Patrick Haley ⋅ Longmont, CO IBM ⋅ 38 years experience

Hello Michael,
I was a SSG in the Army 1971-1979 (Air Defense) - so congratulations on your career so far and thanks for serving.

Please consider the following - one business plan w/ two parts (keep it simple to start):
1. Truck: Consider this your moving office and address costs / dependencies as you would your own personal car: Insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc etc
2. Food Services: Your product(s): Supplies, cookware, health dept certifications, licenses, fees , etc.
Try this: Google: Business plan for Dummies (My wife and I both used this for our respective businesses. You'll find quite a few free templates / resources , etc to get you started.; perfect for working in a tight budget. Don't spend a lot of money on this exercise - remember : keep it simple, the plan needs to be shareable with a potential lender, and it needs to be scalable as you grow your business.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out anytime.
Good luck,
Patrick M. Haley PMP®
Service Delivery Manager - Federal Infrastructure Managed Services
Managed Services and Cloud Solutions
IBM Global Business Services - US Federal
Boulder Office (303) 924-4038
Cell: (303) 884-5232
Tie: 2-676-2491
Email: phaley@us.ibm.com

Molly Fortunoff ⋅ New York, NY American Corporate Partners (ACP) ⋅ 5 years experience

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your service, and for posting your question.

I’d encourage you to utilize our community feature to reach out to advisors who have experience starting their own small business. You can search for advisors by location, experience and expertise! I suggest you reach out to advisors with a small business in Florida so they can provide you with more specific guidence. Feel free to reach out to as many advisors as you would like!

I hope this is helpful, and please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Best,
Molly