Transition Mission: Army Veteran Starts Solar Business

I'm Tom Besch. I'm the owner of Veteran Solar Systems and we install PV solar systems on residents and businesses here in the Albany area. I retired from the army and I decided that I really wanted to do something that I was interested in rather than the easiest thing to do, which would be go work to a defense contractor figuring out what I wanted to do and what I want to wake up excited about. Every day was probably the hardest thing. And once I figured out it was going to be renewable energy, I did have to start all over again at the bottom. Nothing in my army career prepared me to install or design solar systems, so I was fortunate enough to get on basically as an intern. Eventually I learned the business, continued to go to school, I learned the technical side of things. I'm nationally accredited now as a NBSEP installer, so it wasn't easy, but I did my homework and I worked with people that were willing to teach me the trade. The military doesn't prepare you to be an entrepreneur. So I founded a small business development center and I got a hold of Amy Amorosa, who's the vet counselor and told her what my goals were and she laid out for me all the aspects that I would need in order to start my own business. Different kinds of insurances, what's the advantage of one kind of company versus another kind of company. And if she didn't have the information or experienced herself, she connecting to the right people to get those answers taken care of.

Tom just enrolled into my Boots to Business Reboot class and even though he is up and going, he has been established in business for a year. He still saw that there was a great opportunity in the Boots to Business Reboot. He attended the program and was actually huge. He loved it. He did learn something, as we all do every day.

I was able to attend and learned a lot. I learned about how to bond some of my jobs, financing was available, how I could get a small business loan through my local bank. Lucid business is really a great resource because they're able to discuss so many different aspects of how to start your own business and for people that have a desire but no background or experience doing it.