The Commander's Brief

Business ideas, jobs for veterans, and other cool stuff for ex-military.

March 07, 2025

If you served in the army, you might be interested to know that they will be celebrating their 250th birthday this year. There is another cool newsletter I found that highlights the influence the army has had on American society and culture. Check it out here.

Let me tell you about a quick rule of thumb I use for resumes: I call it the “friend over a beer” rule.

Here is why I came up with it for veterans:

It can be really hard to quantify your impact from the military. It‘s not really part of military culture to keep hard stats on what you did and how it directly changed the organization (which as I write it sounds crazy). Evals, from my experience, were much more focused on level of responsibility and expertise.

That makes it really hard for veterans to write a resume for a civilian employer that highlights their quanitied impact, which is what you need to do on a resume.

Here is what I usually hear from veterans:

“I don’t have the data”

“We didn’t keep track of this kind of stuff”

“How do I measure the impact I made on a village in Afghanistan?”

There is not always an easy answer, which is where my rule comes in.

So here is how it works:

Make your best guess. If you can write it down and imagine showing it to someone from your unit over a beer and them saying “yeah, sounds legit” then it’s good enough.

Don’t overthink it.

Quick announcement: I have been talking a lot about Shift Group recently. Why? They are awesome folks and they get results for veterans on the job hunt.

  • 1,000+ veterans and athletes placed

  • 300+ hiring partners

  • 9 months average time to promotion for new placements, compared to an average of 18 months

And the stat that sealed this for me, they have <5% attrition compared to an industry average of 35%.

This week’s podcast is with Bobby Payne, an Air Force veteran who works for Shift.

If you are looking side-eyed at me and wondering “Is this for real?” then I invite you to come to a webinar I am hosting with Bobby.

When: Mar 26, 2025 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Bring all your questions. Ask tough ones. Bobby will be on to answer anything and everything you want to know.

Register in advance for this meeting HERE.

Veteran Business of the Week

A few months back, I published a podcast with Alex Lisot.

Alex went from flying fighter jets to running an e-commerce company, living abroad, and investing in real estate. He is a seriously cool cat and I’ve enjoyed getting to know him more since.

Alex is preparing to launch a special community just for high-performing veterans who want to take full advantage of veteran benefits, build wealth, and network with like-minded veterans.

Check it out HERE.

He already has a lot of content on there about using the VA loan, getting the most out of your GI Bill, and transitioning from the military to professional careers.

So in other words, a community built for readers like you.

Alex is working really hard to get speakers (including myself) to come in weekly and host webinars about veteran-related career topics.

A lot of what he offers will be free, but there will also be a paid membership for access to closed group calls and deeper dives into business topics.

I’ve been really impressed with what he is building and you should check it out HERE to get early access.

Resource of The Week

Do you like car racing? Or racing video games?

Then I have the thing for you.

One of my best friends shared this organization with me last week, Goat Locker Racing.

Here is their pitch:

“DIVE INTO AN ADRENALINE-FUELED RACING EXPERIENCE WHERE CAMARADERIE MEETS COMPETITION, AND FEEL THE THRILL OF THE RACE FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME. IT IS OUR MISSION TO PROVIDE RACING EQUIPMENT TO OUR NATION’S WARRIORS AND FIRST RESPONDERS. WITH THIS, WE GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO HIT THE TRACK AND ENJOY SOME SPEED THERAPY.”

Business Idea

I found 3 businesses for sale that I wanted to share with you all.

Will this business make you rich? Likely not. But if you are a West Point grad looking for a nice quiet life and a business connected to West Point, this could be fun to run.

We all know these uniform shops right outside the base do well. Everyone needs their dress uniforms dry-cleaned, patches sewn on, and alterations made.

Again, not likely a giant money-maker, but a good business.

Here’s the description:

“This digital education platform is tailored to U.S. Army Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), offering resources and training to enhance leadership skills. It generates revenue via a multi-channel model including digital product sales, subscriptions to offerings like the NCO Success Academy, and display advertising. The business benefits from a specialized military niche with limited competition.”

I took a look. It’s a good-looking business. If I were an NCO I might go after it, but I am not the guy to run it.

New Stuff

If you want to know more about Shift Group and why I am so excited about them, check this episode out here.

And sign up for our upcoming webinar HERE.

From the Archives

Go crush it,

Mark

Open Jobs Actively Seeking Veterans

P.S. There are affiliate links embedded in here. I may make a commission on any purchases you make. You should know that I vet these out and only offer stuff to you all that I really stand by.