September 22, 2025 • 28 mins
The transition from military service to civilian life represents one of the most challenging journeys many veterans face. For Donnell Johns, founder of Veterans Growing America, this transition sparked an innovative mission to transform how America supports its veteran entrepreneurs.
After 26 years of distinguished Army service spanning Desert Storm, Somalia, and leadership roles in recruiting, Johns found himself struggling with his post-military identity. "I wanted to find out who Donnell was," he shares, describing how his entire adult identity had been shaped by military service since age 18. Like many veterans, he faced isolation, purpose loss, and the daunting challenge of building a new life without his military community. The solution emerged unexpectedly at a veteran networking event where Johns realized something profound: instead of focusing on veteran challenges like PTS and homelessness, America needed to see veterans as capable entrepreneurs, leaders, and innovators.
Veterans Growing America evolved from this insight into a comprehensive ecosystem supporting veteran entrepreneurship. The organization now operates storefronts in Virginia and Maryland exclusively featuring products from veteran and military spouse-owned businesses. These spaces serve as more than retail environments—they're community hubs hosting business boot camps, networking events, and even veteran-led activities like line dancing classes. Johns powerfully notes that "veterans can't eat 'thank you for your service,'" emphasizing that economic opportunity through entrepreneurship provides the meaningful support veterans truly need.
Ready to support veteran entrepreneurs? Visit veteransgrowingamerica.com to explore their business directory, learn about upcoming events, or make a donation. Better yet, visit their storefronts at Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center (Virginia) or Clarksburg Premium Outlets (Maryland) to discover quality products while directly supporting veteran business owners. Your purchase does more than complete a transaction—it validates a veteran's new mission and purpose.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Zilliox (00:15):
Good morning.
I'm your host, Larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run this week.
Our guest is Donnell Johns.
He's the founder of an amazingorganization called Veterans
Growing America.
It's a 501c3 tax exemptorganization that provides
entrepreneurial education andresources to Military-Connected
(00:38):
Communities.
I want to be transparent herefor our listeners that are local
to Northern Virginia,especially Prince William County
.
Donnell and I are bothcommissioners on the Prince
William County VeteransCommission.
What we are doing here today isa podcast.
It is not a meeting of theVeterans Commission.
(01:00):
We do not need to give noticeof this.
It's just the two of us Allthat notice stuff and freedom of
information and all that kindof stuff kicks in when you have
three or more commissioners gettogether.
There's nobody else here, it'sjust the two of us.
So I want to be clear aboutthat to everybody.
Donnell, thank you for joiningus.
Welcome to the podcast.
Donnell Johns (01:21):
Happy to be here and yes, this is not an official
commissioner meeting, that'sright.
Larry Zilliox (01:27):
So if you would tell our listeners about your
military service, yourbackground.
Donnell Johns (01:32):
Yeah, so I served 26 years in the United States
Army.
Wow, I did 10 of them activeArmy where I served, funny story
.
So when I joined, I joined themilitary with four friends.
I was looking at joining theAir Force.
I actually tried to join theAir Force three times Back in
1989, we had the rotary phonesbut we didn't have cell phones
(01:55):
or anything like that, sure.
So I caught the bus three timesto the Air Force office.
I wanted to be Air Force office.
I wanted to be an airplanemechanic.
Luckily I didn't do that, therewould be a lot of casualties in
the sky.
But I went to his office.
He was never there and I justgave up.
And then, during the summer of1989, a friend of mine's mom, I
(02:22):
stayed at their house over thesummer.
I have two friends, ken andKeith and Eric, who lived in
Vallejo, california.
I'm originally from SanFrancisco.
We were working at Marine WorldAfrica, usa, and it was an
amusement park and after we gotoff work we would sit in the
basement and make a lot of noise, invite a bunch of people over.
So his mom was really tired ofus time to go yeah, he was
(02:47):
really.
She was really tired of us.
And so one day we came home andthe recruiter was sitting there
in the living room wow, drenjohnson, I can remember it like
it was yesterday.
And, dren, he asked me.
He was like you know, are youinterested in joining the
military?
I said, well, yes, but I'm notinterested in being infantry.
(03:08):
I said do you have any jobswhere you can work inside?
I want to do something.
You know, I want to have my ownoffice.
He was like absolutely, we havestuff like that, I want to have
my own office.
He was like absolutely, we havestuff like that.
At the time, you know, I reallydidn't understand.
You know what that meant.
But as long as I had a job thatwas working indoors, that had
(03:29):
AC and that I wasn't going to beoutside because I had terrible
allergies.
I'm going to fast forward alittle bit.
Well, I ended up going to basictraining, ait, and in my mind,
because I had an administrativejob, I never thought I could go
to war.
But the entire time I was inbasic training and AIT, they
kept telling us you're going togo through basic training, ait,
(03:50):
and then your first dutyassignment is going to be Desert
Storm.
I laughed at the drillsergeants.
I was like, yeah right, what amI going to do?
Throw a typewriter at people.
I had no idea that.
You know, in the theater of warwe have everything.
Larry Zilliox (04:03):
Well.
Donnell Johns (04:04):
I didn't throw typewriters at people, but I did
get deployed my first dutystation.
Probably my class is probablythe only class that did this,
but we went directly to DesertStorm straight out of AIT no
unit whatsoever.
And before we went there wewent to Fort Lee to do grave
registration school and it wassupposed to be a two week long
(04:26):
course.
They did it in two hours andgot us on the plane out of there
.
I was an administrativespecialist and that's what I did
while I was there.
I did the awards, I did a lotof stuff with the active army
and the reserves.
We made sure that, you know,people got manifested in,
manifested out.
There was a lot of stuff thatwent on.
It was different for me becauseI was 18, and so I felt like I
(04:49):
was invincible.
We lost a couple people whilewe were there, but I still felt
invincible, like nothing couldever happen to me.
So the things that happened,you know, during that period of
time I didn't realize itaffected me until I got a little
bit older.
I went from there to my firstduty station, which was Fort
Eustace, and immediately afterwe got there, about a year and a
(05:13):
half later, somalia kicked off,ended up serving in Somalia for
almost four months and you guysknow exactly what happened in
Somalia all of that type ofstuff and I served a total of 10
years active army.
