February 12, 2025 • 30 mins
Karwanna is the Founder of She’s Got Goals Academy, a company that empowers individuals to dominate in business. With over 20 years of experience, she is a Government Contracts Strategist, Influence Expert, and author of 10 Habits of The Highly Effective Entrepreneur. Karwanna has helped thousands transform their businesses into wealth-generating vehicles, guiding entrepreneurs to achieve their goals and build lasting legacies.
As a certified Business Coach and former TV Host on SF Commons TV, Karwanna specializes in helping small business owners unlock the power of government contracts to grow profitable, sustainable businesses. She’s been featured on platforms such as CBS, NBC, FOX, and Star Tribune Business, where she shares her expertise to help entrepreneurs gain clarity and take charge of their success.
Karwanna is also the CEO of She’s Got Goals LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs. With a Master of Science in Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, she provides the tools, mindset, and strategies needed for business owners to build wealth, achieve their dreams, and leave a lasting legacy.
During the show we discussed:
- Helping Small Businesses Succeed In Government Contracting.
- The Small Business Act Supports Small Business Growth.
- Sam.gov Helps Identify Government Buying Needs.
- Understanding Government Purchasing Improves Efficiency.
- A Four-Step Method Secures Contracts Faster.
- Overcoming Challenges In Government Contracting.
- Avoiding Pricing Mistakes For Better Contracts.
- Premium Pricing Wins High-Value Contracts.
- Finding And Pursuing The Right Contracts.
- Persistence Overcomes Rejection In Contracting.
- Tailoring Strategies For Industry-Specific Contracts.
Resources:
https://govconchallenge.com/creditsuite
https://shesgotgoals.com/
https://karwannaspeaks.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to the Business Credit and Financing Show.
Each week, we talk about the growth strategies
that matter most to entrepreneurs.
Listen in as we discuss the secrets to
getting credit and money to start and grow
your business, and enjoy as we talk with
seasoned business owners, coaches, and industry leaders on
(00:22):
a variety of topics from advertising and marketing
to the nuts and bolts of running a
highly successful business.
And now, to introduce the host of our
show, financial expert and award-winning author, Ty
Crandall.
Hello, and thanks for joining us today.
I'm super excited you could be here because
today we're talking about securing high-value contracts,
(00:42):
so what you could do to help that
really explode the growth of your business.
And to be able to discuss this, we
have a little credit suite partner and friend,
and the expert in this space, so much
to the point we're gonna be doing a
lot with her, featuring her on this, because
it's something you could really benefit from.
So with us today is Karwana Irving.
Now, Karwana is the founder of She's Got
(01:02):
Goals Academy, a company that empowers individuals to
dominate in business.
She has over 20 years experience, and she's
a government contracts strategist, influence expert, and authority,
and also the author of 10 Habits of
the Highly Effective Entrepreneur, which I love.
Karwana has helped thousands transform their business into
wealth-generating vehicles, guiding entrepreneurs to achieve their
(01:25):
goals and build lasting legacies.
Now, as a certified business coach and a
former TV host on SF Commons TV, Karwana
specializes in helping small business owners unlock the
power of government contracts to grow profitable, sustainable
businesses.
Now, she's been featured on platforms such as
CBS, NBC, Fox, and Star Tribune Business, where
(01:46):
she shares her expertise to help entrepreneurs gain
clarity and take charge of their success.
Now, she's also the CEO of She's Got
Goals LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to empowering
women entrepreneurs.
Now, with a Master of Science in Business
and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, she
provides the tools, the mindset, and the strategies
needed for business owners to build wealth, to
(02:07):
achieve their dreams, and live a lasting, leave
a lasting legacy.
Karwana, how are you doing today?
I am blessed.
Thank you for having me here.
Yeah, hopefully.
I'm tripping over my words today, so hopefully
the interview goes better than talking about your
Raya.
You did an amazing job, amazing job.
So, I have to ask, like, such an
(02:28):
obscure niche, and by the way, I love
what you do, because I don't know if
anybody even does this, and it's a real
thing.
Like, this could make or break a business.
It's like a retailer getting into Walmart.
Like, it's that equivalent.
Yes.
So, like, what inspired you to start focusing
on navigating these kind of government contracts?
I started, originally started my business about 20
(02:48):
years ago, and like most companies, I thought
that it's going to take two to five
years to really grow a business.
I got to build it from the ground
up, bootstrap it, and expect to struggle and
not turn a profit.
That is the myth, the going myth that
is out there, and so I did that,
but years into my business, probably about five
years into the business, I still wasn't growing
(03:09):
a profit, and I was trying to figure
out the answers to why.
I knew that I didn't have access to
capital, so how am I going to bootstrap?
I had very little clients coming in, so
how am I going to reinvest?
And so, I was really stuck in business,
barely making about $30,000 a year, but
I was working full-time for myself, and
I actually met a really successful billionaire who
(03:31):
was from my same community, and I just
simply asked him how he got to where
he was, and he told me it was
government contracting.
That was the first time I had ever
heard of such a thing, like a regular
person who has a regular business doing business
with such an entity like the government, and
he told me that, hey, if you did
this, your life would completely change, and in
fact, because you're a woman in business, they
(03:52):
would want to do even more business with
you simply because of your background and your
socioeconomic disadvantages, and so I did it.
The first contract that I landed was $70
,000 for 28 days of work, right?
So, it basically doubled what I was working
for in my business, working full-time.
Not knowing how to do this, I was
able to double that revenue in just 28
days, and so it was very powerful.
(04:14):
So, from there, I decided that, since this
information was not readily accessible at where you
go sign up to create your business at
the Secretary of State, at the business offices,
like, where is the information?
It's out there, but it wasn't in front
of any entrepreneur's face, so I became the
voice behind the reasoning of why every entrepreneur
(04:34):
should do business with the government, which is
the number one biggest purchaser that they could
ever acquire as a client.
So, how does this work?
I'm just curious, because I know nothing about
this, like zero about this, and so everything
you say is shocking to me.
So, how does it work?
How can a regular, everyday entrepreneur work with
the government, or is it you have to
(04:54):
be in a certain sector, a certain industry?
What does it take to get this done?
The funny thing about it is the government
buys everything.
So, anything that anyone sells, you can sell
it to the government.
Most people think of the government as this
entity that's going to war in the White
House, but these are buildings full of people
who consume and who eat, and who uses
(05:16):
paper and pencils and lighting and things.
The same thing that we utilize, the same
thing that we sell on the B2C level,
which is business to consumer, the government purchases
all those things.
So, you could be a home-based business,
you could be a small business, you could
be very micro business and still acquire the
government as a client.
Some of the things that I sell to
the government, even currently, are photography services.
(05:39):
So, something as simple as that, audio production,
website design, graphic design, but they also buy
anything from janitorial to catering.
They buy wigs.
The government buys prosthetic wigs.
You would be surprised.
Shoes, hats, belts, all those different things.
So, whatever you sell in your business, you
(06:00):
have to think of the government as a
large body of customers that come in one
contract.
