He said, be brave, my son, I'll be home soon. The boy held on to hope till he got that awful news. And as they folded up the stars and stripes, 21 guns pointed towards the sky. As the shots rang out, he flinched a little each time. Then a soldier in his best dress walked up to him and you know the rest. This show is brought to you by Operation Encore. Operation Encore is a 501c nonprofit that is helping change the lives of our veteran community. Let me tell you a little bit about what they do. They are helping veterans get into the music industry. They're helping them learn the business, get songs recorded, and not only that, making dreams happen. You know, most of these veterans have got the idea of becoming a musician way before they went into the military. And Operation Encore is filling that gap from while they served in the military and helping them change their lives and live out those dreams. Operation Encore is a nonprofit. You can go to this link right there and click on it. Give them a little help. Hit that donate button. Follow them. learn about all the great things that Operation Encore does for our veterans. Hey, welcome everybody to Spirits and Stories with Donald Dunn, man. So I am happy to have y'all coming back. Another episode, another great time. We're back with another veteran, talking some tech, talking some business, and we're going to have a damn good time. So let's introduce Donald. Tim Branion is a tech industry veteran and entrepreneur who has been leading successful projects since 2010. After serving in the United States Air Force, he decided to pursue his passion for software development and launched his first project with just $6,241.56 and no formal education. You can't even get a car for that price anymore. Since then, he has launched hundreds of apps, developed numerous platforms, and supported other multi-million dollar projects, scaling to millions of users and millions of dollars in revenue across his companies. Let's bring on Tim. Hey. Hey, what's up, man? Hey, glad to be here. Thanks for having me on and excited to dive into a conversation. Yeah, man. So let's start a little bit about what brought you into the military, man. How did, how did the air force come about in your, in your life? I'm so thankful that it did. I'm so grateful that it did. I wasn't going anywhere fast. I grew up here. I wasn't going anywhere successful fast, going the wrong way pretty quick. Um, I was a reflection of who I was hanging around with and none of us really had a plan. We were just kind of living in the moment, living for the party, living for the booze. And, um, you know, got those, got those results. So for me, man, it was really just restlessness and discontent and the limit, the limited opportunities, I guess, that were around here in Kokomo, Indiana, where I'm from. And, um, very primitively, I looked at the guys that, that, you know, graduated from high school that went to the service and would come back after their, you know, their training was done, et cetera. And I would just listen to who they were, who they became was different, how they carried themselves, what their jobs were, were things that I'd never heard of. Before some of these guys were working on planes. Some of these guys were working on tanks. Some of these guys said cool, cool careers. And then, you know, I was weighing them against, I guess, putting them against some of the folks that just went to university. And those guys didn't really have a whole lot of change. They didn't even have any change in their pockets either. They were kind of broke. They came back, they couldn't buy beer at the bar. They were putting on more pounds too. So I just, I looked at that and I was like, okay, I knew myself enough that knew that I would have been distracted in college with women and partying. And I wasn't really prepared for that route. So I thought, love it or hate it, I could marry this thing for four years. And I think who I could become. would be a good return. And I wish I had this super meritorious mindset, heart posture for my reason to join. That wasn't me. I was looking specifically at what's in it for me, what I could get, certifications, money. It was very much strategic until I joined and then it changed my life. So that's how I got in was just through restlessness, discontent, simple comparing and contrasting. And dude, I'm still to this day, just thrilled that I've made that choice. And changed my life for the better yeah no I completely get it I was 94 not going anywhere got married right out of high school so I joined looking for food on the table and some stability you know and I had no idea what growing up was because I still was a kid I doing the wrong things and not really caring. And so I agree, man, it, it brought some maturity to me and, and, uh, me and my wife still together today. Um, started dating in seventh grade, so still get together today. And, uh, I think a lot of that's because of the army keeping me deployed and keeping me away. She was able to deal with me. Yeah. That's awesome. So you're married. You got, you got, so you knew her, knew her since seventh grade. Yep. 1990s. Yeah. 1990s when we started dating. And, uh, um, got married in 94 and now we're just old. Yeah. Good times roll, man. Yeah. So let me ask you this. Where, uh, um, what was your MOS in the air force? What'd you come in as? Yeah. Uh, so my job, I was, you know, when I was getting recruited, I was very much ready to get out of my hometown and I, I wasn't open general. but my, my ASVAB scores were pretty low. I barely thank God for the war because they lowered the ASVAB score requirements to get into the air force. I just barely passed by like two points and was able to get in. Uh, and I joined as a military police officer. So I was security for what's called in the air force. And, uh, that just, I don't know. It just made sense at the time. I thought, you know, I want to do something. I want to do something where, you know, when I get out, it will look great on a resume. And I just thought if I'm a federal police officer, if I'm a military police officer, that's going to look great on a resume, no matter where I go. It's kind of this general skill that I think will be a thumbs up to any employer group. I didn't have an entrepreneurial mentality at that time. I was thinking, how can I improve my resume and be sought after? You know, got into that career field and, and thankful that I did it. Arguably