200: Stephanie Brown and The Rosie Network empower and support military entrepreneurs

Jen Amos 0:00

All right. Hey everyone, welcome back to hold. Now the fourth, I am ecstatic because in the last season, I had the fortune of interviewing entrepreneurs who graduated from the Rosi networks services SEO program. And on occasion, I'll have my co host here, Scott Tucker, aka my husband, and business partner, join me. And now for this next season, we're so fortunate to finally get a hold of Stephanie. And you know, have her first and foremost, the founder of the Rosie network, talk about what it's been like to work with us also talk a little bit about the history of the Rosie network. And I wanted to bring my husband here today to also share his story because To my knowledge, he was one of the first people to be a part of one of the original cohort programs. So without further ado, Stephanie Brown, welcome to holding on the forts. Well,

Stephanie Brown 0:46

I am really excited to be here, happy New Year, we have known each other for a long time, when you mentioned this, Scott was on in the first service CEO programs funny because we kind of he was sort of a test subject. He didn't know that. But you know, that whole experience, his feedback was also incredibly important to us. So getting us where we are today with service to CEO would never have happened, had it not been for folks like Scott, others willing to kind of go on this journey with us in the early days. So I'm excited to be here with both of you. Yeah,

Jen Amos 1:20

Scott, because you actually knew Stephanie, before I did, you introduced me to her and brought us to the Rosa network, including our dog Stookey, which, you know, is Office mascot, as we used to call him. That's the one you want to talk a little bit about that the early stages of you being involved with the network.

Scott R. Tucker 1:35

Yeah, I had just gotten to San Diego. And I was desperate to try a new idea out, I was really struggling in the financial advisory space, I really didn't like them. Like being a financial adviser, quite frankly, I thought the whole thing was kind of scammy. Yet I had gotten out of the military, I didn't know what to do. And I had an idea. And I was like, there's a different way to do this. And there's a way to, to focus on the military community in a unique way. And being in San Diego. There's always military people out there. But I didn't have any sort of structure. And the mentor I had been relying on for a long time I found out was really just using me as a way to bring him more business. And I thought, No, I want to actually create something, create something unique and useful. And I heard about this Rosie network in San Diego, because I become from hate come from Germany, and there was no support for entrepreneurship. And I wasn't even entrepreneurs, just a sales guy. You know, when your financial advisor, that's what you really are. And I was like, I don't want to be just a sales guy. I think we can do something more here. But I didn't have anybody that believed in me or behind me. And I was doing all the things you're supposed to do you go out and your network show up a little events. And luckily, I showed up at this random event. I think it was four chiefs getting there. They were holding something there. And sure enough, there was Stephanie Brown and the rose network. And I remember I walked I said, Oh, I heard about you. And and you were you just said, Hey, we're doing this new search zo thing, you go totally gotta join and sign up. And I was like I'm in. Because I'm always a jump into the water, you know, you're both feet first. It gets me in trouble sometimes. But I just saw the passion that you had Stephanie, and, you know, obviously eternally grateful for you just setting that up, let alone you know, taking me on board, because I don't even know if I was the type of person you were thinking about or the type of business you you were originally planning around it because I know, it was really set up for the kind of the military spouse thing. And so that's why I thought I might not be a good fit. But I realized, oh, no, you're doing something much more than that. Obviously, we all got to start with a niche. And so to be able to have somewhere to go to on a monthly basis, to hear about different types of business, be in a room with other people who were starting off are kind of where I was, it's like I'm starting off, but I'm already in business. It was kind of an odd place to be. And you just gave me the okay, it's Scott, it's okay. There's a path forward, look at all these other people we've worked with, and you're just a huge inspiration of what was possible. I mean, to walk into that office space, and to see all the plaques and stuff on the walls. I missed that space. And, and Stookey is right over here. So if he barks a little bit a saying hi. And hopefully we can see each other again in person soon, but I was so glad we get to catch up right now. No,

Stephanie Brown 4:34

likewise, it's funny, I, when you say you know, you're one of those people that just kind of jumps in that is such a common characteristic when you talk about entrepreneurs. I certainly have it too. Sometimes I jump into more than I can handle but I'm never afraid to jump in. You gotta gotta be a little fearless, you know, in this journey, but I you know, somebody sent me a meme, which has always just stuck with me. It's like, it basically says, you know, As entrepreneurs, you got to jump off the cliff and build your airplane on the way down. Because if you wait until everything is perfect, it never happens. It never happens, you got to take that first step. And, you know, it doesn't matter if you fall or fail 10 times, it matters if you get up 11. Right. And I love to I mean, you know, your passion for really trying to educate and empower our community in a way that, you know, just kind of exudes trust, right knowledge skill, obviously, you want that when you're talking about a financial adviser. But really, more than anything, there has to be a level of trust, because, you know, none of us join the military or get married to the military to get rich, doesn't happen, at least not off our military pay. But you know, the fact that you're helping our community be smart and wise about their financial choices, and you're doing it in a way that isn't just hey, buy this, Hey, you know, invest here do that. Because I know Tom and I, over the years, you know, we came across enough of those. So I love working with entrepreneurs that have a true integrity, first and foremost, a passion, a willingness to learn, because none of us know everything, certainly myself included, I sort of I feel like I'm not an expert really on anything. I just have a real passion and determination to learn. And listen, you'll learn by listening, you know, not every piece of advice is going to fit your need. It's just like when you first become a parent, and everybody in the world comes up to you and go, Oh, just wait, you know, or you're going to experience this? Well, you're that may or may not be true. But your experience running a business is very personal. It's very personal. So I love working with people that have integrity, enthusiasm, and really a sense of purpose. And I think after all these years, and we're coming up on 12 years, that the Rosi network has been around 12 years, can you imagine I'm still after wrap my head around that I have a lot more gray hair now than I did when we first started. I've earned every one of them. But you know, I think what I've learned over this journey is what we do is so much bigger than just helping people like you, Scott and chin launching grow businesses, it's so much bigger than that. It really, at least the feedback that we're getting, what we're doing is helping people find purpose. You know, maybe that sounds a little touchy feely, but and it was hard for me to wrap my head around, you know, but it really is a sense of purpose. And I'm so grateful that, you know, we've been around this long, but more importantly, that we've had an opportunity to meet and hopefully create impact on people in a community that you know, I grew up in, I married in I raise kids in, it's really just, it's an honor, it's really been an honor. No, you

