The Government Could Become Your Best Customer! Part 1

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces, Succeed Together. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here with Dr. Pamela Williamson, Women in Motion, another episode. This is going to be a good one. We are diving deep into the world of government contracting. Pretty exciting to have this group of ladies with us today, Pamela.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:00:41] I agree. I am super excited to start the conversation again. This is we are covering government contracting both at the state and the federal level. And we have another group of amazing women. So let me start by introducing them. I have Abby Souffrant, who is a beacon of inspiration and empowerment for female entrepreneurs in the realm of government contracting. She has ascended to the pinnacle of success as the CEO of A&L Business Solutions, a trailblazer, a trailblazing force in the industry with an impressive seven figure revenue she has etched. Her name is the unwavering shopping contract queen, an embodiment of female excellence. Abby’s visionary enterprise specializes in empowering women led businesses, enabling them to seamlessly integrate government contracting into their revenue model. We also have Dana Arnett once again joining us. Dana is the CEO and co-founder of Wicked Bionic, a Los Angeles based agency that crafts multicultural marketing and advertising campaigns. Since 2015, the agency under Dana’s leadership has worked with large organizations and government agencies, impacting millions of lives through strategic media campaign initiatives. And last but certainly not least, we have DeLisa Clift. DeLisa is a business strategist with Global Business Development Strategies LLC, where she works with clients to build sustainable business models for growth by pursuing government contracting with local, state and federal agencies. The clients she works with see revenues growth in as little as six months by implementing strategies that are designed from a human centric perspective. Welcome, ladies. Thank you. Thank you. DeLisa, I’m going to start with you. Just for full disclosure. DeLisa also is our facilitator for our Wosb platinum supplier program. And so we have been working with her. I think this will be your third season with us, right?

DeLisa Clift: [00:02:43] This is my third season with you. Yes.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:02:46] So one of the things that we hear a lot is that women owned businesses sometimes are fearful of getting their feet wet into government contracting. So can you talk about what some of those myths are that stop women from taking the plunge?

DeLisa Clift: [00:03:01] Certainly. And you’re exactly right, Pamela. I am so appreciative of Quebec West for hosting this particular conversation, because as a woman myself, you know, it’s kind of scary. Even the journey of entrepreneurship and what that looks like because of the unknowns and some of the journeys into government contracting, whether it’s from a local or state perspective, is that these women feel that they don’t have 100% of what they need to be successful. So that is one of the main fears and not understanding the pathway into getting into government contracting, whether that’s through a subcontracting platform or prime contracting platform. And then they don’t know exactly who to connect with in order to help them along that pathway. So it becomes very a very fearful task to endure for these women. And along with that fear comes what a lot of stress. And so some of those women that I’ve talked with and have experienced on this journey of contracting and the government space, those are some of the things that they share with me. And I think that the women that are on this particular platform today can probably speak to that as much as I can and, you know, have an understanding of what that looks like and and how to actually, you know, mitigate some of that fear and stepping into the government contracting space.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:23] And that’s a great place to start is the first step. Like what Maybe share each of you and start with you. Delisa the first step that you took to get involved in this.

DeLisa Clift: [00:04:34] Well, I’m probably not like a lot of other people that I just dove in with my feet first and not really having an understanding of what that looked like. I started working with local government agencies to determine exactly what their needs were, and I was actually just watching them. And for me, I just dove into the the environment and I started submitting unsolicited proposals. Those unsolicited proposals were the things that got me through the door. You know, even though I had to submit seven of them before I was finally recognized to say, they finally recognized, Hey, look, we might could benefit from her services. So for me, it was just like, you know, just making it happen. Just doing it. Having the fear and the process of writing the unsolicited proposal and just, you know, hitting the send button on the email and following that up and just, you know, trying to find the people to communicate with who do I need to connect with in that government agency. So again, my experience is probably a lot different from others that might be able to speak to this a little bit more.

Dana Arnett: [00:05:43] I love what you said Delisa. And you said you kind of like didn’t you didn’t know. You just did it, you know, and I love that you said unsolicited. I don’t know if that would go over so well today. Right. It probably will not. Nobody would read. Right. But we had my business partner said when our business was dwindling because we are we had entertainment clients and that kind of went away after a year and a half. And he said, know we could do government contracting. There’s a lot of money there. And my mind shut like a trap. I’m like, I don’t know government. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know what like, I knew nothing. But I think that we literally didn’t have any business going on, which was gave me the space to start investigating. And all I knew was, you know, being an SBA, you know, being a small business and registered, I was like, okay, woman owned business came a few years later and LGBT came further than that. But, you know, one little thing, stay. We said, What’s going on in the city of Los Angeles? Oh, we could register as a business in the city of Los Angeles. Okay. Where’s what’s a portal? Let’s go into the you know, it was it was like we said, what was federal. I’m a federal what? So we started small and that’s how we got started to look. Oh, there’s a proposal that needs marketing and advertising. There’s an RFP that requests for a proposal that needs marketing and advertising. And we would write, write it and we respond to it, you know, so it is that baby step. But I do want to say, I think something that’s super important that I think you ladies would agree it’s not for everybody. It’s not for everybody’s business. And knowing that you provide a service or a product that would be bought by that agency or company or whatever department, and that they want something that you have that’s important to know because you don’t want to spin your wheels. It takes a lot of time to be registered. And part of.

