0 (2s):
Light that spark Fire Nation, JLD here. And welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like business infrastructure. Today, we'll be focusing on you served, you deserve getting the veteran benefits. You've earned to drop these value bombs. I brought Brian into EOFire studios. Brian is a leading expert in advocate for U.S. veterans’ benefits, a former active-duty Air Force officer. He deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He is a Distinguished Graduate of Management from the United States Air Force Academy and earned his MBA as a National Honor Scholar from the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University.

0 (45s):
He is the founder and CEO of CEO of VA Claims Insider a coaching and consulting company whose mission is to educate and empower veterans to get the VA disability benefits they've earned for their honorable service in Fire Nation. Today, we'll be talking all about how veterans can get what they qualify for and so much more. So if you know anybody who this makes sense for in your life, in your family, in your friend group, please make them listen to this podcast so they can start getting what they've earned. As soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors, the HubSpot Podcast Network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business. Whether you're looking for marketing sales service, or operational guidance, the HubSpot Podcast Network hosts have your back, listen, learn and grow with the HubSpot Podcast Network at hubspot.com/podcastnetwork.

0 (1m 36s):
Brian say what's up the Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. All thanks

1 (1m 46s):
For having me JLD Fire Nation. Look here's. Here's something that I believe about being successful, especially as an entrepreneur that others don't. I extremely dislike the quote knowledge is power because I don't believe knowledge is power. And I think that the quote is misleading to me, knowledge is knowledge and power is power. I think that knowledge can only become power through action. And that's really fundamental to how I've built VA claims insider into such a successful business and organization transitioning from my military career to being an entrepreneur is you have to will things into existence as an entrepreneur, and the way that you do that is through action.

1 (2m 36s):
And so if you're sitting around as a course, junkie a book junkie and filling yourself full of knowledge, but you never do anything about it. Look, your, you will not reach your full potential unless you put things into action. I

0 (2m 52s):
Love this Fire Nation. I've mentioned a couple of times in the past years about how I think my military experience, and obviously Brian's as well made us a little action oriented. I mean, a quote that I can remember my platoon Sergeant screaming into my ear during a firefight in Iraq was LT. A good decision now is better than a great decision later. Make a good decision. Don't try to be patent out there. Don't try to be like the best general in the world. Hey, the bullets are flying in life. They are for me physically. They actually were literally for other people figuratively, the bullets are flying. Take action, be action oriented. I love this. Since you wrote a book, Brian, congrats, by the way, I recently wrote a book, which I know you've started and you will finish because you are an action taker.

0 (3m 40s):
And I, so I know the pain and just the agony of writing a book, which is why I say double congrats. And your book is called. You deserve it. You deserve it. And this book is designed to help disabled veterans, which I'm one of. So thank you for helping our cause obtain benefits that are due to them. What drove you to publish a book for this specific audience look to,

1 (4m 3s):
To sum it up very clearly and concisely. I wrote the book that I wish somebody would have written for me. And it took me about 15 months, truly about 10,000 hours of, of deep research and writing. We've helped over 10,000 veterans directly in our programs. JLD since 2016. And so I literally took all of that knowledge and I put it into one comprehensive volume. You can think of it like the veteran benefits Bible. And it's the first publication that actually has many, many of the veteran benefits that you qualify for and are eligible for under the law.

1 (4m 47s):
And that includes things like federal VA, benefits, state benefits, nonprofit resources, and then for-profit veteran discounts. And nobody had put together a comprehensive volume to help veterans with all things benefits until this book.

0 (5m 3s):
And I will even say Fire Nation that I actually had the conversation with Brian. I said, where were you? 15 years ago? It was, I can tell you the 26 year old JLD who wasn't still is a disabled veteran that was just getting out of the military and going into the civilian world. Could he use this book in a big major way? Because honestly, even like a few hundred bucks a month that I deserved, I just didn't know how to claim what it made a big deal for me. And it could have even potentially been more some cases. And I know a lot of people just have all these, you know, potentially unclaimed benefits that they qualified for. So, you know, we love in this world, Brian, having people who actually qualify to give advice, you know, I've now published 3000 episodes.

