Dec. 15, 2025

Connection - Federal Contracting

Connection - Federal Contracting
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Season 1

Federal Contracting takes the ability to “connect the dots”. The federal government spent approx. $755 Billion Dollars in 2024 according to the Government Office of Accountability $310B Civilian Agencies/$455B Dod. There are also several other layers of federal contracting we don’t see which can add up to Trillions each year. Obtaining federal contracts takes a number of steps which our guest will discuss, so be ready to take a lot of notes because there will be golden nuggets dropped.

ASharpe Outlook is broadcast live Mondays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). ASharpe Outlook TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal, counseling,

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professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services

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of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

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Hello, and thank you for tuning in to a Sharp

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Outlook on pay for HD Radio and Talk or TV.

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I am Angela Sharp, your host. Our arm chair discussions

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with industry experts will give you the steps, tools and

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information to be successful in business and to prepare you

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to be your best self.

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Hello, I'm Angela Sharp, and we are welcome to a

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Sharp Outlook and we are going to have an exciting

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show filled with lots of information that's going to be

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helpful to you. Our topic is connections to Federal contracting.

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Federal contracting takes the ability to connect the dots, and

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our guests will cover some of the first steps business

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must take to use their capabilities connections, sales, and proposal

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writing skills to win federal contracts. The federal government spent

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approximately seven hundred and fifty five billion dollars in twenty

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twenty four. According to the Governance Accountability Office, three hundred

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and ten billion was civilian agencies and four hundred and

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fifty five billion was Department of Defense. But that's just

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the spending week, and actually see in the public data

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there are so there are also several other layers of

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federal contracting we don't see, which can add up to

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trillions every year. Obtaining federal contracts takes a number of steps,

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which our guests will discuss in the power pack time.

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So be ready to take a lot of notes because

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there will be guided golden nuggets excuse me, dropped everywhere,

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from registering that system for award management to writing winning proposals.

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Aileen Kent is our guest, will cover some of the

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beginner steps you need to take to position yourself properly.

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Kent says, despite the hype that the federal government is

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the largest customer in the world, the federal market isn't

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for everyone. But if you have a proven product or

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service that is available and at a reasonable price to

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the federal government and they actually need product or service,

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this hour will help you understand what it will take

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to be successful in the years to come. My guest

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is Eileen Kent. She is a prominent federal sales guide, trainer,

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and consultant. Known as the Federal Sales Guide. She specializes

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in helping businesses navigate the complexities of securing government contracts

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through her company, Custom Keynotes, LLC. Before focusing solely on

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federal contract and Kent worked in various sales and management roles,

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including a significant significant period at Brook Furniture Rental at nine.

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After nine to eleven, she was tasked with leading a

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Lewis and Clark expedition to introduce temporary office furniture solutions

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to federal agencies nationwide, including the FBI, DHS, and Service.

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The experience of selling directly to the government formed the

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basis of her later teaching. From two thousand and three

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to twenty twelve, Kent served as the director of the

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Federal Sales Academy at federalmarket dot Com. During this time,

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she trained over ten thousand people on federal sales proposal

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writing in GSA scheduled contract preparation. In twenty twelve, she

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founded her own company, Custom Keynotes, LLC to offer personalized

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federal sales strategies and action plans. She assisted a national

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roofing contractor, Tecta America, and capturing sixty five million in

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federal contracts during the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act AAARRA

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funding period two thousand and nine to twenty ten. Credited

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with setting up the first offices for the newly formed

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Department of Homeland Security at an undisclosed location. She developed

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a three step program to guide contractors in market research,

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competitive analysis, and strategic action planning, which has been used

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by over three hundred and fifty companies. Ailan Kent is

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a national key note speaker and a respected authority in

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the government contracting community. She has been hired by the

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GSA General Services Administration itself to train both industry partners

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and internal GSA contract specialists. Her consulting and training focus

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on practical and real word strategies for success, emphasizing the

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following areas training, hiring and managing federal sales teams, training,

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managing winning bids, developing custom federal sales action plan, performing

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deep dive competitive analysis reports, custom for your specific product

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or service, and building and executing federal sales action plans.

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She is an active advocate for the Federal contract and

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community sharing job leads on linked LinkedIn and providing ongoing

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support and insights through various platforms and events. I want

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to welcome Eileen to the show today to give us

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those golden nuggets.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me today.

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I'm very excited to be here and to be able

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to help anybody who's looking at this marketplace as something

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to enter. Thank you for having me on your show.

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Well, I know, I'm really thankful, and I wish I

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had known about you years ago when I was trying

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to do contract with the federal government. Oh, it would

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have saved me an awful lot of hours and time, frustrations, anger, everything. Sorry,

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that was just how I was handling it.

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It's not an easy They don't call it the Lewis

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and Clark Expedition for nothing. It's like going up a

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river without a paddle or budget, and you have to

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survive on your own for a year. It's going out

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on a limb, So it is. There's risk to it.

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Yeah, yeah, and you got to really believe in yourself

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if you're going to approach this. But it is rewarding

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if you make it through. The steps. So let's start

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with the beginner baby steps. What is the way? What

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is the very first step a company needs to do

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to even be considered by the federal government as a

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company they can hire.

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Great Well, I really like the way you said a company,

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because a lot of people are looking at going after

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federal business. As an individual. Maybe you're working at another

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job and you heard that if you're a woman, or

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you are a teeny tiny small company that the Feds

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are looking for you, I really want you to first

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instead of looking at yourself, you need to discover your superpowers.

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So if you have a business that's really good at something.

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For example, you might be really good at delivering hardware

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supplies to commercial companies in your backyard, or maybe you're

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really good at construction projects or repair projects in your backyard.

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Or maybe you offered some training to the commercial world

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and you think it might have value with the government.

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The first thing you need to absolutely establish is what

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do you offer? What can you offer for commercial companies?

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What can you offer the government or government agencies and

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individuals to either make their lives easier, make things go faster,

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make things be more secure for them. Think about what

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you can do for them at a reasonable price. So

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really the first step is to look within what are

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you offering. Some people right now in the industry are thinking, well,

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I'm a woman owned I'm a woman and I heard

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through the news that they're looking for me. No, they're

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looking for a capability. If you happen to be a

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woman owned business, great, But capability is first. So you

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do need to look within a bit to see what

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your superpowers are and really harvest and decide the specifics

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of that. You don't want to go in saying I

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do construction and furniture and environment and repair, and I'll

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and I do computers too. You can't diversify like that.

