Inside the Fort by US VetWealth is back with a new purpose: to “shoot the sh!t” (S.T.S.) with fellow military-affiliated entrepreneurs and podcast listeners.
First time here? Here’s the transcript for our relaunch with Keyani!
[00:00:00] Jen Amos: All right. Hey everyone. Welcome to Inside the Fort by US Vet Wealth. This is the private podcast of Holding Down the Fort by US VetWealth. The short link to our podcast is INSIDETHEFORT.COM and I am really excited. I’ve had a private podcast for the show for quite some time.
But ever since I went off season and then I came back like last fall of 2025, I was trying to think in the back of my mind, like, how could I bring back the private podcast? And the short story is that if you’re an entrepreneur it helps having other entrepreneurial friends. So I’ve decided that while my public podcast is gonna be focused on obviously what I’m offering, and whoever guests come on my show, what they’re offering.
The private podcast, and I haven’t come up with a phrase for this yet... but for now it’s shoot the you-know-what? But basically this is to chill with, go behind the scenes, hang out in the living room, take off your shoes, just relax and chat with fellow entrepreneur friends.
So I’m excited to have Keyani kick this off with me. So Keyani, welcome to my private podcast.
[00:01:06] Keyani: Hi everybody. Hello Jen. I’m happy to be back.
[00:01:11] Jen Amos: Yes. And I figured we can share with people if they’re like, oh, how did Jen and Keyani meet? From what I recall, I was working with Tricia from The Rosie Network to coordinate guests for Holding Down the Fort.
And I had noticed that you were contributing a lot helping compile the list of guests to be on my show. And that’s my first impression, early on. And then as time went on, like we stayed in touch. Tell us a little bit about, I guess like our initial engagement or your impression of that, and then what has compelled you to continue being my friend?
[00:01:45] Keyani: Like you said, you were trying to compile a list through Tricia and so I actually worked for The Rosie Network as one of their chapter leads. And what that means is I just helped facilitate the entrepreneurial courses for that program. And whenever again, we would have people graduate, the whole point was to get them to come on podcast as both for a partnership exchange. And so I would always be telling my people, and even other people’s classes, like if I got a chance to go and help them and speak with them, speak to their classes, I’d be like, look, you wanna do this? It’s gonna help you.
Don’t be scared. It doesn’t matter if you got everything together. That’s not the point. You just need to get your name out there. So that’s, yeah, that’s how it came about. Like I understood the value of it. Also coming on myself as a guest initially somebody who had finished the program and somebody that was also working for the program at the time.
So that was our initial connection. And I think we laughed so much that first time because I kept saying, “ and then, and then.” Yeah.
[00:02:54] Jen Amos: Yeah.
[00:02:55] Keyani: Yeah. So yeah, that’s pretty much how we started. You gotta go listen to the other episodes and know why we kept saying that.
[00:03:02] Jen Amos: Yes. Yeah. And I’ll include your first interview in the show notes of this episode. But yeah, I’m just really grateful again for that time. Thank you for compiling that list. And I also thought it was interesting if I recall the conversation we had with Ken, we were discussing how interesting it was how like some of the alumni did not pick up the opportunity. I had a long list of alumni that I had reached out to and I had followed up with and I feel like maybe it was like 30% of them actually were open to it. And I just thought, in my mind I’m like, wow, this is like a free platform for them. All they have to do is show up. And I do everything else. I do the post-production, I create the marketing material, and I would think for a new business owner or a new entrepreneur with a new idea and a pitch deck that they would want an opportunity to practice public speaking.
I also acknowledge that everyone is in a different journey when it comes to entrepreneurship. Maybe they needed some time to, let the dust settle after graduation. Who knows? But I always thought that was interesting... you go through this program and wouldn’t you wanna take up this opportunity? It’s really at no cost to you. It helps me because I’m able to have content and I can network with people.
So I just feel like it, in my mind, I felt like it was a win-win. Who knows why, but the opportunity wasn there and the opportunity has passed.
[00:04:24] Keyani: Definitely.
[00:04:25] Jen Amos: Yeah. Now fast forward to today. The reason why I have Keyani on here is because I really just wanna deepen my friendships with other entrepreneurs. In my day-to-day life my husband and I are mainly around like working professionals. And so sometimes.. Sometimes I feel misunderstood, like with my friends who like work the nine to five, or sometimes I feel like they see me as a novelty.
They’re like, oh, like I wanna start a podcast, or I’ve been thinking about starting a business. And I’m glad that I sparked that in some of my friends, but in regards to having people who are on the journey with me, that is something that I have found to be more fruitful for me. To have people who are in the trenches, who are actively building something.
And it doesn’t have to be entrepreneurial, but having friends who are excited to talk about what they’re working on. And so I’m curious for you Keyani, if you like, feel the same way or, share that same struggle of having, let’s say, like-minded friends.
[00:05:21] Keyani: I think yes and no. It was a really bad struggle, I would say initially because I think it was because of me. Because I was still growing into what I needed and I couldn’t figure it out. But I knew that, not that the friends that I had at the time were not helped or not good, and they’ve always been supportive.
If they had to go fight somebody for me, they would do that. But, don’t fight nobody, y’all. I don’t need nobody to fight. But I also think that I was transitioning into new levels of what entrepreneurship looked like for me at the time. So what I had done in the beginning, I was moving from that.
