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Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast.
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I'm Aaron Sweitzer, publisher of the source and co-producer of the Ben Don't Break Podcast with Megan Burton.
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We have with us in studio today Keith Sherrill.
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Did I say that correctly?
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You did, Keith Sherrill.
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No.
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He is an educator, veteran, and small business advocate, making an impact here in Central Oregon.
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At Central Oregon Community College, he leads a Small Business Development Center's Small Business Management Program and has helped bring Strive, a veteran entrepreneurship training program, to the region.
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A former U.S.
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Army Ranger and Special Operations Aviator, Keith, has carried his commitment to service into entrepreneurship and education.
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In 2026, he was named a Pat Tillman Scholar in recognition of his leadership and community impact.
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He is also pursuing a PhD in community college leadership at Mississippi State University with research focused on defining and delivering the American dream.
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Thanks for being here.
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Yeah, thanks for having me.
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Thanks for the introduction.
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Have people defined the American Dream?
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I didn't know you could like dive in and get a debris.
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Yeah, so uh they have.
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It's most often attributed uh to a fella uh John Truxlow Adams, James Truxlow Adams, 1931.
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He wrote a book called The Epic of America.
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Yeah.
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Most of your Google searches, if you ask any kind of AI bot or whatever, that's where they'll lead you.
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But I I have a uh like college edition.
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This was actually a Christmas present.
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Yeah.
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Uh the the latest print of the Miriam Webster dictionary at home.
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Yeah.
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And it it traces it back to 1900, but I'm not sure what that source is.
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And there's been several folks along the way since before and kind of talked around it and gave it a a very similar definition depending on where you read it.
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You seem like an easy uh Christmas present by I shouldn't have revealed that.
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That's like one of those things I thought I'd take to my grave.
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Um good.
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Yeah, I got the dictionary.
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Handwork done.
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Um, well, what do they then?
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I'm I mean, there's a lot to talk about here, but let's stay on the American dream.
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Like and you're getting a PhD at Mississippi State?
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Yes, sir.
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And in the American Dream, in community college leadership, and and and particularly, you know, we look at the American dream.
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Uh, how do how is this relevant to my degree path?
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It's in all of that, what is the value of an education?
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Okay.
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And and the and so I don't want to put you on the spot, but can you give the brief version of what people perceive as the American dream or what is defined in that 1900, potentially 1930 definition?
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Okay.
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Uh because I've always seen it as like uh you can you can come to this country, you can rise and you have the opportunity to rise up, sure, eventually own your own domicile and have a job that will pay you a retirement.
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Yeah.
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No, I mean how'd I do?
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You did good.
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I mean, so uh obviously that there's a certain uh, and this is what I'm trying to uh kind of parse out of this, there's always an individualistic identity to this, but in the United States, it's uh it's also in the service of something larger, whether that be our own democracy, government, or communities.
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I've you know, Miriam Webster, their definition is this ideal of egalitarian, so a society of of of equals.
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Um, and more specifically, and I think this comes in the 1900s as is to do with material prosperity.
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Yeah.
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And that's not always, you know, things that you buy.
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Sometimes it's some of these services that make life a little bit easier, and you're able to pursue that.
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Um the fellow I mentioned earlier, there are several ways in which he approaches it throughout this book, The Epic of America.
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But to shorten it, it's security and self-expression.
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Okay.
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Uh that can come by way of economic opportunities.
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Uh Kennedy and A Nation of Immigrants calls it uh uh there is uh economic opportunity and personal freedom.
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Yeah.
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Uh so he parses that, but those all kind of we're all somewhat talking about the same thing.
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Yeah.
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Um and so I don't know.
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Like I'm I'm still trying to one of the things that kind of uh helped me to realize that I could go further.
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I didn't have to just say the same thing again, yeah, or maybe some use some synonyms.
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Uh in the book Epic of America, there's always this westward expansion, I think is it's easy for us to understand here in Oregon.
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Yeah.
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Uh so what do you do?
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We always think about, or I I keep reading about how why immigrants came here, why people chose to settle here, leave their native land.
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The question now, you know, we've made it, you know, C to C.
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There is no other, so why stay here?
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Or what do we do now?
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Yeah.
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You know, before if people they found that they weren't part of, you know, some Eastern aristocracy, or you know, even then, what even when you were here early, it was like, well, you weren't on the Mayflower.
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You know, but as long as you're on a covered wagon, I think you get another you get a like plus card or something like that.
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So like there's always this new group you could be in.
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Well, I came west.
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Yeah.
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Uh well, now there's nowhere to go.
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Um, and so I'm trying to figure out, you know, what does that mean now?
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Is it the same thing?
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Or you know, I feel like those people are now now they've got to go back and resettle the Midwest.
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Yeah.
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There is start parsing up that farmland, like they just now rediscover like the ocean of of wheat in Kansas and somehow make something of it.
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Maybe, you know.
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But yeah, I find I think it's fascinating, or you can just like buy into the Elon Elon Musk uh delirium and and we'll just go to Mars.
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And it sounds good, doesn't it?
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I mean, it sits right in with our dream, you know.
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It drives me nuts.
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But it is to your point, that is, you know, on that same line of of of thinking.
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Yeah, no, it gets you going.
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Yeah, yeah, regardless of what you think about about Elon and what all that other stuff.
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Um, it's it's hard not to buy into the dream.
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You listen, I mean, every time he speaks about going to Mars, I'm always like, Yeah, yeah, and and I and I'll be there.
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I'll uh you know, I could do it.
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I I can be that guy.
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What an adventure.
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You're right.
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What an adventure.
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So, well, um listening to your voice, and we didn't talk about this coming up.
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I mean, clearly you did not grow up in Bend, Oregon.
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I did not, yeah.
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I will say I liked it, it's a fun fact, and I think it's important in my own personal narrative.
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I was born in Seattle.
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Okay, uh, obviously, not a Seattle accent.
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They ripped you out of there pretty early, very early.
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Um, I grew up in Alabama, yeah, central Alabama, in it around Montgomery.
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My my dad still lives out there.
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Yeah.
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Uh so yeah, but I I joined the army really young.
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Yeah, and I've spent almost as much time outside of the South as in it.
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This this accent's here to stay, and I'll just say I like it.
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You know, I wouldn't have it any other way.
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I'm originally from Atlanta, so uh been been uh been to Alabama many times.
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I'm sure.
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Yep, yep, and uh it's a it now there's a place that could get settled.
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Yeah, a lot a lot of open space there.
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Oh, yeah, everyone's setting right, and that's why everybody's moving there right now.
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Yeah, so um what made you decide you wanted to go in the military?
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I mean, where did you get the sense of service?
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Because it seems to uh yeah, be a thread.
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Uh I don't know that it was beforehand, before all that.
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Um 9-11 happened.
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So I joined the army.
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Did you have family in service?
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Was it a big part of your upbringing, or was it something that you it turns out I I did, but I didn't hear about it until I went looking for it way after the fact, you know, that I'd had a uniform on for some time.
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Um yeah, no, it's uh 9-11 happened.
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I was a young man looking for adventure.
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You know, it's it was an adventure, kind of like selling Mars, you know, joining the army.
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Where would where would I go?
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Who would I fight?
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What would I defend?
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Yeah.
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Um, and so I joined January 28, 2002.
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Um, it was a very for someone that was still looking for kind of outside indicators of whether or not my idea was good, uh, it was a very patriotic time.
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And so when I would tell people, hey, I'm gonna join the army, no one said, uh, that's a bad idea.
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Outside of the people that were outside of the people that loved me and didn't want anything bad to happen for me, like uh or happen to me, it was a very patriotic time.
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Yeah.
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And so it was kind of that was affirming.
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And how old were you?
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17.
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Oh, well just both of them.
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We'll date you here.
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You know, people can get their calculators out.
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That's right, yeah.
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So, and um, and where where did you end up going?
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Uh well, not very far at first.
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Um, at 17, I hope they didn't send you to you.
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Well, that's the thing.
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It's seating.
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Uh, I went uh my first duty station was uh Fort Bennett, Georgia.
