When you chase things with the wrong motives, the end result has a funny way of teaching you something. Especially when it ends in devasting failure. Chris Pavlak attended law school for all the wrong reasons, though he wouldn’t realize this until years after he repeatedly failed the Bar exam. Versus allowing the failure to beat him, he used it to find purpose by becoming a United States Marine. In this episode, Chris shares more about his story, the primary message behind his best-selling book: Lawyer to Warrior- Failing the Bar, Becoming a Marine, and Finding Meaning, and what he learned about building a life of significance off solid ground.  

Impactful Moments of the Show: 

4:00: Chris' background

6:00: The why behind writing the book and the primary message behind: Lawyer to Warrior 

9:00: Failure and the impact on one’s soul 

20:00: The difference between law school culture and military culture

23:00: Building a life off of solid ground 

24:00: Chris' last saved rounds 

Check out Chris' book website here: https://lawyertowarrior.com/ 

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-r-pavlak-0a523730/ 

Click this link to take advantage of my offer of buying the FIRST THREE people copies of Lawyer to Warrior, who submit their number one #GoldenGrenade gained from the episode and your mailing address here: https://forms.gle/BouZBRoUevEX6pMN8 

More about the guest: 

Chris Pavlak graduated from law school in 2006. He failed the bar exam twice before joining the U.S. Marines and becoming a ground intelligence officer. During his service, Chris has led Marine rifle and scout sniper platoons, been a planner for Marine Corps service-level exercises, and served as an advisor to Afghan security forces. Still in the Marine Corps Reserves, Chris is a faculty member at National Intelligence University near Washington, D.C.  As a civilian, he is a consultant on the policies, ethics, governance, and regulations of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. He lives in Alexandria, VA. 

Show Sponsor: Subscribe to our newsletter and receive AVN updates, content, and curated tools and news to fuel your ambitions post-military. You can subscribe here: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/ 

In this episode, I dive into the trenches with four veteran entrepreneurs based in the Dallas, Texas area who were accepted in the most recent cohort of Bunker Lab's Veteran in Residence Program, sponsored by USAA, WeWork, and Pilot/Flying J. These entrepreneurs share their backgrounds, what they learned about themselves during the military transition process, and why they started their small businesses. 

Interview One: Christine Walker
Christine is a Desert Storm veteran, having served as a Hospital Corpsman at Camp Lejeune, MCB. She has over 20 collective years of design, writing, and publishing experience, co-founding MAC Publishing as Creative Director and founding Devil Doc Publishing in July 2020, with their first publication, AT EASE! Veterans Magazine was released the same year. To learn more about Christine's small business click here: https://www.theateasemagazine.com/ 

Interview Two: Andrea Gepner
United States Navy veteran and Founder and CEO of Simply Tax Compliant, a smarter way to manage your small business taxes. Learn more about Andrea's small business here: https://simplytaxcompliant.com/ 

Interview Three: Jessica Erickson
Jessica is a Marriage and Family Doctoral Candidate and LPC-S. She is an Army Veteran and a Navy wife who has a passion for working with veterans struggling with mental health. She
founded Hearts and Minds Counseling in 2019 and created a 12-week program that incorporates glass working with a proven self-worth curriculum. Learn more about Jessica's small business by clicking here: https://www.heartsandmindscounseling.com/ 

Interview Four: Kimelyn Coleman
Kimelyn is the founder and CEO of KC's Job Serach Coaching, LLC. She is a US Army veteran has a Master of Business Administration degree and is certified as a Career Coach and Professional Resume Writer. For further information, you can
contact her by email at kcoleman@kcsjsc.com 

How do you find that internal compass to guide yourself from where you are to who you want to become post-military? In this episode, PJ Maykish unpackages his four pillars to living a strong post-military life. 

Impactful moments in the show: 

4:00MM: PJ’s background 

8:00MM: How he found passion in tech and its ability to be a warfighting superpower.

12:00MM: The four fundamentals to live strong. 

18:00MM: How to find your battle rhythm leveraging the four fundamentals. 

23:00MM: Self-acceptance and what you can control when your stock price goes down as an individual. 

28:00MM: The two behaviors to audit in your everyday life. 

35:00MM: PJ's war cry to all Ambitious VETs. 

How to learn more about Dr. PJ Maykish: 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pj-maykish-a0550072/ 
More around his role as Senior Advisor at Special Competitive Studies Project: https://www.scsp.ai/ 

Show Sponsor: Subscribe to our email list and receive your FREE copy of our Ambitious VET Goal Setting Framework: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/ 

More about the guest:
Dr. PJ Maykish serves the Special Competitive Studies Project as a Senior Advisor. Prior to the SCSP, PJ was the Director for Technology Competition at the National Security Council. He directed classified research for the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence from 2019-2021. In the Strategy Office for the Secretary of Defense (OSD-P/SFD), PJ developed “Third Offset” technology solutions for DoD deterrence credibility issues from 2015-2017. He was promoted early to Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel ranks with 24 years of leadership experience in military operations including Commander of U.S. Central Command’s Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) from 2017-2019.

For many military spouses, moving overseas and trying to find employment can be almost impossible. The consequences of not finding employment negatively impact employment history gaps and long-term retirement plans for the whole family. In this episode, Kasie Valenti, Army veteran, military spouse, and Founder and CEO of Sigma Forces shares her story of overcoming employment hurdles as a military spouse moving overseas, how to use a  document called a Status of Forces (SOFA) agreement, and what she is doing to support in veterans and military spouse's career advancement.

Impactful moments of the show:

4:00MM: Kasie’s background.

6:00MM: Employment hurdles Kasie hit when looking for employment overseas and helping recruiters over their knee-jerk perceived barriers. 

12:00MM: How to kick doors down easier using professional certifications. 

