Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Walker.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Justin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in Kansas and attended a vocational high school before joining the military at 18 years old. Right after boot camp, I became a combat medic and entered one of the Navy’s Special Warfare programs as an SWCC (pronounced “swick”) operator. SWCC stands for Special Warfare Combat Crewman. It is essentially maritime special forces insertion extraction or simply getting people in and out of bad situations. After several deployments where I was responsible for being a combat medic, I began leading others on clandestine missions into enemy controlled territory. Later in my military career, I became an instructor for hundreds of fellow operators and later for incoming students. Over my last few years in the military, I personally trained nearly 8 thousand Navy SEAL and SWCC, EOD, Diver and Aircrew candidates to ensure trainees were mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for the hardships experienced in war. I also had the opportunity to expand my cultural awareness through training hundreds of various host nation forces through various deployments to South Korea, Israel, Djibouti, Trinidad & Tobago, the Philippines and Kenya.
12 years in Naval Special Warfare positions that required leadership, curriculum development and strategic planning experiences have led to the creation of an easily digestible and energizing three-hour program that explains how the best of the best become the best of the best. Hint: Relationships. We teach that the most valuable thing on the battlefield and in business is the person standing next to you. Since its inception, this program has been delivered to various corporate teams in the US, Europe and India.
Over the course of my post-military career, I now play an integral role in helping other military veterans build their own businesses at a Chicago based veteran service organization called Bunker Labs. I joined the team in June 2015 as the Executive Director. At the Bunker Labs, I have managed the organization’s budget through its growth into a multi-million dollar organization, assisted in helping create and implements various programmatic initiatives as well as helping to further institutionalize the national infrastructure. Bunker Labs members have generated more than $50M in revenue, $23M in Capital and created more than 1170 Jobs across the US.
I am also currently pursuing a BS in Philosophy from Northwestern University and majoring in Organizational Behavior: Business Leadership.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not, and to be honest, one of the hardest things to overcome has been my ego. It has gotten in the way of everything since I was a kid. In the past, it has caused problems with my family, friends, military career and business opportunities. The problems that were most heavy on me were the ones created with my family when I was a teenager. It took me years to rebuild relationships with my mom, my dad and my sisters. I had a very difficult time understanding things from their perspectives. One of the things that really helped me overcome that and rebuild those relationships was when I became an instructor for operators. Our job was to explore their motivations and challenge them to become better people. In doing this, I realized that I was failing at challenging myself to become a better son, a better brother, a better friend and a better co-worker.
Also, as I mentioned, the ego has been a difficult thing to overcome in my professional life as well. But my struggle also has to do with the fact, that if I wasn’t overconfident, I may have never taken the leap. So I developed my own philosophy around the balance between humility and confidence. You need to know when to lean in and get aggressive and you also need to know when the lean back and shut your mouth. Since then, my professional conversations have become more beneficial for everyone involved. My past as an instructor does still get the best of me sometimes because my initial reaction to poor decisions can be unforgiving. I do my best to never let it show, but detaching from the situation, pausing for a moment and thinking has become a great asset to stifling that initial response.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Bunker Labs story. Tell us more about the business.
The Bunker Labs is a nonprofit organization that helps military veterans start and grow businesses. As I mentioned before, I helped with the budget through the initial growth as well as programmatic initiatives and I assist with institutionalizing the national infrastructure.
I specialize in facilitating great programs for our members. I’m probably known for being straightforward and helping simplify difficult concepts. Depending on the situation, I can also be a goofball, so it depends on who you ask.
I’m most proud of our team as a company. Nothing we do could be accomplished without each and every person that makes up the Bunker Labs family. I’m personally proud of having an opportunity to support our HQ team in helping our CEO bring this vision to life. They have all become a great family that I can rely on both personally and professionally and I’m extremely grateful for that.
What sets me apart from others is my relentless drive for self-betterment for the betterment of others. Performing well in an organization requires an individual to be able to receive feedback well and I would say that this is definitely one of my strengths.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Damn near everything I’ve done up to this point in my life has been because of luck. For example: The formation of the entire Bunker Labs team was because the best possible person came along at the best possible time to steadily grow the Bunker into a beacon of support for military veteran entrepreneurs.
Another crazy time was when I was rock climbing with an old friend of mine. We forgot to tie a knot in the end of the rope and it was my turn to lead the climb. We both loved belaying down the side pretty quick so naturally when I got to the top, I was ready to come down with some speed. As my buddy gave slack for my descent, the rope slipped through the end of his belaying device and he caught the very bottom of the rope at the last second, right before I smashed on the ground.
In the military, when doing a clandestine mission, the best mission you can have is when a bullet never gets fired. Luckily, most of the missions went just like that. There was only one incident in my career while I was 19 years old where I (as one of the only two combat medics in the region) was woken up at 2 am to fly into a combat zone and pull people off some beaches during a firefight, load them into the helicopter and performing TCCC (tactical combat casualty care). That day we lost one guy, but the rest of us were extremely lucky.
Pricing:
- $40,000 helps support an entire cohort of students for 6 months in Chicago
- $100,000 helps us open and bolster a new location anywhere in the U.S. for two years
Contact Info:
- Address: 222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1212
- Website: bunkerlabs.org
- Phone: 6192061426
- Email: justin.walker@bunkerlabs.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebunkerlabs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebunkerlabs/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBunkerLabs?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
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