March 12, 2025 • 59 mins
The world of government contracting remains largely hidden from most blue collar businesses, yet it represents billions in untapped opportunities waiting to be claimed. In this eye-opening conversation with Melinda Colon of Fortis OBM, we discover how tradespeople and contractors can access this lucrative market with less paperwork than buying a house.
Melinda brings her 20+ years of expertise in securing over $4.4 billion in government contracts to break down what feels complicated into actionable steps. She walks us through her five-step GovCon Sales Strategy that transforms intimidating bidding processes into straightforward pathways to stable, recurring revenue. One of her clients, a $10 million business, won a $7.5 million contract on their very first proposal submission.
What makes government contracting particularly valuable for blue collar businesses is the stability it provides. While private sector work might offer higher profit margins, government contracts deliver predictable payment schedules that can eliminate cash flow worries. As Melinda explains, "Use government contracting to stabilize your business so you can deal with the volatility of having a business in the private sector."
The most powerful revelation might be about contract accessibility. Contracts exist at every level—local, state, and federal—covering virtually everything blue collar professionals do. From roads and bridges to city infrastructure, if you see it being built or maintained, there's likely a government contract behind it. Even more intriguing are the "hidden" opportunities: contracts that never get advertised or remain unclaimed simply because contractors don't know to look for them.
Whether you're a minority-owned business looking to leverage set-aside contracts or a contractor seeking to diversify revenue streams, this episode provides the roadmap to transform your business through government contracting. Stop leaving your tax dollars on the table and learn how to claim what's already waiting for you.
Ready to explore government contracting for your business? Visit govconmillions.com to learn the system and start winning contracts that could fundamentally change your business trajectory.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
, where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue collar
business.
I'm your host, cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you in what it took
me trial and error and a wholelot of money to learn the
information that no one in thisindustry is willing to share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,
(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back, guys, to anotherepisode of the Blue Collar
Business Podcast today,sponsored, of course, by
podcastvideoscom.
We are sitting in their lovelysolo studio today because we
have a remote session.
Somebody with a different storythat I think is going to
(00:52):
intrigue a lot of you listeners.
So this is not a excavationsolely minded podcast.
This is going to encompassevery single one of you trade
guys sitting there listeningright now, and it's going to be
diving off into the governmentcontracting world, and I have a
government contracting expertwith me today, ms Melinda Colon
(01:17):
with Fortis OBM.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Thank you so much for having me Cy.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Seriously, I've had a brief intro with Miss Melinda
and I'm telling you what guys.
We have got a prettyinteresting episode and if you
guys have been loving the show,make sure you check out
bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom Ifyou're listening on any of the
streaming platforms.
Make sure and give the show arating and a follow at the end
of the episode.
Miss Mel melinda, the thingswe're going to be working
(01:47):
through today we're going to betalking about the misconceptions
and myths about working withthe government directly.
Um, what are the biggestchallenges some of these small
businesses face when enteringthe government contracting space
?
Just to begin with, because itjust sounds scary altogether how
to get started with you guysand walk us through there and
(02:11):
scaling a business throughgovernment contracting, and you
have a very unique approach tothis that you're passionate
about sharing with otherentrepreneurs in the blue collar
space, white collar space, etcetera.
So, furthermore, thank you somuch for joining the show today.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Thanks so much for having me here.
There's a great introduction.
Cy, You're amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Hey, I'll take that.
What they don't see behind thescenes is me coming in all late.
Sorry, ms Melinda, I was in ameeting.
They think I probably preparemore than I do, but I appreciate
that.
And let's start it off.
Today you shared somethingpretty unique and we're going to
(02:56):
start here and let you kind ofintro us into today's episode
episode.
But you shared with me that youhave, uh, procured worth 4.4
billion worth of governmentcontracts for contractors oh 100
yeah, tell us about it wow,okay, where do I, where do I
(03:20):
even begin?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
so, uh, yeah, I mean, the world of government
contracting is like hidden right, like nobody knows about it
except for those that areactually doing it, and I really
thought that was reallyinteresting.
You know, it's like nobody does.
Nobody invests in the stockmarket unless you actually know
how to invest that's, that's,yep, right it yeah.
(03:43):
Right, it's just so weird.
It's so strange, and so I tookmy information that I gathered.
I created a system in corporateAmerica and I took it with me
right on my back and put it intomy agency and helped so many
small and mid-sized businesseswin government contracts.
And a lot of them were justback-to-back contracts.
(04:04):
Some of them were, you know, ahundred thousand, some were five
hundred thousand and a lot ofthem were like 10 million, 50
million, 100 million, and thebiggest contract so far to date
that we've helped our clientswin this was for a seven-figure
business just kind of keep giveyou, just kind of give you a
frame of mind was a 1.4 billiondollar contract.
(04:30):
Right, I know it's like whatare you serious, crazy, wow?
And I'll tell you what a lot ofthese contracts they're
continuing, continuing services.
They're like one, two, five,10-year contracts.
I mean, imagine what that'sgoing to do to your business.
(04:51):
Just knowing that this clientis going to pay you year in and
year out the same amount, everysingle month, every single
quarter, like that, just blowsyour mind.
So a lot of the contracts thatI help my clients win are those
(05:11):
recurring contracts, thoselong-term contracts, and then
they renew and it's just, it's awhole game that I'm happy to
share with you the strategy.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I'm really, really excited.
Let's start off with what makesyou a government contract
expert.
Let's start there.
Learn a little bit about uh,fortis, obm and miss melinda as
a whole poof.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, so we were talking about corporate america
earlier.
Right, like melinda, I can'teven believe you.
You like, got through 20 yearsof experience, like, let's just
be real, that's tough stuff.
Okay, that is, uh, you know, atone point I wanted to write on
my resume you know, works wellwith multiple personalities,
like you know what I mean likethat kind of high level, and I
(05:56):
worked through it.
Right with the grace god, I did.
But, uh, I freelanced for thelast 13 years, wanting to get
out, wanting to get out, and Ithought get out.
And I thought, well, let mejust put my head down and do the
very best that I can.
This is a skill that I have.
I actually really love thislevel of strategy.
I'm obviously really good at it.
(06:17):
So that's really where itstarted.
It was like this blood, sweatand tears, because there is no
manual to do this, right, theymake it intentional, potentially
set up like that.
They want to make sure that youdon't know how to invest, you
don't know how to grow yourbusiness and create wealth, and
it's all a part of the system,friends.
And so I took, took thatsecrets, those secrets that are
(06:41):
running billion dollarbusinesses, and I created my own
system I call the GovCon salesstrategy, and this is
incorporating marketing strategy.
This is incorporating what Iknow about government
contracting and being so closeto helping other businesses win
government contracts.
This was my job in corporateAmerica.
(07:02):
This is what I did every singleday.
Hundreds of proposals a year,billions of dollars won.
I never even track any of thatside because it's not even my
win right, it's like their winright.
I'll do that to them.
That's reciprocity.
Thank you so much.
Now I'm going to go help otherpeople become wealthy too, so
(07:23):
that they could be yourcompetitors, side note.
But what I'm sharing here is asystem that just works, because
I've seen businesses just workit, startups just work it,
established businesses just workit and they're starting to win
government contracts.
I'll tell you a story, realquick story.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Please.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
A contractor here in Florida.
They reached out to me.
They said hey, melinda, we'rereally interested in getting
into the space.
And I said sure, let's see whatopportunities are available for
you.
They found a $7.5 millioncontract.
This is a $10 million business.
I said, sure, let's go aheadand let's go after it.
(08:04):
Of course there's hesitation,of course there's kind of like a
delay.
We worked really hard to get to$10 million and you know, like
there's a seven and a halfmillion dollar contract.
Right, it's that identity thatstarts creeping up in our minds,
and so I just put the proposaltogether.
We worked through the strategythey submitted and guess what?
Cy, their first proposal,working with us, they won.
(08:30):
Now they found another seven anda half million.
They're like we're ready to dothis one too.
They're so excited, and thereason why I share that story is
because this is what happenswhen you start seeing a whole
bunch of zeros, you startrealizing that there is untapped
potential.
There's a limited amount ofcash, literally cash.
(08:51):
These are your tax dollars.
They're already paid, they'realready created, they just exist
.
Cash is sitting there for youto collect.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
The one thing that probably stuck me the most when
you were just saying is nobodyreally knows about government
contracting other than the guysthat are in and doing it and
don't think there's many folkslike yourself out there
advocating for it either.
But I couldn't even imaginebeing able to budget and
(09:25):
forecast with a $500,000contract, hitting that
throughout, spread out throughannual six months I don't even
care A million to five to abilly like what that would be
able to do for scale for growthwith would be able to do for
(09:49):
scale for growth with.
Yeah, that you're talking to aguy that is ate up through the
commercial construction game andbeat up because I learned the
hard way, because I didn't havea podcast like blue collar
business to use as a resourceand go, hey, how is this, um,
how's this pay scale gonna workout for me when I do take this
commercial contract and Ilearned the hard way and wasn't
(10:09):
necessarily always the smartest,but I would have loved to have
been able to jump into agovernment contract with just
even an annual space.
And we've done our little bitaudience just to bring you up to
speed with my governmentcontract experience.
I'm learning right along withyou guys today because I don't
(10:31):
have any type of knowledge pastthe public works local contract
out by your local entity andalmost had an annual repeating
one with my local entity here.
But it sounds a little bitfurther.
What kind of type of contractare you talking about, ms
(10:55):
Melinda?
Let's maybe even break it downsimply because to an excavation
and utility guy I'm trying topick up the road or the
utilities or the public workscontract put out through the
entity.
Is that what you're kind oftalking about?
Or tell us a little bit aboutthe contracts okay, yeah, so
let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Such a good question.
Okay, such a good question.
That's like out of the answerquestion.
So there are different levelsin government contracting there.
There's state, federal andlocal.
You were talking about local,so that's agency.
So say, for example, departmentof Transportation, that is the
(11:32):
federal level, the Department ofTransportation kind of like the
Department of Defense rightDepartment of Education.
So they have agencies andoffices and they have different
responsibilities.
They kind of parse outresponsibilities by state, by
region, by specific workforce.
You know, by intention.
(11:52):
There's different reasons forfor their segregation.
But specifically for dot, yourstate has a dot agency, every
state in the united states hastheir own DOT agency, so you
have, like, the AlabamaDepartment of Transportation.
They also have entities withinthat, so they have relationships
(12:14):
with the Turnpike Commissionright.
So that is a private entitythat works with the Department
of Transportation.
So there are contracts all theway up and down that score chart
or that structure in additionto local.
So one of the things that Ilove about local is that you're
(12:35):
almost giving back to yourcommunity.
It's kind of like if you're inconcrete work and man, I mean
that side street is kind of likea quilt patch You're just like
I need to find out who's goingto do that work, because I want
to do that work so I can drivehome in peace and in peace.
And so my wife starts screamingat me, like why don't you get
this project Right?
(12:56):
So those projects are availablefor you right now.
You just get registered in yourstate and you can start winning
government contracts at the, atthe local level, right in your
neighborhood.
Then there's the state level,so within the state of Florida,
Alabama, Wyoming, Oregon, likewherever you are across the
country.
And then, um, then you haveyour state level.
(13:20):
Then you have other agencies,districts, like the water
management districts in yourarea and then you have federal.
So there's contracts everywhere,they're everywhere.
And so I had a podcast guestcome on and he was talking about
his.
