Unlock the secrets to a successful transition from military life to entrepreneurship with insights from Air Force veteran Joey Laswell and Army veteran Chris Benson. Joey, a certified financial social worker, sheds light on the psychological facets of money management and the pivotal role of financial literacy for veterans stepping into civilian life. His compelling insights highlight the transformative power of financial education, setting the stage for a conversation that’s both enlightening and practical.
Feel the resilience and adaptability of Chris Benson's journey from the Army infantry to becoming an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Chris shares his story of launching a business without conventional loans, starting with a lawn care venture and evolving into an innovative platform, Veteran Cards, designed to empower veterans in business. Together, we navigate the complexities of civilian transitions, underscoring the importance of networking and the dynamic solutions provided by Meditech's Metacard—a groundbreaking digital tool that combines the benefits of a digital business card and a personalized website.
Join us as we dive into the heart of community-building and technology in business with a focus on veteran support. Witness how the MediCards platform is expanding to become the largest network of veteran entrepreneurs, enhancing connectivity and enabling seamless business operations with cutting-edge digital solutions. With a bold vision for the future, we amplify veteran voices, ensuring their stories are heard and celebrated. Stay tuned for more empowering narratives that embody our commitment to supporting veterans.
Please join me on my different platforms and follow along my journey towards FIRE.
https://laswell.veteran.cards/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:35):
This entire military is one cohesive, dedicated force
.
And the threats to our nations?
They don't sleep.
They're watching our every move.
Iran, russia, china, northKorea, isis, al-qaeda they may
be watching this right now.
Our military should not bemistaken for our cable news gab
(01:01):
fest show.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We don't care what you look like.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We don't care who you voted for, who you worship,
what you worship, who you love.
We'll be right back, raise yoursons and daughters.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving
veterans a voice.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Find us on the web at mbradious.
I'm a certified financialsocial worker.
I was in the Air Force for 14years and then I paid off
$20,000 of debt while I wasactive duty within three years
as an E3.
So that's kind of like I gotreally into personal finance and
so I've been really passionateabout that ever since.
(02:19):
And that was 10, 12 years agonow.
So since then I became a socialworker and now I'm a 12 years
ago now.
So since then I became a socialworker and now I'm a certified
financial social worker.
So we kind of get into, youknow, dealing with finances, but
then also kind of dealing withthe psychology behind finances,
like the you know, the mentalside of things.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So Ladies and gentlemen, your battle buddy
when it comes to finances.
Please welcome the fire socialworker, joey Laswell.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
All right, love that intro.
That's really cool to see that.
Thanks to H for putting thattogether.
For me, man, I feel like it'sbeen a minute since I've been on
the on the airwaves.
So I've been out of pocket fora couple of weeks, had some
conferences, did some travelingand, man, it's just exciting to
be back.
This is Money in the Military,on Military Broadcast Radio.
(03:13):
My name is Joey Laswell andjust a real quick recap, I was
at the Military InfluencerConference in Atlanta and I
actually got to.
This is a rarity, I got to meetmy guest in person before I
actually got to interview him.
So that's, that was pretty cool.
And then I also went to aconference, a social work
conference in New York city.
(03:35):
So just a lot of cool stuffhappening.
And actually just next week I'mgoing to be going to FinCon in
Atlanta, so the financialconference.
So got a lot of stuff, a lot ofstuff going on, but really
excited to be back and reallyexcited to introduce my guests.
You know time is of the essence.
We got a lot to talk about.
So, without further ado, myfirst, my own, my guest today is
(03:58):
Chris Benson, army veteran, andhe's, you know, just really
active in his platform, hismission, veteran cards.
He's also got a lot of otherirons in the fire too, but we're
going to focus on veteran cards.
So, Chris, thank you forjoining me.
We've been working on this fora little while.
We finally got linked up, soappreciate you taking your time.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Joey, great to be
here, yeah just like you, I wasat the MIC conference and had a
lot of things going on and it isvery difficult for two leaders
in the veteran business world toget together.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
But here we are.
So for those that don't maybenot familiar with your
background, kind of tell us alittle bit about your origin
story, like what brought youinto service, what did you do
while you were in the service,and then maybe we can talk a
little bit about your transitionout of the service and how that
(04:55):
was for you.
So go ahead and jump inwhenever you want.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Yeah, well, after.
So okay, I'll just start backwith after high school.
I grew up in a small town madein North Carolina and then after
high school I was kind ofpushed into hey, go to college,
try college, do the wholecollege thing.
The problem with me is I don'tknow, if you know, I didn't know
how to quit.
So if I started it and I knew,I knew I didn't like it but I
(05:21):
wanted to finish it.
So I got my associate's degreeand I finished it.
But I went straight to therecruiting office.
My grandfather and my brotherwere both Air Force.
My grandfather served threetours in Vietnam, my brother
served two tours in Afghanistan.
So I really looked up to themand I knew that I wanted to
serve my country as well.
I just wasn't smart enough togo to the Air Force so I went to
(05:42):
the Army and I chose to goinfantry.
I know a lot of people getselected for infantry.
They select themselves due totheir ASVAB score but not me.
I didn't have that problem.
I just decided if I'm going todo it, I'm going to do it all
the way, and I went infantry.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Nice.
It's a bold choice, bold choice.
So what was your journey intoactive duty like?
Was that a culture shock foryou, or were you ready for it,
since you had a family ofservice?
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Yeah, exactly, I knew that.
I knew what was what was atstake and what was what was all
involved, and I kind of had agood understanding.
My brother had joined the AirForce not too many years before
I went to basic training, so Ikind of had a pretty good
understanding of what was goingto happen to me and everything
and I knew, kind of you know,the flow of everything.
It's basically just eyes frontdo what you're told, don't think
(06:32):
about it.
You don't get paid to think,just do so.
I think I breezed through basictraining pretty well.
For us, for infantry training isa little different than regular
military training, as you don'tdo basic training and then go
off to your AIT as aninfantryman.
You stay at Fort Bend inGeorgia and it's called an OSIT
training and you stay with yourreal sergeants the full 16 weeks
(06:54):
your AIT, if you want to callit, and then once you graduate,
you're an infantryman and you'reoff to your first duty station.
And that's what happened withme.
It was very fast and in a hurry.
Within graduating basictraining and OSIT, I was at my
duty station within maybe Idon't know two weeks.
Wow.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
What was your first duty station?
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Fort Carson, Colorado .
Okay, that's the infantrydivision.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Nice, okay, and how long did you end up staying?
Or did you go to anydeployments, or did you any TDYs
or anything like that?
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Yeah, so this was 2010 when I got to my unit.
I went to Afghanistan in 2012.
I spent almost a year inAfghanistan in the RCE East
Kunar Valley province, outsideof Kabul, outside of Bagram Air
Force Base You're probablyfamiliar with that, and yeah.
(07:58):
So then I guess a year and ahalf of being at my duty station
, I was in Afghanistan and afterthat I spent about another year
in Colorado and thenre-enlisted to go to, ended up
at Fort Stewart Georgia.
I didn't choose Fort StewartGeorgia, but the Army chose it
for me.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
How nice of them.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
I spent another four years at Fort Stewart, Georgia,
and then I decided that the Armywasn't for me anymore.
I really just stuck it outbecause my wife was pregnant
with our second son and she wasfinishing up nursing school.
So I re-enlisted to where shecould get through nursing school
and then, once she finished up,I decided to call it quits and
I took about a six month break,using my GI benefits, taking
(08:38):
some college classes, thingslike that, Just really trying to
settle down and find my way.
Then another unsmart thing thatI did but I'm glad I did it and
tried it is an Army Reserverecruiter reached out to me and
said hey, I'll extend your ETSdate and you just do one year in
the reserves back at yourhometown in North Carolina and
(08:59):
it was the 88 Mike truck driverjob, so it was like a complete
180 from no offense if anybodylistened, there might be a motor
transport operator.
But going from active infantryto reserve 88 Mike was quite a
shock to me and a lot differentthan active duty, and it just
wasn't for me, so I didn't stickwith it, and then I got into
business after that.
Okay.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
So so you know this is obviously money in the
military, so we kind of talkabout.
You, know the whole spectrum,whether you're active duty troop
, whether you're transitioningor you're already separated,
(09:45):
tied into your entrepreneurialand business side of things.
But, like just you know goodlessons learned from from our
personal experience aboutfinances and dealing with that
transition.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
Yeah, I.
So what happened with me wasprobably a lot of veterans can
relate is going from active dutyto civilian.
The transition process is not.
When it comes to financialliteracy and starting a business
and things.
It's very lacking.
They don't talk about that.
They talk about how to do aresume, how to get a job, how to
take an interview.
I told myself you'll never seeme in front of anyone else.
(10:13):
I'll never work for anyone else, ever again.
I will not.
I did not produce a resume.
I told the instructor of thecourse I'm not going to do it.
I signed the little waiver dealsaying that you know, I've been
trained how to do it, but I'mnot going to do it.
I am going to own my ownbusiness.
There's no plan B, I'm justgoing to do it.
(10:34):
So that's what I did.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah, so how was the initial business Like?
Did you go to the SBA, did youdo any kind of programs or you
just kind of kind of just wentfor?
Speaker 6 (10:47):
it.
No, honestly, that nevercrossed my mind.
To get a loan, um, nevercrossed my mind.
I started out doing lawn care.
I already had a pickup truck.
I got myself a push mower and aweed eater and a blower just a
simple setup, setup and I wasgoing around.
I only selected twoneighborhoods the one that I
lived in and the one across thestreet, and all the houses were
(11:11):
basically the same.
All the yards are basically thesame.
So I was just offering a flatrate to do everyone's yard.
I hanged a bunch of door hangersletting them know hey, I'm a
veteran, I just got out of theservice and I'm trying to find
my way and I'm just looking forany help I can get.
And before I knew it, I hadeight, 10 customers really quick
.
But then maybe, I don't knowtwo weeks I had eight or 10
(11:32):
customers, yeah, every week onmy schedule and I was good with
that.
Like I found peace knowing that.
You know I'm making, I'm makingmoney, my wife's got a good
paying job now and I can relax.
I think I only worked threedays a week at the time, monday
through Wednesday, and I justdid, you know, maintenance and
stuff on my mower and thingslike that.
I was trying to really ride itout and take my time with it,
(11:57):
but then I kind of stumbled intojunk removal.
I had a lady who her husband hadpassed away about a year, maybe
two years, prior to me startingto mow her yard.
He was killed in the line ofduty in Iraq.
He was in rain, she wasdownsizing her home, she's ready
to move into a small apartmentand she needed to get rid of
some junk.
(12:17):
And I had a pickup truck andshe said hey, you know, if you
wouldn't mind, next time youcome and mow, you know I'll pay
you to get rid of this stuff aswell.
And I said sure, and uh, Ishowed up and she gave me.
I don't know how you feel aboutsharing numbers or all, but I
used to mow her yard for like 40bucks, I think it was, but it
(12:38):
took me 45 minutes to an hour.
But by the time I showed up toto Mo blow tram, go, um.
But she paid me, I want to saylike $120, $125 to remove a
couple items of junk like acouch and some other things.
You have a car or anybody tohelp her pick up anything, but
anyway, I removed those items soshe could get her home staged.
(12:59):
And it only took me maybe 10minutes to do this and I was
like how I just made three timesthe amount of money in a
quarter of the time and it justwent off in my mind.
I said, if I'm going to be inbusiness this, I can make more
money and work less.
And I've always done that, eversince all the way up to leading
(13:19):
up to where trips all junk hasmade it now as a national
franchise.
It's just and we teach ourfranchisees and our employees
and everything.
The same thing is just.
You know, know your value, knowyour worth and you know charge
accordingly.
