646 – Finding a new purpose for veterans: Tom interviews Josh Addison

Episode 646 – Josh Addison
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey, everybody, is Tom here with episode 646 of Screw the Commute podcast? I'm here with Josh Addison, and he retired from the Marine Corps in 2018. And of course, he's part of vetpreneur month here at Screw the Commute. Every September, we honor our great veteran entrepreneurs, but really much larger than that. We honor all our veterans, whether they're entrepreneurs or not. Because on behalf of myself and the entire audience, we love you folks because you've sacrificed so much so that we can do what we're doing. So want everybody to know that. And he has one kick ass deer head on the wall. He's like, I try to count the points. I couldn't even count him. Maybe he'll tell us about it. All right. I hope you didn't miss Episode 645. That was vet veteran Lindsey Helm, and she helps companies that hire veterans get the most out of the veterans because there's, you know, it's a whole different thing coming out of the service, going into just regular life. I mean, Mr. one of our other veterans said, you can't just go into a meeting and say, hey, here's how you do.

[00:01:32] You know?

[00:01:33] So I guess she helps them adjust to taking the best advantage of all the great things that veterans have to offer. All right. Let's see. I hope you didn't forget if you've been listening to veteran vet per month here at the the podcast to download your automation e-book. This book has saved me literally. We we estimated 8 million keystrokes save carpal tunnel and it gives me all kinds of time to take care of our veterans, work with prospects and customers and create products and services because that's where the money is not fighting with your computer. So download that at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. And while you're at it, pick up a copy of our podcast app. It's at screwthecommute.com/app and you can put us on your cell phone and tablet and take us with you on the road.

[00:02:29] All right. Let's bring on the main event. Josh Addison is the founder and owner of GIPages. It's a company dedicated to growing veteran businesses, and he's on a mission to help veterans find new purpose through entrepreneurship and service. He's a retired Marine EOD tech, and when he's not working, he enjoys restoring his grandpa's 1951 Ford F1. So, Josh, are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:03:00] Let's do it.

[00:03:00] All right. So thanks so much for coming on and thanks for your service, man.

[00:03:05] Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

[00:03:07] Yeah. So retired out of the Marines at 2018. Did you go right into helping other service people or did you just get the dreaded job or what? What'd you do in 2018?

[00:03:20] That's in 2018. They retired me totally. I was free to play anymore. And so the first process was doing exactly like the Alaska State went into job interviews and quickly realized that after 15 years of being a what you might call not socially acceptable community, that being a regional manager for an S&P 500 company and having to talk and handle people in that way was probably going to end real badly real quickly. So I was fortunate enough to end up with a company here in Oklahoma that specializes in military services, and I still go out and train EOD technicians and other military outfits. But as happens, you know, there was just a feeling of a calling to do more. And so the entrepreneurial entrepreneurship bug hit and here we are.

[00:04:19] Well, did you go into the service like a really young age or was there any jobs before the service?

[00:04:26] Yeah. So I've worked since I was 13. Wow. I had always had a full time job, so I've done everything from catering to managing restaurants. I work for moving companies for a long time, but then I enlisted at 17. I got my parents to sign off on the documents thinking that I was going to be a what they call crash fire rescue, essentially a firefighter. And as soon as I went into the Met station where you do all your processing and I changed that contract and yeah, they put it down for infantry because we were, you know, hot and heavy in the war at the time. And so not my parents knowledge or permission. Yeah that's 17. Switch that contract over beneath their feet to infantry and. But the rest is history.

[00:05:14] Well, maybe maybe it's not valid now since you as you look back, you weren't actually able to go into a contract at 17, you had to start over. All right. Well, tell me about this big ass deer that's up on your wall. How many points is that thing?

[00:05:32] So that is actually a Utah elk.

[00:05:35] Oh, it's an elk. I thought it was a deer. Yeah, I couldn't see it that well, but.

[00:05:38] Wow. Yeah, he is. He's a 12 pointer. It's actually an 11 number. 12 decided to break off when he stumbled down the side of a cliff after he hit him. So he was courtesy of a veteran nonprofit that takes performance out and puts them on a hunt. Good friend put me in contact with them and it was triple the life.

[00:06:01] How much meat you get out of him.