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Okay, so Columbus, Navarro, Metland.
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Very far familiar.
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So to me, it was super exotic.
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Like I my driver's license was now another state.
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I got a 706 area code.
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Yeah, uh, I had a one-bedroom apartment, you know, with like a lazy boy.
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Yeah.
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Well, some like I might have been 19 with a lazy boy, but I felt like I had a ride.
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You were in it.
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American dream.
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That's right.
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Yeah, that's right.
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So you could see how creative I was.
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Um and and uh, you know, just by virtue of the time, uh, you know, I spent a lot of time at war, you know, the first five years.
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So in that first stint at Fort Bennett, that first duty station, I went to um uh Iraq three times and Afghanistan twice.
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So I was in the ranger regiment my entire time there.
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Yeah.
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Uh and so quick turns, you know, I was there five years, five deployments.
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They weren't year-long deployments, it's you know, three to five months, and most often three.
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Uh-uh.
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Um excuse my ignorance, but five tours, is that on the high side average?
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What seems high?
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Uh it seemed high then.
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I've ended up with nine.
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Uh and that's uh that seems very high.
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But you can run into people that had done that many, you know, it doesn't happen often, but they're they're out there, right?
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Um and so yeah, I I left, uh I thought I was gonna get out, and uh certainly felt like I had I had fought the war, you know.
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I had been to both locations, I'd seen it more than once, and I kind of grew up along the way, uh, had other leadership positions, you know, so it was not rinse and repeat, you know.
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I kind of wondered, like, I have all the experiences I need here.
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And uh I went to I put in a flight packet.
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Uh there were some other things I was kind of poking around with, but it ended up as I put in uh an application uh to be a helicopter pilot.
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Yeah, I really didn't think and I was after the tours, yeah, yeah.
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So this was it was it was it was at the point where I could seriously look at okay, now let's start thinking about transition out in terms of years of does becoming a helicopter pilot transition you out or transition you back in?
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Yeah, kind of both.
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Uh I wouldn't see that as an exit door.
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Well, it wasn't, and so it was like exit or yeah, okay.
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Um so yeah, no, it was that was the opposite of an exit strategy, but just uh just for conversation here, I was accepted all of a sudden I'm at a a schoolhouse, and so that very much I spent almost two years just like going to classes and learning new things, and so I think over time I might have kind of forgotten I was in the army, or you know, I was still uh it was just a different vibe, and I was an officer at this point, and so that's a different life altogether, and uh in some respects, I shouldn't say altogether, it was different than what I had spared before.
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Um, and so yeah, no, as soon as and then I was reminded uh as soon as I finished flight school, yeah, I was back in Afghanistan as a Medevac pilot within four or five months.
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Wow.
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Uh yeah, and so yeah, and then that kept I uh don't want to make the whole thing uh get to C O C C okay.
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Well, I'm gonna try to wrap this up and uh and just say um I took another chance or risk, put myself out there, I'll put in another application.
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Yeah, uh to and flying helicopters now.
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Yeah, so now I am a pilot and decide I want to be a different type of pilot.
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I wanted to go to 160th and fly special operations, and and so eventually that happened.
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I went from Blackhawks to Chinooks and I finished at Fort Lewis.
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Uh was dead.
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Amazing.
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Yeah, it was wow, very fast.
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Yeah, very, very fast.
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Things slowed down after my son was born, you know.
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So I kind of look at it now like people who've raised their families.
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Most of that time I was not a father, and most of that time I was very young.
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So uh it was yeah, by the end of it, it was like, okay, we yeah, but you weren't you weren't sitting still.
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No, I mean no.
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It doesn't doesn't sound like there was a lot of contemplation going on as much as it was like, where's the next education opportunity?
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We're changing, we're going up.
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So I mean, Chinooks, I mean, those are those are serious machines.
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They are.
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Yeah, you forget that flying, it's it's kind of in the seat.
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The helicopter is as big as you know the cockpit.
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You know what I mean?
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It's like what I see out here and over here.
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And so there was a bit of adjustment uh used to having these big fans up top, and so I had to come in a little higher, a little slower.
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And so it was a lear there was a learning curve.
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Do you still fly?
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I don't.
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I've not.
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In fact, I had no desire to for about five years.
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I don't think I really looked up for about five years, and I was like, hmm, why?
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Uh well, I think I was burnout.
00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:33.519
Yeah, yeah.
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I didn't have that language in it.
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I don't know that I've I've caught it that before, but uh yeah, I still have it's the kind of thing I wouldn't think you would get tired of.
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Like I if someone said, Want to go up in a Chinook right now, I would be in the Chinook.
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Yeah, no, and I would too.
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But that's the thing too.
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Like I didn't uh and I think that's why it took me that long.
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You know, I'd there'd be a clear, clear blue day, and I'm like, now would be a good time to fly.
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But 160th, you fly zero loom, right, and the hardest missions and the highest stakes.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.039
And so it was a very it was very fulfilling.
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:14.000
I I was uh you know, I I really I cherished that time, but it was super hard, man.
00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:25.840
Right now I'm sure yeah at the end I think man, I was like, I'll just I could do less or I still wanted to do something important, but maybe not so existential or yeah, you know, yeah, existential is a good word for it.
00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:32.799
Did you uh and and so you you're you're out now from there, did you leave the army?
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:34.159
I did.
00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.559
I got a uh I initially I didn't have a clue what I was gonna do.
00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:45.200
I I'd gotten a fellowship uh in the that must have been new for you because it doesn't seem like prior to that you were having any sports.
00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:48.639
Yeah, I had uh I had a lot of like good luck, good timing.
00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:48.879
Right.
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:56.240
And uh, you know, and I I and to be honest, I really didn't think things through as much as I do kind of a bummer now.
00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:59.200
I feel like I overthink uh some of these things.
00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:03.039
So because in Russia in in hindsight, those were ultimately good choices.
00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:08.000
Yeah, uh, but I don't know if I sit with them for too long these days, I don't I don't know what it would look like.
00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.879
But I think we were all a lot more fun when we were younger.
00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:11.759
I know, man.
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.720
That was quicker to just quicker to the quicker to the blocks.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:20.080
Well, there's this like phrase of like youth is wasted, you know, it's wasted on the young.
00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:21.039
Like, I don't know, man.
00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:21.600
I don't know.
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.120
That's that's a good fit.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:26.080
No, I know what you mean by the decision-making thing.
00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.440
I've often thought the same thing.
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:32.159
Like, now you you you just wring your hands a little more, you you want to think it through, you want to be sure.
00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:37.759
Whereas I didn't have any problem jumping from thing to thing, and it went well.
00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.000
I I can I can say those were good choices.
00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.679
So I don't know why I started doubting myself.
00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:45.120
It should have just kept firing for another decade or something.
00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:46.799
Yeah, but it is what it is.
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.600
So well, what brings you, what brought you to Bend?
00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.960
What what how did you uh uh navigate to here?
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:55.679
Because you're at that point, you're still based out of the south?
00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:57.039
Were you still Yeah?
00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:10.319
So I had uh, you know, between uh then and now, I essentially I picked everything up, moved south, decided I was gonna open a business I knew nothing about, and a subject I also knew nothing about.
00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:15.839
And along the way I got an MBA, I built this business, had some really good times, had some really tough times.
00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:20.559
Then at the end of that, I had this other, you know, I guess we'll stay on thing.
00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:27.200
I really don't want to call it burnout, but I want to say there was uh there was a reflection and there was an opportunity to reflex.
00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:27.759
Right.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:35.359
Uh and so um even though it was during a period of complete exhaustion, yeah, it's generally burnout.
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:39.839
Again, it was burnout enough to like maybe make that next decision.
00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:40.559
I don't know.
00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:46.400
Um and so I moved around a bit, uh very short snippets.
00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.920
Yeah, uh, I even went abroad.
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:58.960
We lived in Costa Rica and Mexico for nearly a year, and then at some point I was like, I learned that uh I'm a little bit lame in the sense that I'm super American.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.039
Like I missed, I wanted to come back home.
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.039
I had a great time, you know.