The two assignments that I hadafter that was Korea, where they
put me in an infantry unit.
(05:34):
I was like what is going on?
And it was an infantry unitthat patrolled the DMZ.
Were you there in the winter?
Yes, it's cold, it's super cold, it is super cold.
And I met my wife in Colorado.
My last duty assignment while Iwas on active duty was I worked
at the military engineprocessing station.
Okay, they gave me a follow-onassignment back to Korea.
(05:56):
I was like I'm not doing that,I'm sorry, I don't want to go
back to the Joint Security Area,panmunjom, to this infantry
unit.
It was a good assignment, butit was just not good enough, and
so I found the opportunity tobe an AGR in the Army National
Guard.
I actually transferred into theArmy National Guard on
(06:17):
Christmas Day of 1999.
I actually transferred into theArmy National Guard on
Christmas Day of 1999.
The cool part about that was Iwas definitely afraid of talking
in front of groups, but the jobthat I signed up for was a
recruiter where I had to talk topeople, and so I still, to this
day, don't like talking infront of groups.
It still scares the crap out ofme, you know, as far as talking
(06:41):
in front of people, but I do itall of the time and I get
better and better at it.
But I work my way up inrecruiting from a recruiter all
the way up to the recruitingcommand sergeant major for the
state of Colorado and I was sohappy to get an AGR job that I
promised the sergeant major.
When I met him I was like hey,I'm your recruiter and I'm going
(07:01):
to be the best recruiter thatColorado Army National Guard has
ever seen.
And I achieved that.
I was rookie of the year,runner up, top recruiter, top
recruiter when I made E8, myteam was top team three years in
a row and then I became thecommand SAR major of recruiting
and all of my recruiters mademission the first time in
Colorado National three years ina row.
And then I became the CommandSergeant Major of Recruiting and
(07:25):
all of my recruiters mademission the first time in
Colorado National Guard historythat happened.
And then I got a distinctopportunity to serve at the
national level and become theArmy National Guard G1 Sergeant
Major, and so I was the firstArmy National Guard G1 Sergeant
Major in Army National Guardhistory.
We improved the readiness ofthe Army National Guard by 30
percent in less than nine monthsand I used the leadership that
(07:45):
I learned as far as being arecruiter to persuade states to
listen to what we have, becausethe National Guard we have a
bureau, we're not a headquarters, and so we have 54 different
armies and they can do what theywant to do.
However, I use my recruitingskills to get them to do what we
asked them to do.
(08:06):
And then my last assignment onactive duty is I got the
opportunity to go back intorecruiting and I was the
recruiting command sergeantmajor for the DC Army National
Guard.
Oh wow, and that was one of myfavorite assignments, because I
got to take everything that Ilearned as a tactical recruiter,
a recruiting SAR major and a G1SAR major and pour it all into
(08:30):
the state excuse me, theDistrict of Columbia and all of
my recruiters.
We went from worst to first inthe nation when it came to
recruiting.
In less than a year we madethat happen.
We had the highest strengththat we've ever had in the DC
National Guard, and then Iretired from there in 2016.
Larry Zilliox (08:48):
How was that transition for you?
Was it like you thought it was?
Donnell Johns (08:53):
going to be.
So I had a picture in my head.
I actually started a business.
It was called a VisionWorldwide Leadership Consulting
Firm and I did my business plan.
I went through boost tobusiness, all the schools, and
it's a funny thing aboutplanning right.
You can plan for success and Ihad short term success when I
left the military.
(09:14):
When it came to my business,when it came to leadership
consulting, however, I wasyearning and missing a lot of
stuff.
Transition was very hard for me.
The first three months that Iwas out, I got to sit in the
house trying to figure out thisbusiness thing and demons
started coming, thinking aboutthings that I've never thought
about before.
And I got to see you know,being in business, you gotta,
(09:35):
you gotta do everything.
You know.
You gotta do youradministration.
You have to.
You got to do everything.
You know.
You got to do youradministration.
You have to do your marketingand advertising.
Yeah, you got to do everythingwhen it comes to business.
And so I started seeing myweaknesses, which I'd never seen
before, because I had a team ofindividuals around me that I'm
good at my job.
Everybody else is good at theirjob.
(09:56):
We can empower people to do thethings that they're good at,
and you really rarely see yourweaknesses and you always have
somebody right there to haveyour back.
My PTSD started kicking in andthe only thing that I can do to
stay motivated was run.
So I felt like Forrest Gump.
Right Every morning I woke upand I went on a three-mile run.
(10:18):
I ran every day for three milesor more for seven months.
One day I put on my pants to gorunning and my pants fell all
the way to my knees Got soskinny.
One of the things that I walkedaway from also was being a part
of the military.
I didn't let anybody know thatI was a retired Command Sergeant
(10:38):
Major.
I wanted to find out whoDonnell was.
I had no idea who I was becauseI joined at 18.
And so my identity was themilitary, and so I'm like what
relationships can I build?
You know, when I walked in theroom, nobody stood up.
You know, when I said things,nothing happened unless I made
(10:59):
it happen, trying to figure outmy place in the world.
Luckily, who I was in themilitary and who Donnell was was
the same person.
I was able to create the sametype of excellence, but I was
missing a team.
It was painful not to have acommunity of people around me,
(11:21):
people that I could talk tothings about, and there was no
trust.
I remember one day I was at Ijoined the chamber the Prince
William Chamber of Commerce, andI was sitting there and I was
like you know what?
I'm going to let these peopleknow that I served in the
military because I had aleadership consulting firm and I
had a tablecloth and my companywas a Vision World and I put my
(11:41):
picture up there and in all thethings that we did for
organizations.
This lady named Nancy JeanLouis you probably know her
walked over to my table and shewas like hey, young man, do you
know about AUSA?
And I was like in my head I waslike, look, lady, I'm trying to
stay away from the military.
I don't want to be involved inany organizations.
I don't want to wear any typeof fake military uniform or
(12:05):
anything like that.