[00:06:03] Oh, my goodness. So I went with a there were two of us that went and we ended up putting all the meat in about six coolers. And yeah, there was, there was so much meat that the back of the van was just skidding on the back wheels all the way from Utah to North Carolina and like a like a good old comedy skit.

[00:06:26] Did you have it on dry ice or how did you keep it cool?

[00:06:30] Yeah, we had all the coolers packed with dry ice and changed them out. Every couple rest stops.

[00:06:36] Do you know how many pounds you ended up with?

[00:06:39] Oh, man, I think so. When we weighed mine alone, he was, I want to say, £300.

[00:06:47] Wow. Yeah, it's almost as big as me.

[00:06:50] Yeah, so? So.

[00:06:54] Yeah. So, yeah, I have 150 acres up in Pennsylvania, and I had the guy from Penn State Forestry Outreach. You know, they'll come out for free and give you a, you know, tell you about your trees and all that stuff. And and there was deer everywhere. He said he'd been 20 years in the business and had never seen so many as whitetail in that area. And and I said, this is awesome because I love I love deer me. So. Yeah. So that's that's awesome. And, and then you went, you really like travel. I was looking at some of your videos and now some of what I'm going to say next could probably get me in deep trouble if it was out of context. But you said, look at all those beautiful racks.

[00:07:42] Yeah, it was supposed to be a little play on words.

[00:07:45] So this wasn't a bikini contest, folks. This was a crazy looking arch in Jackson, Wyoming. That but part of what you do allows you to travel, right?

[00:07:56] Correct.

[00:07:56] That's a lifestyle business. Have you really taken advantage of it?

[00:08:00] Not to its fullest, no. We're still hitting the ground running. Who's we?

[00:08:04] Who's we?

[00:08:06] Well, me and my wife mostly. And then I've got an entire support team behind me that does all the fulfillment. And so it's more than just a one man show here. But the primary business is just myself and my wife. Yeah.

[00:08:23] Now, you've made some bold claims in some of your ads that you can, like, transform people and get them married and do everything and have them rich and multi multimillionaires in 5 minutes. I think that's what it said. Maybe I'm mistaken, but what's the five minute thing you're doing?

[00:08:42] No, no, no. So the five minute thing there is it's not an Internet guru, not an overnight success, not, you know, not riches and minutes. It's just a statistic, really. And so what we really focus on helping veterans with is entire systems to help grow their business. There's a lot of fly by night marketers. Anybody will run your Facebook ad or anything, but the 5 minutes comes in, not the ads or not the traffic, but how much time you have to follow up with somebody who's interested in your business. If you actually want to have the biggest chance at converting somebody from a maybe to a paying customer, you've got 5 minutes by the time they reach out to you and whatever form that is. And if you do it within that 5 minutes, you're almost 400% more likely to convert a prospect into a customer.

[00:09:43] Yeah. And that's why that book that I gave out, that automation book, like there's just one, just the whole book didn't save me 8 million keys keystrokes. It was one tip and I'll give it to everybody. Right now there's a program called Short Keys, and it's that's for the PC, for the Mac. It's called Keyboard Maestro, and it's a macro program. So I can put two keystrokes in and it'll type war and peace if I wanted it. So I can answer people like instantly with complex answers to the questions because I get them all the same ones all the time, and I'm sure you do too. So I tell people you're crazy not to use this $20 one time for this program.

[00:10:29] Right?

[00:10:30] So it has saved me 8 million keystrokes, we estimate, and it allows me to like get back lightning fast. That's kind of my claim to fame. That's why I was so attracted to the statistics you had here. You said if you get back when one minute, it's like 391% increase in conversion rates if you just get back to people fast. Right.

[00:10:50] Exactly. Exactly. And there's so much out there that helps these businesses do that. You know, these businesses think that they have to just sit there and stay on glued to their. On or to their Instagram or their social media. And there's there's so many different services and tools and capability out there.

[00:11:13] Well, you got chat bots now, you know. What's that. You have chat bots now that.

[00:11:18] Exactly.

[00:11:19] 85% of customer service is done by chat bots already.