Scott R. Tucker 8:04

definitely did that for me, because I was just lost. Like I said, Okay, I get the idea of business. Yeah, you create a value, you try to find the people who appreciate that value, and you sell them something like, the one thing I've learned over these years is it doesn't matter what business you're in, you're in the sales and marketing business. They didn't teach us that stuff in the army. They didn't teach me that at West Point. You know, you have to have a curiosity to build rare and valuable skills that you know, other people aren't willing to put the time and effort and some skin in the game and take a lot of risks to do it. But as I always say, what's the phrase where it's like the overnight success story took 10 years? How's that? How's that phrase? Yeah.

Stephanie Brown 8:51

I love the there's no elevator to success, just stairs. Yeah,

Scott R. Tucker 8:55

ht they earned, you serve the: 2030

Stephanie Brown: 14:16

most of us are. Yes, exactly. The military community are bootstrapped. Right, you know, veterans are way less likely to take out a business loan or even try or when they do get approved. So this is for the most part people that are bootstrapping it, you know, they have a product or service an idea of passion, skill, and you know, some choose entrepreneurship out of need. And then some choose it out of they're just hardwired for it. Like I'm hardwired for it. I love talking to people that have an idea. I love it. Nothing makes me happier because I just like not pick it apart in a negative way. But ask I hope you know some questions that make you think and then open up by ideas for you know, reevaluating or evaluating. Yeah, that really is going to work out oh my god, I hadn't even thought maybe I could, you know, shift to this customer base based on that. And I think what we do as an organization is, yeah, we bring the skills because you know, you know what, you know, let's say you're building a widget, nobody knows that widget better than you, no one is gonna love your widget better than you. Sometimes you need a trusted group of people to tell you that your your, your baby is ugly, your widget is ugly, I call it the cat magnet, like who is gonna go out and buy a cat magnet? Right? But if you know doing it in such a way that is uplifting and not, you know, you're in a safe environment with fellow military spouses or veterans who are in the same boat you are. But so yes, we bring the skill we bring that, you know, kind of brotherhood, sisterhood, trusted network, back and forth collaboration. Everybody wants to see everybody else succeed. We don't come across people that are in it to like, put other people down, or, you know, I'm better than you. We don't have those people. But you know, if they come there very, very quickly, they get discouraged away, because everybody is there to lift each other up and help each other out. I think, you know, we also bring accountability, right? I mean, ours is not just a social networking. I mean, we have that that's important. But this is a curriculum. So this is, you know, puts you through the work that you've got to do. And then we bring experts, subject matter experts across the board on legal contracting, HR, marketing, everything that you typically pay a boatload of money for. And we both fit, we've talked about this, you know, you write a check, and you say, Oh, this person's going to solve all my problems. And then lo and behold, they either disappear, they misrepresented themselves, etc, etc. And that costs you what that costs, it beats you down, you know, you can get depressed, discouraged, you want to quit. So we bring those subject matter experts who volunteer of their time and their talent to the table, and they help us teach our program, which is like I said, it's an actual college accredited curriculum. Now, when you graduate, you can get college credits for free, if that's something you're interested in, but and then we don't just go, Hey, congratulations, you You graduated CEA, you know, we continue to hold on to you, you can join our National Alumni where we hold mastermind classes, and we bring in speakers and people get to present an opportunity or challenge that they're facing, and everybody kind of gets to pitch in. And that's what people need. That's what people need when you become an entrepreneur, or even if you're already an entrepreneur, and you want to grow. And some of that means like, you know, how do I prepare my business to bring in capital, things like that? What's a profit loss statement, a lot of small business owners don't know, don't even deal with that. So we kind of teach them and give them some of those skill sets that they're going to need. Because at the end of the day, if we can help them save money, time and sanity, then we're winning, right? We're doing the right thing. And in some cases, not often, but in some cases, people realize, you know, this really isn't for me, and that's okay. That's okay. It's not for everyone. But they learn that in a way that they can they feel good about it, like, Hey, I gave this a shot. Instead, I met somebody I really, really liked and I'm going to take my passion and skill and work with them. So it's, it's, you know, I like to think we become your network, we become your community, we're your tribe. So you can come to you know, go through our program you meet you miss that you create friends and collaborate with other business owners that have a skill or a product that you need, and vice versa. That's really beautiful to watch happen, and it happens a lot. But you got a team that you can turn back to and go, Hey, I'm really struggling with this. I'm gonna have an opportunity to lease space. I don't know anything about commercial, real estate, I've got a contract. It's 126 pages long. I can't afford an attorney. You got somebody you can go to and we're not, you know, we don't again, don't have all the answers, but we have over these 12 years built a phenomenal network and can, you know, bring in someone that you that can help you? It's really it's it's like, you know, someone said, it's Stephanie, you know, your team. I feel like someone's got my back. Someone's got my back. I'm not alone. I'm not alone in this journey. And I think that's invaluable. It's priceless. You can't trade that and I've been a business owner even before I became a military spouse I owe And a couple of businesses, you know, and then I met my husband got married, moved away and went from making more money than he did is this yet up low, we Lieutenant at the Pentagon, you know, to taking command moving overseas, selling my business, and then I'm unemployed and unemployable and losing my sense of self, my sense of accomplishment, my value. So you know, it's being able to help people find that again, is, man that is, it's awesome. It is, there's this such a great feeling until it's such a great feeling. Yeah,

Jen Amos: 20:36

I think one of the great takeaways early, like you said, at the very beginning, what what the Rosie network is really doing is giving people a sense of purpose, you know, making them feel like they're more than just, let's say, their spouses rank, or a stay at home parent, or what have you. Like, they can be that and many other things, and it can accommodate whatever they want to be with, you know, especially in business, it can be flexible to the military life. Exactly.

