots of wins to celebrate, several first-timers, a deep dive into how social media actually works in 2026, and some real progress on the VOB platform to share.
 

Clay Hicks (CEO & Founder, H7 Network, and a VOB board member; clayton@h7network.com; h7network.com) led us off and went straight to celebrations. Nikki Gianni (Air Force veteran and The GovCon Architect, helping small businesses win and keep government contracts; nikki.gianni@gmail.com; nikkigianni.com) signed a new client yesterday. It was someone she had lost earlier because of a partner's pricing. She found a better-fit teammate on LinkedIn, and together they won the work back. Bill Haase (Founder, Money Mindset Media, and author of Our Mindset on Money; info@moneymindsetmedia.com; moneymindsetmedia.com) announced a three-part podcast series with his co-host PJ on GLP-1s, covering both the health side and the economic side. He also has a new pen pal, Brené Brown, who wrote to him about his book. He had no idea who she was. Apparently she has a huge following on social media.😱
 

GB De Leon (Army veteran and independent health and life insurance broker with USA Benefits Group; gdeleon@usabg.net; usabg.com/gdeleon) shared that a BNI and LinkedIn connection led him to a wealth manager with more than 30 clients who need term coverage. He met with them last week, and it could grow his book considerably. David Mohammed (Army combat medic veteran and founder of Mo-Blind Solutions, a digital marketing and AI business solutions firm in Tampa; david@mo-blind.com; mo-blind.com) spent last week at the Military Influencer Conference in Tampa. He came home with new contacts and two orders he expects to close. Alicia thanked him for the photos he sent to VOB.

Tax and books came up more than once in the introductions. Mark Salmon (Enrolled Agent and owner of Mark's Tax Service in Alpharetta, GA; mark@marksalmon.tax; marksalmon.tax) reminded us that he can represent individuals and businesses before the IRS in any state, on any issue. Dorothy Smith (Air Force veteran, EA, and founder of DMS Bookkeeping in Memphis; dorothy@dmsbizhelp.com; dmsbizhelp.com) had the most specific ask of the day: she's looking for bookkeepers who don't want to do taxes, because taxes are all she wants to do. Deb Plennert (founder of Precision With Honor Bookkeeping; deb@pwhbk.com; precisionwithhonorbookkeeping.com) summed up her approach as transparent, trustworthy, and thorough. She is also working with QRF Up, and has just started a graduate program in leadership.

On the coaching and growth side, Ed Jarecki (Army Reserve veteran and President of Jarecki Business Coaching & Concepts; ed@jareckibcc.com; jareckibcc.com) described his two roles. At Valicor US he works on emotional intelligence technology for healthcare and VA hospitals, focused on PTSD patients. In his own practice, he uses his CLEAR+ framework to help small and mid-sized businesses build a foundation that scales. Shaun Penrod (Navy veteran and fractional CMO with Boundless Connections Marketing; shaunpenrod@gmail.com; boundlessconnectionsmarketing.com) helps companies that are preparing to sell, or were just bought, put a solid marketing foundation in place through a program he calls the Keel. He hinted at more news in a couple of weeks.

Patrick McCrann (leadership coach and founder and head coach of Endurance Nation, with 20+ years of building and running peer communities; patrick@patrickjohnmccrann.com; patrickjohnmccrann.com) attended as Frank's and my guest. He came to learn how he might support the squad and platoon model we're building for the incubator.

Some of the most mission-driven work of the morning came next. Mark Spenelli (Army veteran building Nature's Edge GlampGround, an RV and retreat destination for veterans and first responders; natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com; naturesedgeglampground.com) also works with QRFUp on crisis prevention for veterans and first responders. Lisa Murphy (co-founder of L2L Academy at Leprechaun Lane and founder of Limited to Limitless; lisa.murphy@limitedtolimitless.com; limitedtolimitless.com; leprechaunlanetc.com) was a first-timer this week. She just received 501(c)(3) status for a program on her 10-acre farm for disabled and disadvantaged veterans. The goal is to move 150 veterans a year onto certification tracks in the trades, equestrian work, adaptive sports, and dog training and handling. Her immediate asks are grant writing and professional facility design to make sure everything is accessible. She also has three Dobermans available for medical service work. Deb connected the dots right away: the program lines up closely with QRF Up's plans, and she knows a VA-approved trainer of dog trainers Mike Halapy at Highland Canine Training in Harmony, NC (mike@highlandcanine.com; highlandcanine.com). I want to meet him myself. GB added that QRF Up has a contact with a large training complex who may know someone for facility design.
 