Don't be the cheapest in town,don't be the most expensive,
just honest work, fair price andmake your money.
(13:39):
And you know and you're usingyour time and resources, so get
paid well for it.
So I did that and then she toldher neighbors and friends and
other people started talking.
Next thing, I knew I had moreand more people asking me to do
junk removal.
It got to the point after a fewmonths that year after about,
I'd say, three months.
(14:00):
I wasn't even doing lawn careanymore.
I was slowly telling mycustomers, hey, I'm not gonna be
able to do that anymore, I'mtoo busy.
It got to where my my lawn carecustomers were my becoming my
junk removal customers in myreferrals and it's just wild how
it happened.
It just kept growing from there.
And then people started seeingme all over the community and
(14:21):
there's this guy in a camo truckhauling junk and everybody was
on it.
You know um area.
Even five and a half yearslater we're the first phone call
, the only phone call.
We're local veterans.
That's who they want to call.
They're not shopping anymore.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
That our reputation is just where it's at that's,
that's amazing and, honestly,that's how most businesses I
would imagine want to grow.
Is organically, word of mouthand, you know, just based off of
strong work ethic and, you know, providing a good service, you
know my clients.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
A lot of my clients have become our friends.
They know that they can call meany time of the day.
They're in my networking group.
I have a veterans networkinggroup that I meet every other
Thursday with.
I would say at least half themembers are previous clients of
Troops Hall Junk and nowbecoming clients of veteran
cards as well.
It's kind of crazy that theyfollow you.
(15:17):
Chris Benson is as big of abrand as Troops Hall Junk or
veteran cards is.
They know that I'm going to showup and I'm going to do them
right.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
So that's awesome and honestly, we could probably
we're going to probably do awhole nother show on just the
franchisee stuff.
We'll talk about Troops HoldJunk in much more detail, but
we're going to take a quickbreak, but I do want to
transition to veteran cards.
You know, that's something thatI'm just really.
I really think is is a gamechanger.
It's a great product and youknow just something that I think
more veterans should be awareof.
So so we'll play a quickmusical interlude from Noah
(15:52):
Peterson, my favorite MarineCorps retired veteran jazz
musician.
So we're going to play a quickmusic video and we'll be right
back.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Thank you, thank you so opinions expressed in this
(18:19):
program are those of thespeakers and do not necessarily
reflect the All right, we areback.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Thanks for joining us .
This is Money in the Military.
On Military Broadcast Radio,we're streaming live from
Memphis, tennessee, good oldMemphis.
Just want to do a quick shoutout to a former guest on the
show, my first guest actually.
We have vetted, vetted CEOAlistair Mercado.
(18:46):
He's doing some great things,uh, marine Corps, um, retiree.
And man, he's just doing someawesome things in his business
out in California.
So, just uh, thanks for thesupport.
Love to have you back on theshow, man, just uh, if you're
watching, uh, hit me up.
We'll, uh, we'll try to set upanother time to get you back on
and then Into the Weeds, anotherMBR podcast sending some love
(19:10):
this way.
So thanks for everybodywatching.
So we're back with Chris Bensonand he was about to tell us a
little bit about the newest, Iguess or I don't know how new
it's been, but this veterancards venture Can you tell us a
little bit about?
You know the origins of it andthen, just how you're, how
(19:30):
you've kind of how you got towhere you are right now.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Yeah, sure, so you know, as I was saying, with the
junk removal thing, leading intothat would be how I got
involved with it would be withat the time I was ran a company
called Vets Hall Junk, so it wasspecific to veterans and as we
were going through therebranding process to get to
Troops Hall Junk for thefranchise, we wanted to
encompass first responders aswell into the mix.
(19:55):
So we named it Troops Hall Junk.
Kept the same branding, camologo, everything but a company
called Meditech.
We were on board with them.
Company called Meditech we wereon board with them.
They were helping us with ourwebsite, transitioning from Vets
Hall Junk to Troops Hall Junk,building all the SOPs, the
operations manuals, all thethings that are required to
(20:17):
bring a franchise to fruition,the CEO, jeff Glass.
We became really good friendsand he developed a product, I'd
say about two and a half yearsor so ago, called a Metacard.
Underneath the Meditechumbrella they do websites and a
bunch of other things, but hedeveloped these cards and he
said hey, chris, you know, Iwould like you to try this card
(20:37):
out, see how you like it, shareit with your friends, see how
they like it and let's.
We don't really know what thevision would be.
We didn't know anything aboutveteran cards or any of that
stuff.
We didn't think about that.
We just thought, wow, this is areally cool way for people to
share their information and growtheir network.
So I started using it andshowing to people and everyone
was like, wow, that's reallycool, where'd you get that?
(20:58):
And I would tell them Meditech.
And then, and on and on and on.
Well then, here recently, withinthe past few months I'd say
about six months ago my friendJeff Glass approached me and
said hey, chris, you know youlike the card.
A lot of your friends aresigning up for these cards as
well.
What do you think about havingyour own line Like?
For example, if MetaCards werelike Nike, you would be like Air
(21:22):
Jordan.
You know of Nike, so that'sreally what it is.
I run veteran cards and Patriotcards.
Obviously veterans is specificto veterans and Patriots is
specific to anyone else, that is.
You know, I don't want to sayany.
I don't want to get into anypolitics or anything like that,
but everyone knows what aPatriot is.
(21:44):
So that's that's for Patriotbusiness owners.
So, but anyway, um, when heasked me to do that, I was
really honored to do thatbecause I've I've always been
known for um, getting out infront, of getting out in front
and, uh, leading and umnetworking and helping my
brothers and sisters that arewere my clients but are now, you
(22:06):
know, friends, referralpartners.
You know they asked me formentorship.
I asked them for mentorship,anything like that, and it's
just a camaraderie andeverything.
It's, coming back from themilitary, what you've missed
having your brothers and sistersthat you can lean on and ask
questions and you're never alonein anything.
So that's really what veterancards is all about.
(22:28):
This is a network to connectveterans, but it brings all the
social digital assets into oneeasy to use platform known as a
metacard, and I can go into that, explaining what it is if you
want me to, but the easiest wayto explain it would be in.
(22:49):
Thirds is that one part of itwould be your digital business
card, your branded profilethat's specific to you.
There are a lot of digitalbusiness card companies out
there, but not a single one ofthem allow you to brand your
card specifically to you andthat they do it for you, that
there's a team to set everythingup for you.
(23:09):
There isn't, to my knowledge, asingle company that allows you
to do that.
You can upload your own contentto it, but when someone clicks
on it, that entity is the onewho's getting the SEO
optimization clicks.
All that thanks to theirwebsite, not you.
It's not specific to you.
If you stop, you don't own it.
(23:34):
The next thing would be thewebsite, the card itself.
As you scroll down, the digitalbusiness card that pops up is a
website.
If you keep scrolling all theway down your veteran card, that
website itself has its ownunique URL that's specific to
you and ranks right alongsideyour existing website.
If you already have a website,you can plug that into the card,
(23:56):
but you do not need a website.
It's kind of like having apickup truck and a boat.
A pickup truck is great andhaving a boat is really great,
but you don't need a boat.
But having the pickup truckgets you around town, gets
things done.
It's just a fish on the bank,you know.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Yeah, well, while we're talking about this, I just
wanted to.
You know I've been using MetVeteran Cards for a little while
now and you know I wanted toshare what it looks like.
And, granted, I know this is apodcast, for some it's audio
only, but you know, if you're, Iencourage you guys to, this
will be on youtube and um and uh, different video platforms as
(24:36):
well.
But uh, just wanted tohighlight kind of what while
you're talking, uh, and justshow you um what, what it kind
of looks like, and then you knowjust and what we'll kind of
describe it, um audio, uh, youknow, uh, while we're while
we're talking about it.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
So, yep, go ahead it's an all-in-one platform, as
you can see here.
Um, I know you have it in likea small window so you can't get
like the full view of it, butit's.
It looks amazing on your mobiledevice, it looks great on your
tablet, it looks great on a PCas well.
It is a full-blown website.
(25:10):
It's not a portion of a website, anything like that.
It's its own landing page webpage that ranks just like any
other website out there, becausea lot of people don't know,
this is your website does notactually rank on Google or any
other social media.
It's your pages, your contactpage, your homepage, all those
(25:32):
things.
So this is a one page.
Anywhere you click on this,anything you do on this is
generating SEO optimization toyour website.
It's adding to your existingwebsite, if you have one.
If you don't have one.
This is a very cost-effectiveoption to have a legitimate
website for a very low setup feeand a very small monthly
(25:54):
hosting fee.
That includes all as much.
It's unlimited.
It's an unlimited update.
If you're running a new specialevery week in your business,
maybe you want.
For example, I see here thatyou have your CTA set up for
email call text and Calendly.
Some people have like on minefor Troops Hall Junk it says
(26:16):
dumpster rental.
You can click instead ofCalendly.
You can click to rent adumpster.
Someone can book it with twoclicks on their phone.
They don't have to go to mywebsite and find a certain page
or anything.
It's right there.
So that's your link.
Tree is what people call itwith your account, you chose.
Joey chose what social mediaicons he wanted.
(26:39):
We didn't pick that he did that?
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Yeah, it's just clickable.
Hyperlinked, it just goes rightto wherever you want it to go,
basically.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Yeah, right here where it says add to contacts.
You can save it in your phoneor in your client's phone with a
click of a button, but you canalso save it on their phone as
well.
So imagine being right in frontof your clients at all times,
just like any other app on yourphone.
You can add it to the homescreen and you've got your own
branded icon that shows Joey andhis business right there in
(27:09):
front of your client.
So you're in their phone and ontheir phone.
And then it goes through herethrough Joey specific branding.
So no other, no other digitalbusiness card will allow you to
fully brand your business cardlike Joey has done here.
He has it specifically writtenfor him, his bio, all the
information about his companyand his services.
(27:31):
He doesn't have to pick througha handful of predetermined
cards like some of the otheroutfits out there.
So this is specifically brandedand approved and shaped by you
through our Meditech team.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Yeah, and and working with the team has been very
responsive.
They, you know, like, if youwant to make an update, like I,
I made an update to mine withinthe last month or so to
highlight my Kickstarter that Ithat I launched and you guys
were able to do that and noissues, so it was really
seamless.
So it's like a live thing thatyou guys can, you know, work
(28:14):
with and tweak and things likethat.
So, yeah, it's a great productand ADA compliant, right?
You want to talk about that alittle bit?
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Yeah, with the ADA compliance.
Not that every websitenecessarily needs ADA compliance
.
It's just a nice feature tohave a way that Meditech
protects every single person'scard.
It's any product that they workon, whether it be a traditional
website or whether it be yourveteran card like this they make
(28:42):
sure that everyone is takencare of from all aspects,
especially when it comes tolitigation over ADA compliance.
American Disabilities Act Ifpeople aren't familiar with that
not that it's required on yourwebsite, but you know wink wink
you could have an issue someday.
Somebody could report and tryto start.
(29:04):
You know problems for you.
So it's not something thatMeditech necessarily charges our
users for.
It's just something they do.
They implement for every card.
It goes much deeper than justthe icon that that's like a
little widget icon for mediacompliance so that you can
increase the size of the screenand all that stuff.
There's a lot of backendthrough the through the tech
(29:26):
support side of things thatreally protects and keeps up to
date with the currentregulations.
That involve compliances of anykind.
Like, if you're in thefinancial, we have people that
are involved in banking andmortgages and things like that
healthcare, so HIPAA compliances, all those things depending on
your industry Like I'm in junkremoval, we don't have to worry
(29:48):
about any of that stuff.
But we do have clients in thehealth industry and banking
finance like you that do have tohave added measures of
protection through their websiteand Meditech takes care of that
.
