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Veterans know how to lead. The lessons we learned in the military form the foundation for bigger successes in business, entrepreneurship and community.
Host John S Berry, CEO of Berry Law, served as an active-duty Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army, finishing his military career with two deployments and retiring as a Battalion Commander in the National Guard. Today, his veteran led team at Berry Law, helps their clients fight some of the most important battles of their lives. Leading successful teams in the courtroom, the boardroom, and beyond, veteran leadership drives the firm’s rapid growth and business excellence.
Whether building teams, synchronizing operations, or refining tactics, we share our experiences, good and bad, to help you survive, thrive and dominate.
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[00:00:02.280] - Joey Mac
If you have some bourbon, cigars, and just a speaker, you can do wonderful things, right? Wonderful things could happen. And I remember it was like a couple hours into the night and he goes, man, I miss this feeling. I think the really big opportunity is to create those, those memories, those moments in life where it's like, I feel good right now. And it reminds me of our military service.
[00:00:28.880] - John S. Berry
Welcome to Veteran Led. Today's guest is Joey Mac, along with Freddie Kim. So, from Marine Corps Veteran to cigar entrepreneur, how did it all start?
[00:00:38.840] - Joey Mac
Man, just smoking, right? Especially in the service, the smoke pit.
[00:00:43.210] - John S. Berry
Hey, and that General Order Number 1, we couldn't drink, but you could have cigars.
[00:00:46.020] - Joey Mac
You could have cigars, right? So that whole camaraderie of just in the smoke pit, smoking cigars, smoking cigarettes, anything, anything under the sun. I just really enjoyed that camaraderie. So, when my partners and I started thinking about this business, we're like, we want to bring people together. And this is ultimately what we do, bring people together through a cigar and cultivate these awesome relationships. So yeah.
[00:01:11.160] - John S. Berry
And yeah, it starts off in the military, right? Cigars become part of the culture because that smoke pit, that was the downtime, the socialization where you just chill out and hang out with, with your friends. Because let's face it, not everybody you serve with is your friend. They may be your brothers and sisters. You may, you have a duty to them and you're going to fight as a team. But there are those moments where you just get to hang out and build those relationships.
[00:01:32.360] - Joey Mac
Absolutely. Just like any sports team, right? We might not be like— we could be friendly, cordial. But on the field, we're working together as a team. And I think that's what really— some call it bond trauma, trauma bonding, where it's just like you just bond through trauma.
[00:01:48.940] - John S. Berry
Right, right. Yeah.
[00:01:51.260] - Joey Mac
Yeah.
[00:01:51.260] - John S. Berry
And those are some of the best bonding. And usually, trauma bonding is a bad thing. People are in these toxic relationships.
[00:01:58.560] - John S. Berry
But that's not what I'm talking about.
[00:01:59.520] - Joey Mac
But to us, it's great.
[00:01:59.880] - John S. Berry
No, but for us, it's great.
[00:02:01.040] - John S. Berry
For Veterans, it's great.
[00:02:01.910] - John S. Berry
And I got to take the audience through the story. 2 years ago, Joey and I were both in CEO Circle, and I show up to speak at this event in Arizona, and I'm going to be the first speaker in the morning, 8 o'clock. And I want to go, look, former Army officer, I'm going to do my rehearsal. So I show up, the stage is not yet built. I talked to the event organizer. She's like, well, I can't do a rehearsal now. She's like, by the way, there's this Marine here from New Jersey. You know, I think like all Veterans know each other, right?
[00:02:26.830] - Joey Mac
Yeah.
[00:02:26.950] - John S. Berry
I'm like, oh, really? What's he doing? She's like, well, he's our cigar buyer. We flew him in. to these rolling cigars and stuff. So I go over there, it's Joey Mac.
[00:02:33.220] - Joey Mac
Yes.
[00:02:33.600] - John S. Berry
And of course, the night when I'm not going to drink and I'm not going to smoke a cigar because I'm talking to the next one. Well, that didn't happen, right? We ended up talking. And Joey actually left his very expensive lighter with me because he couldn't take it on the plane. And we hung out. And it was one of those great experiences where you see right before a big event, you see someone there. And Joey, I gave him all the Berry Law swag. He's in the front row wearing the hat. He's cheering louder than anybody. He's getting me the standing ovation at the end of the thing. And, but that's the type of relationship, friendship. And I was Army, he was Marines. We never served at the same time, but we met through CEO Circle as being Veteran entrepreneurs, Veteran CEOs. Uh, we share that same bond, the same struggles, hopefully not as traumatic, but it can, it can be pretty, it can be tough.