Then Alicia Nordman (social media manager and short-form video specialist in St. Augustine, FL; alicia.nordman@gmail.com; aliciassocials.com) flagged a new Google press release on funding for veterans. It covers courses and trades training, separate from the Google Ads benefit. She then gave us a mini-masterclass on what the platforms reward right now: before-and-after videos, short clips with trending audio, YouTube for search visibility, and one keyword phrase repeated in every caption. Mark Salmon asked the question of the day: if AI is so smart, why can't it count weeks? Bill closed the segment with a strong endorsement: if you're on social media, talk to Alicia.
 

Two more people were able to swing by in the 2nd half. Rich Moyers (founder of Business Profit Max; rich@businessprofitmax.com; businessprofitmax.com), on his third Roundtable, has already introduced us to great people and is warming up three more. Chris Hunt (Navy veteran and CEO of Blue Prairie Synergy Solutions, providing program management, systems engineering, cybersecurity, and technology support for government and regulated organizations; christopher.r.hunt@bpsynsollc.com; bpsynsollc.com) signed his first subcontract teaming agreement yesterday and has two proposals in progress. He also said this was the best dialog he's heard in a long time, which we'll take.
 

VOB update. Frank has started our East Coast and Central squads, and we're setting up the West Coast now (as well as filling in more members to the existing squads) Here in Hawaii we formed a sub-squad we're calling Task Force Pineapple.😉🍍
If you're in the incubator, you'll soon get notice of your squad assignment. We're grouping by time zone for now. 

Our content portal is live on the website. Open the site on your phone, tap the portal link, and upload photos and video directly. That avoids email compression and file-size limits. Alicia has put together a content request list, which I'll post on Community News and email out. We're also starting some fun community campaigns. First, upload your boot camp graduation photo. Second, share your "why" — the veteran you honor, and a favorite saying of theirs if you have one. Mine is my grandfather.
 

Deb also gave us a preview of an upcoming guest, Brian Nichols of Veteran Hiring Solutions. Veterans pay nothing for his placement help, and he has a 97% one-year retention rate. The timing is good: the VOB job board should be live by tomorrow afternoon. Employers and staffing agencies will be able to post listings, and job seekers can post résumés. I will post details after my meeting with Shankar tomorrow. 👍
 

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 🍍🇺🇸

Congrats to Jake Droge, "The Flagman," on running back-to-back half marathons on September 19–20: Saturday in New Castle, Indiana, and Sunday in Toledo, Ohio.

Saturday was brutal. It was 65 degrees at the start with 91% humidity, and Jake was still feeling it well into the night. Plenty of people would have called it a weekend. Jake lined up again Sunday morning, because as he puts it, "it starts with a step."

In Toledo it started raining around mile 6, and the rain kept him cool. He finished 10 minutes faster than he did the day before.

Two races on back-to-back days, and he was faster on the second one. What a stud!

Jake is a U.S. Army veteran who served as a medic with the South Dakota Army National Guard. He's working toward running a half marathon in all 50 states while carrying the American flag. Indiana and Ohio are two more on the board.

Congrats, Jake. Now rest those feet. 🍍🇺🇸

#VeteranOwnedBusiness #VOBNetwork #TheFlagman #HalfMarathon #Veterans

This week's Roundtable brought more new faces, a few welcome returns, and one theme that kept coming back all hour: getting seen. Social media algorithms, AI search results, the right job posting reaching the right military spouse — the room kept circling back to visibility, and people kept offering to help each other get there.
 