[00:11:23] Correct. You know, between chat bots and we provide a manned service that keeps that combination between a chat bot and a manned service so that, you know, people nowadays, they want a business to be personal. They want to know that you're going to take care of them and their needs. And so everybody knows when they're on that chat bot and they get that same two lines, can't help you try again. You know that that just pushes people away. And so you not only want to be fast, but you want to keep that personalization and really begin to connect with your clients and your customers. And it'll, it'll set you apart. Being fast and being personal.

[00:12:03] Yeah, there's this. There's this other thing. It's live leap or live something. I forget what it's called, but, you know, if you do happen to sit at your desk and work during the day or you have other people do it, it alerts you. If somebody is on your website, you can start an immediate chat with them. And then, of course, if you go to the bathroom, you just set it so you know, you're not there. But but that's just a couple of the things that allow people speed and and you're veterans and all small business people have to think about that if you get back fast you're most of your competitors are not going to do it. It cracks me up a couple of things. I see people's voicemail says, I'll get back to you at my earliest convenience.

[00:12:46] What? Your earliest convenience. Screw you, buddy. What do.

[00:12:51] You say?

[00:12:52] Right. Yeah. You're sending the message. Well, you're not important enough. My shit's more important.

[00:12:57] So. Exactly. There you go. There's one of those prime examples of there's an automated message. They don't care about me. And guess what? Google is going to happily send them to number two on that list.

[00:13:07] Exactly. Yeah. There's all kinds of stuff like that. Yeah. Speed, speed, speed. That's for sure. Now, now you have some type of network of veterans going, right?

[00:13:18] Correct? Yes. So we are putting together a list and a holistic database of veteran owned businesses so that they can begin to network with each other, find services. Nobody understands veterans better than other veterans. And, you know, we're we're a brotherhood, a sisterhood, as you might say, of people who have lived a lifestyle. Very few understand. And so that doesn't have to end when the uniform comes off. And so our goal is to to network veterans together. Somebody has a service or a lesson learned that can be applied and transferred over and as a as a community again. So no man gets left behind on the battlefield. Well, I saw another guy I was talking with the other day. He had a great line that business is the new battlefield. So here you guys are starting new businesses. There's no reason anybody should get left behind here either.

[00:14:18] Is it ready yet or is it you just building it?

[00:14:22] So we are still building the database side of it and putting together all the back end of the website stuff. But we are live providing services and providing our entire ecosystem that we help veterans not only capture business but keep it and nurture it all the way through and organize it all in one place.

[00:14:46] Now, these only Oklahoma veterans.

[00:14:50] So the database that we're starting, we're primarily looking at only Oklahoma veterans to really build an in-depth network there. But service wise, you know, we help veterans anywhere and everywhere.

[00:15:02] You're thinking about like proving the concept and then rolling it out to different areas or what.

[00:15:07] Correct. Correct. Yeah. With the whole network, we're looking at proof of concept. Really build a nice big ecosystem, you know, take our lessons and hard knocks on lessons learned and developing what works and what people really need and then spreading it out and growing it.

[00:15:23] All right. Now, I copied some benefits of this off of your somewhere. They might have been your Facebook page, but it says 100% risk free, no credit card or payment required. That really true.

[00:15:35] That is true. Yeah. So we are like I say, we want to build this network of businesses together and don't think that there should be a fee for people to get their businesses out there. Anything we can do to reduce that barrier to entry we're all for.

[00:15:54] Yeah, yeah, that's a great, great service and that that regular business or is it a non profit or what what business entity is it.

[00:16:04] We're a regular business. Yeah, we are for profit. We take that really seriously. We looked at the non profit route but you know a lot.

[00:16:14] Of paperwork with that.

[00:16:16] Tell you. Yeah so much paperwork and there's there's a lot of I would guess you would say maybe abuse in the non profit realm and we don't want to accidentally mix anything up. So we want to make sure people know exactly what we stand for, what we're helping them with and what we're all about.

[00:16:33] Yeah, and another thing about I found out I took a grant writing course because I'm doing this thing. You'll hear about it later in my school for persons with disabilities. And I found out that you can start a nonprofit, but you can get kicked out of your own non profit. You don't own this. It's a business entity that's, you know, it's owned by a board of directors and I don't even know if you can call it owned and they can just kick you out. I said, Wait a minute.

[00:17:04] Oh yeah.

[00:17:05] So I got to do all this paperwork and they can kick me out now, I think. I don't I don't think I'll do.