Stephanie Brown: 21:02

And I, you know, I'm not I mean, when I moved overseas, and Tom to command, and I met all these amazing military families, and again, I grew up in the military. My father was a Vietnam veteran. So I wasn't totally unfamiliar with the lifestyle, but being a spouse is very different than being a kid. But I realized that I wasn't alone. And there were a lot of other spouses in particular that were having the same struggle, especially living overseas, right? Can I get a job here? I don't speak the language, what are the laws, even a remote job, I mean, there are restrictions against that meeting, what the SOFA agreement is through the State Department, on and on, and on and on. So I, what I found was I began surrounding myself with other military spouses who were like me had been, well, they had been in a career and, you know, kind of successful and driven and, and it kind of planted that seed in my head. And, you know, years later, multiple, multiple deployments, I think we moved a total of 11 times in 20, something years, which is insane. And eventually kids came along on that journey. So let's add that in as a fun time. Kind of navigating all that. But I realized that military spouses in particular, the unemployment rate and underemployment rate were astronomical compared to the civilian community. And then so I started diving into it and learn that, hey, we hold higher levels of education than our civilian counterparts. We're underemployed, those that are employed still make 25 to 30%, less for the same job than their civilian counterparts. Right. I became a military, I tried to get a job at the STX overseas. And I remember, I got a meeting with a manager and a couple weeks went by nobody called me back. And I ended up walking in and seeing talking to the secretary. She's like, Oh, he's already hired somebody don't basically don't bother. And I remember walking out of there going, Oh, my gosh, how am I gonna? How am I gonna survive? This is not good. I wasn't made for not doing anything. Not that raising kids is the hardest job on the planet. I'm just going to tell you right now. There's no job I've ever had. That's been harder than that. And more rewarding. So but still, I walked away thinking this is wow, what do people do? You know, I mean, fortunately, Tom is an officer. But what about younger enlisted families with kids? I mean, we were living basically paycheck to paycheck, how are they surviving? And that kind of popped, I thought, well, I know entrepreneurship. My dad got out retired, started a music store in California, I worked on it in the weekends and kind of learn behind the scenes, I'd loved it. That's sort of where I like to think I caught the bug for you know, being an entrepreneur, but I thought there's got to be a way to you know, help spouses, even if it's just making enough money to make a car payment, or go on a vacation. You know, I'm not, I don't care what your idea of success is, you define that for yourself, right? You want to be the next Facebook or big tech, or whatever the case may be. That's great, that's wonderful, we'll help you do that. But if it's just something on your spare time, that gives you a sense of accomplishment itself and put some money in your pocket. You're just as important to us as anybody else. And I started working with spouses that you know, wanted to take that journey because I'd done it several times successfully. Not so successful. So, you know, I kind of wish that served as the CEO, our program had been around for me back in the early days, but I'll never forget meeting one spouse this is this is pretty funny. I'm older, right? I'm in my 60s. So you know, when I started my career after college, we didn't have the internet and I remember sitting at one of the very first computers and man you know, you people would laugh the thing took up, you know, the size of deaths up so their internet and all of that ecommerce certainly opens up a lot of opportunities for military spouses today. But you know, back then it was a totally different matter. But I remember maybe club had asked me to come and speak to military spouses here in San Diego, this is a while ago, and they said, Hey, can you talk about personal branding? And I thought, Geez, I don't know what is personal branding? What is that? Because I'm, again, it's more of a different generation. So I had to educate myself. And one of the things that we did, yeah, I went through, put everybody through this exercise. And one of the questions I asked in the very beginning was they had a piece of paper, I want you to write five adjectives that describe yourself and you can't use the words mother and military spouse. Do you know how many spouses struggled filling that out five adjectives, and not military spouse, not mother on the way home, one of them called me up, and she was laughing, but in tears, she said that what you talked about Stephanie, paving your own way, being your own boss, turning even your volunteer passion into a small business, right. And the advantages of that just blew my mind. She goes, I felt when I had to sit there and write those five adjectives. And I literally couldn't think of anything, because my whole life and identity is military spouse and mother, and has been for so long, that I've lost, you know, myself, I've lost my purpose outside of those two roles. You know, she she said, Uh, now I know, I know what I want to do. This is what I want to do. And, you know, it was, you know, we kind of cried it, you know, and laughed and got all excited. And that's what feeds me, I think. And that's what feeds, our team is helping people discover that. And, you know, it's been an incredible journey. I've learned a lot I tell you, I learned more from people like you, Scott, you know, who are living at walking it, both of you guys. You know, I'm helping people. I'm maybe mentoring people. I'm speaking, I'm advocating, I love being an advocate. I love fighting the fight to get laws passed that we help military spouses and veterans, you know, successfully launch and grow, removing some of those barriers out, there is nothing that lights the fire in my gut, then going this is unfair, and fighting to make that change. But you guys are the ones out there doing the real hard work every single day day in and day out taking that risk, but you know that you're part of a bigger community, and that there are people standing there that got your six that you can turn to and go, Hey, I need help with this, or hey, I want to share this opportunity, I think it would, you know, be a good fit for you. You know, you just can't duplicate that really easily.