[00:03:13.850] - Joey Mac
You know what? Um, as we reflect on that, I would say because of where we were, one is as Veterans, 2, as going through this program together, and 3, it's like, I got to support my bro. Right. And, you know, coming there and just like, oh man, because you were the first speaker early morning, you gave me all this swag. I'm like, man, I'm going to show up. I want to support my boy. Right? And that was such a great moment together. One is we didn't know we were going to show up at this conference together. So that's why I enjoy this business. It's the connections, the relationships. And it wasn't like a— it was like a natural thing. It wasn't like a, hey, give-take, you know how some relationships are. It was more of a natural flow. And when we saw each other, we like laughed, we like hugged. They were like, dude, this is so crazy. We're in Arizona right now. So, thank you for that. And that was an awesome moment, especially through our career and through our journey as entrepreneurs, is we see each other in different milestones and we're like, hey, what's up?
[00:04:11.570] - Joey Mac
How's it going? Give a good nod to each other. So, thank you for that.
[00:04:15.230] - John S. Berry
Well, and thank you for everything you did at CEO Circle. You were basically the honor grad, if you will. Last year we get through the program and all of a sudden there's Joey up on the set talking about what it means and what we do. And so, you've done a tremendous job and now you're back at CEO Circle as a facilitator, correct?
[00:04:31.220] - Joey Mac
Yes. Truly. It's one of those things, like as I grew up in this business and just journey through life, I've always had like mentors and coaches, and they've always been a big part of my life. And as we get older, wiser, or into different parts of our journey, it's always good to look back and give a hand out. and just be like, hey, let me bring this person up here. And I think, and I get to hear people, especially when they reach to these certain high-level milestones, they're like, the business is great, everything's great. But I think one of the biggest things now to their mission is to help someone else. Right. And I think as we go on through our journeys and look, as you do this podcast, someone could be listening and be like, listen, that really is helping me out in my career. it's helping someone else. And I think that's a fulfillment that as we grow business life, it really does help.
[00:05:22.670] - Freddie Kim
Well, share one of those stories where there was like something specific somebody did for you as you were building this that was just a huge, huge positive plus for you.
[00:05:36.000] - Joey Mac
Yeah, I'll give a shout out to my boy Dan from Red, White and Q. He has a barbecue, amazing Texas barbecue in New Jersey. One of the best, right? And he's a Marine. And we just connected. One, I kept going to his shop because, you know,
[00:05:51.820] - John S. Berry
You like the barbecue.
[00:05:52.610] - Joey Mac
Yeah.
[00:05:53.490] - Joey Mac
If you could see me, you know why I want barbecue, right? And when I started my business, I, you know, I asked him, like, I asked him questions. I've never started a business before. And he's really helped and mentored me start my business in the beginning. So, we do some awesome events together. He does like a Veterans Day thing where all Vets eat for free. And then we have cigars for them. And like, for us, it's like a full circle, right? So that's one story. And then I have so many others with this, from Bunker Labs to CEO Circle. It's just fulfillment of getting help from the community, right? So that's awesome.
[00:06:27.140] - Freddie Kim
So there was a point— sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but there was a point where I remember 2 years ago, 3 years ago, CEO Circle, we were teaching a class about hiring, right? finding the right talent hiring. And you have a very manual process. Somebody's hand rolling at events and catering and you have that. And for you, there was a point when I literally saw a light bulb like go off on top of your head when we learned about Culture Index and how do you assess people? How do you select? How do you put them in the right place? Can you walk us through that?
[00:07:01.950] - Joey Mac
Yeah. You know, I think as a leader, one of the biggest things is studying other leaders, right? I'm a history major, right? So, I love studying like War and Peace and the different military leaders that have gone up through the ranks, right? Military or business or things of that nature. So, Freddie talked to me about the cultural index and the assessment of the behaviors of the individual. So, once I understood that, I was like, man, this is awesome. And that's helped our business because sometimes we all sit here, I'm assuming we are, all 3 of us are A personalities, right? But we work at a different pace, at a different angle, or we receive and give information differently. And if you don't understand what the other side is, how they're receiving it, it could be a lack of communication. So, once I did that, it's really helped me and my partners. to communicate with each other. Like, I'm more of the visionary. Like, I want to go there, be there in 3 to 5 years. My other partners, they're like, hey, we could get there, but these are the lateral limits. Or, hey, we got to stay the pace this way.
[00:08:13.210] - Joey Mac
So, it's a nice symbiosis, a nice tool, a nice relationship that we have. And the best part is when we did the cultural index, we worked with Dean and yourself. we saw that our relationship and our bond was just natural, but on paper it was like, that was like an awesome bond. So, it just all worked out. So yeah, it's all helped.