But she invited me to come toan AUSA meeting and at this AUSA
meeting it was refreshing, itwas amazing to be a part of
something that people valued.
Who?
I was?
Sure it's tribe.
Yes, it was a tribe.
I was like man Missing this.
(12:26):
Yeah, I was missing the part ofthe military, where that
camaraderie?
I missed the camaraderie, Imissed the fellowship, I missed
the banter, I missed all of thatstuff.
And so I went to AUSA and thatwas my tribe and I said you know
what, let me try and figure outwhat other things are available
(12:48):
out there.
I went to another event.
It's called Burbiz and it'sbourbon and business and it's
basically a networking event forveterans, a networking event
for veterans.
I went to that and just kind ofwalked in there and I was like
I saw all of these people.
I didn't know that they wereveterans or not.
I was just hoping, you know.
(13:14):
And I ran up upon this guy andI started talking to him and he
was telling me about hisbusiness and I was intrigued.
I was like I need to know thisguy's story and people need to
hear about his story and that'swhere Veterans Growing America
was born, in that spot.
I talked to him and he wastelling me about his business
and all the great things that hewas doing and I was like this
is cool, because the stuff thatI was hearing about our
(13:34):
community, it was all PTSD,suicide and homelessness.
Sure, even when I briefed mybusiness, you know, this lady
was like.
I was like, yeah, I'm a veteranand I have a business.
And she was like you know what?
You ought to go in our disabledgroup.
I'm like what?
It blew me away.
I'm like why would you have mebe on a part of your disabled
(13:56):
group?
I said do I look disabled toyou?
And I'm not one to tell peopleabout my, my disabilities or
anything like that.
You know, I don't.
That's nobody's business.
You know where I'm at when itcomes to my disabilities.
But that's what she said to meand I was like I got offended.
And then I started hearing itmore and more and more and I was
like you know what?
We're bigger than this.
(14:16):
I was like veterans are someamazing people.
We need to start telling thesestories in a way that people see
us as leaders, as heroes, asentrepreneurs and as human
beings.
And so, as I started doing myresearch, I started figuring out
that the founder of Nike is aveteran, the founder of FedEx is
a veteran, the founder ofGoDaddy is a veteran, the
(14:37):
founder of Walmart is a veteran,and so on and so forth.
I'm like people need to hearthese stories, but I wanted them
to hear about the local storiesof the individuals within their
community and what they'redoing and how they're adding
value to our community.
So they will see us as leaders,as heroes, as entrepreneurs and
as human beings.
And so when I went into Burbizand I started talking to people,
(15:01):
there was one guy that was inthere and I interviewed him with
my iPhone.
And I had my iPhone in front ofme like this and I just asked
him three questions what's yourbranch of service?
How long did you serve?
Tell me about your business andhow can my community get in
touch with you?
Those were the three questionsthat I asked him.
It lasted about one minute andthen I posted it on LinkedIn.
(15:23):
I didn't have any LinkedInfriends.
I woke up the next morning I had700 views on that post and I
was blown away.
I was like, okay, I'm going todo this every Monday.
I'm going to have a differentbusiness on my LinkedIn and I
could tell these stories, myLinkedIn and I could tell these
(15:44):
stories.
And I just continued to do thatand I continued to find out
that more and more people served, but they didn't see the value
in their service.
They didn't tell people abouttheir service because they
didn't see that there werebenefits to serving and telling
people about your service andthat got me to thinking about
how can I create a communityaround veteran entrepreneurship
(16:05):
and while I was in the military.
This is pretty cool because Iwanted to create a community
after the military that kind ofmirrored the military structure
and I'm still creating thatthrough Veterans Growing America
.
But it allows me to tell thosestories of veteran and military
spouse entrepreneurs and theirunique gifts that they offer the
(16:27):
world.
Larry Zilliox (16:29):
So I do think that that's a problem that we
see, where there's so much focuson the issues of PTS, traumatic
brain injury and allhomelessness, traumatic brain
injury and all homelessness,justice-involved veterans,
substance abuse issues that somepeople begin to think that all
veterans are like that Right andreally listeners.
(16:53):
You got to go to the webpageand you got to check it out.
It's real easy.
It's veteransgrowingamericacomand check out all the resources.
There's a directory there ofbusinesses that you can reach
out to and we'll provide youwith services in exchange for
your money.
Okay, check every page of thewebpage out, because it's just
(17:17):
full of resources, for if youneed some services or if you're
a business and a veteran ownedbusiness and are you looking for
a way to network and to get theword out about your business,
this is a perfect way to do itVeteransGrowingAmericacom.
(17:37):
Remember that this is anonprofit organization, so
you're going to see a button inthe corner up in the right.
You click on it.
It's donate.
Go ahead and give what you can,because every nonprofit has
expenses.
And this is such an amazingprogram because now you do.
You have like two stores, onein Maryland and one in Virginia.
(17:59):
These are storefronts where allof the merchandise in them is
from veteran-owned businesses.
Talk a little bit about that ifyou would Absolutely so funny
story.
Donnell Johns (18:11):
I look for how people can support our veteran
entrepreneurs because I hear allthe time thank you for your
service, and I love when peoplesay thank you for your service.
Continue to say that, eventhough what I'm about to say is
funny, right?
Well, you may not find it funny, but veterans can't eat.
Thank you for your service,right?
(18:32):
It's one of those things wherewe appreciate it, but, at the
same time, we want to.
We don't want to hand out, wewant to hand up and we want to
create opportunities, and so Iwanted to create an opportunity
where veterans find theirpassion again.
That's what they're looking forwhen they leave their passion
and find a purpose, and sothrough entrepreneurship, it's
(18:53):
twofold.
Number one I believe thatentrepreneurship is the only way
that you can find true freedom,and as hard as I don't know
what you're going to have towork like crazy to get your
freedom through entrepreneurship.
However, when you're workingfor yourself, but not by
yourself, and you have acommunity of like-minded
individuals around you, it makeslife a little bit easier.
(19:15):
It makes dealing with thethings that you have to deal
with a little bit easier, and soveterans sell stuff that
they're passionate about andthrough that, when you purchase
from them, it makes it bigger,different than you think.
