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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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[00:00:01.760] - Rudy Cazares
We lift others as we climb, and that service to your fellow Veteran, your fellow brother, I think it's important to understand that we continue to serve just in a different capacity, even after you take the uniform off.
[00:00:17.600] - Freddie Kim
Welcome to the Veteran Led Podcast. I'm your host today, Freddie Kim with Mil-Spec Talent, and I'm joined by Chris Larkin, CEO of LMR Technical Group. And then Rudy Cazares, Cazar Logistics. So, tell us a little bit, Chris, first, what did you do in the military? I mean, CCT, but how long did you serve?
[00:00:36.850] - Chris Larkin
yeah, sure. Thanks. I spent 28 years in the service, 12 years I was enlisted combat controller. I got out for 2 years, went to college, got my degree, came back in and served 16 years as an officer. And so retired at the 20-year, 28-year point.
[00:00:54.640] - Freddie Kim
How soon did you start your business?
[00:00:57.040] - Chris Larkin
So, when I retired, I went to work for one of my best friends in a GovCon services business as his VP of operations. It was a really good opportunity for me because we were doing work that was very similar to what we did in the military. Most of the people that were in the company doing those tasks were people who worked with me or for me at some point. I just had to learn the GovCon portion of that. From there, I worked there for about 4 years. I went to a midsize company, served as their senior VP for business development. So learned a lot, really capable team, won a couple hundred million dollars in government contracts over a 2-year period. And, uh, and then was approached by one of my business partners to start LMR Technical Group. And, uh, he, he bent my arm, convinced me to take this entrepreneurial jump and here I am 7 years later.
[00:01:51.330] - Freddie Kim
And throughout when you were a VP of Ops or you were in operations prior to, that was still in the human performance?
[00:01:57.410] - Chris Larkin
No, those tasks were different. Certainly, more operationally oriented, similar to what we were doing in special operations, joint terminal attack control, small unmanned systems, ISR support, things of that nature. And then when I moved to the midsize company, that was a whole host of tasks that I had never seen before. A lot of Navy and Coast Guard work. They specifically brought me there to do, to pursue, bid and win Air Force and Army work, but was quickly promoted to run the entire show there. And I got exposure to a wide variety of services, support to all the services, to include some of the other federal agencies that we support.
[00:02:45.610] - Freddie Kim
Rudy.
[00:02:47.290] - Rudy Cazares
So, a little bit about myself. Marine Corps Veteran served 15 years in the Marines. I was enlisted, then made a decision to go over to the dark side, became an officer, 3 combat tours in Iraq. And, you know, coming out the military is when I got into business, except I went the corporate route, worked for a Fortune 500 company. And I quickly realized after I was introduced to EOS that I could probably do this on my own, you know, and I just needed to figure that out. So got back to New York and found myself in the Amazon delivery space. I'm an Amazon DSP, and that happened right before COVID So a little over 6 years ago and started out with 8 drivers, 5 vehicles, and quickly scaled and grew to today. We're over 200 drivers, bikers, we run e-bikes out of Manhattan for Amazon, cargo vans, electric vehicles in the Bronx, FedEx routes in Queens, and now we're also HelloFresh contractor. So, through EOS and, you know, fundamentals of that structure, we've been able to scale and grow our business to where it is today.
[00:03:58.060] - Freddie Kim
Do you use EOS as well?
[00:03:59.660] - Chris Larkin
No, we don't. Not, not at this point. We're considering it, though.
[00:04:02.940] - Freddie Kim
He's an EOS expert. Rudy, he's also
[00:04:06.000] - Rudy Cazares
a professional implementer.
[00:04:07.760] - Freddie Kim
He's also an implementer. So, well, you know, one of these sessions here at Veteran Edge, we were talking about the— at what point does a vet, military service member transition? When is transition done for them? And there was— there were the group that presented. They had a lot of data, followed 10,000 vets over 10 years. And I think the most common was 3 to 5 years is when people thought they were finished with transition. Right. And, and they had other data like what if you were different ranks and different MOSs and how does that impact you? Both you guys served pretty significant, you know, over a decade, two decades for you in military service. And yet you found a calling in entrepreneurship. Which is daunting. It can be daunting, right? How— why did you make that? I mean, you got lulled into doing so from your friend and who supported you as well. But why did you make that leap to bet on yourself?
