Veterans transition to civilian life through entrepreneurship: SBA's Linda McMahon

Small business optimism has soared over President Donald Trump first major legislative victory that aims stimulate economic growth.

Congress sent Trump a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax reform bill, the largest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years and many small business owners are turning to the administration to access capital.

“You [need to] have cash but it’s almost as important is getting that access to capital is knowing how to structure and set up your business,” Small Business Association (SBA) administrator Linda McMahon said during an interview on FOX Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne.”

The SBA is assisting veterans to transition into civilian life with its Boots-to-Business Reboot Training Program designed to provide former military personnel with an opportunity to explore business ownership and entrepreneurship.

“A lot of [veterans] don’t know how to write their own business plan. They don’t know how to manage cash flow. They don’t know how to develop their ideas. They don’t know how to take their skills that they learned as part of the military and translate them,” McMahon said.

SBA’s loans to veterans in 2017 totaled $1.15 billion and having a high level contributing workforce will only help small businesses grow, according to McMahon.

Along with helping veterans, the SBA is focused on helping homeowners and business owners affected by the recent hurricanes that plowed through Florida, Puerto Rico and Texas that left many businesses and homeowners in disarray as they await assistance from the federal government.

The agency handles the disaster loan program which lends money to businesses and homeowners affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. In 2017, the SBA processed a total of 95,587 disaster loan applications and approved 27,263 disaster loans for a total of $1.7 billion.

“The goal of SBA is to get people back in their homes to get people back in their businesses. Small businesses are the glue for communities and to get those communities backup and get them flourishing, get the economy growing again, “McMahon said.