Secret Government Contracting Tips For New Small Business Owners

Secret Government Contracting Tips For New Small Business Owners

I have a few secrets to share with you! These are for you if you’re new to government contracting - whether you've just registered in SAM.gov, you're in the middle of registering, you're a solopreneur pondering this space, or you've recently landed your first contract or subcontract.?

Close the Skill Gap Quickly

What's important, and what you have to do quickly, is close the skill gap. There are so many parts to operating a business in the government contracting space:

  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Client relations
  • Staffing
  • Execution
  • Bidding
  • Capability briefs

Having a business is a beautiful thing, because this is one of the most amazing gateways to wealth, creating that life where you can live however you want. Want to go to the beach in the middle of the day? Go for it! Want to enjoy breakfast on the rooftop and get a little sun? You can do that too!

Focus on Learning

It's important to focus your time on learning everything you can about:

  • Bidding
  • Which type of clients you want to go after
  • What kind of work you want to pursue
  • What a winning proposal or bid really looks like
  • What to look for in a client

You want to avoid situations where you get a client and think, “Oh my goodness, what have I done? Why did I do this?”

Andretti's Go-Kart Example

Where my flagship company is headquartered, there's Andretti's go-kart place.?

When they first opened, they had this unlimited program. You paid a certain amount, and you could ride and ride and ride forever. Can you imagine what happened??

Their different go-karts started to deteriorate, and started to have mechanical issues. There were too many people coming in, so what they ended up having to do is cancel that program.?

In theory, it seemed great. But in reality, it was more of a burden, and it was costing them money. You want to avoid those types of situations in your business.

Get Mentors

Great places to learn include:

  1. Yours truly (Me, of course - the Queen of Government Contracting)
  2. Mentors who have been successful in your specific field
  3. Government databases like FPDS, GovTribe, and GovWin to verify potential mentors' success

You can also pay for a program, but you must get the support.

Learn and Do

I remember being in a home economics course in middle school, excited about cooking in the kitchen. The main ingredients for success were having the recipe and actually doing it in a functioning kitchen. The same applies to government contracting:

  • If you're learning about my Dialing for Dollars technique, do it.
  • If you're learning about putting together a capabilities brief, do it.
  • If you've heard you should go to outreach events, do it.

The more you do it, the better you get. It's taken me over 10 years to get here, with a lot of money spent, scams encountered, heartbreak, and joy. But I'm here because of everything I've learned, and I don't want you to have to go through all that.

Give Yourself Grace

You have to relieve yourself of any doubt, frustration, or need for perfection. Let it all go. This is a different space. You wouldn't expect to become a fluent, top-level Japanese speaker in two weeks, right? It's no different in the federal government.

Give yourself grace because it doesn't happen overnight. People who are pushing that this happens overnight or that you're going to get a contract just like that - they're trying to sell you something, or they don't have a lot of contracts.?

How do you know? Because you can look it up. If this were so easy, everyone would be doing it. Everyone would say, "Why play the lotto? I'm a government contractor."

Join a Community

Get into a community of like-minded individuals. There are great communities on Facebook where people aren't trying to sell you something. Check them out.?

Maybe there's some type of group in your local area. For example, in the Central Florida area, there’s a Women in Defense. If you're a man, you can still join!?

There are different defense organizations, government contracting organizations, procurement organizations, CEO organizations. There are probably groups on TikTok that you can follow or hashtags you can use, and groups on Facebook.

The point is, other entrepreneurs can relate and cheer you on. Sometimes family and friends, they mean well, they think they're helping, but they're dragging you down.?

You want to be around others who are raising you up, adding to you, who are like, “Look, everything is possible. You got it. You're a freaking GovCon winner. You're amazing.” That's what you need!

Network and Attend Events

I went to anything and everything involving government contracting for years. If they said it was the opening of an envelope, I went. I went to retirement ceremonies because I didn't know what that was like.?

I went to conferences. I've been to the Pentagon numerous times because I wanted to experience every single thing. And what's been amazing is that opportunities have come up.?

There was one particular conference that I attended in Orlando, and at the table was someone who worked for the state of Florida and needed content for entrepreneurs converted into e-learning. My flagship company does that. We got a contract.

Value Your Clients

You have put in so much work to get to where you are, you don't want to lose your clients. Value them, appreciate them, look for additional ways to help them.?

When you get one client, you want to treat them with so much love and gratitude and do all you can (legally) to support them.?

Hopefully, I’ve motivated you to keep going in government contracting. There’s a lot of great things waiting on you! And if you want more practical strategies on how you can become a GovCon Winner, then subscribe to my official YouTube channel now.?

Click here now to subscribe to my official YouTube channel.

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I’m the author of the newly released book “The GovCon Winners Way: How To Win Government Contracts Faster Than Trying to Do It Alone!” At 28, I was awarded my first 5-figure federal government contract. I own and operate multiple government contracting businesses and have over $50 million in federal government contract awards. Today, I’ve helped my students win over $3M in Federal Government Contracts in less than 6 months, and I’ll help you, too!?

-#EverythingIsPossible

Michelle Dushee’ Williams

Adjunct Professor|Instructional Design|Training and Development|Research and Desgn|Creator of Engaging Courses| Love for the Arts and Fashion

2 个月

Great advice

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