0:00 Who are you? And where are you going? What do you [Music] want? Hello and welcome to Business Lessons from the Military. I'm your host, Kevin Bemel, and we are here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about military history, doctrine, and the practices of military leaders, all but through by way of distilling
0:35 lessons that we can then apply to our business and professional lives. So today, I'm very happy to introduce my guest, Jason Hollander. Uh Jason is a veteran of the Marine Corps. Um and but I don't see any military paraphernalia behind you unlike so many veterans. Uh and after the Marine Corps um Jason went into business and he is now an M&A adviser, mergers and acquisitions advisor. And um I I met Jason through a veterans group to which we w both belong
1:11 and and we've we've talked a few times and he has some I think thoughts that you will find quite interesting about how he conducts his business that are based on his experience in the Marine Corps. So Jason, uh welcome. Thanks for coming on the show. Yeah, Kevin, thanks for having me. Yeah, just I guess uh talking a little bit about the the military and my experience with that and how it it really helped me uh become a a leader in business and get into business and mergers and acquisitions. Uh it really started when um you know basically with
1:48 my father. He was in the army during uh Vietnam. Both of my grandfathers were in both World War II uncles. So it really was a kind of path for me to uh to join the military and you know and I had a lot of options to look at. So I decided instead of going into the army or navy I decided to go in the Marine Corps uh back in 98 and really learned a lot of lessons from that experience. You know one about my learning how to handle if I can just interrupt you for a minute because I'm I'm I'm I'm interested in
2:23 this issue. Um, so having been a chaplain in the Navy, I spent a a a number of years with the Marine Corps. Um, and I have my thoughts as to why you might have chosen it, but I'm I'm I'm curious, not to get into sort of, you know, interervice rivalries or anything, but um, I know I was my father was in the Navy, which was why I ended up, you know, becoming a Navy chaplain as opposed to an Army chaplain. And I took a lot of flack from my endorser who was a, you know, retired army colonel chaplain and he's like, "How can you join the Navy?" I was like, "I'm not going to dishonor my father. I'm joining
2:59 the Navy. That's, you know, the beginning and the end of it, right?" Um, but so I'm curious as to why you joined the Marine Corps. And the background to the question is I did a kind of an informal survey, by no means scientific, um, a few years ago. And what I found was of the four service branches or the four service branches at the time because space force wasn't around then the branch of the service that had the most successful entrepreneurs was the Marine Corps. Uh and but I doubt that you know you thought oh I'm eventually
3:35 I'm going to go into business I'm going to join the Marine. So you you know to be honest with you Kevin that that was my thinking is you know I know most of the the the entrepreneurs or the better leaders out there spent you know were were Marines. So that was why I was I wanted to go in the Marine Corps because of you know it taught the disciplines, the leadership, you know, it it I knew it would teach me and at that time I was young so I was like I need I need a lot of teaching you know I need a lot of uh help uh becoming you know following in my father's footsteps. So, I thought the
4:11 Marine Corps would be the best route and it it had to do with that leadership, you know, uh role that that it taught that it teaches a lot of people when they get out of the the military or the Marine Corps and get into the civilian world. Gotcha. Gotcha. So, yeah, I was, you know, that I I think I heard that same study somewhere. Yeah, I I may have told you this before. Who knows? Um, so and what did you what did you do in the Marine Corps? Um, you know, how how did you get in and what did you do in the core? Well, I was in a in a grunt unit
4:46 and one two and uh got sent to Le June. Uh, but I was part of supply. I was in the subsistence supply part of the uh part of my unit. So, I was the the bean counter that uh was counting supplies in the uh back store room for our chow hall. And and you were enlisted. You were an officer. I was enlisted. Yeah. I went in enlisted. Right. Uhhuh. And how many how long were you in the Marine Corps? Uh six years. Okay. Oh, okay. So So a while. Yeah. I just did a little
