You Serve. You Deserve. Getting the Veteran Benefits You've Earned with Brian Reese: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Creator Science. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down the fact that if you served, you deserve getting the veteran benefits you've earned. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Brian Reese into EO Fire Studios. Brian is a leading expert on and advocate for U.S. veterans' benefits. And I can tell you, Fire Nation, I have gone through his program, and it works as a veteran myself.

0:36I really can say it is a great program. And Fire Nation, today we will be talking about the fact that 75 % of veterans alive today don't get anything at all from the VA and that it's okay to not be okay. It's a sign of strength to admit that you're not okay and ask for help. So Fire Nation, if you know a veteran or you are a veteran, believe me, this episode is relevant. So if you're a veteran, listen, please. And if you know a veteran, please send this episode to them. It will really help. It helped me personally. I can vouch for it. So a big thank you to Brian and our sponsors. Success Story, hosted by my friend Scott D.

1:13Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversation on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship. In a recent episode, Scott brings Kate Bradley on the show, founder and CEO of Lately.ai, to discuss the best ways to use AI to create content. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Brian, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:46First of all, thanks for having me, JLB, Fire Nation. Look, 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. Um, because I don't believe knowledge is power. And I think that the quote is misleading. Um, 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, uh, 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.

2:34And the way that you do that is through action. 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, you will not reach your full potential unless you put things into action. I 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.

3:15Make 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 and you wrote a book brian congrats by the way i recently wrote a book which i know um you've started and you will finish because you are an action taker um 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.

3:58What drove you to publish a book for this specific audience? Look, 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 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.

4:47And that includes things like federal VA benefits, 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. And I will even say, Fire Nation, that I actually had the conversation with Brian. I said, where were you 15 years ago? Because I can tell you the 26-year-old JLD who was and still is a disabled veteran that was just getting out of the military and going into the civilian world, could have used 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, would have made a big deal for me.

5:28And it could have even potentially been more in 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 3 ,000 episodes. So I am qualified to give people advice on how to create, grow, and monetize their podcast. What's your background? Like what qualifies you as a veteran to give this advice to other disabled veterans? My results. I mean, that's the bottom line is the results speak for themselves. And so it took me, JLD, 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.

6:13And the part that's really crazy here is I estimate that I lost about$100 ,000 of tax-free disability compensation really just because I didn't know what I didn't know. And one thing, like here's a shocking stat, and this is listed in the book, 75 % of veterans alive today don't get anything from the VA at all. 75%. 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 happened?

6:58Why 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. 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, trained and equipped.

7:36And 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 what qualifies me? Been there, done that. I've trained hundreds of folks. We've worked with VSOs, 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, 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 should be proud of it.

8:17That'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 and they can start reaping the rewards that they deserve because you do deserve it, my fellow veterans out there.

8:55You really do. And let's just kind of share, Brian, some common disabilities that you find in your veteran audience. First and foremost, I think one of the most common things that we see are mental health issues. And look, I'm going to be vulnerable right here with y 'all. I personally suffer from PTSD, bipolar, depression, anxiety. These are things, man, that JLD as 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 I hadn't even told. I think they can probably look back and go, yep, well, That makes sense.

9:35Right. 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. OK, now you may be maybe it's not combat trauma, OK, but it doesn't have to be combat related trauma. We all experience things for better or for worse that change the way, change who we are for the rest of our lives. And so mental health conditions, JLD, 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, you know, plantar fasciitis.

10:21There's a high value secondary condition known as radiculopathy. So a lot of vets have cervical and spine issues that can lead to radiating pain called radiculopathy. 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.

11:06Well, 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. And you start to understand, like, oh, my gosh, 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. There's so much important stuff here at 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-20s into my early 30s because that was something that I absolutely dealt with.

11:53And 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 as 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. So this is why information is knowledge. Like you have this information that Brian's going to be laying out step by step. You can go through this and you can really make sure that you are getting the benefits that you deserve.

12:27And Fire Nation, we have so much value coming up when we get back from thanking our sponsors. You know, your customers want fast, personalized support, but how do you find a customer service solution that actually delivers? Most solutions leave reps struggling to stay productive and customers frustrated by the lack of support. But with the new AI-powered Service Hub from HubSpot, you've now got a better way to do service and success. Service Hub helps you fly through the service queues and lighten the load on your reps with AI-powered self-service chat and knowledge-based articles. It also helps you grow your customer base with tools that helps reps anticipate customer needs before they ever become issues.