I have to give him some propssometimes because I use this
(13:43):
story so often, because it's sogood.
He had a group of friends comeover and it's about 10 friends
and him and his wife hosteddinner and they said before
dinner go ahead and give it.
I'm going to give you a pieceof paper and a pencil and I want
you to go in the backyard andcheck out our fruit and
vegetable garden and name asmany fruit and vegetables that
(14:03):
you can't.
And they all went out andthey're all excited and
everything.
And six of them came backimmediately after and they're
like I can't, there's nothing ontheir piece of paper.
Only four came back withsomething on their paper and the
one that one had four items.
Do you know how many thingsfruits and vegetables they had
in their garden?
Cy?
No way 25.
(14:25):
And so he said to me he goes,if they would die of starvation
because they don't even knowit's there.
This is the thing Governmentcontracts are everywhere.
They're everywhere.
Imagine the roads, the bridges,the city streets, the lights,
everything that blue-collarprofessionals do every single
(14:45):
day.
They're literally building ourworld and they're everywhere.
So if you see a structure, asystem that you do, there's a
contract for it.
That is just how it is.
It's simple.
It's so simple like that.
Does that make sense?
Does that help?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
No, that's exactly.
The answer to my question isbecause you know, of course
there's taxpayers, moneyallocated, budgeted for whatever
bill, et cetera, and whetherthat's at the local or the state
, and you know it's crazy thatyou talk about DOT.
Yeah, we have ARDOT, missourihas MODOT, as it's commonly
(15:23):
referred to, m-o-d-o-t, and theyall have.
Why wouldn't they have thosestate level and then federal?
That's crazy to think about.
And so basically, you guys arethere to tie contractors like
myself that maybe haven't reallystepped foot into this other
(15:44):
than maybe their localmunicipality, local level for
our conversation here.
Our local level contract, butsay somebody that wanted to step
up into the state or thatfederal contract and the horror
stories we have heard, as wellas contractors, about some said
contracts.
It sounds like Ms Melinda ishere to help us get started to
(16:07):
ensure that contractually weavoid some of those horror
stories.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Absolutely Understanding, FAR like the
Federal Acquisition Regulations.
Understanding how business isdone in government is key, but
it doesn't need to becomplicated.
So I like to simplify thecomplicated.
All right, I'm going to saythis Government contracting is
kind of like trying to find aspeakeasy on a Saturday night.
(16:37):
Okay, You're like where is thisplace Looking?
Like every sign.
They're like there's a blueblue sign.
It's like every sign is blue,right, just like where does it
where?
But as soon as you find it, youget in, you know exactly where
it is every single time after.
That's how governmentcontracting is the amount of
paperwork is less than buying ahouse.
(16:59):
Like have you bought a housebefore?
like yes, ma'am right, and allof that stack of papers, hours
and hours.
You're sitting there, yourbutt's tired, right?
But government contracting isnot that.
It's not that at all, right Iknow that's.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's definitely sitting here because, you're
right, it does have a stigmaabout it.
Um, just from the contractorside of things, I'm sitting here
going government contract.
Oh the red tape, the hoops I'mgonna have to jump through just
to be a a legible contractor anddeemed in their eyes in the
state level.
It sounds immediately I'm likeno, no, that doesn't sound like
(17:42):
anything I want to do.
So how does a contractor say,like myself at PsyCon, how would
I go about with your team?
How would I go ahead and getstarted so I can maybe start
seeing the right blue sign?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
All right, so I'm going to walk you through my
five steps, because that's wherewe need to go, okay.
So step number one is prepare.
Okay, there is an abundantamount of opportunities, I don't
care who's in administration.
There is an abundant amount ofopportunities for small
businesses when it comes togovernment contracting, and if
you just dive into governmentcontracting, you will fail
(18:20):
because you'll feel overwhelmed,like I don't know like there's
just so much.
So step one is prepare.
Where do you want to go, likehow much do you want to get?
And this is the frame of mindthat you want to go like how
much do you want to get?
And this is the frame of mindthat you want to have.
It's not I just want to getwhat is available for me.
It is how much do I want?
(18:42):
there is a difference, becauseif you focus on, well, what's
available for me, you know like,oh well, you're going to stay
small and you're going to staystop Guaranteed.
If you focus on, well, what doI want, you get to be picky and
choosy on what type of contractsyou win, what type of
(19:03):
opportunities you win, whichagencies, which departments,
which clients you want to workwith.
I just finished a two-dayworkshop with someone and he's
like you know, I don't want todo any boring contracts.
I want to work with, you know,offices that are actually doing
things to help people create abetter life, right?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Specific, mission-driven, people-driven,
very heart-driven contracts.
And he's getting excitedbecause he gets to decide that
on his own, like nobody'stelling him otherwise.
So that's number one is prepare.
Now we move on to step.
Number two is target.
We need to know who's buyingwhat we're selling.
So when we know who's buyingwhat we're selling, we're going
(19:47):
to be targeted, to buildrelationship with them.
To know who the competitors are, who the contractors are.
And here's what I'm going tosay about competitors in
government contracting.
Competitors are not competitors,they're just other contractors
that want to contract, becausein every single instance they be
, they could potentially becomea prime, a sub, a jv right, your
(20:12):
best friend, you might buytheir business right.
There's so many things thathappen within government
contracts.
You always want to be open tothat.
So that's step number two istarget.
Step number three is strategize.
Now we start to create astrategy.
Okay, so we're going to gotoward it and hit these goals.
This is what we want as castedvision for our business.
(20:34):
These are the contracts that wewant to win with this specific
client.
Why should they pick us?
We want to have thisconversation internally with
your, your team, your wife, yourspouse, everybody.
Okay, because this is a missionthat you're driving forward.
We'll talk more about thatlater, but that strategy is
really, really important beforewe get into.
(20:56):
Step four is submit.
That's when we start creating aprice, a proposal.
And here's the thing.
I've said this before andpeople who usually kind of like
cock their heads to the sidewhen I say pricing tells a story
.
Pricing tells a story.
There's two ways.
There's two standard ways to dopricing in government contracts
.
It's usually best of finaloffer or AKA firm fixed price,
(21:20):
and then there's cost plus, andtypically they'll tell you which
one is which.
But you could tell a story withhow you are writing a price.
If you're the lowest, thenthey're going to expect that
you're not the best Yep, even ifit's best and final.
So there are ways that you wantto be strategic about how you
(21:42):
position yourself in yourproposal and in your bid.
Now step five is track.
I love track because it's aboutiterating and improving and
building relationships.
Do you know that there are somecontracts that never even see
the light of day?
There are contracts regularlyadvertised and never responded
to.
There are contracts that don'trequire to be advertised, that
(22:06):
they're so small that thegovernment can actually pick up
the phone, sai, and call you upand be like, hey, does Sai Khan
complete this contract?
It is so cool, it is so cool.
So the goal is of my five-stepstrategy is to get on their
speed dial.
If you become, especially as ablue collar, if you could become
(22:27):
on their speed dial, they'llcall you when there is a
national disaster.
Now you're supporting yourcommunity, you're helping your
people, your families, yourfriends have a better life.
So it's changing the mindset.
It's all about mindset here.
Like we're going to be, we'rein the zeros right.
There's millions, billions ofdollars to be won.
And so if you say to yourself,I'm going to limit, I just want
(22:49):
one contract, all I need is justone contract, I'm gonna tell
you it's gonna be harder for youto win that one contract than
it is if you said how many do Iwant.
There's a difference, there'sshift in messaging.
I'm gonna give your audience acouple of ninja tricks.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Is it okay if I just kind of give some love share all
right.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Oh, it's getting good .
Okay, all right, and you listenup?
In the us, they, every singlecity, every state they hold a
meeting, a board meeting, and alot of them are recorded
(23:35):
meetings, meaning that you canpress play and listen to them or
watch them.
Majority of them already havetranscriptions.
Why am I telling you this?
This is where they're talkingabout the problem that they're
about to create an advertisementfor.
This is where they're talkingabout the problem that they're
about to create an advertisementfor.
This is where they're tellingyou who they're going to award
(23:56):
before the rest of the worldknows.
This is when that, if you getinto that space, you know,
basically like you're a fly onthe wall and you know what their
pain points and you can show upand be the hero.
It's kind of like how did youeven know that?
That was you ever seen an ad?
You're like how did you evenknow that about me?
(24:17):
It's kind of creepy, that level.
All right, I'm going to giveyou a second one, okay.
These are things I never evershare outside of my workshops.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Oh, exclusive here on the BCB okay.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Super, super explicit .
So the second tip is whenyou're putting together a
proposal, a price, even an email, you're going to speak in the
in the future tense Like I willdeliver this.
We will work with you, we willmake it happen.
Why?
Because it creates inneuroscience, it creates
(24:49):
momentum.
And so when people are inmomentum, they buy.
So that's another tip.
Okay, I'm going to give you onemore tip.
Oh, okay, I'm going to give youone more tip.
Okay, okay, I'm excited, I'msuper excited.
My mind's like, okay, this this, this, this this, but then this
(25:11):
podcast will be really reallylong.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
So take your time.
They, I promise you.
There is, uh, several memberswatching on the website right
now atbluecollarbusinesspodcastcom, or
they're watching on spotify,our heart, amazon and has
probably.
I.
I don't know if you guys havebeen watching on somewhere where
you can see on visual, but I'vebeen sitting here taking notes
(25:35):
myself, guys.
I mean this is interestingstuff and I'm looking to do it
myself.
I mean this is awesome, do?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
it.
There's nothing holding youback.
That's another tip.
There's nothing holding youback.
So the third tip I'm going toshare is money flow of strategy.
This is fire.
This is going to change yourminds.
This will change theperspective of how you look at
opportunity.
Okay, money flow when there,when anyone says anything in the
(26:08):
media, go find facts.
Okay, that's a side, that's atangent.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I could go there too, just go find the
facts.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
There are facts behind that, but usually when
anyone from the administrationis in the media, they're talking
about a problem or a solution.
Either way, that is going tobecome a contract.
If they start talking about aproblem, like a couple years ago
(26:38):
, um, president biden was in newyork and he was at the train
station and he was talking abouthow he's a kid and he would
ride the station, the train, allday and you just have all these
stories and everything likethat and then oh, by the way, in
that same message he wastalking about the infrastructure
investment jobs act.
Do you know about?
You know about ija?
(26:58):
3.7 trillion dollars?
Yeah, that was an.
Oh, by the way, did it hitmedia in a big way?
no, that was his acknowledgementthat this was just signed, that
this was just passed.
And so, when we listen, thatmoment, when I heard that, I
called all my clients in newyork and I was just like get on
(27:18):
the phone with your governmentclients, your state, local,
county, municipalities, yourdepartments, your agencies,
everyone because contracts arecoming and you want to be in
front of it, not when it'sadvertised, you want to be
before it so that you cansupport how they write it.
So there are things that youcould do.
(27:40):
It's called money flow.
Um, locally, if you seeconstruction in your
neighborhood and you're like, oh, they're just building, it's
way too late for me to getinvolved.
It's a domino effect of cash.
Money is an economy system, soit has to stay in motion.
So, if we look at it from thatperspective, what's the next
thing that they're going to haveto solve in this continuation
(28:04):
of problems?
Right, then we will always beahead of opportunities.
You see, because problemscreate solutions, but solutions
create problems.
We buy a new phone.
You got to get a case, anadapter, a screen and download
all of our apps, but we stillbuy the phone.