Scott R. Tucker: 27:38

That reminds me a lot of me, you know, because you said you've been at this 12 years now. And if I think about when I got started in self employment, essentially, it was about 2008 2009. I didn't even know what entrepreneurship was. But now you look at the community that the military entrepreneurship community, it's huge. Now, there's so much interest in all levels of veteran business, military, spouse businesses, and a lot of that really started from the advocacy. Because if there are people out there like you do that we don't a lot of times we don't even know there's people out there doing that kind of stuff, or it's even needed to be done, or that we're even called entrepreneurs. And it took me a while to even, you know, put that hat on my head, would you even go into the service to CEO program? I was like, CEO of what, you know, I don't I don't quite get it's like, no, you can just be the boss of yourself. That's what self employment is, is the same thing. Like, you know, sometimes these words get a little flowery. But, you know, for me, that was the opportunity to really say, no, no, I'm doing something different. In therefore, it's not just going to be a role. Like even when I was self employed for a financial firm. No, that's not entrepreneurship, that sale, which is fine. There's a great skill sets to have. But to really take control, you know, give yourself the option because I didn't have any passion for that I was doing something for other people. And it wasn't even about money. It was just saying, you know, if I want to have control of my time, you know exactly what I'm doing in making sure. And this was key for me, serving only those whom I meant to serve, and no one else. And that's what you are doing by serving me and not wasting time trying to, you know, be an all things to all people. And I just I was at the Small Business Association on behalf of the Rosi network in DC a few months ago, and they were doing a program for military spouses. They're starting to new but it's like the Small Business Associates is just now considering doing a military spouse program. Oh, it's because they're trying to be all things for all Americans, small businesses, and of course, they're a government organization. That's what they're supposed to do. But it's just example saying hey, the more that you can niche down, then the more passionate it becomes the more Easter surround yourself with more like minded people. And the quicker you can realize what's not a good fit for you. And like you said, That's okay. And it also reminds me of a mentorship call I had through the Rosie network with someone who has gone through the cohort, this is, gosh, three years ago, I think. And she was just really struggling with figuring out like, what do I need to do next to stuff and so I was asking her, you know, well, what's wrong? You know, it's telling me she's like, I just, I just feel like a piece is missing. And I said to her, what pieces do you have already, and she just went, Oh, I've got all the pieces. Like, I'm in the Rosie network, I got my idea. I know, you know who I want to serve. There's no missing pieces, it's just a matter of eventually, it's not gonna happen overnight. And you're not going to listen to this podcast and go, Oh, I also have all the pieces. But give yourself the opportunity to get there. Right. That's why you probably know the stats better than anyone. Nine, what are the nine out of 10? businesses fail? And so they make it sound like, Oh, this is why you shouldn't get an entrepreneurship. I don't know. And I don't tell them fails, because they don't, they don't give enough time. You know, this, there's no school for this right? Well,

Stephanie Brown: 31:16

nine out of 10 businesses fail within the first I think it's three years or first year or three years that don't have mentors. So your likelihood of succeeding increases greatly if you'd have a mentor. And one of the things I preach all the time is don't go it alone, build a team, right? Build a team, how to build a team, what are the seats on the bus for that team? What do you need, you're good at, you know, let's say you're good at it to your interior design, but you're not good at marketing, and you're not good at filing all the correct paperwork, and you're not good at keeping the books and invoicing and so on and so forth, all that good stuff. So you know, those are seats that you need on your bus people that are good. So if you can now and then you say, Well, I can't afford to hire those as employees, well, they don't have to be employees, they can be part of your advisory team. Right, build an advisory team, and be on somebody else's advisory team, right, the skills and the passion and the knowledge that you have, you can bring to benefit somebody else. Because when you give out you get back tenfold, right? If you're if you're just out there to get for yourself ever. This is a small enough community, people figure it out pretty quick. And then you find yourself on an island. If you are putting out there that you're you want to help you want to share your knowledge or your passion, then you end up getting that back. So build that team, you know, and it doesn't have to be employees, it doesn't even have to be a company that you hire right away. But it can be a trade off. Or it can be you know, finding mentors, finding advisors, and you don't have to just have one and it doesn't have to be a marriage. If you need help in the financial part of your business. Find a mentor that will help you do that, you know, if you need help find learning how to build a website, find a mentor that will help you do that, or an organization etc. So there's more than one way to skin that cat. And so I think sometimes people get so hung up on trying to solve that one particular problem that they allow it to defeat them, right. They allow it to defeat there are pieces missing. Yeah, the piece that's missing is you taking that leap, take the leap. You know, your first podcast might be terrible. And you might have two people that listen to it. So what you did it right, you did it. One call, I was on someone. And super smart has such a great business idea. She was in one of our choosing our Fort Belvoir chapter of Virginia. And I had a one on one call with her. And she's like, Stephanie, you know, and we went over her pit, her deck, you know, and all of her ass and all the research and I said, this is incredible. This is incredible, because I just don't feel, you know, she was struggling. And I said, what is holding you back? What's holding you back? And it turns out something very common fear of failure. We as human beings, our brains are hardwired to avoid failure. Right? So to avoid failure, which can cause physical, emotional pain, our brain wraps fear around it. So hey, one way to, you know, avoid being hurt physically, emotionally, financially, is to be afraid of it. And that was it. And then it was, I feel like I'm an imposter. You know, somebody asked me to come and speak on that subject. And again, I'm going Oh, my God, what is impostor syndrome? So I really had to look it up and educate myself and I thought, like, maybe I'm, I mean, I grew up with a lot of siblings, right? We were enlisted family. So it was basically had to fight and scratch and claw for attention for anything like that. So maybe just because of the way I grew up, I And there aren't a lot of things that I'm not willing to try. So maybe I'm a little braver or a little bit more crazy. I am willing. But that apparently is an issue that a lot of people struggle with, well, how can I say I'm an financial advisor? Am I really, you know, there's so many people out there smarter than me, it's not that bright it is that you're unique, or I can't sell this barbecue sauce. There's 2 million types of barbecue sauce out there. So what you're unique, first and foremost, so what makes your barbecue sauce unique focusing on that, and oh, it turns out to be the recipe from your great grandmother, who came over, you know, on a boat, and, you know, so on and so forth. That's what made one of the things that makes it unique. First of all, you're a military spouse, you're unique. You're a veteran, you're unique, right? So glam on to that, make sure you're letting people know, hey, I'm a veteran, I served your I'm a military spouse, you know, I supported my spouse during their service. I sacrifice too. Don't be afraid you're comfortable with it. But don't be afraid to that's one of the things that makes you unique. So it's don't let the obstacles become this wet blanket. And feed that interfere that you have, you know what I mean? Surround yourself with cheerleaders with your own cheerleader, you can do it, Scott, come on, you were supposed to send me that, you know, mock up last week, I didn't get it. You know, let's go. Come on, you can do it, send it to me, that you need those people in your life. And I think that's one of the things that, you know, the Rosie network brings to the table. But I'll tell you early on, I was all about military spouses, right? Because I was one my mother was one, I felt like, Wow, man, we're proud and we're honored to serve and we love our service member. And we're there, we're committed. And we're willing to make that sacrifice. But you know, there's also comes a time where you're, you're going well, cheese, you know, we're kind of struggling here or I'm getting bored, or I've totally lost my sense of self or whatever the reason may be, you know, military spouses forever. I mean, you've been looking going back to when my mom was one, we were a second thought. When Tom took command I walked in and his command master chief at the time, I'll never forget, he said to me, this is apparently so totally old, saying if the Navy wanted you to have a spouse, they would have issued you one in your duffel bag or whatever, you know, and I thought whoa. So I think there's there's been a lot of push to overcome that. I think that you know, it is a lot of data and stuff comes out, you know that that when military spouses are employed Trent the transition experience is better, the families are more secure, it actually improves the marriage. When a military spouse is employed, it improves marriages, it in you know, it improves, it makes happier kids, happier households, there's you know, so whether it's entrepreneurship or you know, getting a regular job that you enjoy that is it critically important and more and more people from the government from the Department of Defense, are beginning to recognize or recognize that the first thing is, you know, having those conversations and just being there to encourage someone to go, you can do this, even if you fail, you can do it. Don't let fear, suffocating. You know, surround yourself with people that are going to support you and encourage you and just just do it. You got everything you need. Quit waiting for it to be the perfect time quit waiting for your kids to graduate from school. Quit waiting for your husband to or your wife to retire. Do it take one step every single day towards your big, hairy, audacious goal and you will get there eventually the road may change. Right? You might you're gonna hit robots, you're gonna hit red lights, you're gonna hear no, no, no, no. But you will get there you won't get there if you give up or if you let fear be the master.