DeLisa Clift: [00:07:33] So you know what, Dana? I really like what you just said. There is that government contracting is not for everyone. It’s not for everyone’s business. And that’s one of the things that I talk to people a lot about is especially doing a SWOt analysis on your business, determining what your strengths are, what are you taking into the government space because you’re there to solve a problem for them. So what are you bringing to them that’s going to solve that problem quicker than maybe, you know, someone internally can do? Do that SWOt analysis and be able to find, you know, your pathway that way. So then you know exactly that you are ready, whether it’s from a people resource or a financial resource. The SWOt analysis for your business is very important.

Abby Souffrant: [00:08:15] Absolutely. And I actually have a story very similar to Dana. Actually. My business was in a situation where we were interested in pivoting because, you know, things just happen with clients and relationships just kind of fall by the wayside. And honestly, if I’m just being 100% honest, I was introduced to government contracting through a webinar and they talked about the government’s budget. Now, if anybody knows about the Government’s budget, if that’s not enough to get you excited, like I just want a little bit. So that became the focus, you know, and then, you know, entering upon entering into that, into that arena, going into a lot of training, there’s it’s it’s government contracting is is a different world. You know, it involves business. Yes. But there’s many more rules on this other side of the tracks. Not that they cannot be understood, not that contracts can be attained. It does take time. It takes focus. And so, um, I completely resonate with Dana. You know, we needed to do something different and then just kind of popped up like, hey, learn about government contracting and learn about it and decided that, hey, we’re just going to go ahead and take it full force and. With no plan of how to what to execute, what’s going to happen next. We’re going to learn about this because this is one area of business that we have no knowledge about and we haven’t touched. But with that kind of budget, I’m pretty sure one of us can figure this out. So so that’s how we how we entered into this.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:56] Now, can you talk a little bit about, okay, you got the contract, you put the proposal in, you have the contract, do you treat the government as your client differently than you would somebody that’s just kind of a regular business person as a client? Or is there a different ways that you interact with the government that you would with, you know, a typical like kind of another business person?

Dana Arnett: [00:10:19] I think that’s a great question, Lee, because one of the things that I learned, I think more than treating them, they are a client of ours, right? And you’re dealing with a human, not something this mystery thing behind us, you’re dealing with a human or a department of people. So developing that relationship. But I think also something was told to me in this was in the Los Angeles Small Business Academy. I was privileged to be chosen to learn this program about our city and what government contracting was like. And they said, you know, awesome, that you won the contract. Awesome. What are you going to do with it when you got it right? Because we’re all talking like winning, winning, writing, winning. And and what they said was that the contracting officer is your because they’re the first, first contact really once you win is like they have to be your best friend. You don’t have to hide if you can’t make a deadline or something’s just, you know, just throwing you a wrench, be honest. Tell them because because what they don’t want is for us to fail. They don’t want us to fail. They’ve worked hard to to get us into that position. So that was one of the big things that I learned is develop those relationships. And now clients are they’re our best referrals. Government clients are our best referrals. So yes, definitely close to them. Yeah.

DeLisa Clift: [00:11:35] I would agree with Dana, that contracting officer that you’re going to work with on an ongoing basis on those contracts are going to be your most important ally that you have within that department. One of the things that I look at is that, you know, any client is an important client. But one of the things when a government agency becomes your client, then you’re actually really risking a higher degree of your reputation because you know, they can score you on these cars. And so at the end of the day, if you get a bad rating on cars and you go out to apply for another grant, another contract opportunity, you might not get that contract opportunity because of your your low scores. So that’s one of the things that, you know, I tell people all the time is that you want to make sure that you are not just ready, but you’re willing and you’re able to perform on the contract once you’re awarded the contract. Because getting it awarded might be the most happiest day for you, for, you know, at that particular moment. But then the scary part comes in in the performance of that contract. And what does that look like on the other end? So your government contract clients are your most important ones. If you’re going to live in that space and live in in that space for a long time.

Abby Souffrant: [00:12:53] Absolutely. And those those relationships are just key because they open up more doors even in other agencies and other programs as well. So, you know, we do treat our government clients with a little bit more emphasis of making sure that we are on it and really performing before our deadlines. Because, again, like Dana, you know, reiterated that if we’re not able to perform or if something is going wrong, we don’t want to ruin this relationship because the doors that open up from this are beyond what we can even think or imagine. And then along with just being in compliance, you know, just being in compliance overall, that keeps you on your toes. And so I would say for us, our government clients definitely, um, we definitely put more energy and effort into maintaining and sustaining those relationships overall. Not that our other clients aren’t important. Everyone is important, but you know, my corporate clients don’t have as many rules and regulations as the government, you know, fortunately, unfortunately. But I also, at the end of the day, we want to make sure we put our best foot forward and the government just can can saw our business so far as well as on the other end, if we don’t perform, it can also ruin our business as well. And so we are very delicate as as to how we manage our contracts and just being open and honest with our contracting officers.