[00:05:14.900] - Chris Larkin
Well, I don't think that, that it takes a ton of time to be— to transition out of the military and work in the space I'm in now. And the reason I say that is that I feel still connected to the mission. We support the mission day in and day out, and, and that's really important to me. Um, I don't— I think if I worked in corporate America, I would have some of those challenges that are there. In fact, I'm— today I'm a mentor for the Honor Foundation and help Special Operations Veterans transition out of the military. And that's something that's really important to me. I don't think I ever thought about it too much, you know, because I was still somehow connected, especially in the first job where I was working with people that I worked with in the military and doing the same missions, supporting the training for the combat operations that were going on. That meant a lot to me.
[00:06:15.030] - Freddie Kim
The mission, the purpose makes it simple, made it simpler for you.
[00:06:19.120] - Chris Larkin
Yes, it did.
[00:06:19.680] - Freddie Kim
Yes, I get it, Rudy. I mean, but you went completely, completely left field here with DSP.
[00:06:27.760] - Rudy Cazares
Yeah, so I'm an infantry guy, right? I guess you get to a certain point, you realize that it really boils down to logistics and just leading your team members. And so, uh, the natural thing for me is just being in front of, uh, people, being in front of teams, and love building teams, love developing people, love empowering people, love creating opportunities, love doing it in the city where I was born and raised. I think the challenge with the transition is figuring out what path you take, right? Because the traditional path has you either go for your MBA or you go for your MBA in the school of hard knocks, which is going through some professional advanced management program through corporate America. But in the end, you've got to come to terms with understanding who you are. Are you an entrepreneur or are you an intrapreneur? Are you going to make someone else successful? Or are you going to define success for yourself? And I was fortunate in my network, and this is why I get really excited about coming to these events, CEO Circle for the last couple of years, Veteran Edge, meeting guys like you, right?
[00:07:29.570] - Rudy Cazares
Guys like him, right? This is what the network is all about. And I think it's important that we recognize that the network is going to allow for that transition timeline to be shrunk down. And it's about figuring out what industry you want to be in, or you want to be an entrepreneur, entrepreneur. Do you want to go do nonprofit work? You want to continue to serve in other capacities. There's individuals that are there that have trailed that, been trailblazers in their specific sectors. And it's a matter about finding your connector and connecting with them.
[00:08:01.630] - Freddie Kim
And I've witnessed firsthand, you have inspired several people to start their own businesses as well. One of them is crushing it as a general contractor, William, crushing it too. You've told your story, you've encouraged people, you said these are the pitfalls, don't do this, but follow this path. So you did that.
[00:08:22.980] - Rudy Cazares
Yeah. And it's important we continue to do that, right? We serve. The way I describe it is like we lift others as we climb. And so in that service to your fellow Veteran, fellow brother, brother in arms, sister in arms, I think it's important to understand that we continue to serve just in a different capacity even after you take the uniform off. And one thing that I'm I'm really proud of my team is that in July it'll be 3 years we've been delivering meals to Veterans, service members, community members in New York City. And we've been able to partake in delivering 2 million meals, over 2 million meals now to that community. And so not only are we in business to succeed in business, but we're able to give back to our community and where we currently serve from a business standpoint.
[00:09:11.990] - Freddie Kim
What is the most difficult thing about entrepreneurship?
[00:09:15.750] - Freddie Kim
Right now, with the challenge that I'm dealing with is, you know, we're dealing with an environment in New York City where, you know, I'm not going to get political here, but New York City leaders are not in alignment with understanding small businesses. And, you know, with the challenge of the politics, whether you're right, left, we all know in the military the mission is the mission. You know, they're in the Marine Corps. You know, there's only dark green Marines, you know, light green Marines, you know, yellow Marines, like you name it. We are all part of the same team. And so sometimes that doesn't translate as well when you're operating in a very challenging market like New York City. But I'm optimistic, but I'm also pragmatic. And so, it's about educating people, putting the data out there, making yourself available. To be an ambassador for what you represent, which is other small business owners in New York City trying to make it. So, um, that's my biggest challenge right now.
