The phrase “Hire a veteran” has been a staple of the U.S. economy for decades. Business leaders already realize that military veterans are hard workers, team players, ethical, driven and technically skilled. What they may not realize are the 10 hidden reasons that make every veteran a great employee and future business leader.

When Lenny Siers retired from active military duty in 1995, he decided to open his own residential home services company in Niceville, Florida. Siers’ background was heavy in air conditioning and heating and he saw an opportunity; however he had no experience as a businessman.

Service Nation, a B2B company serving residential contractors in the HVAC, plumbing and electrical industries, ranked near the top of the list as one of Fort Worth’s 30 fastest growing companies.

When someone calls a plumber, they are usually doing so because they have an immediate need. Perhaps a pipe has burst or their running water is down to a trickle. Whatever the issue, the customer needs assistance — fast.

Said differently, a business must create and maintain a culture of continuous improvement.

The decision to become part of a franchise is rarely an easy one to make. The upfront investment and loss of one’s brand identity in exchange for another can be difficult for business owners to process. But, there are numerous benefits to joining a franchise.

PM columnist Kenny Chapman, Reeves Journal columnist Tom Grandy and author Tom Morrison shared their advice on how to achieve business success March 18 and 19 during the Quality Service Contractors Power Meeting in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Last month, I talked about making written goals for your business to help achieve positive results. Here in Part 2, we’ll discuss on how to do that.

I would tell myself, “If I could just find good people. Things would be less stressful.”

Why some contractor’s aren’t successful.