We opened with two first-time attendees. Dr. Bere Waller (Air Force veteran and licensed acupuncturist running her own practice in Rockville, MD; Bere@walleracu.com; walleracu.com) found us through BNI, most likely by way of our board member Mike Garrity, who is active in BNI up in Maryland. She's about two years into her solo practice, and we'll be setting up a longer one-on-one. Jarrett Cieslak (artisan bladesmith and owner of Fire Beard Forge in Harford County, MD; jarrett@firebeardforge.com; firebeardforge.com) came to us through Richard Moyers, also via BNI. Jarrett makes one-of-a-kind and small-batch pieces in metal, wood, and leather, from knives and barware to branded keychains and luggage tags. He got into blacksmithing from Hollywood prop master Tony Swatton's videos. He also makes the weapons for ArmoredAF, a Maryland nonprofit that uses full-plate armored combat to help veterans with PTSD through training and camaraderie. That one brought back memories of my own armored combat days, flat on my back under a collapsed shield wall with three or four guys piled on top of me. lol
 

Cybersecurity had a strong showing too. Luis Aguilar (Army veteran and founder of CyberOps Specialists, a penetration testing firm; ag@csspecialists.vet; csspecialists.vet) is back after about a year away and getting back into his cybersecurity business. I want to get him together with Todd Mitchell. and David Mohammed (Army veteran and founder of Mo-Blind Solutions in Tampa; david@mo-blind.com; mo-blind.com) spent 22 years in cybersecurity at AT&T. Now he helps businesses show up in Google and AI search through SEO, AEO (answer engine optimization), and GEO (generative engine optimization), along with chatbots, AI phone agents, and automation. Luis asked to connect with David after the call, and I'll send an email introduction so they have each other's info. David is also at the Military Influencer Conference (MIC) in Tampa this week and posted a free ticket link in the chat.
 

Bill Haase (author of Our Mindset on Money and host of the Money Mindset Media podcast; bill@billhaase.com; moneymindsetmedia.com) shared a new interview he recorded with a Sydney-based YouTube host who has about 250,000 followers. It runs an hour and 17 minutes because the host didn't want to stop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8SGRtrmBw Bill heads back to Australia and New Zealand in November for more speaking. With his web and IT guy PJ Ewing (founder of Chief Marketing Outsource, a marketing and web design firm for small and mid-sized businesses; pjewingnyc@gmail.com) now on board as a partner, he's on TikTok, posting clips, and seeing a lot more views. Bill asked Alicia Nordman (social media manager and short-form video specialist leading VOB's social media campaign; alicia.nordman@gmail.com; socialmedia@vobnetwork.org; aliciassocials.com) to confirm a few things, and she gave the room a quick masterclass. Post about once a day, or a few times a week depending on the platform. Upload natively from your phone instead of through schedulers, and use stories. Put links in the comments, not in the post, because the algorithms suppress posts with links and hammer anything that reads like sales. My advice to Bill: bring PJ to that meeting with Alicia. We're also putting together a VOB promo with Bill as the voice, since his radio background makes him a natural. Alicia will set it up as a collab post so it lands on both his accounts and VOB's.

That led into our biggest VOB update. The content upload link is now live on the VOBNetwork.org homepage. Scroll down past the Zoom link for this meeting, and you'll find it just above the scrolling photos. You can drag photos and video straight from your phone into the portal, no email required. Alicia was clear about what we need: no sales pitches, PowerPoints, or logo-heavy content. Send creator-style clips and B-roll instead: your dog, a sunset, the clouds, whatever you've got, kept to 30 seconds or less. She has a list of easy trending video ideas you can shoot on your phone, and she's looking for someone to take on the paper airplane one right away. She'll also help anyone who wants to script a short talking-head video. Consider yourself voluntold. 😉
 

The AI conversation picked up from there. Mark Miracle (Marine Corps combat veteran, 1987–1993, and owner of Miracle Sales Advisory, helping B2B small businesses build or fix their sales engine; mmiracle@salesxceleration.com) kept his intro short and sweet. Then he told us he spent about two weeks preparing a presentation for the Colorado Economic Development Council, and got two slides in before it turned into a 45-minute Q&A. It was a great meeting, and a good reminder of how much better a real conversation is than a slide deck. Bill noted that NotebookLM helped us build an acceptable presentation in under half an hour on a project last week. Mark said most of his prep time goes into rehearsal, not building slides, and he hasn't found an AI tool for practicing yet. Mike "Buzz" Mallon (Marine Corps veteran and founder of Storyteller Promotions in Houston; info@storytellerpromotions.com; storytellerpromotions.com) added that NotebookLM's audio overview is a great tool and that you can download the script too. Mike also invited everyone to Tropic Thunder, his networking group that meets Thursdays at 9:00 AM Central.