it's, it can be a very mind numbing career field. It can be very, you know, there's, there's static security in there, but there's also, you know, jobs that are, that are pretty cool as well. You can do military, um, dog handling. You can, uh, you know, do PSD personnel security detail. You can work in a dispatch center. Um, there's a lot of different roles inside that career field. I think that's similar to other career fields, but I'm just glad I did it, man. It, it built character, helped me learn how to adapt and overcome. And, um, It's held to a pretty high standard. You know, being that you're a police officer in the military, you kind of got eyes on you. So, you know, that's the prerequisites. The I guess the the requirements are pretty, pretty high. But with that comes a lot of pressure, too. So anyway, I'm glad that I did that. I got to deploy and wouldn't change a thing. Nowadays, if I was to go back in, I think about this now, like if I was to go back in and actually choose a career field, I'd very much be interested in contracting. Um, like a contract officer role just because it's so fascinating to me, you know, the purchasing and then the, uh, you know, the, the military or the federal appetite for buying acquisition, stuff like that. It's just pretty cool. Yeah. I learned quite a bit about that while I was stationed in Qatar. Um, Because I worked hand in hand. I was in charge of the contract for all the civilian vehicles that we were renting. And so I worked with the other actual contractors, the ones that did it for their job. And it is pretty cool the way they determine. A lot of people think it's always just the lowest bidder. And they take a lot of things into consideration. Women owned, size of the company, all that type of stuff. comes into play when they award a bid. So it is, it is pretty cool. I can completely. It's an interesting world, man. There's a lot of, a lot of moving parts, a whole, a whole slew of new acronyms. Um, you know, as far as the entrepreneurial side, the way to hustle that industry and build connections and even something simple, you'd think like invoicing is not very simple through those systems and processes, but to learn it is, is just cool. And then, you know, there's, definitely a lot of money in that industry and a lot of a lot of service that's needed so yeah that's become a cool interest point for for me as an entrepreneur yeah I mean it does make sense you know because you're you're working hand in hand with businesses and and as an entrepreneur you know I i when I got out of the military I opened up a trucking company and I didn't know shit about owning a business I just knew I was a mechanic in a town that didn't need mechanics and so I started a job you know by creating one and uh um I did that for about six years but but it is it's it's a whole different animal because it's it's ironic because everybody says I want to be my own boss I want to start my own business so I can work my own schedule and then what I learned was that schedule is 24 7. because when you're not physically at work you're thinking about work Or doing your invoices or taxes or something that doesn't get done throughout the day. Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It's not. You deal with a lot of that stuff in the contracting world as well. 100%. I told you before we hit the record button that I was just meeting with three veterans that are starting a laundromat. It's really cool. I love connecting with veterans and giving them the lay of the land. I truly think they're, they're uncommon as far as their ability to adapt and overcome, you know, go figure. All of us had different, you know, positions in the mission, but the characteristics that you develop is figure it out. Hurdle the obstacles enthusiastically as much as possible. And that's really a great thing, a great skill to have as an entrepreneur and business owner, as you know. And, you know, I think using that skill, using that strength to try to work yourself out of a job is also wise, just so you can avoid some of the pitfalls of just, you know, being owned by your business versus working on it. You know, you tend to work inside of it and get focal syndrome where you're just, you got blinders on and that's, you know, that's fun. I didn't dig into this in our initial conversation, but yeah, I'm an entrepreneur. I have my own companies and such, but I also am a state servant. I have a role inside of Indiana Economic Development Corporation and the Small Business Development Corporation in which I get the chance to help small business owners all over the all over our region and some of those are veterans and I love I love working with veterans and helping them get their expectations right and getting access to these no-cost solutions and resources man and that's it's been a really fulfilling new mission right is is that world so well I'll tell you that's a that's a mission that is a lot of people don't realize but when when you're going through the out processing of the military you hear that that's the one class that's like packed is the small business class on because everybody's gonna start a business you know I mean I mean everybody's gonna get out of the military that's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna start a business and you know probably only one out or two of them out of a hundred succeed but it's just the mindset, you know, we, we are there to learn and to lead. And that whole, I'll figure it out as I go is, is the better mentality. So I do think that there's, it's, there's an awesome opportunity to be able to help veterans that are trying, because if they go, it's a double-edged sword. If they go down the wrong road, they're not going to, they're not going to give up. They're just going to keep going down that wrong road, you know? until they figure it out. And if they have a little bit of guidance and help them, and they have that same mentality going down the right road, man, they can go, you know, the sky's the limit. And I think that's important. I always tell people, when the soldier gets in trouble, he just keeps digging. And then when you finally go to offer him help the first time, you say, hey, you done digging that hole yet? And he said, oh yeah, hold my beer. I can keep digging. And you got to wait till the damn shovel breaks before he quits. So that's a good mentality. And we said as like we're describing like transitions assistance