I remember the first time we didour event.
We did our first event at DraniCoffeehouse, which is an Army
Veterans Coffeehouse in Manassasback in 2019.
(19:39):
And we had 17 veteran andmilitary spouse-owned businesses
and I got to sit and have abird's eye view of the first
sale of all 17 of theseindividuals.
You talking about the lightwent on saying that purchase
said you believe in not only me,but my product and what it has
to offer and you find value inthat.
(19:59):
And when I saw that, I was likeLord, have mercy.
We're on to something.
Yeah, for sure we had over 900people show up.
I wish it was just for thatevent.
There was a lot of stuff goingon that day.
It just so happened to beraining and snowing outside and
a train station was right acrossthe street from that and they
were trying to get on the trainand so they just so happened to
(20:20):
go into the coffee shop at thesame time.
So it was a combination ofthings, but it was a blessing by
God that opened up the door andallowed these people to
showcase what they foundvaluable and built a community
called Veterans Growing America,where those individuals went
from the table to on the shelfat our storefronts in Maryland
(20:46):
and Virginia, and through ourstorefronts we showcase
veteran-owned businesses.
Larry Zilliox (20:52):
Where exactly are they?
So our listeners, if they're inthe area, they can go to there.
Where's the Virginia one?
So the Virginia.
Donnell Johns (20:59):
One is at the Stonebridge at Potomac Town
Center.
Larry Zilliox (21:03):
Okay.
Donnell Johns (21:05):
And it's right across the street from Potomac.
Mills Okay, where the Wegmans islocated, and then our Maryland
location is located at theClarksburg Premium Outlets Okay,
and the cool part about that iswe're in an old Gucci store.
I love that because I'm like.
That just lets me know thelevel that our organization is
(21:27):
trying to reach is to be theGucci of veteran
entrepreneurships.
So if you're in the area of youknow Virginia or Maryland in
one of those locations, pleasestop in and support, even if you
don't want to shop.
Just stop in, say hello and sayhello and hear the stories of
(21:48):
these individuals on why theystarted their product.
And if you served they love thebanter.
I always give Navy and MarineCorps and all the other branches
that didn't qualify to join theArmy a hard time.
In our storefronts we showcaseall types of veteran businesses,
not just product.
Yeah, we do education in ourstorefronts.
(22:11):
In fact, we're about to do amastermind excuse me, not a
mastermind group, but a businessboot camp.
One of our entrepreneurs is acoach, a business coach, and he
created a book called BusinessBoot Camp through one of the
masterminds that VeteransGrowing America did.
We also do networking, where weconnect our community with
business, education andemployment resources but, most
(22:32):
importantly, each other.
It's a good time.
We do that the third Thursdayof every month.
We also do line dancing.
We have a veteran that linedancing is her business, so we
provide a space, place andopportunity for people to come
and line dance.
It blows my mind, because thatis our number one selling event.
We have up to a hundred peoplein there line dancing.
(22:53):
It blows my mind.
We do comedy shows in there.
We have a veteran entrepreneur,air Force veteran.
He's a comedian and a chaplain,so it's no cussing.
The cool part about it isveterans and not cussing.
That's hilarious.
That's hilarious.
That's not something you seeevery day.
But everything that we do we tryto make it family friendly and
(23:15):
a good time and we try to makeit a great environment for not
only people that served inmilitary, but it's open to the
public.
So if you've never servedbefore, this is your opportunity
to give back by walking in thestore and you know seeing what
we do.
What's funny to me is peoplesee my logo on the door and they
(23:38):
say it looks like a recruitingoffice.
It looks like a recruitingoffice.
It is not a recruiting office,but you will be inspired to join
after you find the camaraderiethat you see when you walk in
the door.
Larry Zilliox (23:50):
Yeah, wow, well, listeners, once again, it's
veteransgrowingamericacom.
Check it out, donate.
Please hit that donate button,give what you can.
It's an amazing organization.
It's really helping veteranentrepreneurs get their start.
And that's the hardest part.
(24:10):
Veterans have a lot of time.
I know, when you're active duty, you're in the service, you got
a lot of downtime Hurry up andwait, you're out on posts,
you're in the middle of nowhereand you're constantly thinking
about what am I going to do whenI get out?
You know, I think I want to dothis, or I want to go open a
surf shop in Hawaii, or whateverit is.
(24:31):
You're always dreaming aboutwhat happens after your service.
And and then you separate andit's hard.
It's hard for a number ofreasons.
Everybody's a little bitdifferent, but everybody's
almost the same.
And then you decide I don'twant to work for a contractor, I
(24:51):
don't want to work for a bigcontracting company.
I want to do something on myown.
I want to be my own boss.
And then you find out how hardit is.
It's so hard.
And then you find out how hardit is, it's so hard.
And then you find a group likeVeterans Growing America that is
going to give you the resources, is going to give you the
support you need to launch yourproduct, to get it out in front
(25:14):
of buyers.
I mean, it's just I hope thatwe sit down in a year or two and
we're talking about 20 storesnationwide.
There's no reason why thereshouldn't be a store in every
major city, in every state, justlike this, that says hey, come
buy products from veteransbecause you know that they work
(25:37):
hard and they do what's rightand they are providing a service
or a product that's highquality and you will get your
money's worth.
And so, locally, if you're inthe Maryland what's Clarksburg
or near Potomac Mills, stop intothe Veterans Growing America
(25:59):
store and patronize all theveterans in there.
I'm sure you can find Christmaspresents.
You can find even if you'rebuying stuff you don't need.
Just you know, stop in and getsome stuff and I think you're
going to come away from thatvisit with more than just a
(26:20):
product.
You're going to come away witha sense and a feeling that this
is an amazing organizationbecause it's helping veterans
get on the right path and whenthey get their business going
and get their.
Their life tends to fall inplace as well, because one of
(26:42):
the things that veterans havethe hardest problem dealing with
is stress.
Veterans Growing America isreally doing an amazing job of
helping veterans start theirbusinesses and just get their
product out there.
