Some entrepreneurial journeys begin with a business idea, while others develop through experiences that shape how a person approaches responsibility, leadership, and problem-solving. For Thomas Berkley, the foundation of his business career was built during a decade of service in the United States Air Force.
Military service introduced him to an environment where preparation, accountability, teamwork, and consistent execution were essential. These principles later became important parts of his approach to building companies and managing business operations.
After leaving the military, he entered entrepreneurship and developed multiple businesses, eventually generating more than $10 million in sales. However, his professional journey did not stop at building successful companies. His experiences also helped him recognise an overlooked challenge within the online business industry: companies were investing heavily in acquiring customers but often lacked dedicated systems for managing those relationships.
That observation eventually led to the creation of CSM Collective, a training and placement business focused on Client Success Management.
A Decade of Military Service That Shaped His Business Approach
Before entering the business world, Thomas Berkley spent ten years serving in the United States Air Force. He joined at 18, beginning a professional chapter that would influence his approach to leadership and organisational responsibility.
Military environments require individuals to understand their responsibilities, follow established procedures, communicate effectively, and remain accountable for their actions.
These experiences can provide valuable lessons beyond military service.
For someone who later enters entrepreneurship, the ability to organise responsibilities, establish clear expectations, and maintain consistency can become particularly useful.
The Air Force experience helped establish a foundation around three important principles:
- Discipline: Maintaining consistent standards even when circumstances become challenging.
- Accountability: Taking ownership of assigned responsibilities and expected outcomes.
- Teamwork: Understanding how individual contributions support a larger organisational objective.
Rather than treating these principles as lessons limited to military environments, Berkley carried them into his approach to business development.
Transitioning From Military Life to Entrepreneurship
Leaving a structured military environment and entering entrepreneurship presents a different set of challenges.
Business owners must make decisions, identify opportunities, understand customers, and take responsibility for results without relying on the established structures of a larger organisation.
For Berkley, the transition involved developing an understanding of sales, marketing, and business models while preparing for life beyond military service.
He began his entrepreneurial journey in 2018, applying the discipline and structured thinking developed during his years in uniform.
The early stages of building a business required learning how different functions contribute to commercial performance. Marketing generates interest, sales converts opportunities, and operational systems help ensure that a company can deliver what it promises.
Understanding how these activities work together became an important part of his development as an entrepreneur.
His experience demonstrates an interesting aspect of career transitions: professional skills developed in one environment can become valuable in another when they are applied to different challenges.
Building Businesses Through Measurable Results
Entrepreneurship involves more than identifying an attractive business opportunity. Turning an idea into a functioning company requires consistent execution, an understanding of customers, and the ability to develop systems that support growth.
Following his transition from military service, Berkley built and scaled multiple companies, generating more than $10 million in total sales.
His entrepreneurial achievements include two notable recognitions from ClickFunnels.
The first was the Two Comma Club Award, recognising more than $1 million generated through a single sales funnel.
He later received the 10X Award, associated with surpassing $10 million in total lifetime sales.
These achievements reflect his experience with digital marketing, sales processes, and business development.
During this period, he also had the opportunity to work directly with Kevin Harrington, the original Shark from ABC’s Shark Tank. Through Harrington’s company, American Entrepreneur, Berkley managed marketing campaigns for home service business clients.
This collaboration provided additional exposure to performance-focused marketing and the challenges businesses face when trying to attract customers consistently.
However, working with different businesses also offered an opportunity to observe something beyond customer acquisition: what happens after a customer decides to purchase?
Identifying a Business Problem That Others Were Overlooking
One recurring observation influenced the next stage of Berkley’s entrepreneurial journey.
Many companies were concentrating heavily on marketing campaigns, lead generation, and sales conversions. They understood how to attract potential customers but did not always have an equally organised approach to managing those customers after the sale.
This created problems in several areas.
New customers might not receive adequate onboarding. Communication could become inconsistent, and businesses might struggle to identify why customers were disengaging.
