33 years ago my husband retired from the Navy with 26 years of service, transitioning from active duty to entrepreneurship.
Neither of us ever imagined how hard it would be for him and our family back then – in our case, not the business itself but the life transition and loss of significant purpose and camaraderie.
Thankfully, resources like the Iowa Veterans Entrepreneurship Conference at ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship are now available for transitioning service members. The 2023 conference on June 1-2, 2023 provides education, networking, and even pitch competition opportunities. I’ll be speaking and also judging a pitch competition (see info below).
Lisa Shimkat, State Director of the Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is joining me on this episode of DYN to talk about the challenges that entrepreneurs face, and the resources that conference sponsor Iowa SBDC provides to help overcome those challenges.
Lisa earned her associate of art degree at Iowa Central and her Bachelors and Master of Business Administration from Iowa State University. She served on the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies through 2017. She also serves on the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board since May of 2019 and is serving her third term on America’s Small Business Development Center, National Association Board. She currently is a member of the Fort Dodge Community School Board of Education and has served on numerous boards and commissions. In 2022, Lisa was recognized as a Distinguished Iowa Central alum and inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Iowa Small Business Development Center has fifteen centers across the state that provide business counseling for entrepreneurs in all areas of starting, operating and expanding a business, including utilizing existing community loan programs in partnership with banks and federal programs.
Re: the pitch competitions, one is sponsored by 11/11 Veteran Project and is to win a logo spot on professional race car driver Colin Garrett’s car! Colin founded 11/11 and his father, Ryan Garrett, is also speaking at the conference about having a higher purpose in your business.
We hope to see you at the Iowa Veterans Entrepreneurship Conference!
#veteranowned #veterans #milspouseowned #militarytransition #entrepreneurship #disruptyournow #pitchcompetition