So, that's all it is.
It's just having one contract that serves an
entire agency.
Are they products or are they services that
you can actually move together?
Good question.
Both, both.
So, the government acquires both products and services.
(06:20):
So, I'm gonna take you to the Small
Business Act of America.
So, the Small Business, there's a such thing
called the Small Business Act of America, in
which case any company as defined by the
SBA as a small business, which has any
company that has under 500 employee is automatically
considered a small business.
So, according to the Small Business Act of
America, the government is obligated to spend a
certain percentage.
(06:41):
That percentage kind of fluctuates between 23 to
26% of all of their multi-trillion
dollar budget annually goes to small businesses.
And they acquire products and goods, services and
products.
So, anything from, we can sell bottled water
to the government and they have contracting opportunities
for bottled water that are like a half
(07:01):
a million and beyond just for bottled water.
So, they buy both products.
They buy paperclips, they buy sticky notes, they
buy cameras, they buy it all.
They even buy dog food and ice cream
and ketchup.
So, products, but also services.
So, if you're in IT, if you're in
real estate, if you're in maybe a trade,
(07:21):
electrical, plumbing, HVAC, IT, all of those different
things, all services and all products the government
actually buys.
So, if I'm selling water, right?
I'm a one man shop down here in
Tampa, Florida.
Selling water to the government.
Okay, a couple of things.
First of all, and we're just using this
as a placeholder people, okay?
Anything can work in this place.
(07:42):
So, we're selling water to the government.
How do I know if the government will
even buy the water?
Like how do I even know if what
I have is something that they would buy?
Yeah, so the three levels of government includes
federal government, local government and state government.
All three levels of government are putting out
bidding databases.
So, they actually have a sourcing site of
(08:02):
things that they're looking to purchase.
For the federal government, that website is sam
.gov. So, if you go on sam.gov,
you'll see anything from janitorial to facilities maintenance
to we want refrigerator replacements or cabinets.
So, they have a whole database of things
that they're looking to purchase.
And as an entrepreneur, you identify the things
that they're looking to purchase.
If you actually can help them bridge the
(08:24):
gap between their wants and giving them what
they want at a competitive price, then you
can potentially win the bid.
It reminds me of a movie.
And I don't remember what movie it is.
War Dogs.
War Dogs.
It's War Dogs.
Yes, how did you do that?
Like that's sneaky.
That is it.
I think about that.
Were they like bid too low?
And these guys are like, you are like
- It was like a three, they won
(08:45):
a 300.
So, War Dogs, most people think is just
a movie, but it's actually based on a
real story of these two.
They, I think they were in their early
20s and they identified the Small Business Act
of America.
And it's, which says that, well, the government
has suspended with small businesses.
And so, they won this $300 million contract
and they underbid it by hundreds of millions
of dollars.
(09:06):
So, perfect example, right?
War Dogs is it, yeah.
Yeah, but it makes me think about that
because like those guys are like, well, what
do you mean?
He's like, oh, you guys came in way,
like hundreds of ways.
So, like, how do you know?
So, now I know I sell water.
I've went and I've verified that the government
will buy my water.
I don't know.
Like, I have zero clue on how to
even figure out how much to bid to
(09:29):
sell that water.
How do you recommend to your customers or
your tribe that how they figure that out?
So, there's a, so it's almost like going
back to the basic business skills of understanding
your COGS, which is like the cost of
goods and services, right?
What does it cost you to purchase the
water, right?
And then does it, do you have to
pick it up or does it have to
be shipped?
(09:49):
So, you have to think about all the
costs that goes into it and then what
is gonna be your base cost for that
product?
And then you mark it up.
So, you mark it up 50%, maybe 100%.
Sometimes people double, triple, quadruple.
So, you have to like get really good
at understanding based on the opportunity, should I
mark it up 20%, 50% or whatever,
(10:09):
or should I just double, triple, quadruple?
That comes with experience, but you also wanna
make sure that it's profitable at the end
of the day.
So, you purchased the product, you submitted a
bid, that includes your profit margin, they pay
you, now you're happy.
So, what are you gonna be happy with?
That number, that bottom line number.
So, and that comes with a lot of
experience.
How long was the process to go through?
(10:30):
Typically, so contracting opportunities are being submitted to
these databases on a daily basis.
You can check with your state, you can
check with your city procurement sites.
So, every day there's like hundreds of thousands
of opportunities that are out there.
Once you submit a bid, typically they'll tell
you that there's a due date, right?
Sometimes that due date is like within two
weeks, you have to have your bid in,
(10:50):
or sometimes it's like maybe three weeks or
even a month.
So, depending on the opportunity.
So, once they select the awardee who they're
gonna award the contract to, maybe it's because
you did the lowest bid, or maybe because
you have the best produced proposal, and you
have the best technical opportunities of how you're
gonna deliver the service or whatever, then generally
(11:11):
they'll give you a notice to proceed on
a certain date.
Sometimes those notice to proceed are like immediately
upon signing the contract.
Sometimes they're like notice to proceed, this is
gonna start 30 days out.
So, it all depends.
But once you invoice, do the work and
invoice, it takes about 30 days before you
receive your payment.
So, typically, generally they're 30 day net.
Sometimes on a federal level, you can get
(11:33):
paid every 14 days.
It depends on the scope of the contract,
and it depends on what's negotiated in the
contract as well.
So, with all of this being said, how
cumbersome is the process of applying or bidding?
It could be very cumbersome.
So, most people who try to attempt it
without a blueprint or training, or some type
(11:53):
of methodology of how to approach it, they
could easily be overwhelmed.
A lot of people are overwhelmed when they
see it because sometimes these proposal opportunities are
like 80 pages, like who wants to read
an 80 page document?
But when you have a blueprint, you know
exactly how to narrow down that 80 pages
to the information that's very important only.
And that could be like five to 10
pages of that.
But without a blueprint, it could be very
(12:14):
cumbersome.
It could be very overwhelming, confusing, all of
those different things.
But this is the reason why you have
to be that person.
Not just an average entrepreneur, but that person
who is a high executor because this is
not for the average.
This is for people who are hungry and
are willing and ready to grow their business
by multiple six figures, even multiple seven figures
(12:36):
or beyond, depending on the industry.
On average, the minimum contract awarded to a
small business is over $2.7 million annually,
right?
So even one contract, depending on where you
are in business, could give you a seven
figure infusion of cash flow for your business.
And so, yeah.
And I love that you pointed that out
because the problem with interviews like this is
(12:58):
that it's like, okay, where do you find
it?
I mean, like SandDogUp.
And people are like, oh, step one, complete.
I gotta hack the system.
And then we do it in five steps.
And they're like, yeah, I'm gonna be rich.
And then they're like, wow, this is way
harder than I thought.
So I'm glad that you touched upon the
fact that anything, if you're going at this
on your own, it can be a freaking
nightmare and a lot of failures before you
(13:18):
even maybe come close to a win.
Whereas we're gonna talk at the end here
about how to access a challenge and a
path forward to be able to actually succeed.