programs or these these groups that are getting vets prepared for civilian life or like the next chapter, next thing that they want to do. That's something I'm going to consider trying to network with. I'm like having this thought right now. I'm going to write it down. Just I'd love to find more transition assistance programs or department heads and just let them know about who we are, what we're doing here in my region. I think there's probably some around here at Grissom maybe or other bases that are in our world because that's really one of our pain points is no one knows who the heck the SBDC is. or how to make sense of sba.gov it's pretty complex as far as all the slew of resources that could be comparable you know to all the resources veterans have right it's this huge database and everywhere you know depending on where you're at you may have more or less resources geographically so to make sense of that that's really what our our mission is in our department as the sbdc we are We're truly the liaisons between resources. If folks listening to this are familiar with VSOs, veteran service officers, or I think that's their title, veteran service officer organizer. That's us, but specifically as it pertains to small business development and entrepreneurship support. so if that helps paint a better picture that's that's us and um you know it just so happens because I am a vet I speak their language I can talk a little bit we can get into the wheat I really I feel home when I'm talking with veterans it's it's less of a stiff conversation sometimes I have stiff conversations and it's that's been a learning experience but like I said just talking with that group I feel I just feel good it's nice having a conversation with my brother so Yep. So let me ask you, was you doing this before COVID or how long have you been doing it? Thankfully not. I started after that whole mess. I didn't know what the SBDC was a year and a half ago. I if I would have I would have definitely gotten away of opportunity information and the stuff I became aware of it last year there's a guy I'm in an office building and my office is uh on the second floor the SBDC's office is on the first floor and we have like a co-working space inside this building as well so I would see this guy in passing and I would hear him talking on the phone every now and again about like economic development and these cool things and I'd I would, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but I was eavesdropping listening. And eventually after some months past that, dude, Hey, what do you do? What do you, what is this office? What is this stuff? What does this acronym? What's SBDC mean? What's this, this, this. So he made me aware of it and we developed a friendship. He's also an entrepreneur and, um, A lot of everything that I'm not really good with like predictions. And what I mean by predictions is like bookkeeping and projections and where numbers are going to mean. He's like a CFO type. And I'm more like it's like creative, innovator, problem solver, dude. So we developed a relationship and then we connected on LinkedIn. Next thing you know, I see this job offer that's describing what I'm already doing. for free like helping people get connected to one another to tools resources and stuff and that turned into a conversation that now turned into you know a year and a half later I've been doing this and and love it um and it's it's been fun to uh just work on things that as an organization we're trying to improve so he and I as entrepreneurs we're applying the same mentality to this service of how do we get awareness out there right how do we How do we get in the way of entrepreneurs? How do we? How do we really track what success looks like? How do we help our people get profitable that come into our world? And this has been a lot of fun, man. And it's a new bone to gnaw on, new mission. So yeah, it's been a blast. I'm excited about it. But yeah, thankfully before or after the pandemic is when I got involved. I've heard horror stories, I guess, of how they had to transition and what all that looked like. Yeah, I think... I think, you know, a lot of people have kind of or their past COVID. But I think as far as the small business owner, you know, it's fresh in their mind still about what they went through and and everything else. So I think, you know, organizations like yours, I'm sure they probably adapted maybe a different strategy to help people set themselves up. for something that could potentially happen again and and be in a better position than what we were you know um at that time oh yeah I expected it to happen you know no I think it forced a lot of innovation and that can be really uncomfortable. Obviously there's a lot of discomfort, but I think also I would hope that some people are now seeing an even bigger ROI from the products or service that they were selling. Like they went online or they adapted, they added a pavilion space to their restaurant, et cetera. Those folks that innovate and evolve, like they're always, you know, they can fight the test of time, the test of, you know, the need to adapt and kind of fight, but, um but yeah we I think where we were super helpful in that and this is just me thinking back during those times is just helping make sense of what the ppp was what the eidl loan was what erc was the employee retention credit what all this stuff meant and then helping people get in the way of those things that's kind of what we're doing now um with just immigrant grant programs and different uh you know things that sometimes are a little complex to unpack and uh just making people aware of that stuff that's that's going on yeah um When I advise clients, a lot of my time is mainly spent in creating new community relationships with support organizations. I'm trying to bridge folks that are already interfacing with entrepreneurs and such to work with us in partnership. uh but as far as you know when I do advise clients I'm I'm just big into bootstrapping I'm big especially if they're new like how to get money how to prove your concept before you know putting together a plan envisioning this plan and getting profitable first before asking for capital that There's a lot of times that, you know, you can do reconnaissance and you can create a strategic plan and limit some of your risk. And that's oftentimes, if I'm advising folks, just what... What to do, how to think, maybe some places to go