That's not something that theycharge to do.
They just do it to make sureall our clients are taken care
of.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
Yeah, I just pulled up for, for anyone that wasn't
paying attention to can't see, Ipulled up Chris's card and just
showing you know, like you can,you can you know the the
background is going to bedifferent, like you can make it,
tweak it, have your own logosand make it personalized to to
each individual veteran orbusiness owner.
(30:27):
So, yeah, it's like as soon asI stumbled upon it, and yeah,
you can embed videos, right, youguys embedded.
Yeah, if you have a podcast orYouTube channel.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
a lot of real estate agents that have the cards.
They like to have their MLS,like their live MLS, like one
week they'll sell a house butthen they have an it's coming
soon or an open house orsomething like that.
They want to be able to havethat video broadcasted it may
change every week, you know.
so they're going into themedicine or an inputting uh,
right here.
A lot of people like thisfeature where you can click to
(31:01):
get a Google review.
Um, people set up multiplereview channels like they want.
I like Google in my area.
That's what works and we're thehighest rated junk removal
service in the area I serviceand that's where I get my
reviews from Some people put upnext door and just different
outfits that you use to getreviews.
(31:22):
You can put them in thatquadrant right there or really
anywhere else.
That's just where I chose forit to be down at the bottom.
It is fully customizable at anytime.
Even if they set it up for youand you decide a week later, hey
, move this around, move thataround.
You know yourself, they'llchange it.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, absolutely, like I said, very responsive,
it's in your monthly membership.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right,well, we're going to stop
sharing for a second, and sothat's just kind of an overview
of what it looks like.
And the third portion.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
So the first that's a digital business card.
Second, that is your website.
And then, third is the biggestand most important, it's your
network, and what I mean by thatis every single veteran card
that that signs up, we createand launch, goes into a database
that can only be accessed byveteran card members, patriots.
(32:23):
For the same thing, veteranscan access the veterans group
and the Patriots group.
We are working on a way thatPatriots can have limited access
to the veterans group, just towhere they can help the veterans
.
They can promote veteranbusinesses and use veteran
businesses.
We're still kind of takingshots on that and getting
people's input.
As far as, should Patriotbusiness owners have direct
(32:47):
access to our veteran clients?
We don't know that yet, so wewill be able to take a vote on
that, obviously from all of ourexisting clients, but veterans
will have access to both.
As a private, decentralizedgroup.
It cannot be taken down forwhat you say, what business you
have if you want to sellfirearms, whatever it may be.
It's a decentralized networkthat Google, facebook, things
(33:10):
like that, cannot crawl andremove based on their views and
beliefs.
You are free to it's free market.
You can sell what you sell, aslong as you're not breaking any
law illegal, immoral, unethical.
You can have a veteran card andbe in the network.
I think that's the biggest keyto all of this is a
(33:32):
decentralized, private group ofveteran entrepreneurs.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Yeah, and then I like the idea of veterans helping
other veterans, so connectingand I've learned that firsthand
and I know you've seen it too.
Like the networking side ofbusiness ownership is huge and
and you know, you never knowwhen a connection you know out
in California might be somebodythat knows, somebody that that
can connect you to you know.
(33:56):
So it's it's all aboutconnecting veterans and helping
you know us have that sense ofcamaraderie again and I really,
I really resonate with that.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
I totally agree.
I've made so many connectionsyou wouldn't.
You wouldn't believe, just byhaving a card myself I don't
know if you've ever heard of thesix degrees of separation or
read that book is that you canget and not all the time, but
the odds are is you can get infront of the person that you
want to meet, no matter who, nomatter how big of their status,
within six connections ofyourself.
(34:27):
And I truly believe that andI've seen that work in real life
and I've met some reallyincredible people by doing so.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Yeah.
So I really like the platformfor that aspect alone, just to
be able to help encourage andfoster those types of
connections.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
One thing I would like to mention on that is with
veteran cards, anyone, everysingle signup $17 and 76 cents
from every card goes into aseparate fund to fund charitable
organizations that are withinour network.
We divide that at the end ofthe year we'll be dividing that
amongst the charities that arein our network.
So $17 and 76 of every sign-up.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
Nice.
That's an awesome concept andobviously a powerful number to
contribute that.
So actually we're going to takeanother quick musical break and
then when we come back we'llmaybe talk about a little bit
about what the future of veterancards looks like and from your
guys's vision and perspective.
(35:31):
And you know, maybe we'll talkabout you know just the
logistics of getting signed upand set up and everything.
So we'll talk to, or we'regoing to listen to, andrew
Roboro, a really great song Ijust discovered recently.
So we'll be back after thismusical interlude.
Speaker 10 (36:02):
Been ten years since I'd seen his face.
Not much had changed, just adifferent time, different place.
When I shook his hand, I knewsomething had changed.
(36:26):
This was a different man fromthe one I knew back then.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
That's when he said we do the goals.
Yes, I stood in line.
Speaker 10 (36:46):
And watch the flag wave and drag.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
You see, this is what I do.
Yes, I bleed Red, white andblue.
Speaker 10 (37:05):
He told me the tales of his journeys far away and
three times gone and land moston his seat on the front page
With honor and glory.
(37:26):
He stood so tall and fought foryou and I so we could be free
From it all.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
That's when he said we do the goals.
Yes, I stand in line and watchthe flag wheel grind.
You see, this is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
Red, white and blue when dutycalls.
(38:15):
Yes, I stand in line and watchthem weep and pray.
You see, this is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
This is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
This is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
Oh, this is what I do.
(38:36):
Yes, I bleed Little, I know.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving
veterans a voice.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Find us on the web at mvradious.
Speaker 8 (39:09):
Opinions expressed in this program are those of the
speakers and do not necessarilyreflect the views or positions
of any entities they represent.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Find us on the web at mvradious.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
Find us on the web at give veterans a voice, we help
train veterans on how tobasically launch a podcast and
I'm an example of what ispossible.
I still have a lot to learn,but it's been a great journey
and just always going to give ashout out to MBR and the team
behind the scenes that's runningthe show.
(40:01):
So thanks for joining us, andwe're back with Chris Benson.
We've been talking about hisjourney from Army infantry to
successful business owner andalso entrepreneur and franchisee
franchisor.
What's the actual verb?
You got it Okay.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
Yeah, franchisor what's the what's the actual
verb?
You got it, okay yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
so, uh, we're gonna have to do.
We'll have a whole new, wholedifferent show on on the
franchise stuff.
But because I'm actuallycurious to, to, to pick your
brain and, and you know, thinkand I've been thinking about
this for a while of kind of likebranching out into something
like that too.
So, more to come with Chris,but for now we're going to keep
(40:47):
talking about veteran cars,because this is a great service,
that he's providing a greatproduct and if you would, maybe
you could get into, like, let'ssay, there's a new veteran
transitioning out of the service, he's got an idea for a
business, um, or he's got abusiness and he's trying to
trying to network and grow anddevelop.
So what would you, uh, howwould you?
(41:08):
How would they go, um, get aveteran card themselves?
Speaker 6 (41:13):
Yeah, first getting out of the service.
I hope it's gotten better sinceI got out, but uh, they're
probably going to guide you moretowards getting you know,
getting a nine to five forsomeone else and taking you down
the rabbit hole of you knowgetting locked into a salary.
But I'm obviously against thatand that's why I've gone my own
(41:33):
way.
My advice to them would be toget to at least look into
getting a veteran card.
I'm not saying get a veterancard, but at least reach out and
see if it's right for you.
I can tell you that we can saveyou thousands of dollars over
getting a traditional websitethat you're going to get nothing
else for unless you pay to haveany upgrades that you want.
This is going to be fullyupgradable at any time for a
(41:56):
very small fee every month.
It's not going to set you back,no matter what business you're
in, you'll be.
You'll be glad you did.
You at least reached out andgot some information about it
before you went forth withgetting a traditional multi
thousand dollar Web site.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's definitely as.
I initially started lookinginto Web sites and you know now
they have all these templatesand platforms and AI-built
website stuff, but it's just notthe same and you lose a lot of
that human element to theproduct.
So what is it like working witha team?
(42:38):
Can you give an example ofmaybe some updates that somebody
decided to make and you knowwhat kind of a process does that
look like?
Speaker 6 (42:48):
I've only heard the good side of things.
Obviously, I'm just basicallyan affiliate.
I don't, you know, I don'tbuild the cards or anything.
The feedback that I get from myclients that sign up for a
veteran card is that Meditechdid a very good job of
explaining and holding theirhand and telling them this is
(43:09):
the step to get to this step,and they're very.
They communicate very well.
They answer their questions toget problems resolved.
Just like you were mentioningearlier, you had an update you
wanted to make and they're veryquick to get to.
You wanted to make and they'revery quick to get to.
With us you won't talk tosomebody you know in India or
something and you won't call a1-800 number and you know wait
(43:31):
for a call back.
You won't get automatedmessages and all those things.
You will get live people, liveAmericans and patriots that
really want to do right by you,by veteran and patriot business
owners.
Speaker 5 (43:41):
Oh yeah, I love, I love that and and, like I said,
I'm a living testament of howresponsive the team can be and
and, you know, it seems like Icould probably throw out an idea
and they'll try to find a wayto implement it.
You know, it's not like they're, they're, you know, going to
shut you down or necessarily,you know, say no right out the
gate.
So it's not our way or thehighway, joey, it's.
Speaker 6 (44:03):
It's when people bring constructive criticism and
something that, hey, I, doesthe card do this and if not, can
it?
Yes, we're not going to say no,this is what it is.
We don't offer that.
If you have a service that youcurrently use at a digital
service, a certain app, whateverit is, we can have that plugged
into the veteran card, noproblem.
It really is an all-in-oneplatform that covers all things
(44:28):
digital.
If you're thinking it, oh, Iwonder if it does this.
I wonder if it does that.
Yes, the answer is yes, it does.
I could talk for five hoursabout all the features.
There's 25 plus features andgrowing.
The benefit of that is, forexample, with Joey here, as new
features come on.
There are things in betatesting that you aren't aware of
(44:49):
right now, and once they get tofruition and we actually
implement these to everyoneevery existing veteran card and
every new veteran card, thosethat are in, whatever price you
came in at and whatever monthlyrate is agreed on with you, that
stays.
It doesn't change forever.
Even though the new price ofthe card might go higher due to
the new capabilities andfeatures that have been added on
(45:10):
, it won't change for themembers that are already in.
Speaker 7 (45:13):
So people that are coming in while it's still a new
product, they win ultimately.
Speaker 5 (45:18):
Okay, so you know, just while we, while we have you
on what's the main website, ifthey wanted to just initiate an
inquiry or a request.
Speaker 6 (45:31):
Yeah, our main website would be veterancards.
You can reach out to medirectly at bensonveterancards.
That is the URL that each cardgets by default would be your
last name.
That's kind of how you identifya veteran is by their last name
.
You learn that in the militaryyou're always addressed by your
(45:51):
last name.
So I'm Bensonveterancards, butyeah, the main website is just
veterancards.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
Okay, yeah, I wanted to pull it up real quick.
So this is basically what itlooks like.
You're now recruiting veteranbusiness owners, yeah, so I just
wanted to basically show peoplehow easy it is to get set up.
You click on order now and youknow, we get the ball rolling
(46:21):
and yeah, it's just, you know, Ijust can't.
I can't talk enough about it.
You know, I've been using it atthe different conferences that
I've been at recently and I'mgoing to use it at FinCon as
well, and all the feedback thatI've gotten it's like oh man,
that's, you know, so cool.
Because, you know, a lot ofpeople are still figuring out
(46:44):
how to.
You know, with a social mediaage that we're living, you know
you have to manage multipleplatforms sometimes, or you have
to.