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You need to hyper focus on your capabilities. I call

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it choosing a lane. So that's the first step. Then

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when it's time to think about doing business with the

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federal government, there's a website called s a M dot

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gov source system for a Wardmanagement dot gov, and there

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is an entity section there where you're going to put

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your business information in there. So you're going to put

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in your name, your address, who you are, size of

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your business, your area of expertise, and then there's a

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whole series of questions that are going to be very

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critical and they're there. The government's going to hold you

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to the answers to these questions and that's where you

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and I Angela will go, uh oh, this is a

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little much for me, and I highly recommend you go

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to look up a PEX apex Accelerators, the one in

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your backyard. They are free resources to you that you

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can go to and their superpower is getting you registered

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properly on that site and it's free. So that's the

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first thing you need to do is get registered on

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system for Reward Management and get everything in there legally,

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your legal name, your proper information, because if you don't

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put it in there the first time correctly, changing it's

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going to be very difficult. That's why you want to

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bring in this free expert that, by the way, the

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DoD funds with brant money to take care of you.

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They want you to do it right, so they've brought

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these people in Apex Accelerators. So getting registered at SAM

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is the very first baby step if you want to

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do business with the federal government, because they won't even

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talk to you if you are not registered there, and

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they're going to double check to see if you're in there.

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If you're not, can't talk to you.

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Yeah, And also just depending on your business, that's the

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only place you can go in and apply for bids.

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Don't see something else under another area of business and think, oh,

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I'm going to jump over here and apply for over here,

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because that doesn't work either. I know, I tried it.

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Yeah, SAM is SAM is a couple of other areas

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in it. So once you're registered there, there is a

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contract Opportunities section to SAM where you'll be able to

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set up keyword searches for what you do so that

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you can watch for opportunities to come across this website

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that you might be able to bid on. But before

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you go down that rabbit hole, you want to build

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some relationships. So the whole bidding process is a big

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jump and a huge investment on your end if you

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don't know what you're doing doing. So it's nice to

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look at them and read them. And I like to

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pull names out of those bid opportunities because if I

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have keyword searches. For example, let's say I do construction

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in Chicago, then I might put in the keyword construction

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or repairs and alterations, and then I start watching for

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opportunities that are just in my own backyard. I may

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or may not bid on those, but I can peel

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the names out of the point of contact, the phone

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numbers and the emails, so I can start to build

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a database that I can market to. So I'm not

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quite at the bidding point yet when I just register. Yes,

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you can bid on things on stand, but there's some

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other steps in between diving into that deep end right away.

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Well, what kind of companies, products, or services do you

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see that the federal government needs?

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Oh boy, that's a great question. If you think, I

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want you to think about, just for a moment, a bait.

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If you went on a base. It's like going to

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a small city. They buy everything. They buy paving, they

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buy food, you know, for the officers club. You know,

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they buy groceries for the grocery stores. They buy pool

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supplies for the pool. They buy training, they buy fuel,

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auto supply items. They need services, they need delivery services,

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they need training. I mean, I could go on. Just

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think of a small city. They buy everything. So when

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you look at an agency near buying you let's just say,

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for example, it's I don't know, let's say it's the

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Social Security Administration. They buy office supplies and computers and

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training as well, and they buy furniture and they need

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moving services so I mean lighting energy. So they buy

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almost everything. In fact, over six hundred and fifty thou

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companies are registered on SAM right now wanting to do

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business with the federal government. Oh but only if fraction

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are actually doing business with the federal government. So they

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do buy almost everything. There's a few things that I

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would go, I don't know if the Feds buy that.

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And that's where you could talk to someone like me

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to find out. Am I in the you know, do

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what I ought? Does what I offer? Do they even

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buy what I offer? So, but they pretty much buy everything.

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I have helped companies with the most oddball items Angela

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from I had one company that had and this is

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going to sound really strange, but they sold a matrix

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of flesh. I'm talking skin about this big Yeah, I

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know it sounds gross, but hear me out. It goes

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on burns and bed source. So the veterans at the VA,

225
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they weren't healing there burns and bed sorees for like

226
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seven months, eight months. They'd be stuck in the hospital

227
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with this thing not healing. And this company came in

228
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with this matrix that just went over it and within

229
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three weeks, these veterans were able to go home. But

230
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they'd have to teach the surgeon, teach the nurses, tell

231
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this new thing, and they go, it's three thousand dollars

232
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for that thing, and you say, well, yeah, but you're

233
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saving eight months of this person being hospitalized and they

234
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get to go home. So you also have to not

235
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only sell the technology, but the outcomes. So that's a

236
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big word now that they're using in the government is

237
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don't just sell me what you sell, sell me what

238
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the outcome is going to be. And in this case,

239
00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:55.279
it was get your veterans home. In three weeks, they're

240
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not taking up a bed and they're healed and home.

241
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.000
So I mean, that's a crazy piece of you know,

242
00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:07.640
that's by this. You know. So I've done some Like

243
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I said, I worked with a company that has a

244
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DNA lab. They do DNA testing, and they really had

245
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.599
to break into the market a few years ago. And

246
00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:23.559
now they're famous and they actually and they actually got

247
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they just released that they are now identifying the remains

248
00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:33.599
of cold case marines and there's a there's a saying

249
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:40.440
for marines that no one's left behind. They might have,

250
00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:43.720
you know, a piece of clothing or some DNA from

251
00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:48.759
fifty years ago that this company can now identify this

252
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person and bring them home. And they were brand new

253
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five years ago. And I'm not really allowed to say

254
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their name on this show, but they've been on the

255
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Today Show for instant files. They are all the major

256
00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.599
crimes that you see on television now.

257
00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.599
That was amazing, Oh my goodness.

258
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Yeah.

259
00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.000
I mean when you first started there, it's like, whoo,

260
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where are you going?

261
00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:15.480
Right?

262
00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:18.079
And I mean I've helped I've helped you know, furniture

263
00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:22.079
companies and construction companies and more IT companies, and you

264
00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:26.039
can imagine with every angle possible. But every once in

265
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:32.000
a while, I get these really cool niche things superpowers

266
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that people have and it's like, well, we don't know

267
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if they buy what you sell until we do some research.

268
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Let's see what they're using to solve this problem currently

269
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and see if they're open to hearing about what you

270
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have to.

271
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Offer right right, and especially when it's affordable. I remember

272
00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:56.279
years ago, I had a client and she was wanting

273
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to do contracting with the federal government, and I said, okay,

274
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so you know what we what are we presenting? What

275
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are what's the product? Said?

276
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T shirts.

277
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I'm like, Oh, they're all that's not gonna work.

278
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T shirts.