[00:10:12.710] - Chris Larkin
I would say that, you know, my, my biggest problem today is a problem of success. And we're, we're in the middle of scaling our company fairly significantly and having to navigate, um, that process, uh, by both adding people and support to various contracts, but also the infrastructure required to execute efficiently and effectively as a high-end government contracting services company.
[00:10:46.750] - Freddie Kim
Sales and marketing aren't what we were taught in the military, nor recruiting, right? There are these basic fundamentals one must know. And yeah, scaling, very difficult. You in the government ecosystem is a little bit different how that happens. But regardless, that's just some of the things you have to learn quickly in order to adapt. So, this is, this is about day 2-ish of Veteran Edge. What has been your one takeaway thus far in this programming or this experience? Where do you want to go?
[00:11:24.140] - Rudy Cazares
Yeah, for me, it's more personal. I like spending that time with, you know, guys like you, right? Like we talk and we catch up. But it's when you strip away the layers of like the business and how things are going, it really becomes about family and, you know, what you're doing with your family and those meaningful moments. And for me, a key takeaway is that, you know, there was Mark Young who, you know, his kids are a little bit further along than my kids. And when he said about, he was giving me some advice just on being a father. And I'm like, man, this is good advice. Be present, just be there for them. Many times, we're checking the box on maybe Asana or some sort of to-do list on the business. But on the family side of things, it's never a work-life balance. It's a work-life integration. And so, for me, I'm already going back and I'm going to be very deliberate about where I spend my time. When I'm at home and when I'm with the family. So, for me, that was great, you know, great takeaway for me because that's why I do the things that I do, right?
[00:12:28.500] - Rudy Cazares
First for me is my wife and kids, my extended family, my people. And so, keeping that top of mind, I think it's important.
[00:12:35.460] - Freddie Kim
It's the peer-to-peer leadership opportunities here.
[00:12:38.660] - Rudy Cazares
100%.
[00:12:39.380] - Freddie Kim
How about you?
[00:12:40.180] - Chris Larkin
Yeah, that's fantastic. I think that networking is a great opportunity here at CEO Circle and Veteran Edge. Today specifically, I was, I was mostly moved by the AI presentation and how that could be used in my business to make us more effective and efficient, you know, make us better at what we do.
[00:13:03.580] - Freddie Kim
Yeah, me too. Blown away.
[00:13:05.100] - Chris Larkin
Yeah.
[00:13:05.500] - Freddie Kim
Almost feel like I'm already behind.
[00:13:07.500] - Chris Larkin
We're behind.
[00:13:08.060] - Freddie Kim
We're way behind already.
[00:13:09.420] - Chris Larkin
Yeah,
[00:13:09.900] - Freddie Kim
right. Well, I'm going to— we skip the AAR part here just to jump in. But how can people reach you and why should they reach out to you?
[00:13:21.090] - Rudy Cazares
Yeah. So, if you're running a service company in New York City, you've got questions related to operating in that market, scaling your business, or even anything related to EOS, reach out to me and you can reach out to me on Rudy, Rudy@cazarnyc.com, cazarnyc.com. And just shoot me a quick message and then I'll share my cell phone number. We'll be texting back and forth, you know, and, you know, I do what I can to bring value and be able to help out in any situation.
[00:13:52.740] - Freddie Kim
And that's a lot because you don't really have much free time and yet you're opening yourself up for that. Good on you, brother. Brother, how about you?
[00:14:03.140] - Chris Larkin
Yeah, so I would say that I, as I said before, I have a passion for mentoring and helping people and you know, I try to make myself available for whoever and whatever kind of situation they're in. If you're in the GovCon services space and you need— you have questions or you want help or you want a partner, you can get a hold of me through my email. It's lima-November or ln@lmrtec.com. Our website where you can reach us as well is www.lmrtec.com. Happy to help whoever.
[00:14:47.460] - 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.