5:21 extension after my four years. Decided to extend a little bit and then I then I got out. And what what what gave what was your reason uh for getting out after the six years? you know, I I just felt that it was time to I wasn't planning on being, you know, a lifer or going in uh you know, making a career out of it. It was more to be be that that learning experience at Stepping Stone and then I was going to plan on going into business with my father. Gotcha. Okay. So, go ahead. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I was just curious about that part. So, go ahead and pick up your narrative if you would. No, it's just going back to uh you know,
5:58 the the men in my family were all in the military. you know, I knew uh that that's what I wanted to do. So, part of the, you know, the things that it taught me was, you know, one is is uh teamwork. You know, being in business, being in the military, you got to you got to be good to work with uh other people and teams and you got to uh you know, learn discipline to to you know, do what you got to do in accountability. So I thought well that all those things would be good lessons uh for me and that's why I decided to to join and then decided it
6:34 was probably time from when it was time to get out and start really you know getting my building my family uh building my business and things like that. Gotcha. Gotcha. And so what was what was kind of your first step postmarine corps um when you talk about building your family, building your business? Well, I had met my wife out in uh out in North Carolina in Ljun. So, when we when I got out of the military, moved uh to Florida, and we stayed uh in my grandparents condominium out there in Tampa Beach for a few years. Then uh had
7:11 gotten my father had gotten the opportunity to move back to Dallas to uh work with the M&A firm, Mer, you know, merger and acquisition company here. uh he wanted and and I had actually set up a call center in Tampa while I was there. You know, we had a half a dozen people start making calls to business owners and then uh so I done you know did that successfully. The company uh made an offer for us to come back to Dallas. My father and I both moved back to to Texas and then uh we spent the you
7:47 know next couple years with that company. Then in uh 2008 when the crash happened, you know, we had the opport we actually had the opportunity to buy the company, the assets of the company. Uh then uh 2009 we set up my my current business that we're in now and we've been working in you know with clients across the country uh building it with a team of of uh M&A advisors across the country and uh then recently you know my father passed away last year so he was
8:23 my partner uh but now we're you know we're we're you know I'm kind of doing it with with our team here on my own. And um what what draw what drew you to to being essentially an you're an investment banker, right? I mean someone involved in M&A. So, what drew you to that? And and what besides your background in the Marine Corps um did you have to develop in order to be or or if there was anything besides, you know, your time in the Marine Corps um did you have to develop in order to be
8:59 successful in in that in that business? Well, you know, M&A takes uh kind of diff different hats and different experiences to to be good at, you know, mergers and acquisitions. Uh but really working with people and having a passion to, you know, help help your fellow man, help uh people uh exit their company, you know, get top dollar. It's it's a life-changing event. So, we want to make sure uh we you know, we do the best job we can for our clients. And you you learned that in the military. You you know you got your got your brother six
9:36 you know you know got your other team members back. So taking that into the civilian world and into investment banking was you know was uh part of one of those lessons that you learn and uh so you and you mentioned that you you initially worked with your dad but but you also had another group. So, how did you form your your group? Um, you know, it that you first built, I guess, in Tampa Bay. How did you form that group and and how did your time uh in
10:11 the Marine Corps inform how you approached putting that group together? Well, when we were, you know, we were working for another firm and they, you know, uh, so we were helping them when we ended up acquiring the assets of the company we we had during the, you know, during the crash. Uh, you know, we just wanted to get good team people around us, good uh, good team members to that, you know, were probably smarter or better than we were uh, to try to build, you know, build that team.