You know, there's just so muchthat you have to manage.
And having an all-in-oneone-stop shop, you know, versus
a printed out business card, youknow, it's just it's so, know,
it's just it's so.
You know it's it's it's justnot not up to the times.
(47:06):
You know, and and it soundslike you know you guys are are
in the thick of the currenttechnology, but then you're also
building towards futuretechnology as well.
So, as far as from what youknow and what discussions you've
had, are there any major likeanything you can tease or any
(47:28):
any kind of upcoming featuresthat you guys are going to roll
out in the near future?
Speaker 6 (47:34):
One feature that's already out that a lot of people
aren't really using or may notbe aware of, is that the card is
in 130 languages currently andgrowing within a second.
If you're talking to some ifyou're maybe you're at a
conference in Japan you can putup your QR code on the screen
behind you.
Maybe they have one of thosebig white projector screens.
(47:55):
Have your veteran card QR codepop up right there.
Everyone in the audience thatwants to listen to what you're
saying can just open up theirphone, download that QR code and
it's everything you speak inEnglish is being relayed to them
within a second.
It's 130 languages.
I can't go through all thelanguages, but it's all the ones
that you think that you'rethinking more.
(48:18):
That is a pretty cool featurethat a lot of people do, like
there is a.
There's some AI capabilities.
Some are already there, someare coming.
Let's see.
I can't think of any like offthe fly that are in beta testing
(48:39):
.
There are several we do have.
A lot of people are familiarwith the tap cards, where it's
almost like a credit card andyou can tap it to pay.
You can wave it over someone'sphone or wrist Apple Watch and
it'll download, like that.
That is in beta testing as well.
(49:00):
Let's see, I can't think ofthere's a there's a lot of
features now that I think aboutit, but, uh, I can't see any,
the ones that are in betatesting.
I'm not privy to every single,every single one of them, but I
do see them there when we havemeetings every week.
Um, but whatever your mind iswondering to and alluding to and
(49:22):
you're thinking of, that'sdigital.
If it's not already implemented, it's in beta testing.
Speaker 5 (49:28):
Okay, and I think you had mentioned I don't know if
you had directly mentioned theprice, but what's the current
pricing and initial setup feeand all that stuff going to run,
initial setup fee and all thatstuff going to run?
Speaker 6 (49:41):
The initial setup fee .
At the moment, if you gothrough the MediCards website
through Meditech3.com and yousign up for a traditional
MediCards, it's $399.
That's going to be your setupfee.
It's $39 a month or $399 annual,which saves you the last two
months.
It's like a $68 or somethinglike that.
That's the most popular.
(50:02):
Most people just sign up forthe full year instead of paying
39 a month.
That saves them a little moneyand it's done.
It's one payment.
It's done at the end of theyear.
Obviously, it's tax taxdeductible as well.
You're a finance guy.
You know that your website winkwink.
If you have an ADA compliantwebsite, which you do if you
(50:22):
have a veteran card I'm not Ican't give you tax advice, but I
would encourage you to look upIRS Form 8826.
That covers having a websitewith that is ADA compliant.
There may or may not be taxcredits in there as well.
Speaker 5 (50:40):
All right and for all you, audio only listeners.
Speaker 6 (50:44):
He had a very subtle wink to the camera, so on that,
joey, I wanted to mention ifthey go and if you can pull it
up if you have time.
But if you go to my veterancard through my link,
bensonveterancards, you can get15% off your initial setup.
It will make your card $339 forsetup and then $39 a month
(51:04):
reoccurring or $399 annual andyou basically pay for 10 months
and get 12.
Alright and $1776 for everycard goes to charities within
our organization.
Speaker 5 (51:20):
Yeah, let me just pull it up real quick, but
that's you know.
Once again, this is.
I think all veterans, businessowners should be looking into
this.
It's a great platform and it'sgrowing Like.
Do you have any data on you any?
(51:43):
Data on how many people youhave.
What was that?
Speaker 6 (51:49):
I said how much time do we have?
Speaker 5 (51:52):
Oh, we got about eight or nine minutes left.
Speaker 6 (51:57):
If you wanted to play the veteran cards intro video.
If you scroll up right there,yep, keep going a little.
Scroll up right there.
Oh, yep, I'll keep going alittle bit more right there.
Okay, give people a betterunderstanding.
Speaker 5 (52:10):
Okay, yeah, we'll do that.
Speaker 9 (52:19):
Imagine uniting as a country to build our economy, to
build families, to buildcommunities.
Imagine not relying ongovernment or Superman to save
us.
Imagine working together tocreate jobs, to create
opportunities, to createconnection, to create
(52:40):
opportunities to createconnection.
We are the laborers, themothers and fathers, the movers
and shakers, the friends andfamilies.
We are the entrepreneurs, thosethat clean our buildings, race
on our tracks, paint our homes.
We stand for something.
(53:02):
We kneel for no one.
We are the decentralizednetwork connecting veterans and
patriots that serve our greatcountry.
Meditech, imagine, create.
Speaker 5 (53:27):
Connect.
Speaker 6 (53:28):
That was cool, every single every single actor, if
you will, in every scene thatyou saw.
None of them are actors at all.
They're all veteran cardclients.
Nice and they all signed upthey wanted to be involved in
the video.
They weren't paid actors, noneof that.
They were there for one.
Speaker 5 (53:45):
That's awesome, that's legit right there, and it
just goes to show how, how, howyou know this is a network or
this is.
It sounds like a family too.
You know, uh, you know, like Ifeel, since we've been
interacting, like you know, likeI saw you throwing darts and
I'm like I was on a dart leaguein korea, man, I think, uh, we
need to have a little dart, adart championship or something
(54:05):
going on.
But you know, like it's justthat sense of community and
connection and I just reallylove that.
So I mean, I'm going to, I'mgoing to obviously be an
advocate for the.
You know, real quick, as we'refinishing up the stream, what is
your, I guess, vision for thecompany, the organization, the
(54:28):
network?
And maybe you know, like, whatdo you guys hope to achieve and
continue growing and things likethat?
Speaker 6 (54:36):
Well, if you think back to the beginning of our
conversation, when I dosomething, I'm going to do it
all the way, so I'm going to youhave me on record.
When I do something, I'm goingto do it all the way, so I'm
going to you have me on record.
We are going to become thelargest network of veteran
entrepreneurs there has everbeen in this country.
Speaker 5 (54:51):
I love that.
That's bold.
That gave me chills a littlebit, man.
So are you able to kind of givea little bit of you know, some
numbers or some data on what thenetwork looks like now and what
you guys hope to get?
Speaker 6 (55:08):
to.
We've only been officiallylaunched and selling veteran
cards through our website maybetwo, three months now.
Um, we have around 35, Ibelieve, just veterans, not
counting the Patriots as well inthe network.
Card-wise there are over.
(55:30):
There's somewhere in the 125 to145-ish range of metacards out
right now.
We think that by having thisnetwork, this decentralized
network, is really going topropel things to the next level.
There is no other product outthere that is anything like this
.
The CEO at Meditech, jeff Glass, even put this out there that
(55:55):
if anyone shows us a productthat they feel is superior
whether it be a digital businesscard, a website, anything that
brings them all together likethis, he would just give you a
veteran card.
Speaker 5 (56:08):
Um, nice so that's, that's pretty, that's how
serious we are on this.
Speaker 6 (56:13):
Um, you know we're not from silicon valley, we're
not from, you know, the westcoast, california.
We're not helping down thestreets in our ferraris with our
top downs.
We're real people.
We're in the trenches with youguys.
We own our own businesses, justlike the video that it says
we're the movers and shakers.
We're the ones getting thingsdone.
We're not relying on anyoneelse to get it done, but we're
(56:34):
going to stand shoulder toshoulder with everyone in the
group and we're going to networktogether and refer each other
and make sure we all win.
Speaker 5 (56:44):
Yeah, because gather and refer each other and make
sure we all win.
Yeah, cause I mean, I've, I'vecome across it myself, you know,
as a social worker.
We connect people to resourcesand people and I've had to,
unofficially, as a you know, notnot getting paid for anything,
but, like you know, this personis looking for this resource at
the VA and you find a way andand this, I think the veteran
cards is is a similar thingwhere you, if you build the
network, eventually you'll belike, oh yeah, I know a guy that
(57:06):
can do that, or I know a galthat does that, you know, and
they're veterans.
So it's like you want to, youwant to help your fellow vets
and you know this is just oneway of doing that.
So, so yeah, I mean, I'm anevangelist, I'm going to spread
the gospel of the veteran cars,I'm going to use it and, um, you
know, it's also a greatconversation starter.
(57:27):
Honestly, at the, at theconferences, like it's, it's
been a great way.
I mean whether it was intendedto talk about the product but,
like, inevitably someone hasquestions like oh, that's cool,
that's cool, where do you, wheredo you get that, or how did you
get that.
So it really kind of sellsitself and everything, so just
that people need to see it inaction.
Sometimes, you know, and youguys are talking about maybe a
(57:49):
referral program at some point.
Speaker 6 (57:51):
Yep, we are we actually have initiated it, I
guess a soft launch of areferral program.
I can basically make you awareof it.
Obviously, you have to have aveteran card first.
We will never do anything wherewe go out and reach out to a
celebrity and we tell them topromote our product even though
(58:11):
they've never heard of ourproduct or never used our
product.
You must have a veteran card.
You got to meet the meta, theteam at Meditech, and you got to
see all the benefits of thecard and understand the card and
the functionalities andcapabilities and obviously, just
be a brand ambassador, justlike you're saying, spread the
gospel.
That's, that's the only way thisis going to grow.
(58:33):
We all have to come together togrow this.
Chris Benson can't talk aboutveteran cards all the time and
it grows has to be eachindividual person that believes
in it and signs up sharing itwith every veteran and Patri
patriot business owner that theyknow in their community, in
their network, and it's going tojust grow rapidly.
With the referral program thereis financial compensation,
(58:54):
obviously commission-based, towhere you get paid a certain
amount as you bring in, amountas you bring in every time you
tell your friend or your buddyor some I don't know one of your
clients that owns a businessand they sign up through you.
You'd have a special link onyour card that they could sign
up for and that's how we wouldbe able to track who's getting
(59:15):
that referral bonus commission,whatever you want to call it.
So you are getting that andthen you're also sending funds
in 1776 of every single card tothe veterans that are within the
Veteran Cards Organization.
Veteran-focused charities.
Speaker 5 (59:30):
Right?
Well, man, this time has justkind of flown by.
We're actually running out oftime, but obviously we're going
to have you on again.
We're going to talk about theTroops All Drunk and the
franchisor stuff.
We're going to have you onagain.
We're going to talk about theTroops All Drunk and the
franchisor stuff.
I've got a lot of questions andI know a lot of people.
A lot of veterans areinterested in entrepreneurship
and starting their ownbusinesses that way.
Speaker 6 (59:52):
I'll say this a little teaser is that.
I started a franchise because Idon't like franchises.
Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
Ah, yeah, yeah, we're going to dig into that, that's
a good teaser, yep, but, man,chris, thanks again for your
time.
We're gonna have to cut thestream off, but, man, thanks for
everything that you've done sofar with the veteran cards and
you know, if there's anythingelse I can do, just let me know
(01:00:22):
and I'm glad to help out.
But, um, uh, thank you for yourtime and uh, that's the stream
for the day.
Um, please hit me up, follow meon different platforms and um,
uh, if you have any, any lastwords or any, any, uh, wise,
wise words of wisdom for us no,I'll just say this to everybody
is, uh, you miss 100% of theshots that you don't take.
(01:00:46):
Appreciate you having me on,joey, look forward to seeing you
next time Talking about troopsall junk.
All right, sounds good.
Thanks, all right.