So problems are, in my opinion,our way of seeing abundance,
(28:26):
because when there's a problem,there's always going to be a
solution.
But when there's a solution,there's always going to be a
solution.
But when there's a solution,there's always going to be a new
problem.
So that means we're never donesolving problems.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
It's push, pull, give , take in every aspect of the
word.
It's so interesting to hearbroken down so elementary.
Yes, Like you know I've been atthe whole being a contractor
thing for nine years, proud ofit, but haven't even really
(28:59):
spent the time.
And I'm an immigrant myself,like I'm a permanent resident
myself still.
And is there any?
I'm sorry to go off here, butis there?
Do you minorities have an edge?
I know there's always been athing with women-owned
businesses on the utility sideto land public contracts.
So can you speak on that justfor a minute?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
100%.
So disadvantaged certificationsat the state and federal level
are very powerful, and it opensup another conversation about
set-asides.
So, like I said earlier, smallbusinesses have an in when it
comes to government contracts.
So there is also anotherset-aside for minority
(29:43):
businesses, veteran-ownedbusinesses.
Okay, so this is a completelydifferent pool of money and
there are certifications withinthat.
Yeah, so there's certificationsthat you could apply for your
business.
If you're 51% or more ownershipin your business, there's an
ANA certification.
There are so many opportunitiesfor you to leverage who you are
(30:06):
, your identity, and use that towin more government contracts.
And I'll give you another tipor strategy for that.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Please.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
When you're going up against a competitor who has a
minority certification, that'sokay, that's one hundred percent
okay, because you could getyour certification.
You could link arms or partnerwith someone else who has a
bigger past performance orportfolio and compete with them
(30:35):
like you compete against them.
Now that's a different strategybecause a lot of people don't
think about that that you couldbe a subcontractor bringing
value to a prime who doesn'thave a certification yep.
Yep, that becomes adifferentiator.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Wow, I didn't even think about it like that too.
Yeah, that is crazy.
So what do you?
I mean, it sounds just likejust wonderful to just hop right
in.
You know why haven't I donethis?
People are like sitting theregoing.
Why haven't I done this Otherthan your?
Hey, there's this glaring bluesign that we don't see.
(31:14):
Um, let's, let's talk aboutsome of the biggest challenges
that these guys are going toface, walking up and go.
Hey, ms Belinda, I'm ready toget started.
What's, what's these largestchallenges that you've seen over
the years?
Uh, back back when, and nowhere with fortis giving up.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
That's the number one thing, even corporate.
I saw executives, vicepresidents.
They just gave up.
They said, oh man, you know ourcompetitor is going to be going
after this.
They're probably going to winthis.
This rp is written for them.
You know, there's no use, right?
It's just kind of all likesetting yourself up for failure
and you're gonna fail.
(31:56):
Um, so the focus is thealternative of that is just to
put your hat in the race, putyour best foot forward.
Because the thing is, is what Ithe step number five, what I
teach track is about having aconversation with the client.
So if you lose, like, let's say, worst case scenario, you lose.
(32:17):
So what?
You reach out to them and yousay, hey, can.
I schedule a debrief.
And they'll give you a debriefand guess what that's, when you
teach them and tell them aboutyour business and oh, by the way
, do you have potentiallycontract that I need might be a
good fit for this is thisstrategy really works well,
because they'll remember youthat you asked.
(32:39):
It doesn't hurt to ask.
So that's one, that's one, soyou're aware you're familiar
with that strategy.
That's awesome, um, and I wouldsay the.
The second one that I see mostcommon, most common mistake that
contractors make isundervaluing their past
(33:00):
performance, undervaluing yourpast performance.
Oh, I don't have experiencewith government before.
I don't have any contracts, um,I just have.
I've worked with the commercial.
I've worked in the private side.
I've done only residential.
What they care about most isthat you can actually complete
the project, like you couldactually fulfill the scope of
(33:22):
work.
So how you got it is lessimportant than do you got it
right.
So if you have experiencefulfilling the scope of work,
then use that experience.
It is okay, right, this is howwe get into government
contracting.
It's not a chicken and eggsituation.
In government contracting.
(33:42):
They will tell you that lie.
It's a lie.
I know.
I was talking to a friend ofmine, ray, and he was telling me
about a young lady that he metat an event and she was just
starting her business.
She had literally justregistered her LLC and a few
months later he bumped into heragain at a different event and
(34:04):
she said that she won a milliondollar contract for her business
.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Like brand new business.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Why am I saying this?
It's so important to know thatyou have value before you even
start a business, let alone whenyou've been in business.
You just need to know how toposition it, how to package it
right.
It's like well, it's just aboutlike anything.
You know, a bottle of water isa bottle of water is a bottle of
water, but we pay $5, $10, $15for it.
At a stadium, at the airport orat the grocery store.
(34:40):
It's the same bottle of water,it's just packaged differently.
People will buy it.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Oh, I've got to jump on two things you just mentioned
.
You're slinging some salesstrategy here too.
I've got to give you some props,you're not just giving the
audience, descoping and gettingfeedback to somebody like myself
is everything Most of the time.
Okay, talking to you guys thatare in the private sector world,
(35:11):
that work with developers andprivate money, that we don't get
it.
A lot of times we get no man,it just wasn't you and we move
on and there's no feedback,there's no, nothing.
But I will tell you I can'thonestly put my thumb on one
(35:32):
certain situation or other,anyhow, calling the contractor
and go hey man.
Or the developer, hey man, werewe just flat high?
Did you, did you have a pastrelationship?
Never.
Or just give us that keyinformation.
I don't care about the nittygritty, I just let me know where
it went wrong with me.
(35:52):
And then, okay, that brings upthe one major sore subject.
He's going to freaking, tell me.
And then I'm going to tell himhey man, did you know that?
We do this to avoid that?
No, I heard this.
Well, let me just tell you andlet me show you through my
marketing or anyways, that's atotally different subject for
another day.
(36:13):
But prepare so good and targetand strategy way before.
Just, oh, they gave me a ring.
Uh, we're going to throw anumber out and go yes, no, I
agree with you.
Uh, miss Melinda, I think ifsomebody like myself I've got a
salesman and I've got anestimator they would.
They're going to digest allthis information as fast as they
(36:37):
can bring it to me.
We're going to talk about it.
I have gotten to the levelwhere we have some pre-contract
(37:03):
strategy.
Go no-go matrix.
Yes, exactly, yes, exactly.
Strategizing yourself, puttingyourself in that prime position
and reaching out to somebodylike you that's already been
there helps other contractorsand help strategize.
I'll tell you from the bluecollar side we're going to go
hey, man, phone rang.
(37:23):
I think this is a good one here.
Quick draw a price and go oh,just unit price, it'd be all
right.
And send it in.
They need it.
You know, I can't tell you I've.
I've done some crazy stuff likethat.
Yeah, but nobody's there.
There's no resource to call upand go.
(37:44):
Am I been this right?
Or I mean it's just educationis expensive and experience is
priceless and as you go throughthis time after time after time,
you reinvest in yourself.
But just how?
How is there, like a website,that these guys can go and get
certified?
I've heard you say certified acouple of times.
Talk a little bit in detailthere how a contractor can be
(38:05):
certified to be, I guess,visible to the government side.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Okay, so the certifications specifically were
related to minoritycertifications and veteran-owned
certifications, so we're fordisadvantaged businesses.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
But in terms of, I just want to win a contract, you
don't need a certification,Anyone can win it.
Even if you are listening tothis and you do not live in the
United States of America, youcan win a government contract
for your business.
Even if you live in the UnitedStates of America and want to do
(38:41):
business on international soil,you can win government
contracts on international soil.
So there are endlessopportunities Now to answer your
question.
There is a website that I wouldlike to invite your audience to
register for so that I canbreak down the system for them
and answer specific questions.
(39:02):
Live, give them that support inthat direction.
Live.
So it's govconmillionscom.
I'm going to spell it for youg-o-v-c-o-n-m-i-l-l-i-o-n-s.
Trying to do it like aninfomercial, but it didn't work
I heard that little jingle goingon right, sorry,
(39:23):
g-o-v-c-o-n-m-i-l-l-i-o-n-sright.
Govconmillionscom, come hang outwith us.
It's a money party, and what wedo is completely free, by the
way, and what we do is we willguide you through the process.
You'll understand the systemand that way, you can make a
(39:44):
decision how you're going tostart winning government
contracts.
I'm going to tell you this.
For people that are listening,they may say wow, it's a great
idea.
They're going to subscribe andlike this podcast and then
they're going to go home, right,they're going to hang out with
their family and they're goingto forget about this, or it's
(40:05):
going to linger in their mind tothe next project, to the next
project, to the next project,mind, to the next project, to
the next project, to the nextproject.
Time is of the essence.
We don't know how much we haveof it, and so what I'm going to
say is take action now.
So go to govconmillionscom,make sure you're listening to
this podcast, because what weneed to know is right here.
(40:25):
All of the information isavailable to us.
We have to take action on itnow, not just when the time is
right.
We have to take action now.
I lovingly pressure because Ijust want to see people change
their lives and enjoy their lifeand enjoy the lives that they
(40:46):
created.
And it's the next generationthat needs us to show up and
stand up and take action so thatthey can see what the example
is, so that they're not undersomeone else's thumb they're not
under someone else's thumb, sothat they don't have to go
through the hard that we wentthrough, so that they can see
the memory that we've left themthat is greater, so that they
(41:07):
can create a bigger memory fortheir people and their people's
people and their people.
That's real generational wealthis changing the definition of
your last name, and so I sharethat, because it's so important
for me to help legacy builders,generational wealth creators,
who are like I want this vision,I want this idea, but I just
(41:29):
don't have enough hours.
Make the hours or the hourswill be taken from you,
guaranteed.
I love you.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Money is a tool to buy time.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
And if it changed my life?
First time I read it and tookme probably a year past it.
Chewing on money is a tool tobuy time.
Money is a tool like.
But you're right, I was justtalking about the private sector
work and before we go, I reallywant to talk about pricing and
(42:03):
say you know, there's acontractor out there listening,
or maybe this is an estimatorsitting out there listening and
he wants to.
He sees a potential on agovernment contract.
This is his first go around.
How does that differ?
How are we going to pricethings differently?
Obviously differ.
(42:24):
How are we going to pricethings differently?
Obviously, govcon can help youand direct you in which way.
But maybe a broad overview ofhow pricing is going to be
different than in the governmentcontract space, compared to,
say, a guy like myself, andmainly the private sector side.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
That's such a good question.
Okay, Hi, overview.
So because I also do privateand government contracting, I
see both sides of that.
Um, I have premium programs, Ihave mid-size programs.
It just really depends on mypricing and how I value my
(42:59):
offers right On the private side.
That's one thing.
On the government contractingside, there is margin that you
could have.
There's definitely you can makeprofit on that right side, but
it's not going to be thisexorbitant amount of profit
you're seeing in private side.
So the strategy that Irecommend, that I teach my
(43:23):
clients, is to use governmentcontracts to stabilize your
business.
Like the overhead, the cost ofdoing business, employee labor,
like all of the taxes, all this.
Use government contracting tostabilize that so that you can
deal with the ups and down, thevolatility of having a business
(43:44):
private sector.
That way you're.
You're not showing up fearfuland giving a low number and just
like kicking yourselfafterwards like they said yes
too fast, right, right, youcould take the time to be really
strategic and use governmentcontracting as an authority
builder.