10:46 And you know, in the Marine Corps, it's all about team. It's all about uh building a strong team that can accomplish the mission, right? So, what what does it what does it mean that they're, you know, smarter or better than you? Right. Um, you know, how did you how do you how did you assess that? How did you find that? Well, when you know when you're looking for people who are got pro, you know, proficient or good at at mergers and acquisitions, you know, a lot of times they've already worked for other M&A firms or they they've got experience
11:22 working in mergers and acquisitions. Uh they might have been past bankers. A lot of them have worked in finance. So, you know, finding the right people that could work with our clients was important to, you know, accomplish the mission of, you know, being able to become a a nationwide M&A advisory firm. So, give us an example of of kind of a typical client so people can understand uh you know, who it is that you're working with um and and and and what
11:57 that's all about. Okay. Well, mo most of our clients are probably I would call middle lower middle market business owners to up to middle market. Um, most of them are doing at least 1 million in in revenue up to maybe a h 100red million. Uh, most of them have at least a profitability of 200,000 up to maybe 30 20 30 million as far as IBIDA. Uh, so we're we're not working in large, you know, large billion-dollar transactions. That's a whole different
12:33 world. Um, our world is more into the, you know, smaller, lower middle market, SMB, small business owners. And and what kinds of what kinds of industries are they in uh involved in? We work in a lot of different industries. A lot of service service-based businesses. Uh we we tend to gravit you know have a lot of our clients are in the service industry a lot of clients that we work with that are uh into the IT you know doing IT manufacturing that's a very popular
13:08 industry right now due to uh you know a lot of outside international companies are looking for US manufacturers to avoid tariffs so that right now is seemed to be pretty attractive uh we're getting a lot of interest in you know in in HVAC and plumbing. You know, people like uh pretty predictable businesses that uh even when the market is down, people still have to fix things, right? They have to get their their stuff uh fixed. So, that's kind of sellers we work with. And are you working primarily with the
13:46 founders of the companies or are these um private equity owned companies or you know h typically what is the structure of the companies that you're that you're dealing with um you know among your both among your clients and and also the the companies that you know may be acquiring uh you know the the companies of your clients. Well, well, most of them are founderowned businesses. Uh, very few of them are PE owned, but a lot of our buyers are PE firms or family offices
14:22 that are looking to, you know, acquire these founderowned businesses, either 100% or they may want to do a a leveraged recap or some kind of a, you know, partial buyout um of those those founderowned businesses. But most of them are going to be, you know, the the the husband, you know, the the founder or a son or family member of the founder. And and you you said that sometimes they're buying the you're they're being bought out completely. Other times, um there's a strategic investment. So h what differentiates
14:59 uh how how you help them, I guess? Well, well, it really determines uh is really by their goals. It's what what do they would they like to do? If the owner is ready to retire or they're ready to completely exit the business and they don't have someone in place that can take over the reigns and either buy them out or, you know, uh help them transition. then finding an outside buyer to buy a 100% of the company is is usually the solution to that, you know, to that. If they're younger and they're
15:35 still looking to grow, but maybe the company's capped out at, you know, that what they can do on their own, but they want to bring in a private equity partner who has experience in growing businesses or, you know, has already owns something in a platform that might be u complimentary. then you know private equity buyer is the way you know solution for that. U so it just depends on what the owner's goals are what they're looking to do with the company you know and and if they're looking to take advantage of of the market right now uh because market is still pretty
16:12 pretty hot uh for the right kind of businesses. Okay. So, we're going to take just a moment for a break here and and let everyone know that this is uh business lessons from the military, one of the way to wow shows. And I'm my guest is Jason Hollander. He's a Marine Corps veteran who now works in mergers and acquisitions. And uh our show is sponsored by the Beverly Hills Council of the Navy League of the United States. So, I happen to be the president of the Beverly Hills Council. So, the Navy League of the United States supports