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:10.720
I picked up some language skills, I uh I tried to really experience what I was doing and and I enjoyed that for what it was.
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.400
And then ultimately I was like, I gotta go, I gotta go back home.
00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:16.880
You know, I gotta like, I gotta do the things everyone does.
00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:18.319
I'm missing the American dream.
00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:19.680
I'm still there, you know.
00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:21.599
Yeah, thanks for that.
00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:29.200
This and uh and so when we came back, it was like, where are we gonna go with one of our best chapters, you know, um in life.
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.680
My wife and I, it's my son was born in Tacoma.
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.799
And so we have this kind of northwest theme in the family.
00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:37.440
It's like, you know, things are nice out west.
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:37.839
Yeah.
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.839
And so we loaded our wagon.
00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:41.680
I had stuff in storage.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.720
I did, I kept this old land road I drove here.
00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.039
It's not that old, but it's not new either.
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:58.640
I'd kept this one car, I kept enough stuff that if I did come home sooner than I thought, or if there was something else I was gonna chase, I kept enough stuff that it wouldn't be depressing for me and my kids.
00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:04.799
We would have a car, everyone would have a bed, and there'd be enough things on the shelf that we didn't look like we were moving already.
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:09.200
And uh so all our stuff was in New York, and then we drove west.
00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:21.200
I was gonna go to Washington and at some point, and you know, we kind of remember that the weather's a little better on this side of the mountains and had read about Bend over the years and knew people that you know had come out here.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.160
I had not, I'd flown over here, yeah.
00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:27.119
Um, you know, just by where I was stationed previously.
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.400
But so that was it.
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:31.119
I pulled into town with all of my things.
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:33.599
No job, no job, nowhere to live.
00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.839
And but but you had stuff on the shelves.
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.119
I mean, that's important.
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.960
So that would have sound irresponsible.
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:46.880
Suddenly America seemed a lot easier after like navigating Costa Rica and Mexico.
00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.559
It's like I could figure this out, right?
00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.200
And I did.
00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:53.279
I had uh, you know, we'll call them blessings, good luck, you know, whatever.
00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:00.480
Um, I got a job pretty quickly and found a place to live pretty quickly and just worked out.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:01.119
Yeah.
00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.640
How did you um what was the path to COCC?
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.720
So uh man, should I tell this story?
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:10.240
I'm gonna tell a story.
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:17.119
Um I think at this point I was very pragmatic, right?
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:20.960
Like I came outside of how all this sounds about me loading and coming.
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.279
Once I got here, things got pretty pragmatic.
00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:25.920
I was like, okay, I have this much cash.
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:27.839
Uh, we could stay here.
00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:30.960
You know, I knew I needed to find a job, find a house in this time frame.
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:39.599
And so I walked into uh I walked into the unemployment office here, like with my kids, kind of like an Aaron Brockovich situation.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.000
I'm like, look, man, I need a job.
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:54.880
And uh there were some of the kindest people, like honestly, like took care of my kids, gave them like crayons, and like instantly, I didn't really realize that I was worried that things might not work the way I wanted them to.
00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:07.680
Uh, but I I think very quickly, just I think I was just uh by being so um like appreciative of like instant kindness, I was like, oh, I might be a little worried, and then comma, I might be in the right place.
00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:11.839
Yeah, and uh yeah, definitely funny that you got that at the unemployment office.
00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:14.000
I mean, I know shout out if they're listening.
00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:15.200
Yeah, unemployment office.
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.359
They they uh they they looked at my resume.
00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:28.000
I took a look test to see what I might be a good fit for and came back like education, yeah, the college.
00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:30.640
First time this job has been posted over 20 years.
00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:30.960
Yeah.
00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.480
Uh so in time things working out, serendipity.
00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.240
Uh, and so that's it.
00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:37.599
I applied and I didn't I guess.
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.839
And it's been you've been up there three years now.
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.400
Yep.
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:46.720
When you wake up in the morning, what does uh what's what greets you when you get to the office?
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:47.920
What are you gonna be working on?
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:51.680
Oh man, well, unfortunately, right now the college is moving around quite a bit.
00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:53.759
So I'm a bit of a a a nomad.
00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:57.759
Uh well, I have two programs that are are gonna kick off in the fall.
00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:58.079
Yeah.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.759
And so right now it's you know.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.039
Recruiting for that and getting used to what are the programs?
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:05.039
Uh one is called Strive.
00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:09.680
Uh so it stands for Startup Training Resources to Inspire Veteran Entrepreneurship.
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:10.240
Okay.
00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:14.000
Uh, as you can see in the title, that's specifically for military-affiliated folks.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:17.759
Doesn't always have to be service members, it can be spouses as well.
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.920
Uh, and it's startup focus.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:34.400
So it's simply you have a business idea, and you know, I give you some uh some academic knowledge, uh, share some of my experiences, and then try to help you put a plan around that and actually build a business plan, a model.
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:37.200
End of it, uh, you end up with a product.
00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:42.640
So I thought it was important that we had a capstone project to be able to tell if we actually helped anyone.
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.279
It ends up being a five-minute pitch, 10 slides.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.880
We do it at Willie Hall on campus.
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:47.200
Yeah.
00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:48.400
We got a purse of cash.
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:49.519
Last year it was 10K.
00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.200
This year it's 6,500.
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:52.480
Uh but it's eight weeks.
00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:54.640
We're gonna do it at Central Oregon Veterans Ranch.
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:55.279
Oh, great.
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:55.920
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.000
More than halfway full on that course.
00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:00.319
So how many people go through the course?
00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.240
I want to cap it at 12.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:13.200
Uh, right now we have seven, so we have five left in about a month or so uh before we we have to start really yeah looking at that or or um you know, building that cohort.
00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:19.119
But uh the other one uh is kind of a longer in duration.
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.880
So that one's eight weeks, military affiliated startup focus.
00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:27.839
This one is nine months, it's for existing business owners, anywhere in COCC's footprint.
00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:28.400
Okay.
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.319
Um and same thing.
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.279
Three hour classes each month rather than each week.
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.720
Uh there's one-on-one advising in there, and we do the same thing.
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.599
Instead of a startup idea, it's like a growth phase project.
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:40.079
Okay.
00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:41.680
What's the thing you want to work on now?
00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:46.480
And are these people who already have a business or are these people who are just just preparing to jump?
00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:47.839
No, these are people that have them.
00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:51.839
Sometimes they're folks that have been in business for 20 years, okay or 30 even.
00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:52.079
Yeah.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:57.039
Uh head counts from solopreneurs to 80 plus people, yeah.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:03.920
Uh 50 grand, 50k in revenue in year one, or you know, you're further down the road and you're doing eight million in revenue.
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.079
Right.
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:07.680
And so in a wide range of uh industries.
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:10.720
I mean, we've had tow truck companies and childcare businesses.
00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:11.039
Right.
00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:13.839
And so it's for me, it's incredibly fulfilling.
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:19.279
And it it uh as much as I hope I have at least that much to give, it keeps me sharp on what's happening.
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:33.119
I'm curious when um when you're working with in the I mean, I don't think that people out people who have not been in combat or are veterans, when you're doing these business classes and you're working with them, what are you working with?
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.599
I mean, what is the I mean, I I imagine it's a wine spectrum, of course.
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.839
Yeah, but um, you got to be a real inspiration to those folks.
00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:43.279
Man, I hope so.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:44.480
Um, I hope so.
00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:45.759
You don't have to say that.
00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:46.559
I said it.
00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:49.200
It wouldn't it wouldn't be for uh lack of trying.
00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:50.400
I mean, honestly, like that.
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.880
I do hope that uh it's not dry.
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:53.359
Right.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:56.640
Um, that I'm not exactly like the last person you ran into.
00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:57.200
You know what I mean?
00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.799
I want to be a good use of people's time.
00:24:58.880 --> 00:24:59.200
Yeah.
00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:09.519
Um, I don't talk an awful lot uh about my service, just just as as like a main part of the I do instrive because it's fitting.
00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:11.200
Like it would be weird not to.
00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:12.480
Um it would.
00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:13.839
You know what I mean?