So say that, yes, this is astandard for government
(44:05):
contracting, this scope of work,I am delivering this right now,
right, and so that becomes avalue add to your private sector
clients.
But also prime.
On the private sector there ismore opportunity to increase
your profits just by saying youdo business with the government.
So it's just.
(44:26):
I can go into the weeds withthis in terms of strategy, but
high level, the profit marginsare going to be higher in
private sector.
That way you can use governmentcontracting to stabilize your
business and you can deal withthe volatility.
Stabilize your business and youcan deal with the volatility.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
So it sounds like what you're telling me is we're
going to find good volume,you're going to have stable
workflow, they're going to payon time.
You know it's coming and there'sgoing to be some margin there,
but it's not going tonecessarily be the home runs
(45:04):
like you can on the private side.
But it sounds like this can bea good payroll stability for you
to go out and take these riskson these higher private jobs
that may take 90, 120 days topay.
You can still make payroll withthe government's money that's
coming in every month and you'vegot your crew set up making a
(45:25):
little bit of money with them.
And so I think that is a hugekey thing because I can tell you
from inexperience andexperience of myself is walking
into the private sector worldand be like let's just start
bidding all this work and justdoing it all and you end up with
cash flow problems like he'snever seen and you got this guy
(45:48):
paying you 100 100 days late andthis guy paying you in 35 days
and you got this guy over herepaying you in 90 days, and it's
just super volatile.
Never know when you're going toget paid till the day before
you're going to get paid, andthere is no planning, there is
no forecasting.
So if you can inject a, agovernment, a, a more flat lined
(46:12):
or upward trending line,however you want to depict it,
but you know it's consistentlythere 100, yes, exactly talk
about scaling with governmentcontracts real quick.
I mean, I just touched on thatjust a little bit, but go ahead
and talk about that.
Oh boy, you're gonna like oh,this is so good.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
These are all.
I just love these conversations.
Okay, I want to add somethingto that, because just a year ago
, right, a lot of businesseswere relying on banks.
And what did banks do?
They said, nope, we're notloaning any more money anymore
(46:52):
to any businesses right nowbecause of a quote, unquote
recession.
That's another conversation,but that's what happened
conversation.
But that's what happened.
And a lot of tradesmen reallysuffered through that time
because they couldn't exactlywhat you just said 30, 60, 90s,
whatever the net was.
They were behind.
The clients were behind becausethey were waiting to get paid,
(47:15):
and that impacted your wallet.
Imagine something like thathappening again and you're not
winning government contractsright now.
Imagine something like thathappening again and you're not
winning government contractsright now.
That is where I mean now you'redealing with your.
You don't have to worry aboutyour credit, your business
credit.
(47:35):
You're not having to worryabout having to, like, stomp in
and beg for a line of creditanymore, like you can set that
up freely.
You can just breathe and knowthat I'm not.
I'm not worried about the bankgiving me a loan.
I'm going to go get contractsto leverage this time so that I
can just get over the hump right.
When there's a dark time,contracts are still flowing.
(47:55):
When there is a high season,contract is still flowing, like
every season.
Because currently, right now,during this administration, when
there is an up and down and alot of media nonsense, contracts
are flowing.
My clients are still winninggovernment contracts.
So what I'm saying is like,when everything seems to be not
(48:15):
working, government contractshave been working and it's going
to continue to do that foranother 250 years.
Um, so scaling what I love aboutthis government contract
scaling, man sigh, you're askinglike the really the best
questions and I want to pull outmy whiteboard and be like this
is what it is right.
(48:36):
Um, but so scaling it makes iteasier.
Like it's just, we call itGovCon stacking.
So GovCon stacking is addingmultiple contracts on top of
each other and staggering themacross a Gantt chart.
Like, imagine you have a Ganttchart, quarter to quarter, month
(48:57):
to month, and you're trying tofigure out the.
You know the workability rightand you're trying to figure out
the workability right, youroverhead resources, man hours,
et cetera, tools and equipment,things like that.
You will know ahead of time,the majority of contracts that
(49:17):
came from that $4.4 billion werebacklog contracts, meaning that
they won the contract and theyknew that they had months,
sometimes weeks.
Won the contract and they knewthat they had months, sometimes
weeks, to prepare for thosecontracts before they came out.
So imagine that, like you'renot going to get an award and
say we need you right now.
I mean that's going to beconsidered a uh, an immediate
emergency or natural disasterkind of situation.
You're going to have time toprepare, to hire, to train, to
(49:45):
rent the right equipment, topurchase the right equipment,
get your equipment leaseagreements All of that set up
before you even start thecontract.
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
In private side it's hey, I just signed a contract,
You're going to be out theretomorrow.
I need to fill up tomorrow.
I need dirt turning tomorrow.
I need I got all these people.
I need you there tomorrow.
Interest clocks running myexpense clocks running like like
we, I get it boys but like canI at least you know maybe plan
how to get all my equipmentthere, yeah?
so, um, it absolutely would onlymake it easier, and I'm and I'm
(50:22):
kind of kicking myself,especially being a minority
owned business uh, never, reallysounds like I'll be heading to
govconmillionscom.
So, um, what about bond?
Okay, last question, just justfor my own intrigue here sure,
what about bonding?
Are we having to bond all theseprojects, or they will request.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
So in the rfp.
The same thing with searchcertificates of insurance, right
?
So this goes back to target.
If you, if you know the typesof clients that you want to work
with state, local, federal youcan go to their website and they
have a copy of their agreementson their website.
You know ahead of time, beforean advertisement comes out, what
(51:06):
you need before you need it.
So bonding requirementsabsolutely you need a bonding
letter to include in your RFPsor your proposals when you
respond, or your bids.
Certificates of insurancehowever, like I said, there's
different ways to bid.
So you could bid as asubcontractor.
The prime owns theresponsibility of the contract.
(51:27):
They can hold the bond and theinsurance.
You can have insurance, ofcourse, for your business, but
you don't need bond because theyhave it Right.
So there's different strategiesthat you can go about it
depending on the size of thecontract, your comfortability.
Go about it depending on thesize of the contract, your
comfortability.
But again it goes back to theprocess.
It's like step one where do wewant to go?
(51:48):
Step two right.
Who do we want to target?
Step three, then how do westrategize?
That's when we pull in partners.
Right In your own community,Sai, you could probably create
partners to win governmentcontracts.
Wouldn't that be amazing?
Like, wouldn't that be amazing?
Like, yeah, would that beamazing?
Like just, oh my gosh, so cooltalk about community local level
(52:08):
.
Speaker 1 (52:09):
I the we talk about it on this show every single
episode.
Relationships are everything,relationships are everything.
And I've got episodes umtalking with engineer inspectors
and civil engineers andstructuralists and I've got
episodes um talk I guess I don'thave anybody from the city
level but uh, those city entityrelationships are huge,
(52:34):
especially for a utilitycontractor.
I know there's so many othertypes of contractors out there.
But, um, find your local levelthat has reoccurring work coming
out.
And you're absolutely right,melinda was hey, find the
minutes from the last meeting.
Find out what they're allcomplaining about and provide a
solution and they'll figure outhow to fund it.
(52:56):
So, absolutely so, that's a bigtestament.
All right, my last thing for you.
I've got for you that I askevery single person that comes
on this show, number one, beforeI go there.
Thank you so much for just theinsight today.
(53:16):
That was insane on governmentcontracts.
But for the, the blue collarmen and working men and woman
out there who is just sick andtired of being stuck in the mud
in a trap, in the mental trap,in the physical trap, and they
just got to get up and they gotto do it again, I think you may
(53:38):
have number one, giving them alittle insight on a way out.
Maybe if you know thatentrepreneur is looking for work
, but even down to the guythat's just starting out in the
trades world, is this really forme?
Talk, talk a little bit to themabsolutely 100.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
It is for you, it's for anyone, anyone.
It's for anyone that wants abetter life.
That's how I'll say it.
It's for anyone that wants abetter life.
That's how I'll say it.
It's not just governmentcontracting.
Right, government contractingis a vehicle.
It's about knowing having thatknowledge, education and the
experience winning governmentcontracts.
(54:15):
That's the unlock.
It is the partnerships that youbuild.
It's the relationships youbuild.
It's knowing how the governmentworks, beyond what the media
says, like.
It's actually knowing whereyour tax dollars are going and
how it gets recycled back to you.
It's about knowing things thatwe take for granted every single
day.
Listen, I worked for AEC firmsarchitect, engineering,
(54:39):
construction firms in thecommercial side.
I worked for big constructionfirms, huge construction firms
in the commercial side.
I worked for big constructionfirms, huge construction firms.
Okay, I worked for engineering.
Mep, av, lv.
I know this world, this, Iunderstand this world.
The thing that really just likehurts my heart is y'all build
this world and you don't evenrealize it, and so this, this
(55:02):
money, is for you.
It's not something that youwant to sleep on.
You want to take advantage ofit.
So if you're tired, I get it.
Keep going.
We need a better world.
If you're just frustrated withthe system, I get it.
The word government is supposedto scare you away, which means
that you need to run after itanyway, because those
(55:24):
opportunities are set up for you, right?
Don't give them to someone else.
Stop just like skipping overthese opportunities and doing it
the hard way, like if you wantto keep doing the hard thing and
expecting a different result,right?
Or do you want to do somethingeasy and make it your life
better?
You've already done the hard,you've already worked hard.
(55:46):
Just make it easy for yourself,and that's one of the hardest
things you can do, but it's themost rewarding things that will
that you could do.
That will transcend this senseof time for your life, for your
family, the sense of time foryour life for your family.
I mean, just look at your kids,your spouse, your friends for
(56:07):
your, your staff, your employees, your subcontractors, like,
think about their lives and whatthis could do for them.
So what I would say to that isjust um, let's just go back to
loving people and their valueand um, and we stay focused on
our skills and talents assomething that is very valuable,
because I appreciate everysingle one of you.
I've seen exactly.
(56:28):
I used to work for asustainability engineering firm.
Okay, I understand ananofiltration and I wish I
didn't know what that was.
Okay, so, I understand whatpotable water is and I get
scared every time I hear itacross the news when there is a
storm, okay and so I know youguys are working your butt off
(56:49):
water treatment plants,wastewater treatment plants oh
my gosh.
I don't even know why they're.
They're on my way to publics.
I don't even understand whythey're on my way to the grocery
store but they're there for us.
Speaker 1 (57:02):
I'll tell you, it's the lowest point.
It's the lowest point in yourtown, that's all.
Gravity flows downhill.
Speaker 2 (57:09):
I know, oh my gosh.
I I know, I'm sure.
I just try not to think aboutit but, but, um, but it's so
necessary, because what if wedidn't have those things?
Speaker 1 (57:23):
Oh, God, everybody would be sick.
I sick, I don't, I don't wantto go back.
I don't want to go back in time, not on things like plumbing.
Come on, no no.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
So why I'm saying all of that is to kind of like,
beat your chest and realize thatyou have some real power and
control and authority, and sobecause of that you need to just
go get what's yours, go get it,just go get it, just go get
it's yours, go get it.
Just go get it, just go get it.
Just stop with the excuses.
Stop tomorrow, just go get itright now, because that's yours
that is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
I really appreciate your time.
I am very intrigued to find outa little bit more and I hope we
stay in contact and continuethis conversation for myself, uh
, alone, the audience members.
But, guys, if you've loved thisepisode and this is the type of
(58:11):
content if this is the firstepisode you're joining with us
number one thank you.