0 (5m 45s):
So I am qualified to give people advice on how to create, grow and monetize their podcast. What's your backgrounds like what qualifies you as a veteran to give this advice to other disabled veterans? My results,

1 (5m 58s):
I mean, that's, that's the bottom line is, is the results speak for themselves? And so it took me jail D about seven years of fighting the VA thousands and thousands of hours of time in the trenches to figure out exactly what I needed to do. And the part that's crazy here is I estimate that I lost about a hundred thousand dollars of tax-free disability compensation, really just because I didn't know what I didn't know. And one thing like here's a, here's a shocking stat and, and this is listed in the book 75% of veterans. A lot of today don't get anything from the VA at all 75%.

1 (6m 40s):
So if you think that there's, you know, statistics vary, but it's somewhere around 18 to 20 million veterans are alive right now in the world. 75% don't have anything. Right. So really what that means then is just one in four veterans, get anything at all. And why is that? I mean, what, what happened? Why is it that so few veterans have taken advantage of the benefits that they're entitled to by law? Well, I think the main thing, and this comes back to my experience and why I wrote the book is it shouldn't take an advanced degree and 10,000 hours of time in the trenches to actually get the benefits you deserve by law. And so what I've done is created a very simple and easy program for veterans to follow.

1 (7m 23s):
It kicks off over eight steps and it happens over 30 days. And the veteran in our membership program gets partnered with an expert level veteran coach who I've taught, taught, trained, and equipped. And you can walk the journey with somebody in your own mastermind with other fellow veterans. And I know you're familiar, y'all with masterminds, you accelerate your results. And so, you know, what, what qualifies me been there done that I've trained hundreds of folks we've worked with via sows, you know, have now written and published a book on it. I blog about disability topics all the time, and we've helped over 10,000 veterans.

1 (8m 3s):
JLD get the VA rating and compensation they deserve in our membership programs. And I'm so proud of that. And I'm so proud of our team because I couldn't do this alone. You

0 (8m 16s):
Should be proud of it. That's something to be incredibly proud of. I mean, you are literally changing lives every single day. And I know there are some veterans in Fire Nation who are listening to this podcast, but I know that there are a lot of people in my audience who know veterans in your family, your friend group, your peer group, Fire Nation. So please, please, please. Like I mentioned in the introduction, do these individuals an unbelievable favor and tell them about this podcast so they can learn from Brian so they can get into this program. They can start reaping the rewards that they deserve because you do deserve it. My fellow veterans out there, you really do. Let's just kind of share Brian, some common disabilities that you find in your veteran audience.

0 (9m 1s):
First and foremost,

1 (9m 2s):
I think one of the most common things that we see are mental health issues. And, and look, I'm going to be vulnerable at right here with you. All. I personally suffer from PTSD, bipolar, depression, anxiety. These are things, man, that JLD is an officer and you can probably relate to this. I was embarrassed and I was really afraid to talk about mental health with anyone. I mean, there were people in my family who, who I hadn't even told, I think they can probably look back and go, yep. That makes sense. Right. But I just, wasn't willing to be open and honest and vulnerable about this stuff. And so, so look, every veteran alive, experienced trauma, okay, now you may be, maybe it's not combat trauma.

1 (9m 50s):
Okay. But it doesn't have to be combat related trauma. We all experience things for better or for worse. That changed the way that the change who we are for the rest of our lives. And so mental health conditions JLD is, is probably the most common thing we see. The other thing is there's a lot of physical disabilities that veterans suffer from, you know, shoulder issues, back problems, neck issues, foot pain. So things like plantar fasciitis, there's a high value, secondary condition known as ridiculous apathy. So a lot of vets have cervical and spine issues that can lead to radiating pain called ridiculous apathy.

1 (10m 33s):
So that's a high value claim as well. So now, but primarily I would say mental health sleep apnea, migraine headaches, GERD, IBS. So gastroesophageal reflux, disease, irritable bowel syndrome. Those are some of the most common we see. But what I want everyone to know here in my voice is there's well over 800 different disability conditions that you're eligible for by law. And again, like, I mean, you think about that 800 plus conditions. Well, most veterans aren't doctors. So you're not even going to know what some of these conditions are, unless you get educated about it.

1 (11m 13s):
And you start to understand like, oh my gosh, I'm, I'm suffering from that every single day. I had no idea I could claim that. And so that's a lot of what we do. JLD is educating veterans in the process to include what they're even eligible for by law.