But that being said, what do you think,
what is your three-step?
I think you've promoted like a three-step
methodology to win these contracts.
Yeah.
Right, so what is that three-step?
Yeah, so it's a four-step methodology.
I started off with a three-step.
(13:38):
Now I have a four-step really, so
that really kind of dials it in.
And these are the four main pillars of
navigating successfully the government contracting space.
The first step is business foundation.
Having the right documents, making sure that you're
compliant in your business, you filed your taxes,
you have copies of your invoices, like all
of that basic rudimental, that basic business information
(14:01):
documentation is very key to being able to
then qualify to become a certified small business,
right?
And so that step two is the certifications.
There are certifications specifically for veteran-owned businesses.
There's certifications specifically for women-owned businesses or
disadvantaged businesses that makes less than $20 million
a year for five years straight.
(14:21):
So certain certifications you can get if and
only if you have gone through the first
step of having the proper business foundation.
This is what we cover in our GovCon
challenge to help people get pre-qualified because
one wrong move and you're basically delaying success
or being able to move forward with the
government contracting space.
(14:42):
So we have the business foundation, we have
getting certified for any of the socioeconomic disadvantages
that you qualify for, including minority and women
and Native Americans.
So there's all these different groups.
But then the next step is marketing.
Marketing, having a strong marketing strategy, understanding who
the buyers are for your specific industry.
When are they buying?
(15:03):
How much of it are they buying and
how to get in contact with them?
You have to have a pipeline of communication
to these people so that they know that
you exist and that you can actually solve
the problems that they're looking to solve.
And then the final step is proposals.
Of course, this is the biggest kicker of
them all.
You cannot be awarded a contract unless you
submit a proposal on these contracting opportunities that
(15:24):
they're saying, hey, here's the problem that we're
having.
How would you solve it?
And how much would you charge?
So basically you're just responding to those basically
problems with your solutions of here's the solution
for that.
Here's how much we'll charge and here's how
we're gonna roll it out at a nice
price.
And so basically that's the BCMP four-step
methodology.
When you have those things in place, then
it just really helps navigating the government contracting
(15:47):
space easier.
A lot of people think this could be
easy.
They listen to you on podcasts like this.
They try it.
They come to you to the challenge because
they probably fail, right?
So what are some of these biggest challenges
that people truly face that overwhelm them where
they're like, they realize they can't do this
on their own?
Like what are some of the challenges?
(16:07):
I would say just not really fully understanding
the landscape.
So there's a lot of noise out in
the marketplace.
There's a lot of...
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People talking about don't do this and do
that.
And there's a lot of misinformation that is
(16:50):
out there.
So unless you find someone who has gotten
results and can help other people get results,
it can be really confusing, right?
But you also have to have a greater
purpose.
So the purpose of having a business for
most people I want to believe is to
make money, right?
So you have to understand how the money
ecosystem works is very important.
(17:10):
The money comes from the government, right?
So if you're doing B2C, you're getting the
money from a third party rather than going
right to the source.
Not saying that B2C is bad.
It's not, it's great.
However, when you go directly to the source,
you get the most of it, right?
Directly from the source, which is the government.
So you have to understand the ecosystem.
(17:31):
If the government prints the money, they make
the money, they never run out of money.
And even during down economic times, they're creating
new bills and funding that bill to solve
new problems, which is there's always going to
be opportunities.
This is the number one most fail-proof
business model that you can ever have.
You've tapped into the government contracting industry and
what that does essentially aside from fail-proofing
(17:53):
your business, it allows you to do what
I call wealth redistribution.
So the government has all the money, you
as a contractor, you get to help them
redistribute the money into your business, into your
communities, the things that you are basically are
passionate about, things that you're thinking that needs
funding behind it that you want to change.
(18:14):
And so you become a wealth redistributor, right?
In that essence.
However, one of the biggest hurdles that I
think that keeps small business behind is they
don't really truly understand how serious of a
decision this is.
Now, when I say that, what I mean
by it, if I can just give some
preference to it, is there are 33 million
small business entrepreneurs across the US right now.
(18:37):
86% of those entrepreneurs, and this may
not be the story of many of your
listeners, but 86% of them are making
less than $80,000 a year, right?
So you have a huge significant database of
small business owners who are barely making it,
depending on where you live, making that type
of revenue, you're barely making it.
However, the government is awarding $2.7 million
(18:59):
contracts and it's not taking you 70, 80
hours a week to work that.
We're talking about maybe five to 10 hours
a week, very part-time to do that.
So you have to have a purpose, you
have to understand the money ecosystem, and you
have to be willing to go the extra
mile to do what most people won't do,
which is to learn government contracts and not
to play with it, not to go try
(19:21):
to figure out how to stitch pieces together
on YouTube university where everybody's saying something different
and the information is confusing, then you end
up not progressing, right?
You have to find a training, doesn't have
to be mine, a training, a mentor, a
coach, a class, something that's going to help
you know how to learn and pitch, win
and pitch government contracts.
(19:41):
That is the key.
You have to know how to pitch government
contracts so that you can win them.
So if anybody's using anybody other than you,
then let me just say they're a loser.
No, I'm just kidding, just kidding, just kidding.
But kind of, kind of not kidding.
Okay, so that means that, so, and I
love that you say that because the reality
is we all sit here and listen to
things like this and think it's easy.
(20:01):
And then what happens is people go try
it, right?
And then they fail because they tried it
and then it doesn't work.
And then they move to the next thing
that's easy and easy and easy.
And what you and I both learned in
business is that really almost anything will work
if you just stick with it.
You're trying to drive your business and the
beginning of this home and you're struggling, but
(20:23):
then you start asking people, how did you
do it?
How did you do it?
And then you get the insight to drive
forward.
So I love that you hit on that
because everybody thinks it's easy and then they
try stuff and it doesn't work because they
didn't commit.
If you just freaking commit, just do it,
do it, do it.
You gotta commit.
Absolutely.
I'm glad that you brought that up.
And I know that that's very important for
me because when I first heard about government
(20:44):
contracts, I failed, I tried to do it
and I failed miserably for about two years.
So I didn't just like submit the first
time and win.
Like it took failing multiple times and failing
forward multiple times over a two year period
before I finally hit it right.
And so, and honestly, when I first was
secured that first $70,000 contract for just
(21:05):
28 days of work, my jewels for photography
services.
So we're talking about two hours a day
for 28 days.
That's 56 hours.
That's technically a week.
That's just one week, $70,000 for one
week worth of work.
But it took me two years to figure
out everything that I was doing wrong to
get that.
And when it was awarded, I thought they
(21:25):
had made a mistake cause I was so
used to failing.
I thought they made a mistake.
So I almost said, well, let me hurry
up and cash this check before they realized
they awarded me a contract for 28 days
of work.
But it turned out that they didn't make
a mistake.
They actually did it intentionally.
So I went back and I looked at
(21:47):
exactly what I had done right that time.
And I understood a process.
So I said, hmm, this is what I
did.
