November is recognized as National Veterans and Military Families Month, but according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the number of veterans starting businesses has declined since 2014.

Rudy Cazares spent more than 15 years as part of the U.S. Marine Corps, including three tours of active duty in Iraq.

After his military career, Cazares started Cazar Logistics in January of 2020 with just eight drivers and a fleet of vans delivering for Amazon.

Today the business has 170 employees and Cazares says he’s been helped on his journey by CEO Circle, a program that connects him with other veteran business owners.