279
00:19:11.160 --> 00:19:14.000
Okay, you know I'm here to hear help your paying.

280
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I'm going to help you get there. Oh my god.

281
00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.839
She went in there and she got contracts. She probably

282
00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:28.359
was maybe retired now. She got huge contracts just supplying

283
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T shirts. And I thought, who would have thought? I

284
00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:36.440
mean somewhere in my mind, and maybe others out there

285
00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:39.759
are probably thinking the same thing. They're just going sending

286
00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:43.440
someone to a shopping mall and getting T shirts. But

287
00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:47.240
I guess no, they're wanting products brought to them. So

288
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whatever you know you normally shop for, they need it too.

289
00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:55.240
You just need to provide it at a reasonable price

290
00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:59.000
and on time and you know the qualities there, and

291
00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:01.960
like you said, and you build those relationships and they're

292
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always going to shop with you. But my goodness, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

293
00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:11.119
We had a cousin that we were working on audio

294
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:15.960
and visual equipment repair and I just didn't think that

295
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.200
would you know, be something successful. He did it for years,

296
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:24.119
h Yeah, and got lots of like what are the

297
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.079
people doing? Like throwing these out the window.

298
00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:30.400
Oh yeah, well think about it right now. So you've

299
00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:34.839
got audio visual equipment is a great example of a

300
00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.400
product and a service by the way, that you can

301
00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:42.720
bundle up and provide to the federal government conference rooms

302
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.880
having meetings like this. They need audio visual for that, right,

303
00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:52.799
They need security cameras, they need audio visual for surveillance. Unfortunately,

304
00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:54.960
it sounds kind of creepy to be part of that,

305
00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.599
but hey, they buy it.

306
00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:01.880
I mean, they've got compondal papers and documents. They got

307
00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:06.720
my personal information there. They better have some cameras exactly.

308
00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.480
And they also do production. I mean my first government job,

309
00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:13.000
but when I came out of college, my degree was

310
00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:17.440
in broadcast journalism, so I was a video production person.

311
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:21.240
So we bought studios full of equipment and cameras and

312
00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:26.640
you know, teleprompters and all that. So absolutely, the federal

313
00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:31.160
government buys audio visual, tons of audio visuals, and they

314
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.160
need the services to make sure it works properly, it's

315
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.839
installed properly, the right kind of cables. Is this in

316
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:40.720
a secure place? Do they need it to connect all

317
00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:43.680
over the world? Think of all the different applications of

318
00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:47.599
audio visual. That's a great example. Angela ye or you're

319
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:49.759
going there like that and then you're like, oh, yeah,

320
00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:52.319
they would buy that, they buy you know. So that's

321
00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:53.680
a very intriguing one.

322
00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:59.480
Yes, what certifications help businesses secure federal contracts.

323
00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:05.119
So if you are a small business, there's a place

324
00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:08.960
that you need to go to at the SBA dot

325
00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:12.200
gov website, or you can go to Google and just

326
00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:20.559
google this. You're going to type in SBA size standards. Okay,

327
00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:22.279
that's the first thing you need to do is go

328
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:25.960
to the SBA side standards and you're going to download

329
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.559
a PDF file that will give you a list. They

330
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:35.119
call them North American classification codes. They're categories. So five,

331
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:36.759
I'm going to be a geek fer a minute, five

332
00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:39.440
four one five one one one two one three one

333
00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:43.839
four one five. Those are all IT related North American

334
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:49.119
classification codes. Right. So when you look up your size standards,

335
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:54.279
in some businesses, it's based on the number of employees

336
00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:58.279
you have. So in manufacturing, in most cases it's five

337
00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:01.799
hundred employees and above makes you a large business, and

338
00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:04.400
for ninety nine and below makes you a small But

339
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:07.640
if you're an IT software company, you could have two people,

340
00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:11.559
so they won't do it based in you know, hitting

341
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:15.000
big numbers, so they use the size standard. I think

342
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.920
it's around thirty two to thirty five million a year.

343
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So some North American classification codes are based on a

344
00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:25.079
dollar amount, others are based on number in place. So

345
00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:29.519
you look up your main North American classification code. It's

346
00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:33.119
usually the code that you use on your taxes. So

347
00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:35.960
you look that up and you look at the size standard.

348
00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:39.799
If your business is smaller than that size standard from

349
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:42.480
your sales in the last two or three years, you're

350
00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:47.799
considered a small business. So you in your SAM record

351
00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.039
can say you're small. So that's the first thing. You

352
00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:55.319
can self certify yourself as a small business. Now there

353
00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.720
are other certifications. There is the woman owned so you

354
00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:02.519
can it's fifty one percent woman owned. And let me

355
00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:06.599
emphasize you need that certification to get it out of

356
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:11.119
the SBA. There's paperwork you need to fill out and

357
00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:14.400
you need to prove. Females, you need to prove that

358
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:17.720
you are active in the business at the financial level

359
00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:22.000
or higher. You cannot be working in another business or

360
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.640
in another job and your husband is running the business.

361
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.119
It's not appropriate. You need to be running the business.

362
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.920
So woman owned. There's an economic disadvantage woman owned. So

363
00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:35.160
it's the kind of money that you have. I think

364
00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:39.319
they eliminate the ownership of your house, but they take

365
00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:41.440
a look at the amount of money you have and

366
00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:46.000
they determine whether you're disadvantaged. So that's another certification. There's

367
00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:51.839
a certification called eight A, which is basically socialized, socially

368
00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:56.359
and economically disadvantaged. Now that one, that one takes a

369
00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.000
little more time to get and you have to give

370
00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:03.880
a very strong narrative. I highly recommend to get that certification.

371
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.680
You would need an expert to help you and I

372
00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:09.440
and there are lawyers out there to make sure you

373
00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:13.119
fill out. You have to fill out a narrative that

374
00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:18.119
proves that you've been socially or economically disadvantaged and they

375
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.640
can't say, oh, I got turned down for a job

376
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.519
once There's a little bit more to that, right, and

377
00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:26.079
there are also some financial things you need to provide.