Lisa Bowers (founder of Office Allies, providing executive-level admin support up to fractional COO for entrepreneurs; lisa@officealliesllc.com; officealliesllc.com) is back and hiring. She has two remote, part-time openings. One is general admin (schedules, email, back-office processing). The other focuses on social media and light graphic design in Canva. Every role is remote but must be U.S.-based, which includes military spouses stationed on U.S. bases overseas. She especially likes hiring military spouses because they can work from anywhere, and she's willing to train the right person. Email her for the full job description, and know that how you write that first email is part of the interview. Bill is sending his daughter her way, and David may know some candidates. David also shared that he's been asked to be a brand ambassador for VirtForce, which specializes in remote careers for military spouses and veterans. That ties into another update: our job board should be live in about two weeks. Employers will be able to post listings and job seekers can post resumes, all searchable by city, state, and military base, just like our other directories. In the meantime, if you have a job opening or any other ask, sign in, click Dashboard, and post it to Community News yourself.

We wrapped with two regulars. Dorothy Smith (retired Air Force, enrolled agent, and owner of DMS Bookkeeping in Memphis, TN; dorothy@dmsbizhelp.com; dmsbizhelp.com) made it through tax season without the stress. Taxes are her favorite part of the work, and as an EA she represents clients who owe back taxes before the IRS. 

Mark Spenelli (Army veteran, founder of Nature's Edge Group, and part of QRF Up; natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com; naturesedgeglampground.com) shared the latest on Nature's Edge, a RV park and tiny home cabin community project he and his wife are building for veterans, first responders, and active-duty military. He also updated us on the all-veteran NASCAR Truck Series crew QRF Up is fundraising for, from the driver to the transporter team. The Homestead race in Miami is off because they didn't hit the fundraising goal in time, so they're now raising funds for the 2027 season across ARCA and the Truck Series. QRF Up, which focuses on suicide and crisis prevention for veterans and first responders, just launched its new website at qrfup.org. Its app connects anyone who needs help with a licensed counselor or doctor at the push of a button. Alicia put in her request right away: she wants video from the track, sprint car races included, for both VOB and QRF Up.

Before next week, a quick to-do list:
 

• Finish your member profile. It's free, and it's how other members find you. If you're stuck on your profile, your business listing, or posting to Community News, reach out and I'll walk you through it.
   
• Share your content. Upload your photos and videos through the Content Portal on the VOBNetwork.org homepage, right below the Roundtable Zoom link. Short, unpolished clips are exactly what we need.

Every week this group proves the same thing: when veterans and supporters show up for each other, missions move faster. I'll see you next Tuesday.
 

Mahalo, 

Kevin 🍍🇺🇸

This weekend, VOB Veteran Jake Droge — known to us as "The Flagman" — is running two half marathons in two states, carrying an American flag the whole way, as part of his goal to complete a half-marathon in all 50 states.

September 19–20, Jake runs the Henry Community Health New Castle Mini in New Castle, Indiana, then heads straight to the Garmin Marathon Series Toledo Half in Toledo, Ohio. That's states 23 and 24 down, back to back, in a single weekend.

Jake's a veteran of the U.S. Army and the South Dakota Army National Guard, and he carries that flag for a reason — every mile is a nod to the veterans and military spouse-led businesses he spotlights along the way. If you're anywhere near New Castle or Toledo this weekend, get out there and cheer him on.

Good luck, Jake — go get 23 and 24.

Check out this news clip of Jake at one of his previous races.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lho6BRLdcXc

Way to Go Jake!!! 🇺🇸

 Kevin 🍍🇺🇸

This week's Roundtable had that good mix of new faces, old friends, and the kind of cross-talk that makes these calls worth showing up for — two brand-new attendees, a live demo that turned into a real business conversation, and a solid stretch on how we're all building out our social media game.