Let me do it again.
Cause success leaves clues.
It's a blueprint.
So I did it again and I landed
another contract simultaneously.
It was $60,000 for similar days of
work on top of this 70,000.
So now all of a sudden I'm at
six figures in a business for 30 days
(22:08):
of work.
And then I did it again, another $40
,000 on top of that.
And then I went on maybe six months
down the line and I secured one contract
that for video production and editing.
So for one day of video producing and
just a few iterations of editing, I secured,
I invoiced over $245,000 just for that
(22:31):
one day of work.
And this is why I'm so passionate about
government contracting is because they don't penny pitch.
Like they don't penny pitch.
They pay you for value and not for
hours.
This is where you disconnect your exchange of
business for hours, which hours are limited.
They actually pay you for the value that
you bring to the marketplace.
So once you understand the value that you
(22:52):
bring to the marketplace then your business could
really double, triple, quadruple or even 10X like
within the next six to 12 months.
So yeah, I failed miserably but other people
don't have to do that because now I
have a clear blueprint of what to do
and what not to do that you can
follow and get results much, much faster.
Yeah, and I love that.
And I love that you go through and
say, look, I failed, failed, failed, failed, failed
(23:13):
two years to get to the win because
everybody hears the wins and then they ignore
the two years.
And then they're like, which is one of
the things I love about business.
And I inherently take on things that are
very difficult because I know most will just
quit.
It's like, I want to do that to
grow the business because if I do that
and I'm asked to that then nobody, people
are, I have no competition.
Nobody's even willing to put in the effort
(23:34):
for that.
So let's say I offer like business credit
services, right?
The government is not gonna use this credit
services.
I'm not saying they won't, but hypothetically then
like, if I go to that, I'm like,
oh, you know, they don't, my main business,
there is no thing that I can get
with them.
How do I pick?
What should I do?
I don't want to just give up at
that point.
Is there some other way I should change
(23:55):
my way of thinking to go to a
product or service that they will do?
And then do I just go off the
chains to choose?
Absolutely.
Great question because a lot of times people
are stuck on that.
They're like, well, will the government buy this?
Well, it's not that they're buying, say for
instance, credit repair or business credit builder or
(24:16):
whatever it is, right?
They're buying the industry.
So what is it?
What industry are you in?
It's financial consulting.
Absolutely.
They buy that all day.
Like they buy that in hundreds of thousands
and millions of dollars in contracting opportunities.
So it's being a financial consultant for the
government.
That is something that you can do.
That's the industry that you're already in.
And what are you helping people build?
(24:37):
That's building business credit.
What are you helping them essentially to do?
Financial literacy, to learn about financial literacy.
Well, the government buys that.
Helping them to prepare for their big exit
retirement or the government, they buy that.
So you have to really go deeper and
understand what value that you have that you
can actually offer in your area of expertise.
So it just kind of broadens the scope.
(24:59):
So for instance, sometimes people are like, well,
I sell janitorial services.
Well, we all know that the government buys
janitorial services.
They have buildings, right?
But I still tell people go deeper.
What in janitorial services are you offering?
Is it carpet cleaning?
Is it power washing?
Is it recycling?
Is it upholstery cleaning?
Or is it all of the above?
(25:19):
And if it's all of the above, then
you do more than just janitorial services.
You're a cleaning company.
You're a cleaning consultant, right?
And so all of those different things, even
if you do them simultaneously on one project,
all of those different things, you're invoicing separately
for, which takes one contract, like one service,
and it multiplies it.
(25:40):
So you can have multiple streams of income
when you understand the value that you're bringing.
Again, we're not selling hours.
We're selling value.
So when you extract the value from your
company, your services and your offerings, then basically
you're able to multiply your wealth in that
manner.
What is the GovCon challenge?
So great question.
So I created the GovCon challenge specifically to
help more entrepreneurs get pre-qualified for government
(26:03):
contracts so they can understand how to pull
together or what documents they need for their
business foundation, understanding what the certifications are.
These are my pillars, right?
What certifications are out there that will help
them access even more capital, how much the
government is spending on their products and services,
but most valuable, how much your business is
(26:24):
worth.
Most, like I said, the average entrepreneur is
making less than $100,000, but even though,
even those who are making maybe 300,000
to a half a million, you have not
seen anything yet, anything yet, until you understand
how to extract value from your business, you
can multiply that half a million, 300,000,
whatever it is that you're making, you can
(26:44):
multiply it when you know how to offer
it in a value package, right?
And so that's what I walk you through
during the challenge, so you can walk away
pre-qualified, where to go register, you know
what certifications to get, you'll be 100%
pre-qualified to do business with the government,
and you'll have a full understanding of what
you're getting yourself into.
I love it.
Thanks for coming on with us today.
Look, there's not a lot of things that
(27:05):
I'm like really overly excited about.
I don't know if I'm excited about it.
It just makes so much sense.
Of everything I've learned in two decades of
funding, I'm like, this makes a lot of
sense.
This is a real thing.
And we try to get money from customers,
and let's be honest, a lot of times
they don't have money.
Government does not have that problem, right?
They don't.
And then I also love this because I
would imagine as a minority, you have advantages
(27:27):
here to potentially win some of those contracts,
which I love, because women entrepreneurs, African-American
entrepreneurs, I mean, all the statistics are against
one of these, let alone if you start
stacking.
So I love this, because I think that
this gives you an advantage in those areas,
in anything I think that gives minorities an
advantage in a world where they do not
have an advantage.
(27:48):
I think it's, I just love what you
do.
I think it's super powerful.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Yeah.
So there's, I mean, there's definitely a lot
of advantages with this, because there's funding, that
there's funding opportunities that anybody can participate in,
regardless of your socioeconomic disadvantages.
But even if you do identify as woman
or LGBT or veteran, anyone that has been
(28:08):
basically systemically oppressed or just kind of left
out from these multimillion dollar opportunities, there are
smaller pools of money that steal hundreds of
billions of dollars that are set aside specifically
just for those socioeconomic disadvantages.
So everyone can win in the government contracting
space.
It doesn't matter age, creed, or whatever, a
(28:30):
race or whatever, everyone can win.
So there's a lot of opportunities for everyone.
So you just kind of got to know
how it works and get in where you
fit in, and also just take advantage of
the advantages, the extra advantages that exist.
Where should everybody go right now to be
able to register for the challenge and be
able to learn more?
Yeah.
So you can go to govconchallenge.com forward
(28:53):
slash credit suite to get registered for the
next upcoming five-day challenge.
I'll walk you through getting your business pre
-qualified so that you can have a game
plan to grow your business by five to
10 X in the next six to 12
months.
Yeah.
I love it.
Thanks for coming on with us today.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
So listen, I do a lot of these
interviews, as you know, like we're at 900
something plus episodes if you're watching this.
(29:15):
And look, I'll tell you that this is
one of the most powerful interviews I've done
because what she says is so many people
don't know about this.
The same as grants.
Like there's a ton of money, more than
they will ever dispense because most just don't
know.