16:49 what are known as the sea services, which are the Marine Corps, the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and the United States Merchant Marine. And and it supports them, or it it um works with them in three ways. Um it it creates a a civilian military partnership, if you will, in three areas. education, I'm sorry, it's support, education, and advocation. And so through this mission, the Navy League of the United States and its local councils looks to support
17:26 service members and veterans and help people throughout the United States learn more about what the sea services do, how that impacts our lives in the United States as citizens, and how we can support those efforts. So, want to uh thank the Beverly Hills Council for its its sponsorship of of this show. And if you have an interest in learning more about the Navy League, you can go to navyleague.org. That link will be in the show notes and you can find lots of information there about publications,
18:03 conferences, etc. that that the Navy League um conducts throughout the year. And if you consider joining uh in our work, so if if you um are in the greater Los Angeles area, we'd appreciate it if you would designate the Beverly Hills Council as your home council. And if you're in another part of the country, uh you're you're in Dallas, right, Jason? Yes, sir. Yeah. So, if you're in Dallas, I'm sure there's a Dallas Council of the Beverly Hills Navy League, and I would encourage you to, you know, sign up uh with with with the
18:38 local council there and support them in their work. I know here here in the Beverly Hills Council, uh we have an upcoming event next month, uh is Fleet Week, and we're having a get together uh down in San Pedro. Uh sort of a kickoff event as as we reinvigorate the Beverly Hills Council. So again, thanks to the to the Beverly Hills Council of the Navy League of the United States for sponsoring our show. So So going back to our our conversation, Jason, uh you know, as as as you look at how
19:13 being in the Marine Corps uh in impacts your you know, daytoday just business activities. Uh how do you find those things intersecting? Because I know my time with the Marine Corps, there was always training going on. If some, you know, if if a unit wasn't just getting back from deployment or gearing up for deployment, there was training going on that I know I did, you know, gas mass training. I I got to throw hand grenades, you know, learned I got taught how to do that. It was one of the highlights of my time with the Marine Corps. You know, it's because chaplain
19:50 weren't supposed to do that. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, it was it was a you know an opportunity to ask for forgiveness if we got caught rather than permission which we knew they would say no. So, uh, and and and frankly, there were some other, you know, day-to-day things that, you know, weren't so so pleasant, like, you know, having to notify a a woman that her husband, you know, had been killed in a training accident, right? Those are those are the day-to-day activities uh of the Marine Corps. And I I don't imagine that you've got, you know, a shooting range there in the back of your office, right, where
20:25 you're, you know, taking your your, you know, your team to uh, you know, to learn how to, you know, fire an M16 or or or something. But so, how how does the day-to-day life of your of your work, how does how is that uh, you know, informed by your time in the Marine Corps? Well, you know, just like you were saying, being under uh doing some of the things in the Marine Corps, you you're under some stressful conditions. You you know, you you learn to kind of keep your composure under pressure. Uh you you're
21:00 you know, when uh you're doing training, you're always there's going to be some things that kind of can stress you out. So you want to use to use that to learn to keep your composure under pressure and being you know that in a civilian world is is something that you just have to you learn to do and it helps you get through stressful situations. So, so give us an example if if you if you can of of you know where you know the the the training to deal with the stresses of of you know handling a
21:37 merger and acquisition uh you know where that really came into play and how you were able to sort of reach back to that training um and and use it to you know move forward successfully. Well, you you know in in mergers and acquisitions, it's a long process. So, when you're starting to, you know, you're starting through that process, there can be a lot of highs and lows. Uh you know, when the seller uh you know, already kind of checking out of the business and they they want to uh they've the buyer is you know, is trying to negotiate and there's a lot of
22:13 back and forth in in a transaction. you know, that can keeping keeping a cool head during the the intermediary keeping the cool head through that process helps get the deal done because if if you let the two get together and there's back and forth and there's a lot of emotion involved, it can it can derail the transaction. So, keeping, you know, having that experience and keeping com composure and making sure everybody in the deal is staying on track, uh, you know, helps helps, uh, get them done. Yeah. Yeah. So, I was just going to say