0 (11m 31s):
So much important stuff here, Fire Nation, which Brian will actually learn as he continues to read my book. I know he's only in the introduction period right now, the prologue, but I talk actually about my situation and my dealings with PTSD in my mid twenties, into my early thirties, because that was something that I absolutely dealt with. And it had a huge impact on my life. And I, you know, I did go to see some veteran groups and I was part of some therapy sessions and I was prescribed some medication, which I look back now. I was like, you know, you know, I would have approached things differently personally, but you know, I didn't know what I didn't know back then. And you know, that was my reality. And again, I just didn't know what I didn't know.

0 (12m 14s):
So this is why information is knowledge. Like you have this information that Brian's Mulino step-by-step, you can go through this and you can really make sure that you are getting the benefits that you deserve. And Fire Nation, we have so much value coming up and we get back from thanking our sponsors. Are you ready to take control of your is branding, but don't have a design backgrounds. Great news Fire Nation brand crowd can help. BrandCrowd is a logo maker tool that helps you create an amazing logo design online. How do they do it using high quality handcrafted designs, BrandCrowd, take your business name and industry and generates thousands of custom logos just for you and seconds.

0 (12m 54s):
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0 (13m 43s):
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0 (14m 24s):
It's time to say goodbye to siloed systems and hello, to powerful analytics and custom reporting available to your entire team on a United system. Learn more about how you can scale your company without scaling complexity@hubspot.com. So Brian we're back and I want to start talking about some specific tips for our fellow veterans out there. What would you say your top three tips are for veterans who are trying to obtain their benefits

1 (14m 51s):
First and foremost, get your butt to the doctor. Okay. If you're hearing my voice right now and you're still active duty guard or reserve, the number one piece of advice I have for you is pick up the phone, call your primary care provider at whatever base you're at. Tell him or her everything going on with you. Nothing is too small. If you think you might have sleep apnea, get a sleep study done on active duty or in the military before you leave. Okay. If you're hearing my voice and you've already transitioned and you're a veteran now, and maybe you separated five years ago, 15 years ago, whatever the advice is still the same. Get your butt to the doctor because the number one thing that I see where veterans go wrong JLD is they'll apply for a condition for benefits and they don't even have it medically diagnosed yet.

1 (15m 44s):
Okay. If you don't have a medical diagnosis, somewhere in a medical record, you are dead in the water. Okay. That claim is going to get denied. So again, call the VA. If you're still on active duty, go see your primary care doctor and tell them everything. Okay. That's first and foremost, you got to have a diagnosis and it needs to be in a medical record. The second one thing, and this is where, so, so many veterans go wrong is you have the diagnosis, but if you're unable to prove something called the nexus, okay, now I want to demystify that word. Nexus simply means logical link or connection.

1 (16m 25s):
Let me give you an example. If you deployed in support of a combat contingency deployment, and you were getting mortared and rocketed all the time and you feared for your life and you developed say post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result of that combat deployment, the nexus. In that case of what caused your PTSD would be the deployment. The nexus would be the rockets and mortars in which you feared for your life. So when you're thinking about these disability conditions, when you file a claim, you need to be able to show that that condition was caused or made worse by your active duty military service.

1 (17m 7s):
Okay? That's the nexus. So folks who have conditions that they've claimed and they get denied benefits, or they see something inside of their va.gov or E benefits account that says not service connected. That's what that means. Okay. Now you can overcome it. So even if you've been denied before, or you're worried about, okay, how am I going to get this condition service connected? I've been out of the Marine Corps for 15 years. A pro tip is to get a private doctor to write something called a medical nexus letter. Okay. It's also known as an independent medical opinion.

1 (17m 47s):
Now I break that down inside my book. You deserve it. I give you an example of a nexus letter. So you could either take it to your doctor as a template. If you want to join one of our membership programs, we also have providers in a referral network that can help you with that. But that's the number two tip is get a medical nexus letter also known as an independent medical opinion from a private provider to help you show that your disability condition was due to your service. Okay? Now the third thing I want to talk about, and this is critically important because it's about mindset JLD and I know you guys talk a lot about mindset, fire, nation of success.