[00:08:35.620] - John S. Berry
Well, I love that, you know, your business, the Mobile Cigar Lounge, because you basically are a mobile cigar lounge. You see Joey, he's always smiling, happy. He's always got cigars. And, but you know, whether it's having a meal or whatever, you just, you get that around the smoke pit feeling. There's, you know, there's, it just, there's this warm feeling that you bring with you. And like I said, you could build a culture around that. you're gonna have a highly successful business, right? Because if you can replicate that feeling and get it out there, like Freddie says, we can't just have a bunch of Joeys out there. I mean, there's only one mouth and all that barbecue. So, but, but, but to replicate that, it's really important. How do you do that?
[00:09:13.910] - Joey Mac
So, something that, and I'll always remember, it just happened 2 days ago. One of my guys and my call sign. So, we're sitting outside of this beautiful hotel. There's a nice little, area of Adirondack chairs. We have a couple stogies. We bring bottles of bourbon, scotch, and we're just playing music of, you know, I have my portable speaker, right? If you have some bourbon, cigars, and just a speaker, you can do wonderful things, right? Wonderful things could happen. And I remember it was like a couple hours into the night and he goes, man, I miss this feeling. And, you know, him being a Marine, like, that really does help. 'Cause we remember those times, even military, let's talk military. Those times where you get that opportunity to relax and be yourself and it reminds you of our service, that hits me, that's a feel-good feeling. So not only that, I know we do cigars, I believe that's the vessel, but I think the really big opportunity is to create those memories, those moments in life where it's like, I feel good right now. And it reminds me of our military service. So, it was good.
[00:10:23.000] - Joey Mac
When he said that, I was like, this is why I do it, bro. It's like, this is why I enjoy cigars. I love building the relationships. It's thankfully part of my behavioral, I'm an extrovert, so I'm natural at it, but it makes me feel good that when we bring that space together, Yeah. Like, people feel good and that makes me feel good. So yeah.
[00:10:45.870] - John S. Berry
This takes us to the After-Action Review. Your examples of great leadership and horrible leadership. You don't have to name names.
[00:10:52.100] - Joey Mac
You know what? I sa that the military, when people are listening, us being in the military, I think it's a fast track of leadership, right? There are people, officers, NCOs that I've met in my life that I will kick down that door and take over that building if you told me to, right? And that was amazing leadership, right? And then I've seen some other leaders where I won't even follow them to McDonald's, you know what I'm saying? Like, I love to eat, but I'm like, bro, I'm not coming with you. Like, that's terrible. So, and the great thing is the layers of leadership are changing like months or years where you get new leaders in new positions. And the great thing is, as you're developing your style, you'd be like, Man, that's who I want to strive to be. Or, you know what, that's not my style. For me, micromanaging is not my style. I'm more of the big boy rules. Hey, you know the rules. We've talked about it. Let's execute it. I don't need to be over your shoulder making sure that you cross your T's and dot your I's. There's a reason why you're on the team.
[00:11:59.230] - Joey Mac
Now let's let you bloom in that. So yeah, not naming names or anything. I think that's my spirit, the core of what I like to see. And us being entrepreneurs, I still do it today. There's some entrepreneurs, they do it a certain way. I'm like, that's not my style. There's other entrepreneurs that I'm just like, that's a really good way to do it. So yeah, leadership is, I think, a great tool and a great fundamental that as Veterans, we should continue to develop. And don't ever stop learning.
[00:12:34.580] - John S. Berry
So, Joey, where can our listeners learn more about Joey Mac and Mobile Cigar Company?
[00:12:38.490] - Joey Mac
So, feel free to find us at all social media outlets, The Mobile Cigar Lounge. Feel free to shoot me an email, jdizon@themobilecigarlounge. I know we'll have links and stuff.
[00:12:48.820] - John S. Berry
D-I-Z-O-N?
[00:12:49.720] - Joey Mac
Yes, sir. D-I-Z-O-N. And if anyone's having an event, any listeners and you're doing, whether it's weddings, private parties, corporate events, I would love to offer an additional 20 cigars to any of our experiences for any of our listeners there. Just mention this podcast and we'll, you know, we'll hook you all up with some really good cigars, by the way.
[00:13:13.970] - John S. Berry
Thank you for joining us today on Veteran Led, where we seek to help Veterans build an even bigger, better future after military service. Unfortunately, for some of our Veterans, the roadblock to a better future is that they are not receiving all of the benefits that they earned. If you need help appealing a VA disability decision, contact Berry Law.