William Holsten

William Holsten

From The Strategic Veteran by Adam Peters

March 4, 2026 · 47 min

About this episode

William Holston shares insights on preventing business mistakes and navigating entrepreneurship, especially for veterans.

In this empowering conversation on The Strategic Veteran, host Adam Peters welcomes William Holston, a leading expert in Business Mistake Prevention. William draws upon his extensive background in innovation for a corporate giant and his personal journey building a family business to offer crucial guidance on avoiding preventable entrepreneurial failures. This episode is packed with wisdom for anyone navigating the complexities of starting or scaling a business, especially veterans transitioning from military to civilian life. Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Introduction and the feeling of business setbacks. 00:03:36 The path to entrepreneurship for veterans. 00:06:23 William's first major business blunder and the lessons learned. 00:13:33 Decision discipline vs. general discipline for entrepreneurs. 00:20:31 The top 8 preventable business mistakes. 00:36:49 Leveraging AI tools (like ChatGPT & Perplexity) for business research. 00:41:07 Insights from William's book, "Oh, The Mistakes I've Made." 00:44:36 The importance of courage, curiosity, and asking for help. Learn how to: Identify and sidestep the "no one needs this" syndrome. Challenge assumptions and avoid "death by assumption."…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Peters

Guest: William Holston

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • business mistakes
  • veteran transition
  • innovation
  • AI tools
  • business planning

Keywords

  • business mistake prevention
  • entrepreneurial failures
  • veterans
  • AI tools
  • business planning
  • cash flow management

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Oh, The Mistakes I've Made

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