Well, that's everybody.
That's it for everybody.
Uh, we'll talk to you guys onthe next stream.
Speaker 4 (01:00:57):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to
military Broadcast Radio.
As we wrap up today's show, wewant to remind you that the
podcast of today's episode willbe available right after we go
off the air, so if you missedany part of the show or want to
(01:01:21):
listen again, be sure to checkit out.
And remember we're here tosupport and honor our veterans.
Your stories and experiencesmatter and we are committed to
giving you a platform to sharethem.
That's right.
We're here to give our veteransa voice, so don't forget to
catch the podcast and stayconnected with us Giving our
(01:01:44):
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Speaker 2 (00:35):
This entire military is one cohesive, dedicated force
.
And the threats to our nations?
They don't sleep.
They're watching our every move.
Iran, russia, china, northKorea, isis, al-qaeda they may
be watching this right now.
Our military should not bemistaken for our cable news gab
(01:01):
fest show.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We don't care what you look like.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We don't care who you voted for, who you worship,
what you worship, who you love.
We'll be right back, raise yoursons and daughters.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving
veterans a voice.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Find us on the web at mbradious.
I'm a certified financialsocial worker.
I was in the Air Force for 14years and then I paid off
$20,000 of debt while I wasactive duty within three years
as an E3.
So that's kind of like I gotreally into personal finance and
so I've been really passionateabout that ever since.
(02:19):
And that was 10, 12 years agonow.
So since then I became a socialworker and now I'm a 12 years
ago now.
So since then I became a socialworker and now I'm a certified
financial social worker.
So we kind of get into, youknow, dealing with finances, but
then also kind of dealing withthe psychology behind finances,
like the you know, the mentalside of things.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So Ladies and gentlemen, your battle buddy
when it comes to finances.
Please welcome the fire socialworker, joey Laswell.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
All right, love that intro.
That's really cool to see that.
Thanks to H for putting thattogether.
For me, man, I feel like it'sbeen a minute since I've been on
the on the airwaves.
So I've been out of pocket fora couple of weeks, had some
conferences, did some travelingand, man, it's just exciting to
be back.
This is Money in the Military,on Military Broadcast Radio.
(03:13):
My name is Joey Laswell andjust a real quick recap, I was
at the Military InfluencerConference in Atlanta and I
actually got to.
This is a rarity, I got to meetmy guest in person before I
actually got to interview him.
So that's, that was pretty cool.
And then I also went to aconference, a social work
conference in New York city.
(03:35):
So just a lot of cool stuffhappening.
And actually just next week I'mgoing to be going to FinCon in
Atlanta, so the financialconference.
So got a lot of stuff, a lot ofstuff going on, but really
excited to be back and reallyexcited to introduce my guests.
You know time is of the essence.
We got a lot to talk about.
So, without further ado, myfirst, my own, my guest today is
(03:58):
Chris Benson, army veteran, andhe's, you know, just really
active in his platform, hismission, veteran cards.
He's also got a lot of otherirons in the fire too, but we're
going to focus on veteran cards.
So, Chris, thank you forjoining me.
We've been working on this fora little while.
We finally got linked up, soappreciate you taking your time.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Joey, great to be
here, yeah just like you, I wasat the MIC conference and had a
lot of things going on and it isvery difficult for two leaders
in the veteran business world toget together.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
But here we are.
So for those that don't maybenot familiar with your
background, kind of tell us alittle bit about your origin
story, like what brought youinto service, what did you do
while you were in the service,and then maybe we can talk a
little bit about your transitionout of the service and how that
(04:55):
was for you.
So go ahead and jump inwhenever you want.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Yeah, well, after.
So okay, I'll just start backwith after high school.
I grew up in a small town madein North Carolina and then after
high school I was kind ofpushed into hey, go to college,
try college, do the wholecollege thing.
The problem with me is I don'tknow, if you know, I didn't know
how to quit.
So if I started it and I knew,I knew I didn't like it but I
(05:21):
wanted to finish it.
So I got my associate's degreeand I finished it.
But I went straight to therecruiting office.
My grandfather and my brotherwere both Air Force.
My grandfather served threetours in Vietnam, my brother
served two tours in Afghanistan.
So I really looked up to themand I knew that I wanted to
serve my country as well.
I just wasn't smart enough togo to the Air Force so I went to
(05:42):
the Army and I chose to goinfantry.
I know a lot of people getselected for infantry.
They select themselves due totheir ASVAB score but not me.
I didn't have that problem.
I just decided if I'm going todo it, I'm going to do it all
the way, and I went infantry.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Nice.
It's a bold choice, bold choice.
So what was your journey intoactive duty like?
Was that a culture shock foryou, or were you ready for it,
since you had a family ofservice?
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Yeah, exactly, I knew that.
I knew what was what was atstake and what was what was all
involved, and I kind of had agood understanding.
My brother had joined the AirForce not too many years before
I went to basic training, so Ikind of had a pretty good
understanding of what was goingto happen to me and everything
and I knew, kind of you know,the flow of everything.
It's basically just eyes frontdo what you're told, don't think
(06:32):
about it.
You don't get paid to think,just do so.
I think I breezed through basictraining pretty well.
For us, for infantry training isa little different than regular
military training, as you don'tdo basic training and then go
off to your AIT as aninfantryman.
You stay at Fort Bend inGeorgia and it's called an OSIT
training and you stay with yourreal sergeants the full 16 weeks
(06:54):
your AIT, if you want to callit, and then once you graduate,
you're an infantryman and you'reoff to your first duty station.
And that's what happened withme.
It was very fast and in a hurry.
Within graduating basictraining and OSIT, I was at my
duty station within maybe Idon't know two weeks.
Wow.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
What was your first duty station?
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Fort Carson, Colorado .
Okay, that's the infantrydivision.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Nice, okay, and how long did you end up staying?
Or did you go to anydeployments, or did you any TDYs
or anything like that?
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Yeah, so this was 2010 when I got to my unit.
I went to Afghanistan in 2012.
I spent almost a year inAfghanistan in the RCE East
Kunar Valley province, outsideof Kabul, outside of Bagram Air
Force Base You're probablyfamiliar with that, and yeah.
(07:58):
So then I guess a year and ahalf of being at my duty station
, I was in Afghanistan and afterthat I spent about another year
in Colorado and thenre-enlisted to go to, ended up
at Fort Stewart Georgia.
I didn't choose Fort StewartGeorgia, but the Army chose it
for me.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
How nice of them.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
I spent another four years at Fort Stewart, Georgia,
and then I decided that the Armywasn't for me anymore.
I really just stuck it outbecause my wife was pregnant
with our second son and she wasfinishing up nursing school.
So I re-enlisted to where shecould get through nursing school
and then, once she finished up,I decided to call it quits and
I took about a six month break,using my GI benefits, taking
(08:38):
some college classes, thingslike that, Just really trying to
settle down and find my way.
Then another unsmart thing thatI did but I'm glad I did it and
tried it is an Army Reserverecruiter reached out to me and
said hey, I'll extend your ETSdate and you just do one year in
the reserves back at yourhometown in North Carolina and
(08:59):
it was the 88 Mike truck driverjob, so it was like a complete
180 from no offense if anybodylistened, there might be a motor
transport operator.
But going from active infantryto reserve 88 Mike was quite a
shock to me and a lot differentthan active duty, and it just
wasn't for me, so I didn't stickwith it, and then I got into
business after that.
Okay.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
So so you know this is obviously money in the
military, so we kind of talkabout.
You, know the whole spectrum,whether you're active duty troop
, whether you're transitioningor you're already separated,
(09:45):
tied into your entrepreneurialand business side of things.
But, like just you know goodlessons learned from from our
personal experience aboutfinances and dealing with that
transition.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
Yeah, I.
So what happened with me wasprobably a lot of veterans can
relate is going from active dutyto civilian.
The transition process is not.
When it comes to financialliteracy and starting a business
and things.
It's very lacking.
They don't talk about that.
They talk about how to do aresume, how to get a job, how to
take an interview.
I told myself you'll never seeme in front of anyone else.
(10:13):
I'll never work for anyone else, ever again.
I will not.
I did not produce a resume.
I told the instructor of thecourse I'm not going to do it.
I signed the little waiver dealsaying that you know, I've been
trained how to do it, but I'mnot going to do it.
I am going to own my ownbusiness.
There's no plan B, I'm justgoing to do it.
(10:34):
So that's what I did.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah, so how was the initial business Like?
Did you go to the SBA, did youdo any kind of programs or you
just kind of kind of just wentfor?
Speaker 6 (10:47):
it.
No, honestly, that nevercrossed my mind.
To get a loan, um, nevercrossed my mind.
I started out doing lawn care.
I already had a pickup truck.
I got myself a push mower and aweed eater and a blower just a
simple setup, setup and I wasgoing around.
I only selected twoneighborhoods the one that I
lived in and the one across thestreet, and all the houses were
(11:11):
basically the same.
All the yards are basically thesame.
So I was just offering a flatrate to do everyone's yard.
I hanged a bunch of door hangersletting them know hey, I'm a
veteran, I just got out of theservice and I'm trying to find
my way and I'm just looking forany help I can get.
And before I knew it, I hadeight, 10 customers really quick
.
But then maybe, I don't knowtwo weeks I had eight or 10
(11:32):
customers, yeah, every week onmy schedule and I was good with
that.
Like I found peace knowing that.
You know I'm making, I'm makingmoney, my wife's got a good
paying job now and I can relax.
I think I only worked threedays a week at the time, monday
through Wednesday, and I justdid, you know, maintenance and
stuff on my mower and thingslike that.
I was trying to really ride itout and take my time with it,
(11:57):
but then I kind of stumbled intojunk removal.
I had a lady who her husband hadpassed away about a year, maybe
two years, prior to me startingto mow her yard.
He was killed in the line ofduty in Iraq.
He was in rain, she wasdownsizing her home, she's ready
to move into a small apartmentand she needed to get rid of
some junk.
(12:17):
And I had a pickup truck andshe said hey, you know, if you
wouldn't mind, next time youcome and mow, you know I'll pay
you to get rid of this stuff aswell.
And I said sure, and uh, Ishowed up and she gave me.
I don't know how you feel aboutsharing numbers or all, but I
used to mow her yard for like 40bucks, I think it was, but it
(12:38):
took me 45 minutes to an hour.
But by the time I showed up toto Mo blow tram, go, um.
But she paid me, I want to saylike $120, $125 to remove a
couple items of junk like acouch and some other things.
You have a car or anybody tohelp her pick up anything, but
anyway, I removed those items soshe could get her home staged.
(12:59):
And it only took me maybe 10minutes to do this and I was
like how I just made three timesthe amount of money in a
quarter of the time and it justwent off in my mind.
I said, if I'm going to be inbusiness this, I can make more
money and work less.
And I've always done that, eversince all the way up to leading
(13:19):
up to where trips all junk hasmade it now as a national
franchise.
It's just and we teach ourfranchisees and our employees
and everything.
The same thing is just.
You know, know your value, knowyour worth and you know charge
accordingly.
Don't be the cheapest in town,don't be the most expensive,
just honest work, fair price andmake your money.
(13:39):
And you know and you're usingyour time and resources, so get
paid well for it.
So I did that and then she toldher neighbors and friends and
other people started talking.
Next thing, I knew I had moreand more people asking me to do
junk removal.
It got to the point after a fewmonths that year after about,
I'd say, three months.
(14:00):
I wasn't even doing lawn careanymore.
I was slowly telling mycustomers, hey, I'm not gonna be
able to do that anymore, I'mtoo busy.
It got to where my my lawn carecustomers were my becoming my
junk removal customers in myreferrals and it's just wild how
it happened.
It just kept growing from there.