look for things to increase the likelihood that you're not going to be a failure statistic. Or if you are one, how to position yourself to grow from it. Because that truly is the only reason that I'm where I'm at. It's because I didn't quit yet. I'm still rolling. And it's cool with the customers you get to deal with. Who would have ever thought there would have been three veterans that wanted to open up a laundromat? right you know I mean just it's to a lot of other people like what's the big deal about that but it's just cool to you kind of dig into a little bit about the person because nobody says you know I want to start a a business that they hated you know there has to be something behind it that that's making whether it be opportunity or money or the industry or something you know I think it's freedom. You know, I think these guys, like all of us have this desire for freedom and living life on your own terms and owning something. And, you know, restlessness and discontent is typically the start to somebody having these, you know, increased beliefs and their ability to do something that'll create freedom. And it's, you know, giving them the reality. That's what I hope to impart the belief that like it is possible living proof and you should do it. And, Um, yeah. So hopefully that was, hopefully I did that today. That's always my aim. I'm sure you did. So I was going through your website, the one that I've got going on down here, uh, the brand new.com. I, uh, I noticed one of the things that you talked about was apps, you know, and I think that's something that very few people know anything about. And I think because I'm a I'm a person that fell for this. You know, there's a lot of places out there that will help you cheat the system and these no code app builders and stuff like that. But then they run into a lot more money and a lot more frustration trying to to implement them. How do you use apps and stuff to introduce that to your customers? Yeah. So, you know, I think a lot of the best way to describe like how to successfully build a platform is to think about it the same way that you would want to build a custom shed in your backyard, right? So the first thing you need to know is why do I want to build a shed? What is a shed going to do? Who's going to walk into it? Where are they going to walk in from? What sort of roof do I want on this shed? What's the weather in this area? Ultimately, what's the, what's the result that you're aiming for, for your ideal shed? The same thing's true. If you're wanting to develop a technology solution, a technology shed, if you will, is what's this thing do? Why the hell do I want to make it? What's it, what's the ideal result in, in which it's going to produce for X. And once you have this baseline understanding of, You know, and hopefully you've perused the Internet and looked at competitors and looked at awesome platforms that already exist. And, you know, the features, you know, the type of quote unquote gutters you want. Right. And what you admire. I think the next phase that we've seen work really well is to draw that design, this prototype. And when you're working from a prototype with a clear understanding of what you want, what it does, what are the results going to be for end users, that drastically increases your likelihood of launching your platform. So that's our phase, just to kind of describe the whole thing. Step one is to extract the idea into a a really clear understanding of what you want why you want it and what it's going to do for for whom then we put that into clickable prototype or a designed visual experience as well as written So we're hitting on all these different ways that we can communicate through visual, audio, audio, is that word? Audible? And written, whatever that word is. And then from there, that's what helps us guide how much time is this going to take? What are the milestones that we can take? agree on that once it hits here, you can relinquish a payment for our builders to bring it to this level. It shows trust and communication along the whole process. That's our process and those three things. Again, while there's complexities to how it works, That's not necessarily, it's an important thing, but you don't have to necessarily understand the backend and what each line of code means in order to build the solution that you're aiming towards. You as a product owner or a company, product manager, project manager, whomever. you need to know the pain points that you're solving. You need to know what you want, why you want it and what it's going to be like for your customer who's using it. And if you keep focused on those three things, what's possible is very much, uh, yeah, it's, it's kind of unlimited at this point with AI and, uh, just like advancements in technology. There, there really isn't much that isn't, um, unfathomable anymore. I know that sounds kind of wild, but it's the truth. If you can dream it up, it's technology is pretty radical nowadays. But, you know, I guess the, the, the important thing and what I did, I would, what I would change about my way of arriving where I'm at. If I could go back in the future, it would be to, um, Instead of casting a net on LinkedIn or Upwork or different places where I thought I could find a good dev team, I would go to an existing founder somebody that has a platform or is building software or is, um, you know, actively has things built and just ask that person, who's your team? How'd you do this? That way you can just arrive at a, at a good team that can help you actually do the work. Cause there's, there's not a shortage of people that are going to tell you they're your guy, but who actually is a good builder. That's, there's some risk in, in doing that. Yep. I would reverse engineer it. Yeah, I will tell you it is. So that is the one part of our nonprofit that I have been struggling with, you know, balancing the money versus what we need. And it's a little bit different because all we're trying to build is just a little RSS feed for the radio stations. Right. Give the people the mobile ability just to listen to the radio station. Yeah. And, you know, for me, I didn't want to invest the time to learn how to do it myself. So I tried to use these no code sites and then Apple's like, yeah, that ain't going to work, buddy, because it's not your code. And so I learned real quick that. I'm going to have to do it the hard way and start learning how to do it