Ryan Hawley wanted to be a firefighter. Instead his stepfather nudged him into nursing, which he hated for three and a half years until an ER rotation clicked. That taste for chaos carried him into international air ambulance work: flying two weeks a month, landing in four countries in a single week, keeping ventilated patients alive over oceans, and touring 143 countries on the layovers. Then came one serendipitous phone call: a client needed medical records pulled out of Chad. Ryan did it as a favor, the client asked for Uganda next, and a light bulb went on. Within six months that favor had become a records network across Africa and the Balkans doing 50 to 80 thousand dollars a month. Today Odin Industries is three companies under one roof: Defense Base Act case management for contractors injured in combat zones, a medical practice writing nexus letters and DBQs for veterans, and a property arm flipping 11 thousand dollar houses on the North Carolina coast. Ryan also talks about the exit he regrets, why he is building this one to sell from day one, and what he tells operators sitting on profitable niche businesses.
One favor for a client in Chad became an 80 thousand dollar a month business in six months.
What is Odin Industries? What are you building?
Three businesses under a holding company. Odin manages Defense Base Act claims globally, basically workers compensation for foreign nationals working alongside American military contractors: appointments, medical records, legal opinions, vocational assessments. We recently bought a medical practice doing nexuses and DBQs for veterans applying for disability. And we buy foreclosed and tax-lien properties, renovate them, flip them or run them as Airbnbs.
You trained as a nurse first. What pulled you toward medicine?
I actually wanted to be a firefighter, but there were no jobs, and my stepfather pushed me toward nursing. I hated it for three and a half years. Then I picked emergency for my consolidation and something clicked. It felt like home. I think I like the chaos. Even when I left for critical care, I spent my breaks hanging out in the ER.
What did air ambulance work teach you about moving people through places where normal systems fail?
It is built on a team. Logistics handling visas and landing permits, pilots keeping us safe, medical staff keeping critical patients alive on ventilators. When something breaks in another country there is no backup plan, no calling in a replacement. Everyone works together, systems make it work, and if you cannot adapt on the fly it is not a job you will like.
Where did the conviction come from that execution beats price?
A client called asking for medical records out of Chad. I did not even know how to invoice it, I was doing a favor. The next day they asked about Uganda, and the light bulb went on: this is a pain point. I got on a plane, built a network, and it went from a serendipitous phone call to 50 to 80 thousand a month in under six months.
How do you decide what to build in-house versus keep with vendors?
When vocational reports were costing clients three or four thousand dollars a time and I was making fifty bucks facilitating them, I asked why I was giving that away and hired the expert instead. We bill expert opinions in six minute increments like a law firm. If a client asks whether we can do something, the answer is always yes, and we figure it out.
Was there a hard lesson that set up everything after it?
I sold my first company and stayed on for five years running it for the buyers. I hated it. No control, ideologies that did not align, sitting in my car talking myself into the office. With a time machine I would unsign that contract. But leaving is what started Odin, and clients I had served came right back. We were profitable three or four months after inception.
What did that exit change about how you build now?
I have always known with Odin that an exit is the probable outcome, so I am building it to be marketable from the start: clean structure, systems that run without me, better negotiating preparation. The first time you just get the check and a job comes with it. I look back and know I could have structured a better deal.
What is the one thing you would tell an operator about setting up a clean exit?
Get your financial house in order. Clean documents. Talk to people who have facilitated exits, understand what due diligence looks like, and be able to tell a compelling story rather than making the buyer conduct an investigation. A business should never be tied to the owner. Build your exit the same way you built your business.
Where is this space heading in the next five years?
We had not been in combat since 2001, yet this year saw more Defense Base Act claims filed than ever. New conflicts mean new claims in new regions, and American contractors are not going anywhere. AI is not going to replace the machine that makes the military work. Morally I am not happy we are at war, but for our niche the business has nowhere to go but up.
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