And then people started seeingme all over the community and
(14:21):
there's this guy in a camo truckhauling junk and everybody was
on it.
You know um area.
Even five and a half yearslater we're the first phone call
, the only phone call.
We're local veterans.
That's who they want to call.
They're not shopping anymore.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
That our reputation is just where it's at that's,
that's amazing and, honestly,that's how most businesses I
would imagine want to grow.
Is organically, word of mouthand, you know, just based off of
strong work ethic and, you know, providing a good service, you
know my clients.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
A lot of my clients have become our friends.
They know that they can call meany time of the day.
They're in my networking group.
I have a veterans networkinggroup that I meet every other
Thursday with.
I would say at least half themembers are previous clients of
Troops Hall Junk and nowbecoming clients of veteran
cards as well.
It's kind of crazy that theyfollow you.
(15:17):
Chris Benson is as big of abrand as Troops Hall Junk or
veteran cards is.
They know that I'm going to showup and I'm going to do them
right.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
So that's awesome and honestly, we could probably
we're going to probably do awhole nother show on just the
franchisee stuff.
We'll talk about Troops HoldJunk in much more detail, but
we're going to take a quickbreak, but I do want to
transition to veteran cards.
You know, that's something thatI'm just really.
I really think is is a gamechanger.
It's a great product and youknow just something that I think
more veterans should be awareof.
So so we'll play a quickmusical interlude from Noah
(15:52):
Peterson, my favorite MarineCorps retired veteran jazz
musician.
So we're going to play a quickmusic video and we'll be right
back.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Thank you, thank you so opinions expressed in this
(18:19):
program are those of thespeakers and do not necessarily
reflect the All right, we areback.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Thanks for joining us .
This is Money in the Military.
On Military Broadcast Radio,we're streaming live from
Memphis, tennessee, good oldMemphis.
Just want to do a quick shoutout to a former guest on the
show, my first guest actually.
We have vetted, vetted CEOAlistair Mercado.
(18:46):
He's doing some great things,uh, marine Corps, um, retiree.
And man, he's just doing someawesome things in his business
out in California.
So, just uh, thanks for thesupport.
Love to have you back on theshow, man, just uh, if you're
watching, uh, hit me up.
We'll, uh, we'll try to set upanother time to get you back on
and then Into the Weeds, anotherMBR podcast sending some love
(19:10):
this way.
So thanks for everybodywatching.
So we're back with Chris Bensonand he was about to tell us a
little bit about the newest, Iguess or I don't know how new
it's been, but this veterancards venture Can you tell us a
little bit about?
You know the origins of it andthen, just how you're, how
(19:30):
you've kind of how you got towhere you are right now.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Yeah, sure, so you know, as I was saying, with the
junk removal thing, leading intothat would be how I got
involved with it would be withat the time I was ran a company
called Vets Hall Junk, so it wasspecific to veterans and as we
were going through therebranding process to get to
Troops Hall Junk for thefranchise, we wanted to
encompass first responders aswell into the mix.
(19:55):
So we named it Troops Hall Junk.
Kept the same branding, camologo, everything but a company
called Meditech.
We were on board with them.
Company called Meditech we wereon board with them.
They were helping us with ourwebsite, transitioning from Vets
Hall Junk to Troops Hall Junk,building all the SOPs, the
operations manuals, all thethings that are required to
(20:17):
bring a franchise to fruition,the CEO, jeff Glass.
We became really good friendsand he developed a product, I'd
say about two and a half yearsor so ago, called a Metacard.
Underneath the Meditechumbrella they do websites and a
bunch of other things, but hedeveloped these cards and he
said hey, chris, you know, Iwould like you to try this card
(20:37):
out, see how you like it, shareit with your friends, see how
they like it and let's.
We don't really know what thevision would be.
We didn't know anything aboutveteran cards or any of that
stuff.
We didn't think about that.
We just thought, wow, this is areally cool way for people to
share their information and growtheir network.
So I started using it andshowing to people and everyone
was like, wow, that's reallycool, where'd you get that?
(20:58):
And I would tell them Meditech.
And then, and on and on and on.
Well then, here recently, withinthe past few months I'd say
about six months ago my friendJeff Glass approached me and
said hey, chris, you know youlike the card.
A lot of your friends aresigning up for these cards as
well.
What do you think about havingyour own line Like?
For example, if MetaCards werelike Nike, you would be like Air
(21:22):
Jordan.
You know of Nike, so that'sreally what it is.
I run veteran cards and Patriotcards.
Obviously veterans is specificto veterans and Patriots is
specific to anyone else, that is.
You know, I don't want to sayany.
I don't want to get into anypolitics or anything like that,
but everyone knows what aPatriot is.
(21:44):
So that's that's for Patriotbusiness owners.
So, but anyway, um, when heasked me to do that, I was
really honored to do thatbecause I've I've always been
known for um, getting out infront, of getting out in front
and, uh, leading and umnetworking and helping my
brothers and sisters that arewere my clients but are now, you
(22:06):
know, friends, referralpartners.
You know they asked me formentorship.
I asked them for mentorship,anything like that, and it's
just a camaraderie andeverything.
It's, coming back from themilitary, what you've missed
having your brothers and sistersthat you can lean on and ask
questions and you're never alonein anything.
So that's really what veterancards is all about.
(22:28):
This is a network to connectveterans, but it brings all the
social digital assets into oneeasy to use platform known as a
metacard, and I can go into that, explaining what it is if you
want me to, but the easiest wayto explain it would be in.
(22:49):
Thirds is that one part of itwould be your digital business
card, your branded profilethat's specific to you.
There are a lot of digitalbusiness card companies out
there, but not a single one ofthem allow you to brand your
card specifically to you andthat they do it for you, that
there's a team to set everythingup for you.
(23:09):
There isn't, to my knowledge, asingle company that allows you
to do that.
You can upload your own contentto it, but when someone clicks
on it, that entity is the onewho's getting the SEO
optimization clicks.
All that thanks to theirwebsite, not you.
It's not specific to you.
If you stop, you don't own it.
(23:34):
The next thing would be thewebsite, the card itself.
As you scroll down, the digitalbusiness card that pops up is a
website.
If you keep scrolling all theway down your veteran card, that
website itself has its ownunique URL that's specific to
you and ranks right alongsideyour existing website.
If you already have a website,you can plug that into the card,
(23:56):
but you do not need a website.
It's kind of like having apickup truck and a boat.
A pickup truck is great andhaving a boat is really great,
but you don't need a boat.
But having the pickup truckgets you around town, gets
things done.
It's just a fish on the bank,you know.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Yeah, well, while we're talking about this, I just
wanted to.
You know I've been using MetVeteran Cards for a little while
now and you know I wanted toshare what it looks like.
And, granted, I know this is apodcast, for some it's audio
only, but you know, if you're, Iencourage you guys to, this
will be on youtube and um and uh, different video platforms as
(24:36):
well.
But uh, just wanted tohighlight kind of what while
you're talking, uh, and justshow you um what, what it kind
of looks like, and then you knowjust and what we'll kind of
describe it, um audio, uh, youknow, uh, while we're while
we're talking about it.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
So, yep, go ahead it's an all-in-one platform, as
you can see here.
Um, I know you have it in likea small window so you can't get
like the full view of it, butit's.
It looks amazing on your mobiledevice, it looks great on your
tablet, it looks great on a PCas well.
It is a full-blown website.
(25:10):
It's not a portion of a website, anything like that.
It's its own landing page webpage that ranks just like any
other website out there, becausea lot of people don't know,
this is your website does notactually rank on Google or any
other social media.
It's your pages, your contactpage, your homepage, all those
(25:32):
things.
So this is a one page.
Anywhere you click on this,anything you do on this is
generating SEO optimization toyour website.
It's adding to your existingwebsite, if you have one.
If you don't have one.
This is a very cost-effectiveoption to have a legitimate
website for a very low setup feeand a very small monthly
(25:54):
hosting fee.
That includes all as much.
It's unlimited.
It's an unlimited update.
If you're running a new specialevery week in your business,
maybe you want.
For example, I see here thatyou have your CTA set up for
email call text and Calendly.
Some people have like on minefor Troops Hall Junk it says
(26:16):
dumpster rental.
You can click instead ofCalendly.
You can click to rent adumpster.
Someone can book it with twoclicks on their phone.
They don't have to go to mywebsite and find a certain page
or anything.
It's right there.
So that's your link.
Tree is what people call itwith your account, you chose.
Joey chose what social mediaicons he wanted.
(26:39):
We didn't pick that he did that?
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Yeah, it's just clickable.
Hyperlinked, it just goes rightto wherever you want it to go,
basically.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Yeah, right here where it says add to contacts.
You can save it in your phoneor in your client's phone with a
click of a button, but you canalso save it on their phone as
well.
So imagine being right in frontof your clients at all times,
just like any other app on yourphone.
You can add it to the homescreen and you've got your own
branded icon that shows Joey andhis business right there in
(27:09):
front of your client.
So you're in their phone and ontheir phone.
And then it goes through herethrough Joey specific branding.
So no other, no other digitalbusiness card will allow you to
fully brand your business cardlike Joey has done here.
He has it specifically writtenfor him, his bio, all the
information about his companyand his services.
(27:31):
He doesn't have to pick througha handful of predetermined
cards like some of the otheroutfits out there.
So this is specifically brandedand approved and shaped by you
through our Meditech team.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Yeah, and and working with the team has been very
responsive.
They, you know, like, if youwant to make an update, like I,
I made an update to mine withinthe last month or so to
highlight my Kickstarter that Ithat I launched and you guys
were able to do that and noissues, so it was really
seamless.
So it's like a live thing thatyou guys can, you know, work
(28:14):
with and tweak and things likethat.
So, yeah, it's a great productand ADA compliant, right?
You want to talk about that alittle bit?
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Yeah, with the ADA compliance.
Not that every websitenecessarily needs ADA compliance
.
It's just a nice feature tohave a way that Meditech
protects every single person'scard.
It's any product that they workon, whether it be a traditional
website or whether it be yourveteran card like this they make
(28:42):
sure that everyone is takencare of from all aspects,
especially when it comes tolitigation over ADA compliance.
American Disabilities Act Ifpeople aren't familiar with that
not that it's required on yourwebsite, but you know wink wink
you could have an issue someday.
Somebody could report and tryto start.
(29:04):
You know problems for you.
So it's not something thatMeditech necessarily charges our
users for.
It's just something they do.
They implement for every card.
It goes much deeper than justthe icon that that's like a
little widget icon for mediacompliance so that you can
increase the size of the screenand all that stuff.
There's a lot of backendthrough the through the tech
(29:26):
support side of things thatreally protects and keeps up to
date with the currentregulations.
That involve compliances of anykind.
Like, if you're in thefinancial, we have people that
are involved in banking andmortgages and things like that
healthcare, so HIPAA compliances, all those things depending on
your industry Like I'm in junkremoval, we don't have to worry
(29:48):
about any of that stuff.
But we do have clients in thehealth industry and banking
finance like you that do have tohave added measures of
protection through their websiteand Meditech takes care of that
.
That's not something that theycharge to do.
They just do it to make sureall our clients are taken care
of.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
Yeah, I just pulled up for, for anyone that wasn't
paying attention to can't see, Ipulled up Chris's card and just
showing you know, like you can,you can you know the the
background is going to bedifferent, like you can make it,
tweak it, have your own logosand make it personalized to to
each individual veteran orbusiness owner.
(30:27):
So, yeah, it's like as soon asI stumbled upon it, and yeah,
you can embed videos, right, youguys embedded.
Yeah, if you have a podcast orYouTube channel.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
a lot of real estate agents that have the cards.
They like to have their MLS,like their live MLS, like one
week they'll sell a house butthen they have an it's coming
soon or an open house orsomething like that.