378
00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:28.759
So that takes a bit to get, but that would

379
00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:32.359
allow someone who gets that certification, they would have it

380
00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:35.599
for eight years and then they graduate. There's a lot

381
00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:39.480
of rules behind it. But if you have that certification,

382
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.960
that allows you to get what we would call soul

383
00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:47.680
source contracts. Up to I think it's like four point

384
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:50.440
five million or a little bit more. You're able to

385
00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:55.119
be awarded a direct contract without competition if you have

386
00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:58.039
this particular what we call a set aside, so that's

387
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:02.160
a certification. There's hub zone, which is a where you

388
00:26:02.359 --> 00:26:06.079
live and where your business is located. There's some rules

389
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:08.960
behind that, but if you are in it an underutilized

390
00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:13.119
economic area, you can be a hubzone. And if that's

391
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:16.599
the case, again there are opportunities where you may be

392
00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:21.200
able to compete or win Soul Source. That means direct

393
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:25.720
contracts without competition. The other one is veteran owned or

394
00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:30.599
service disabled veteran owned service veteran. You again have to

395
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:32.680
go to the SBA. You have to prove that you're

396
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:36.559
certified as service disabled. There's paperwork to be filled out

397
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:41.960
to prove you're disabled. And you can also win soul

398
00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:45.319
Source contract as a service disabled veteran. And then of

399
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:51.079
course we have tribal certifications. If you are a Native Alaskan, American, Hawaiian,

400
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:55.759
you can. Again you have to prove it. These certifications

401
00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.920
some people think they're made in a shade when they

402
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.559
get them. But let me tell you get in line

403
00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:06.440
because thousands of other companies that have had those certifications

404
00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:09.559
for years, that have been working their way up building

405
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:13.720
relationships with the customers. So you get them, but you

406
00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:16.359
still you're not going to sit and just wait for

407
00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:18.599
the bids to come out or the orders to come in.

408
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:23.599
You actually have to actively sell yourself and really be

409
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:28.039
good at something. The certification doesn't sell what you sell.

410
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:31.720
It's your capability. And you happen to be a woman,

411
00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.200
you happen to be a day, and it makes it

412
00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:38.759
easier for them to limit competition down to three or

413
00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:42.319
directly award you something. So CERTs can help if you

414
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:43.920
know how to leverage them properly.

415
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:48.960
Wow, that's great information. You know, I've just been wondering

416
00:27:49.079 --> 00:27:52.440
what are the pitfalls of selling to the federal government.

417
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:57.079
You know, it takes a lot longer than many experts

418
00:27:57.119 --> 00:27:58.599
say it takes. I mean there's a whole lot of

419
00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:00.720
people say they can go and do the and but

420
00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:02.960
we'll have it in thirty days. That's not the truth.

421
00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:09.079
And it takes some time to win your first contract.

422
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:13.279
Can you explain why that is and how the individual

423
00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:15.359
can avoid these pitfalls?

424
00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:21.839
Thank you? Yes. The first thing is is, unfortunately there's

425
00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:25.119
a lot of people out there in the gov con

426
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.920
which they mean by government contracting, But I'm going to

427
00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:32.480
emphasize the con side of this business. A lot of

428
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:38.279
people making gigantic promises that aren't necessarily the truth. And

429
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:40.440
it's hard for me to tell you the truth, but

430
00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:44.400
here it is because I'm laying my eyes on the

431
00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:50.680
data of awarded contracts every single day. Okay. In this business,

432
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:56.079
it takes twelve to twenty four months on average to

433
00:28:56.279 --> 00:28:59.200
win your first deal, and it probably is going to

434
00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:03.319
be very small, a teeny tiny deal to get you

435
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.240
in the door, give you a shot. But they don't

436
00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:12.079
hand millions of dollars to just anybody. That's why it's

437
00:29:12.119 --> 00:29:14.440
important for you to be good and commercial and then

438
00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:16.799
you can kind of bring some of this experience and

439
00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:21.559
you're pricing and your superpowers to the government, because if

440
00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:24.440
you just started your business and you don't have any expertise,

441
00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:28.119
you're expecting them to hand you millions of dollars. And

442
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.839
some of these people that have been on YouTube and

443
00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:35.680
other site saying, you know, win millions and days and

444
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.720
billion dollar market and all I can say is, yeah,

445
00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:44.599
three hundred and sixty five to seven hundred and thirty

446
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:48.240
days one to two years, and I don't care if

447
00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:51.559
you are a multi billion dollar company or you're a

448
00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:54.200
mom and pop shop. It takes one to two years

449
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:57.680
to get a first DATS inside contract. This is a

450
00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:02.519
relationship business and they need to they're very risk averse.

451
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:06.519
They don't just hand business to anybody. You really have

452
00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:11.039
to prove yourself. And our hope is is that if

453
00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:15.119
you have strong conversations with them early early on, and

454
00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:18.680
you build relationships and you talk to them about your

455
00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:22.880
past performance, you bring in past customers that are giving

456
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:25.319
you thumbs up, or you have a prime that is

457
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:29.039
bringing you or sponsoring you. Somebody needs to have done

458
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:32.240
business with you to bring that forward, and you've got

459
00:30:32.279 --> 00:30:34.960
to be the best. That's when you're going to get

460
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:37.880
business quick and under the radar, that's what we call it.

461
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:42.400
But if you are just sitting in your office writing

462
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:47.720
proposal after loser proposal, you are going to be penniless

463
00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:51.880
in about three months and you're going to be very frustrated.

464
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:55.559
So we need to turn that around. Because there's a

465
00:30:55.559 --> 00:30:58.240
lot of promises of AI companies saying let us write

466
00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:01.000
all your proposals, let us do this for you and

467
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:03.880
you're going to invest in all these tools that are

468
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:06.039
not doing what you're supposed to be doing, which is

469
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:12.759
building relationships with people and only writing proposals that you know,

470
00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:16.160
they know you, You know them, you know when the

471
00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:19.759
situation is and you're walking in with your eyes wide open,

472
00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:23.319
knowing it's going to make you money. Blind bids will

473
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:28.720
hurt your business. So yes, there's some pitfalls blind bidding

474
00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:32.960
all day and expecting to win business in days. This

475
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.720
will take time, so you need to have a nest

476
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:36.920
egg to get through that first one or two years.

477
00:31:37.319 --> 00:31:37.640
Mm hm.

478
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:41.799
You know. And it makes sense. And if you know

479
00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:45.079
people that are listening you, I'll just say it. Financially,

480
00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:50.160
they are accountable for those taxpayer dollars and they don't

481
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:55.000
want it put on the news that they gave out

482
00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:58.079
these millions and billions of dollars and they were lost

483
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:01.160
and the government didn't get anything for not saying that

484
00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:04.119
you would intentionally do that or you're planning on doing that,

485
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:08.680
but it could happen. It destroys their job, It destroys

486
00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:12.240
the reputation of the department you're doing the work for.

487
00:32:12.759 --> 00:32:17.799
So they have to be careful because it's not like, well,

488
00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:20.720
you don't even want to do that with philanthropy money.

