This week (Nov. 4th-8th), let’s take a moment to salute National Veterans Small Business Week. Every year for the past six years, the SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) celebrates veteran-owned small businesses. Hettler Insurance Agency is part of the SMB sector (we’re not veteran-owned, but we do have one veteran employee). And, we’re proud to support other small business owners by helping with commercial insurance in Texas and the surrounding states. We represent insurance carriers who happily offer military discounts to active duty and veterans for various types of insurance.

The theme this year is Mission #VetBiz Success. The SBA will highlight tools and resources in order to help small business owners with their mission toward success. They will cover topics like:

• • transitioning from serving Uncle Sam into serving John Q. Public,
  • training for entrepreneurs,
  • how to access stakeholders, capital, and resources,
  • how to consider government contracting
  • what to do should they need disaster assistance
  • On November 6 at 12 p.m. ET, join @SBAgov and industry experts for a Twitter chat

Some of the many other resources available to veteran business owners.

Veterans can check out Grow with Google for free training, tools and resources for developing skills, career or business. There’s a special section just for veteran-led businesses and job seekers. The USO is featured on their homepage. Also from Grow with Google: local businesses led by veterans can now add a “Veteran-Led” attribute to their listing on Google Search & @googlemaps. Don’t forget, veteran business owners could also take advantage of the Google My Business Marketing Kit.

Another resource for your veteran-owned small business (VOSB) is the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. You may qualify for advantages through the Vets First Verification Program that is operated by the Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). Furthermore, if you qualify as a VOSB, then it’s possible to further qualify your business as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

* Did you know, according to U.S. Insurance Agents, veteran-owned
small businesses pay approximately $221 Billion annually
to roughly 5.5 million employees in the country?

One other resource to keep in mind is the National Veteran-Owned Business Association. Here is a quote from their homepage:

Connecting Corporate America to Certified Veteran’s Business Enterprises™. NaVOBA provides a direct link for contracting between corporate America and Certified Veteran’s Business Enterprises™ (VBE) and Certified Service-Disabled Veteran’s Business Enterprises™ (SDVBE). NaVOBA is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization governed and led by Corporate America. NaVOBA’s mission is to create corporate contracting opportunities for America’s Veteran’s and Service-Disabled Veteran’s Business Enterprises (VBEs/SDVBEs) through certification, advocacy, outreach, recognition and education.

On a similar note, this month also brings us Small Business Saturday on November 30th. Celebrate small business by checking out local shops near you.

Did you know that there are over 30 Million small businesses in the U.S.? Every month about 80,000 new small businesses are born. And, the SMB sector makes up 99.9% of total U.S. businesses. Small business makes up about half (1/2) of the total U.S. workforce. (These stats come from the 2018 Small Business Profile as provided by the SBA.)