They want to be able to havethat video broadcasted it may
change every week, you know.
so they're going into themedicine or an inputting uh,
right here.
A lot of people like thisfeature where you can click to
(31:01):
get a Google review.
Um, people set up multiplereview channels like they want.
I like Google in my area.
That's what works and we're thehighest rated junk removal
service in the area I serviceand that's where I get my
reviews from Some people put upnext door and just different
outfits that you use to getreviews.
(31:22):
You can put them in thatquadrant right there or really
anywhere else.
That's just where I chose forit to be down at the bottom.
It is fully customizable at anytime.
Even if they set it up for youand you decide a week later, hey
, move this around, move thataround.
You know yourself, they'llchange it.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, absolutely, like I said, very responsive,
it's in your monthly membership.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right,well, we're going to stop
sharing for a second, and sothat's just kind of an overview
of what it looks like.
And the third portion.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
So the first that's a digital business card.
Second, that is your website.
And then, third is the biggestand most important, it's your
network, and what I mean by thatis every single veteran card
that that signs up, we createand launch, goes into a database
that can only be accessed byveteran card members, patriots.
(32:23):
For the same thing, veteranscan access the veterans group
and the Patriots group.
We are working on a way thatPatriots can have limited access
to the veterans group, just towhere they can help the veterans
.
They can promote veteranbusinesses and use veteran
businesses.
We're still kind of takingshots on that and getting
people's input.
As far as, should Patriotbusiness owners have direct
(32:47):
access to our veteran clients?
We don't know that yet, so wewill be able to take a vote on
that, obviously from all of ourexisting clients, but veterans
will have access to both.
As a private, decentralizedgroup.
It cannot be taken down forwhat you say, what business you
have if you want to sellfirearms, whatever it may be.
It's a decentralized networkthat Google, facebook, things
(33:10):
like that, cannot crawl andremove based on their views and
beliefs.
You are free to it's free market.
You can sell what you sell, aslong as you're not breaking any
law illegal, immoral, unethical.
You can have a veteran card andbe in the network.
I think that's the biggest keyto all of this is a
(33:32):
decentralized, private group ofveteran entrepreneurs.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Yeah, and then I like the idea of veterans helping
other veterans, so connectingand I've learned that firsthand
and I know you've seen it too.
Like the networking side ofbusiness ownership is huge and
and you know, you never knowwhen a connection you know out
in California might be somebodythat knows, somebody that that
can connect you to you know.
(33:56):
So it's it's all aboutconnecting veterans and helping
you know us have that sense ofcamaraderie again and I really,
I really resonate with that.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
I totally agree.
I've made so many connectionsyou wouldn't.
You wouldn't believe, just byhaving a card myself I don't
know if you've ever heard of thesix degrees of separation or
read that book is that you canget and not all the time, but
the odds are is you can get infront of the person that you
want to meet, no matter who, nomatter how big of their status,
within six connections ofyourself.
(34:27):
And I truly believe that andI've seen that work in real life
and I've met some reallyincredible people by doing so.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Yeah.
So I really like the platformfor that aspect alone, just to
be able to help encourage andfoster those types of
connections.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
One thing I would like to mention on that is with
veteran cards, anyone, everysingle signup $17 and 76 cents
from every card goes into aseparate fund to fund charitable
organizations that are withinour network.
We divide that at the end ofthe year we'll be dividing that
amongst the charities that arein our network.
So $17 and 76 of every sign-up.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
Nice.
That's an awesome concept andobviously a powerful number to
contribute that.
So actually we're going to takeanother quick musical break and
then when we come back we'llmaybe talk about a little bit
about what the future of veterancards looks like and from your
guys's vision and perspective.
(35:31):
And you know, maybe we'll talkabout you know just the
logistics of getting signed upand set up and everything.
So we'll talk to, or we'regoing to listen to, andrew
Roboro, a really great song Ijust discovered recently.
So we'll be back after thismusical interlude.
Speaker 10 (36:02):
Been ten years since I'd seen his face.
Not much had changed, just adifferent time, different place.
When I shook his hand, I knewsomething had changed.
(36:26):
This was a different man fromthe one I knew back then.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
That's when he said we do the goals.
Yes, I stood in line.
Speaker 10 (36:46):
And watch the flag wave and drag.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
You see, this is what I do.
Yes, I bleed Red, white andblue.
Speaker 10 (37:05):
He told me the tales of his journeys far away and
three times gone and land moston his seat on the front page
With honor and glory.
(37:26):
He stood so tall and fought foryou and I so we could be free
From it all.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
That's when he said we do the goals.
Yes, I stand in line and watchthe flag wheel grind.
You see, this is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
Red, white and blue when dutycalls.
(38:15):
Yes, I stand in line and watchthem weep and pray.
You see, this is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
This is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
This is what I do.
Yes, I bleed.
Oh, this is what I do.
(38:36):
Yes, I bleed Little, I know.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving
veterans a voice.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Find us on the web at mvradious.
Speaker 8 (39:09):
Opinions expressed in this program are those of the
speakers and do not necessarilyreflect the views or positions
of any entities they represent.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Find us on the web at mvradious.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
Find us on the web at give veterans a voice, we help
train veterans on how tobasically launch a podcast and
I'm an example of what ispossible.
I still have a lot to learn,but it's been a great journey
and just always going to give ashout out to MBR and the team
behind the scenes that's runningthe show.
(40:01):
So thanks for joining us, andwe're back with Chris Benson.
We've been talking about hisjourney from Army infantry to
successful business owner andalso entrepreneur and franchisee
franchisor.
What's the actual verb?
You got it Okay.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
Yeah, franchisor what's the what's the actual
verb?
You got it, okay yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
so, uh, we're gonna have to do.
We'll have a whole new, wholedifferent show on on the
franchise stuff.
But because I'm actuallycurious to, to, to pick your
brain and, and you know, thinkand I've been thinking about
this for a while of kind of likebranching out into something
like that too.
So, more to come with Chris,but for now we're going to keep
(40:47):
talking about veteran cars,because this is a great service,
that he's providing a greatproduct and if you would, maybe
you could get into, like, let'ssay, there's a new veteran
transitioning out of the service, he's got an idea for a
business, um, or he's got abusiness and he's trying to
trying to network and grow anddevelop.
So what would you, uh, howwould you?
(41:08):
How would they go, um, get aveteran card themselves?
Speaker 6 (41:13):
Yeah, first getting out of the service.
I hope it's gotten better sinceI got out, but uh, they're
probably going to guide you moretowards getting you know,
getting a nine to five forsomeone else and taking you down
the rabbit hole of you knowgetting locked into a salary.
But I'm obviously against thatand that's why I've gone my own
(41:33):
way.
My advice to them would be toget to at least look into
getting a veteran card.
I'm not saying get a veterancard, but at least reach out and
see if it's right for you.
I can tell you that we can saveyou thousands of dollars over
getting a traditional websitethat you're going to get nothing
else for unless you pay to haveany upgrades that you want.
This is going to be fullyupgradable at any time for a
(41:56):
very small fee every month.
It's not going to set you back,no matter what business you're
in, you'll be.
You'll be glad you did.
You at least reached out andgot some information about it
before you went forth withgetting a traditional multi
thousand dollar Web site.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's definitely as.
I initially started lookinginto Web sites and you know now
they have all these templatesand platforms and AI-built
website stuff, but it's just notthe same and you lose a lot of
that human element to theproduct.
So what is it like working witha team?
(42:38):
Can you give an example ofmaybe some updates that somebody
decided to make and you knowwhat kind of a process does that
look like?
Speaker 6 (42:48):
I've only heard the good side of things.
Obviously, I'm just basicallyan affiliate.
I don't, you know, I don'tbuild the cards or anything.
The feedback that I get from myclients that sign up for a
veteran card is that Meditechdid a very good job of
explaining and holding theirhand and telling them this is
(43:09):
the step to get to this step,and they're very.
They communicate very well.
They answer their questions toget problems resolved.
Just like you were mentioningearlier, you had an update you
wanted to make and they're veryquick to get to.
You wanted to make and they'revery quick to get to.
With us you won't talk tosomebody you know in India or
something and you won't call a1-800 number and you know wait
(43:31):
for a call back.
You won't get automatedmessages and all those things.
You will get live people, liveAmericans and patriots that
really want to do right by you,by veteran and patriot business
owners.
Speaker 5 (43:41):
Oh yeah, I love, I love that and and, like I said,
I'm a living testament of howresponsive the team can be and
and, you know, it seems like Icould probably throw out an idea
and they'll try to find a wayto implement it.
You know, it's not like they're, they're, you know, going to
shut you down or necessarily,you know, say no right out the
gate.
So it's not our way or thehighway, joey, it's.
Speaker 6 (44:03):
It's when people bring constructive criticism and
something that, hey, I, doesthe card do this and if not, can
it?
Yes, we're not going to say no,this is what it is.
We don't offer that.
If you have a service that youcurrently use at a digital
service, a certain app, whateverit is, we can have that plugged
into the veteran card, noproblem.
It really is an all-in-oneplatform that covers all things
(44:28):
digital.
If you're thinking it, oh, Iwonder if it does this.
I wonder if it does that.
Yes, the answer is yes, it does.
I could talk for five hoursabout all the features.
There's 25 plus features andgrowing.
The benefit of that is, forexample, with Joey here, as new
features come on.
There are things in betatesting that you aren't aware of
(44:49):
right now, and once they get tofruition and we actually
implement these to everyoneevery existing veteran card and
every new veteran card, thosethat are in, whatever price you
came in at and whatever monthlyrate is agreed on with you, that
stays.
It doesn't change forever.
Even though the new price ofthe card might go higher due to
the new capabilities andfeatures that have been added on
(45:10):
, it won't change for themembers that are already in.
Speaker 7 (45:13):
So people that are coming in while it's still a new
product, they win ultimately.
Speaker 5 (45:18):
Okay, so you know, just while we, while we have you
on what's the main website, ifthey wanted to just initiate an
inquiry or a request.
Speaker 6 (45:31):
Yeah, our main website would be veterancards.
You can reach out to medirectly at bensonveterancards.
That is the URL that each cardgets by default would be your
last name.
That's kind of how you identifya veteran is by their last name
.
You learn that in the militaryyou're always addressed by your
(45:51):
last name.
So I'm Bensonveterancards, butyeah, the main website is just
veterancards.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
Okay, yeah, I wanted to pull it up real quick.
So this is basically what itlooks like.
You're now recruiting veteranbusiness owners, yeah, so I just
wanted to basically show peoplehow easy it is to get set up.
You click on order now and youknow, we get the ball rolling
(46:21):
and yeah, it's just, you know, Ijust can't.
I can't talk enough about it.
You know, I've been using it atthe different conferences that
I've been at recently and I'mgoing to use it at FinCon as
well, and all the feedback thatI've gotten it's like oh man,
that's, you know, so cool.
Because, you know, a lot ofpeople are still figuring out
(46:44):
how to.
You know, with a social mediaage that we're living, you know
you have to manage multipleplatforms sometimes, or you have
to.
You know, there's just so muchthat you have to manage.
And having an all-in-oneone-stop shop, you know, versus
a printed out business card, youknow, it's just it's so, know,
it's just it's so.
You know it's it's it's justnot not up to the times.
(47:06):
You know, and and it soundslike you know you guys are are
in the thick of the currenttechnology, but then you're also
building towards futuretechnology as well.
So, as far as from what youknow and what discussions you've
had, are there any major likeanything you can tease or any
(47:28):
any kind of upcoming featuresthat you guys are going to roll
out in the near future?
Speaker 6 (47:34):
One feature that's already out that a lot of people
aren't really using or may notbe aware of, is that the card is
in 130 languages currently andgrowing within a second.