489
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:26.240
But they're accountable to the taxpayers that they spend that

490
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:31.559
money on projects or services that are benefiting the government

491
00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:36.799
or benefiting citizens of the US or whatever, and they

492
00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:40.319
got a good product and it met the goals that

493
00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:43.680
they wanted to meet, And so they can't waste their

494
00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:48.920
dollars on newbies with no you know, referrals or no

495
00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:52.279
like you said, you know, having you know someone else

496
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:55.200
that you have worked with, you know, speaking for you

497
00:32:55.480 --> 00:32:59.119
that they've done work for the government. But it's accountability.

498
00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:01.960
That's the reason why it's not like, oh, they just

499
00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:04.480
don't want to do it for me because I am

500
00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:07.920
a woman or i'm this, or I'm no. They're not

501
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.359
going to do it because they are accountable for the

502
00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:12.920
dollars and they've got to make sure you really are

503
00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:16.319
going to provide what you're saying, and they don't know you,

504
00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:20.880
and so that's a whole lot of trust with dollars

505
00:33:20.920 --> 00:33:25.599
that they are that are trust dollars that they have

506
00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:29.759
to answer for, and so you have to understand the

507
00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:33.519
whole picture of what's really going on. So it's not

508
00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:35.519
going to be like you said, going in there doing

509
00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:37.400
those blind bids, and you just think you're just going

510
00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:39.640
to go get a bunch of money. You know, they

511
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:43.000
started that stuff fifty years ago telling people that, and

512
00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:45.119
I still don't see a whole lot of them that

513
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:51.759
that worked for. So yeah, right, yeah, this is great

514
00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:57.440
information before you dive into the proposal, because it's a

515
00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:00.400
lot of information trying to write a proposal, and that's

516
00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:03.759
going to be selling. What should a company do before

517
00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:06.279
they even consider writing a proposal?

518
00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:12.079
There is a lot to do left of the proposal.

519
00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:15.320
All there's a bunch of steps before you actually go

520
00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:18.800
bid no bid, And the first step you need to

521
00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:23.000
do is there is data out there, which when I

522
00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:26.000
was selling to the government at first, Angelo, I'm not

523
00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:28.239
kidding you. When they sent me on the Lewis and

524
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:34.440
Clark expedition, I had to travel to La travel to

525
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:42.719
San Francisco, travel to San Diego, Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, DC,

526
00:34:43.719 --> 00:34:47.559
then La San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, d C, Chicago,

527
00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:50.599
La S For seven out of eight weeks. I was

528
00:34:50.599 --> 00:34:54.320
on the road my first year. Because I wasn't given

529
00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:57.199
any information on how the FEDS bought what I sold.

530
00:34:57.760 --> 00:35:00.039
I had to ask like a reporter. Luckily, I I

531
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:03.239
had that background, that broadcast background, and I asked all

532
00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:05.599
the who, what, where, when? Why? Who are you working with? How?

533
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:07.960
But I'd have to visit with them over and over

534
00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:10.800
and over again, Angela. We don't have to do that anymore.

535
00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:15.320
The Feds right now they have to report on their

536
00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:19.599
contracts in a database that's available. Yes, you can look

537
00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:23.000
it up in USA spending dot gov. That's available to

538
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:26.360
you for free. But let me just tell you. I've

539
00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:29.639
been brought in by USA spending dot gov to give

540
00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:33.280
them feedback on how that system works. They don't even

541
00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:36.880
know what most of that data means. And it's over

542
00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:39.679
three hundred data points that you're downloading from it, and

543
00:35:39.719 --> 00:35:43.119
it's a mess. So it's kind of messy and it's

544
00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:46.760
hard to understand for a newbie. The one thing I

545
00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:51.159
love about USA spending is if you do pull data

546
00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:54.079
on a particular company, you do a search on maybe

547
00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:57.360
one of your competitors, you can see their subcontracts, so

548
00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:00.400
you can see who their primes are that there's selling to,

549
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:03.199
and who the primes are selling to at the agencies.

550
00:36:03.400 --> 00:36:05.880
So that's kind of helpful. But I actually use an

551
00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:13.440
internal keyword search capability inside SAM. That's very it's very

552
00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:16.800
It takes a consultant to understand how to use it,

553
00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:21.440
but it's available to us for free. That's what I do.

554
00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:24.760
I do keyword searches. I don't use North American classification

555
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.599
codes to do searches. I use your superpower words and

556
00:36:28.679 --> 00:36:31.920
I look at your competitors data. And so the first

557
00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:34.559
thing is that you need to have someone for you

558
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:38.079
or learn how to do it yourself. Need to go

559
00:36:38.119 --> 00:36:40.639
into those databases instead of spending the two hundred and

560
00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:44.760
fifty thousand dollars that I spent in travel to pull

561
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:48.519
this information. Now there's subscription services that do that, but

562
00:36:48.559 --> 00:36:50.760
they can be as much as twenty five thousand dollars

563
00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:54.679
a year. Coming out of SAM directly is free if

564
00:36:54.679 --> 00:36:57.159
you know how to do it, or you hire someone

565
00:36:57.239 --> 00:36:58.719
like me to do it for you. So we pull

566
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:01.840
the data and we can see who buys what you

567
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:05.280
sell from whom, how they buy it, how many bids

568
00:37:05.320 --> 00:37:07.599
they got last time when the bid comes to an end,

569
00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:11.000
what the description is, what kind of company did they

570
00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:15.599
award it to? Are they eight a woman owned service

571
00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:18.280
disabled VET? Are they large? How much do they spend

572
00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:20.280
last time, and how much do they have left over

573
00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:24.039
to spend while they still had that contract. So those

574
00:37:24.119 --> 00:37:26.400
are the key elements of the data. So doing in

575
00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:28.840
a data analysis to see what's going on in this

576
00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:31.320
marketplace is the very first step you need to do.

