The Southeastern Illinois chapter of the Service Core of Retired Executives will be hosting a workshop geared toward veterans trying to start up business from 6 to 9 p.m. June 14 at the Days Inn in Mattoon on 300 Broadway Ave. 

Ted Ostrem, the SCORE assistant district director of Illinois, said the workshop, Simple Steps to Starting Your Own Business, is the most popular one they host. 

Walmart donated $500,000 to SCORE at the national level so veterans and family members of veterans can attend for free. Ostrem said the workshops normally costs $25. 

SCORE, founded in 1964, is a branch of the Small Business Administration, and the purpose of SCORE is to provide free and confidential counseling. 

Ostrem said there is research being done on why the unemployment rate is higher among veterans. 

“It’s really, I think, a problem with the employer not recognizing the valuable life skills that a person coming back from service has and brings to the table,” Ostrem said. 

A lot of it has to do with pre-judgement from teh employer, Ostrem said.

“They look at a resume and they say, ‘Well, he’s been in the service for the last three years, I guess he doesn’t know how to do anything but shoot a rifle,’” he said.

Cyrus Williams, a 48-year-old father of three, is using the upcoming workshop to help try to get a business off the ground he has been working on since 1992.

 His business, Live Wild, is an entertainment company used to promote wildlife awareness. 

Williams has been able to keep the idea, which he thought was going to fail, alive thanks to a suggestion by his mother to sell tee shirts. 

Williams’ father and two of his brothers have served in the military, qualifying him for the program, and has worked for more than 20 years for the U.S. Postal Service. 

He said while presenting his marketing plan for a class at Eastern, his professor steered him towards Ostrem. 

Williams said his business is about more than generating revenues and sums it up with a Native American proverb. 

“We didn’t inherit the world from our parents, we’re borrowing it from our children,” Williams said. 

Ostrem said the class is already half full, the class size is set at 25 people, and he anticipates having an over-flow class the week after to accommodate people he may have to turn away. 

 Marcus Smith can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].