Dana Arnett: [00:14:29] I do want to say, Abby, where I so agree is that that I have to. Constantly go back to the contract as you’re working to make sure that or what? We had an invoicing thing and I wasn’t sure how to do it and I did it. And then they said they said, Oh, that’s not how the contract is. So the rigidity of that and, you know, I mean, sometimes they’re 8100 pages contractually, we just signed our life away to. Right? So yeah, I don’t think we have that anywhere else. So yeah that is the compliance is a big piece.

DeLisa Clift: [00:14:59] Contract differ becomes your living document for the life of that contract.

Dana Arnett: [00:15:04] Yeah very true.

Abby Souffrant: [00:15:05] A good way to put it the living document because it’s so true.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:08] Very true. Now is that something that is maybe prevents people from trying to get into government contracting because they’re so intimidated with all the rules and all the documents and all the documentation that they have to keep up with that it becomes more trouble than it’s worth, like managing the expectations of that person that’s new to this world, I would think is important. If you were trying to onboard somebody into trying to get a government contract.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:15:38] Yeah. So I think, Lisa, you mentioned subcontracting and that’s a great pathway. So can you talk a little bit about what that is and how do you do subcontracting?

DeLisa Clift: [00:15:51] Yeah, because subcontracting is a great pathway for a business that is looking to step into the government space, whether it’s local, state or federal, because it basically releases some of the, I would say, overhead liability from you as a subcontractor where you can team up with a prime contractor who has already been awarded the contract. And then you have a piece of whatever that contract is. And my analogy is that you don’t have the entire watermelon, but you have a half a watermelon, right? So you have 50% of that watermelon instead of 0% of a grape. So at the end of the day, the subcontracting allows you to walk through the door, still get an opportunity to have a piece of the pie, but have less reporting responsibility to that owner of that contract. So then, of course, things like bonding does not become a great expense to you and reporting any types of activities in that contract opportunity does not fall back on you. It falls back on the prime contractor. So there are so many contracts that require a subcontracting plan. Any project that’s over like 700,000 $750,000, I believe, in the federal government space requires subcontracting, a subcontracting plan. And so it’s really easy to go out there and find on these particular websites that you can find those companies that have already been awarded these large dollar value contracts that you can actually go to to actually see if they need some subcontracting work that you can provide for them.

Dana Arnett: [00:17:28] So go ahead, please.

DeLisa Clift: [00:17:31] No, no, That is a pathway that you can definitely walk into from a subcontracting perspective.

Dana Arnett: [00:17:36] Such a great way to start. I was going to ask you or I was going to say that we also we usually go in as a primer. We’ve always gone in as a prime. I think we just know not to. I literally think we just didn’t know the difference. You know, in the beginning we were lucky to win something early, but we bring on diverse other diverse suppliers because we’re a woman owned business, but we’re not a disabled, veteran owned business in the state of California takes small businesses and what’s called a DVP. And so we bring on other other suppliers that are our subcontractors to support our proposal. Maybe they haven’t done government work, but they’ve done work in that space. You know, we don’t do PR, we’re a marketing and advertising agency, so we need a PR company so we bring them in to support the proposal and then also to help us in the selection process by being another diverse supplier. That’s a great way to get started.

Abby Souffrant: [00:18:29] Absolutely. And I think, you know, when people understand kind of the the aspect of what is a prime and what is a sub, knowing that you don’t have to enter in as a prime, but you literally can understand the process being a sub and not that subs don’t pay out, they pay very well. You know, and it’s a great way to get that past performance that your business needs it. It takes off a lot of the stress and a lot of it along with people just understanding what is government contract language and all that stuff like that. But then how do I maintain it? So like Lisa said, talking about the bonding or having the insurance or having certain requirements that the RFP requires, some some organizations just don’t have it just yet. However, you can also build your portfolio as being a subcontractor, which is nothing wrong with that. I actually I highly recommend it just so that you can understand like what you’re getting yourself into. And then there’s others. Well, I’m a go getter. I definitely am. Like, I’m just going to go ahead and try to be a prime. But that’s just me and Dana, and I don’t know if it’s the Lisa too, but I’m just like, I like to go go hard or go home.

Abby Souffrant: [00:19:40] So I’m like, I’m just going to go ahead and be a prime. But again, if I was also asked I’ve been asked also to be a sub, a sub as well. There’s nothing wrong with it at all. And you can for me, I learn best by being a part of the journey. And so being a part of the journey, understanding the rules and regulations as the Prime gives you the work that needs to be done and the compliance that comes with it, you know, it will start to shape your business into being more government contract ready and then before you know it, you’ll just be like, you know, we see this opportunity or, you know, through an industry day, you know, I’m going to go meet these, you know, primes or even agencies there and, you know, provide my capability statement and just try to network and meet people that that use the work, the line of work that we have to offer. So it’s a softer blow into it. And I and I and I think everyone should definitely try to get into the government realm, you know, by that way.