577
00:37:31.559 --> 00:37:35.639
So you get a handle on who specifically buys what

578
00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:38.440
you sell, and then you're going to focus on just

579
00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:44.320
five just five locations. So that might be I'm just

580
00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:45.920
going to say it for fun, if you were a

581
00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:48.800
health records company, the VA is going to pop up

582
00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:51.360
in the data. Of course your health records company, but

583
00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:59.880
there's one location in New Jersey that buys health record services, right,

584
00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:03.000
so you would focus all your sales efforts on that

585
00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:05.639
one location. You wouldn't be going across the VA at

586
00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:08.360
all nineteen hundred locations you just need to go to,

587
00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:11.719
but the databile point is there, right, So that's an

588
00:38:11.719 --> 00:38:15.519
example so doing a data analysis. Then once that analysis

589
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:18.400
is done, it also shows you and I can't really

590
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:22.000
go down this rabbit hole today, but what ways they

591
00:38:22.039 --> 00:38:25.800
buy and who they're buying from. Do you need those

592
00:38:25.880 --> 00:38:28.760
same type of contract vehicles or can you team with

593
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.320
someone that has a relationship within there? And it also

594
00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:36.079
helps you decide you know what contract vehicles to invest in,

595
00:38:36.400 --> 00:38:39.719
what opportunities to watch out for. So that's the second

596
00:38:39.719 --> 00:38:42.440
step you need to go through. And then you need

597
00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:47.559
training and understanding the terminology in this business. You need

598
00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.320
to know what a GSA schedule is, what an IDIQ is,

599
00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:53.360
what a BPA. So these are things you need to

600
00:38:53.480 --> 00:38:58.400
kind of be understand this stuff. And then you need

601
00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:02.320
a plan so that you can focus all your sales

602
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:04.639
activities because a lot of people think I'm registered, I'm

603
00:39:04.639 --> 00:39:08.000
just gonna sit and wait for the opportunities. No, you

604
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:12.360
need a salesperson like your T shirt person. I know

605
00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:14.800
she walked through walls to go get those orders. She

606
00:39:14.840 --> 00:39:18.039
had build relationships, show them their T shirts. You need

607
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:21.920
to have salespeople reaching out to the customers and talking

608
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:26.480
about your outcomes, your capabilities, your certifications, and your superpowers

609
00:39:26.840 --> 00:39:30.280
so that they start asking for you or directing the

610
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:34.760
business your way. You need someone out there selling. Then,

611
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:38.559
as you're watching for opportunities, only the bids that you

612
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:42.599
knew were coming, that your salespeople were talking to them about,

613
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:45.960
those are the only bids you're going to write. So

614
00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:48.119
those are some of the physical steps you need to

615
00:39:48.119 --> 00:39:50.960
go through and it can be done quickly with working

616
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:55.000
with an expert, but you can also get training or

617
00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:58.480
DIY yourself. But it's going to take you probably one

618
00:39:58.519 --> 00:39:59.480
to two years if.

619
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:02.280
They are out. Yeah, it's going to take a long time.

620
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:04.119
I'm just going to tell them. And you've got to

621
00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:06.960
just figure out think about your time and put a

622
00:40:07.039 --> 00:40:10.079
value rate on it, and then think about someone who

623
00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:12.639
can get it done in a short period of time

624
00:40:12.840 --> 00:40:16.320
and realize that. Just go get the work from someone

625
00:40:16.360 --> 00:40:20.480
else like Eileen, instead of spending all of this energy

626
00:40:20.599 --> 00:40:22.519
because you're going to go through a lot of frustration.

627
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:25.559
You don't want to send it in there and then

628
00:40:25.559 --> 00:40:27.440
they have to send it back to you because it's

629
00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:31.280
not accurate because you didn't understand the language. You didn't

630
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:36.440
understand you know, all those little abbreviations and things that

631
00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:41.320
they had. I mean, it's very little that's actually spelled out.

632
00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:44.519
Everything's got a little acronym and you've got to understand

633
00:40:44.519 --> 00:40:46.880
what the acronym is. And then it's connected to some

634
00:40:46.920 --> 00:40:50.239
more acronyms that's connected through some more areas of the

635
00:40:50.280 --> 00:40:52.400
federal government, and all of them are going to be

636
00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:54.119
a part of the decision to make it so you

637
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:57.079
got to you got to really understand what it is.

638
00:40:57.360 --> 00:41:01.000
What are the proposals and bid sites where you know

639
00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:05.960
vendors can find the opportunities. We talked about SAM but yeah.

640
00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:10.000
So sam doc gov is the free place where you

641
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:13.639
can go and you would be clicking on the contract

642
00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:18.239
opportunities and they actually have a capability in there. You know,

643
00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:21.239
some people sell you subscriptions where they're watching the sites

644
00:41:21.280 --> 00:41:24.159
for you. Well, you can go into SAM yourself and

645
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:28.480
develop your own keyword searches in there and save them

646
00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:31.960
and you can ask the system to notify you when

647
00:41:31.960 --> 00:41:35.239
stuff comes up. Now, if you put in project management,

648
00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:37.480
you're going to get like five hundred emails today. So

649
00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:39.760
you don't want to do that. But what I like

650
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:41.760
to do is I don't I don't have it send

651
00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:44.800
emails to me. But I call it reading the mail.

652
00:41:45.199 --> 00:41:48.039
I go to sam doc gov every Monday morning and

653
00:41:48.119 --> 00:41:50.719
I look up each of my keywords that I put

654
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:53.639
in there, and I download all the opportunity. You can

655
00:41:53.719 --> 00:41:57.079
download a spreadsheet of all the opportunities and then I

656
00:41:57.119 --> 00:41:59.760
can quickly scan them to see which ones are fits,

657
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:02.239
which ones are I need to dig in a little

658
00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:05.480
bit more. But one other little trick that you can

659
00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:09.119
do on SAM dot gov is put in a keyword

660
00:42:09.760 --> 00:42:14.280
of what they buy. That's a step before they need you.

661
00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:16.360
So what do I mean by that? I'm going to

662
00:42:16.440 --> 00:42:19.000
use furniture as an example, because furniture all of us

663
00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:27.039
can understand. Put in the keyword moves, construction, relocation, repair

664
00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:32.079
alterations because if they're building out a new wing, they're

665
00:42:32.119 --> 00:42:34.719
going to need furniture, but they haven't thought about that yet, right,

666
00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:37.440
So you're able to reach out to those people and say,

667
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:39.480
I know you're building out this wing, but probably within

668
00:42:39.599 --> 00:42:41.599
six months you're going to need a whole bunch of

669
00:42:41.679 --> 00:42:44.519
new furniture. That's right. Can we come in and talk

670
00:42:44.559 --> 00:42:48.079
to you about our ergonomic chairs, you know. So putting

671
00:42:48.119 --> 00:42:52.000
in your information, your keyword searches for a step before

672
00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:57.679
they need you is a great little tool in SAM itself.

673
00:42:57.800 --> 00:43:02.159
So that's one place SAM. Another places GSA, But you

674
00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:06.800
only have access to this site if you have pre

675
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:10.519
negotiated your rates and been approved as a vendor at

676
00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:13.840
the GSA website. They have a site called EBI, so

677
00:43:13.960 --> 00:43:18.039
only GSA schedule holders can see this. So that's another

678
00:43:18.119 --> 00:43:22.079
little site that you can watch. But here's another trick

679
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:24.960
that I use Angela. I don't watch the bid sites.