Again, it'sveteransgrowingamericacom.
Take a look at the webpage.
You can contact Donnell throughthe webpage.
There's a contact page in there, phone numbers on there.
(27:05):
If you're looking for aparticular business, there's a
resource directory.
You can find all sorts ofbusinesses.
I'm certain you'll find whatyou need in there.
Give that business a call, tellthem where you found them.
Let them know that you foundthem on the
veteransgrowingamericacom page.
Please try to patronize as manyof these businesses as you can.
(27:27):
Donnell, I can't thank youenough for sitting down with us
and letting our listeners knowabout Veterans Growing America.
It's been an honor.
Thank you so much.
Well, listeners, you can findus on all the major podcast
platforms.
We're on YouTube and WreathsAcross America Radio.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
(27:49):
If you have any comments orsuggestions, you can reach us at
podcast at willingwarriorsorg.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
Good morning.
I'm your host, Larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run this week.
Our guest is Donnell Johns.
He's the founder of an amazingorganization called Veterans
Growing America.
It's a 501c3 tax exemptorganization that provides
entrepreneurial education andresources to Military-Connected
(00:38):
Communities.
I want to be transparent herefor our listeners that are local
to Northern Virginia,especially Prince William County
.
Donnell and I are bothcommissioners on the Prince
William County VeteransCommission.
What we are doing here today isa podcast.
It is not a meeting of theVeterans Commission.
(01:00):
We do not need to give noticeof this.
It's just the two of us Allthat notice stuff and freedom of
information and all that kindof stuff kicks in when you have
three or more commissioners gettogether.
There's nobody else here, it'sjust the two of us.
So I want to be clear aboutthat to everybody.
Donnell, thank you for joiningus.
Welcome to the podcast.
Donnell Johns (01:21):
Happy to be here and yes, this is not an official
commissioner meeting, that'sright.
Larry Zilliox (01:27):
So if you would tell our listeners about your
military service, yourbackground.
Donnell Johns (01:32):
Yeah, so I served 26 years in the United States
Army.
Wow, I did 10 of them activeArmy where I served, funny story
.
So when I joined, I joined themilitary with four friends.
I was looking at joining theAir Force.
I actually tried to join theAir Force three times Back in
1989, we had the rotary phonesbut we didn't have cell phones
(01:55):
or anything like that, sure.
So I caught the bus three timesto the Air Force office.
I wanted to be Air Force office.
I wanted to be an airplanemechanic.
Luckily I didn't do that, therewould be a lot of casualties in
the sky.
But I went to his office.
He was never there and I justgave up.
And then, during the summer of1989, a friend of mine's mom, I
(02:22):
stayed at their house over thesummer.
I have two friends, ken andKeith and Eric, who lived in
Vallejo, california.
I'm originally from SanFrancisco.
We were working at Marine WorldAfrica, usa, and it was an
amusement park and after we gotoff work we would sit in the
basement and make a lot of noise, invite a bunch of people over.
So his mom was really tired ofus time to go yeah, he was
(02:47):
really.
She was really tired of us.
And so one day we came home andthe recruiter was sitting there
in the living room wow, drenjohnson, I can remember it like
it was yesterday.
And, dren, he asked me.
He was like you know, are youinterested in joining the
military?
I said, well, yes, but I'm notinterested in being infantry.
(03:08):
I said do you have any jobswhere you can work inside?
I want to do something.
You know, I want to have my ownoffice.
He was like absolutely, we havestuff like that, I want to have
my own office.
He was like absolutely, we havestuff like that.
At the time, you know, I reallydidn't understand.
You know what that meant.
But as long as I had a job thatwas working indoors, that had
(03:29):
AC and that I wasn't going to beoutside because I had terrible
allergies.
I'm going to fast forward alittle bit.
Well, I ended up going to basictraining, ait, and in my mind,
because I had an administrativejob, I never thought I could go
to war.
But the entire time I was inbasic training and AIT, they
kept telling us you're going togo through basic training, ait,
(03:50):
and then your first dutyassignment is going to be Desert
Storm.
I laughed at the drillsergeants.
I was like, yeah right, what amI going to do?
Throw a typewriter at people.
I had no idea that.
You know, in the theater of warwe have everything.
Larry Zilliox (04:03):
Well.
Donnell Johns (04:04):
I didn't throw typewriters at people, but I did
get deployed my first dutystation.
Probably my class is probablythe only class that did this,
but we went directly to DesertStorm straight out of AIT no
unit whatsoever.
And before we went there wewent to Fort Lee to do grave
registration school and it wassupposed to be a two week long
(04:26):
course.
They did it in two hours andgot us on the plane out of there
.
I was an administrativespecialist and that's what I did
while I was there.
I did the awards, I did a lotof stuff with the active army
and the reserves.
We made sure that, you know,people got manifested in,
manifested out.
There was a lot of stuff thatwent on.
It was different for me becauseI was 18, and so I felt like I
(04:49):
was invincible.
We lost a couple people whilewe were there, but I still felt
invincible, like nothing couldever happen to me.
So the things that happened,you know, during that period of
time I didn't realize itaffected me until I got a little
bit older.
I went from there to my firstduty station, which was Fort
Eustace, and immediately afterwe got there, about a year and a
(05:13):
half later, somalia kicked off,ended up serving in Somalia for
almost four months and you guysknow exactly what happened in
Somalia all of that type ofstuff and I served a total of 10
years active army.
The two assignments that I hadafter that was Korea, where they
put me in an infantry unit.
(05:34):
I was like what is going on?
And it was an infantry unitthat patrolled the DMZ.
Were you there in the winter?
Yes, it's cold, it's super cold, it is super cold.
And I met my wife in Colorado.
My last duty assignment while Iwas on active duty was I worked
at the military engineprocessing station.
Okay, they gave me a follow-onassignment back to Korea.
(05:56):
I was like I'm not doing that,I'm sorry, I don't want to go
back to the Joint Security Area,panmunjom, to this infantry
unit.
It was a good assignment, butit was just not good enough, and
so I found the opportunity tobe an AGR in the Army National
Guard.