DeLisa Clift: [00:20:45] Yeah, And I agree with Abby because we too, have lived in, you know, two different spaces as the prime contractor and as a subcontractor. And experience in both of those places have been different. So, you know, you just really have to find whether or not you are ready to go into a contract opportunity as a prime and you have 100% of all the resources that’s going to be needed to perform successfully on that particular project, or you’re going to enter into it as a subcontractor. Or you can enter into teaming or joint venture agreements to where you can joint venture or team on certain projects to get that past performance that Abby talked about so that you can prepare yourself to be better ready to serve a contract and a prime contracting role with all the tools and the bells and whistles that you’re going to need to be successful.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:36] Now, the first time working with subcontractor that maybe you’ve never worked with, is there some tips you can share about how to make this relationship flow well and manage each other’s expectations and understand kind of which lane everybody’s in? And how do you keep up that good communication?

DeLisa Clift: [00:21:57] Lee, you hit the nail on the head right there when you said the expectations. I think that, you know, as you go into a subcontracting role, the expectations are the first thing that has to be laid out. One of the main things that I feel like a lot of subcontractors actually are at a disadvantage in is not having the expectations to be clearly defined in a contract, because just because you’re a subcontractor does not mean that you should have a contract from that prime contractor with an understanding of what the scope of work that you’re going to perform and what the dollar value is associated with that contract. So having that expectation to be spelled out in a subcontracting agreement with the prime contractor is something that is not just needed but necessary for any time that you’re subcontracting on a particular project. We find that a lot too. We do, like I said again, we work with local government agencies and we manage their supplier diversity programs and so one of the things that I find a lot of times with construction related projects or a construction project is not going to have the prime contractor perform in every scope of work up under that project. So they’re going to have a number of subcontractors. And how were those subcontractors know exactly what the expectations are unless they are written somewhere in a contract? And how then can we basically make sure that they’re being paid and being paid on time if there is not something that’s written and documented of what that payment arrangement and agreement is? So expectations and subcontracting are just as important as the prime contractors expectations that they’re that they know that they need to meet from the contract holders. Would you agree, Abby.

Abby Souffrant: [00:23:43] Yeah, I absolutely agree. Even to add to that communication, you know, with doing any line of work, communication is key. Knowing who you report to, knowing who you know, how to update, what the work that you’ve done. And one thing that I also just want to make mention, even with subcontracting, the Primes are responsible, you know, for us as subcontractors under their contract. So it’s not like they can treat subcontractors any other way because the subcontractors also do have a voice. So I don’t want people to think that because you’re a sub, you’re less than. No, you’re very much so an intricate part of the project. However, if your prime is not doing their part, you can also voice, you know, you can voice to the proper channels. You know that the you know that the contract is not going as outlined and it’s not to the best benefit of a prime to not have all the intricate details laid out or treat their subcontractors properly. Because again, there are multi million billion dollar contracts that are awarded every year an and the government is very key on the details that outline the progress of these of their projects and programs that exist. And a prime can really mess their opportunity up, especially if they don’t if their obligations aren’t set right with their subcontractors. So there is protection for subcontractors on on any federal or just any government project, especially when it’s outlined in the scope of work, that some of the work has to be subcontracted out. So it’s not just that the primes get everything or they have protection, but us as subcontractors, we all have that protection as well. And that is also comforting to, you know, when you’re coming into the government contract arena because again, it is a lot. However, knowing that, um, knowing that there there’s ways that I am that my business is protected as I perform the work also also offers a level of comfort in doing the work that is outlined.

DeLisa Clift: [00:26:06] Yeah, and I agree with that, Abby completely, because there’s nothing worse than you as a subcontractor could feel is so that no one is hearing you or seeing you what your complaints are and things of that nature. And I know that a contract owner does not want to see a project where there is a lien being placed on the project because they’re holding up the project, right? So the owner of that particular contract does not want their projects to be held up because the prime contractor is not treating their subcontractors in a in a respectful and a way that they need to be treated.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:42] Now, we talked a little bit about expectations. Can you share maybe some of the expectations when it comes to getting paid or the speed in which some of these things happen? Doesn’t working with the government require maybe more patience than it would if you had more corporate clients?

Abby Souffrant: [00:27:00] I. Yes and no. I would say on the federal side, the federal is very, um. Clear about their payment, their payment schedules and how that goes, how that performs. When you get more to your state and local, they create their own rules and they have their own ways of how they distribute funds and payments. Um, you do get paid, you know, if you do the work right, you don’t get paid because you get the contract when you do the work. I don’t want people to think that because you have a contract now, you’re just automatically getting a check. No, you still have milestones, markers that you have to meet or projects to complete. And then, you know, in between, you know, contracts that may be one, two, three, four, five years, you still have a payment schedule. So, um, federally wise, my experience has been great. You know, they’re very on time, haven’t had any problems, and I want to say had any problems on the state side. It’s the state I’m in the state of Alabama, so state can take a little bit longer than I would like to than federal. But we still get paid and I’m happy. I don’t know if that’s your experience, Delisa, but that’s been my experience.