And if you do know about government contracts,
you have no freaking, be honest, you have
no freaking clue how to get them.
Like you don't know.
So most people fail, right?
(29:36):
And so Karwana comes on here and goes,
hey, here's exactly what I did.
And you heard her, like she's got 70
,000 and I got 60,000, I got
40,000, I got 200,000.
I mean, she's proven it.
Not only has she done it for herself,
she's done it for everybody else.
So this is what you should do.
First of all, go get in this challenge.
This is a live challenge.
So it's five day challenge and you can
go and register at, again, govconchallenge.com, govconchallenge
(29:58):
.com.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to the Business Credit and Financing Show.
Each week, we talk about the growth strategies
that matter most to entrepreneurs.
Listen in as we discuss the secrets to
getting credit and money to start and grow
your business, and enjoy as we talk with
seasoned business owners, coaches, and industry leaders on
(00:22):
a variety of topics from advertising and marketing
to the nuts and bolts of running a
highly successful business.
And now, to introduce the host of our
show, financial expert and award-winning author, Ty
Crandall.
Hello, and thanks for joining us today.
I'm super excited you could be here because
today we're talking about securing high-value contracts,
(00:42):
so what you could do to help that
really explode the growth of your business.
And to be able to discuss this, we
have a little credit suite partner and friend,
and the expert in this space, so much
to the point we're gonna be doing a
lot with her, featuring her on this, because
it's something you could really benefit from.
So with us today is Karwana Irving.
Now, Karwana is the founder of She's Got
(01:02):
Goals Academy, a company that empowers individuals to
dominate in business.
She has over 20 years experience, and she's
a government contracts strategist, influence expert, and authority,
and also the author of 10 Habits of
the Highly Effective Entrepreneur, which I love.
Karwana has helped thousands transform their business into
wealth-generating vehicles, guiding entrepreneurs to achieve their
(01:25):
goals and build lasting legacies.
Now, as a certified business coach and a
former TV host on SF Commons TV, Karwana
specializes in helping small business owners unlock the
power of government contracts to grow profitable, sustainable
businesses.
Now, she's been featured on platforms such as
CBS, NBC, Fox, and Star Tribune Business, where
(01:46):
she shares her expertise to help entrepreneurs gain
clarity and take charge of their success.
Now, she's also the CEO of She's Got
Goals LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to empowering
women entrepreneurs.
Now, with a Master of Science in Business
and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, she
provides the tools, the mindset, and the strategies
needed for business owners to build wealth, to
(02:07):
achieve their dreams, and live a lasting, leave
a lasting legacy.
Karwana, how are you doing today?
I am blessed.
Thank you for having me here.
Yeah, hopefully.
I'm tripping over my words today, so hopefully
the interview goes better than talking about your
Raya.
You did an amazing job, amazing job.
So, I have to ask, like, such an
(02:28):
obscure niche, and by the way, I love
what you do, because I don't know if
anybody even does this, and it's a real
thing.
Like, this could make or break a business.
It's like a retailer getting into Walmart.
Like, it's that equivalent.
Yes.
So, like, what inspired you to start focusing
on navigating these kind of government contracts?
I started, originally started my business about 20
(02:48):
years ago, and like most companies, I thought
that it's going to take two to five
years to really grow a business.
I got to build it from the ground
up, bootstrap it, and expect to struggle and
not turn a profit.
That is the myth, the going myth that
is out there, and so I did that,
but years into my business, probably about five
years into the business, I still wasn't growing
(03:09):
a profit, and I was trying to figure
out the answers to why.
I knew that I didn't have access to
capital, so how am I going to bootstrap?
I had very little clients coming in, so
how am I going to reinvest?
And so, I was really stuck in business,
barely making about $30,000 a year, but
I was working full-time for myself, and
I actually met a really successful billionaire who
(03:31):
was from my same community, and I just
simply asked him how he got to where
he was, and he told me it was
government contracting.
That was the first time I had ever
heard of such a thing, like a regular
person who has a regular business doing business
with such an entity like the government, and
he told me that, hey, if you did
this, your life would completely change, and in
fact, because you're a woman in business, they
(03:52):
would want to do even more business with
you simply because of your background and your
socioeconomic disadvantages, and so I did it.
The first contract that I landed was $70
,000 for 28 days of work, right?
So, it basically doubled what I was working
for in my business, working full-time.
Not knowing how to do this, I was
able to double that revenue in just 28
days, and so it was very powerful.
(04:14):
So, from there, I decided that, since this
information was not readily accessible at where you
go sign up to create your business at
the Secretary of State, at the business offices,
like, where is the information?
It's out there, but it wasn't in front
of any entrepreneur's face, so I became the
voice behind the reasoning of why every entrepreneur
(04:34):
should do business with the government, which is
the number one biggest purchaser that they could
ever acquire as a client.
So, how does this work?
I'm just curious, because I know nothing about
this, like zero about this, and so everything
you say is shocking to me.
So, how does it work?
How can a regular, everyday entrepreneur work with
the government, or is it you have to
(04:54):
be in a certain sector, a certain industry?
What does it take to get this done?
The funny thing about it is the government
buys everything.
So, anything that anyone sells, you can sell
it to the government.
Most people think of the government as this
entity that's going to war in the White
House, but these are buildings full of people
who consume and who eat, and who uses
(05:16):
paper and pencils and lighting and things.
The same thing that we utilize, the same
thing that we sell on the B2C level,
which is business to consumer, the government purchases
all those things.
So, you could be a home-based business,
you could be a small business, you could
be very micro business and still acquire the
government as a client.
Some of the things that I sell to
the government, even currently, are photography services.
(05:39):
So, something as simple as that, audio production,
website design, graphic design, but they also buy
anything from janitorial to catering.
They buy wigs.
The government buys prosthetic wigs.
You would be surprised.
Shoes, hats, belts, all those different things.
So, whatever you sell in your business, you
(06:00):
have to think of the government as a
large body of customers that come in one
contract.
So, that's all it is.
It's just having one contract that serves an
entire agency.
Are they products or are they services that
you can actually move together?
Good question.
Both, both.
So, the government acquires both products and services.
(06:20):
So, I'm gonna take you to the Small
Business Act of America.
So, the Small Business, there's a such thing
called the Small Business Act of America, in
which case any company as defined by the
SBA as a small business, which has any
company that has under 500 employee is automatically
considered a small business.
So, according to the Small Business Act of
America, the government is obligated to spend a
certain percentage.
(06:41):
That percentage kind of fluctuates between 23 to
26% of all of their multi-trillion
dollar budget annually goes to small businesses.
And they acquire products and goods, services and
products.
So, anything from, we can sell bottled water
to the government and they have contracting opportunities
for bottled water that are like a half
(07:01):
a million and beyond just for bottled water.
So, they buy both products.
They buy paperclips, they buy sticky notes, they
buy cameras, they buy it all.
They even buy dog food and ice cream
and ketchup.
So, products, but also services.