19:00MM: Different scenarios on leveraging the (SOFA) for both veterans and mil-spouses.

24:00MM: How a (SOFA) ties to certifications and employment.

28:00MM: Last saved rounds 

Connect with Kasie and learn more about her work at Sigma Forces: 
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasie-valenti/ 
Sigma Forces Website: 
https://www.sigmaforces.com/ 

Show Sponsor: If you are interested in jumping into the trenches with other ambitious vets looking to grow and advance in life together, feel free to apply here: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/ 

When we get out of the military we can forget how to make friends, develop, and nurture those relationships. In this episode, Travis Johnson shares his relationship-building best practices, how to build a solid personal brand, and his podcasting journey to becoming one of the top veteran podcasters in the community. 

Impactful Moments of the Show:

4:00MM: Travis’ Background.

8:00MM: Travis’ childhood "librarian yearbook" story that set him up for success in relationship building for the rest of his life. 

10:00MM: Prospecting versus Networking.

14:30MM: Practically in building relationships.

20:00MM: How Travis learned how to tame outcome-focused military tendencies in relationships.

24:00MM: The power of personal branding.

20:00MM: Travis’ podcast background.

37:00MM: Travis’ communication learned lessons in an oral board review in his Navy days.

45:00MM: Last saved rounds to break through barriers to your success post-military.


Learn more about Travis Johnson here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofitarchitect/ 

Show Sponsor: Want to learn more about the Ambitious VET Community Platform and how you can dive into the trenches with our veterans looking to improve in life? Click here: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/ 

The majority who serve in the military are patriots, people down on their luck looking for another chance to make something of themselves, or for economic advancement. What we forget when we transition is the long-term thinking that it takes to realize how much our benefits would increase the overall quality of our life.  

In this masterclass, Chris shares the challenges veterans deal with in attaining their benefits, the latest VA and DOD 2023FY budgets, and the three reasons why you need to do the work in getting your benefits to create more margin and wealth in your life post-military. 

Resources and Facts shared during the episode: 

• Applying for VA Healthcare: https://www.va.gov/
• VA 2023FY budget and where it's being allocated: https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2022/12/20/va-to-get-300b-its-biggest-budget-ever-under-federal-spending-deal/
• A great resource to support you along the process of attaining disability compensation around service-connected injuries: https://vaclaimsinsider.com/

Show Sponsor: 
Apply to join our exclusive Ambitious VET Community Platform here: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/ 

One of the most consistent things we hear from veterans at AVN is "I am in my own way", but it becomes a blanket statement over a deep wound when you don't know what that means or how to overcome it. In this episode, Eric Brew (Manager of Military Engagement at American Corporate Partners) and retired Army 1stSgt shares his transition struggles, what it means to get in your own way when pursuing success post-military, and how to leverage mentors to guide you along the process to becoming who you want to be post-military. 

Impactful moments of the show:
5:00MM: Eric’s background.

7:00MM: One of the biggest things he learned through his transition struggles.

10:00MM: What does it mean to be in your own way and what key risk factors to identify early on. 

15:00MM: What to bring to mentor sessions to get the most out of them.

28:00MM: More on ACP and what it has to offer. 

Connect with Eric Brew on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbrew/ 
Learn more about ACP here: https://www.acp-usa.org/ 

Show Sponsor: Are you a veteran ready to set your 2023 goals military style? If so, subscribe to our email list and get your copy of our MT5X5 Ambitious VET Goal Setting Framework here: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/ 

More on the guest, Eric Brew:

Eric is the Manager of Military Engagement at ACP. Eric’s passion is to serve and honor Transitioning Service Members, Veterans, and their families by investing in them and assisting them in building meaningful lives through connections to fulfilling careers and proactively strengthening the Veteran community through, example, leadership, and collaboration.

If you have gone through any transition program or leveraged a veteran service organization to set up a LinkedIn profile, you have most likely already learned about the FREE 12-month premium subscription. With that said, just because you have a door open doesn't mean you know how to walk through it, am I correct? Meaning, some of you who will read this have already used your 12-month FREE premium account and you haven't done a damn thing to build a personal brand on the platform. Nothing is wrong with that and the goal of this episode is to help you get the basics down on building a solid personal brand on LinkedIn. In this episode, Amy Forsythe an award-winning military journalist and public affairs officer for the U.S. Navy shares how to overcome "the self-promotion is a selfish cry out-for-attention myth" that veterans have, tips on how to build a solid Linkedin Profile, and her personal tactics on how she leverages the platform to build quality and meaningful relationships with professionals. 

Learn more about Amy's new book here: https://www.heroeslivehere.com/ 

Purchase a signed copy here: https://bit.ly/3rlKiDF

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyforsythe/ 

Show Sponsor: Click here to check out some of the hottest retail veteran-owned, 100% American Made, or organizations with a generous profit donation to military initiatives inside of our 2022 Holiday Gift Guide: https://ambitiousvetnetwork.com/giftguide2022/ 

Guest Bio:
Amy Forsythe is an award-winning military journalist who served five combat tours supporting Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and has been on assignment for several other overseas missions. Amy started her career as a U.S. Marine combat correspondent in 1993 and currently serves as Public Affairs Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and is assigned to U.S. Special Operations Command. Her imagery taken while covering military operations around the world has been featured in numerous international and national media outlets through the years and continues to be used for historical purposes. 

She is also the author of Heroes Live Here: A Tribute to Camp Pendleton Marines Since 9/11.' started as a passion project to showcase the memorials and markers on Camp Pendleton and it turned into a collaborative work of art that honors our fallen heroes of the post-9/11 generation. Amy was first stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, in 1995 and still has strong ties to the base and surrounding communities. She's involved in supporting various veteran service organizations in San Diego County and around the country.