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:20.000
Like I mean, I'm talking about it more in one-on-one advising because I'm realizing that there are some things.
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:28.000
So the course essentially, you know, I use some more business uh framework, the business model canvas, which is taught in business schools.
00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:30.799
I've learned it on more than one occasion and used it.
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:36.880
And so I try to use that language because that's good banking language, that's good partner and supplier language.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:39.119
So you need to know those terms and words.
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:45.200
But I bring a lot of military, you know, I talk it's kind of one year I felt like I had overdone it.
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:47.680
I was talking a lot about like ranger fire teams.
00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:52.000
I'm talking about like alphan bravo leaders and like who your managers are.
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:59.920
Like, you gotta look out, you know, you gotta be looking for the next idea and what your customer's saying, and you also got to keep eye on what's behind you.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:08.480
So at some point, I there was a small contingent of people in Ben that were like, I would get the question, like, tell me what the Bravo team leader does again.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:23.200
I'm like, I just meant like your back of house manager, but I would go home, I'd tell my wife, I'm like, this was so surreal that that even and so and and the truth is it fit like what I was saying well, it's a it's a common language.
00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:33.200
I mean, yeah, that's I mean that I think that's what's so cool about you doing that kind of program is nobody I can't speak that language, I'd be talking non educational nonsense.
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:42.319
I'm not gonna draw the attack diagram as their as their business enters the fray, and you know, yeah, which is really not a bad way to think look at it.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.599
It's I think it it keeps people, you know.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:51.039
I hope it's at least as much helpful, but I think it certainly keeps people engaged.
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.440
Like I not to say an education is entertainment, but you do have to keep people's attention.
00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:55.920
Sure.
00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:02.079
And you need to, I'd hope that I have something to offer in that program that you can't get anywhere else, and that's why you should come.
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.279
But yeah, no, I did it 160th too, like time bound.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:10.480
Like every we come with these things of uh, you know, we have these meetings.
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:13.599
I have to keep people somewhat accountable, particularly when they ask for it.
00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.960
Like, hey, did you do the thing?
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:29.440
And so I end up, you know, 160th is built on plus or minus 30 seconds, and so everything's time, and so I can man, I can hear myself sometimes like it has to be time bound, like every target has to be how else are we gonna plan this thing?
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:30.000
Right, right.
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:43.279
And so I I was talking about deliberate versus time-sensitive targets, and so yeah, I say all that one to be a little bit funny, but secondly, like it's just uh if the question ever came like why do you do this?
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:49.920
Like that's a really fulfilling thing for sure, because that's a whole part of my life that I don't otherwise get to use.
00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:50.319
Right.
00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:55.839
And so to be able to bring that to light or help someone in some other endeavor, right?
00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:57.359
It's like this is okay.
00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:09.759
I think for for folks, especially if they're at the point where you know they're they're stable enough in their own own life that they're now going to try to get that American dream.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:21.359
They're gonna they're gonna create a business, yes, they're going to um add more in income for themselves and for the community, whatever the business is, add, but they're adding, they're not surviving.
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:33.599
And so um I think having somebody in that in that realm who can speak to that, I don't think that's common, or I don't think that's something you can just reach out and go, hey, let's get another Keith in here.
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.279
Keith Keith has gone off the rails with his attack language.
00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:38.799
We need Keith two, you know.
00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:43.839
I think no, that's what they're that's what they're looking for, and that's what they're they probably understand, you know.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:44.240
Yeah.
00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.279
So uh kudos to you for finding that, you know.
00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:48.079
Appreciate it.
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.559
And I know Coho does great work.
00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:58.160
I've been out to the uh I live in Tumalo, their farm is okay down the road, and uh we we had somebody from there talk about.
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:04.160
I was talking to the executive director from a while ago, and I remember she was talking about I said, What's your biggest challenge?
00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:16.000
And she was like, Well, there was a cow that got out of our field and ran into these other fields, and I was like, That's not what I was thinking your challenges were gonna be, but they're running a farm out there, so yeah, yeah.
00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:21.279
I think that and maybe there's somewhere I didn't realize it before, but you know, maybe there's some hope for that.
00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:24.720
Like, I I think life's about you know having a good story to tell.
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:35.519
And so if I can teach my classes at at the the ranch there and maybe be witness to some cow running a buck or whatever, like that's that's some good dinner table conversation.
00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:36.319
Awesome.
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.359
Less extreme.
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:50.079
Well, I'm guessing if that cow gets out, you're you're gonna be good at giving directions on how to how to get that cow back, challenge it, challenge it, said 30 seconds, 30 seconds off after it hit the fence down the line.
00:29:50.400 --> 00:30:06.000
So well, Keith, we're at the end of our uh podcast time, and uh I I know that we uh strayed far afield from small business development, but is there anything you'd like to say to folks or how can they get more information about your programs?
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:09.279
Uh well, I mean, the web page, right?
00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:16.400
Like it has all the information there, um, but a less like canned response to that, like email me.
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:25.119
Yeah, uh, call like I I I really enjoy meeting with with folks beforehand because honestly, like my fear at this is like, is this what people expected?
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:26.000
You know what I mean?
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.319
Like, did I put all the right bullet statements?
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:29.519
Are we all yeah?
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.400
And so I enjoy the opportunity to meet with folks beforehand.
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.720
It makes me feel better on the day that we all arrive.
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:41.200
And I I think it's uh yeah, I would love to go, you know, in more depth about what it is we do and how we do it.
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:42.640
What what's your email address?
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:50.640
Uh first initial, K last name Cheryl S-H-E-R-R I L L at C O C C dot edu.
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:51.519
Great.
00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:52.000
Thank you.
00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:55.839
Well, thanks for taking the time to uh come in and uh let people know.
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:59.039
I'm sure they uh they will be emailing you because uh Yeah.
00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:07.039
Yeah, I'm sure they're they're if anyone's gonna take this class, and if you're getting the vibe of a thing, it's gonna be a fascinating class for sure.
00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:09.279
Well, Keith, thanks for coming in.
00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.400
Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:11.119
I appreciate it.
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:13.279
This has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast.
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.279
We appreciate you giving us a listen.
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:20.400
There's a lot of things you can do with your time, and making us part of that is greatly appreciated.
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:35.119
Uh, if you want to help this program, go to bensource.com, become a member, donate, and uh we'll bring Keith back and we'll have a true uh fire pilot logistics training like like I wanted.
00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:36.640
Thank you.
00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:37.519
All right.
00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:42.240
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Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast.
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I'm Aaron Sweitzer, publisher of the source and co-producer of the Ben Don't Break Podcast with Megan Burton.
00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.560
We have with us in studio today Keith Sherrill.
00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:57.520
Did I say that correctly?
00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:58.719
You did, Keith Sherrill.
00:00:58.799 --> 00:00:58.880
No.
00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:04.079
He is an educator, veteran, and small business advocate, making an impact here in Central Oregon.
00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:15.439
At Central Oregon Community College, he leads a Small Business Development Center's Small Business Management Program and has helped bring Strive, a veteran entrepreneurship training program, to the region.
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.480
A former U.S.
00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:23.680
Army Ranger and Special Operations Aviator, Keith, has carried his commitment to service into entrepreneurship and education.
00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:29.280
In 2026, he was named a Pat Tillman Scholar in recognition of his leadership and community impact.
00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:39.280
He is also pursuing a PhD in community college leadership at Mississippi State University with research focused on defining and delivering the American dream.
00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:40.400
Thanks for being here.
00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:41.599
Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:42.640
Thanks for the introduction.
00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:45.040
Have people defined the American Dream?
00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.480
I didn't know you could like dive in and get a debris.
00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.000
Yeah, so uh they have.
00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:00.159
It's most often attributed uh to a fella uh John Truxlow Adams, James Truxlow Adams, 1931.
00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:02.239
He wrote a book called The Epic of America.
00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:02.719
Yeah.
00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:08.400
Most of your Google searches, if you ask any kind of AI bot or whatever, that's where they'll lead you.
00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.759
But I I have a uh like college edition.
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.520
This was actually a Christmas present.