myself. Since I've been starting, I've been fascinated with it. It is really cool when you start at the kindergarten level and you start working your way up. It starts there, like you having a problem, right? And wanting the solution. And there's so many great tools out there that you can piece together, you can make things work. And ultimately, that becomes a really good blueprint. If you want to then take that functionality or this engine that you've slapped together. To then have it, you know, put makeup on it, right? Or improve from there. That becomes a really good communication blueprint for technical engineers to bring your thing to life. So yeah, I always encourage that, man. Put the pieces together. It's okay to use no code. There's going to be limitations. I think it's okay to use chat GPT and AI tools to try to write your own HTML or proofread stuff. Like all these tools are great, but I think, yeah, it's wonderful. I mean, it truly is. Now, you know, it's, it's not perfect and it's, it's good to have a base, like some, some knowledge as you're critiquing it and using it. But, you know, there's, there's a really cool platform called make.com. which is kind of like Zapier, but even more simplistic that allows you to do all sorts of cool stuff, creating these engines, if you will, or automations or yeah. features and stuff that you want to put together for your needs. And again, there's no, you know, that's not a wrong answer. You can't, and sometimes these no code solutions will help you do what you need to do. It may be a perfect solution. So everybody's different. I think that's part of like, you know, our discovery phase is who are you, where are you at? What are you trying to do? And sometimes it's as simple as, okay, so all you really need, just go here. Here's a platform that you can use for your needs. You don't really need anything custom, which is kind of our specialty is custom cabinets. And that's why I went to, I think the first place I tried was AppyPie. And because we're not looking for anything fancy. I mean, there's a, there's probably 5 million different media players out there on the market, you know? So just something that was going to play the music, show the records and, and maybe tie it to our blog and to our Roku channel and be done with it, you know? And man, it turned into a lot more than that just because I couldn't get it on Apple, you know? yeah their product worked great I just couldn't get apple to say okay yeah they've got pretty strict compliance I mean but you know maybe you look at something that's called a pwa it's a progressive web app yep while it's similar to an app right you now can uh yeah so if you're familiar with it for anybody that's not familiar with it um it's basically a a platform it's an app but it doesn't act, it acts more like a bookmark, but you would never know. It's not actually an app. It lives natively on your device. You can click it like an app. You can tap it like an app. Just how you download it is it's outside of the play store. Share it to your device, download it to your device, but you're not doing it from Apple or Android. Um, Yeah. And for a lot of folks, that's a really good cost effective alternative than hosting their stuff on the Play Store. Because if you're on the Play Store, a lot of people don't know this. Apple takes 30 percent, which is ridiculous because they can kind of uncontested. And we're consulting folks. We want to earn people's business long term, right? So it's within our best interest to tell people, hey, just so you're aware, this costs 30%. Here's what we suggest. We want the folks we build platforms for to go on and make more money because when they make more money and they grow, we're the logical choice for them to work with to continue growing. It truly is within our best interest to help people Yeah, and PWAs are a cool solution for a lean startup. Yep. Yeah, I did use a no-code place, and it worked perfect. Just like you said, the only part that I had a hard time with was, you know, it's so easy just to say, hey, go to the Play Store and download this app, you know, where now you've got to educate people a little bit. But I think it's well worth that challenge because, again, just like you said, once you're on it, it's an app. It looks like an app and it functioned perfect. I didn't have any issues or anything. I just had an issue trying to educate people to get them to install it. Sure. And that becomes a UI, UX, user interface, user experience sort of obstacle to hurdle, right? So with our PWAs, we use the verbiage, download our app. And when somebody clicks that, it shows them the icons to press, depending on what device they're using. So it just simplifies it. And while it may be a little strange, we're giving them the instruction. And we've noticed that it hasn't you know, Apple should be worried about this, this what's happening. And I think the future to some degree will be in PWAs because it's disruptive towards the monopoly market, which I'm all for that. Let's go freedom, you know, get away from these giants that are taking 30%. That's just ridiculous. Well, I think, I think in, in, you know, probably over average, the average business doesn't need anything super, super high tech and hard, you know? And so PWAs are just like you said, those are perfect for, you know, these lawn care businesses and just small little, you know, I just need a place for people to sign up for my service and pay for the service, you know, and look cool. And it's easier to develop a website than it is to make an app that, Apple is going to be cool with and that is going to run off of that website. So yeah, Apple, and this is, I guess, you know, kind of their unique selling proposition of being on their marketplace. They have a really well curated suite of apps because of this rigorous process to be listed. So, you know, there's, there's certain standards or prerequisites and things. So it is, you know, it does, you know, as far as regulations, it keeps some things safe. There are good, good reasons for it. It's a good, it's a very, you know good storefront if you will but I just I disagree with taking 30 for being just that that that doesn't compute yeah well you add that in taxes man you you know they're they're 60 gone between those two Yeah, it just kills. I mean, 10%, 5%. That's reasonable, but that would kill their profit. I don't know. It's just a marketplace. It's not like they're