22:49 it sounds like a a lot of of what you do is first of all, help people understand what the mission is, right? What they're really what they really want out of this, right? And then keep them on track for achieving that mission, right? because it's easy to to get off plan especially when emotions are hot, right? And so, you know, as the company commander or the platoon commander, right, you've got to kind of keep people's head in the game to make sure that in the end they're actually achieving their mission. They're achieving their goals and not somewhere. Yeah. Right. Exactly. That that's
23:25 exactly right, Kevin. Gotcha. Gotcha. So, so once you've, you know, once you've found when you you've got your client, let's say they're, you know, they're looking to exit the business, they're, you know, they're a founder, they're looking to retire, they have no, you know, child to whom they're going to turn the business over and and and you've you've found the buyer, you know, you're you you've gone through the negotiation, okay, and and terms have been reached. So then, you know, what happens at this point? is I'm a real estate guy. So, you know, for me, I know what happens next. We open up escrow,
24:00 right? And then there's like a ton of paperwork that everybody signs um and then hopefully eventually, you know, we close escrow and and and both parties kind of go on their way. But to to my understanding, you know, there aren't escrows in in mergers and acquisitions. Um so then how does how does it look once you've you know, you've come to terms? H how does it look? Um, in terms of of of what you do, well, at, you know, getting to the the offer stage is is just kind of the beginning of the process or or beginning of the negotiation, you know, because one that
24:37 the we call it the letter of intent starts with it, just the terms, the price, what's in the deal, and then then the buyer has a phase called due diligence. So, they're going to want to verify everything that the sellers told them through a due diligence process. And that that can take a a matter of months. Uh sometimes, you know, there's a a lot of verification, a lot of financial due diligence. There's a lot of different so somebody needs to be involved like the intermediary to help kind of keep everybody on track and and
25:13 get through that due diligence process because it can be very u very stressful for the owner because they're not used to opening themselves up their businesses up to so much scrutiny. M uh so they find that it you know so keeping them calm and through this saying hey this is just part of the process you know we've got to we've got to give the buyer enough information so he can you know we can get through this part of the process and then we get into the legal the legal aspect of it to where you know the attorneys sometimes get involved and they go through their dance around the
25:48 purchase agreement and that the documents that are required to get the deal closed. So, it it's a it's a process. Just getting to the negotiation step in the beginning is one part, but then getting through the due diligence and then the final closing is is a whole different part. Uh and and we do sometimes see uh like you were saying, escrow, we don't see a lot in mergers and acquisitions, but sometimes the buyer wants it will put down a deposit and that will be held as an escrow payment until the until the final closing. Gotcha. And so let's you're in
26:26 you're in the due diligence period now and and and let's I'll take a simple example. Let's say you know the business is reporting you know $5 million in annual revenue. It's got um EBITDA. That's that's kind of a term of art. EBIDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It's it's kind of like net income for those of you in the real estate world. It's not exactly the same, but but a rough equivalent. So, so you got, you know, $5 million in revenue, million dollars in Ebida. That's what was reported. And now you get into due diligence and the the potential buyer is
27:04 looking and he he can't find the $5 million in revenue. He can only find, you know, $4 million in revenue and and he's he's looking at an ineba of, you know, $500,000, not a million dollars. So, you know, this is like, you know, the platoon that's supposed to be, you know, hitting this point, right, on the map and they get lost, right? So, then we got a problem. Yeah. Right. Exactly. So, so what do what do you do at that point? Um I mean, you throw your hands up or I mean, you know, what happens at that point, right? You simper Gumby, as
27:41 we used to say in the Marine Corps. Yeah. Well, you know, there there could be some retrading. you know, the buyer if they've made an offer based on five million with a million dollar, you know, whatever that number is, they usually apply a multiple to that and that's what they're planning on paying. Now, if they find something different, then the seller sometimes has to take less uh for the for the business based on probably the same multiple. But then we got to find out where where the you know did he misrepresent the the amount or is there some other accounting issue that that came up that's a you know we need to