I actually transferred into theArmy National Guard on
(06:17):
Christmas Day of 1999.
I actually transferred into theArmy National Guard on
Christmas Day of 1999.
The cool part about that was Iwas definitely afraid of talking
in front of groups, but the jobthat I signed up for was a
recruiter where I had to talk topeople, and so I still, to this
day, don't like talking infront of groups.
It still scares the crap out ofme, you know, as far as talking
(06:41):
in front of people, but I do itall of the time and I get
better and better at it.
But I work my way up inrecruiting from a recruiter all
the way up to the recruitingcommand sergeant major for the
state of Colorado and I was sohappy to get an AGR job that I
promised the sergeant major.
When I met him I was like hey,I'm your recruiter and I'm going
(07:01):
to be the best recruiter thatColorado Army National Guard has
ever seen.
And I achieved that.
I was rookie of the year,runner up, top recruiter, top
recruiter when I made E8, myteam was top team three years in
a row and then I became thecommand SAR major of recruiting
and all of my recruiters mademission the first time in
Colorado National three years ina row.
And then I became the CommandSergeant Major of Recruiting and
(07:25):
all of my recruiters mademission the first time in
Colorado National Guard historythat happened.
And then I got a distinctopportunity to serve at the
national level and become theArmy National Guard G1 Sergeant
Major, and so I was the firstArmy National Guard G1 Sergeant
Major in Army National Guardhistory.
We improved the readiness ofthe Army National Guard by 30
percent in less than nine monthsand I used the leadership that
(07:45):
I learned as far as being arecruiter to persuade states to
listen to what we have, becausethe National Guard we have a
bureau, we're not a headquarters, and so we have 54 different
armies and they can do what theywant to do.
However, I use my recruitingskills to get them to do what we
asked them to do.
(08:06):
And then my last assignment onactive duty is I got the
opportunity to go back intorecruiting and I was the
recruiting command sergeantmajor for the DC Army National
Guard.
Oh wow, and that was one of myfavorite assignments, because I
got to take everything that Ilearned as a tactical recruiter,
a recruiting SAR major and a G1SAR major and pour it all into
(08:30):
the state excuse me, theDistrict of Columbia and all of
my recruiters.
We went from worst to first inthe nation when it came to
recruiting.
In less than a year we madethat happen.
We had the highest strengththat we've ever had in the DC
National Guard, and then Iretired from there in 2016.
Larry Zilliox (08:48):
How was that transition for you?
Was it like you thought it was?
Donnell Johns (08:53):
going to be.
So I had a picture in my head.
I actually started a business.
It was called a VisionWorldwide Leadership Consulting
Firm and I did my business plan.
I went through boost tobusiness, all the schools, and
it's a funny thing aboutplanning right.
You can plan for success and Ihad short term success when I
left the military.
(09:14):
When it came to my business,when it came to leadership
consulting, however, I wasyearning and missing a lot of
stuff.
Transition was very hard for me.
The first three months that Iwas out, I got to sit in the
house trying to figure out thisbusiness thing and demons
started coming, thinking aboutthings that I've never thought
about before.
And I got to see you know,being in business, you gotta,
(09:35):
you gotta do everything.
You know.
You gotta do youradministration.
You have to.
You got to do everything.
You know.
You got to do youradministration.
You have to do your marketingand advertising.
Yeah, you got to do everythingwhen it comes to business.
And so I started seeing myweaknesses, which I'd never seen
before, because I had a team ofindividuals around me that I'm
good at my job.
Everybody else is good at theirjob.
(09:56):
We can empower people to do thethings that they're good at,
and you really rarely see yourweaknesses and you always have
somebody right there to haveyour back.
My PTSD started kicking in andthe only thing that I can do to
stay motivated was run.
So I felt like Forrest Gump.
Right Every morning I woke upand I went on a three-mile run.
(10:18):
I ran every day for three milesor more for seven months.
One day I put on my pants to gorunning and my pants fell all
the way to my knees Got soskinny.
One of the things that I walkedaway from also was being a part
of the military.
I didn't let anybody know thatI was a retired Command Sergeant
(10:38):
Major.
I wanted to find out whoDonnell was.
I had no idea who I was becauseI joined at 18.
And so my identity was themilitary, and so I'm like what
relationships can I build?
You know, when I walked in theroom, nobody stood up.
You know, when I said things,nothing happened unless I made
(10:59):
it happen, trying to figure outmy place in the world.
Luckily, who I was in themilitary and who Donnell was was
the same person.
I was able to create the sametype of excellence, but I was
missing a team.
It was painful not to have acommunity of people around me,
(11:21):
people that I could talk tothings about, and there was no
trust.
I remember one day I was at Ijoined the chamber the Prince
William Chamber of Commerce, andI was sitting there and I was
like you know what?
I'm going to let these peopleknow that I served in the
military because I had aleadership consulting firm and I
had a tablecloth and my companywas a Vision World and I put my
(11:41):
picture up there and in all thethings that we did for
organizations.
This lady named Nancy JeanLouis you probably know her
walked over to my table and shewas like hey, young man, do you
know about AUSA?
And I was like in my head I waslike, look, lady, I'm trying to
stay away from the military.
I don't want to be involved inany organizations.
I don't want to wear any typeof fake military uniform or
(12:05):
anything like that.
But she invited me to come toan AUSA meeting and at this AUSA
meeting it was refreshing, itwas amazing to be a part of
something that people valued.
Who?
I was?
Sure it's tribe.
Yes, it was a tribe.
I was like man Missing this.
(12:26):
Yeah, I was missing the part ofthe military, where that
camaraderie?
I missed the camaraderie, Imissed the fellowship, I missed
the banter, I missed all of thatstuff.
And so I went to AUSA and thatwas my tribe and I said you know
what, let me try and figure outwhat other things are available
(12:48):
out there.
I went to another event.
It's called Burbiz and it'sbourbon and business and it's
basically a networking event forveterans, a networking event
for veterans.
I went to that and just kind ofwalked in there and I was like
I saw all of these people.
I didn't know that they wereveterans or not.
I was just hoping, you know.
