My venture concept is
about "Homebound", a not-for-profit organization helping military veterans
readjust to civilian life after returning home from their time of service.
Opportunity:
Every
day military men and women return home after their time of service. As of
January 2016, all across America there were over 39,400 veterans who were
homeless. In 2014 alone, there were an average of 20 veteran suicides per day.
The number of veterans who are homeless, unemployed, have mental health
disorders and substance abuse disorders is unacceptable here in the United
States. Numerous men and women return home and have no direction on what to do,
where to go, or how to readjust. These military men and women who need
assistance on their journey back to civilian life are exactly who I am looking
to help with Homebound.
Currently, there are a
multitude of military organizations that provide assistance to military
veterans. These organizations include the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wounded
Warrior Project, Disabled American Veterans, and more. All of these
organizations help in various ways, many of them focusing mainly on wounded
veterans. No one organizations offers the services that all veterans could
potentially need, which is readjustment to civilian life. I want my
organization to be open to military men and women, and their families,
assisting them in their transition back to the United States.
Innovation:
As I
stated above, I want to offer a service that is like no other. I want my
not-for-profit organization to assist all veterans who return home, not just
the ones who were wounded in combat. Even those men and women who were not shot
or physically wounded, tote mental burdens that sometimes need attention as
well. And even aside from mental or physical wounds, sometimes veterans
have been away from civilian life for so long, that they do not even know how
to go about adjusting back. Whether it be counselling for mental health problems,
assisting wounded veterans, or offering simply a friendly hand in adjusting
back, Homebound will be an all around go to for veteran transition needs.
Being a not-for-profit, my organization will not focus on profits, but
rather on helping. Of course we will require capital to run, and our financial
capital will come from grants and donations from the government and generous
patriots wanting to support our cause. Aside from our financial capital, human
capital will be volunteers across the country who are looking to assist the
veterans on their transitions. We hope to be able to collaborate and work
together with other organizations similar to our to expand and reach as many in
need as we can.
Venture Concept:
At
first, I believe the first people who are going to seek out our services are
going to be those who return home from their military service and are seeking
out their plans now that they have returned home. We will provide life
advisement to these men and women helping them stabilize back civilian life.
While teaming up with organizations such as MilitaryFriendly.com, we will help
them find potential employers to find a job, and assist in the other areas of
life including social, financial, home buying, and more.
Once
our name has been established and the success of our organization begins to
spread, we plan to have veterans from all ends of the spectrum seeking our
services for their transition back to civilian life. When it comes to military
not-for-profit organizations, we do not consider any of the others to be
competitors, because as long as we are all helping veterans, than we have the
same goal. With that being said, some of the weaknesses that have been exposed
in recent years with some of our potential brother or sister organizations
include fraud and money laundering. Our business venture will be sure to
exemplify the highest standards of integrity to build an outstanding
reputation.
Secret Sauce/ Unfair Advantage
The
resources that we possess are extremely important in ensuring the success of
our organization in the long run. Our most valuable resource that we possess is
our connections that we have. Connections can make or break a company depending
on who you know. With the various connections that we have, they will be assets
to us, guiding us to success along the way. As we grow, we will gain new
connections as well, further growing our connection base. As a not-for-profit
for the military, we will have a slight advantage because many people will want
to help us more opposed to others. Our connections that we have and that we
will gain is by far our most valuable asset.
What's Next?
I
was once told in an entrepreneurship class that you want to think big, but
start small. When we first start our organization, we will be working with
limited capital, and limited volunteers. As we grow and expand though, we will
grow infrastructure and assets to where we can do more and help more veterans.
There will always be veterans returning home that need assistance, and helping
them will always be our focus, no matter how large we grow.
My Goals
The point of the
organization is not about me at all, but it is about the veterans of the United
States. I want to give back to those men and women who gave so much for us. In
the future, as we continue to grow, I want to help more veterans and recruit
more people to join our cause. While networking with everyone we can along the
way, I hope to achieve a reputable status with many, and build relationships
that will last a lifetime. My goals include but are not limited to continuing
to assist the veterans, and helping others start their own not-for-profits as
well.
I really like that you provided specific names of places you want to connect with in order to provide services to the veterans seeking out services from your non-profit. However, while you say that other veteran assisting services are not deemed competition since you all share the same goal, I would have to disagree. Because there are other non-profits with the same goal, these may be more established with a known and credible reputation, and therefore may be the recipient of funding your non-profit will be relying on. So while yes, the veterans will be helped either way, your non-profit may be hurt by a lack of funding as a result of so many competitors needing the same funding as you, which is just something to consider in your venture concept in regards to how you will establish yourself as different in order to get the funding over other non-profits.
ReplyDeleteGreat name I really like that. I have been in the exact position as the market you are trying to help. So I love this idea and could not agree more with your enthusiasm and plan. I wonder if there is a way you could get in contact with a base nearby as they all have an out processing unit assigned to get people out. That would be a great connection to build.
ReplyDeleteHi Dakota!
ReplyDeleteKatia is correct in her comments. What you want to do is very good, but the more organizations trying to do approximately the same thing, the less funding will be available to split among the organizations. Something to consider.
Another thing to consider- your human capital. People who volunteer their time to organizations like this are great. But… life often interferes, and you may not have enough volunteers to do what you want to do. One day their child or grandchild will be sick, or they will be, or their car won’t start, or some other thing happens. These people may not think their volunteer service is as important as a paying job, and might choose to deal with their personal issues over your organization. How would you replace them? You might not have other volunteers as knowledgeable as they are. You might consider having some paid positions as well, so that the service providers will be in place when the services are needed. People do tend to take their paying jobs more seriously than their volunteer gigs.
That being said, you seem to be carefully thinking everything out, which will help your organization go in the right direction. Keep thinking and keep networking, and it wouldn’t hurt to ask your contacts what they think of your ideas- they may have a good idea that you didn’t think of before!