28:17 figure that out. Uh because you know hopefully it wasn't a misrepresentation. It was just a accounting error so the buyer doesn't feel like he's you know they were being tricked or anything like that. But yeah, you you know it those things do come up and sometimes a buyer says, "Well, we're going to have to renegotiate the price or we're going to have to go back or just walk away from the deal, you know, and just walk." Wow. Wow. Uh, and so I guess, um, not to put you on the spot, but you
28:52 know, how much investigation are you, you know, as advisors are you able to do um, or do you do uh, before agreeing to take onto a client? Because I can imagine it's potentially embarrassing, right? You're marketing a business that $5 million in revenue and then in due diligence it comes out to be look if it came comes out to be you know4 million980 okay no big deal around here right a little bit off yeah okay nobody's going to have heartburn over that probably right um but you know 20%
29:27 off so that's already you know a substantial number just to use the example so how how much you know investigation etc are are you able to do you do when you when you take on a client, right? I mean, again, this is, you know, sort of fundamental Marine Corps tactics. You want to know the lay of the land before you you hit the beach as much as you can. On the other hand, you're not going to know everything. That's part of the inherent risk of of being an amphibious force. Well, we're we're going to do our due diligence up front. Um, we're going to
30:02 investigate the client's financials. We're going to usually most likely do do all the adjustments and an analysis on the the business and the financials because we're in most likely putting together the SIM or putting together putting that information out there. So, we typically have verified everything before we so we we rarely get surprises like that like that. Now, there there can be surprises that come up that we didn't anticipate, but most of the time we're going to anticipate most of the problems and and educate the client and make sure you know we're but we're we're not going to go out to market not
30:38 verifying you know numbers and revenue. Gotcha. That's for sure. And what what is what is you said the SIM? Yep. CIM SIM is the confidential information memorandum. Uh it it's similar to an evaluation of a business. Uh valuation is more for a kind of an internal decision-making tool. Know what the value current market value is. The CIM is more of what the buyer receives when we go out there. It doesn't have a price. It's got the numbers. It's got the write up. It's got everything about the the company that's relevant, but it
31:15 doesn't, you know, doesn't cap a price. And that's more of the marketing document for for an investment banker or a M&A advisor like us to use. Gotcha. Gotcha. It's like our M16, you know, it's it's what we go into the market with. There you go. Combat. Okay. Or your MRAP. Yeah. Yeah. So, switching gears a little bit to the internal workings of your own business, right? You've got a team. Now in the Marine Corps u for example you know there's the Marine Corps leadership academy right so as as an enlisted person develops their
31:52 career they go to the corporal's course and the sergeants course and the staff sergeants course I I know this because they used to invite me to do the uh you know invitation and benediction at their graduations right so and it was it this was it was an amazing leadership program right for developing people so that was kind one thing that the Marine Corps offered its its people and how it grew its people and then it also had an incentive system. The incentive system wasn't money, right? It was it could be, you know, being given a personal decoration, you know, Navy Marine Corps
32:27 achievement medal or commenation medal or whatever it was, right? So what what kind of um uh u growth and uh recognition tools um do you have in your business to encourage your team members to you know reach for their fullest potential? Well, you know, it starts with training and developing, you know, the right kind of people uh to do this kind of work and then developing them and nurturing them
33:02 uh through the process and we we give a lot of recognition. You know, when when we have successes, the whole company knows about those successes. Um we share share all the you know, we have war stories about deals that didn't go right, you know, so we can share those kind of things on our team. We do a monthly team call with our with everybody involved in the company and then uh we work with our you know team if they have challenges. So we're we're there we you know we're all kind of a a team as you say uh working together to accomplish the mission. Right. So you
33:38 you've kind of got your internal brand of Marine Corps community services and Navy Marine Corps Relief. It sounds like internally. Yeah. for for for people who don't know what I'm talking about. So, uh these are every Marine Corps base has got Marine Corps community services and these are really it's a a whole team of people in a bunch of different areas that are there to support Marines and their family members. It could be anything from from counseling to um gosh, I'm trying to remember all the different ones we have when I was in
