Jose Belen, Veteran Advocate

Jose Belen is a dedicated US Army Veteran who served concurrent Operations duties protecting our country in Iraq during Operation Enduring Freedom.

When Jose returned, he went though a roller coaster of ups and downs, and in no small way, suffered from PTSD from his many days in combat. Stories like having a little girl die in his arms, having a fellow soldier lose a body part in front of him, the stories go on and on.

Once Jose got control of himself through many years of work, pain and therapy, he dedicated himself to helping others.

He wrote a book, PG-13 which describes the 13 pillars everyone in need of help, should concentrate on. He is a widely known speaker, locally, domestically and internationally. Jose helps bring those in need to a point who they understand where they are and what they have to do to recover and succeed in life.

In his book, PG-13, Jose describes a major issue, “One of my biggest obstacles post Iraq was dealing with who I really was as a person/civilian. I constantly felt the need to be that soldier that I became. I would literally say that I had to keep that person that I became alive because I was too proud to let go. To understand that I signed up to do a job, I honorably completed that job, but it was time to move on. That took me nearly 13 years to understand.”

With that background, Jose has joined with Real Second Chance, a local Five-year old 501c3, and has created a program to help others as he has now been doing for the past 5 years. In addition to that, Jose’s experience lends itself to business and business leaders, especially entrepreneurs who have the talent to establish themselves, but really don’t know how.

So, the Influence Business Club, a local startup club tailored to creativity and entrepreneurship, has joined with Jose to build an entrepreneurial sub-program, which we consider a major part of the entrepreneurial process called, “ Know Yourself”.

In financial circles, there is a term called KYC, “Know Your Customer”, which all new businesses have to do, especially in the blockchain crypto world. Knowing your customer helps protect you against scam artists and frauds who enter your space and direct others in the wrong way. The Influence Club and RSC believe that the same things Jose learned about himself in coming to grips with who he was, are every bit as important in each of our work and business lives.

The Influence Club will be Jose’s forum to educate not only those who need help, but those who want to move on in business creating successful start-ups, making powerful presentations, training on business situation analysis, how to handle various problems and concerns, etc. All of these and many more will be taught with the base concept of you can’t be your best unless you know and respect yourself. Know your strengths, weaknesses, faults and strengths, but in the end, just as Jose found in his life, once you find yourself, you can accomplish anything.

Jose Belen is a major asset to the Influence Business Club, Orlando, FL and beyond. We are so happy to be working with him and the Influence Club to make lives and business better for our community.