If you're a returning member, Ireally appreciate you guys more
than you know.
I am starting to get someemails and messages from you
guys about how the show isadding value back to you and I
know this episode hopefullyhelped a few of you.
And if it did, let me know.
(58:33):
Go tobluecollarbusinesspodcastcom,
get in, contact us or maybebecome a sponsor.
If you've got a product orservice that we can help you
sell right here on the BlueCollar Business Podcast, we'd
love to get behind it and helpyou guys as a team.
But, ms Melinda, thank you somuch for your time and for this
(58:55):
insight.
Go, check out govconmillionscomand until next time, you guys,
be safe.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like,
share it with the fellers.
Check out our website to sendus any questions and comments
about your experience in theblue card business.
Who do you want to hear from?
Send them our way and we'll doour best to answer any questions
(59:17):
you may have.
Until next time, guys.
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
, where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue collar
business.
I'm your host, cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you in what it took
me trial and error and a wholelot of money to learn the
information that no one in thisindustry is willing to share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,
(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back, guys, to anotherepisode of the Blue Collar
Business Podcast today,sponsored, of course, by
podcastvideoscom.
We are sitting in their lovelysolo studio today because we
have a remote session.
Somebody with a different storythat I think is going to
(00:52):
intrigue a lot of you listeners.
So this is not a excavationsolely minded podcast.
This is going to encompassevery single one of you trade
guys sitting there listeningright now, and it's going to be
diving off into the governmentcontracting world, and I have a
government contracting expertwith me today, ms Melinda Colon
(01:17):
with Fortis OBM.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Thank you so much for having me Cy.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Seriously, I've had a brief intro with Miss Melinda
and I'm telling you what guys.
We have got a prettyinteresting episode and if you
guys have been loving the show,make sure you check out
bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom Ifyou're listening on any of the
streaming platforms.
Make sure and give the show arating and a follow at the end
of the episode.
Miss Mel melinda, the thingswe're going to be working
(01:47):
through today we're going to betalking about the misconceptions
and myths about working withthe government directly.
Um, what are the biggestchallenges some of these small
businesses face when enteringthe government contracting space
?
Just to begin with, because itjust sounds scary altogether how
to get started with you guysand walk us through there and
(02:11):
scaling a business throughgovernment contracting, and you
have a very unique approach tothis that you're passionate
about sharing with otherentrepreneurs in the blue collar
space, white collar space, etcetera.
So, furthermore, thank you somuch for joining the show today.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Thanks so much for having me here.
There's a great introduction.
Cy, You're amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Hey, I'll take that.
What they don't see behind thescenes is me coming in all late.
Sorry, ms Melinda, I was in ameeting.
They think I probably preparemore than I do, but I appreciate
that.
And let's start it off.
Today you shared somethingpretty unique and we're going to
(02:56):
start here and let you kind ofintro us into today's episode
episode.
But you shared with me that youhave, uh, procured worth 4.4
billion worth of governmentcontracts for contractors oh 100
yeah, tell us about it wow,okay, where do I, where do I
(03:20):
even begin?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
so, uh, yeah, I mean, the world of government
contracting is like hidden right, like nobody knows about it
except for those that areactually doing it, and I really
thought that was reallyinteresting.
You know, it's like nobody does.
Nobody invests in the stockmarket unless you actually know
how to invest that's, that's,yep, right it yeah.
(03:43):
Right, it's just so weird.
It's so strange, and so I tookmy information that I gathered.
I created a system in corporateAmerica and I took it with me
right on my back and put it intomy agency and helped so many
small and mid-sized businesseswin government contracts.
And a lot of them were justback-to-back contracts.
(04:04):
Some of them were, you know, ahundred thousand, some were five
hundred thousand and a lot ofthem were like 10 million, 50
million, 100 million, and thebiggest contract so far to date
that we've helped our clientswin this was for a seven-figure
business just kind of keep giveyou, just kind of give you a
frame of mind was a 1.4 billiondollar contract.
(04:30):
Right, I know it's like whatare you serious, crazy, wow?
And I'll tell you what a lot ofthese contracts they're
continuing, continuing services.
They're like one, two, five,10-year contracts.
I mean, imagine what that'sgoing to do to your business.
(04:51):
Just knowing that this clientis going to pay you year in and
year out the same amount, everysingle month, every single
quarter, like that, just blowsyour mind.
So a lot of the contracts thatI help my clients win are those
(05:11):
recurring contracts, thoselong-term contracts, and then
they renew and it's just, it's awhole game that I'm happy to
share with you the strategy.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I'm really, really excited.
Let's start off with what makesyou a government contract
expert.
Let's start there.
Learn a little bit about uh,fortis, obm and miss melinda as
a whole poof.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, so we were talking about corporate america
earlier.
Right, like melinda, I can'teven believe you.
You like, got through 20 yearsof experience, like, let's just
be real, that's tough stuff.
Okay, that is, uh, you know, atone point I wanted to write on
my resume you know, works wellwith multiple personalities,
like you know what I mean likethat kind of high level, and I
(05:56):
worked through it.
Right with the grace god, I did.
But, uh, I freelanced for thelast 13 years, wanting to get
out, wanting to get out, and Ithought get out.
And I thought, well, let mejust put my head down and do the
very best that I can.
This is a skill that I have.
I actually really love thislevel of strategy.
I'm obviously really good at it.
(06:17):
So that's really where itstarted.
It was like this blood, sweatand tears, because there is no
manual to do this, right, theymake it intentional, potentially
set up like that.
They want to make sure that youdon't know how to invest, you
don't know how to grow yourbusiness and create wealth, and
it's all a part of the system,friends.
And so I took, took thatsecrets, those secrets that are
(06:41):
running billion dollarbusinesses, and I created my own
system I call the GovCon salesstrategy, and this is
incorporating marketing strategy.
This is incorporating what Iknow about government
contracting and being so closeto helping other businesses win
government contracts.
This was my job in corporateAmerica.
(07:02):
This is what I did every singleday.
Hundreds of proposals a year,billions of dollars won.
I never even track any of thatside because it's not even my
win right, it's like their winright.
I'll do that to them.
That's reciprocity.
Thank you so much.
Now I'm going to go help otherpeople become wealthy too, so
(07:23):
that they could be yourcompetitors, side note.
But what I'm sharing here is asystem that just works, because
I've seen businesses just workit, startups just work it,
established businesses just workit and they're starting to win
government contracts.
I'll tell you a story, realquick story.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Please.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
A contractor here in Florida.
They reached out to me.
They said hey, melinda, we'rereally interested in getting
into the space.
And I said sure, let's see whatopportunities are available for
you.
They found a $7.5 millioncontract.
This is a $10 million business.
I said, sure, let's go aheadand let's go after it.
(08:04):
Of course there's hesitation,of course there's kind of like a
delay.
We worked really hard to get to$10 million and you know, like
there's a seven and a halfmillion dollar contract.
Right, it's that identity thatstarts creeping up in our minds,
and so I just put the proposaltogether.
We worked through the strategythey submitted and guess what?
Cy, their first proposal,working with us, they won.
(08:30):
Now they found another seven anda half million.
They're like we're ready to dothis one too.
They're so excited, and thereason why I share that story is
because this is what happenswhen you start seeing a whole
bunch of zeros, you startrealizing that there is untapped
potential.
There's a limited amount ofcash, literally cash.
(08:51):
These are your tax dollars.
They're already paid, they'realready created, they just exist
.
Cash is sitting there for youto collect.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
The one thing that probably stuck me the most when
you were just saying is nobodyreally knows about government
contracting other than the guysthat are in and doing it and
don't think there's many folkslike yourself out there
advocating for it either.
But I couldn't even imaginebeing able to budget and
(09:25):
forecast with a $500,000contract, hitting that
throughout, spread out throughannual six months I don't even
care A million to five to abilly like what that would be
able to do for scale for growthwith would be able to do for
(09:49):
scale for growth with.
Yeah, that you're talking to aguy that is ate up through the
commercial construction game andbeat up because I learned the
hard way, because I didn't havea podcast like blue collar
business to use as a resourceand go, hey, how is this, um,
how's this pay scale gonna workout for me when I do take this
commercial contract and Ilearned the hard way and wasn't
(10:09):
necessarily always the smartest,but I would have loved to have
been able to jump into agovernment contract with just
even an annual space.
And we've done our little bitaudience just to bring you up to
speed with my governmentcontract experience.
I'm learning right along withyou guys today because I don't
(10:31):
have any type of knowledge pastthe public works local contract
out by your local entity andalmost had an annual repeating
one with my local entity here.
But it sounds a little bitfurther.
What kind of type of contractare you talking about, ms
(10:55):
Melinda?
Let's maybe even break it downsimply because to an excavation
and utility guy I'm trying topick up the road or the
utilities or the public workscontract put out through the
entity.
Is that what you're kind oftalking about?
Or tell us a little bit aboutthe contracts okay, yeah, so
let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Such a good question.
Okay, such a good question.
That's like out of the answerquestion.
So there are different levelsin government contracting there.
There's state, federal andlocal.
You were talking about local,so that's agency.
So say, for example, departmentof Transportation, that is the
(11:32):
federal level, the Department ofTransportation kind of like the
Department of Defense rightDepartment of Education.
So they have agencies andoffices and they have different
responsibilities.
They kind of parse outresponsibilities by state, by
region, by specific workforce.
You know, by intention.
(11:52):
There's different reasons forfor their segregation.
But specifically for dot, yourstate has a dot agency, every
state in the united states hastheir own DOT agency, so you
have, like, the AlabamaDepartment of Transportation.
They also have entities withinthat, so they have relationships
(12:14):
with the Turnpike Commissionright.
So that is a private entitythat works with the Department
of Transportation.
So there are contracts all theway up and down that score chart
or that structure in additionto local.
So one of the things that Ilove about local is that you're
(12:35):
almost giving back to yourcommunity.
It's kind of like if you're inconcrete work and man, I mean
that side street is kind of likea quilt patch You're just like
I need to find out who's goingto do that work, because I want
to do that work so I can drivehome in peace and in peace.
And so my wife starts screamingat me, like why don't you get
this project Right?
(12:56):
So those projects are availablefor you right now.
You just get registered in yourstate and you can start winning
government contracts at the, atthe local level, right in your
neighborhood.
Then there's the state level,so within the state of Florida,
Alabama, Wyoming, Oregon, likewherever you are across the
country.
And then, um, then you haveyour state level.
(13:20):
Then you have other agencies,districts, like the water
management districts in yourarea and then you have federal.
So there's contracts everywhere,they're everywhere.
And so I had a podcast guestcome on and he was talking about
his.
I have to give him some propssometimes because I use this
(13:43):
story so often, because it's sogood.
He had a group of friends comeover and it's about 10 friends
and him and his wife hosteddinner and they said before
dinner go ahead and give it.
I'm going to give you a pieceof paper and a pencil and I want
you to go in the backyard andcheck out our fruit and
vegetable garden and name asmany fruit and vegetables that
(14:03):
you can't.
And they all went out andthey're all excited and
everything.
And six of them came backimmediately after and they're
like I can't, there's nothing ontheir piece of paper.
Only four came back withsomething on their paper and the
one that one had four items.
Do you know how many thingsfruits and vegetables they had
in their garden?
Cy?
No way 25.
(14:25):
And so he said to me he goes,if they would die of starvation
because they don't even knowit's there.