We had one brand-new face this week Jerry Aranas (retired U.S. Army/California Army National Guard - jerry@i3lsc.com) walked us through the audit and governance platform he built out of his time managing the calibration program at Lam Research — it takes messy, oversized data sets and boils them down to a simple green/yellow/red dashboard so an executive can see what actually needs attention in a couple of minutes instead of a couple of hours. I asked how customizable it is and how fast he can stand it up for a new client; turns out if the data going in is clean, he can have something usable within a few hours. It's a sharp approach, and it maps well onto something I preach constantly in my own work — take a big, ugly data set and hand people the one-page version they can actually act on. Good to have David Mohammed (solutions.mo-blind.com; virtualmoha@gmail.com) back with us — a former Army combat medic who spent over two decades in cybersecurity before founding Mo-Blind Solutions, an AI transformation and process-optimization practice. He also volunteers across several veteran-serving organizations, so there's a lot of overlap with what we're building here.

On the numbers side, Dorothy Smith (dmsbizhelp.com; dorothy@dmsbizhelp.com), founder of DMS Bookkeeping, gave us an update on how the Digits platform is working out for her — she's sold enough on it that she's moving her whole client base over. That kicked off a good back-and-forth about how brutal it can be to onboard a new client whose books everyone assumed were clean and just weren't — a problem every bookkeeper and CFO in the room has lived through more than once.

Alicia Nordman (alicia.nordman@gmail.com) gave us a genuinely useful breakdown of how the social platforms' algorithms actually behave — original, unedited 4K footage over anything recycled, why guns and certain other content get suppressed even when the context is completely legitimate, and how to work around that by keeping the sensitive stuff off the main post and into the comments instead. Jake Droge, aka "The Flagman," picked up that thread talking about his upcoming half-marathons in Indiana and Ohio (state 23 and 24 on his goal to run one in every state carrying an American flag), and Alicia is looking to turn his footage into content. Bill Haase (moneymindsetmedia.com; info@moneymindsetmedia.com) asked about getting a VOB intro or trailer built for his show, Garage Talk — Frank and I are putting that together for him, along with the broader VOB Veteran Journey pathway material that's already in progress with Nikisha for her live event this week.

Frank DiBartolomeo (speakleadandsucceed.com; frank@speakleadandsucceed.com) is building out a communication and presentation-skills course aimed at engineers and technical professionals, and our course platform is ready for him whenever he wants to plug it in — pay-gated or free, his call. Ed Jarecki stopped by briefly before heading into another call, glad to have him.

Deb Plennert gave us the rundown on QRF Up, the crisis-intervention and suicide-prevention nonprofit she works with alongside Mark — their NASCAR "throttle therapy" program, the push to get a paralyzed veteran relocated from Arizona to Washington State, and the long-term vision for their "Hero Complex" property. Alex Snyder, who's on the board with Deb, gave us the rundown on Sentinel AI — an AI chatbot connected to a veteran's actual care team that flags when someone may be heading into crisis, drawing on his own background as a SWAT crisis negotiator. Alex is also a financial professional with Kaplan Family Financial and New York Life (kaplanfamilyfinancial.com; amsnyder@ft.newyorklife.com), and Sentinel is actively looking for a new CEO with medical and veteran/first-responder experience. Gb De Leon (usabg.com/gdeleon; gdeleon@usabg.net) closed things out talking ranch work and regenerative farming with Mark Spenelli (naturesedgeglampground.com; natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com), whose veteran-focused glampground and tiny-home community project is still moving forward — both of them tying their day jobs back into a shared mission of getting veterans outdoors and working with their hands.

One more thing on my end: keep thinking about 4K video and high-resolution photo content you can upload for our VOB social media campaign — the more raw footage we have coming in, the more Alicia and the team can work with. I also spoke with Shankar, our tech lead, and we're expecting a two-way job board section added to the site in the next two to three weeks — vets searching openings, employers searching qualified candidates.