00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:13.840
Yeah.
00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:18.560
Uh the the latest print of the Miriam Webster dictionary at home.
00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:18.800
Yeah.
00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:22.960
And it it traces it back to 1900, but I'm not sure what that source is.
00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:31.439
And there's been several folks along the way since before and kind of talked around it and gave it a a very similar definition depending on where you read it.
00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:36.639
You seem like an easy uh Christmas present by I shouldn't have revealed that.
00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:39.680
That's like one of those things I thought I'd take to my grave.
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.280
Um good.
00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.120
Yeah, I got the dictionary.
00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:44.560
Handwork done.
00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:48.240
Um, well, what do they then?
00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:51.759
I'm I mean, there's a lot to talk about here, but let's stay on the American dream.
00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:54.560
Like and you're getting a PhD at Mississippi State?
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:55.199
Yes, sir.
00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:02.479
And in the American Dream, in community college leadership, and and and particularly, you know, we look at the American dream.
00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.280
Uh, how do how is this relevant to my degree path?
00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:08.560
It's in all of that, what is the value of an education?
00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:09.199
Okay.
00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:24.560
And and the and so I don't want to put you on the spot, but can you give the brief version of what people perceive as the American dream or what is defined in that 1900, potentially 1930 definition?
00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:25.199
Okay.
00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:42.879
Uh because I've always seen it as like uh you can you can come to this country, you can rise and you have the opportunity to rise up, sure, eventually own your own domicile and have a job that will pay you a retirement.
00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:43.360
Yeah.
00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.039
No, I mean how'd I do?
00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:45.840
You did good.
00:03:45.919 --> 00:04:05.199
I mean, so uh obviously that there's a certain uh, and this is what I'm trying to uh kind of parse out of this, there's always an individualistic identity to this, but in the United States, it's uh it's also in the service of something larger, whether that be our own democracy, government, or communities.
00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:14.639
I've you know, Miriam Webster, their definition is this ideal of egalitarian, so a society of of of equals.
00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:21.199
Um, and more specifically, and I think this comes in the 1900s as is to do with material prosperity.
00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:21.680
Yeah.
00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.959
And that's not always, you know, things that you buy.
00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:30.800
Sometimes it's some of these services that make life a little bit easier, and you're able to pursue that.
00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:38.879
Um the fellow I mentioned earlier, there are several ways in which he approaches it throughout this book, The Epic of America.
00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:42.639
But to shorten it, it's security and self-expression.
00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:43.040
Okay.
00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.399
Uh that can come by way of economic opportunities.
00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:55.759
Uh Kennedy and A Nation of Immigrants calls it uh uh there is uh economic opportunity and personal freedom.
00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:56.079
Yeah.
00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.839
Uh so he parses that, but those all kind of we're all somewhat talking about the same thing.
00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:02.319
Yeah.
00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.240
Um and so I don't know.
00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:09.759
Like I'm I'm still trying to one of the things that kind of uh helped me to realize that I could go further.
00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:14.800
I didn't have to just say the same thing again, yeah, or maybe some use some synonyms.
00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:23.360
Uh in the book Epic of America, there's always this westward expansion, I think is it's easy for us to understand here in Oregon.
00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:23.759
Yeah.
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.079
Uh so what do you do?
00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:34.639
We always think about, or I I keep reading about how why immigrants came here, why people chose to settle here, leave their native land.
00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:38.560
The question now, you know, we've made it, you know, C to C.
00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:41.600
There is no other, so why stay here?
00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:42.720
Or what do we do now?
00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:43.120
Yeah.
00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:54.160
You know, before if people they found that they weren't part of, you know, some Eastern aristocracy, or you know, even then, what even when you were here early, it was like, well, you weren't on the Mayflower.
00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:00.959
You know, but as long as you're on a covered wagon, I think you get another you get a like plus card or something like that.
00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.160
So like there's always this new group you could be in.
00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:05.519
Well, I came west.
00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:05.920
Yeah.
00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:07.680
Uh well, now there's nowhere to go.
00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.800
Um, and so I'm trying to figure out, you know, what does that mean now?
00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.000
Is it the same thing?
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:18.639
Or you know, I feel like those people are now now they've got to go back and resettle the Midwest.
00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:19.519
Yeah.
00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:29.360
There is start parsing up that farmland, like they just now rediscover like the ocean of of wheat in Kansas and somehow make something of it.
00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:30.720
Maybe, you know.
00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:39.199
But yeah, I find I think it's fascinating, or you can just like buy into the Elon Elon Musk uh delirium and and we'll just go to Mars.
00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:41.759
And it sounds good, doesn't it?
00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:43.920
I mean, it sits right in with our dream, you know.
00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:45.519
It drives me nuts.
00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.639
But it is to your point, that is, you know, on that same line of of of thinking.
00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:52.399
Yeah, no, it gets you going.
00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.879
Yeah, yeah, regardless of what you think about about Elon and what all that other stuff.
00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.600
Um, it's it's hard not to buy into the dream.
00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:05.279
You listen, I mean, every time he speaks about going to Mars, I'm always like, Yeah, yeah, and and I and I'll be there.
00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:07.120
I'll uh you know, I could do it.
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:08.079
I I can be that guy.
00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:08.959
What an adventure.
00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:09.439
You're right.
00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:10.639
What an adventure.
00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:16.160
So, well, um listening to your voice, and we didn't talk about this coming up.
00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.720
I mean, clearly you did not grow up in Bend, Oregon.
00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:19.839
I did not, yeah.
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.879
I will say I liked it, it's a fun fact, and I think it's important in my own personal narrative.
00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:25.920
I was born in Seattle.
00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:28.399
Okay, uh, obviously, not a Seattle accent.
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.199
They ripped you out of there pretty early, very early.
00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:35.199
Um, I grew up in Alabama, yeah, central Alabama, in it around Montgomery.
00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.040
My my dad still lives out there.
00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:37.439
Yeah.
00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:40.240
Uh so yeah, but I I joined the army really young.
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:44.399
Yeah, and I've spent almost as much time outside of the South as in it.
00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.120
This this accent's here to stay, and I'll just say I like it.
00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:48.720
You know, I wouldn't have it any other way.
00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:53.519
I'm originally from Atlanta, so uh been been uh been to Alabama many times.
00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:54.240
I'm sure.
00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.800
Yep, yep, and uh it's a it now there's a place that could get settled.
00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.040
Yeah, a lot a lot of open space there.
00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.560
Oh, yeah, everyone's setting right, and that's why everybody's moving there right now.
00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.319
Yeah, so um what made you decide you wanted to go in the military?
00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:12.000
I mean, where did you get the sense of service?
00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:15.040
Because it seems to uh yeah, be a thread.
00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.120
Uh I don't know that it was beforehand, before all that.
00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:21.439
Um 9-11 happened.
00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:22.319
So I joined the army.
00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.079
Did you have family in service?
00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:34.960
Was it a big part of your upbringing, or was it something that you it turns out I I did, but I didn't hear about it until I went looking for it way after the fact, you know, that I'd had a uniform on for some time.
00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:38.879
Um yeah, no, it's uh 9-11 happened.
00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.279
I was a young man looking for adventure.
00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:45.840
You know, it's it was an adventure, kind of like selling Mars, you know, joining the army.
00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:47.039
Where would where would I go?
00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:47.840
Who would I fight?
00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:49.039
What would I defend?
00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:49.519
Yeah.
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.879
Um, and so I joined January 28, 2002.
00:08:53.200 --> 00:09:02.799
Um, it was a very for someone that was still looking for kind of outside indicators of whether or not my idea was good, uh, it was a very patriotic time.
00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:08.240
And so when I would tell people, hey, I'm gonna join the army, no one said, uh, that's a bad idea.
00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:16.799
Outside of the people that were outside of the people that loved me and didn't want anything bad to happen for me, like uh or happen to me, it was a very patriotic time.
00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:17.120
Yeah.
00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:19.120
And so it was kind of that was affirming.
00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:20.399
And how old were you?
00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:21.120
17.
00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:22.240
Oh, well just both of them.