[00:17:11] That.

[00:17:12] Good deal.

[00:17:14] In some ways. Now, all the sacrifices you men and women have made pays off a little bit in in the real world, because I was reading that 70% of consumers prefer to buy from veterans.

[00:17:29] That's right. Yeah. Now, that's a that's a little bit older of a poll, but that is correct. So more and more consumers are looking to align their spending dollars with their values. And the American veteran has one of the highest perceptions and appreciation still in this country. And so when people find out about that, they like and there's a there's an automatic level of trust and an automatic level of notoriety there where they want to spend their dollars with those businesses. And so getting yourself out there is a key part of increasing your business.

[00:18:13] Yeah. And you know, I just wish it was universal because some of the the left and right coast, you know, the idiots that live there just don't have the values of the rest of the country. I mean, I just can't stand it when, you know, just blowing money on a whole bunch of ridiculous, worthless crap. And then you've got homeless veterans. It just doesn't doesn't sit well with me. I don't want to see that. We've got to take a brief sponsor break. When we come back, we'll ask Josh what a typical day looks like for him. And he says he's got a giveaway for you. So, folks, about, you know, I started selling on the commercial Internet when it started about 28 and a half years ago, around 1994. And then I also somewhat of a consumer advocate. So I, I saw all these rip off people and I'm thinking, man, I'm just going to get lost in the noise with all these rip offs. You know, I'm trying to do a real honest business. And so I said, What can I do to help set myself apart? So I decided to start the only licensed and dedicated internet and digital marketing school in the country, which I still run to this day. And I had to go through three years of scrutiny background checks, financial checks and curriculum checks and everything to get the license. And it's been operating now for about 13 years. And then I always thought that this school was great for veterans. We actually have a military spouse program with the government where we you know, as long as the skill is portable, military spouses can get up to four. Thousand dollars for their training. And I live in one of the largest collection of military in the world in the Norfolk, Virginia, area of Virginia Beach.

[00:19:58] And the military spouses have to take a crappy job because everybody knows they're moving and then they've got to move somewhere else and take another crappy job. There's just no way to build the Internet marketing skills that we have at our school. Allow a portable thing. No matter where they're deployed, where they live, they can still keep their same clients and build an online business. So we're really proud of that school. And we have a even for those that don't qualify for that, we have made a pledge that veterans, first responders, law enforcement and nurses and their immediate families get a 50% scholarship to the school. And we also pledge that they don't. No veteran will ever pay more than $97 a month on the balance of their tuition, and they'll have an actual marketable skill, unlike the four year colleges today that indoctrinate you and then you're working for Starbucks. Just very proud of what I've done with the school and what I can help veterans with. So you can check that out at IMTCVA.org/military and you'll see all the veterans we've helped in over the years and and we'd love to help you one of these days. All right. And that'll be in the show notes. All the links we talk about today will be in the show notes so you don't have to worry about writing them down.

[00:21:16] All right. Let's get back to the main event. We've got Josh Addison here. He sends 2018 or so. He's been building an organization to help veterans become entrepreneurs. But I do have to ask you, what's an EOD tech? What does that mean?

[00:21:31] An EOD tech is somebody who's lost his absolutely mind.

[00:21:38] What's the EOD stand for?

[00:21:41] Everyone's divorced. Everyone's drunk. The list can kind of go on. It stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal. Oh.

[00:21:52] You're one of those guys that were the big fat suits and went and stuck your face in a bomb, that kind of thing.

[00:21:57] Yeah, stuck my face in plenty of bombs. Never wore the suit in real life. All that training.

[00:22:05] That suit kind of reminds me. We have a protection dog company on the side and. Yeah, those big suits for the bike train.

[00:22:13] Yeah. To do the run around and get bit.

[00:22:15] Yeah.

[00:22:15] Yeah. One of the most prevalent scenes on movies is, you know, should I clip the green wire or the red wire? And then I never. Very seldom do you see somebody getting blown up in one of those scenes. I think they should let the you know, let the people get blown up once in a while.

[00:22:31] So hurtful. Having been there, I can tell you it's not a fun experience.

[00:22:36] Well, would you even know I mean, you wouldn't you get blown away so fast you wouldn't even know.