Scott R. Tucker: 39:01

And that is it right there. The other thing is the fear is fear itself. Now the imposter syndrome is so real. Because when you said that, that just went right back on. Right before I joined the Rosi network, who was when I was starting to dabble, okay, my mentor kind of ditched me. I was just the paperwork guy, it turns out and I was good at bringing in leads for the business. I mean, obviously helped me I learned a lot about the business. But I learned about what I didn't want to do. And so I said, Okay, I gotta go create my own brand. And I hired a web designer. And we spent six months did photo shoots and stuff that was ridiculous. But we got the website done. She said, Okay, now when you start blogging, I was blogging, what am I gonna write about? I got nothing to write about all the you know, remember what Roth IRAs? Like there's tons of blogs out there about that. And what it was is because I, at the time still wasn't willing to admit that No, I'm not aren't doing the old way. That's why I left the old way, I have a new idea, I need to lean into that and be who I am in, which is basically the opposite of what the traditional methods are. So when I got inspired by the rows, because look what you have created, just from solving that problem, and then as I as I narrow down, you know what it is I can offer uniquely different in the voice started to come and go, now I've written four books, and I got another one coming out here soon. And some I don't know, if anybody read a couple of them, it didn't matter, I just had to get the ideas out of my head. And that's why I think one of the best ways to get out of the imposter syndrome method is you have to learn to communicate, like all businesses, at some point, you're going to need to communicate a message of why you're different. And if you're not willing to figure that out, took me years to figure out how I was different. But I was willing to seek it. And that takes time of getting a lot of those knows that didn't work. That didn't work that worked. That didn't work out. Well, that worked. Oh, okay. Well, this guy gave me some feedback. Or he asked me a question nobody had asked before. And I had a good answer for him. And they said, Thank you talk about it, write about it, we've got to build the skill set of communication. So writing speaking video, it's easier than ever, look what we're doing right now. Like you can get stuff on Amazon, you know, no matter what it is you're selling, you got to find a way to be able to communicate it. Otherwise, it's just going to take longer, but like me, it took way too long, because I wasn't willing to try for a while. But because I stuck out it eventually it just manifested. Like, eventually, you just you just learned so much about your audience, again, whom you're meant to serve, and only meant to serve, like, who fills you up when they go, Oh, thank you, right? Versus someone's like, Well, what about this? What about that, just stop dealing with those people. Like you don't have to be all things to all people anymore. And the more that you just be yourself, and you know, learn how to communicate what's important to you about what you do best. There's enough people out there, they're good, they're your they're gonna find you.

Stephanie Brown: 42:11

People are drawn to people who are authentic, you know, not to overuse a term or word that in a year all the time, but it's true. People are drawn to those that are honest and authentic, you can always some of us. Yeah, the older you get, I think, you know, hopefully, the easier it is to identify early on those that aren't right, they're in it for themselves, or they're, you know, their purpose is very different than yours. So, but people are drawn to that. And not everybody is going to want to work with you, or purchase your product or your service. And that's okay, you can't It's literally impossible to be everything to everybody. And I think the sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll determine who your business is really for. And always listen to your customers, some customers, you have your you may learn, Hey, I can't I'm spending more time and effort keeping this person as a customer, that I would going out and finding five more customers. But it's typically the energy and effort that you spend in keeping a customer is a lot cheaper than going out and trying to find five more. But so you know, it's it's just such a great journey. I'll tell you what we touch on in the very first module. Now, Scott is what you talked about, right? Because we want folks to identify really, from the get go. And again, even if you have an existing business, in fact, some of the folks that have businesses go I don't Can I skip that one? I don't really think I need that. And I said, No, you will need this one, this module and what we're going to cover, right, more than you'll need the others. And we'll talk after you go through all of that you come back to me and you tell me whether I was right or wrong. But it is that you know, what drives you what what is your why why are you doing this? Why are you doing it forward in a trying to figure that out because if you know that then when you do hit those roadblocks, it's a lot easier to go through them or around them. Okay. And and we've had people come and go through that they knew exactly what they wanted to do. And lo and behold, you know, halfway through they they have an epiphany and realize this is not what I want to do. I want to completely change my business model. And they completely shift from you know, doing this to doing that they still want to be their own boss. But going through the process has opened something up that they realize, whoa, you know, I don't want to design stationery. I want to be an author, things like that. So,

Jen Amos: 44:57

I do recall like in some of the interviews we've had I'm here at holding down the fort. People say, I came in with one business, I came out with another. So you, I could definitely confirm that with the guests we've had on our show.