DeLisa Clift: [00:28:18] Yeah, my experience has been somewhat of the same, basically that there is a payment schedule that’s determined basically when your contract is signed. And so typically I can speak from the local, the state and the federal. I’ve not ran into any problems where those payment expectations have exceeded what I expected for them to. I don’t get paid earlier, but I definitely don’t get paid, you know, 30 to 60 days later, which allows me to keep my business running. It allows the cash flow to continue to turn over. So I think that the payment schedule that is dictated in the contract is is adhered to by the agency. They try to as much as they possibly can. Of course, like any government is just like any other business, you have turnover. So if there’s turnover that’s occurring in those departments that are paying your your invoices, of course you might be delayed in some way, but not to the extent that it’s going to cause you a whole lot of financial harm. And if it does, then you have some recourses to basically have your your concerns voiced and heard and those departments to make sure that you are made whole as far as your payments go.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:30] Now. Is there any success stories you can share, maybe either with your firm or with firms that you’ve worked with?

DeLisa Clift: [00:29:41] Can you elaborate a little bit more about success stories for.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:44] Somebody that got involved in government contracting and then got a big contract, they were able to deliver and then, you know, this became you know, maybe it started as something a small part of their business. And now this is, you know, kind of really how their business is growing.

DeLisa Clift: [00:30:00] Sure. Abby, if you don’t mind, I’ll go first. Okay. So for me again, I started out as a subcontractor. We started off with a multi year, a five year contract with the Department of Veterans Administration. That particular contract allowed us to work as a subcontractor in the Human Resource department, basically hiring their veterans to basically perform on these particular projects in three different states. We covered South well, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. And so we did that for five years and we were already at the same time working as a prime contractor for local government agencies and running their minority and supplier diversity programs. And so that has become, I would say, a large percentage of what our business does is government contracting, whether it’s in the local, state or federal space. So we are a success story of our own. And then I can talk about other clients that we’ve helped throughout the number of years that we’ve been doing. So government contracting and how many of those have done multi-million multi-year contracts within the federal government space. So I feel like if you give empowered people with the right knowledge and the right tools and the resources to go into government contracting, you create a successful pathway for them to follow. So, you know, we’ve packaged what we’ve done and been successful in doing and offering that to our clients to help them to get into the government contracting space to where they too can be successful. So those are at least two of the the people that we can I can talk about our company as well as a couple of our other companies that have also been successful in the government contracting space.

Abby Souffrant: [00:31:45] Um, so I like to talk about my story because it’s so different. So once I kind of gone through a lot of trainings and I was kind of ready to kind of just go all out there because like I said, I’m either in or I’m out. I, um, I started, I started on the state level, um, while I waited for my cage coach. So I started on a state level looking up our contract opportunities and I was just applying, I was just applying, applying, applying. Um, and our first time we received a rejection was like, okay, okay, we understand. Okay, great. But seven days later we received our first contract. But it really wasn’t one contract. It was actually six contracts at the same time on the same day. And I was like, Wait a minute, what is this? What I, you know, all of a sudden, you know, when good things happen, you know, some of your sensory start to go away. Like, I couldn’t read. I couldn’t I’ve written all these proposals, you know, I read the scope of work and did everything I was supposed to do. And then I’m looking at these emails that are talking about our award and I’m having a hard time understanding what is going on. And we literally were awarded six contracts on one day, and that was literally the beginning of our government contracting journey.

Abby Souffrant: [00:33:01] I think we won another contract about two weeks later. So I honestly just being honest, I took a step back because I was like, wait a minute, now, wait a minute, wait. This was a little too like it was a little to me. It felt like it was a little too easy. However, I also don’t want to bite more than I can chew, so let me take a step back. You know, we were able to fulfill our contracts on time. Everything was great. We got we got our payments. So everybody, everybody was happy. Um, but we took a step back to say, okay, if this is what we’re doing and, and we also knew that our experience is very uncommon. Um, and so we don’t have the expectation that it’s going to. Be the same way every time we apply. But we were we started to apply more strategic ways of what we were doing and the types of contracts specifically that we were going to go after. Um, I enjoy or our company enjoys product based contracts because I feel like they’re one and done. You know, once we order send, they receive, uh, they, they verify we get paid.

Abby Souffrant: [00:34:14] Now we’re in a space where, well, we have received a service based contract that begins for us in the month of September. Um, um, which is awesome, you know, but, you know, knowing that our journey started off really, really hot, you know, for me, I didn’t want to continue in that same mode, having the expectation that this is a form of normalcy. As long as there’s contract opportunities, there’s always an opportunity for a business, for a business, um, like trajectory to change, you know, overnight. Absolutely. However, um, as I started to get into it and really I learned more about it the more I was more into it, you know, we can get a lot of training, um, uh, mentorship and everything, but not until you’re actively in the process of doing it, whether you’re becoming, whether you want to be a prime or sub. I feel like I got the best experience by being in the experience by doing it. And so you’re going to have good times, you’re going to make great decisions, and you’re going to make some decisions that you may have that you may have to pay for later or but it’s not so bad that you can’t recoup from you just take a mental note or you create another process that says, we’re not going to do this.