This is the thing Governmentcontracts are everywhere.
They're everywhere.
Imagine the roads, the bridges,the city streets, the lights,
everything that blue-collarprofessionals do every single
(14:45):
day.
They're literally building ourworld and they're everywhere.
So if you see a structure, asystem that you do, there's a
contract for it.
That is just how it is.
It's simple.
It's so simple like that.
Does that make sense?
Does that help?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
No, that's exactly.
The answer to my question isbecause you know, of course
there's taxpayers, moneyallocated, budgeted for whatever
bill, et cetera, and whetherthat's at the local or the state
, and you know it's crazy thatyou talk about DOT.
Yeah, we have ARDOT, missourihas MODOT, as it's commonly
(15:23):
referred to, m-o-d-o-t, and theyall have.
Why wouldn't they have thosestate level and then federal?
That's crazy to think about.
And so basically, you guys arethere to tie contractors like
myself that maybe haven't reallystepped foot into this other
(15:44):
than maybe their localmunicipality, local level for
our conversation here.
Our local level contract, butsay somebody that wanted to step
up into the state or thatfederal contract and the horror
stories we have heard, as wellas contractors, about some said
contracts.
It sounds like Ms Melinda ishere to help us get started to
(16:07):
ensure that contractually weavoid some of those horror
stories.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Absolutely Understanding, FAR like the
Federal Acquisition Regulations.
Understanding how business isdone in government is key, but
it doesn't need to becomplicated.
So I like to simplify thecomplicated.
All right, I'm going to saythis Government contracting is
kind of like trying to find aspeakeasy on a Saturday night.
(16:37):
Okay, You're like where is thisplace Looking?
Like every sign.
They're like there's a blueblue sign.
It's like every sign is blue,right, just like where does it
where?
But as soon as you find it, youget in, you know exactly where
it is every single time after.
That's how governmentcontracting is the amount of
paperwork is less than buying ahouse.
(16:59):
Like have you bought a housebefore?
like yes, ma'am right, and allof that stack of papers, hours
and hours.
You're sitting there, yourbutt's tired, right?
But government contracting isnot that.
It's not that at all, right Iknow that's.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's definitely sitting here because, you're
right, it does have a stigmaabout it.
Um, just from the contractorside of things, I'm sitting here
going government contract.
Oh the red tape, the hoops I'mgonna have to jump through just
to be a a legible contractor anddeemed in their eyes in the
state level.
It sounds immediately I'm likeno, no, that doesn't sound like
(17:42):
anything I want to do.
So how does a contractor say,like myself at PsyCon, how would
I go about with your team?
How would I go ahead and getstarted so I can maybe start
seeing the right blue sign?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
All right, so I'm going to walk you through my
five steps, because that's wherewe need to go, okay.
So step number one is prepare.
Okay, there is an abundantamount of opportunities, I don't
care who's in administration.
There is an abundant amount ofopportunities for small
businesses when it comes togovernment contracting, and if
you just dive into governmentcontracting, you will fail
(18:20):
because you'll feel overwhelmed,like I don't know like there's
just so much.
So step one is prepare.
Where do you want to go, likehow much do you want to get?
And this is the frame of mindthat you want to go like how
much do you want to get?
And this is the frame of mindthat you want to have.
It's not I just want to getwhat is available for me.
It is how much do I want?
(18:42):
there is a difference, becauseif you focus on, well, what's
available for me, you know like,oh well, you're going to stay
small and you're going to staystop Guaranteed.
If you focus on, well, what doI want, you get to be picky and
choosy on what type of contractsyou win, what type of
(19:03):
opportunities you win, whichagencies, which departments,
which clients you want to workwith.
I just finished a two-dayworkshop with someone and he's
like you know, I don't want todo any boring contracts.
I want to work with, you know,offices that are actually doing
things to help people create abetter life, right?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Specific, mission-driven, people-driven,
very heart-driven contracts.
And he's getting excitedbecause he gets to decide that
on his own, like nobody'stelling him otherwise.
So that's number one is prepare.
Now we move on to step.
Number two is target.
We need to know who's buyingwhat we're selling.
So when we know who's buyingwhat we're selling, we're going
(19:47):
to be targeted, to buildrelationship with them.
To know who the competitors are, who the contractors are.
And here's what I'm going tosay about competitors in
government contracting.
Competitors are not competitors,they're just other contractors
that want to contract, becausein every single instance they be
, they could potentially becomea prime, a sub, a jv right, your
(20:12):
best friend, you might buytheir business right.
There's so many things thathappen within government
contracts.
You always want to be open tothat.
So that's step number two istarget.
Step number three is strategize.
Now we start to create astrategy.
Okay, so we're going to gotoward it and hit these goals.
This is what we want as castedvision for our business.
(20:34):
These are the contracts that wewant to win with this specific
client.
Why should they pick us?
We want to have thisconversation internally with
your, your team, your wife, yourspouse, everybody.
Okay, because this is a missionthat you're driving forward.
We'll talk more about thatlater, but that strategy is
really, really important beforewe get into.
(20:56):
Step four is submit.
That's when we start creating aprice, a proposal.
And here's the thing.
I've said this before andpeople who usually kind of like
cock their heads to the sidewhen I say pricing tells a story
.
Pricing tells a story.
There's two ways.
There's two standard ways to dopricing in government contracts
.
It's usually best of finaloffer or AKA firm fixed price,
(21:20):
and then there's cost plus, andtypically they'll tell you which
one is which.
But you could tell a story withhow you are writing a price.
If you're the lowest, thenthey're going to expect that
you're not the best Yep, even ifit's best and final.
So there are ways that you wantto be strategic about how you
(21:42):
position yourself in yourproposal and in your bid.
Now step five is track.
I love track because it's aboutiterating and improving and
building relationships.
Do you know that there are somecontracts that never even see
the light of day?
There are contracts regularlyadvertised and never responded
to.
There are contracts that don'trequire to be advertised, that
(22:06):
they're so small that thegovernment can actually pick up
the phone, sai, and call you upand be like, hey, does Sai Khan
complete this contract?
It is so cool, it is so cool.
So the goal is of my five-stepstrategy is to get on their
speed dial.
If you become, especially as ablue collar, if you could become
(22:27):
on their speed dial, they'llcall you when there is a
national disaster.
Now you're supporting yourcommunity, you're helping your
people, your families, yourfriends have a better life.
So it's changing the mindset.
It's all about mindset here.
Like we're going to be, we'rein the zeros right.
There's millions, billions ofdollars to be won.
And so if you say to yourself,I'm going to limit, I just want
(22:49):
one contract, all I need is justone contract, I'm gonna tell
you it's gonna be harder for youto win that one contract than
it is if you said how many do Iwant.
There's a difference, there'sshift in messaging.
I'm gonna give your audience acouple of ninja tricks.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Is it okay if I just kind of give some love share all
right.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Oh, it's getting good .
Okay, all right, and you listenup?
In the us, they, every singlecity, every state they hold a
meeting, a board meeting, and alot of them are recorded
(23:35):
meetings, meaning that you canpress play and listen to them or
watch them.
Majority of them already havetranscriptions.
Why am I telling you this?
This is where they're talkingabout the problem that they're
about to create an advertisementfor.
This is where they're talkingabout the problem that they're
about to create an advertisementfor.
This is where they're tellingyou who they're going to award
(23:56):
before the rest of the worldknows.
This is when that, if you getinto that space, you know,
basically like you're a fly onthe wall and you know what their
pain points and you can show upand be the hero.
It's kind of like how did youeven know that?
That was you ever seen an ad?
You're like how did you evenknow that about me?
(24:17):
It's kind of creepy, that level.
All right, I'm going to giveyou a second one, okay.
These are things I never evershare outside of my workshops.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Oh, exclusive here on the BCB okay.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Super, super explicit .
So the second tip is whenyou're putting together a
proposal, a price, even an email, you're going to speak in the
in the future tense Like I willdeliver this.
We will work with you, we willmake it happen.
Why?
Because it creates inneuroscience, it creates
(24:49):
momentum.
And so when people are inmomentum, they buy.
So that's another tip.
Okay, I'm going to give you onemore tip.
Oh, okay, I'm going to give youone more tip.
Okay, okay, I'm excited, I'msuper excited.
My mind's like, okay, this this, this, this this, but then this
(25:11):
podcast will be really reallylong.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
So take your time.
They, I promise you.
There is, uh, several memberswatching on the website right
now atbluecollarbusinesspodcastcom, or
they're watching on spotify,our heart, amazon and has
probably.
I.
I don't know if you guys havebeen watching on somewhere where
you can see on visual, but I'vebeen sitting here taking notes
(25:35):
myself, guys.
I mean this is interestingstuff and I'm looking to do it
myself.
I mean this is awesome, do?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
it.
There's nothing holding youback.
That's another tip.
There's nothing holding youback.
So the third tip I'm going toshare is money flow of strategy.
This is fire.
This is going to change yourminds.
This will change theperspective of how you look at
opportunity.
Okay, money flow when there,when anyone says anything in the
(26:08):
media, go find facts.
Okay, that's a side, that's atangent.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I could go there too, just go find the
facts.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
There are facts behind that, but usually when
anyone from the administrationis in the media, they're talking
about a problem or a solution.
Either way, that is going tobecome a contract.
If they start talking about aproblem, like a couple years ago
(26:38):
, um, president biden was in newyork and he was at the train
station and he was talking abouthow he's a kid and he would
ride the station, the train, allday and you just have all these
stories and everything likethat and then oh, by the way, in
that same message he wastalking about the infrastructure
investment jobs act.
Do you know about?
You know about ija?
(26:58):
3.7 trillion dollars?
Yeah, that was an.
Oh, by the way, did it hitmedia in a big way?
no, that was his acknowledgementthat this was just signed, that
this was just passed.
And so, when we listen, thatmoment, when I heard that, I
called all my clients in newyork and I was just like get on
(27:18):
the phone with your governmentclients, your state, local,
county, municipalities, yourdepartments, your agencies,
everyone because contracts arecoming and you want to be in
front of it, not when it'sadvertised, you want to be
before it so that you cansupport how they write it.
So there are things that youcould do.
(27:40):
It's called money flow.
Um, locally, if you seeconstruction in your
neighborhood and you're like, oh, they're just building, it's
way too late for me to getinvolved.
It's a domino effect of cash.
Money is an economy system, soit has to stay in motion.
So, if we look at it from thatperspective, what's the next
thing that they're going to haveto solve in this continuation
(28:04):
of problems?
Right, then we will always beahead of opportunities.
You see, because problemscreate solutions, but solutions
create problems.
We buy a new phone.
You got to get a case, anadapter, a screen and download
all of our apps, but we stillbuy the phone.
So problems are, in my opinion,our way of seeing abundance,
(28:26):
because when there's a problem,there's always going to be a
solution.
But when there's a solution,there's always going to be a
solution.
But when there's a solution,there's always going to be a new
problem.
So that means we're never donesolving problems.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
It's push, pull, give , take in every aspect of the
word.
It's so interesting to hearbroken down so elementary.
Yes, Like you know I've been atthe whole being a contractor
thing for nine years, proud ofit, but haven't even really
(28:59):
spent the time.
And I'm an immigrant myself,like I'm a permanent resident
myself still.
And is there any?
I'm sorry to go off here, butis there?
Do you minorities have an edge?
I know there's always been athing with women-owned
businesses on the utility sideto land public contracts.
So can you speak on that justfor a minute?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
100%.