helping me develop the app. They're just allowing it for distribution. Yep. They're the Amazon. That's it. That's it. So let me... kind of dig into a little bit with your software company and the other stuff that you're doing, right? If you had to pivot and say, I can only do one, what side would you go? Because it sounds like you really do enjoy the building of the software and stuff as well. yeah um so I think about that now I've got so many different things that I do and build on and some of it's just learning like what do I enjoy what is the sweet spot and um you know sort of laser focus in like my my goals have shifted um you know I'm right now this philosophy that I have or the objective is to make as much as possible for a financial strategy. Like I've got a goal of putting X amount of dollars into this financial strategy that I can earn passively on just parked money. It's this new sort of educational journey that I'm on now, understanding the money markets and financial strategies and setting up systems there. So that's really like has absorbed a lot of my bandwidth. So I mean, To answer the question, like right now, my focus is shifting towards the most high ticket thing that we can sell. And then the high ticket thing that also has a monthly recurring revenue associated to it and a great result that doesn't take a lot of time. So there's a couple areas that I've spun up. One of them's, I mean, they're both technically in the tech world, but we've really kind of found a sweet spot with offering, I don't know how to describe it, offering CRMs slash affiliate management platforms to professional service companies. So we built a couple of our own affiliate management platforms for our own needs and own ones. And then we discovered, oh, wow, a lot of people could benefit from this a lot of people really want this we could sell this and earn ongoing and be a distribution partner or a marketing partner for professional service providers that you know traditionally have just relied on cold calls or relied on belly-to-belly conferencing or networking rather so we've just kind of accidentally found this sweet spot um Right now, we've got a couple clients. One's in the insurance industry. The other one's in the finance world. It's just two fun industries. Being the tech vertical for them is this fun, sweet spot that I think that's going to be where we focus in. A military partner of mine is running the vertical of government procurement and contracting for our company. That's a big target area of ours to disrupt in a good way yeah so yeah so I believe also on your your app on your website you you said something about cryptocurrency are you into cryptocurrency as well uh I think that I don't know maybe so I had my engineers build my website so maybe that's a blog on there I don't it's just for seo so we there's a lot of seo blogs on there and that's strategic to create search traffic so they're right on a lot of different topics that are hot like that month or that week or that like what's going on so there's a system there that um as far as like me personally being into crypto I watch it I think I took 10 grand and invested it across a bunch of different coins a couple years ago and then I haven't really touched it I'm just gonna let it go um I see I watch it I observe it from like a technology standpoint I'm not super impressed like with what's happening yet I know it's got a future um I think more and more I'm I'm personally interested in in Bitcoin like the more disruptive the more unstable things perceivingly become the more I'm interested in that as a solution uh as far as any of the meme coins not interested I was never interested in nfts I thought that was the weirdest thing ever I didn't understand I still don't understand uh student didn't compute um it makes sense maybe in the gaming industry where people are buying rare rare skins and stuff like that for their avatar but I don't see them being worth millions like that's kind of radical um let's see I like I like things that solve problems and disrupt industries so like the coins or the tech that really interests me were like directly competing with AWS or Amazon Web Services and disruptive Wi-Fi technology through crypto or this network where people are empowering one another's Wi-Fi data. Stuff like that's really interesting. But the most crypto projects I've seen are just really good at writing white papers to sell. And it's not really about actually solving the problem. And that's disgusting to me. Yeah. that's all it really was is a money grab. So I'm really anxious to see the teams that build disruptive solutions that have the ability capability intent. But I think right now they're just smothered and fakes. So we'll see. It'll be, it's interesting to watch. That's for sure. I just, I don't, I don't have any specific projects that I'm like excited about or anything. It's really captured my attention. I agree with you in a lot of different ways. I think that a lot of the people that are building crypto, they built something before they realized what it is that they're going to use it for. It was like they were afraid that the train was going to pass them by if they didn't get this built, but even like XRP, you know, XRP started as one thing and now it's, it's a whole nother thing. And, and it, it ruins the, uh, um, trust in that product, you know? And, uh, you know, I, there's, there's a few out there that, that I do believe in. Um, I'm, I'm more of a watcher too. I don't have any investment in any of them. And I do think that at some point, Bitcoin could be a currency of some sort. It helped Venezuela. You know, a lot of those people, when their money went to crap, you know, a lot of them switched to Bitcoin and stuff like that to just put on the table. So, yeah, I think it's really cool, man. I did too. I'm, I'm watching stuff, but again, I look for utility. What's solving problems. What's making things easier. What's, what's a slam dunk as far as what consumers want to eat. I don't know. I, I think, uh, I'm worried about the, what are the SBDC, the decentralized bank. What's it called? Um, whatever they're called. You're talking about like the SEC. Is that what you're talking about? no the dis the uh the banks that are digital banks digital banking system like I think that that's they being the powers to be see the value in creating those while offsetting like the bad um I can't remember what they're called but these