Abby Souffrant: [00:35:36] However, when this occurs, this is what’s going to happen. And so it’s it’s it’s going to always be a learning experience. You can never master. Government contracting things change every day. And so when I meet people that, you know, say, you know, I’m the master at this and yeah, but you know, I’m pretty sure something changed yesterday, last week. Something’s going to change tomorrow. Um, standards change all the time. And it’s, it’s our responsibility as contractors to stay up to date with that information as well. I can’t depend on anyone else but myself or, you know, whoever we. Whoever we have designated to stay on task or on top of the changing rules, regulations, compliance that happens in government, um, every day. And, and it varies from state, local and federal, you know, um, but, you know, I’m very grateful for our opportunity and I love that it happened in such a grand way. That’s probably why I stayed. Um, but I mean, it is, it is a, it is a rewarding opportunity and journey. And I’m just we’re overall just grateful to be able to be in the space to offer our, our services to help solve problems, you know, for the government, whether it’s state or federal.

Lee Kantor: [00:36:52] Now, I think earlier we were talking about the importance of relationships and networking. How important is going to industry events and and meeting folks there in in your niche, is that something that you do on a regular basis? You do it occasionally. Is it a must have or nice to have?

DeLisa Clift: [00:37:16] It is a must, have a nice to have and a must do. It is a must be intentional about attending these industry days because yes, you can go to industry days every time one opens up for you. However, it’s what is your intent when you walk through the industry day? You know, who do you plan to connect with? Have you done any market research on that particular organization that you’re going to the industry day for? And do you know what that particular agency is buying? Are they buying your products or your service? So being intentional about showing up for Industry Day is something that you need to be clear on. Yes, industry days are very important. Yes, you need to show up and you need to show up prepared. That whole thing about your elevator speech. You need to know that the whole thing about knowing exactly who your that particular customer is and knowing what the customer is buying, you need to know that I will walk into an industry day and already know so much about that particular organization that I want to do business with. I could tell them the last time that they purchased the services that I’m trying to sell so that they know that this is someone that knows exactly who they want to work with.

DeLisa Clift: [00:38:33] I don’t walk through every industry days doors because I’m not looking to do business with every agency like that. I also walk through being prepared with a capability statement that speaks to the needs of that particular organization. You know, a lot of times we create resumes If we’re, you know, people are still in the career W-2 field, they create resumes that you source one resume to every particular employee that you’re looking to work with. Sometimes people do the same thing with capability statements, but that’s not the case. Your capability statement should speak to the organization that you want to do business with. So attending the industry days, being intentional about why you’re attending, who you want to connect with, building that relationship. Because what people to do business with, people they know they like and they trust. How could they know you? How can they like you and how can they trust you if they never meet you? So the industry day is very important and necessary.

Abby Souffrant: [00:39:33] Absolutely. I agree. Um. And especially if it’s your first time going to an industry day, it can be overwhelming, especially if you haven’t done your research. So the good thing about these industry days or matchmaking events, the fliers or the events tell you who is going to be there and based off of your research, because you should already know you know who buys what you sell. But in the event that you haven’t done so, let’s just assume that we haven’t done our homework. You can research those that information. All that information is public records. You can search what they’ve been buying, how much they buy, the type of budgets that they spend on certain things. Um, going in blindly. You’re better off just not going. It would. It would save you so much time. Not just time and money, but it also respects the time of the buying agents, the contract officers, the different representatives from the different agencies, because they’re also there to sort out and source potential businesses as well as we’re there as well to offer our services and products to them as well. And I think that one of the worst things we can do is just not have our pitch together, as Delisa says, not come with a customized capability statement.

Abby Souffrant: [00:40:54] You know, if if I’m offering my service to the Department of Army and the Department of Navy, they have two different needs. They all have different programs. And so I may have to curate my capability statement in a way that the Army would understand and that they would know that I’ve done a little research about them. And as well as to the Navy, though, the government is huge, the government is huge, but it’s their departments, the agencies, they break down into so many sub categories. And so it’s it is impossible to serve everyone. It though they a lot of them use a lot of similar services. However, when it comes to their specific programs, their specific needs that exist there. And so you need to make sure that what I have to offer is in alignment with the programs that they offer, that they are putting on and that they’re offering. Um, networking is key. Um, having, you know, updated information. And I like to say, you know, along with having capability statement, make sure that you’re on a position online because they’re going to research you where they can find you.

Abby Souffrant: [00:42:03] So having your website, having an active profile on LinkedIn, you know, whatever, that’s about, as far as I know, I’m pretty sure they’ll do some more, you know, in-depth analysis. But it’s good to, um, have your online profile. I like to say if they can Google you, what comes up. Hopefully it’s things about your professional space, your services or products, your business, other organizations that you may be a part of, you know, just so that you can build that know, like and trust factor. It doesn’t just happen just because I hand over my capability statement. However, if they were to research my name or the name of my company, what would Google say? You know, and if you don’t like it, make that change. You know, if there’s someone that is doing business or a company that is doing business, Google them and see what channels or what articles, you know, show up about them. Um, especially if they’re getting millions of dollars in contracts. You know, it’s part of the research, your research, the government side. You also research some of your competitors as well. Um, in this govcon arena, it’s a lot of reading and research. Um, boring, Yes. Rewarding. Yes.

DeLisa Clift: [00:43:20] But knowledge is key here. It’s not for the faint of heart. No, it is definitely not for the faint of heart. And you want to stay abreast on all of the changes that the government contracting arena is actually taking on so that you can be prepared for what those what those changes come that you’re prepared to basically to incorporate those into your business model.