So disadvantaged certificationsat the state and federal level
are very powerful, and it opensup another conversation about
set-asides.
So, like I said earlier, smallbusinesses have an in when it
comes to government contracts.
So there is also anotherset-aside for minority
(29:43):
businesses, veteran-ownedbusinesses.
Okay, so this is a completelydifferent pool of money and
there are certifications withinthat.
Yeah, so there's certificationsthat you could apply for your
business.
If you're 51% or more ownershipin your business, there's an
ANA certification.
There are so many opportunitiesfor you to leverage who you are
(30:06):
, your identity, and use that towin more government contracts.
And I'll give you another tipor strategy for that.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Please.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
When you're going up against a competitor who has a
minority certification, that'sokay, that's one hundred percent
okay, because you could getyour certification.
You could link arms or partnerwith someone else who has a
bigger past performance orportfolio and compete with them
(30:35):
like you compete against them.
Now that's a different strategybecause a lot of people don't
think about that that you couldbe a subcontractor bringing
value to a prime who doesn'thave a certification yep.
Yep, that becomes adifferentiator.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Wow, I didn't even think about it like that too.
Yeah, that is crazy.
So what do you?
I mean, it sounds just likejust wonderful to just hop right
in.
You know why haven't I donethis?
People are like sitting theregoing.
Why haven't I done this Otherthan your?
Hey, there's this glaring bluesign that we don't see.
(31:14):
Um, let's, let's talk aboutsome of the biggest challenges
that these guys are going toface, walking up and go.
Hey, ms Belinda, I'm ready toget started.
What's, what's these largestchallenges that you've seen over
the years?
Uh, back back when, and nowhere with fortis giving up.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
That's the number one thing, even corporate.
I saw executives, vicepresidents.
They just gave up.
They said, oh man, you know ourcompetitor is going to be going
after this.
They're probably going to winthis.
This rp is written for them.
You know, there's no use, right?
It's just kind of all likesetting yourself up for failure
and you're gonna fail.
(31:56):
Um, so the focus is thealternative of that is just to
put your hat in the race, putyour best foot forward.
Because the thing is, is what Ithe step number five, what I
teach track is about having aconversation with the client.
So if you lose, like, let's say, worst case scenario, you lose.
(32:17):
So what?
You reach out to them and yousay, hey, can.
I schedule a debrief.
And they'll give you a debriefand guess what that's, when you
teach them and tell them aboutyour business and oh, by the way
, do you have potentiallycontract that I need might be a
good fit for this is thisstrategy really works well,
because they'll remember youthat you asked.
(32:39):
It doesn't hurt to ask.
So that's one, that's one, soyou're aware you're familiar
with that strategy.
That's awesome, um, and I wouldsay the.
The second one that I see mostcommon, most common mistake that
contractors make isundervaluing their past
(33:00):
performance, undervaluing yourpast performance.
Oh, I don't have experiencewith government before.
I don't have any contracts, um,I just have.
I've worked with the commercial.
I've worked in the private side.
I've done only residential.
What they care about most isthat you can actually complete
the project, like you couldactually fulfill the scope of
(33:22):
work.
So how you got it is lessimportant than do you got it
right.
So if you have experiencefulfilling the scope of work,
then use that experience.
It is okay, right, this is howwe get into government
contracting.
It's not a chicken and eggsituation.
In government contracting.
(33:42):
They will tell you that lie.
It's a lie.
I know.
I was talking to a friend ofmine, ray, and he was telling me
about a young lady that he metat an event and she was just
starting her business.
She had literally justregistered her LLC and a few
months later he bumped into heragain at a different event and
(34:04):
she said that she won a milliondollar contract for her business
.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Like brand new business.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Why am I saying this?
It's so important to know thatyou have value before you even
start a business, let alone whenyou've been in business.
You just need to know how toposition it, how to package it
right.
It's like well, it's just aboutlike anything.
You know, a bottle of water isa bottle of water is a bottle of
water, but we pay $5, $10, $15for it.
At a stadium, at the airport orat the grocery store.
(34:40):
It's the same bottle of water,it's just packaged differently.
People will buy it.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Oh, I've got to jump on two things you just mentioned
.
You're slinging some salesstrategy here too.
I've got to give you some props,you're not just giving the
audience, descoping and gettingfeedback to somebody like myself
is everything Most of the time.
Okay, talking to you guys thatare in the private sector world,
(35:11):
that work with developers andprivate money, that we don't get
it.
A lot of times we get no man,it just wasn't you and we move
on and there's no feedback,there's no, nothing.
But I will tell you I can'thonestly put my thumb on one
(35:32):
certain situation or other,anyhow, calling the contractor
and go hey man.
Or the developer, hey man, werewe just flat high?
Did you, did you have a pastrelationship?
Never.
Or just give us that keyinformation.
I don't care about the nittygritty, I just let me know where
it went wrong with me.
(35:52):
And then, okay, that brings upthe one major sore subject.
He's going to freaking, tell me.
And then I'm going to tell himhey man, did you know that?
We do this to avoid that?
No, I heard this.
Well, let me just tell you andlet me show you through my
marketing or anyways, that's atotally different subject for
another day.
(36:13):
But prepare so good and targetand strategy way before.
Just, oh, they gave me a ring.
Uh, we're going to throw anumber out and go yes, no, I
agree with you.
Uh, miss Melinda, I think ifsomebody like myself I've got a
salesman and I've got anestimator they would.
They're going to digest allthis information as fast as they
(36:37):
can bring it to me.
We're going to talk about it.
I have gotten to the levelwhere we have some pre-contract
(37:03):
strategy.
Go no-go matrix.
Yes, exactly, yes, exactly.
Strategizing yourself, puttingyourself in that prime position
and reaching out to somebodylike you that's already been
there helps other contractorsand help strategize.
I'll tell you from the bluecollar side we're going to go
hey, man, phone rang.
(37:23):
I think this is a good one here.
Quick draw a price and go oh,just unit price, it'd be all
right.
And send it in.
They need it.
You know, I can't tell you I've.
I've done some crazy stuff likethat.
Yeah, but nobody's there.
There's no resource to call upand go.
(37:44):
Am I been this right?
Or I mean it's just educationis expensive and experience is
priceless and as you go throughthis time after time after time,
you reinvest in yourself.
But just how?
How is there, like a website,that these guys can go and get
certified?
I've heard you say certified acouple of times.
Talk a little bit in detailthere how a contractor can be
(38:05):
certified to be, I guess,visible to the government side.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Okay, so the certifications specifically were
related to minoritycertifications and veteran-owned
certifications, so we're fordisadvantaged businesses.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
But in terms of, I just want to win a contract, you
don't need a certification,Anyone can win it.
Even if you are listening tothis and you do not live in the
United States of America, youcan win a government contract
for your business.
Even if you live in the UnitedStates of America and want to do
(38:41):
business on international soil,you can win government
contracts on international soil.
So there are endlessopportunities Now to answer your
question.
There is a website that I wouldlike to invite your audience to
register for so that I canbreak down the system for them
and answer specific questions.
(39:02):
Live, give them that support inthat direction.
Live.
So it's govconmillionscom.
I'm going to spell it for youg-o-v-c-o-n-m-i-l-l-i-o-n-s.
Trying to do it like aninfomercial, but it didn't work
I heard that little jingle goingon right, sorry,
(39:23):
g-o-v-c-o-n-m-i-l-l-i-o-n-sright.
Govconmillionscom, come hang outwith us.
It's a money party, and what wedo is completely free, by the
way, and what we do is we willguide you through the process.
You'll understand the systemand that way, you can make a
(39:44):
decision how you're going tostart winning government
contracts.
I'm going to tell you this.
For people that are listening,they may say wow, it's a great
idea.
They're going to subscribe andlike this podcast and then
they're going to go home, right,they're going to hang out with
their family and they're goingto forget about this, or it's
(40:05):
going to linger in their mind tothe next project, to the next
project, to the next project,mind, to the next project, to
the next project, to the nextproject.
Time is of the essence.
We don't know how much we haveof it, and so what I'm going to
say is take action now.
So go to govconmillionscom,make sure you're listening to
this podcast, because what weneed to know is right here.
(40:25):
All of the information isavailable to us.
We have to take action on itnow, not just when the time is
right.
We have to take action now.
I lovingly pressure because Ijust want to see people change
their lives and enjoy their lifeand enjoy the lives that they
(40:46):
created.
And it's the next generationthat needs us to show up and
stand up and take action so thatthey can see what the example
is, so that they're not undersomeone else's thumb they're not
under someone else's thumb, sothat they don't have to go
through the hard that we wentthrough, so that they can see
the memory that we've left themthat is greater, so that they
(41:07):
can create a bigger memory fortheir people and their people's
people and their people.
That's real generational wealthis changing the definition of
your last name, and so I sharethat, because it's so important
for me to help legacy builders,generational wealth creators,
who are like I want this vision,I want this idea, but I just
(41:29):
don't have enough hours.
Make the hours or the hourswill be taken from you,
guaranteed.
I love you.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Money is a tool to buy time.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
And if it changed my life?
First time I read it and tookme probably a year past it.
Chewing on money is a tool tobuy time.
Money is a tool like.
But you're right, I was justtalking about the private sector
work and before we go, I reallywant to talk about pricing and
(42:03):
say you know, there's acontractor out there listening,
or maybe this is an estimatorsitting out there listening and
he wants to.
He sees a potential on agovernment contract.
This is his first go around.
How does that differ?
How are we going to pricethings differently?
Obviously differ.
(42:24):
How are we going to pricethings differently?
Obviously, govcon can help youand direct you in which way.
But maybe a broad overview ofhow pricing is going to be
different than in the governmentcontract space, compared to,
say, a guy like myself, andmainly the private sector side.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
That's such a good question.
Okay, Hi, overview.
So because I also do privateand government contracting, I
see both sides of that.
Um, I have premium programs, Ihave mid-size programs.
It just really depends on mypricing and how I value my
(42:59):
offers right On the private side.
That's one thing.
On the government contractingside, there is margin that you
could have.
There's definitely you can makeprofit on that right side, but
it's not going to be thisexorbitant amount of profit
you're seeing in private side.
So the strategy that Irecommend, that I teach my
(43:23):
clients, is to use governmentcontracts to stabilize your
business.
Like the overhead, the cost ofdoing business, employee labor,
like all of the taxes, all this.
Use government contracting tostabilize that so that you can
deal with the ups and down, thevolatility of having a business
(43:44):
private sector.
That way you're.
You're not showing up fearfuland giving a low number and just
like kicking yourselfafterwards like they said yes
too fast, right, right, youcould take the time to be really
strategic and use governmentcontracting as an authority
builder.
So say that, yes, this is astandard for government
(44:05):
contracting, this scope of work,I am delivering this right now,
right, and so that becomes avalue add to your private sector
clients.
But also prime.
On the private sector there ismore opportunity to increase
your profits just by saying youdo business with the government.
So it's just.
(44:26):
I can go into the weeds withthis in terms of strategy, but
high level, the profit marginsare going to be higher in
private sector.
That way you can use governmentcontracting to stabilize your
business and you can deal withthe volatility.
Stabilize your business and youcan deal with the volatility.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
So it sounds like what you're telling me is we're
going to find good volume,you're going to have stable
workflow, they're going to payon time.
You know it's coming and there'sgoing to be some margin there,
but it's not going tonecessarily be the home runs
(45:04):
like you can on the private side.
