Honorable Mention, Ages 16-18
RACHEL BACON, New Hampshire

Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year: BRETT BACON

Since I can remember, I've lived a life that often unexamined the term veteran, and how it really pertained to me. Being at the eligible age of driving and having a license plate embellished with the Veteran logo thanks to my father, I thought the only good thing about veterans was that it got me free parking spaces in downtown areas. So the veteran's plate got me away from the twenty-five cents every thirty minutes meters, but there had to be something else that veteran meant to me! I dug deep into this issue and it wasn't until I began to examine more my day to day activities I soon found out how my father's veteran history benefited my family, local community and nation as a whole.

I began my day at six am and drowsily drove myself to school, Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, NH. It's a Catholic college prep school that I admit takes a bit out of the bank to allow me to go to, and how else could I afford to go here? My father owns his own business for hearing aids that is called MyLife, which he started from the ground up into a franchise that has expanded into several towns in New Hampshire, Virginia as well as a location in Iowa. It's extremely successful and expanding more and more, which allows financial gain for my family as well as other family's parts. That's how we can afford to fund myself going to a private high school as well as my younger brother who attends a private Catholic elementary school. As I pay for my gas, as my mother shops for groceries, as my little brother is in need of braces for his teeth; the bill is supported by my father's home grown business. After a hard day at school I drive back to my neighborhood and round the corner to my mailbox, I spy a neighbor of mine that is a good patient of my father's. She's elderly, in middle seventies, walking her dog to the mail box. I slow my car, roll down my window, and shout a hello to her as she grins at her ability to clearly hear my greeting from afar with the help of a hearing aid that my own father sold to her. Already my day is almost over and my family's history and impact of being a veteran entrepreneur has impacted my family, my own, my neighbor and strangers' lives alike.

Who my father is all goes back to his U.S. Army roots he had. Brett Bacon served in the United States Army as a Judge Advocate and officer on active duty from 1990 to 1998. In 1998 he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. Before his honorable discharge my father learned how to be an effective leader by taking responsibility for everyone and everything done in the work held in the Army. As a Judge Advocate he worked with a variety of professionals, (engineers, scientists, general officers, commanders etc) which proved to be a valuable skill in running a business through the expanded experience with each patient. My father also learned how to cope with inevitable fear that was needed to be confronted through his Air Assault badge. This courage he learned to face was applied to the setbacks he would have to face in his business and how he would stand up to it despite the possibility of failure. Finally, my father always had the presence of the lasting effect of honor and American loyalty from the example of his own father veteran, who had served in the Korean War.

MyLife Hearing Aids has already been able to leave a great impact upon my small seacoast and greater New Hampshire area. His business caught on like wildfire, immediately attracting the attention of the elderly and general public with his high quality hearing products, his free testing and fittings as well as regular discounts for several people. My father remembers his Veteran brethren in his business by giving out discounts on hearing aids to them, as well as employing two important Veteran men into the franchise; who own their own MyLife Hearing Aids stores in New Hampshire. My father actively helps the community also through generous donations in our local Catholic Church as well as his donations to the American Legion (Brett being a member of it). Brett Bacon has also significantly left a national benefit from his MyLife Corporation by adding to the economic welfare by employing citizens and allowing the franchise of his company to give opportunities for other willing participants to help others and make money as well.

As I also embark on the stressful process of looking for colleges and figuring out what I aim to major and minor in for it, there is always in the back of my head the tugging ambition to further my father's MyLife creation. Seeing how Brett built up such a great business from an idea and ambition puts me in the position of humility and admiration of my father. It's not every day a man takes a chance on an idea for a business and actually launches it into action! It's my duty as Brett's daughter to help the family business that helps other families. I want to look into audiology and business management in order to one day take the reigns of MyLife one day when I am older.

Through all the advancements of my father and all that he has done with his business, one can ponder what was the fueling force behind what kept him ambitious to grow a small business. With his valuable traits learned from being in the United States Army and the honor that comes after for being a Veteran; Brett Bacon has gone from ground zero up and he will never ever forget his roots.

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