bank systems that are just all digital I don't think that's it that's a great thing um me neither That being said, I mean, I don't know. I haven't seen any... I'd love to see some really cool projects and see the team that's got the capability and is actively looking to provide solutions for a market. I think a lot of them are just super hyped and there's no real rubber to the road. I don't know. We'll see. Plus, it's so complex right now. I think the company that simplifies... the process of transacting and showcasing, you know, simplistically what the value is in a currency that we're all aware of, like USD. That'll be an interesting project. Just the simplification of using it and transacting with it. Cause right now it's just not easy. I mean, it's not common sense. It's not, it's not like our typical system. It's very much complex. I think. for the for the normal user so it's like knowing that that's a problem there should be companies working on and maybe there are other teams working on the simplification of transaction like building that technology maybe that's not even crypto maybe that's just a front end yeah well and that's what it's going to take that is what it's going to take because you think about um you know me trying to explain to my 85 year old mom. No, we, you no longer pull anything out of your wallet, but if you don't have this 24 word key phrase, it's all your money and nobody can ever get it back again. I mean, there, there's so many things that, uh, that they've got to before it can be mainstream. They've got to make it people to use, you know? So I think it'll happen over time. There has to be an issue. So like, I think, you know, we, with one of the platforms that I own, I feel like we have, we have a good opportunity to create our own wallet or transaction system. So we own a similar platform to like, you know, Patriot or only fans, but essentially we help content creators get paid to post all over the world. And. that logic of somebody buying digital products, whether it's modeling content, music, whether it's access to education, etc. There's transactions happening right now as we speak. So the idea of having a wallet system or a token where someone can buy it for this much and it's now transacting, you can use it to purchase things internal of a system. I can see companies wanting to do that. to avoid the egregious processing fees and some of the infrastructure of that merchant processing world. It's really not favorable to the vendor oftentimes. If you've ever processed payments, especially digital payments, it's considered high risk, high volume. They cut into your profit for the ability to send transactions. And that's something that I think People will, you know, that's a solution people are looking for to get away from that. Yeah, no, I, yeah. And, and just the cost as well, you know, these stores, I don't know what, you know, say Walmart pays to have coins delivered from the bank to them, you know, just, just so they can give people change. Yeah. um yeah I'm sure that's a pretty big expense you know but uh I think uh I do think at some point we will become all digital it's inevitable you know um yeah I think it has to. I don't necessarily hope so, you know, because of the way our tax laws are set up, you know, where I'm not even so much worried about the government knowing what I'm spending on. It's just, you know, now you have to really watch, you know, did I give my kid an allowance that's going to require a tax return now, you know? Yeah, man. I just love, I love free. I love personally, like I love free market and I think capitalism is on it. Let me be specific. Uninterrupted capitalism is a great ecosystem. It's the best that I think there is, but it has to be uninterrupted. It's like this ecosystem. You think about it like a forest. It's like if we're moving logs and we are improving trails and bulldozing things over something falls over is getting ready to fall over we're propping it up that's going to naturally interrupt the way of the ecosystem and it's like that's really what the mega issue has been is our government getting involved supporting helping you know, preserve, right. Or it's just, no, you leave it alone. You let, you let companies die that need to die. You let new emerging companies happen. You don't get involved as much. And that's the opposite. I think of what's happening is we're, we're relinquishing a lot of control on the sake of like for the sake of catastrophe or for the sake of it's typically mass is like this solution and, um in this major problem that they're gonna solve it's like no it's best if um you allow allow the market to be the market create changes and you know granted there's I don't know that's a complex thing so it's like getting into some of that it's uh yeah like I'm for some regulation but at the same time like there is definitely too much and a growing too much I feel and that's me working in state it's me working and I may get in trouble for saying that we'll see that's my thought Oh, absolutely. I do agree with you. There has to be regulation, but there is a such thing as too much as, as well as there is a such thing as too little. I think man too, you know, I don't know. I'll be fully transparent. I, I think that we are, I think we're segregating to like championing segregation. So for me as a vet, as a vet, I'm a disabled vet. they're putting me in a category in which I need further help or I need further this, or it's like, I'm, I'm in this category of human being. It's like, no man, I, the characteristics that you need to be successful are still the same. And whether I'm a veteran, whether I'm a, you know, a male, a female, whether I'm, you know, fill in the blank with these different segregated things, groups and it's like I get it like there's there's some folks that have a different starting point and I get it that there's some folks that do clearly have a disadvantage or an advantage but still the market your consumer your buyer your the rules of success are the same for everyone whether you served overseas or not and it's like that Truth has to be told. And, you know, I think it happens because there's grants and there's money that's allocated to different groups. And, you know, it's a little I'm learning a ton, but basically these these groups are. You know, we'll get we'll get allocated funds if they hit certain metrics. But if they don't, what the problem is, is we're not calculating