1 (18m 28s):
Look, you deserve benefits for your service. Get that crap out of your brain. Look so let me share what I mean by this. Okay. One of the most common reasons I hear JLD were veterans say, you know, ah, I'm not going to file for benefits or yeah. You know, I thought about it. And then I just decided to give up, it's a mindset thing, because we tell ourselves we don't deserve it. We tell ourselves, you know what? The, the people who went to combat, they deserve it. You know, those folks who sacrifice their limbs, they deserve it. You know, it's only for those men and women who have very severe mental health condition.

1 (19m 9s):
So, so they deserve it. Look, that's a bunch of crap. You deserve benefits for your honorable service in your benefits do not affect any other veterans benefits they're mutually exclusive. Okay. So what I tell Betsy JLD is if you decide not it's a personal choice, you don't have to pursue benefits if you don't want to, but just understand that the only one you're hurting is yourself and your family, because these benefits are out there waiting for you, but you have to take it. Okay. So I'm giving you permission right here. Right now, if you're hearing my voice, I'm giving you permission to get the benefits that you deserve by law.

1 (19m 55s):
Okay? Nothing more, nothing less. Here's the theme,

0 (19m 58s):
Fire Nation. You deserve it. If you served, you deserve it. So we love success stories. Brian, so share with us some success stories of how you've rocked it for fellow veterans and their families. No blast

1 (20m 15s):
JLD and look at, you know, this journey as an entrepreneur in the early days, I did it all myself. Now I'm blessed with, with the team, we're, we're over a hundred and twenty-five full-time team members right now around the world. It's just been an amazing blessing, this movement of veterans helping veterans worldwide. And so I get to be the guy on this podcast, speaking about it, but it's really the success of our team that serves veterans every single day. And so, yeah, I just want to share a couple of quick stories of the lives that we've, and this is really my why God put it on my heart a while ago, as I was struggling with mental health issues and alcoholism and drug abuse back about four years ago to give veterans hope.

1 (21m 1s):
That's, that's my why. And at the time I didn't understood, understand what that meant it has since become this amazing, amazing movement of veterans helping veterans worldwide. And so, for example, JLD I got an email at the height of the pandemic and it was from a veteran and the message was Brian, thank you so much to you and your team. You, you have no idea how you've changed and saved my life. I'm now going to be able to keep my home and provide for my six year old little girl. So, so that's just an example, right? Of we celebrate life change.

1 (21m 43s):
And I mean, that is an absolute perfect example of a veteran finally gets the benefits they deserve by law in that at monthly tax-free monetary benefit that they're getting allowed him to save his home, to make his mortgage payment and be able to provide for his six year old little girl. I can tell you flat out JLD we have stopped veteran suicide. We've prevented veterans from, from taking their own life as a result of the high trust relationships that we build with fellow veterans. And just to break

0 (22m 19s):
In here for a second Fire Nation, I mean, this is a massive issue. There's an average of 22 veteran suicides a day a day. And of course that number could be higher. You know, you hear different reports, but that is insane stuff. So key rock and Brian, an

1 (22m 36s):
Example, and please don't take this as you know, Brian bragging because I do not want it to be about me. So about six months ago, we have a mastermind group JLD and a veteran reached out in the mastermind group. It was a Saturday morning. I happened to be awake early, cause I always am. I'm a veteran. We don't sleep.

2 (22m 56s):
So, so

1 (22m 58s):
I'm awake early. And I noticed that a veteran, you know, just poured his heart out and basically said, I'm going through some rough stuff. You know, my, my wife left me. I'm really struggling. Is anybody there? And it was six in the morning on a Saturday. And I looked in the backend of our system. I got, I got the veterans cell phone number. I sent him a text message and said, Hey, this is be Reese. I'm calling you right now. And I called him on the phone and he started crying. First of all, because he couldn't believe that the CEO of the company would call him on a Saturday morning. And I just told them, I said, look, man, yeah, I'm blessed to be the leader of this movement, but I'm a fellow veteran in your life matters.

1 (23m 39s):
And I sat with them on the phone for almost three hours and we just talked about everything. We talked about life, I, him, the suicide hotline at the end, and he's still with us. He's still with us. He battled through this. He was able to get real about his mental health. And we were able to connect him with some resources. And so that's what this is all about. And I just, I get chills big time and telling that story, man, because that is what this is all about. Yes, we can help you get the benefits you deserve by law, but it's bigger than that. You may save your home. You may save your marriage. You may finally get honest about your mental health conditions, which can literally unleash your potential when you finally get this stuff off of your chest.