13:05With HubSpot Service Hub, reps are resolving tickets 13 times faster, helping them close 42 % more tickets per day. and that means increasing retention by more than 80%. Plus, with Service Hub, you get a full 360 view of your customers on one smart CRM that brings marketing sales servers and success teams together to work smarter while you watch your business grow. Visit hubspot.com slash service to learn how this all new solution can help you deliver for your customers. So Brian, we're back and I wanna 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?

13:45Sure. So first and foremost, get your butt to the doctor. OK, 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. OK, 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.

14:23The 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. OK, if you don't have a medical diagnosis somewhere in a medical record, you are dead in the water. OK, 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. OK, that's first and foremost. You got to have a diagnosis and it needs to be in a medical record. The second thing, and this is where so, so many veterans go wrong, is you have the diagnosis, but you're unable to prove something called the nexus.

15:12OK, now I want to demystify that word. Nexus simply means logical link or connection. 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.

16:02OK, 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 eBenefits account that says not service connected. That's what that means. OK. Now, you can overcome it. So even if you've been denied before or you're worried about, OK, 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. OK, it's also known as an independent medical opinion. Now, I break that down inside of my book.

16:44You 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 could 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. OK, 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.

17:23Look, you deserve benefits for your service. Get that crap out of your brain. So let me share what I mean by this. OK, one of the most common reasons I hear JLD where veterans say, you know, 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 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.

18:04So they deserve it. Look, that's a bunch of crap. You deserve benefits for your honorable service and your benefits do not affect any other veterans benefits. They're mutually exclusive. Okay. So what I tell Vets 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.

18:50Okay. Nothing more, nothing less. Here's the theme 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. So blessed, JLD. And look, you know, this journey as an entrepreneur in the early days, I did it all myself. Now I'm blessed with a team. We're over 125 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 in this podcast speaking about it, but it's really the success of our team that serves veterans every single day.

19:37And so, yeah, I just want to share a couple quick stories of the lives that we've changed. 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. That's my why. And at the time, I didn't 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.

20:23You 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 that's just an example, right, of we celebrate life change. And I mean, that is an absolute perfect example of a veteran finally gets the benefits they deserve by law in that 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 taking their own life as a result of the high trust relationships that we build with fellow veterans.

21:13And just to break 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 keep rocking, Brian. This is an example. And please don't take this says, 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 happen to be awake early because I always am. I'm a veteran. We don't sleep.

21:51So 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. Um, is anybody there? And, uh, it was six in the morning on a Saturday and I looked in the back end of our system. I got, I got the veteran cell phone number. I sent him a text message and said, Hey, this is B Reese. I'm calling you right now. Um, and I called him on the phone and he started crying first of all, because couldn't believe that the CEO of the company he would call him on a Saturday morning.

22:26And I just told him, I said, look, man, yeah, I'm blessed to be the leader of this movement, but I'm a fellow veteran and your life matters. And I sat with him on the phone for almost three hours and we just talked about everything. We talked about life. I gave 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 even telling that story, man, because that is what this is all about.

23:01Yes, 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. And so, you know, those are just a couple little stories, Jail. Oh, just a couple 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.

23:37Get it into the right ear 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. As we come to a close here, what is the single most important message that you want to share to Fire Nation today.

24:13Give us a call to action about how we can consume more of your content, read your book, anything you have for us there, and then we'll say goodbye. Look, I'm going to be vulnerable again before I tell you how to get a free copy of my new book. And by the way, I'm going to offer a free copy here, JLD, to Fire Nation. Y 'all just 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. Look, there's still days I still have bad days, okay?

24:53We 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 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. You were created for a purpose. You're here for a reason. You are not alone. You're enough, and your life matters. I live to tell you that. So I wanted to share that with Fire Nation, that it is okay not to be okay. I literally, as you were saying that, can remember the moment in my life, in my mid-20s, when I looked in the mirror and had that conversation with myself.

25:44And things only got better going forward. So bring it home, brother. Amen. Yeah, so look, I break it down. I want to get you guys a copy of my brand new book. 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.

26:20Yeah. There's all kinds of nonprofit organizations and everyday for-profit veteran discounts that you can take advantage of. 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 youdeserveitvets.com. Again, all you got to do is go to youdeserveitvets.com. Enter your information, pay the$9.95 shipping and handling charge, and I'm going to ship out a book as soon as you finish your order. Wow. I mean, Fire Nation, if this doesn't get you excited, and again, not just for the benefits, because I know not all of you are veterans or no veterans, but just for a person that said, you know what?

27:08I'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. You deserve it, Vets. That's Vets with an S, FireNation.com.