So, if you're in IT, if you're in
real estate, if you're in maybe a trade,
(07:21):
electrical, plumbing, HVAC, IT, all of those different
things, all services and all products the government
actually buys.
So, if I'm selling water, right?
I'm a one man shop down here in
Tampa, Florida.
Selling water to the government.
Okay, a couple of things.
First of all, and we're just using this
as a placeholder people, okay?
Anything can work in this place.
(07:42):
So, we're selling water to the government.
How do I know if the government will
even buy the water?
Like how do I even know if what
I have is something that they would buy?
Yeah, so the three levels of government includes
federal government, local government and state government.
All three levels of government are putting out
bidding databases.
So, they actually have a sourcing site of
(08:02):
things that they're looking to purchase.
For the federal government, that website is sam
.gov. So, if you go on sam.gov,
you'll see anything from janitorial to facilities maintenance
to we want refrigerator replacements or cabinets.
So, they have a whole database of things
that they're looking to purchase.
And as an entrepreneur, you identify the things
that they're looking to purchase.
If you actually can help them bridge the
(08:24):
gap between their wants and giving them what
they want at a competitive price, then you
can potentially win the bid.
It reminds me of a movie.
And I don't remember what movie it is.
War Dogs.
War Dogs.
It's War Dogs.
Yes, how did you do that?
Like that's sneaky.
That is it.
I think about that.
Were they like bid too low?
And these guys are like, you are like
- It was like a three, they won
(08:45):
a 300.
So, War Dogs, most people think is just
a movie, but it's actually based on a
real story of these two.
They, I think they were in their early
20s and they identified the Small Business Act
of America.
And it's, which says that, well, the government
has suspended with small businesses.
And so, they won this $300 million contract
and they underbid it by hundreds of millions
of dollars.
(09:06):
So, perfect example, right?
War Dogs is it, yeah.
Yeah, but it makes me think about that
because like those guys are like, well, what
do you mean?
He's like, oh, you guys came in way,
like hundreds of ways.
So, like, how do you know?
So, now I know I sell water.
I've went and I've verified that the government
will buy my water.
I don't know.
Like, I have zero clue on how to
even figure out how much to bid to
(09:29):
sell that water.
How do you recommend to your customers or
your tribe that how they figure that out?
So, there's a, so it's almost like going
back to the basic business skills of understanding
your COGS, which is like the cost of
goods and services, right?
What does it cost you to purchase the
water, right?
And then does it, do you have to
pick it up or does it have to
be shipped?
(09:49):
So, you have to think about all the
costs that goes into it and then what
is gonna be your base cost for that
product?
And then you mark it up.
So, you mark it up 50%, maybe 100%.
Sometimes people double, triple, quadruple.
So, you have to like get really good
at understanding based on the opportunity, should I
mark it up 20%, 50% or whatever,
(10:09):
or should I just double, triple, quadruple?
That comes with experience, but you also wanna
make sure that it's profitable at the end
of the day.
So, you purchased the product, you submitted a
bid, that includes your profit margin, they pay
you, now you're happy.
So, what are you gonna be happy with?
That number, that bottom line number.
So, and that comes with a lot of
experience.
How long was the process to go through?
(10:30):
Typically, so contracting opportunities are being submitted to
these databases on a daily basis.
You can check with your state, you can
check with your city procurement sites.
So, every day there's like hundreds of thousands
of opportunities that are out there.
Once you submit a bid, typically they'll tell
you that there's a due date, right?
Sometimes that due date is like within two
weeks, you have to have your bid in,
(10:50):
or sometimes it's like maybe three weeks or
even a month.
So, depending on the opportunity.
So, once they select the awardee who they're
gonna award the contract to, maybe it's because
you did the lowest bid, or maybe because
you have the best produced proposal, and you
have the best technical opportunities of how you're
gonna deliver the service or whatever, then generally
(11:11):
they'll give you a notice to proceed on
a certain date.
Sometimes those notice to proceed are like immediately
upon signing the contract.
Sometimes they're like notice to proceed, this is
gonna start 30 days out.
So, it all depends.
But once you invoice, do the work and
invoice, it takes about 30 days before you
receive your payment.
So, typically, generally they're 30 day net.
Sometimes on a federal level, you can get
(11:33):
paid every 14 days.
It depends on the scope of the contract,
and it depends on what's negotiated in the
contract as well.
So, with all of this being said, how
cumbersome is the process of applying or bidding?
It could be very cumbersome.
So, most people who try to attempt it
without a blueprint or training, or some type
(11:53):
of methodology of how to approach it, they
could easily be overwhelmed.
A lot of people are overwhelmed when they
see it because sometimes these proposal opportunities are
like 80 pages, like who wants to read
an 80 page document?
But when you have a blueprint, you know
exactly how to narrow down that 80 pages
to the information that's very important only.
And that could be like five to 10
pages of that.
But without a blueprint, it could be very
(12:14):
cumbersome.
It could be very overwhelming, confusing, all of
those different things.
But this is the reason why you have
to be that person.
Not just an average entrepreneur, but that person
who is a high executor because this is
not for the average.
This is for people who are hungry and
are willing and ready to grow their business
by multiple six figures, even multiple seven figures
(12:36):
or beyond, depending on the industry.
On average, the minimum contract awarded to a
small business is over $2.7 million annually,
right?
So even one contract, depending on where you
are in business, could give you a seven
figure infusion of cash flow for your business.
And so, yeah.
And I love that you pointed that out
because the problem with interviews like this is
(12:58):
that it's like, okay, where do you find
it?
I mean, like SandDogUp.
And people are like, oh, step one, complete.
I gotta hack the system.
And then we do it in five steps.
And they're like, yeah, I'm gonna be rich.
And then they're like, wow, this is way
harder than I thought.
So I'm glad that you touched upon the
fact that anything, if you're going at this
on your own, it can be a freaking
nightmare and a lot of failures before you
(13:18):
even maybe come close to a win.
Whereas we're gonna talk at the end here
about how to access a challenge and a
path forward to be able to actually succeed.
But that being said, what do you think,
what is your three-step?
I think you've promoted like a three-step
methodology to win these contracts.
Yeah.
Right, so what is that three-step?
Yeah, so it's a four-step methodology.
I started off with a three-step.
(13:38):
Now I have a four-step really, so
that really kind of dials it in.
And these are the four main pillars of
navigating successfully the government contracting space.
The first step is business foundation.
Having the right documents, making sure that you're
compliant in your business, you filed your taxes,
you have copies of your invoices, like all
of that basic rudimental, that basic business information
(14:01):
documentation is very key to being able to
then qualify to become a certified small business,
right?
And so that step two is the certifications.
There are certifications specifically for veteran-owned businesses.
There's certifications specifically for women-owned businesses or
disadvantaged businesses that makes less than $20 million
a year for five years straight.
(14:21):
So certain certifications you can get if and
only if you have gone through the first
step of having the proper business foundation.
This is what we cover in our GovCon
challenge to help people get pre-qualified because
one wrong move and you're basically delaying success
or being able to move forward with the
government contracting space.