(13:14):
And I ran up upon this guy andI started talking to him and he
was telling me about hisbusiness and I was intrigued.
I was like I need to know thisguy's story and people need to
hear about his story and that'swhere Veterans Growing America
was born, in that spot.
I talked to him and he wastelling me about his business
and all the great things that hewas doing and I was like this
is cool, because the stuff thatI was hearing about our
(13:34):
community, it was all PTSD,suicide and homelessness.
Sure, even when I briefed mybusiness, you know, this lady
was like.
I was like, yeah, I'm a veteranand I have a business.
And she was like you know what?
You ought to go in our disabledgroup.
I'm like what?
It blew me away.
I'm like why would you have mebe on a part of your disabled
(13:56):
group?
I said do I look disabled toyou?
And I'm not one to tell peopleabout my, my disabilities or
anything like that.
You know, I don't.
That's nobody's business.
You know where I'm at when itcomes to my disabilities.
But that's what she said to meand I was like I got offended.
And then I started hearing itmore and more and more and I was
like you know what?
We're bigger than this.
(14:16):
I was like veterans are someamazing people.
We need to start telling thesestories in a way that people see
us as leaders, as heroes, asentrepreneurs and as human
beings.
And so, as I started doing myresearch, I started figuring out
that the founder of Nike is aveteran, the founder of FedEx is
a veteran, the founder ofGoDaddy is a veteran, the
(14:37):
founder of Walmart is a veteran,and so on and so forth.
I'm like people need to hearthese stories, but I wanted them
to hear about the local storiesof the individuals within their
community and what they'redoing and how they're adding
value to our community.
So they will see us as leaders,as heroes, as entrepreneurs and
as human beings.
And so when I went into Burbizand I started talking to people,
(15:01):
there was one guy that was inthere and I interviewed him with
my iPhone.
And I had my iPhone in front ofme like this and I just asked
him three questions what's yourbranch of service?
How long did you serve?
Tell me about your business andhow can my community get in
touch with you?
Those were the three questionsthat I asked him.
It lasted about one minute andthen I posted it on LinkedIn.
(15:23):
I didn't have any LinkedInfriends.
I woke up the next morning I had700 views on that post and I
was blown away.
I was like, okay, I'm going todo this every Monday.
I'm going to have a differentbusiness on my LinkedIn and I
could tell these stories, myLinkedIn and I could tell these
(15:44):
stories.
And I just continued to do thatand I continued to find out
that more and more people served, but they didn't see the value
in their service.
They didn't tell people abouttheir service because they
didn't see that there werebenefits to serving and telling
people about your service andthat got me to thinking about
how can I create a communityaround veteran entrepreneurship
(16:05):
and while I was in the military.
This is pretty cool because Iwanted to create a community
after the military that kind ofmirrored the military structure
and I'm still creating thatthrough Veterans Growing America
.
But it allows me to tell thosestories of veteran and military
spouse entrepreneurs and theirunique gifts that they offer the
(16:27):
world.
Larry Zilliox (16:29):
So I do think that that's a problem that we
see, where there's so much focuson the issues of PTS, traumatic
brain injury and allhomelessness, traumatic brain
injury and all homelessness,justice-involved veterans,
substance abuse issues that somepeople begin to think that all
veterans are like that Right andreally listeners.
(16:53):
You got to go to the webpageand you got to check it out.
It's real easy.
It's veteransgrowingamericacomand check out all the resources.
There's a directory there ofbusinesses that you can reach
out to and we'll provide youwith services in exchange for
your money.
Okay, check every page of thewebpage out, because it's just
(17:17):
full of resources, for if youneed some services or if you're
a business and a veteran ownedbusiness and are you looking for
a way to network and to get theword out about your business,
this is a perfect way to do itVeteransGrowingAmericacom.
(17:37):
Remember that this is anonprofit organization, so
you're going to see a button inthe corner up in the right.
You click on it.
It's donate.
Go ahead and give what you can,because every nonprofit has
expenses.
And this is such an amazingprogram because now you do.
You have like two stores, onein Maryland and one in Virginia.
(17:59):
These are storefronts where allof the merchandise in them is
from veteran-owned businesses.
Talk a little bit about that ifyou would Absolutely so funny
story.
Donnell Johns (18:11):
I look for how people can support our veteran
entrepreneurs because I hear allthe time thank you for your
service, and I love when peoplesay thank you for your service.
Continue to say that, eventhough what I'm about to say is
funny, right?
Well, you may not find it funny, but veterans can't eat.
Thank you for your service,right?
(18:32):
It's one of those things wherewe appreciate it, but, at the
same time, we want to.
We don't want to hand out, wewant to hand up and we want to
create opportunities, and so Iwanted to create an opportunity
where veterans find theirpassion again.
That's what they're looking forwhen they leave their passion
and find a purpose, and sothrough entrepreneurship, it's
(18:53):
twofold.
Number one I believe thatentrepreneurship is the only way
that you can find true freedom,and as hard as I don't know
what you're going to have towork like crazy to get your
freedom through entrepreneurship.
However, when you're workingfor yourself, but not by
yourself, and you have acommunity of like-minded
individuals around you, it makeslife a little bit easier.
(19:15):
It makes dealing with thethings that you have to deal
with a little bit easier, and soveterans sell stuff that
they're passionate about andthrough that, when you purchase
from them, it makes it bigger,different than you think.
I remember the first time we didour event.
We did our first event at DraniCoffeehouse, which is an Army
Veterans Coffeehouse in Manassasback in 2019.
(19:39):
And we had 17 veteran andmilitary spouse-owned businesses
and I got to sit and have abird's eye view of the first
sale of all 17 of theseindividuals.
You talking about the lightwent on saying that purchase
said you believe in not only me,but my product and what it has
to offer and you find value inthat.
(19:59):
And when I saw that, I was likeLord, have mercy.
We're on to something.
Yeah, for sure we had over 900people show up.
I wish it was just for thatevent.
There was a lot of stuff goingon that day.
It just so happened to beraining and snowing outside and
a train station was right acrossthe street from that and they
were trying to get on the trainand so they just so happened to
(20:20):
go into the coffee shop at thesame time.