680
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:31.880
I go looking for procurement for casts. So if you're selling,

681
00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:34.320
for example, the Homeland Security, like I was when I

682
00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:37.719
was at brook Right, so I started the way I

683
00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:41.039
started going after the business was TSA had just opened

684
00:43:41.079 --> 00:43:44.199
up four hundred locations, and so I went from TSA

685
00:43:44.280 --> 00:43:47.360
to TSA to they were working with my competitor, and

686
00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:51.280
they they pointed me to the person in DC that

687
00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:53.800
handled the whole thing. I went to meet with her.

688
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:56.639
She wasn't happy with the current vendor, so she walked

689
00:43:56.679 --> 00:43:59.320
me into the headquarters and said, don't work with my

690
00:43:59.440 --> 00:44:02.199
vendor that did four hundred locations, which was the major

691
00:44:02.280 --> 00:44:05.440
prime at the time. She said, use Eileen instead because

692
00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:08.360
she's got higher quality furniture and she's not going to

693
00:44:08.440 --> 00:44:10.400
do to you what this other company did to me.

694
00:44:10.559 --> 00:44:12.880
She was mad at them. So I was able to

695
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:16.840
get in that way. But now at Homeland Security, so

696
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:19.119
this is me chasing something down for a year. But

697
00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:23.199
now at Homeland Security, you can type in DHS percurement

698
00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:25.840
forecast and you will be able to get into their

699
00:44:25.920 --> 00:44:30.119
acquisition forecasting system and do keyword searches or just simply

700
00:44:30.199 --> 00:44:34.119
download the whole thing and do searches within the spreadsheet

701
00:44:34.280 --> 00:44:37.000
and now you're seeing things that are coming down the pipeline.

702
00:44:37.119 --> 00:44:40.559
But once again you're going to need training on what

703
00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:45.280
that information is telling you so you can position yourself.

704
00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:47.519
But what I love about some of these percure and

705
00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:52.960
forecasts is they have names, emails, and phone numbers in them. Right,

706
00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:57.159
So that's so forget the d sites, look at the

707
00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:01.239
forecasts and what's happening. Maybe you can capture something we

708
00:45:01.360 --> 00:45:04.079
call it under the radar, so you never see the

709
00:45:04.079 --> 00:45:04.639
little light.

710
00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:09.039
To day rights. That's the smart way to go is

711
00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:11.519
to catch it under the radar. So it doesn't even

712
00:45:11.559 --> 00:45:14.280
have to go out to bid. You've already talked and

713
00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:17.719
got you know, the contract you know written for you

714
00:45:17.800 --> 00:45:22.679
because you've you've already made that. Connections. Connections are really important. Well,

715
00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:27.000
always talk about networking, but nobody realizes, you know, federal

716
00:45:27.960 --> 00:45:32.960
federal government, city governments, state governments, those are relationships that

717
00:45:33.079 --> 00:45:36.440
you have to build, you know, to build so that

718
00:45:36.519 --> 00:45:38.760
they are you know, going to do work for you.

719
00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:42.280
Like I said, we my cousin was set up with

720
00:45:42.360 --> 00:45:47.559
the federal government for the audio visual equipment and repair

721
00:45:48.039 --> 00:45:50.800
but then he ended up being able to get a

722
00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:54.239
contract with State of California. Stayed busy all the time.

723
00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:57.760
Then you know counties that were in California and then

724
00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:01.480
cities that were I mean, and he registered with each

725
00:46:01.519 --> 00:46:04.800
one of them. And you know, even though he has retired,

726
00:46:05.800 --> 00:46:11.480
I'm still getting emails. I was awesome, I was on

727
00:46:11.519 --> 00:46:14.719
the contract. I don't do that work. I was just

728
00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:18.800
right and I thought, right, I can just pass this on.

729
00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:21.400
But then you know, if they're not, if they're not

730
00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:24.599
certified and done everything that they need to do or whatever,

731
00:46:24.920 --> 00:46:26.880
you know, then I'm wasting a lot of energy. So

732
00:46:26.920 --> 00:46:29.519
I just said, somebody's going to get it, and you know,

733
00:46:29.679 --> 00:46:33.119
but it's just kind of interesting to see, you know,

734
00:46:33.440 --> 00:46:35.920
what's out there. And like I said, I've looked at

735
00:46:35.920 --> 00:46:38.440
some of those things in the forecast and it lets

736
00:46:38.440 --> 00:46:41.199
you know what's what's coming down the pike and you

737
00:46:41.239 --> 00:46:44.199
can even start prepping for it and then start building

738
00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:45.440
new connections.

739
00:46:45.440 --> 00:46:48.559
It's just calling people and saying why are you picking that?

740
00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:53.159
Or again the term before, it's either doing construction, but

741
00:46:53.199 --> 00:46:55.880
they didn't say anything about furniture. Hey did you even

742
00:46:55.880 --> 00:46:59.800
think about this? You know, so again you're you're focus

743
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:02.599
your superpower. Don't look at everything going. I can do that,

744
00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:05.199
I can do that, I can do No, pick the

745
00:47:05.239 --> 00:47:08.239
one or two and build a relationship with that person

746
00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:10.960
listed or find them, find a way to find them.

747
00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:15.079
And yeah, so and in terms of state and local,

748
00:47:15.199 --> 00:47:17.679
I do have a little thing to share here with

749
00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:22.320
that because I recently built a series of state and

750
00:47:22.360 --> 00:47:26.239
local for a particular client. I can't say who it is,

751
00:47:26.320 --> 00:47:30.360
but they were they were doing really well with the

752
00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:34.599
federal government, really really well, and they hired me to

753
00:47:35.079 --> 00:47:38.360
hire two sales people for them, train them up and

754
00:47:38.639 --> 00:47:42.039
have them chase. One went after federal and the other

755
00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:45.960
one went after state and local. So for the federal salesperson,

756
00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:48.480
and in this case, instead of just engaging me for

757
00:47:48.679 --> 00:47:51.000
that three steps for a month to do those three

758
00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:53.519
things I was talking about, they brought my on board

759
00:47:53.760 --> 00:48:00.679
two days a week to reach a base, manage a team,

760
00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:03.639
train them up, et cetera. So I ended up building

761
00:48:03.800 --> 00:48:09.920
about seven specific agency action plans for the federal government

762
00:48:09.960 --> 00:48:14.440
for them and twenty five states. And that took me

763
00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:18.039
five months to do that work. But it allowed the

764
00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:21.239
salespeople to just pick up the phone because they didn't

765
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:22.760
have to do any of the research, pick up the

766
00:48:22.760 --> 00:48:24.360
phone and make the calls. Because I just built the

767
00:48:24.440 --> 00:48:27.280
databases for them and then coached them on a call.

