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Commander's Brief
Business ideas, jobs for veterans, and other cool stuff for ex-military.
Mark Delaney
July 11, 2025
In partnership with
I spoke with a veteran yesterday who is trying to make a career pivot.
His story is not unique, so why I share it here with you all.
On the surface, he had a very attractive job out of the military. Left the army and got an investment banking role with a major bank through one of their veteran pathways programs. For someone coming straight out of the military with no experience in finance, this is a pretty sweet landing spot.
But we talked about what he missed:
Leading people- right now, he is an individual contributor.
Working toward a worthy objective- for him, helping F500 companies restructure their debt offerings just isn’t exciting.
Desire to be building- wants to actually have his hands in creating tangible value, not numbers on a spreadsheet.
He and I spoke a bit and if he reads this, I hope it resonates.
But the message I wanted to share is not just for him- but for everyone:
You don’t need to have it all figured out right away.
I have talked to so many veterans on my podcast and in the course of running The Veteran Professional. Few have a straight-line path to what they are doing.
There is no direct road to get somewhere.
Give yourself some grace and be comfortable with the fact that you may not have it all figured out perfectly right now.
No one really does.
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Veteran Business of the Week
A few years ago, I interviewed the founder of J Dog Junk Removal.
They are a junk removal franchise that focuses on making veterans their franchisees.
Good outfit and if you are thinking of franchising (more below), they are one to look into.
Resource of The Week
VetFran is an organization fun by the International Franchise Association Foundation. They are organized around promoting veterans in franchising.
You can go on their site and find out some good info about franchise opportunities and which franchises offer discounts to veterans as new owners.
Business Idea of The Week
This week I got to meet with a business owner who owns a really cool business:
Goat vegetation removal.
Basically, someone hires him to bring a group of goats to a patch of land and clear out the brush. It’s awesome.
Here’s what I wasn’t expecting: it’s actually fairly low cost to start.
Some electric fencing wire (1000’ costs <$50 on Amazon)
A car battery to power the fence
Truck (can lease and according to him you can fit 15 goats in a truck)
That’s basically it. Also helpful to have a chainsaw to cut down small trees.
Other than these supplies, the biggest expense is the goat themselves.
How much does a goat cost?
Great question- had to look this up myself.
$75-200
Now, you will also have fuel to consider, vet bills, and insurance, but don’t need much to get this off the ground.
And he can make a few grand from a fairly small job.
So you get to be outside, work with goats, and make some good money.
Not a bad gig.
New Stuff
Mark |
💼 Open Positions:
General Manager- Phoenix, AZ (On-site) $200-225k OTE Own a P&L and a PE-backed business that serves commercial customers in the construction sector. Manage teams doing install jobs, lead estimators, and grow a business. (Mark’s note: This is a PHENOMEAL organization that is on the path to a 9-figure exit in the next few years. Room to grow into managing a broader region in this rollup. Awesome veteran to work for.) Director of Operations- Remote $100-130K Run operations for a business in the home tutoring industry. Focus on KPIs and streamlining customer engagement. Work for a great COO. Director of Operations – Honolulu, HI (On-Site) |