Last month we launched our Business Accelerator, a supportive program for Academy grads who are building businesses. If you’re thinking of starting a business or if you’ve already started a business and want to make some serious progress… then our Business Accelerator is where you want to be.
Here is the recap from this month’s meeting:
Meeting Topic: How to Build a Strong Brand (and protect it)
Our topic this month was “How to Build a Strong Brand (and protect it).” Justus Getty, USNA ‘04, joined us on the call. Justus is an attorney with Duane Morris LLP, an AmLaw100 firm with more than 800 attorneys in offices across the globe. His work is primarily focused on the acquisition, enforcement, and licensing of patents and trademarks. His practice is also focused on startups, entrepreneurs, and early stage companies. He has worked with more than 40 startup companies to protect their Intellectual property to position them more competitively in the marketplace.
Justus shared:
- The 3 criteria that make a strong trademark
- The common pitfalls to avoid when building a brand
- How to utilize the USPTO database to avoid potential trademark infringements
He also answered lots of great questions from our members who are starting companies. What an incredible opportunity to learn about best practices for building and protecting a brand.
Solutions & Hacks
To further multiply the value of each call, each of our members are challenged with sharing a problem or solution with the group.
Here are some of the solutions that our members shared on this month’s call:
- How to create a whiteboard animation video (and have the script written) for under $200. This is a great marketing tool for a website homepage, sales page, or social media ad.
- How to utilize Web Merge to easily merge data into custom-built documents. This puts a hard stop on manual entry and streamlines the paperwork process to save hours of time when onboarding clients. This tool helped one member reduce the time for onboarding clients from 2 hours to just a few minutes.
- How to utilize Rocket Reach to connect directly with the right decision makers, using the world’s largest and most accurate database of emails and direct dials. This tool helped a member land a meeting with an important prospect.
- Best practices to generate leads with LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This service allows you to sort the LinkedIn database to easily find potential clients.
These are some great hacks our members have discovered to make and or save thousands of dollars in their businesses. The value created during these calls is immeasurable. It took me a few days to process all the content. We even had an SABM team member join the call to take notes and keep track of everything. This was a remarkable experience for all of us.
Member Spotlight
Our Business Accelerator member in the spotlight for the month of July is Ryan Martin!
Ryan was a Medical Science Major with a Systems Engineering track and competed in both wresting and cheerleading at West Point. Upon graduation, he was commissioned Army Aviation and completed flight school graduating as a UH60 Black Hawk pilot in 2012 with a duty station of Ft. Carson, Colorado.
Unable to suppress his entrepreneurial spirit, he bought his first business, a retail shipping and mailbox store in 2014. He began fulfillment service in 2016 and opened a separate fulfillment warehouse in 2018. Currently, Ryan is planning to open a co-working space that offers robust 3rd party logistics, business center, and fulfillment services under the same roof in Colorado Springs, target date: November 2019. He is also side-hustling as a real estate investor with five (5) investment properties.
Ryan is creating and managing all of his businesses while still serving on active duty and currently commanding an assault helicopter company in Afghanistan.
Congratulations to Ryan for all his accomplishments and earning this month’s member in the spotlight!
Want to join us?
Our first Accelerator group is fully reserved, but we are bringing a 2nd group online in August. Group sizes are limited to 12 people to optimize the experience for everyone at the meeting.
If you would like to learn more about joining the Accelerator, please complete this form and we will respond quickly.
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!