768
00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:29.679
So I did all the research and they were picking

769
00:48:29.719 --> 00:48:32.199
off one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty

770
00:48:32.239 --> 00:48:35.440
contacts a week and their goals were only sixty a week,

771
00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:37.960
but because I did the research. So if you have

772
00:48:38.119 --> 00:48:40.440
somebody you know doing that for you. Now, in terms

773
00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:44.800
of local a lot of federal contractors have pivoted because

774
00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:47.559
of this last year has been a little wonky for them,

775
00:48:47.880 --> 00:48:51.519
so they're diversifying their portfolio. And what I want to

776
00:48:51.559 --> 00:48:55.719
say to Smalls is, again, what is your superpower? If

777
00:48:55.760 --> 00:49:01.719
you are an electrician in the Midwest, only focus on

778
00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:04.760
the state and locals in your state and a couple

779
00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:07.639
of the surrounding states. So if you're in Michigan, just

780
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:12.519
focus on Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and that's it.

781
00:49:13.239 --> 00:49:16.079
Don't go any further. Don't do bids for Hawaii and

782
00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:18.440
all that jazz. It's a waste of your time. Focus

783
00:49:18.480 --> 00:49:21.039
on your backyard. Because if you're offering electrical services, you

784
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:24.280
need to be able to travel, and so you need

785
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:27.920
to be hyper hyper focused if you're doing state and local,

786
00:49:28.199 --> 00:49:30.719
because state is one thing, but then like you said,

787
00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:35.440
then there's counties in every single state, local, municipality, everything

788
00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:43.559
has their own processes, procedures, rules, regulations, and relationships and

789
00:49:43.639 --> 00:49:48.280
mid sites. So hyper focus, cut it down. If you

790
00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:51.920
do too much, you're never going to sleep. You're never

791
00:49:51.920 --> 00:49:56.159
going to sleep. So hyper focus your activities and make

792
00:49:56.199 --> 00:49:59.039
sure you have a certain superpower that you're leading with

793
00:49:59.400 --> 00:50:03.400
and that will help you get really good at what

794
00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:07.360
you do right now. And I couldn't say focus enough

795
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:12.159
and diversify, but also keep it tight, keep it a

796
00:50:12.239 --> 00:50:12.800
tight group.

797
00:50:14.039 --> 00:50:19.800
Well, I'm telling you their notebook is full. But you

798
00:50:19.880 --> 00:50:22.880
know what, we've got to have part two because we're

799
00:50:22.920 --> 00:50:26.639
still not done. So we're going to schedule another time

800
00:50:27.199 --> 00:50:32.199
to do part two. And there's so much, Like I said,

801
00:50:32.199 --> 00:50:39.000
there's so much to this. Could you tell our audience

802
00:50:39.199 --> 00:50:42.400
exactly how to get in touch with you? Your email and

803
00:50:42.440 --> 00:50:43.280
your website.

804
00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:47.880
Absolutely, I have two websites. I have my corporate website,

805
00:50:47.880 --> 00:50:52.039
which is custom keynotes dot com, but I also have

806
00:50:52.400 --> 00:50:57.679
Federal Sales Guide dot com and the best place you

807
00:50:57.719 --> 00:51:00.480
can connect with me. And that's how Jil and I

808
00:51:00.519 --> 00:51:02.480
got together. And by the way, the best way to

809
00:51:02.480 --> 00:51:05.519
connect with your federal customers, so if you connect with me,

810
00:51:05.760 --> 00:51:09.079
you're gonna be connected with a lot of Feds is

811
00:51:09.400 --> 00:51:14.760
on LinkedIn. LinkedIn's the most legitimate professional place connect with me. There.

812
00:51:15.039 --> 00:51:19.800
I am posting every single day some silly inspirational post

813
00:51:20.679 --> 00:51:24.280
that's usually funny, tie to a funny video or a picture,

814
00:51:25.039 --> 00:51:29.679
and you can email me at info at Federal Salesguide

815
00:51:29.719 --> 00:51:32.559
dot com or call me at three one two six,

816
00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:36.079
three six five three eight one. But I suggest if

817
00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:39.639
you call me, leave me a message, or I'm deleting

818
00:51:39.760 --> 00:51:42.559
your phone number, so leave me a message or text

819
00:51:42.599 --> 00:51:45.880
me first, or I'm gonna think you're you're scamming me,

820
00:51:46.519 --> 00:51:50.199
so make sure you don't ever not leave a voicemail.

821
00:51:50.760 --> 00:51:55.280
Salespeople always leave a voicemail and or text me first

822
00:51:55.320 --> 00:51:58.599
and say hey, I saw you on Angela's show. Let's

823
00:51:58.719 --> 00:52:00.719
chat about your three program.

824
00:52:01.039 --> 00:52:05.679
Okay, great, Well we have to bring this to an end,

825
00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:08.119
but I just want to thank everyone for joining us

826
00:52:08.159 --> 00:52:12.960
at a sharp Outlook. We'll be here again next Monday

827
00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:17.360
at eleven a m. Eastern time and eight am Pacific time.

828
00:52:17.960 --> 00:52:21.599
We have gathered so much information and I know that

829
00:52:21.679 --> 00:52:24.480
this is helping you to make decisions on where to

830
00:52:24.519 --> 00:52:27.400
go forward. We are going to continue this. We just

831
00:52:27.480 --> 00:52:30.440
have to find some more time for Eileen to come back.

832
00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:33.840
So thank you for joining us, and as I always

833
00:52:33.920 --> 00:52:41.599
tell you, stay informed. I want to thank you for

834
00:52:41.719 --> 00:52:45.039
joining us on a sharp outlook. We have been informed

835
00:52:45.199 --> 00:52:48.559
and energized to take the next steps. We have posted

836
00:52:48.639 --> 00:52:52.719
links to websites and videos to learn more on today's topic.

837
00:52:53.320 --> 00:52:56.719
Please join us again next week for another thought provoking

838
00:52:56.840 --> 00:53:01.599
conversation right here on key for Age Radio and Talk

839
00:53:01.719 --> 00:53:05.239
for TV. Listen to the podcast on all

840
00:53:05.559 --> 00:53:10.119
The podcast apps, and until next week, stay informed.