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 🍍🇺🇸

Attention VOB,

Nakisha Jolanda Gregory is kicking off the first of VOB Veteran Journey Series live event,
tomorrow on Oahu here in Hawaii. 
VOB Veteran Journey Series - Journey Stop #1 

Starting Up: Building Your Veteran Foundation

For those of you interested but aren't here in Hawaii, it will also be covered via Zoom. 
Start Time: Sep 17, 2026 08:45 AM Hawaii (haoles please adjust for time zone difference)

It's an all day event from 9am - 4pm HT. So feel free to pop in as you are able.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84091421517?pwd=1faIJiJJd69poOYKGxy77oKuLaqqp2.1
 

See the flyer here for more details. Reach out with any questions.

Kevin🍍🇺🇸

Aloha VOB family — great turnout this week, with a nice mix of incubator progress, tax season commiseration, and a full open floor on the social media push we're building.

Jennifer Barrows (Board Chair, Launchpad Foundation; jbarrows@barrowsdevelopment.com; launchpadtv.com) updated us on Launchpad's veteran entrepreneur training, fresh off the Governor's Summit for Veterans Affairs in Columbia, SC, with Myrtle Beach, Greenville, and Charleston next on the calendar. Frank DiBartolomeo (President, DiBartolomeo Consulting International; retired Air Force Lt. Col.; frank@speakleadandsucceed.com; speakleadandsucceed.com) offered to help her in Charleston, then introduced himself as a public speaking coach with 30+ years of experience — worth a call if that's ever tripped you up.

Tax season had everyone's sympathy: Mark Salmon (enrolled agent, Alpharetta GA; mark@marksalmon.tax; marksalmon.tax) is racing a client's return to the finish line, and Dorothy Smith (Founder, DMS Bookkeeping Inc, Memphis; dorothy@dmsbizhelp.com; dmsbizhelp.com) confirmed the crunch is universal right now, mentioning she uses TaxDome for client uploads. Mark Spenelli (natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com) gave us the latest on his veteran-focused RV campground/tiny-home project and on QRF Up (qrfup.org), the veteran-crewed NASCAR sponsorship effort now planning through 2028 with a Homestead-Miami appearance this November. Mark Miracle (Fractional Sales Leader, Sales Xceleration; Owner, Miracle Sales Advisory Inc., Denver; salesxceleration.com) rounded out our trio of Marks.

Richard Moyers introduced himself as a business coach and Marine/Army veteran who helps small business owners get their time back, with a couple of ordnance and warthog stories along the way. Ed Jarecki, joining from Saint Croix, reintroduced his work helping veteran entrepreneurs bring military discipline into how they run a business — we're setting up a follow-up call. Jake Droge ("The Flagman"; jdroge@university-bank.com; university-bank.com) is chasing states 23 and 24 in Indiana and Ohio this weekend on his way to all 50.

Laura Cross (White Sands Self-Care; whitesandsselfcare@gmail.com; whitesandsselfcare.com) shared her holistic health work and the AO voice scan, and later offered a practical tip: WeTransfer as a free backup for large files. Tracy Lynn Baker (Keller Williams, Cincinnati) is planning "For the Love of Veterans," a February event on veteran benefits and loans, and is looking for speakers and Cincinnati-area connections.

On VOB's end, Nakisha is launching the first VOB Veteran Journey Series event on September 17 — a monthly Hawaii pilot following the VA's journey map from transition through end-of-life planning, which we intend to expand to other cities and eventually a culminating event on the USS Missouri. Kelvin Ching (Executive Managing Director, Mod Financial, Kaneohe HI; kchingandassociates@gmail.com) helped me land on the program's name and is also working with me on a feral swine grant.

We're standing up a social media effort led by Alicia Nordman and will be implementing a phone-friendly way for members to upload high-res and 4K content without email compressing it. Laura's and Dorothy's tips above are feeding right into that build — a full announcement is coming once the portal's live.
 

Courses page is ready for those of you that want share and/or host a course on our platform, reach out to me if that something you're interested in.

TV Shows has also been added to the Resources drop down.⚡

Everyone is encouraged to complete their free VOB member profile. If anyone runs into difficulty with a profile, business listing, or Community News post, reach out — happy to help.

Thanks again to everyone who joined, shared, asked, offered, and connected — exactly what we want the VOB Roundtable to be.

Mahalo, 

Kevin 🍍🇺🇸