Jimmy Silva is a business owner, dedicated husband and father, and a veteran. Silva served in the United State’s Marine Corps for six years before starting his next chapter as the owner of three UPS Store locations in the East Valley.

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His upbringing in a small town in New Mexico instilled in him the belief that serving in the military was an esteemed calling as SIlva’s father was a Marine Corps veteran. Silva knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a Marine following high school.

“The military was kind of a good option for me to get out of the small town idea and the small town area and just expand, see the world, and also serve my country,” Silva says.

Silva makes a point of emphasizing the inspiration he took from his father’s service, prioritizing it above all of his other numerous accomplishments.

During his early career Silva worked in communications for the Marine Corp. He was a telephone switchboard repair technician tasked with providing the technology for field operations communications through phone networks.

Silva accredits many of the skills he applies to his business career today to the military and his time in the service, “when I joined the military, that was the real kicker for me, the fact that they were able to show me so many different leadership principles and I learned from so many great leaders And I just thought it was absolute gold as far as how I’m able to use those leadership principles and team building principles and apply them in a civilian setting. In business it’s really really applicable in a lot of cases. In the military, you have a different mission But in the civilian world. you can apply those principles towards a new mission, which is business, which definitely helps lead to success,” Silva says.

After six years in the military, Silva and his wife moved to Arizona and began their new lives in the East Valley. As he began looking for options in what to do after his career in the military, Silvas again drew inspiration from his father who owned and operated his own restaurant for 40 years after his time as a Marine.

“Entrepreneurship has kind of been in my blood since I was a kid so my idea of career was and I think my dad put this into my mind, is to own everything that you do. I wouldn’t look at it from the perspective of being an employee or retiring from a career for 30 years at a company and getting a pension. it was like, own your career. Find out what it is that you love to do and then own it. And so that was instilled in me from a really young age,” Silva says.

The Silva couple weighed their options in the business ownership sector and landed on the decision to utilize The UPS Store’s VetFran Program, which provides about a 50% discount on initial franchise fees to veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

“The UPS Store had a real kind of support principle for veterans and their headquarters are in San Diego. There’s a heavy military presence in San Diego and a very hefty military support element in San Diego. So I think that’s probably where that comes from. But the fact that they discount their franchise fees and the fact that they walk you through the process and I felt like they took real great care in making sure that I knew everything that I needed to know. Then I was able to meet all of the right people. I found it very supportive and a lot easier than I thought it was going to be,” says Silva.

The Silva’s opened their first franchise location in Chandler in 2006. Thirteen years and a recession later, they made the leap for a second time and purchased their second location in Chandler in 2019.

The additional support The UPS Store provided to the Silva’s was a key component to their success in their first franchise and Silva says they had the same experience more than a dozen years later when purchasing their second location. 

Following the pandemic, the Silvas built their third location in Queen Creek.

Now, as the owner of three locations Jimmy Silva says that he is proud of his family’s continued success, “My kids who are watching us every single day, watching us do what we do and learning from that. I think the tools that they’re gathering in this regard are definitely going to help them in their future as well,” says Silva.

This Veteran’s day Silva shares a message to young military members with entrepreneurial ambitions, “Use the resources that you have because the military provides so many great resources. Those resources combined with the resources that are available on the outside, with companies like The UPS Store, or other franchise companies, or even the government for that matter, are very helpful towards achieving your dreams of being a business owner. “