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:23.360
We'll date you here.
00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.279
You know, people can get their calculators out.
00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:26.799
That's right, yeah.
00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:30.399
So, and um, and where where did you end up going?
00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:32.720
Uh well, not very far at first.
00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.200
Um, at 17, I hope they didn't send you to you.
00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:35.919
Well, that's the thing.
00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:36.799
It's seating.
00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.799
Uh, I went uh my first duty station was uh Fort Bennett, Georgia.
00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.799
Okay, so Columbus, Navarro, Metland.
00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:44.080
Very far familiar.
00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.080
So to me, it was super exotic.
00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:49.440
Like I my driver's license was now another state.
00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:52.080
I got a 706 area code.
00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:56.639
Yeah, uh, I had a one-bedroom apartment, you know, with like a lazy boy.
00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:56.879
Yeah.
00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:01.679
Well, some like I might have been 19 with a lazy boy, but I felt like I had a ride.
00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:02.399
You were in it.
00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:03.360
American dream.
00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:04.000
That's right.
00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:05.279
Yeah, that's right.
00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:07.440
So you could see how creative I was.
00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:16.320
Um and and uh, you know, just by virtue of the time, uh, you know, I spent a lot of time at war, you know, the first five years.
00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:27.039
So in that first stint at Fort Bennett, that first duty station, I went to um uh Iraq three times and Afghanistan twice.
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.919
So I was in the ranger regiment my entire time there.
00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:30.320
Yeah.
00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:34.879
Uh and so quick turns, you know, I was there five years, five deployments.
00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:39.120
They weren't year-long deployments, it's you know, three to five months, and most often three.
00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:39.840
Uh-uh.
00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.600
Um excuse my ignorance, but five tours, is that on the high side average?
00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:46.879
What seems high?
00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:48.159
Uh it seemed high then.
00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:49.600
I've ended up with nine.
00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:52.399
Uh and that's uh that seems very high.
00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:58.720
But you can run into people that had done that many, you know, it doesn't happen often, but they're they're out there, right?
00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:07.360
Um and so yeah, I I left, uh I thought I was gonna get out, and uh certainly felt like I had I had fought the war, you know.
00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:16.639
I had been to both locations, I'd seen it more than once, and I kind of grew up along the way, uh, had other leadership positions, you know, so it was not rinse and repeat, you know.
00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:20.639
I kind of wondered, like, I have all the experiences I need here.
00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.480
And uh I went to I put in a flight packet.
00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:31.440
Uh there were some other things I was kind of poking around with, but it ended up as I put in uh an application uh to be a helicopter pilot.
00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:36.000
Yeah, I really didn't think and I was after the tours, yeah, yeah.
00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:47.919
So this was it was it was it was at the point where I could seriously look at okay, now let's start thinking about transition out in terms of years of does becoming a helicopter pilot transition you out or transition you back in?
00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.679
Yeah, kind of both.
00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.559
Uh I wouldn't see that as an exit door.
00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.159
Well, it wasn't, and so it was like exit or yeah, okay.
00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:29.840
Um so yeah, no, it was that was the opposite of an exit strategy, but just uh just for conversation here, I was accepted all of a sudden I'm at a a schoolhouse, and so that very much I spent almost two years just like going to classes and learning new things, and so I think over time I might have kind of forgotten I was in the army, or you know, I was still uh it was just a different vibe, and I was an officer at this point, and so that's a different life altogether, and uh in some respects, I shouldn't say altogether, it was different than what I had spared before.
00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:42.000
Um, and so yeah, no, as soon as and then I was reminded uh as soon as I finished flight school, yeah, I was back in Afghanistan as a Medevac pilot within four or five months.
00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:42.720
Wow.
00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:51.440
Uh yeah, and so yeah, and then that kept I uh don't want to make the whole thing uh get to C O C C okay.
00:12:51.519 --> 00:13:01.519
Well, I'm gonna try to wrap this up and uh and just say um I took another chance or risk, put myself out there, I'll put in another application.
00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.559
Yeah, uh to and flying helicopters now.
00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.399
Yeah, so now I am a pilot and decide I want to be a different type of pilot.
00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:14.399
I wanted to go to 160th and fly special operations, and and so eventually that happened.
00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:17.679
I went from Blackhawks to Chinooks and I finished at Fort Lewis.
00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:18.320
Uh was dead.
00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:18.879
Amazing.
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.039
Yeah, it was wow, very fast.
00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:22.480
Yeah, very, very fast.
00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.080
Things slowed down after my son was born, you know.
00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.440
So I kind of look at it now like people who've raised their families.
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:34.080
Most of that time I was not a father, and most of that time I was very young.
00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:41.039
So uh it was yeah, by the end of it, it was like, okay, we yeah, but you weren't you weren't sitting still.
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:42.480
No, I mean no.
00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:51.440
It doesn't doesn't sound like there was a lot of contemplation going on as much as it was like, where's the next education opportunity?
00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:53.120
We're changing, we're going up.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:57.360
So I mean, Chinooks, I mean, those are those are serious machines.
00:13:57.679 --> 00:13:58.080
They are.
00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:02.320
Yeah, you forget that flying, it's it's kind of in the seat.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.120
The helicopter is as big as you know the cockpit.
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:05.840
You know what I mean?
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.840
It's like what I see out here and over here.
00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:15.759
And so there was a bit of adjustment uh used to having these big fans up top, and so I had to come in a little higher, a little slower.
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.639
And so it was a lear there was a learning curve.
00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:19.679
Do you still fly?
00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:20.399
I don't.
00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:21.200
I've not.
00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:24.559
In fact, I had no desire to for about five years.
00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:29.120
I don't think I really looked up for about five years, and I was like, hmm, why?
00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:32.399
Uh well, I think I was burnout.
00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:33.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:35.039
I didn't have that language in it.
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:41.919
I don't know that I've I've caught it that before, but uh yeah, I still have it's the kind of thing I wouldn't think you would get tired of.
00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:46.000
Like I if someone said, Want to go up in a Chinook right now, I would be in the Chinook.
00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.919
Yeah, no, and I would too.
00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:49.279
But that's the thing too.
00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.159
Like I didn't uh and I think that's why it took me that long.
00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.960
You know, I'd there'd be a clear, clear blue day, and I'm like, now would be a good time to fly.
00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:04.480
But 160th, you fly zero loom, right, and the hardest missions and the highest stakes.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.039
And so it was a very it was very fulfilling.
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:14.000
I I was uh you know, I I really I cherished that time, but it was super hard, man.
00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:25.840
Right now I'm sure yeah at the end I think man, I was like, I'll just I could do less or I still wanted to do something important, but maybe not so existential or yeah, you know, yeah, existential is a good word for it.
00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:32.799
Did you uh and and so you you're you're out now from there, did you leave the army?
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:34.159
I did.
00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.559
I got a uh I initially I didn't have a clue what I was gonna do.
00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:45.200
I I'd gotten a fellowship uh in the that must have been new for you because it doesn't seem like prior to that you were having any sports.
00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:48.639
Yeah, I had uh I had a lot of like good luck, good timing.
00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:48.879
Right.
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:56.240
And uh, you know, and I I and to be honest, I really didn't think things through as much as I do kind of a bummer now.
00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:59.200
I feel like I overthink uh some of these things.
00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:03.039
So because in Russia in in hindsight, those were ultimately good choices.
00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:08.000
Yeah, uh, but I don't know if I sit with them for too long these days, I don't I don't know what it would look like.
00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.879
But I think we were all a lot more fun when we were younger.
00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:11.759
I know, man.
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.720
That was quicker to just quicker to the quicker to the blocks.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:20.080
Well, there's this like phrase of like youth is wasted, you know, it's wasted on the young.
00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:21.039
Like, I don't know, man.
00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:21.600
I don't know.
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.120
That's that's a good fit.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:26.080
No, I know what you mean by the decision-making thing.
00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.440
I've often thought the same thing.
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:32.159
Like, now you you you just wring your hands a little more, you you want to think it through, you want to be sure.
00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:37.759
Whereas I didn't have any problem jumping from thing to thing, and it went well.