(14:42):
So we have the business foundation, we have
getting certified for any of the socioeconomic disadvantages
that you qualify for, including minority and women
and Native Americans.
So there's all these different groups.
But then the next step is marketing.
Marketing, having a strong marketing strategy, understanding who
the buyers are for your specific industry.
When are they buying?
(15:03):
How much of it are they buying and
how to get in contact with them?
You have to have a pipeline of communication
to these people so that they know that
you exist and that you can actually solve
the problems that they're looking to solve.
And then the final step is proposals.
Of course, this is the biggest kicker of
them all.
You cannot be awarded a contract unless you
submit a proposal on these contracting opportunities that
(15:24):
they're saying, hey, here's the problem that we're
having.
How would you solve it?
And how much would you charge?
So basically you're just responding to those basically
problems with your solutions of here's the solution
for that.
Here's how much we'll charge and here's how
we're gonna roll it out at a nice
price.
And so basically that's the BCMP four-step
methodology.
When you have those things in place, then
it just really helps navigating the government contracting
(15:47):
space easier.
A lot of people think this could be
easy.
They listen to you on podcasts like this.
They try it.
They come to you to the challenge because
they probably fail, right?
So what are some of these biggest challenges
that people truly face that overwhelm them where
they're like, they realize they can't do this
on their own?
Like what are some of the challenges?
(16:07):
I would say just not really fully understanding
the landscape.
So there's a lot of noise out in
the marketplace.
There's a lot of...
And now a quick break to hear from
our sponsor.
Hey, it's Ty Crandall with Credit Suite.
Many of our subscribers wanna build business credit
that's linked to their EIN without a personal
guarantee or credit check.
Now, if you're looking to get no-doc,
high-limit business credit cards that report to
(16:29):
the business reporting agencies without a personal guarantee
or credit check, give us a call at
877-600-2487.
That's 877-600-2487 or schedule your free
consultation online to talk more at creditsuite.com
forward slash consult.
People talking about don't do this and do
that.
And there's a lot of misinformation that is
(16:50):
out there.
So unless you find someone who has gotten
results and can help other people get results,
it can be really confusing, right?
But you also have to have a greater
purpose.
So the purpose of having a business for
most people I want to believe is to
make money, right?
So you have to understand how the money
ecosystem works is very important.
(17:10):
The money comes from the government, right?
So if you're doing B2C, you're getting the
money from a third party rather than going
right to the source.
Not saying that B2C is bad.
It's not, it's great.
However, when you go directly to the source,
you get the most of it, right?
Directly from the source, which is the government.
So you have to understand the ecosystem.
(17:31):
If the government prints the money, they make
the money, they never run out of money.
And even during down economic times, they're creating
new bills and funding that bill to solve
new problems, which is there's always going to
be opportunities.
This is the number one most fail-proof
business model that you can ever have.
You've tapped into the government contracting industry and
what that does essentially aside from fail-proofing
(17:53):
your business, it allows you to do what
I call wealth redistribution.
So the government has all the money, you
as a contractor, you get to help them
redistribute the money into your business, into your
communities, the things that you are basically are
passionate about, things that you're thinking that needs
funding behind it that you want to change.
(18:14):
And so you become a wealth redistributor, right?
In that essence.
However, one of the biggest hurdles that I
think that keeps small business behind is they
don't really truly understand how serious of a
decision this is.
Now, when I say that, what I mean
by it, if I can just give some
preference to it, is there are 33 million
small business entrepreneurs across the US right now.
(18:37):
86% of those entrepreneurs, and this may
not be the story of many of your
listeners, but 86% of them are making
less than $80,000 a year, right?
So you have a huge significant database of
small business owners who are barely making it,
depending on where you live, making that type
of revenue, you're barely making it.
However, the government is awarding $2.7 million
(18:59):
contracts and it's not taking you 70, 80
hours a week to work that.
We're talking about maybe five to 10 hours
a week, very part-time to do that.
So you have to have a purpose, you
have to understand the money ecosystem, and you
have to be willing to go the extra
mile to do what most people won't do,
which is to learn government contracts and not
to play with it, not to go try
(19:21):
to figure out how to stitch pieces together
on YouTube university where everybody's saying something different
and the information is confusing, then you end
up not progressing, right?
You have to find a training, doesn't have
to be mine, a training, a mentor, a
coach, a class, something that's going to help
you know how to learn and pitch, win
and pitch government contracts.
(19:41):
That is the key.
You have to know how to pitch government
contracts so that you can win them.
So if anybody's using anybody other than you,
then let me just say they're a loser.
No, I'm just kidding, just kidding, just kidding.
But kind of, kind of not kidding.
Okay, so that means that, so, and I
love that you say that because the reality
is we all sit here and listen to
things like this and think it's easy.
(20:01):
And then what happens is people go try
it, right?
And then they fail because they tried it
and then it doesn't work.
And then they move to the next thing
that's easy and easy and easy.
And what you and I both learned in
business is that really almost anything will work
if you just stick with it.
You're trying to drive your business and the
beginning of this home and you're struggling, but
(20:23):
then you start asking people, how did you
do it?
How did you do it?
And then you get the insight to drive
forward.
So I love that you hit on that
because everybody thinks it's easy and then they
try stuff and it doesn't work because they
didn't commit.
If you just freaking commit, just do it,
do it, do it.
You gotta commit.
Absolutely.
I'm glad that you brought that up.
And I know that that's very important for
me because when I first heard about government
(20:44):
contracts, I failed, I tried to do it
and I failed miserably for about two years.
So I didn't just like submit the first
time and win.
Like it took failing multiple times and failing
forward multiple times over a two year period
before I finally hit it right.
And so, and honestly, when I first was
secured that first $70,000 contract for just
(21:05):
28 days of work, my jewels for photography
services.
So we're talking about two hours a day
for 28 days.
That's 56 hours.
That's technically a week.
That's just one week, $70,000 for one
week worth of work.
But it took me two years to figure
out everything that I was doing wrong to
get that.
And when it was awarded, I thought they
(21:25):
had made a mistake cause I was so
used to failing.
I thought they made a mistake.
So I almost said, well, let me hurry
up and cash this check before they realized
they awarded me a contract for 28 days
of work.
But it turned out that they didn't make
a mistake.
They actually did it intentionally.
So I went back and I looked at
(21:47):
exactly what I had done right that time.
And I understood a process.
So I said, hmm, this is what I
did.
Let me do it again.
Cause success leaves clues.
It's a blueprint.
So I did it again and I landed
another contract simultaneously.
It was $60,000 for similar days of
work on top of this 70,000.
So now all of a sudden I'm at
six figures in a business for 30 days
(22:08):
of work.
And then I did it again, another $40
,000 on top of that.
And then I went on maybe six months
down the line and I secured one contract
that for video production and editing.
So for one day of video producing and
just a few iterations of editing, I secured,
I invoiced over $245,000 just for that
(22:31):
one day of work.
And this is why I'm so passionate about
government contracting is because they don't penny pitch.