Scott R. Tucker: 45:10

Well, I mean, that was my experience as well. Because even when I was going out on my own, I created that first website, I thought I was still trying to be a traditional financial advisor. And once I recognize like now that already exists, there's one of those in every corner, or a financial coach or someone just sharing standard financial knowledge. So this is also something that can stop people, what would happen to me is, the more I would address what it is I do best and was unique and four was unique, the more the haters would come, those are the people who were doing it the traditional way. I mean, they would write me Facebook, comment, Aido, Facebook, direct messages, send me emails, we don't like what you're doing. We think this is the wrong way. You shouldn't be telling military and veterans this. And I was like, I wouldn't respond. And frankly, I would take it very personally. But I would ignore it. And eventually, it would just kind of go away. Because I realized, you guys are just trying to be like everybody else. That's not entrepreneurship in the traditional sense, this, maybe it's a business or whatever. But you know, it's not for everybody, you're you're trying to give everybody and this is the problem with general guidance for the military communities is just saying no, at all needs to look the same for everybody. Well, that leads to mediocrity. Not everybody getting out of the military wants to be treated the same. Some of them, it's, you know, maybe it's only 1% of our community. But can you serve that 1% Find your 1% that somebody else isn't serving, right don't get dissuade by the people who don't like things going against the grain from the way they do it in little groups, like that's where real opportunity to grow exists. And so that's so true, that that's what's happened for us. And, you know, I laugh at those experiences now. Because I, I see where those people are, and they're still doing the same old thing.

Stephanie Brown: 47:07

They're still doing the same old thing. Exactly. And I think, you know, if you you're absolutely right, it's, it's just part of that is once you find that, you enjoy what you're doing a lot more to write, because you know, you're doing what is right for you, and that there are people out there that you're helping. And that you know that at the end of the day is, I think, the greatest feeling, it's always nice when you get a check to but it is the greatest feeling when you feel good about what you're doing. Because you know, you're providing value to other people that they're willing to pay for. Yeah, that's that.

Scott R. Tucker: 47:47

For me, the big thing about getting the check that was a big lesson learned was not expected to come every two weeks. Like what if it takes two years, but it's a bigger paycheck? Can you give yourself that opportunity to find the right person to serve who's going to translate it to something where one it might be a bigger paycheck, and it feels better, it's just not on the standard timeline that we were kind of brainwashed into how things are supposed to work, you know, the traditional every two weeks, you get a paycheck or and you're las like, that's not how the world works. Like all these businesses that exist in America, we're the capitalist country, you know, because it's such a small percentage of people who are business owners, unless we grew up with parents that were business owners, we just don't even know it exists. But it's an archery shop, you go to every time you get gas, that gets all businesses, somebody started at once. And there's no better country in the world to do it. And being related to the military community and doing it with all these resources, the Pat's on the back, that we have going for the extra benefits you can get when it comes to things like loans or whatever, like we just have so much going for you. Again, it's not for everybody. That to me, is for you. Yeah,

Stephanie Brown: 49:04

we are a very loyal community. Unlike any other community out there. And I've read about it, I've researched it. I've surveyed and interviewed on this on this particular topic. So it's true, you already have a built in network to a certain extent, you already have a built in network. So you know finding it again, when you when you get those bad messages and those you know push downs for whatever their motives may be. They don't really matter. But you need somebody to kind of do a check. That's what you have your trusted group for Hey, Hey, Scott. I just thought somebody just direct messaged me and said, you know, why should I do service to CEO there's this that and the other thing are we doing it right? I just need that kind of affirmation, because we're all human. That's what you build that network and that have that tea In for and you know, because it's the ones that pick you back up that help pick you up because it's again, not how many times you fail. It's how many times you pick yourself up from failing, because we're all going to fall believe me even word right? Yeah, fall forward fall what you know, but even I have had, we've had months where I had to, you know, over the years where I've had to turn to the team go look, times are hard, we've got money coming in, but it's, it's going to be 6090 days until it hits. I'm giving you the choice, you know, do you want to hang in there and get back pain or, and there's no worse conversation meant no work old staff to having people depend on you, boy, why am gray hair. But if you build a phenomenal team of people, it's an extraordinary feeling to and they're in it because they love the community as much as you do. But you know, you're gonna fail, you're going to mess up, you're going to make bad decisions. But it's building that network of people that care and that are going to be honest with you and want to see you succeed will help you get through those times. I get asked that a lot. So that's why I say don't go through it alone. You don't have to, you know, you have incredible people in Scott, you know, you went through the early version of the program. And then when we set up the online mentoring, mentor matching, you raised your hand, you're like, oh, yeah, I'm on I'm on board, I'll be a mentor. I mean, if you can build an organization and a network where you have people like Scott and Jen, Google, what do you need? What do you need, I'm here, then you're successful. So I encourage people to keep them.

Jen Amos: 51:37

And, you know, this is why we're so grateful to have this partnership with the Rosie network and our company and the show will not afford because this is our way of giving back, you know, to everything that you've given us. So, you know, we're just incredibly appreciative. And we hope that, you know, the entrepreneurs are on the show, end up getting more exposure out there because of this show. And again, it's just our way of paying it forward, you know, to everything that you and your team has done for us. Well,

Stephanie Brown: 52:06

it's we're in it together.

Scott R. Tucker: 52:08

So one thing we learned, we learned how to do the marketing, like, oh, okay, we're good at this now. Like, I'm happy to share, like, the more that we can help each other helps everybody. I've

Jen Amos: 52:18

had plenty of like, numerous conversations with the guests who just asked about podcasting are marketing advice. And I'm always more than happy to share, because I'm like, you know, at this point, it comes naturally to me, and I don't realize how much I know until people are so fascinated by what we've been able to produce. And I'm like, Well, I'm more than happy to share. Because you're a business owner, you want to get your name out there, I know that if I share this with you, you will likely do something with it, versus someone who's just trying to pick my brain, you know, outside of the Rosi network, and a lot of times they don't end up doing anything with it, which is, you know, a waste of my breath whenever I'm in those situations. But anyway, we are over the hour. And I just want to make sure I respect everyone's time. Stephanie, I just wanted to check in with you any final parting message you want to share? You know, with holding on the Fords, maybe with the entrepreneurs, the graduates who've been through our show? Or, you know, just to us in general?