If you're talking to some ifyou're maybe you're at a
conference in Japan you can putup your QR code on the screen
behind you.
Maybe they have one of thosebig white projector screens.
(47:55):
Have your veteran card QR codepop up right there.
Everyone in the audience thatwants to listen to what you're
saying can just open up theirphone, download that QR code and
it's everything you speak inEnglish is being relayed to them
within a second.
It's 130 languages.
I can't go through all thelanguages, but it's all the ones
that you think that you'rethinking more.
(48:18):
That is a pretty cool featurethat a lot of people do, like
there is a.
There's some AI capabilities.
Some are already there, someare coming.
Let's see.
I can't think of any like offthe fly that are in beta testing
(48:39):
.
There are several we do have.
A lot of people are familiarwith the tap cards, where it's
almost like a credit card andyou can tap it to pay.
You can wave it over someone'sphone or wrist Apple Watch and
it'll download, like that.
That is in beta testing as well.
(49:00):
Let's see, I can't think ofthere's a there's a lot of
features now that I think aboutit, but, uh, I can't see any,
the ones that are in betatesting.
I'm not privy to every single,every single one of them, but I
do see them there when we havemeetings every week.
Um, but whatever your mind iswondering to and alluding to and
(49:22):
you're thinking of, that'sdigital.
If it's not already implemented, it's in beta testing.
Speaker 5 (49:28):
Okay, and I think you had mentioned I don't know if
you had directly mentioned theprice, but what's the current
pricing and initial setup feeand all that stuff going to run,
initial setup fee and all thatstuff going to run?
Speaker 6 (49:41):
The initial setup fee .
At the moment, if you gothrough the MediCards website
through Meditech3.com and yousign up for a traditional
MediCards, it's $399.
That's going to be your setupfee.
It's $39 a month or $399 annual,which saves you the last two
months.
It's like a $68 or somethinglike that.
That's the most popular.
(50:02):
Most people just sign up forthe full year instead of paying
39 a month.
That saves them a little moneyand it's done.
It's one payment.
It's done at the end of theyear.
Obviously, it's tax taxdeductible as well.
You're a finance guy.
You know that your website winkwink.
If you have an ADA compliantwebsite, which you do if you
(50:22):
have a veteran card I'm not Ican't give you tax advice, but I
would encourage you to look upIRS Form 8826.
That covers having a websitewith that is ADA compliant.
There may or may not be taxcredits in there as well.
Speaker 5 (50:40):
All right and for all you, audio only listeners.
Speaker 6 (50:44):
He had a very subtle wink to the camera, so on that,
joey, I wanted to mention ifthey go and if you can pull it
up if you have time.
But if you go to my veterancard through my link,
bensonveterancards, you can get15% off your initial setup.
It will make your card $339 forsetup and then $39 a month
(51:04):
reoccurring or $399 annual andyou basically pay for 10 months
and get 12.
Alright and $1776 for everycard goes to charities within
our organization.
Speaker 5 (51:20):
Yeah, let me just pull it up real quick, but
that's you know.
Once again, this is.
I think all veterans, businessowners should be looking into
this.
It's a great platform and it'sgrowing Like.
Do you have any data on you any?
(51:43):
Data on how many people youhave.
What was that?
Speaker 6 (51:49):
I said how much time do we have?
Speaker 5 (51:52):
Oh, we got about eight or nine minutes left.
Speaker 6 (51:57):
If you wanted to play the veteran cards intro video.
If you scroll up right there,yep, keep going a little.
Scroll up right there.
Oh, yep, I'll keep going alittle bit more right there.
Okay, give people a betterunderstanding.
Speaker 5 (52:10):
Okay, yeah, we'll do that.
Speaker 9 (52:19):
Imagine uniting as a country to build our economy, to
build families, to buildcommunities.
Imagine not relying ongovernment or Superman to save
us.
Imagine working together tocreate jobs, to create
opportunities, to createconnection, to create
(52:40):
opportunities to createconnection.
We are the laborers, themothers and fathers, the movers
and shakers, the friends andfamilies.
We are the entrepreneurs, thosethat clean our buildings, race
on our tracks, paint our homes.
We stand for something.
(53:02):
We kneel for no one.
We are the decentralizednetwork connecting veterans and
patriots that serve our greatcountry.
Meditech, imagine, create.
Speaker 5 (53:27):
Connect.
Speaker 6 (53:28):
That was cool, every single every single actor, if
you will, in every scene thatyou saw.
None of them are actors at all.
They're all veteran cardclients.
Nice and they all signed upthey wanted to be involved in
the video.
They weren't paid actors, noneof that.
They were there for one.
Speaker 5 (53:45):
That's awesome, that's legit right there, and it
just goes to show how, how, howyou know this is a network or
this is.
It sounds like a family too.
You know, uh, you know, like Ifeel, since we've been
interacting, like you know, likeI saw you throwing darts and
I'm like I was on a dart leaguein korea, man, I think, uh, we
need to have a little dart, adart championship or something
(54:05):
going on.
But you know, like it's justthat sense of community and
connection and I just reallylove that.
So I mean, I'm going to, I'mgoing to obviously be an
advocate for the.
You know, real quick, as we'refinishing up the stream, what is
your, I guess, vision for thecompany, the organization, the
(54:28):
network?
And maybe you know, like, whatdo you guys hope to achieve and
continue growing and things likethat?
Speaker 6 (54:36):
Well, if you think back to the beginning of our
conversation, when I dosomething, I'm going to do it
all the way, so I'm going to youhave me on record.
When I do something, I'm goingto do it all the way, so I'm
going to you have me on record.
We are going to become thelargest network of veteran
entrepreneurs there has everbeen in this country.
Speaker 5 (54:51):
I love that.
That's bold.
That gave me chills a littlebit, man.
So are you able to kind of givea little bit of you know, some
numbers or some data on what thenetwork looks like now and what
you guys hope to get?
Speaker 6 (55:08):
to.
We've only been officiallylaunched and selling veteran
cards through our website maybetwo, three months now.
Um, we have around 35, Ibelieve, just veterans, not
counting the Patriots as well inthe network.
Card-wise there are over.
(55:30):
There's somewhere in the 125 to145-ish range of metacards out
right now.
We think that by having thisnetwork, this decentralized
network, is really going topropel things to the next level.
There is no other product outthere that is anything like this
.
The CEO at Meditech, jeff Glass, even put this out there that
(55:55):
if anyone shows us a productthat they feel is superior
whether it be a digital businesscard, a website, anything that
brings them all together likethis, he would just give you a
veteran card.
Speaker 5 (56:08):
Um, nice so that's, that's pretty, that's how
serious we are on this.
Speaker 6 (56:13):
Um, you know we're not from silicon valley, we're
not from, you know, the westcoast, california.
We're not helping down thestreets in our ferraris with our
top downs.
We're real people.
We're in the trenches with youguys.
We own our own businesses, justlike the video that it says
we're the movers and shakers.
We're the ones getting thingsdone.
We're not relying on anyoneelse to get it done, but we're
(56:34):
going to stand shoulder toshoulder with everyone in the
group and we're going to networktogether and refer each other
and make sure we all win.
Speaker 5 (56:44):
Yeah, because gather and refer each other and make
sure we all win.
Yeah, cause I mean, I've, I'vecome across it myself, you know,
as a social worker.
We connect people to resourcesand people and I've had to,
unofficially, as a you know, notnot getting paid for anything,
but, like you know, this personis looking for this resource at
the VA and you find a way andand this, I think the veteran
cards is is a similar thingwhere you, if you build the
network, eventually you'll belike, oh yeah, I know a guy that
(57:06):
can do that, or I know a galthat does that, you know, and
they're veterans.
So it's like you want to, youwant to help your fellow vets
and you know this is just oneway of doing that.
So, so yeah, I mean, I'm anevangelist, I'm going to spread
the gospel of the veteran cars,I'm going to use it and, um, you
know, it's also a greatconversation starter.
(57:27):
Honestly, at the, at theconferences, like it's, it's
been a great way.
I mean whether it was intendedto talk about the product but,
like, inevitably someone hasquestions like oh, that's cool,
that's cool, where do you, wheredo you get that, or how did you
get that.
So it really kind of sellsitself and everything, so just
that people need to see it inaction.
Sometimes, you know, and youguys are talking about maybe a
(57:49):
referral program at some point.
Speaker 6 (57:51):
Yep, we are we actually have initiated it, I
guess a soft launch of areferral program.
I can basically make you awareof it.
Obviously, you have to have aveteran card first.
We will never do anything wherewe go out and reach out to a
celebrity and we tell them topromote our product even though
(58:11):
they've never heard of ourproduct or never used our
product.
You must have a veteran card.
You got to meet the meta, theteam at Meditech, and you got to
see all the benefits of thecard and understand the card and
the functionalities andcapabilities and obviously, just
be a brand ambassador, justlike you're saying, spread the
gospel.
That's, that's the only way thisis going to grow.
(58:33):
We all have to come together togrow this.
Chris Benson can't talk aboutveteran cards all the time and
it grows has to be eachindividual person that believes
in it and signs up sharing itwith every veteran and Patri
patriot business owner that theyknow in their community, in
their network, and it's going tojust grow rapidly.
With the referral program thereis financial compensation,
(58:54):
obviously commission-based, towhere you get paid a certain
amount as you bring in, amountas you bring in every time you
tell your friend or your buddyor some I don't know one of your
clients that owns a businessand they sign up through you.
You'd have a special link onyour card that they could sign
up for and that's how we wouldbe able to track who's getting
(59:15):
that referral bonus commission,whatever you want to call it.
So you are getting that andthen you're also sending funds
in 1776 of every single card tothe veterans that are within the
Veteran Cards Organization.
Veteran-focused charities.
Speaker 5 (59:30):
Right?
Well, man, this time has justkind of flown by.
We're actually running out oftime, but obviously we're going
to have you on again.
We're going to talk about theTroops All Drunk and the
franchisor stuff.
We're going to have you onagain.
We're going to talk about theTroops All Drunk and the
franchisor stuff.
I've got a lot of questions andI know a lot of people.
A lot of veterans areinterested in entrepreneurship
and starting their ownbusinesses that way.
Speaker 6 (59:52):
I'll say this a little teaser is that.
I started a franchise because Idon't like franchises.
Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
Ah, yeah, yeah, we're going to dig into that, that's
a good teaser, yep, but, man,chris, thanks again for your
time.
We're gonna have to cut thestream off, but, man, thanks for
everything that you've done sofar with the veteran cards and
you know, if there's anythingelse I can do, just let me know
(01:00:22):
and I'm glad to help out.
But, um, uh, thank you for yourtime and uh, that's the stream
for the day.
Um, please hit me up, follow meon different platforms and um,
uh, if you have any, any lastwords or any, any, uh, wise,
wise words of wisdom for us no,I'll just say this to everybody
is, uh, you miss 100% of theshots that you don't take.
(01:00:46):
Appreciate you having me on,joey, look forward to seeing you
next time Talking about troopsall junk.
All right, sounds good.
Thanks, all right.
Well, that's everybody.
That's it for everybody.
Uh, we'll talk to you guys onthe next stream.
Speaker 4 (01:00:57):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to
military Broadcast Radio.
As we wrap up today's show, wewant to remind you that the
podcast of today's episode willbe available right after we go
off the air, so if you missedany part of the show or want to
(01:01:21):
listen again, be sure to checkit out.
And remember we're here tosupport and honor our veterans.
Your stories and experiencesmatter and we are committed to
giving you a platform to sharethem.
That's right.
We're here to give our veteransa voice, so don't forget to
catch the podcast and stayconnected with us Giving our
(01:01:44):
veterans a voice.
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