In honor of Veterans Day, SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, has gathered statistics that show veterans are twice as likely to own a business as their civilian counterparts. Veterans, who make up eight percent of the U.S. population, are also 50 percent more likely than civilians to own two or more firms.
The numbers
According to the 2015 Kauffman Index on Startup Activity, “New veteran entrepreneurs continue to be a smaller part of the U.S. entrepreneurial population, mostly reflecting a falling population of veterans, not a declining Rate of New Entrepreneurs among veterans.”
SCORE reports, as of 2015, America’s 21.4 million veterans own 9.2 percent of all U.S. firms:
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20 percent of all veteran-owned firms have employees.
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Collectively, these firms employ 5.8 million people, and make $1.1 trillion in sales.
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Veterans with 20+ years of service have higher rates of self-employment, and officers are more likely to be self-employed.
Veterans tend to work in technical industries, with the top five being:
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Professional, scientific and technical services: 16.9 percent
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Construction: 15.5 percent
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Repair, maintenance and other services: 9.9 percent
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Real estate: 8.9 percent
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Retail: 8.1 percent
The insight
Most vetpreneurs rely on themselves to fund their businesses:
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69.2 percent use personal or family savings and assets
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12.9 percent use credit cards or home equity loans
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9.8 percent use business loans from financial institutions
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1.9 percent use business loans from family or friends
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1.2 percent use government guaranteed/originated loans
The opportunity
Helpful business resources for veterans include:
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Department of Veteran Affairs – Veteran Entrepreneur Portal
This article has been edited and condensed.
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 10 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE’s 10,000+ volunteer business experts provide 350,000+ free small business mentoring sessions, workshops and educational services to clients in 300+ chapters nationwide. In 2015, SCORE volunteers provided 2.2+ million hours to help create more than 45,000 jobs and 55,000 small businesses. For more information about starting or operating a small business, call 1-800-634-0245 for the SCORE chapter nearest you. Visit SCORE at www.score.org. Connect with @SCOREMentors on Twitter.
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