Our Business Mastermind is off to a flying start since launching a few months ago and we will bring a 2nd group of 12 members online in September. If you’re thinking about starting a business or if you’ve already started a business and want to make some serious progress… then the mastermind group is where you want to be.
Here is the recap from this month’s meeting:
Meeting Topic: Raising Capital
Our topic this month was “Raising Capital.” Bill Militello (USNA ‘92) joined us on the call. Bill is the Founder of Militello Capital and LocalVest. Militello Capital is a team of veteran entrepreneurs who invest capital in joint ventures with a select group of highly successful private equity and real estate operators. LocalVest.com is a community for accredited investors to discover, research, and discuss private investments with knowledgeable investment professionals.
Bill shared:
- His lessons learned from raising capital over the last 15+ years
- How he recently raised $1.1M in only 11 days
- Best practices for approaching potential investors
He also answered lots of great questions from our members who are raising capital for the businesses.
To further multiply the value of each call, each of our members are challenged with sharing a problem or solution with the group.
- Utilizing the local Veteran’s Business Outreach Center (VBOC) which is part of the Small Business Administration. The VBOC offers free or low-cost training and educational and support services to small businesses that are starting and looking to grow.
- Use of Wix.com for building a website. Wix.com has been a good platform that is easy to use for designing and building the websites and has helped a member get his first website up and running.
- Using Speare.com as an online “thought processor” tool to create building blocks of content. You are able to move the blocks to help organize your thoughts and then compile your content. It can be used to collaborate with team members.
These are some solutions our members have discovered recently to accelerate their progress. The value created during these calls is amazing and we had lots of fun learning and sharing.
Member Spotlight
Our Business Mastermind member in the spotlight for the month of August is David Wuensch!
David graduated from West Point in ’77 and served seven years in the Army as a Field Artillery Officer, Fire Support Team Leader, Battery Fire Direction Officer, Battalion Fire Support Officer, Battalion Special Weapons Officer, Battalion Fire Direction Officer, Battery Executive Officer and Battery Commander. He served with the 1st Armored Division near Nurnberg, Germany and with the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division at Fort Campbell, KY. He loved Gunnery and his favorite job was . being a Battalion Fire Direction Officer.
As the owner of EPOCH Sales Management Solutions, he works with small B2B business owners with 10-50 employees who struggle with hiring the right sales people and do not have repeatable sales processes in place. He helps them develop sales professionals and selling processes to increase those new opportunities 25-35% in 90-180 days. He recently helped one client triple their business!
Congratulations to David for earning this month’s member in the spotlight!
Want to join us?
Our first mastermind group is fully reserved, but we are bringing a 2ndgroup online in September. Group sizes are limited to 12 people to optimize the experience for everyone at the meeting.
If you would like to join the group, please visit our Mastermind Page to learn more.
What would a single game-changing strategy, connection or piece of advice be worth for you and your business? And how fast would a group like this be able to speed up your progress?
Let’s find out!
-Scott Mackes, USNA ’01