But it sounds like this can bea good payroll stability for you
to go out and take these riskson these higher private jobs
that may take 90, 120 days topay.
You can still make payroll withthe government's money that's
coming in every month and you'vegot your crew set up making a
(45:25):
little bit of money with them.
And so I think that is a hugekey thing because I can tell you
from inexperience andexperience of myself is walking
into the private sector worldand be like let's just start
bidding all this work and justdoing it all and you end up with
cash flow problems like he'snever seen and you got this guy
(45:48):
paying you 100 100 days late andthis guy paying you in 35 days
and you got this guy over herepaying you in 90 days, and it's
just super volatile.
Never know when you're going toget paid till the day before
you're going to get paid, andthere is no planning, there is
no forecasting.
So if you can inject a, agovernment, a, a more flat lined
(46:12):
or upward trending line,however you want to depict it,
but you know it's consistentlythere 100, yes, exactly talk
about scaling with governmentcontracts real quick.
I mean, I just touched on thatjust a little bit, but go ahead
and talk about that.
Oh boy, you're gonna like oh,this is so good.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
These are all.
I just love these conversations.
Okay, I want to add somethingto that, because just a year ago
, right, a lot of businesseswere relying on banks.
And what did banks do?
They said, nope, we're notloaning any more money anymore
(46:52):
to any businesses right nowbecause of a quote, unquote
recession.
That's another conversation,but that's what happened
conversation.
But that's what happened.
And a lot of tradesmen reallysuffered through that time
because they couldn't exactlywhat you just said 30, 60, 90s,
whatever the net was.
They were behind.
The clients were behind becausethey were waiting to get paid,
(47:15):
and that impacted your wallet.
Imagine something like thathappening again and you're not
winning government contractsright now.
Imagine something like thathappening again and you're not
winning government contractsright now.
That is where I mean now you'redealing with your.
You don't have to worry aboutyour credit, your business
credit.
(47:35):
You're not having to worryabout having to, like, stomp in
and beg for a line of creditanymore, like you can set that
up freely.
You can just breathe and knowthat I'm not.
I'm not worried about the bankgiving me a loan.
I'm going to go get contractsto leverage this time so that I
can just get over the hump right.
When there's a dark time,contracts are still flowing.
(47:55):
When there is a high season,contract is still flowing, like
every season.
Because currently, right now,during this administration, when
there is an up and down and alot of media nonsense, contracts
are flowing.
My clients are still winninggovernment contracts.
So what I'm saying is like,when everything seems to be not
(48:15):
working, government contractshave been working and it's going
to continue to do that foranother 250 years.
Um, so scaling what I love aboutthis government contract
scaling, man sigh, you're askinglike the really the best
questions and I want to pull outmy whiteboard and be like this
is what it is right.
(48:36):
Um, but so scaling it makes iteasier.
Like it's just, we call itGovCon stacking.
So GovCon stacking is addingmultiple contracts on top of
each other and staggering themacross a Gantt chart.
Like, imagine you have a Ganttchart, quarter to quarter, month
(48:57):
to month, and you're trying tofigure out the.
You know the workability rightand you're trying to figure out
the workability right, youroverhead resources, man hours,
et cetera, tools and equipment,things like that.
You will know ahead of time,the majority of contracts that
(49:17):
came from that $4.4 billion werebacklog contracts, meaning that
they won the contract and theyknew that they had months,
sometimes weeks.
Won the contract and they knewthat they had months, sometimes
weeks, to prepare for thosecontracts before they came out.
So imagine that, like you'renot going to get an award and
say we need you right now.
I mean that's going to beconsidered a uh, an immediate
emergency or natural disasterkind of situation.
You're going to have time toprepare, to hire, to train, to
(49:45):
rent the right equipment, topurchase the right equipment,
get your equipment leaseagreements All of that set up
before you even start thecontract.
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
In private side it's hey, I just signed a contract,
You're going to be out theretomorrow.
I need to fill up tomorrow.
I need dirt turning tomorrow.
I need I got all these people.
I need you there tomorrow.
Interest clocks running myexpense clocks running like like
we, I get it boys but like canI at least you know maybe plan
how to get all my equipmentthere, yeah?
so, um, it absolutely would onlymake it easier, and I'm and I'm
(50:22):
kind of kicking myself,especially being a minority
owned business uh, never, reallysounds like I'll be heading to
govconmillionscom.
So, um, what about bond?
Okay, last question, just justfor my own intrigue here sure,
what about bonding?
Are we having to bond all theseprojects, or they will request.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
So in the rfp.
The same thing with searchcertificates of insurance, right
?
So this goes back to target.
If you, if you know the typesof clients that you want to work
with state, local, federal youcan go to their website and they
have a copy of their agreementson their website.
You know ahead of time, beforean advertisement comes out, what
(51:06):
you need before you need it.
So bonding requirementsabsolutely you need a bonding
letter to include in your RFPsor your proposals when you
respond, or your bids.
Certificates of insurancehowever, like I said, there's
different ways to bid.
So you could bid as asubcontractor.
The prime owns theresponsibility of the contract.
(51:27):
They can hold the bond and theinsurance.
You can have insurance, ofcourse, for your business, but
you don't need bond because theyhave it Right.
So there's different strategiesthat you can go about it
depending on the size of thecontract, your comfortability.
Go about it depending on thesize of the contract, your
comfortability.
But again it goes back to theprocess.
It's like step one where do wewant to go?
(51:48):
Step two right.
Who do we want to target?
Step three, then how do westrategize?
That's when we pull in partners.
Right In your own community,Sai, you could probably create
partners to win governmentcontracts.
Wouldn't that be amazing?
Like, wouldn't that be amazing?
Like, yeah, would that beamazing?
Like just, oh my gosh, so cooltalk about community local level
(52:08):
.
Speaker 1 (52:09):
I the we talk about it on this show every single
episode.
Relationships are everything,relationships are everything.
And I've got episodes umtalking with engineer inspectors
and civil engineers andstructuralists and I've got
episodes um talk I guess I don'thave anybody from the city
level but uh, those city entityrelationships are huge,
(52:34):
especially for a utilitycontractor.
I know there's so many othertypes of contractors out there.
But, um, find your local levelthat has reoccurring work coming
out.
And you're absolutely right,melinda was hey, find the
minutes from the last meeting.
Find out what they're allcomplaining about and provide a
solution and they'll figure outhow to fund it.
(52:56):
So, absolutely so, that's a bigtestament.
All right, my last thing for you.
I've got for you that I askevery single person that comes
on this show, number one, beforeI go there.
Thank you so much for just theinsight today.
(53:16):
That was insane on governmentcontracts.
But for the, the blue collarmen and working men and woman
out there who is just sick andtired of being stuck in the mud
in a trap, in the mental trap,in the physical trap, and they
just got to get up and they gotto do it again, I think you may
(53:38):
have number one, giving them alittle insight on a way out.
Maybe if you know thatentrepreneur is looking for work
, but even down to the guythat's just starting out in the
trades world, is this really forme?
Talk, talk a little bit to themabsolutely 100.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
It is for you, it's for anyone, anyone.
It's for anyone that wants abetter life.
That's how I'll say it.
It's for anyone that wants abetter life.
That's how I'll say it.
It's not just governmentcontracting.
Right, government contractingis a vehicle.
It's about knowing having thatknowledge, education and the
experience winning governmentcontracts.
(54:15):
That's the unlock.
It is the partnerships that youbuild.
It's the relationships youbuild.
It's knowing how the governmentworks, beyond what the media
says, like.
It's actually knowing whereyour tax dollars are going and
how it gets recycled back to you.
It's about knowing things thatwe take for granted every single
day.
Listen, I worked for AEC firmsarchitect, engineering,
(54:39):
construction firms in thecommercial side.
I worked for big constructionfirms, huge construction firms
in the commercial side.
I worked for big constructionfirms, huge construction firms.
Okay, I worked for engineering.
Mep, av, lv.
I know this world, this, Iunderstand this world.
The thing that really just likehurts my heart is y'all build
this world and you don't evenrealize it, and so this, this
(55:02):
money, is for you.
It's not something that youwant to sleep on.
You want to take advantage ofit.
So if you're tired, I get it.
Keep going.
We need a better world.
If you're just frustrated withthe system, I get it.
The word government is supposedto scare you away, which means
that you need to run after itanyway, because those
(55:24):
opportunities are set up for you, right?
Don't give them to someone else.
Stop just like skipping overthese opportunities and doing it
the hard way, like if you wantto keep doing the hard thing and
expecting a different result,right?
Or do you want to do somethingeasy and make it your life
better?
You've already done the hard,you've already worked hard.
(55:46):
Just make it easy for yourself,and that's one of the hardest
things you can do, but it's themost rewarding things that will
that you could do.
That will transcend this senseof time for your life, for your
family, the sense of time foryour life for your family.
I mean, just look at your kids,your spouse, your friends for
(56:07):
your, your staff, your employees, your subcontractors, like,
think about their lives and whatthis could do for them.
So what I would say to that isjust um, let's just go back to
loving people and their valueand um, and we stay focused on
our skills and talents assomething that is very valuable,
because I appreciate everysingle one of you.
I've seen exactly.
(56:28):
I used to work for asustainability engineering firm.
Okay, I understand ananofiltration and I wish I
didn't know what that was.
Okay, so, I understand whatpotable water is and I get
scared every time I hear itacross the news when there is a
storm, okay and so I know youguys are working your butt off
(56:49):
water treatment plants,wastewater treatment plants oh
my gosh.
I don't even know why they're.
They're on my way to publics.
I don't even understand whythey're on my way to the grocery
store but they're there for us.
Speaker 1 (57:02):
I'll tell you, it's the lowest point.
It's the lowest point in yourtown, that's all.
Gravity flows downhill.
Speaker 2 (57:09):
I know, oh my gosh.
I I know, I'm sure.
I just try not to think aboutit but, but, um, but it's so
necessary, because what if wedidn't have those things?
Speaker 1 (57:23):
Oh, God, everybody would be sick.
I sick, I don't, I don't wantto go back.
I don't want to go back in time, not on things like plumbing.
Come on, no no.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
So why I'm saying all of that is to kind of like,
beat your chest and realize thatyou have some real power and
control and authority, and sobecause of that you need to just
go get what's yours, go get it,just go get it, just go get
it's yours, go get it.
Just go get it, just go get it.
Just stop with the excuses.
Stop tomorrow, just go get itright now, because that's yours
that is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
I really appreciate your time.
I am very intrigued to find outa little bit more and I hope we
stay in contact and continuethis conversation for myself, uh
, alone, the audience members.
But, guys, if you've loved thisepisode and this is the type of
(58:11):
content if this is the firstepisode you're joining with us
number one thank you.
If you're a returning member, Ireally appreciate you guys more
than you know.
I am starting to get someemails and messages from you
guys about how the show isadding value back to you and I
know this episode hopefullyhelped a few of you.
And if it did, let me know.
(58:33):
Go tobluecollarbusinesspodcastcom,
get in, contact us or maybebecome a sponsor.
If you've got a product orservice that we can help you
sell right here on the BlueCollar Business Podcast, we'd
love to get behind it and helpyou guys as a team.
But, ms Melinda, thank you somuch for your time and for this
(58:55):
insight.
Go, check out govconmillionscomand until next time, you guys,
be safe.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like,
share it with the fellers.
Check out our website to sendus any questions and comments
about your experience in theblue card business.
Who do you want to hear from?
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