And so a lot of my friends had never experienced that level. And I didn’t either, and there was nobody around me that I could say had done the same thing. So it was me as, as I started searching for what I needed, I think it helped me grow and actually build those authentic relationships with other like-minded entrepreneurs.
So I think it was just initially me not understanding. What I needed because of the new spaces I was elevating to.
[00:06:36] Jen Amos: I love how you say that because it puts the responsibility in your hands. And I know part of this has to do with the Mrs. P framework starting with mindset and responsibility.
So I feel like you embody your framework, which we’ll get to here later. But it’s true. ‘cause it’s like I can’t, like you said, I cannot fault my friends. It’s more about... I didn’t know I needed something different, like I didn’t know I needed to associate with other entrepreneurs.
[00:07:03] Keyani: Yeah.
[00:07:03] Jen Amos: And so I love how you said that because part of doing this private podcast now, yes, we have all the incredible organizations out there to join a cohort and stuff like that. But I think for me I’m looking for the in between now, like the steady friends. Yes, of course we can meet in those settings, but what about the ongoing.
I remember the last cohort I was a part of from this other organization. It was really cool ‘cause I made one friend out of it. And, we also stay in touch like on a monthly or bi-monthly basis just checking in with each other, but like for everyone else... it’s like school, like when you’re done with school, if you’re lucky, like you can stay in touch with a couple of people. But for the most part, like people move on or people’s priorities change. And so for me, I feel like I’m looking for the in between. Yes, I can meet there, but I hope to find, more long-term friendships where it’s not just about meeting in those settings, but more so like checking in to, to check in.
So yeah. What do you think about that?
[00:07:59] Keyani: Yeah. To all of that, because it’s true. I’ll definitely say that. Like I have like my day to day, sometimes I’m like, okay, nope. Not that, that frame won’t work for that one. I need to call that friend, or I need... it’s like I have them. I’m like, okay, no, that, no, they’re not gonna be able to answer that question for me. So it is like one of those, you do need those check-ins. You do need those, my brain is fried, can you see me somebody and help my soul get together. I can definitely say like I said yes and yes to everything you just said.
[00:08:37] Jen Amos: Cool. I love it. I feel like the more concise answers you give the more that I understand our journeys. But thank you for the one word like yes, and yes. That all makes sense. ‘cause it just makes me feel like, okay, I’m not like projecting anything. Like it sounds like you can relate in your own way.
So anyway, that is really the experiment here with this private podcast now is my hope is for anyone that is listening to this that if you’ve been a subscriber for our show for some time now, and maybe you’ve just been lurking, you’ve been casually opening up the emails, but you’ve been meaning to reach out.
And maybe you’re not ready to do a public recording, but you wanna just have more of a casual one like this, then reach out. Reach out. Because I was just saying to a friend at the gym today, I was like, I’m not really a corporate person. I’ve been self-employed for my entire adult life, so I’m the kind of person that wears gym clothes for most of the time, and I have my hair up in a bun.
And when I go to conferences and more important things like, yeah, I’ll dress up. But my outward look really reflects the easygoing person i’ve become. And for anyone that wants to be a little more relaxed in having these kind of conversations, I just want to invite you to be a part of this.
Like obviously Keyani and I could probably talk about a million things and it could just be us. But if you feel like you wanna jump into the conversation, I just wanna invite you to hang out with us. Just kick it with us. Any thoughts about that Keyani?
[00:10:07] Keyani: No, I’m with you. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Come on, join us. Talk about it. Talk it through. Sometimes we just talk it through with us.
[00:10:14] Jen Amos: Yes. Yes. Okay. So with that that is pretty much the introduction to the revamp of this private podcast Inside the Fort. For the public post of this podcast, you will be able to see a very detailed description of what this conversation is about.
But if you want to hear the audio, I mean by the time you’re listening to this you’ve upgraded. But for everyone else, I wanna let them know in the transcript at least that you can have access to the audio commentary by subscribing.
On the surface, if you visit the website INSIDETHEFORT.COM, you’re gonna see a paywall. But I’m gonna let you in the back door and say, so long as you subscribe for free, you will automatically get the welcome email that tells you to upgrade. And I could make this more accessible, but.. I don’t know, Keyani, for me, I just want people to show a little more commitment.
I wanna know that they really wanna be here. Yeah. I want them to know that they really wanna be here and like they see something of value in the show. If I can see just that little effort of upgrading then I know that they see value in this. And more importantly, it gives me an opportunity to maybe reach out to them and hopefully, invite them to the show. I’m just looking for more friends who wanna be a little more committed, like no big deal.
[00:11:27] Keyani: That’s just, I would say that’s just the space that you’re in. Where you are currently, your space, you wanna see a little bit more dedication, especially for where you are, is you don’t want it to be just lackadaisical. You wanna see like the efforts put in. And that’s cool. Yes.
[00:11:44] Jen Amos: Yes. I appreciate your support on that.
Yeah, so that is pretty much it with the call to actions. Now, I just wanna check in with you now, Keyani in regards to the Mrs. P framework. And just in case anyone’s listening to this for the first time, I’ll have Keyani’s links in the show notes of this episode. So you can be like, wait, what is the Mrs. P framework? You’ll have that in the show notes.
But I just figured like last time we caught up, you were giving me the latest update on the framework and who it’s for. So I’m curious if you wanna share the latest updates on Mrs. P framework.
To be continued…
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Resources Mentioned
The Rosie Network https://therosienetwork.org/
Connect with Keyani https://keyanisiobhan.com/connect