00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.000
I I can I can say those were good choices.
00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.679
So I don't know why I started doubting myself.
00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:45.120
It should have just kept firing for another decade or something.
00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:46.799
Yeah, but it is what it is.
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.600
So well, what brings you, what brought you to Bend?
00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.960
What what how did you uh uh navigate to here?
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:55.679
Because you're at that point, you're still based out of the south?
00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:57.039
Were you still Yeah?
00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:10.319
So I had uh, you know, between uh then and now, I essentially I picked everything up, moved south, decided I was gonna open a business I knew nothing about, and a subject I also knew nothing about.
00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:15.839
And along the way I got an MBA, I built this business, had some really good times, had some really tough times.
00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:20.559
Then at the end of that, I had this other, you know, I guess we'll stay on thing.
00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:27.200
I really don't want to call it burnout, but I want to say there was uh there was a reflection and there was an opportunity to reflex.
00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:27.759
Right.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:35.359
Uh and so um even though it was during a period of complete exhaustion, yeah, it's generally burnout.
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:39.839
Again, it was burnout enough to like maybe make that next decision.
00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:40.559
I don't know.
00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:46.400
Um and so I moved around a bit, uh very short snippets.
00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.920
Yeah, uh, I even went abroad.
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:58.960
We lived in Costa Rica and Mexico for nearly a year, and then at some point I was like, I learned that uh I'm a little bit lame in the sense that I'm super American.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.039
Like I missed, I wanted to come back home.
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.039
I had a great time, you know.
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:10.720
I picked up some language skills, I uh I tried to really experience what I was doing and and I enjoyed that for what it was.
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.400
And then ultimately I was like, I gotta go, I gotta go back home.
00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:16.880
You know, I gotta like, I gotta do the things everyone does.
00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:18.319
I'm missing the American dream.
00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:19.680
I'm still there, you know.
00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:21.599
Yeah, thanks for that.
00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:29.200
This and uh and so when we came back, it was like, where are we gonna go with one of our best chapters, you know, um in life.
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.680
My wife and I, it's my son was born in Tacoma.
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.799
And so we have this kind of northwest theme in the family.
00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:37.440
It's like, you know, things are nice out west.
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:37.839
Yeah.
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.839
And so we loaded our wagon.
00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:41.680
I had stuff in storage.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.720
I did, I kept this old land road I drove here.
00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.039
It's not that old, but it's not new either.
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:58.640
I'd kept this one car, I kept enough stuff that if I did come home sooner than I thought, or if there was something else I was gonna chase, I kept enough stuff that it wouldn't be depressing for me and my kids.
00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:04.799
We would have a car, everyone would have a bed, and there'd be enough things on the shelf that we didn't look like we were moving already.
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:09.200
And uh so all our stuff was in New York, and then we drove west.
00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:21.200
I was gonna go to Washington and at some point, and you know, we kind of remember that the weather's a little better on this side of the mountains and had read about Bend over the years and knew people that you know had come out here.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.160
I had not, I'd flown over here, yeah.
00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:27.119
Um, you know, just by where I was stationed previously.
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.400
But so that was it.
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:31.119
I pulled into town with all of my things.
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:33.599
No job, no job, nowhere to live.
00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.839
And but but you had stuff on the shelves.
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.119
I mean, that's important.
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.960
So that would have sound irresponsible.
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:46.880
Suddenly America seemed a lot easier after like navigating Costa Rica and Mexico.
00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.559
It's like I could figure this out, right?
00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.200
And I did.
00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:53.279
I had uh, you know, we'll call them blessings, good luck, you know, whatever.
00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:00.480
Um, I got a job pretty quickly and found a place to live pretty quickly and just worked out.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:01.119
Yeah.
00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.640
How did you um what was the path to COCC?
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.720
So uh man, should I tell this story?
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:10.240
I'm gonna tell a story.
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:17.119
Um I think at this point I was very pragmatic, right?
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:20.960
Like I came outside of how all this sounds about me loading and coming.
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.279
Once I got here, things got pretty pragmatic.
00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:25.920
I was like, okay, I have this much cash.
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:27.839
Uh, we could stay here.
00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:30.960
You know, I knew I needed to find a job, find a house in this time frame.
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:39.599
And so I walked into uh I walked into the unemployment office here, like with my kids, kind of like an Aaron Brockovich situation.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.000
I'm like, look, man, I need a job.
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:54.880
And uh there were some of the kindest people, like honestly, like took care of my kids, gave them like crayons, and like instantly, I didn't really realize that I was worried that things might not work the way I wanted them to.
00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:07.680
Uh, but I I think very quickly, just I think I was just uh by being so um like appreciative of like instant kindness, I was like, oh, I might be a little worried, and then comma, I might be in the right place.
00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:11.839
Yeah, and uh yeah, definitely funny that you got that at the unemployment office.
00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:14.000
I mean, I know shout out if they're listening.
00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:15.200
Yeah, unemployment office.
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.359
They they uh they they looked at my resume.
00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:28.000
I took a look test to see what I might be a good fit for and came back like education, yeah, the college.
00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:30.640
First time this job has been posted over 20 years.
00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:30.960
Yeah.
00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.480
Uh so in time things working out, serendipity.
00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.240
Uh, and so that's it.
00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:37.599
I applied and I didn't I guess.
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.839
And it's been you've been up there three years now.
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.400
Yep.
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:46.720
When you wake up in the morning, what does uh what's what greets you when you get to the office?
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:47.920
What are you gonna be working on?
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:51.680
Oh man, well, unfortunately, right now the college is moving around quite a bit.
00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:53.759
So I'm a bit of a a a nomad.
00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:57.759
Uh well, I have two programs that are are gonna kick off in the fall.
00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:58.079
Yeah.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.759
And so right now it's you know.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.039
Recruiting for that and getting used to what are the programs?
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:05.039
Uh one is called Strive.
00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:09.680
Uh so it stands for Startup Training Resources to Inspire Veteran Entrepreneurship.
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:10.240
Okay.
00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:14.000
Uh, as you can see in the title, that's specifically for military-affiliated folks.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:17.759
Doesn't always have to be service members, it can be spouses as well.
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.920
Uh, and it's startup focus.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:34.400
So it's simply you have a business idea, and you know, I give you some uh some academic knowledge, uh, share some of my experiences, and then try to help you put a plan around that and actually build a business plan, a model.
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:37.200
End of it, uh, you end up with a product.
00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:42.640
So I thought it was important that we had a capstone project to be able to tell if we actually helped anyone.
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.279
It ends up being a five-minute pitch, 10 slides.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.880
We do it at Willie Hall on campus.
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:47.200
Yeah.
00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:48.400
We got a purse of cash.
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:49.519
Last year it was 10K.
00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.200
This year it's 6,500.
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:52.480
Uh but it's eight weeks.
00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:54.640
We're gonna do it at Central Oregon Veterans Ranch.
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:55.279
Oh, great.
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:55.920
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.000
More than halfway full on that course.
00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:00.319
So how many people go through the course?
00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.240
I want to cap it at 12.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:13.200
Uh, right now we have seven, so we have five left in about a month or so uh before we we have to start really yeah looking at that or or um you know, building that cohort.
00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:19.119
But uh the other one uh is kind of a longer in duration.
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.880
So that one's eight weeks, military affiliated startup focus.
00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:27.839
This one is nine months, it's for existing business owners, anywhere in COCC's footprint.
00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:28.400
Okay.
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.319
Um and same thing.
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.279
Three hour classes each month rather than each week.
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.720
Uh there's one-on-one advising in there, and we do the same thing.
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.599
Instead of a startup idea, it's like a growth phase project.
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:40.079
Okay.
00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:41.680
What's the thing you want to work on now?
00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:46.480
And are these people who already have a business or are these people who are just just preparing to jump?
00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:47.839
No, these are people that have them.
00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:51.839
Sometimes they're folks that have been in business for 20 years, okay or 30 even.
00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:52.079
Yeah.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:57.039
Uh head counts from solopreneurs to 80 plus people, yeah.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:03.920
Uh 50 grand, 50k in revenue in year one, or you know, you're further down the road and you're doing eight million in revenue.