For companies offering coaching, consulting, online programmes, and recurring services, these issues could affect the overall customer experience.
The problem was not necessarily a lack of marketing expertise or service quality. In many cases, there simply wasn’t a dedicated professional responsible for coordinating the client relationship.
Berkley recognised that businesses needed a specialised role focused on helping customers navigate their experience and receive value from the services they purchased.
This was also an opportunity to create a professional pathway for individuals with strong communication, organisational, and relationship-management abilities.
From an Industry Observation to CSM Collective
In 2023, Berkley founded CSM Collective to address the gap he had identified.
The business was developed around a training and placement model designed to connect two needs.
On one side, growing online businesses require trained professionals who can manage onboarding, customer communication, progress tracking, and ongoing client relationships.
On the other, individuals need practical preparation and opportunities to develop careers in Client Success Management.
CSM Collective brings these requirements together through structured training, certification, and placement support.
Its programme prepares individuals for remote Client Success Manager positions and connects certified professionals with suitable online businesses.
According to the company’s website, its placement model focuses on businesses generating at least $35,000 per month and has resulted in more than 100 professionals being placed.
The objective is to establish client success as a dedicated business function rather than leaving customer relationship responsibilities scattered across sales teams, service providers, and business owners.
Why Military Principles Are Relevant to Client Success
Although military operations and commercial customer management are different environments, certain professional principles can be valuable in both.
Client Success Managers are responsible for maintaining organised relationships and ensuring that important responsibilities are completed consistently.
Consider a business working with dozens of active customers. Each customer may have different expectations, project requirements, communication preferences, and deadlines.
Without a structured approach, important follow-ups can be missed and customer concerns may not reach the appropriate department.
Several principles developed through military experience can help address these operational challenges.
Clear responsibilities: Every team member should understand their role and the outcomes they are expected to support.
Consistent execution: Customer communication and follow-up should happen according to established processes rather than depending on memory.
Team coordination: Client Success Managers must work effectively with sales, delivery, and management teams.
Accountability: Customer concerns and outstanding responsibilities should have clear ownership.
Preparation: Understanding customer requirements in advance makes it easier to provide relevant support.
These principles help explain why structured thinking can be valuable when developing a client success operation.
Building a Business Around Two Different Opportunities
CSM Collective is not focused exclusively on helping companies manage their customers. Its model also addresses the professional opportunities available within the remote employment market.
For businesses, the programme provides access to trained Client Success Managers who can take responsibility for important customer relationship activities.
For aspiring professionals, it offers a structured route into a specialised role that combines communication, organisation, and business operations.
This approach is particularly relevant to people who have developed transferable skills through previous employment but have not worked in a dedicated client success position.
Rather than requiring everyone to follow the same traditional career route, the programme focuses on developing skills that can be applied within modern online businesses.
It also reflects a broader entrepreneurial idea: identifying an operational problem can create an opportunity to build something that serves both businesses and professionals.
The Next Chapter of an Entrepreneurial Journey
Berkley’s journey from military service to entrepreneurship illustrates how professional experiences can influence the direction of a business.
Ten years in the Air Force provided a foundation in discipline and accountability. His subsequent entrepreneurial work developed his understanding of sales, marketing, and business operations. His experiences with different companies eventually helped him identify the need for a more structured approach to client success.
Today, his work is centred on developing CSM Collective and expanding its role within the online business industry.
He went full-time with the programme in May 2026, shifting his primary focus toward its training, certification, and placement model.
Thomas Berkley’s professional journey highlights the experiences and milestones that have shaped his approach to entrepreneurship and business development.
His professional journey offers a useful perspective on entrepreneurship: building a business is not only about recognising an opportunity but also about understanding a problem well enough to develop a practical solution.
From military service to business development and eventually client success, the common thread has been the importance of structure, responsibility, and consistent execution.
Through CSM Collective, that approach is now being applied to a different challenge: helping businesses manage the customers they have already worked hard to acquire while creating professional opportunities for individuals who want to contribute to that process.