why these metrics aren't being hit. It could be for a positive thing. But it's like if you don't spend your seven million this year, it's like that we're taking away your budget. And that's not always the best thing to do. I would argue that if we looked at the analytics and we saw why an organization or a group didn't spend all this money and it was a positive thing, we should incentivize like the value that's being created. But it's really challenging to do that with all the analytics and the, the dance, what I call it to the powers that be that are pushing money into the market. So it's like, what is that system that determines true value? Uh, that's, that's something that would need to be looked at by smarter people than me, but that's a true, I think that's a true like gap is all these organizations that are getting capital, uh, One, I don't think they should be segregated. I think we should all be Americans and humans and characteristics should be provided across the board. And I'm a veteran saying this, who gets access to special shit. It's like, I will open, I'll be the first one to say, we don't need, this is my opinion. Personally don't think we need access to special shit in the entrepreneurship world. I think we all need access to special shit and, and to, you know, level the playing field of what we can do as Americans would be a prosperous thing. But that's a, that's a tough conversation to have whenever a lot of folks have been programmed to think that they are more or less than what they are because of their status. Yeah. That's a misconception. Yeah. it's just it is not easy to be an entrepreneur. I mean, I don't care what field what industry you go into. And so everybody's looking for that, that help, you know, to that one thing, what do I have that sets me different? What, what, what can I get some money for? Um, you know, and I learned a shit ton just from the six years that I owned a business. And, uh, I learned, uh, one word that is extremely important. It's called capital and a lot of it because, you know, trucking companies, uh, are not a huge profit margin companies. And, uh, but they are a high overhead company. And so, you know, I did suffer during COVID. I did use the PPP and you know, everything that was out there, if it wasn't for the PPP, I probably would have closed my doors even sooner just because I picked the wrong time to change the trailer that was on my back. And, And I went to flatbedding, and that's all infrastructure-type stuff that wasn't happening during COVID. That's tough. Yeah. That's tough. Did you have employees? I had two. Two employees. I was small. Yeah. I only had two trucks, and it was me and a couple other people. Did you ever look into ERC? I did not. I don't know if there was a minimum of employees. Check out the ERC, Employee Retention Credit. I'll send you info after this. They're in a meritorium right now, but that was a real thing that employers could get up to $26,000 per W-2 employee if they met criteria that showed that they experienced hardships, right? Whether it was government mandates that slowed you down, whether it was... you know, logistical issues, there's some specificity to that, and an application process and obviously forms that you submit and send through. But if you were deemed eligible, there's real money out there. You know, they've sensed added a meritorium for that, because there was so much fraud and abuse of that program. A lot of marketers and people got involved in it and pushed it negatively. And as a result, a lot of people faked things. So anyway, so that's where that status of that is now. But yeah, it was a really helpful thing. Yeah, absolutely. Well, brother, I'm going to give you the opportunity. I'm going to bring you forward and give you a chance to tell the world where they can find you and any important stuff that you want them to know. Yeah, cool. So pretty much to find me, just get on Google, look up Tim Branion. You can see it on the screen if you're watching this. T-I-M-B-R-A-N-Y-A-N. Go to my website, timbranion.com. I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. Again, Tim Branion across all social medias. And then I guess something that I'd just like to impart. One, thank you for your service to your veteran listening to this. And two, if you're that person that's kind of restless and discontent and looking for change, my recommendation would be to do something different or change. Get in the way of opportunity. I'm just a big proponent that entrepreneurship is a great way to put wind in your sails, give you some purpose, and align you with a new mission forefront. It was great for me. Really easy way to do that. You could Google SBDC near me and find a center if you're here in the United States. But if I can ever be of service to you, I just want you to know that I'm down to do that as well. So that's all I got. All right. Well, brother, I'm going to put you in the green room, throw the exit video out there. I appreciate you coming on, man. I learned a lot of cool stuff. I love talking about different tech stuff, even if it's things that I've never used. I'm just fascinated with everything because I think as a country, man, we're very innovative. You know, we can build a lot of cool stuff. It's cool what we're doing, man. Not just here in Indiana, but across the country. It's awesome. so thanks Don for having me on and yeah. All right. I'll be with you. Bye. All right, everybody. So, you know, it is cool when we get to have these kinds of conversations because, you know, nobody knows everything and there's always a lot of cool stuff out there. So, Um, the one part I really want you guys to take about this because it is not easy. Um, especially if you're a veteran getting out of the military and you want to start your own business, man, there, there's a lot to it before you just go out there, jump into it and, and start spending money. Um, take the time, go check out your small business, um, SBAs and, uh, Even, you know, talk with your local chamber of commerces and start educating yourself and talking to people. People like Tim, awesome people out there that are willing to help you. You just got to be willing to ask the questions. So I hope you all enjoyed the show. I know I did. As always, I want you all to not let the day kick your ass. Kick the day's ass. Y'all take care. Be safe. We'll see y'all next time.
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