1 (24m 25s):
And so, you know, those are just a couple little stories, jailed,

0 (24m 29s):
Couple of little stories of saving lives. I mean, no big deal. Fire Nation, come on. This is, I hope inspiring you on so many levels of number one. Like if you know a veteran or you are a veteran like consume this content, this content is so critical. Get it into the right year balls of the right people. You will save lives. You will improve lives across the board. And you know, even if this has no connection to you because you don't even know a single veteran, let's just say that I hope this inspires you for other reasons of like, look what one person can do with one idea. And you can do the same thing, Fire Nation with your passion, with your desire and you can change lives. You can impact lives. And in some cases you can save lives. And this is a real world scenario. So Brian, let's break it down.

0 (25m 10s):
As we come to a close here, what is the single most important message that you want to share to Fire Nation today? Give us a call to action about how we can, can consume more of your content, read your book, anything you have for us there. And then we'll say goodbye.

1 (25m 26s):
Look, I'm going to be vulnerable again. Before I tell you how to, how to get a free copy of my new book. And, and by the way, I'm going to offer a free copy here. JLD to, to Fire Nation. Y'all discover, you know, this cover shipping and handling. So before I go there though, and tell you how to get the book and get involved, I want to share something with you. It's okay. Not to be okay. All right. I'm going to say that again. It's okay. Not to be okay. I look, there's still days. I still have bad days. Okay. We are all struggling with things right now in our lives that other people know nothing about. And it is a sign of strength to admit that you're not okay.

1 (26m 9s):
And to ask for help. And I truly believe that your path to helping you celebrate life change starts by looking in the mirror, admitting to yourself that you're not okay and you need help. And then taking action. Okay. You were created for a purpose. You're here for a reason. You are not alone. You're enough in your life matters. I live to tell you that. Okay. So I wanted to share that with Fire Nation, that it is okay. Not to be okay. I literally,

0 (26m 40s):
As you were saying, that can remember the moment in my life, in my mid twenties, when I looked in the mirror and had that conversation with myself and things only got better going forward. So bring it home.

1 (26m 53s):
Amen. Yeah. So look, I break it down. I want to get you guys a copy of my brand new book. Okay. It's called you deserve it. The definitive guide to getting the veteran benefits you've earned. This is my 10,000 hours. My seven years of fighting the VA and my struggles to finally get what I deserved packaged into a single volume. You're going to learn about VA benefits. You're going to learn about the incredible state benefits that are available to you as veterans. Things like no property taxes on your home. What a lot of vets don't even know about. Yeah. There's all kinds of nonprofit organizations and everyday for-profit veteran discounts that you can take advantage of.

1 (27m 34s):
And I share those with all of you in this book. Look, you can get a free copy right here. Right now. All you have to do is cover a 9 95 shipping and handling charge. You can get a copy of the book right now by going to you deserve it. That's dot com. Again, all you got to do is go to you, deserve it. that.com enter information, pay the 9 95 shipping and handling charge. And I'm going to ship out a book a as soon as you finish your order.

0 (28m 3s):
Wow. I mean, Fire Nation, if this doesn't get you excited. And again, not just for the benefits, cause I know not all of you are veterans or no veterans, but just free person that said, you know what? I'm struggling with this. I'm going to create the best solution in the world to this and create a movement and organization and massive impact around this. This is what it's all about because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with BR and JLD today. So Fire Nation keep up that heat, head over to EOFire.com type Brian in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with everything we talked about today. Timestamps links galore and of course your direct call to action Fire Nation.

0 (28m 44s):
You deserve it. That's that's a VETS with an S FireNation.com. You deserve it. vets.com and Brian, I want to say thank you brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value of bombs with Fire Nation today. For that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank

3 (29m 3s):
You all. Appreciate it.

0 (29m 5s):
Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by Brian Reese. Are you ready to rock your own podcast? Check out our free podcasting course, where I teach you how to create and launch your podcast for you. Guessed it for real visit freepodcastcourse.com that is freepodcastcourse.com. I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip. The flip side, the HubSpot Podcast Network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business. Whether you're looking for marketing sales, service, or operational guidance, the HubSpot network hosts have your back, listen, learn and grow with the HubSpot Podcast Network at hubspot.com/podcast.