Speaker7: [00:43:47] Abby and Delisa. What’s nice about doing federal.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:43:50] Contracting is that it’s open, which means that you can go look and see what your competitor who might have won that bid last year, what they literally wrote. So you can go and see what made them pick them, what you need to add to your next response and how do you go about doing that. So if I wanted to start looking into government contracting and I knew that a bid was coming up, what is the best way for me to start my research?

DeLisa Clift: [00:44:28] Um, there’s a couple of different platforms. So there’s a lot to list? Yes. And this is part of my workshop that I do. So one of the first ones is subnet, one of the ones that we can take a look at. Um, you can go to What is it?

Speaker8: [00:44:49] A subnet. Something like that.

DeLisa Clift: [00:44:52] A subnet is one of them. A subnet also has your subcontracting plans. Plans that you can actually look at those companies that have been awarded those particular contracts that have the subcontracting performance plans in them. You can also go out there and do market research and find something on the actual I’m drawing a blank for some reason.

Abby Souffrant: [00:45:17] I’ll chime in real quick. You can go on usaspending.gov that shows like everything from recent contracts to old old probably before I was born, contracts. And you also have if you you know, when you’re in business, you should always know your NAiCs code, know the industry code that you’re a part of, which is going to be key in identifying who purchases what you have to offer. Another site that I like to go to for market research is fpds.gov. I do most of my research between the two USA spending.gov and fpds.gov. Because they hold so much so much information. Vital. Vital information. And if you know that a particular agency is, you know another opportunity is coming out, maybe the end of a contract is, you know, five year contract is coming out. And in their forecast, they say that they’re going to they’re going to put this information out. Definitely research. Who’s the current? Who’s the current holder of that contract? See how much they’ve been spending on that for the past few years? Take a look at that particular company, because, again, everything is public record. And, you know, all of our businesses are registered under Sam. And anyone can take a look at your business information and just compare and contrast, make adjustments as necessary to better position yourself. You know, a lot of especially with this particular administration, they want to work with a lot of women owned businesses. And so there are sites even like under the SBA, that that talks about underutilized industries and certain NAiCs codes where they just don’t have enough competition that are that may have certain certifications, whether they’re a woman owned or hubzone or whatever the case is. And all that information is public. It’s public information. So definitely make it a priority to implement research so that you can better strategize who you want to work with and who do you want to offer because you can’t be everywhere at the same place, that that’s just impossible.

DeLisa Clift: [00:47:35] Yeah. And the one website that came to mind and I couldn’t think of it, I was mixing it up with SBA, which is Sam.gov, because Sam.gov has all of those particular market research platforms that you can actually take a look at. So they have all the contract opportunities, they have contract data and that reports the information that Abby talked about from Fpds. So Sam.gov is a very good tool that you can use as well. And again, you know, just basically taking time to do market research is going to help you to be successful in the space. And, you know, at the end of the day, well, you know, 100% of everything that you need to know, no, you will not. However, you can always find someone that has already been successful in this space, in the government space and be able to tap into their knowledge and their experience and learn and grow from them. One of the other things too, and Abby brought this up, is about the small business certifications that exist out there that helps you to look at federal government contracting in a different view. And those are those small business certifications like your Wasp, your woman owned small business, the Wasp, which is the economic disadvantaged woman owned small business and the Whitbeck WBA certification that basically identifies any contract opportunity that falls within your NAiCs code that is set aside for those particular certifications. And so there is a limited number of organizations that even go after those contracts that are out there. So guess what ends up happening a lot of times as the government has set aside that particular dollar for those particular contract opportunities and they’re not awarded. Where does that money go back to? So next year, doing budgeting time, that money might not be budgeted for those same types of product or service contracts because it wasn’t utilized in the previous fiscal year. So, you know, this is why certification is important going into government contracting and this is why you should be able to leverage that and know how to leverage in a most appropriate way to get yourself into government contracting.

Abby Souffrant: [00:49:48] Absolutely. And I want to say every after every fiscal year, there is a scorecard that is that comes out for just the the major agencies. You know, they all have different programs and agencies underneath them. However, for the major agencies, they do a scorecard. And on that scorecard, it will show if they met their threshold for working with certain certifications, whether it’s a woman owned aid, a hubzone, whatever the case may be. And I like to look at them also as part of my market research. You know, when we are planning for our next fiscal year to see if the agencies that we were planning that we had planned to work on for the previous year if one, that they met their threshold and if they didn’t, we try to figure out another way how we can get in front of the right people or in front of the right programs so that not only can they meet their threshold, but we also can still help them solve a problem, because at the end of the day, doing contracting work is all about us, the business owners solving a problem for the government. And that’s kind of what it just it circles back around to just that.

Speaker8: [00:51:09] Yes.

DeLisa Clift: [00:51:11] I agree.

Lee Kantor: [00:51:12] Well, there’s so much opportunity out there for business folks and for them not to at least explore this a little bit. Seems like a miss. Do you all agree that this is something even like we talked about earlier, that not everybody’s going to be the right fit for this, but everybody should at least explore it to see if they are the right fit. This isn’t something they should ignore. There’s just too many dollars that are involved here.

