Military Vet Uses Training to Help Communities

We’re highlighting small businesses from around the country as nominated by you, our readers. If your favorite small business is using Twitter to communicate with customers, let us know about it @fbsmallbiz with the hashtag #mysbc, and it may be featured as an upcoming Small Business of the Day.

Small Business of the Day: Spartan Consulting Group

Who: Founder Nick Sloan, 34, @spartangroupllc

What: An intelligence and emergency preparedness company

When: 2008

How: Sloan, a former Marine, retired from the service right after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He went on to get a degree in homeland security and became Homeland Security coordinator for the city of Dallas. From there, he got the idea to start up his own business, offering security services.

"It started out really as a side job for me," Sloan said. "But I am now working with organizations to put together site surveys and measure their risk and provide intelligence to them."

Where: Dallas

Biggest lesson learned from a customer: "Being a veteran, I couldn't go into a company and talk to them with my military jargon," he said. "I had to redefine who I was as a person and communicate clearly what my business can offer them. It's translating my knowledge and skills into a product that others want to purchase."

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