34:13 Okinawa, but I mean it was it it's it's a huge part of the Marine Corps and they're all right there on the base. And then Navy Marine Corps Relief is just what it sounds like. It's an organ like if if you're you know if if if you're a a sailor or a Marine and you're stuck somewhere and you need to you know get home, right? they'll they will write you a check so you can get home to your you know a funeral, you know, god forbid or or something like that. So there's there's a tremendous amount of support for for uh you know people in in the mil in the Marine Corps um when when there
34:48 are problems and the Marine Corps recognizes that these kinds of things are inevitable. So, I know for myself, I'll share just a real quick personal story. When I was um uh stationed in Okinawa, um my family and I had just come back from California um where my wife had gone because she got island fever being on this tiny island. So, she and she and my daughter went back to California. And finally, my my um senior chaplain said, "You're going to California. You're going to bring your family home." Right. So I do
35:24 um and then two months later my father passed away and uh I couldn't afford to you know go back to California for his funeral there not on what we got paid and so um the colonel of headquarters and uh service battalion heard about it and I I mean honestly I don't know how he heard about it. I think maybe my supervisor called him and said, "Hey, Colonel, we got to help, you know, Chaplan Bemmel out." Um, next thing I know, he was on the phone to me,
36:00 fullird colonel, right? I was lieutenant at the time, you know, in 03. I'm like, "Yes, sir." You know, and and he said he said, "I he said, "First of all, I just wanted to express my condolences um on your father passing." And you know, I mean, I'm I'm practically in tears on the phone trying not to cry in front of the colonel, right? Let me see. So, I just want to let you know that um you don't have to worry about it. Um we're going to take care of you getting home so that you can uh you know, be at your father's funeral. Um and he said, "And that includes your wife and daughter. You all need to go. You need to this is something you need to do. You need to
36:35 honor your father." Uh and uh and you know, and and there it was. And and this was no small item. This was, you know, probably 10 or $15,000. Wow. you know, because it was from Okinawa to California, right? So, um, and and it shows you the ethos of, you know, taking care of people that is so a part of the Marine Corps, right? I I I'll never I I will never forget Colonel Smith. The guy was just he was a rock star in my world. So, you know, and
37:11 he knew he was never going to make general. you know, his tour in Okan canal was going to be his last tour. Yeah. He was as dead set in making it his best tour a as he was probably in any one that he'd ever had. Right. Again, it's that's part of the e ethos of the Marine Corps. So, uh you know, I I I got my respect from the Marine Corps from my dad. I I I think. But, uh um it really is the the training ground. So, uh, I I'm just curious, again, I don't want to put you on the spot, but but do you have kind of a sea story from your time in the Marine Corps that that
37:47 really kind of resonates with you on a regular basis as you, you know, pursue your your professional life? Well, I, you know, I always remember kind of uh during training and going back to uh 29 Palms. I don't know if you've ever been to 29 Palms, but you know, it's there's not a lot to do out there. You're in quanza huts. Uh we're just, you know, doing what we can to to entertain ourselves. But, you know, every time I I look anything tough in in life or anything that comes up that's a challenge. I always kind of look back at the time that I spend in 29 palms doing
38:24 training, mountain training, and things like that and think, well, it's not really that bad. It's it's okay. We'll get we'll get through it and it's it's all good experiences. But yeah, I mean just those kind of things it, you know, time spent in the Marine Corps and and with my brothers, you know, in arms and people that like that. I mean, I still keep in contact with a lot of them from 20 years 20 years ago when I was in Wow. Wow. We always refer to it as 29 stumps, which I'm sure
38:59 Yeah. Yeah. It's just it's in the middle of the Southern California desert basically. It's it's hot in winter, you know. So, u do you have um other military veterans in your company? I just just out of curiosity. Yeah, we have a couple uh that that were military vets. Of course, you know, if we have an opportunity to uh to hire a vet, we're we're definitely going to hire uh any veterans and help any veterans we can, you know, and I'm part of the the group that you're part of on a monthly basis that we uh you
39:34 know, we spend time with other business owners and in the military that have uh you know, kind of share experiences. Yeah. So, um, and and we're I'm going to kind of wrap things up here in a couple of minutes, but what what suggestions, what advice could can you give viewers who um want to be able to work with veterans in their businesses? They want to be able to bring them in or um maybe they want to work with uh you know, companies that are owned by veterans, but you know, as civilians, they don't really
