By Carolyn Gray Anderson
Cynthia Reeves acknowledges the uncertainty she felt when she was medically retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2014, a process that took about two and a half years after she was medevac’d out of Iraq. “I wasn’t sure physically or mentally where I was going to be,” Reeves says. “I had expected a whole different life than what I was living.”
Reeves trained as a meteorologist in the military and eventually “taught weather” at a large training school in Mississippi. The New Mexico native had, like anyone who’s been in the service for 14 years, moved around quite a bit — to South Carolina originally, with four years in the interior of Alaska, then on to Mississippi, eventually landing in Tucson, Arizona. With no background or schooling in real estate, she moved entirely outside her comfort zone and partnered with an architect to develop a four-unit building as an income property.
It may be a lucky thing for Reeves that deal after deal fell through, because while attending a small business conference for veterans, she learned from a fellow participant about UCLA Anderson’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities. She researched the program and knew instinctively that it would help her determine the feasibility of her enterprise.
What she expected to be helpful about EBV, like basic small business tenets and lessons in entrepreneurial agility, have surpassed her expectations. But she has been treated to wholly unexpected elements as well, like introductions to successful real estate professionals and a benefits briefing that surprised everyone in the EBV group. Instructor Janet Steveley from Griffin-Hammis Associates offered a primer on benefits specific to launching businesses that Reeves and her classmates never knew existed. “She didn’t bring up the usual things we all know about. She told us about ways of getting grants or getting equipment paid for.”
This knowledge inspired Reeves, within her first couple of days on campus, to confer with her fiancé about launching two businesses at once — and they are now set to purchase a restaurant near their home in Arizona.
“The lofts will be my golden goose,” says Reeves, who plans to be fiscally conservative until her loan is paid off but will still be donating 10 percent of her profits to various charities, like autism causes or the Wounded Warrior Project. “These things have helped shape my life,” she explains. Of the restaurant she says, “I think the restaurant is going to be our lifestyle business — to get my kids involved, teach them a good work ethic.
“EBV validated my wanting to be in business for myself. It validated everything that I’m thinking. I feel like I’m going to be able to do this.”
Reeves places a premium on learning alongside other veterans and doesn’t feel competitive in what some might imagine is a finite pool. “There’s enough room for all of us to make it. The more of us who make it, the better we can educate other people about veterans’ issues.”
Cynthia, nice meeting you my fellow Airman. I look forward to continuing the journey of support and encouragement with you.
Continued Blessings,
Chris
Posted by: Chris Underwood | 07/17/2015 at 05:23 PM