Editorial · April 3, 2016
Boots to Business: A Course for Service Members
Boots to Business is a free course for service members who are leaving the military and want to explore business ownership or other self-employment. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers it as an optional track in the Defense Department's Transition Assistance Program (TAP). It has two main steps: a two-day class on a military base, then an optional eight-week online course. Spouses can take part too.
Who can take it, and what it costs
The course is built for service members who are leaving or retiring. SBA's FAQ says it fits all pay grades, enlisted and officer. It also fits military spouses. Some people come after a first service commitment. Others come after a full career.
The course offered through TAP is free. The FAQ says there is no cost to take part, and it calls the course free at participating installations. The program's website (boots2business.org) adds that no part of the track has registration fees or tuition. It also says service members get the textbooks and resources they need to finish.
Veterans who have already left the service can take a version called Boots to Business Reboot. SBA announced it in June 2014, with events planned in 12 cities. SBA said Reboot would adapt the Boots to Business curriculum, which was developed for service members leaving the military. The program's Reboot page says the first step is open to veterans of all eras, service members including the National Guard and Reserves, and spouses. That page does not say whether Reboot costs anything.
What the two-day class covers
A video in the mandatory five-day TAP course introduces entrepreneurship as a career after service, SBA's FAQ says. The program's website puts the video at 10 minutes and says all service members attending see it. The two-day class, called Introduction to Entrepreneurship, is for those who want to learn more. Experts from SBA and its partner groups teach it on military bases. The FAQ says only SBA staff and partners teach it.
In class, students learn business basics and ways to test whether an idea can work. The website says the class guides each student through a first feasibility check of their own business concept. Our editors suggest arriving with an idea to test.
The program's Reboot page describes the version SBA adapted from this curriculum. It says that two-day program covers:
- an overview of business ownership as a career
- an outline and knowledge of the parts of a business plan
- a practical exercise in spotting an opportunity
- an introduction to public and private resources
The program also connects students to SBA's network of resource partners. They include Veterans Business Outreach Centers, Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers and SCORE.
The eight-week online course
Students who finish the two-day class can sign up for Foundations of Entrepreneurship. Professors from a group of accredited universities teach it online. Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) leads the group. SBA says the course gives in-depth lessons on the parts of a business plan, plus tips and techniques for starting a business.
The online course builds on the class. The FAQ says students get registration details when the two-day class ends. The program's website says the class instructor provides a login and password to register for the online course. It says finishing the course takes about 10 hours of study a week, and the FAQ says a minimum of 10. Students work through the basics of a business plan they can act on.
SBA says that after completing Boots to Business, participants will have the tools and knowledge they need to identify a business opportunity, draft a business plan and launch their enterprise.
How to sign up
Start at the transition office on your base. SBA's program page tells service members to register there. It links to pages for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard to help you find yours. The FAQ also says to talk with your TAP coordinator or career advisor. The program's website names a local SBA district office as another place to start. Veterans register for Reboot through the program's Reboot page.
SBA's page lists classes by base and date, across two pages of results. On March 4 the first page showed 78 upcoming two-day classes, from March 7 through April 27, and 42 of them were in April. If you cannot get to an in-person class, SBA says Boots to Business is available online through Joint Knowledge Online. Questions can go to [email protected].
How the course began
The course began as a pilot called Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup. Here is how it grew.
- July 12, 2012: SBA and Marine Corps officials announce a pilot planned for Quantico, Cherry Point, Camp Pendleton and Twenty-Nine Palms.
- 2013: SBA expands it to military installations across the country.
- 2014: the federal budget funds it for the first time, so it can run more often and reach bases overseas.
- April 2015: SBA reports that the program had trained 25,000 transitioning service members and was on more than 165 military installations worldwide.
SBA's FAQ says the Defense Department launched a revised TAP in 2012, and that part of it is a curriculum called Transition GPS. Congress made parts of TAP mandatory in the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, with limited exceptions. The business track is one of three optional tracks. The others focus on higher education and technical or vocational training.
After the course
Boots to Business is an education and training program, the FAQ says. It introduces students to SBA resources that can help them access start-up capital. The FAQ adds that a business plan is normally required to be considered for lending and other financing programs.
After the course, SBA's resource partners offer continued training and mentoring, the FAQ says. It adds that they already train more than 100,000 veterans every year, many of them transitioning service members.