Stephanie Brown: 53:17

Yeah, and I love the fact that that we're telling you guys through you with you, we're telling these stories, right? Because it's really not, it's not about Stephanie's story. It's really not even about the Rosie network story. Our story is the stories of all these entrepreneurs, all these, you know, transitioning service members and veterans and military spouses and now even military kids through our military kids. Yeah,

Scott R. Tucker: 53:45

it's cool. That's amazing. Even on LinkedIn all the time. I'm like, Oh, wow. Oh,

Stephanie Brown: 53:49

I can tell you. It's one of the funnest things I think I've ever done. In fact, they don't even let me in on the classes anymore. Because again, stop giggling. Because they're all so cute. They're also cute. And I love them. They're like, they're entrepreneurs in their own right. But in my mind, I keep I keep seeing, you know, my boys at that age. And I'm like, they're so cute. They're so smart. They know, way more, way more than I did at that age. Yeah, you know, so be a part of the community. If I would just encourage anybody listening if you don't want to be an entrepreneur, but you you're an accountant, or you're you're really good with the tax code or whatever and you want to share of your time and talent, and treasure. We're a nonprofit, everything goes back into our program within but you know, reach out and connect with us. Because, you know, our entrepreneurs are need you to begin. They need you to they need. We need mentors. We need subject matter experts. We need advocates and ambassadors. I mean, this is I like to say just imagine how our community of military entrepreneurs would be impacted if every one of us as military community members made a commitment to buy, or hire a veteran or a military spouse, small business, just imagine if we alone, just our community in the whatever how many veterans are out there in the US, what is it 21 million or something? Sounds Imagine if our community made that commitment to our small business owners and budding entrepreneurs, it would be a game changer, an absolute game changer. So, you know, think about that. If you're listening in, take the leap. Don't be afraid you're not alone. Join the Rosi network, we're here for you. We become your family. We got your six, right. And if you want to listen to other entrepreneurs and their stories, you know, follow Jan and Scott, right? Sign up for this podcast. Because Jen interviews our entrepreneurs all the time, when you're going to learn something from each and every one of those interviews, I promise you can donate your time, donate your expertise, give back because like I said, it comes back to you tenfold. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. You guys are like family for how many years ago we started this crazy thing together and give sugi our you know, unofficial Rosie network mascot. A big hug and a sloppy kiss. And hopefully this year, we'll have an opportunity to see each other in person. Yeah,

Scott R. Tucker: 56:28

it says we're looking forward to it.

Jen Amos: 56:29

Yeah. Well, thank you, Stephanie. And Alright, so let's go ahead and shift gears. One thing that we are proud to say is that we have worked with Stephanie here at our company at US vet wealth. And Stephanie is very passionate to talk against a particular benefit in the military. And I'll just let her open up and share her story about that. And Scott, feel free to add along after well,

Stephanie Brown: 56:54

my late husband served over 30 years active duty in the Navy. And he was an officer retired as a Rear Admiral. I raised the kids I started you know, an organization, I supported his career, etc, etc. And to be honest, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to our finances, I let you know my husband take care of that for the most part. So when Tom was facing retirement, and he went to Capstone, he did it for I think it was two or three days in a row, and you would come back and I'd say, Okay, what do I need to know? And he said, Stephanie, I can't even remember anything during Capstone, because it was like drinking from a firehose. So one of the you know, we're talking about our finances will how or what what will you make, as you know, retirement pay, how much he was 100%, permanently disabled? How much of that is going to be disability? How much are we going to pay in taxes, all those kinds of questions, life insurance, setting money aside for our kids to go to college, all of that those were the questions that we were facing, you know, where are we going to get medical care, dental care that? And it just was overwhelming. It was overwhelming. And neither one of us were you know, I mean, yeah, Tom invested our money. But neither one of us were financial planners. Neither one of us. You know, I certainly certainly didn't know the difference between buying stock and bonds, investing in bonds. I had no clue. And then suddenly, so, you know, one of the things that, you know, Tom said, well, well, you know, the military offers this Survivor Benefit Plan SBP. And they'll take it out of the paycheck, and, you know, so on and so forth. And this is what you'll get. And because we were overwhelmed, and we didn't know what we were doing, and we really didn't have the time, we were trying to deal with so many other things moving home, the house, the kids, we got sucked into that, oh, it's easy. It's the easy decision, not knowing that once you pass a certain timeframe, you can't cancel, you can't cancel. First of all, you're in it. That's it. And we were paying over $600 a month, for SBP over $600 a month for SVP, and then you let the time lapse, which goes just like that, and you don't cancel it, right, or you change your mind you find something better, you're stuck. You're stuck paying that money and up for us again, over $600 a month. So and then later, when I had an opportunity and sat down with Scott and you know, we're talking about well, what do you have and what do you need and asking all the smart questions and really making a sit down and sort of figure it out. I realized that this was crazy. This was crazy. I could have bought a first of all, I could have bought any kind of life insurance policy for a fraction of that price. And not be dealing Three years later, you know, after Tom passes away with trying to get the Survivor Benefit money trying to get the SBP money in it has been for me personally, it's just been kind of a nightmare. And, you know, I realized there are others that don't have that excuse. Arias guy, I hope you don't. But I would tell you that if you have a chance to sit down with someone who is really familiar, they're not anti SVP, but know the difference, know what SVP is, if you pay for SBP, which like I said, you can choose it when you retire. And then you know, if you don't watch the clock, and you don't cancel before a certain period of time, you're stuck, you can't get out of it. So no be going to it with eyes open. And if you can sit with someone like Scott, like chin, who can go, this is the benefit of SBP. This is how old you are, this is your, you know, your health. This is your you know, maybe your life expectancy. And you know, if your service member passes, God forbid, before you do, then this is how much you can expect to receive for the money that you've put into it. We put in over $50,000 into our SBP when Tom passed away over $50,000. So I think God, what could I have done with that 50,000 That would have put me in a much better financial position now as a single mom, than, you know, where I am right now with the SVP. So my advice is just get educated go to somebody you that you trust, I trust Scott, and Jen, that's me, I would go, here's my checkbook, here's every penny, I have do the right thing. And I know that they would do the right thing. So if you're lucky enough to have somebody like that in your life, then you're pretty darn lucky. But just get educated find out what the alternatives are. Just because the DoD is offering it does not mean it's the best solution for you. I don't know how more simply, I can put it. And in my case, and since what happened to me, I started doing research and reading my case is far more common than one might think I've read some absolute horror stories. So just saying, you know, that 50,000 What I could have done with that in a myriad of other ways to put that money aside and make that money work for me, that would have put me in a better financial situation than I am now. Because we don't get Tom's retirement pay. Without that, you know, Tom's income, additional income and earning were without that. So now I have, you know, a kid in college, and one that's out on his own, but not quite at that point where you can totally support himself. And I'm at, you know, in my 60s, literally at this point living pretty close to paycheck to paycheck. And that just is not I don't think Tom would have been very happy with that were the case. So get the truth, get the good, the bad and the ugly. And find out what your alternatives are.