So it was a combination ofthings, but it was a blessing by
God that opened up the door andallowed these people to
showcase what they foundvaluable and built a community
called Veterans Growing America,where those individuals went
from the table to on the shelfat our storefronts in Maryland
(20:46):
and Virginia, and through ourstorefronts we showcase
veteran-owned businesses.
Larry Zilliox (20:52):
Where exactly are they?
So our listeners, if they're inthe area, they can go to there.
Where's the Virginia one?
So the Virginia.
Donnell Johns (20:59):
One is at the Stonebridge at Potomac Town
Center.
Larry Zilliox (21:03):
Okay.
Donnell Johns (21:05):
And it's right across the street from Potomac.
Mills Okay, where the Wegmans islocated, and then our Maryland
location is located at theClarksburg Premium Outlets Okay,
and the cool part about that iswe're in an old Gucci store.
I love that because I'm like.
That just lets me know thelevel that our organization is
(21:27):
trying to reach is to be theGucci of veteran
entrepreneurships.
So if you're in the area of youknow Virginia or Maryland in
one of those locations, pleasestop in and support, even if you
don't want to shop.
Just stop in, say hello and sayhello and hear the stories of
(21:48):
these individuals on why theystarted their product.
And if you served they love thebanter.
I always give Navy and MarineCorps and all the other branches
that didn't qualify to join theArmy a hard time.
In our storefronts we showcaseall types of veteran businesses,
not just product.
Yeah, we do education in ourstorefronts.
(22:11):
In fact, we're about to do amastermind excuse me, not a
mastermind group, but a businessboot camp.
One of our entrepreneurs is acoach, a business coach, and he
created a book called BusinessBoot Camp through one of the
masterminds that VeteransGrowing America did.
We also do networking, where weconnect our community with
business, education andemployment resources but, most
(22:32):
importantly, each other.
It's a good time.
We do that the third Thursdayof every month.
We also do line dancing.
We have a veteran that linedancing is her business, so we
provide a space, place andopportunity for people to come
and line dance.
It blows my mind, because thatis our number one selling event.
We have up to a hundred peoplein there line dancing.
(22:53):
It blows my mind.
We do comedy shows in there.
We have a veteran entrepreneur,air Force veteran.
He's a comedian and a chaplain,so it's no cussing.
The cool part about it isveterans and not cussing.
That's hilarious.
That's hilarious.
That's not something you seeevery day.
But everything that we do we tryto make it family friendly and
(23:15):
a good time and we try to makeit a great environment for not
only people that served inmilitary, but it's open to the
public.
So if you've never servedbefore, this is your opportunity
to give back by walking in thestore and you know seeing what
we do.
What's funny to me is peoplesee my logo on the door and they
(23:38):
say it looks like a recruitingoffice.
It looks like a recruitingoffice.
It is not a recruiting office,but you will be inspired to join
after you find the camaraderiethat you see when you walk in
the door.
Larry Zilliox (23:50):
Yeah, wow, well, listeners, once again, it's
veteransgrowingamericacom.
Check it out, donate.
Please hit that donate button,give what you can.
It's an amazing organization.
It's really helping veteranentrepreneurs get their start.
And that's the hardest part.
(24:10):
Veterans have a lot of time.
I know, when you're active duty, you're in the service, you got
a lot of downtime Hurry up andwait, you're out on posts,
you're in the middle of nowhereand you're constantly thinking
about what am I going to do whenI get out?
You know, I think I want to dothis, or I want to go open a
surf shop in Hawaii, or whateverit is.
(24:31):
You're always dreaming aboutwhat happens after your service.
And and then you separate andit's hard.
It's hard for a number ofreasons.
Everybody's a little bitdifferent, but everybody's
almost the same.
And then you decide I don'twant to work for a contractor, I
(24:51):
don't want to work for a bigcontracting company.
I want to do something on myown.
I want to be my own boss.
And then you find out how hardit is.
It's so hard.
And then you find out how hardit is, it's so hard.
And then you find a group likeVeterans Growing America that is
going to give you the resources, is going to give you the
support you need to launch yourproduct, to get it out in front
(25:14):
of buyers.
I mean, it's just I hope thatwe sit down in a year or two and
we're talking about 20 storesnationwide.
There's no reason why thereshouldn't be a store in every
major city, in every state, justlike this, that says hey, come
buy products from veteransbecause you know that they work
(25:37):
hard and they do what's rightand they are providing a service
or a product that's highquality and you will get your
money's worth.
And so, locally, if you're inthe Maryland what's Clarksburg
or near Potomac Mills, stop intothe Veterans Growing America
(25:59):
store and patronize all theveterans in there.
I'm sure you can find Christmaspresents.
You can find even if you'rebuying stuff you don't need.
Just you know, stop in and getsome stuff and I think you're
going to come away from thatvisit with more than just a
(26:20):
product.
You're going to come away witha sense and a feeling that this
is an amazing organizationbecause it's helping veterans
get on the right path and whenthey get their business going
and get their.
Their life tends to fall inplace as well, because one of
(26:42):
the things that veterans havethe hardest problem dealing with
is stress.
Veterans Growing America isreally doing an amazing job of
helping veterans start theirbusinesses and just get their
product out there.
Again, it'sveteransgrowingamericacom.
Take a look at the webpage.
You can contact Donnell throughthe webpage.
There's a contact page in there, phone numbers on there.
(27:05):
If you're looking for aparticular business, there's a
resource directory.
You can find all sorts ofbusinesses.
I'm certain you'll find whatyou need in there.
Give that business a call, tellthem where you found them.
Let them know that you foundthem on the
veteransgrowingamericacom page.
Please try to patronize as manyof these businesses as you can.
(27:27):
Donnell, I can't thank youenough for sitting down with us
and letting our listeners knowabout Veterans Growing America.
It's been an honor.
Thank you so much.
Well, listeners, you can findus on all the major podcast
platforms.
We're on YouTube and WreathsAcross America Radio.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
(27:49):
If you have any comments orsuggestions, you can reach us at
podcast at willingwarriorsorg.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.