55: The Value of Being Prepared with Misty Cook

Gene Moran
February 27, 2023

Misty Cook, United States Marine Corp (Ret.) supported three and four-star General Officers for two decades during her military service as an Adjutant and now operates her successful business helping retired General and Flag Officers at all stages of their transition.

Summary

Misty served 20 years on active duty as an Adjutant in the USMC. Her duties included providing administrative support to three and four-star general officers which ultimately led to the founding of her business called COC. Her business helps retiring General Officers and Flag Officers start and build their consulting businesses.

Transition planning was on Misty’s radar at the 15-year mark of her career. She knew that COC was her dream business and started planning that post-military career path prior to her retirement from the Corps.

She credits starting a “side hustle” before starting COC for teaching her about the mistakes that can be made in business and when one should hire a business strategist to help guide an entrepreneur along the business journey which can ultimately prevent costly pitfalls.

Enjoying the freedom that comes with running her own business, Misty advises those transitioning out of military service to build a network of people doing different things. A direct connection may not be able to offer a solution to your query but someone they know may. A large network yields many resources in life and in business.

Enjoy this episode and please share the Make Your Move podcast with fellow veterans.

Episode Highlights

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01:12 – 06:18 Summary of Misty Cook’s USMC 20-year active-duty career.

06:19 – 13:22 Leaving active-duty and planning for transition to entrepreneurship.

13:23 – 17:33 Unexpected upsides to transition and running a business.

17:34 – 19:28 Working on work/life balance.

Your Move

Not everyone has a stake in the outcomes in the business of influence. How will you secure yours? I co-wrote Million Dollar Influence with Alan Weiss to help people drive powerful decisions through language, leverage, and leadership.

Order your copy of Million Dollar Influence here

Learn more about Misty Cook’s business – COC here

Connect with Misty Cook on LinkedIn here

Gene Moran

Gene spent nearly 25 years in uniform, serving in six ships and more than ten duty stations, and visiting over 50 countries serving as a US Navy Surface Warfare Officer and retiring as a Captain. In corporate, he led legislative affairs for a large international defense company from the Washington, DC office. In doing so, Gene gained a detailed understanding of the defense industrial base and supply chains of myriad platforms, systems and capabilities. Then in 2013, he took the leap to start his own business, Capitol Integration. Since then Gene has helped scores of companies improve their federal positions.

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