Veteran entrepreneurs embody resilience in service and business

For veterans, the transition from service to entrepreneurship is a new kind of mission — one where adaptability and resilience are key. “In the military, the path is clearly defined, but in business, uncertainty is a constant,” says Princess Brownfield, veteran and founder of the Crown Elevate Project. To deal with that uncertainty and to continue evolving their businesses, these four veterans acquired small business knowledge that led to success in channeling their big ideas into lives of continued service.

A vet who defied expectations, paving her own path

Tiffany Richardson, Artisan-Preneur Consulting

When Tiffany Richardson left the service after six and a half years, she took a job as a marine electrician, following a predictable skilled-labor career path for vets. But, as she soon discovered, expected career paths are not always fulfilling career paths.

To change course and pursue her dream of starting her own business, Richardson had to get over feeling isolated. “It can [be] difficult without a mentor or immediate support group for veterans to pursue interests that have nothing to do with the military,” she says.

Post-military, Richardson also struggled with her mental health, a challenge common to many veterans. “People noticed I was a lot more pessimistic, not the Tiffany that went into the military,” she recalls. She also struggled to find security, dealing with homelessness and needing to live with extended family while pregnant and caring for her young son.

After losing money on her first, art-based business, Richardson switched gears, founding Artisan-Preneur Consulting in 2021. The firm helps other entrepreneurs launch their own businesses. The next year, she found her niche as an AI strategist, which sparked her creativity, enthusiasm, and curiosity, allowing her to better serve clients seeking strategic planning and AI-driven solutions to a host of common issues, such as financial projections and marketing campaigns. That same year, Richardson discovered Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. Richardson utilized the platform’s resources to implement structures and practices that have helped her gain support and community.

“The Verizon Small Business Digital Ready program has been instrumental in the significant evolution and expansion of my business this year,” Richardson said.

The program has informed and affirmed her strategic decisions which has resulted in an increase in annual revenue from $8,000 to almost $60,000 and a 120% increase in new client acquisitions compared to the year prior.

Richardson’s aim now is the same as when she left the service. “I really just want to work for myself and show other people, especially female entrepreneurs, that you can run a business [while living] with mental health issues and still have a positive impact on other people,” she says.

A recipe for resilience and reinvention

Carl Fambro, Francar’s Wings

After serving in the military for 14 years, Carl Fambro became a veteran entrepreneur in 1993 as the owner of Francar’s Wings, a popular Buffalo wings restaurant in Macon, Georgia.

Always refining his menu and experimenting with new sauces for wings — his latest is a cilantro-lime sauce — Fambro found himself at a crossroads during COVID, when the business he’d run for nearly 30 years was on the verge of closing due to a shortage of funds.

Fambro found fresh inspiration from Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. What he learned in the free courses helped him make significant improvements to his operations and decision-making, helping him to stay afloat in the short-term while planning for long-term success.

Through courses like “Creating Content That Matters: Compelling Content for Your Business” and “Defining Your Brand: Connecting to Customers” he learned how to create social media campaigns to appeal to nearby college students. He also created a text club with 800 subscribers that helps drive business and doubled his social media followers in the last year. Last Thanksgiving, he devoted a campaign to selling cakes, a long-standing holiday tradition for the restaurant, and sold double the number of cakes as usual.

“If I had taken these classes back when I first opened up, I would have skipped a whole lot of problems,” Fambro says.

Although he had plenty of experience writing business plans, Fambro found the technique he learned through the coursework so effective that he developed a plan to expand his business. His new venture, which includes a first-run movie theater with dinner service, is now slated to open in June 2025.

“When you work in your business, it’s hard to work on your business, but these classes convinced me that I could make changes,” Fambro says.

How one vet turned trauma into triumph

Princess Brownfield, Crown Elevate Project

During the pandemic, while working remotely for the mayor’s office in Washington, D.C. and volunteering, Princess Brownfield had an epiphany: It was time to bet on herself. Brownfield’s volunteerism focused on teaching a course for women about how to overcome trauma in life. As a survivor of domestic violence, Brownfield had done just that. And she was now ready to focus on her holistic coaching endeavor.

So Brownfield took the leap of faith, founding the Crown Elevate Project, a therapeutic coaching program in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia, to help girls and women to create positive inner change for both themselves and their communities. But to succeed, Brownfield needed to sharpen her entrepreneurial skills.

Through the Black Chamber of Commerce, Brownfield discovered Verizon Small Business Digital Ready courses, which have built up her confidence, as well as her business. One major benefit of the courses, Brownfield says, was “helping us refine our approach to scaling operations and expanding our online presence,” so she could effectively diversify her income streams into three sources: corporate contracts, corporate workshops, and e-commerce stores that sell apparel, journals, and more. She was able to launch e-commerce stores on both retail and social media platforms after taking the course “Sell Effectively Online: eCommerce Essentials.” They now account for 35% of her total revenue.

Overall, Brownfield has seen a 10 to 15% growth in sales and a 20% increase in online media followers since taking the courses. Thanks to her expanded reach, Brownfield has been able to change lives through her coaching of at-risk adolescent girls. “The girls tell me everything, Brownfield says, “and that’s what keeps me going.”

Adaptation is essential in both the service and in business

Jevon Wooden, BrightMind Consulting Group

Jevon Wooden’s business, BrightMind Consulting Group in Houston, Texas, evolved from a previous entrepreneurial effort. While running his first company, Wooden recognized that personal well-being directly influences professional success. This insight led him to rebrand his business with a focus on emotional intelligence and its connection to improved performance. Wooden, who has firsthand experience with mental health challenges after struggling with PTSD upon leaving the armed services, saw how a shift in outlook could transform a person’s life.

At BrightMind, Wooden offers one-on-one and group coaching on mindset and emotional intelligence, and also develops corporate programs that include keynote addresses and group facilitation.

In 2022, Wooden discovered Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, which showed him more efficient ways to operate his business. That type of knowledge, he says, is “helpful for anyone, no matter what phase of business you’re in.” Wooden also learned to be intentional when going after contracts and discovered the value of certification. He became certified as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, which led to his first government contract, doing professional development for teachers in a Texas school district. “[The contract] validated my business and provided a tangible boost to our revenue stream,” Wooden says.

Wooden continues to be driven by the same motivation as when he started his business: community. And he’s found the value of connecting with other entrepreneurs, through the Verizon platform, as they all reach for success, together. “There’s no fast way to success, but if you can get into a community of people who… are looking to gain relationships and insight, you get that accountability,” Wooden explains. “That’s the best way for you to grow as a business owner.”

Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is part of Verizon’s goal to support 1 million small businesses by 2030 with the resources to thrive in the digital economy. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. To sign up for Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, visit digitalready.verizonwireless.com. An individual user's experience may vary and results are not guaranteed.