[00:22:41] You wake up eventually.

[00:22:43] Well, in heaven or hell, which one?

[00:22:45] I don't know.

[00:22:46] So. So what's the typical day look like for you and include. Tell us about your grandpa's 51 Ford.

[00:22:55] Yeah. So typical day for us is we reach out and spend your.

[00:23:00] Life part of the business.

[00:23:03] C is what the emotional support element that keeps me going and keeps me from losing my mind. So you.

[00:23:09] Get to take her on planes with you and hold her on your lap.

[00:23:12] And stuff?

[00:23:16] Yeah. So she's part of the business?

[00:23:18] Yeah, she is very much part of the business. She keeps us going. She provides exceptional insight, especially on the veteran spouse side and how we can connect. A big part of of veteran businesses is also there spouses like you have with your promo and making sure that they are successful because it's a unity and it's a team element. No veterans out by himself. Spouses are every bit a part of it.

[00:23:48] Oh, my God. They're carrying a load. That's I mean, I see, you know, most of the time we see a military spouse is a female and they're running the house, they're doing the plumbing, they're running the kids everywhere. They're trying to make some extra money on the side. I mean, geez.

[00:24:05] What they do, everything keep practically raised. Our oldest for the first eight years of of his life by herself and dealt with lightning strikes and, you know, house falling apart on her everything.

[00:24:20] So go ahead the typical day.

[00:24:22] So yeah, a typical day for us is we get out and we begin trying to find more and more veteran entrepreneurs.

[00:24:31] Give me give me the. Like the. Do you get up early? Do you do you meditate? What do you guys eat? I mean, kids.

[00:24:39] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm an early riser, so I'm about five, 530. And that first part of the day for me is absolutely what I call my personal development time. It's get out and work out. I'm big fan of kettlebells, so I do a lot of kettlebells. Yeah, I hate driving, so I don't have to go to a gym. I can just knock it out of my garage and then at some more in reflection and prayer time and then get kiddos ready for school and doing the dad thing, which was a big part of wanting to start a business and do something different, was to have that flexibility to. You mentioned what your why and a big part of my why is family and having been gone for so many years how do I bring that back. So being able to get the kids ready for school and help with breakfasts and take them to school if that's what's needed, is a big part of that. And then it's just off to work and excited for the day to come back and really look forward to that family time in the evening.

[00:25:43] Mm hmm. Lifestyle business. Right.

[00:25:46] Exactly.

[00:25:47] And that allowed you to go to Wyoming to look at some nice racks.

[00:25:51] Look at the nice rack. That's right. So even let me take a picture.

[00:25:55] Oh, yeah. Oh, they usually charge you for that.

[00:25:59] So.

[00:25:59] So you said you had a giveaway for the folks, right?

[00:26:03] Absolutely. Yeah. So what we will give away is we have an entire software suite of our own that will allow you to do the automation and organization of your customers and help you grow and help you reach out and meet that five minute or less goal. And so we'll give everybody on the show that wants to try that out and see how they can improve their business. They can get that software for 30 days absolutely free.

[00:26:35] Wow. Wow. How do they get it?

[00:26:38] So we will put up a page for them at GI pages. Forward slash, screw the commute.

[00:26:45] All right. You can just abbreviate the screw if you want. What a deal, folks. Yeah, so check it out at screwthecommute.GIpages.com is what he's going to make and check out the automation. I'm all about automation, so whatever you can do to speed things up and not waste time on tedious things where you can spend time with your prospects and customers and do podcasts and all this great stuff that us marketers do. So Joshua, again, on behalf of myself and the entire audience, we want to thank you for your service. Thank your wife for putting up with all she put up with over the years. And we're behind. Yeah, I know. I know that we're behind you all the way, buddy.

[00:27:32] Yeah. Tom, thank you for the opportunity and the show. Love what you're doing here and look forward to doing this again.

[00:27:39] Yeah, we love to take care of our veterans, that's for sure. All right, everybody, we're right in the middle of Vetpreneur Month on Screw Podcast. We got a lot of great veterans coming up and make sure you listen to the episode starting. Let's see, I think it was September 1st, but I don't remember the number. I think it was 641 and listen to all of them and support them any way you can. All right. We'll catch you on the next episode. See you later.