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.079
Right.
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:07.680
And so in a wide range of uh industries.
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:10.720
I mean, we've had tow truck companies and childcare businesses.
00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:11.039
Right.
00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:13.839
And so it's for me, it's incredibly fulfilling.
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:19.279
And it it uh as much as I hope I have at least that much to give, it keeps me sharp on what's happening.
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:33.119
I'm curious when um when you're working with in the I mean, I don't think that people out people who have not been in combat or are veterans, when you're doing these business classes and you're working with them, what are you working with?
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.599
I mean, what is the I mean, I I imagine it's a wine spectrum, of course.
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.839
Yeah, but um, you got to be a real inspiration to those folks.
00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:43.279
Man, I hope so.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:44.480
Um, I hope so.
00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:45.759
You don't have to say that.
00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:46.559
I said it.
00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:49.200
It wouldn't it wouldn't be for uh lack of trying.
00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:50.400
I mean, honestly, like that.
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.880
I do hope that uh it's not dry.
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:53.359
Right.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:56.640
Um, that I'm not exactly like the last person you ran into.
00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:57.200
You know what I mean?
00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.799
I want to be a good use of people's time.
00:24:58.880 --> 00:24:59.200
Yeah.
00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:09.519
Um, I don't talk an awful lot uh about my service, just just as as like a main part of the I do instrive because it's fitting.
00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:11.200
Like it would be weird not to.
00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:12.480
Um it would.
00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:13.839
You know what I mean?
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:20.000
Like I mean, I'm talking about it more in one-on-one advising because I'm realizing that there are some things.
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:28.000
So the course essentially, you know, I use some more business uh framework, the business model canvas, which is taught in business schools.
00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:30.799
I've learned it on more than one occasion and used it.
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:36.880
And so I try to use that language because that's good banking language, that's good partner and supplier language.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:39.119
So you need to know those terms and words.
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:45.200
But I bring a lot of military, you know, I talk it's kind of one year I felt like I had overdone it.
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:47.680
I was talking a lot about like ranger fire teams.
00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:52.000
I'm talking about like alphan bravo leaders and like who your managers are.
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:59.920
Like, you gotta look out, you know, you gotta be looking for the next idea and what your customer's saying, and you also got to keep eye on what's behind you.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:08.480
So at some point, I there was a small contingent of people in Ben that were like, I would get the question, like, tell me what the Bravo team leader does again.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:23.200
I'm like, I just meant like your back of house manager, but I would go home, I'd tell my wife, I'm like, this was so surreal that that even and so and and the truth is it fit like what I was saying well, it's a it's a common language.
00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:33.200
I mean, yeah, that's I mean that I think that's what's so cool about you doing that kind of program is nobody I can't speak that language, I'd be talking non educational nonsense.
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:42.319
I'm not gonna draw the attack diagram as their as their business enters the fray, and you know, yeah, which is really not a bad way to think look at it.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.599
It's I think it it keeps people, you know.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:51.039
I hope it's at least as much helpful, but I think it certainly keeps people engaged.
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.440
Like I not to say an education is entertainment, but you do have to keep people's attention.
00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:55.920
Sure.
00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:02.079
And you need to, I'd hope that I have something to offer in that program that you can't get anywhere else, and that's why you should come.
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.279
But yeah, no, I did it 160th too, like time bound.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:10.480
Like every we come with these things of uh, you know, we have these meetings.
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:13.599
I have to keep people somewhat accountable, particularly when they ask for it.
00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.960
Like, hey, did you do the thing?
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:29.440
And so I end up, you know, 160th is built on plus or minus 30 seconds, and so everything's time, and so I can man, I can hear myself sometimes like it has to be time bound, like every target has to be how else are we gonna plan this thing?
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:30.000
Right, right.
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:43.279
And so I I was talking about deliberate versus time-sensitive targets, and so yeah, I say all that one to be a little bit funny, but secondly, like it's just uh if the question ever came like why do you do this?
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:49.920
Like that's a really fulfilling thing for sure, because that's a whole part of my life that I don't otherwise get to use.
00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:50.319
Right.
00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:55.839
And so to be able to bring that to light or help someone in some other endeavor, right?
00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:57.359
It's like this is okay.
00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:09.759
I think for for folks, especially if they're at the point where you know they're they're stable enough in their own own life that they're now going to try to get that American dream.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:21.359
They're gonna they're gonna create a business, yes, they're going to um add more in income for themselves and for the community, whatever the business is, add, but they're adding, they're not surviving.
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:33.599
And so um I think having somebody in that in that realm who can speak to that, I don't think that's common, or I don't think that's something you can just reach out and go, hey, let's get another Keith in here.
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.279
Keith Keith has gone off the rails with his attack language.
00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:38.799
We need Keith two, you know.
00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:43.839
I think no, that's what they're that's what they're looking for, and that's what they're they probably understand, you know.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:44.240
Yeah.
00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.279
So uh kudos to you for finding that, you know.
00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:48.079
Appreciate it.
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.559
And I know Coho does great work.
00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:58.160
I've been out to the uh I live in Tumalo, their farm is okay down the road, and uh we we had somebody from there talk about.
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:04.160
I was talking to the executive director from a while ago, and I remember she was talking about I said, What's your biggest challenge?
00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:16.000
And she was like, Well, there was a cow that got out of our field and ran into these other fields, and I was like, That's not what I was thinking your challenges were gonna be, but they're running a farm out there, so yeah, yeah.
00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:21.279
I think that and maybe there's somewhere I didn't realize it before, but you know, maybe there's some hope for that.
00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:24.720
Like, I I think life's about you know having a good story to tell.
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:35.519
And so if I can teach my classes at at the the ranch there and maybe be witness to some cow running a buck or whatever, like that's that's some good dinner table conversation.
00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:36.319
Awesome.
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.359
Less extreme.
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:50.079
Well, I'm guessing if that cow gets out, you're you're gonna be good at giving directions on how to how to get that cow back, challenge it, challenge it, said 30 seconds, 30 seconds off after it hit the fence down the line.
00:29:50.400 --> 00:30:06.000
So well, Keith, we're at the end of our uh podcast time, and uh I I know that we uh strayed far afield from small business development, but is there anything you'd like to say to folks or how can they get more information about your programs?
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:09.279
Uh well, I mean, the web page, right?
00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:16.400
Like it has all the information there, um, but a less like canned response to that, like email me.
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:25.119
Yeah, uh, call like I I I really enjoy meeting with with folks beforehand because honestly, like my fear at this is like, is this what people expected?
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:26.000
You know what I mean?
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.319
Like, did I put all the right bullet statements?
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:29.519
Are we all yeah?
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.400
And so I enjoy the opportunity to meet with folks beforehand.
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.720
It makes me feel better on the day that we all arrive.
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:41.200
And I I think it's uh yeah, I would love to go, you know, in more depth about what it is we do and how we do it.
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:42.640
What what's your email address?
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:50.640
Uh first initial, K last name Cheryl S-H-E-R-R I L L at C O C C dot edu.
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:51.519
Great.
00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:52.000
Thank you.
00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:55.839
Well, thanks for taking the time to uh come in and uh let people know.
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:59.039
I'm sure they uh they will be emailing you because uh Yeah.
00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:07.039
Yeah, I'm sure they're they're if anyone's gonna take this class, and if you're getting the vibe of a thing, it's gonna be a fascinating class for sure.
00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:09.279
Well, Keith, thanks for coming in.
00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.400
Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:11.119
I appreciate it.
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:13.279
This has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast.
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.279
We appreciate you giving us a listen.
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:20.400
There's a lot of things you can do with your time, and making us part of that is greatly appreciated.
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:35.119
Uh, if you want to help this program, go to bensource.com, become a member, donate, and uh we'll bring Keith back and we'll have a true uh fire pilot logistics training like like I wanted.
00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:36.640
Thank you.
00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:37.519
All right.
00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:42.240
You've been listening to the Ben Don't Break podcast powered by the Source Weekly.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:46.960
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