40:10 know the the military ethos. you know, their picture of the military is from, you know, World War II movies and that sort of thing. What what what advice can you give them about how to be successful in, I don't know, recruiting veterans, working with veterans, you know, creating an environment where both the veterans and their business will thrive working together. Well, well, there's organizations out there that uh can help veteran get help veterans connect with companies that are looking to hire. Uh I would I would
40:45 recommend looking into some of those organizations to hire veterans. you know, veterans are are definitely um gonna going to benefit your business in a in a way that maybe, you know, uh because they've gone through experiences and and uh they've got that, you know, that ethos and uh the accountability that you'd want to look for in any kind of business. So, I would say, you know, look try to connect with uh companies that are hire that can help uh connect B uh veterans with with companies out there. Well, very good. Well, Jason, I really
41:22 appreciate you coming on the show and and sharing your thoughts. Yeah. Um, and if if for those of you who are watching the show, I we've got several live viewers, I notice, here um or if you're watching the show um you know, a after it's uh posts on YouTube. So, um Jason, I'll put your contact information uh into the show notes. So if someone uh you know if if you're a business owner I I'll I always do the shameless plug because my guests you know are never comfortable doing that. So if you are a business owner especially in that u
41:58 million to$und00 million uh revenue um you know category um and you're looking for for advice on a potential merger acquisition recapitalization etc. So, you know, do call Jason uh and and I'm I'm sure he'll be happy to discuss the matter with you. Um and and I I can personally vouch for for Jason. He is a a honest, reputable uh extremely knowledgeable individual um in in in this area. So, uh you will not get um
42:36 better service anywhere um than than you will get from Jason and his team. Uh so, his contact Jason's contact information will be in the show notes. If you have any questions, comments on the show itself. Feel free to post them in social media. All those links will be in the show notes as well. So, uh Jason, I'm going have you hold on just a second. I'm do a little wrap up here and then we can talk offline for a minute. So, thank you. Uh, tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time is my show, People Making Money. It's our monthly economic echoes, and we're going to look at all of the
43:11 various indicators and see what do they mean for the decisions that we meet need to make for our families, our businesses, uh, ourselves, right? Because, um, there's a lot of turmoil in the economy now. Uh Jason mentioned a lot of things going on with tariffs and and so even on the international stage a lot of uncertainty. Before I got uh before I I joined the show I was talking to a friend of mine who's very nervous about making some investments you know amidst all of the market you know girrations. So, uh,
43:46 tomorrow 10 a.m. people making money. We'll we'll talk about that and and and maybe get a little bit of clarity, uh, you know, through some of the the fog and craziness. And then on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time is my show, Jiggers's Place, and we're going to sit back. We're going to have a cocktail and we're going to talk about 19th century literature. Now, if if your eyes are starting to glaze over because you hated that in high school, it's not going to be like it was in high school. So, uh I'm going to I'm going to attempt to show you uh how how fascinating the
44:24 stories can be and also what we can draw from them to better our own lives, which is the point after all of reading these books that have uh you know, been around for in some cases a couple of hundred years. So, you know, Jane Austin wouldn't still be read if there wasn't really something great there. Um, and and and Austin is is one of the authors about which I'll be talking. So, that's uh Thursday 5:00 p.m. Pacific time at Jiggers's place. If you want the cocktail recipes, uh just go to my website, be.com, sign up for my email
45:00 list, and and then on Thursday morning, you will get an email and it'll have the cocktail recipe in there. or we can mix that up together. And then next week, uh, on Monday at 10 a.m. is my show, Trust and Estates Weekly. And then a week from today, we'll be back for the next edition of Business Lessons from the Military. So, one last time, Jason, thanks so much for coming on the show. It was it was great fun talking to you. And uh Lamman, good to see you all the way from uh from uh no, not Kenya. Um Namibia, I believe it
45:38 is. Um I hope I'm sorry if I got your your country of origin incorrect. Um but thanks thanks for for your comment and signing off as I always do. Marie darling, you are my bell.