{"id":3627,"date":"2025-04-14T19:12:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T19:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3627"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:24:23","slug":"disabled-u-s-veterans-are-finding-success-as-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/disabled-u-s-veterans-are-finding-success-as-entrepreneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled U.S. Veterans Are Finding Success as Entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

A higher percentage of disabled U.S. military veterans become entrepreneurs compared to the general population due to their experiences both before and after getting injured, according to research by Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd<\/a> of the University of Notre Dame and his colleagues. Most of the disabled veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who became entrepreneurs did so for two main reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first reason is they felt that following orders were the things that almost got them killed, and what they wanted to do now was to run their own businesses where they were the boss and they weren\u2019t following someone else\u2019s orders,\u201d Shepherd said. \u201cThere\u2019s a mental aspect here that causes them to say, \u2018I cannot work with someone who\u2019s telling me what to do\u2014I must have that kind of freedom and independence.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in a related issue, they spent so much time in hospitals being told what to do by doctors and nurses that, again, they had this strong desire to become entrepreneurs because they could follow their own orders,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the other thing was, because of their disabilities, they still had a lot of medical work that they needed to go on, but also sometimes they\u2019ve had traumatic headaches and different symptoms, which meant that they couldn\u2019t be regular about when they could attend and perform work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd under those circumstances, an entrepreneurial career gives them the freedom and flexibility about when they work, and they can work when they’re feeling good\u2014they can work around their medical visits and things like that\u2014and so that\u2019s why entrepreneurship was a good career for those people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher A higher percentage of disabled U.S. military veterans become entrepreneurs compared to the general population due to their experiences both before and after getting injured, according to research by Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame and his colleagues. 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