Scott R. Tucker: 1:03:00

That obviously breaks our heart to hear what you're dealing with and that so many others are. But if it's and unfortunately, what do we expect the you know that how many times they screw up your PCs orders, you know us during those 11 moves like it unfortunately, it's also nobody's fault. It's not your fault. It's not Thomas fault, you didn't know about it? Because it just gets dropped in your lap. I mean, we've been at it. How many deployments have service members been on over the last 20 years of time to think about our benefits, it's the words benefit, the assumption is it's going to be beneficial. But that's not exactly how it works.

Stephanie Brown: 1:03:35

Right. And Scott, I think that for me, it was the fine print. In fact, it's not even fine print that's actually put in print. If you don't know what you don't know, about SPP that, you know, may or may not even be I don't even remember, you know, since this happened, going back and reading all the you know, old forms and having to go through Tom's records and stuff like that. That it it was ever made clear. And you as a spouse, you know, not every not all of us, but some of us. I certainly did. I expected and relied on Tom to do the DoD paperwork. I had first of all, no one at the DoD after we signed up for SPP ever reached out to me and said Hey, did you know that if you don't new X within a certain period of time and the deadline passes, you're in you know, you're kind of screwed. Nobody ever reached out to me while I was a spouse or while I was you know, or after Tom passed or before Tom passed, nobody reached out and yet I come to find out that the reason they can say hey, sorry it's not our fault you guys didn't you didn't do this. Well, he's he's gone. He's he's passed away. Well You could have done it, really? I just the spouse could have done it. What are you talking about? How about I mean, nobody told me that. So I'm telling you it, it just felt like it was set up in a way that made it too easy for things to go wrong. And for them, you know, to make it difficult. So unfortunately, in my humble opinion, it's not written in a way that that has our six, like your husband served 30 years, he is 100%, permanently disabled, we spent two years in and out of hospital. But don't you worry, we got your six, if something happens, we got you covered. No, it was, oh, you goofed up, even though they took our pay, they took the money out of his retirement pay you, you can bet they did that. It just it was very disappointing. And I think that, you know, maybe it's great for some people. But honestly, like I said, I could have taken that over $50,000 and put it somewhere else that would have set us up financially, a lot better than SPP. And

Scott R. Tucker: 1:06:14

sadly, when it comes to military finance, when they say all mistake was made, that's that, the only thing we can do is take a lesson learned and try to pass it forward for others to try to avoid the mistake. So we appreciate you sharing your difficult story, and hope it just helps others just be more aware that, you know, your military pay and benefits aren't necessarily just an obvious thing, regardless of how much you serve, I mean, they're willing to just send you off to some foreign country, on a whim, like, you know, the, you know, it's just somebody's job, you know, at D fast at the defense, finance and accountability service. It's just somebody's job, they're just doing their day to day job. And it sounds like they know who you are, or care about you individually. So we take this to heart to realize most of the information on this our government or veterans websites, it's very dry, you know, even if you tried to dig into it, what are you going to be able to understand and even prefer, see the various circumstances that may come up? I mean, you're talking about situations that might have been 1015 years after you retire, after you've already paid, you know, $50,000. I mean, for someone who has time

Stephanie Brown: 1:07:33

limit, they put a time limit, it almost felt like there were all these little caveats that are buried in there, that while you're, you know, you may be dealing with a family tragedy, or whatever, an illness or something like that, that, you know, put they put it, you know, this little loophole and with a deadline, and you don't, you know, that is not having a service member or military families back, you know, if you're paying, I mean, it just isn't in my mind at this. I'm sure I'll get the, the Hey, direct messages, but bring them on. And, you know, all I'm saying is, is educate yourself and find out what the alternatives. The other options are. I wish that we had made the time to do that. And, you know, things would be very, very different for our family right now we are, we are still three years later fighting it. So, but educate yourself. And you know, if the knowledge is free, and you find somebody that you can trust, who's not going to paint it, you know, one way or the other, who's just gonna go, here are the facts. Given your situation, these are the things to consider. Absolutely, please do it. Please do it.

Scott R. Tucker: 1:08:50

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing Stephanie. I mean, the SPP. Is there for everyone as a benefit because you served or at least that's the assumption for the risk that you couldn't qualify for something else. So that private marketplace. Again, when you're leaving the military, you're now a private citizen. Again, you aren't required to rely on the government benefits or government programs or orders you don't have to. That's our motto, it's time to stop following orders. Doesn't mean you can't you can if it's a good fit, but at least know the various benefits. Thank you for sharing that message spot on. Yes, thank you so much.