Like they don't penny pitch.
They pay you for value and not for
hours.
This is where you disconnect your exchange of
business for hours, which hours are limited.
They actually pay you for the value that
you bring to the marketplace.
So once you understand the value that you
(22:52):
bring to the marketplace then your business could
really double, triple, quadruple or even 10X like
within the next six to 12 months.
So yeah, I failed miserably but other people
don't have to do that because now I
have a clear blueprint of what to do
and what not to do that you can
follow and get results much, much faster.
Yeah, and I love that.
And I love that you go through and
say, look, I failed, failed, failed, failed, failed
(23:13):
two years to get to the win because
everybody hears the wins and then they ignore
the two years.
And then they're like, which is one of
the things I love about business.
And I inherently take on things that are
very difficult because I know most will just
quit.
It's like, I want to do that to
grow the business because if I do that
and I'm asked to that then nobody, people
are, I have no competition.
Nobody's even willing to put in the effort
(23:34):
for that.
So let's say I offer like business credit
services, right?
The government is not gonna use this credit
services.
I'm not saying they won't, but hypothetically then
like, if I go to that, I'm like,
oh, you know, they don't, my main business,
there is no thing that I can get
with them.
How do I pick?
What should I do?
I don't want to just give up at
that point.
Is there some other way I should change
(23:55):
my way of thinking to go to a
product or service that they will do?
And then do I just go off the
chains to choose?
Absolutely.
Great question because a lot of times people
are stuck on that.
They're like, well, will the government buy this?
Well, it's not that they're buying, say for
instance, credit repair or business credit builder or
(24:16):
whatever it is, right?
They're buying the industry.
So what is it?
What industry are you in?
It's financial consulting.
Absolutely.
They buy that all day.
Like they buy that in hundreds of thousands
and millions of dollars in contracting opportunities.
So it's being a financial consultant for the
government.
That is something that you can do.
That's the industry that you're already in.
And what are you helping people build?
(24:37):
That's building business credit.
What are you helping them essentially to do?
Financial literacy, to learn about financial literacy.
Well, the government buys that.
Helping them to prepare for their big exit
retirement or the government, they buy that.
So you have to really go deeper and
understand what value that you have that you
can actually offer in your area of expertise.
So it just kind of broadens the scope.
(24:59):
So for instance, sometimes people are like, well,
I sell janitorial services.
Well, we all know that the government buys
janitorial services.
They have buildings, right?
But I still tell people go deeper.
What in janitorial services are you offering?
Is it carpet cleaning?
Is it power washing?
Is it recycling?
Is it upholstery cleaning?
Or is it all of the above?
(25:19):
And if it's all of the above, then
you do more than just janitorial services.
You're a cleaning company.
You're a cleaning consultant, right?
And so all of those different things, even
if you do them simultaneously on one project,
all of those different things, you're invoicing separately
for, which takes one contract, like one service,
and it multiplies it.
(25:40):
So you can have multiple streams of income
when you understand the value that you're bringing.
Again, we're not selling hours.
We're selling value.
So when you extract the value from your
company, your services and your offerings, then basically
you're able to multiply your wealth in that
manner.
What is the GovCon challenge?
So great question.
So I created the GovCon challenge specifically to
help more entrepreneurs get pre-qualified for government
(26:03):
contracts so they can understand how to pull
together or what documents they need for their
business foundation, understanding what the certifications are.
These are my pillars, right?
What certifications are out there that will help
them access even more capital, how much the
government is spending on their products and services,
but most valuable, how much your business is
(26:24):
worth.
Most, like I said, the average entrepreneur is
making less than $100,000, but even though,
even those who are making maybe 300,000
to a half a million, you have not
seen anything yet, anything yet, until you understand
how to extract value from your business, you
can multiply that half a million, 300,000,
whatever it is that you're making, you can
(26:44):
multiply it when you know how to offer
it in a value package, right?
And so that's what I walk you through
during the challenge, so you can walk away
pre-qualified, where to go register, you know
what certifications to get, you'll be 100%
pre-qualified to do business with the government,
and you'll have a full understanding of what
you're getting yourself into.
I love it.
Thanks for coming on with us today.
Look, there's not a lot of things that
(27:05):
I'm like really overly excited about.
I don't know if I'm excited about it.
It just makes so much sense.
Of everything I've learned in two decades of
funding, I'm like, this makes a lot of
sense.
This is a real thing.
And we try to get money from customers,
and let's be honest, a lot of times
they don't have money.
Government does not have that problem, right?
They don't.
And then I also love this because I
would imagine as a minority, you have advantages
(27:27):
here to potentially win some of those contracts,
which I love, because women entrepreneurs, African-American
entrepreneurs, I mean, all the statistics are against
one of these, let alone if you start
stacking.
So I love this, because I think that
this gives you an advantage in those areas,
in anything I think that gives minorities an
advantage in a world where they do not
have an advantage.
(27:48):
I think it's, I just love what you
do.
I think it's super powerful.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Yeah.
So there's, I mean, there's definitely a lot
of advantages with this, because there's funding, that
there's funding opportunities that anybody can participate in,
regardless of your socioeconomic disadvantages.
But even if you do identify as woman
or LGBT or veteran, anyone that has been
(28:08):
basically systemically oppressed or just kind of left
out from these multimillion dollar opportunities, there are
smaller pools of money that steal hundreds of
billions of dollars that are set aside specifically
just for those socioeconomic disadvantages.
So everyone can win in the government contracting
space.
It doesn't matter age, creed, or whatever, a
(28:30):
race or whatever, everyone can win.
So there's a lot of opportunities for everyone.
So you just kind of got to know
how it works and get in where you
fit in, and also just take advantage of
the advantages, the extra advantages that exist.
Where should everybody go right now to be
able to register for the challenge and be
able to learn more?
Yeah.
So you can go to govconchallenge.com forward
(28:53):
slash credit suite to get registered for the
next upcoming five-day challenge.
I'll walk you through getting your business pre
-qualified so that you can have a game
plan to grow your business by five to
10 X in the next six to 12
months.
Yeah.
I love it.
Thanks for coming on with us today.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
So listen, I do a lot of these
interviews, as you know, like we're at 900
something plus episodes if you're watching this.
(29:15):
And look, I'll tell you that this is
one of the most powerful interviews I've done
because what she says is so many people
don't know about this.
The same as grants.
Like there's a ton of money, more than
they will ever dispense because most just don't
know.
And if you do know about government contracts,
you have no freaking, be honest, you have
no freaking clue how to get them.
Like you don't know.
So most people fail, right?
(29:36):
And so Karwana comes on here and goes,
hey, here's exactly what I did.
And you heard her, like she's got 70
,000 and I got 60,000, I got
40,000, I got 200,000.
I mean, she's proven it.
Not only has she done it for herself,
she's done it for everybody else.
So this is what you should do.
First of all, go get in this challenge.
This is a live challenge.
So it's five day challenge and you can
go and register at, again, govconchallenge.com, govconchallenge
(29:58):
.com.
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