DeLisa Clift: [00:51:37] Yeah, I would agree with that. A lot of times, you know, we don’t know because we don’t try. We don’t know if we’re going to be successful because sometimes that fear takes over our desire to try because we because of the unknown. And so it’s like, you know, at the end of the day, if you’re a business owner, you took a risk and starting a business. And so it’s the same thing going into government contracting. It’s taking a risk to see if you will be successful or you will fail and looking at failure in a different way just because you submit, respond to an RFP or a bid or something of that nature does not always mean that you’re going to be turned down. It’s like what Abby said, you know, she had been submitting responses to her to the RFP for a while, and then she got awarded 6 in 1 day. So, you know, that is that’s something that speaks to the opportunity that exists for everyone. You know, Abby could have been doing something a little bit more creative than others, But again, she took a chance. So we just have to, you know, encourage other business owners like ourselves, other women that listen, just take a chance. You took a chance and start a business, starting a business, take a chance and go into government contracting and see if it works. And if it doesn’t, you can always exit just like you entered without a problem.

Abby Souffrant: [00:53:01] Absolutely. I think the biggest risk was already just being a business owner. That’s just that’s crazy enough, right? That holds its own weight by itself. And adding or or taking a dive into government contracting. The government is just a customer. They’re just another source of potential revenue for your business. Great revenue. You know, um, but again with I always say with great risk comes great reward. And you don’t, you just don’t know if you don’t try and again I’m not I don’t like to solicit that this is for everyone. However um it doesn’t hurt to try. I mean, we have our general business channels, B2B and B2C, and especially for women and minorities, we tend to greatly lack in the B2B arena. And it’s not that the opportunities are not there, but again, with, with lack of education, understanding and even a lot of us really need our hands walk hand in hand into it so that we can understand it. Um, there are great opportunities on this side. And so I particularly feel like it’s worth the risk if it works for you, Fantastic. If it doesn’t, that’s okay. There are millions of customers that every industry serves on a daily basis, so, um, I just, you know, right now the government’s been very rewarding for us. And so they’re definitely going to be a customer of ours now.

Speaker7: [00:54:36] And when you think.

DeLisa Clift: [00:54:37] About it from a business perspective, it’s a diversification of your revenue streams, right? We don’t want all of our eggs in one basket. So if you have private clients, even if you have local or state government clients, why not include a federal government client into your portfolio? So it’s a diversification of your revenue stream. So if one revenue stream drives up, you have another one to choose from.

Lee Kantor: [00:55:02] Now before we wrap. Do you mind sharing a little bit about your company, maybe ideal customer for you? And then also your website, Best way to get Ahold of you. We’ll start with you. Delisa.

DeLisa Clift: [00:55:15] Sure. Um, the name of my we, my husband and I have two different companies, so we have global business development strategies, which I’m the founder and the CEO, and we’re a certified women owned small business. And then we have strategic solutions, unlimited. And both of the companies are on have websites. The website for global is global biz strategist.com. My ideal client in that particular space is either a private or a public company or a business that’s looking for human resources consulting services. That includes all things human resources related Strategic Biz Solutions Unlimited can be found at the Strategic Business solutions.com. Our ideal client for that particular organization is private and public clients that are looking for government contracting pathways to actually stand up minority and supplier diversity programs within the local government agencies, or either the private clients that are looking to go into government contracting, obtain certification and learn how to leverage those certifications and doing government contracting on the local, state and federal level.

Lee Kantor: [00:56:27] Abby?

Abby Souffrant: [00:56:28] Yes. So my business is a and business solutions. Our website is Al biz Biz solutions with an s.com. We also both service private and public clients as well. We tend to focus on as far as the the private clients, more of our minority and women owned small businesses that have been around for at least two years. So they’ve been in operations. They understand their current business dynamics and are looking for different ways to scale their business, but also that don’t really know much about government contracting. And so we have mentoring and programs in place to assist them with that. And then on the private side, more of our corporate clients. Um, for them we are looking for those who, um, there’s two, one who has not had a has not had their hand into government contracting and are interested, but who also don’t want to go through the training and understanding of it. Because again, it does take time to know and understand and all of that, but they are ready. And then those who have but have those who are a part of or have had opportunities within the government realm, but are looking for um, more streamlined solutions to better their processes and systems, um, as they continue to search and source government contract opportunities.

Lee Kantor: [00:58:10] And Dana had to drop off Dana Arnett she can be found at Wicked Bionicle.com Wicked Bionic is a culturally relevant marketing and advertising agency. Pamela What a show. Lots of great information, lots of great resources for folks who are thinking about making the government their next client.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:58:35] Definitely a lot of nuggets were dropped today. I think the one that I want to emphasize is that government contracting may seem overwhelming, but there’s lots of different pathways to get into it. And one of the pathways that were discussed today was being a subcontractor and how to go about doing that. So if anyone out there is interested in learning more about how to do that, both of our guests today have given their contact information out and they would be a wonderful resource for learning more. And so, Lee, I’m going to pass it off to you to to show us that our way out of this.

Lee Kantor: [00:59:12] All right. Well, thank you, Dr. Pamela Williamson, my great co. This is another episode of Women in Motion. We will see you all next time.