When attorney and veteran Patrick Morin set out to start his own law firm, he knew he had the necessary legal experience under his belt, along with the determined initiative of a former Marine, but his business acumen was lacking.
“I knew how to be a lawyer, but not how to run a business,” Morin tells Business Report in new feature.
A fellow veteran told Morin about an entrepreneurship bootcamp for disabled veterans held at universities across the U.S. When he discovered LSU was one of 10 host universities, Morin, who had recently moved back to New Orleans, thought the opportunity was too good to pass up.
In 2015, Morin attended the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities—or EBV—through LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business Executive Education program.
The bootcamp offers business management and experiential training to veterans who were disabled while serving in the military. It covers a wide range of topics, from advertising to human resources, to help develop the veterans’ business plans.
“To me, the hardest thing was the marketing side,” Morin says. “I came from the Marine Corps to being a lawyer, so it was new to me. But we had great courses on it.”
One of the most valuable aspects is the access EBV provides to professors who have a wealth of business knowledge, along with successful professionals who also teach courses, Morin adds. The Lemoine Company President and CEO Lenny Lemoine and Tin Roof Brewing CEO William McGehee both helped out the year Morin attended the local EBV program. Since then, Morin has started not one but two of his own businesses.
Read the full story. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
