Army veteran's organization Helmets to Boots helps veterans launch and grow businesses

Jeremy Walker says his more than 20 years in the U.S. Army taught him to be flexible and proactive. Those skills, he says, are crucial as a business owner. 

"I'm a project manager and a program manager," Walker said. "That's really the baseline of what we do. And micro-macroeconomics, which is what the military is, it's all business. Now you just changed the uniform to a suit, and it's the same concepts."

After retiring from the army in 2016, Walker launched Helmets to Boots. The organization educates veterans about underutilized resources and opportunities. Walker supports them through work-readiness programs and educational workshops.

The organization says it has mentored more than 250 veteran-owned businesses, including Shawn Kelley's brand. Kelley is a U.S. Air Force Reserve veteran with an IT cybersecurity firm.

Kelley says the workshop taught him about opportunities through the Small Business Administration.

"Coming up in the military, pretty much every day of your life, you're told where to go, when to do it, how to do it," Kelley said. "Entrepreneurship, there isn't a lot of that. It's a lot of kind of free-falling. It's a lot of failing, hopefully upward. It's a lot of kind of figuring it out on the go. So we have that skillset. But there's always a lot of structure around it. This kind of builds the structure that we need."

Helmets to Boots also holds receptions to give veterans a space to connect and build relationships.

Troy Cobb is the president of the Metro-Atlanta Veterans' Chamber of Commerce.

"It's great for me because I'm usually on the north side of the city. This brings me down to the south side of the city. So I meet a whole lot more people, faces I don't see every day," Cobb said. 

Walker hopes his students apply what they've learned to get ahead. 

"Start networking," Walker said. "Don't be afraid of who's ever in the room. Make sure you've got your cards."

They're tips that any aspiring entrepreneur can learn from.