Evan Vitale Consulting: Program for disabled vets helped launch ex-Marine's business

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Program for disabled vets helped launch ex-Marine's business – Dallas Morning News

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none/John Raftery

John Raftery learned that some of his Marine skills translated to business.

A small business training program for disabled veterans served as a launching pad for John Raftery’s foray into entrepreneurship.

It’s been seven years since Raftery, CEO of Patriot Contractors in Ellis County, attended the inaugural Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans With Disabilities in Syracuse, N.Y.

Today, looking back on the experience, the 35-year-old Raftery can’t help but promote the boot camp and other programs that help military veterans get started in business.

For him, the timing was perfect. After leaving the military in 2003, he kicked around in a mishmash of jobs to make ends meet, from mowing lawns to working in a video store. He ended up in college, working on an accounting degree while also working for a health care corporation. That’s when he got the EBV invitation.

“I came back with a confidence where I knew I could do this, and I did — quickly,” he said. EBV started with an online component and culminated in a nine-day intensive education program at Syracuse University.

The program is offered at eight universities, including Texas A&M University, and has graduated more than 700 participants. Darla Booker, a spokeswoman with the Small Business Administration, which offers the program in partnership with the universities, said 106 military service members from Texas have been through the program along with 17 family members of Texas veterans.

Raftery, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from the Iraq war, said the EBV program helped him see that the skills he learned while in the Marines — leading under stressful situations; problem-solving to accomplish a mission, sometimes with few resources — would translate into the business world.

Raftery and a business partner launched a materials handling company shortly after he returned from the EBV training. His business partner left the business not long afterward, and Raftery has taken the company in a new direction, focusing on interior specialty construction: finish-outs that include installing bathroom accessories, entryway flooring and projection screens. His clients have included military bases, Veterans Affairs hospitals, Dallas Love Field and Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.

Two years ago, Raftery won accolades for making it onto the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies, with annual revenue of $5.3 million. His company clocked in at No. 106 with 2,826 percent annual sales growth, making it the sixth-fastest-growing business in the Dallas region that year, according to Inc.

Raftery, who has three children under the age of 10, said he’s learned that expanding the bottom line isn’t the end-all for entrepreneurs. His wife, Michelle, helps out at the business twice a week.

“You can get so focused on being big and bringing in revenue, and then you look at your bottom line and say, ‘What was it all for?’”

Instead, he said, his goal is to run an efficient business while providing quality work.

Texas opportunities are plentiful for veterans who seize on a good business idea, said Jim Reid, president of Momentum Texas Inc., a Dallas nonprofit that helps veterans start new businesses, gain job training and raise capital.

“I think the biggest challenge [for veterans] is defining a market concept that people are going to respond to,” he said. “If there is no demand for your services, then you have a hobby, not a business.”

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