No matter your chosen profession in life, things can come to an end when you least expect it. Never is this more true than in the case of veterans, who may find themselves out of a job due to injury or age or simply due to having served their country for many years and suddenly feeling like it’s time to take on a new challenge. But what to do with your new lease on life? Many veterans choose the route of self-employment because working in any business hierarchy when you have a military background can be a bizarre transition — leadership in business isn’t always reliable or accountable and teammates may not be committed. Becoming a business owner is a common solution.
Before we begin, you should know that you can call a lawyer if you have a disability related to your time in the military.
Show people around
If you live in an interesting area with a high turnover in terms of tourism numbers, you may wish to become a self-employed tour guide – or certainly, you may wish to run a tour guide company. For relatively little start-up costs, you could be the proud owner of an open top minibus, a website, and flyers. Sure, there are insurance matters to get to grips with and you’re going to need to look into accreditation, but as money-making businesses go, tourism services will always find customers.
Become a firearms trainer
As an ex-service member, your skills and qualifications in the safe handling of firearms can be put to good use in teaching others. How to use, store, and look after firearms is a much needed skill. To do this, you will need to become a certified instructor. Starting your own firing range will also require land and real estate … all costs to consider.
Personal protection services
Many ex-military and ex-police service personnel choose to go into personal protection services. This work can be fulfilled part-time as you will largely be working from home, working for high-profile clients who visit your town or city (for example, singers or entertainers performing at a local venue). This kind of work could also see you taking on extra staff and becoming a renowned security service. There are all the usual permits required to start such a business, but the short learning curve in adapting your expertise is an attractive fast-start prospect.
