The ($13B) Secret to Business Growth.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
There was a time people counting leave out put there
moping me. I'm walking sun that.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I got to know to know what that says. But
what I believe that God's that day. I don't need
you to bother me. I know who I help.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm created me on my reflet what my eyes did
to see all the bignessyphosis unless possibility, but I see

(01:02):
pay shut.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
It again me.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
There is no time really spend for the outside door
and the fetal window.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Bad boys, the insults still itself paid delitions and cans.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
They are the simple monad bye.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Something not take your mind for pay.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
You'll buy your pleas and think you want following this play,
can we must die?

Speaker 1 (01:48):
All? Wait?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Then it's nine neither st reflip mad.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
Welcome.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
Welcome to another segment of the Seek Elevation Experience with
yours truly, Attorney Alakeisha. Yes, I'm an attorney, but if
I ever talk about anything dealing with legal I am
not giving you legal advice. I am conversing with legal education.
For you to take that information and learn more, I

(02:27):
will have to know your specific situation to give you
actual legal advice. But here on this platform, this is
where real issues, real people and real, for real, for
real conversations takes in a stage. I say this over
and over again, I will contain to say it. Change
doesn't happen in silence. When it's time for you to speak,

(02:52):
utilize your voice. So from sports and entertainment to business
and community, we elevate the voices that need to be heard,
ready to be heard. That's from people that I bring
here to grace our stage, to grace your ears and
your mind. That's times when I'm solo, and that's even

(03:15):
you engaging with your questions, thoughtful questions. But here we
don't just talk right, we're empower we inspire. We definitely
challenge the status quo, but we also connect create that circle.
Why are we hearing what we want to hear? Why
do we come to the table to hear someone deliver

(03:37):
or share what they're going to share?

Speaker 5 (03:39):
I hope it's not just to hear it.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
And what I've been seeing since I've started this season
segment is a lot of connections happen. And through those connections,
when you hear people that come on here and you
find like minded people or those opportunities for you to
elevate and you connect you do my heart well, you
do your life well. And that's why I expect from

(04:02):
our guests today too. Oh, I'm excited to bring our
guests on major, major energy. Anytime she enters the room, energy,
it shifts, it shifts. We'll be talking about a lot
today and we'll see what the flow takes us. But
we just talk about a secret weapon, one that I
think a lot of individuals don't know about, don't talk about,

(04:26):
probably think it doesn't apply to them. But we're gonna
get into that, especially for entrepreneur's secret weapon.

Speaker 5 (04:35):
I believe it is. So we're gonna get into that.
So if you're tuning in already, I advise you to,
you know, share tax someone let them know.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
But I also advise you to hear and if you
hear something that you do not understand, to ask questions.
So let's get ready to get into it. I'm going
to go ahead and introduce.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Our guests. Are lovely guests.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
Who is a powerhouse. She definitely is a powerhouse. And
I will tell you one thing. She definitely has brain
processing power, Miss Linda Chapman.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
I mean, she's the founder.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
She's a founder, a business strategist, a serial entrepreneur with
over thirty years of experience helping women, veterans, entertainers, and
athletes transition from the mindset and focus of just influence
to influence and infrastructure. She helps to put them in

(05:38):
a position to build real businesses that can leave real legacies.
Now you know that, that's what I speak about all
the time, why we're doing what we're doing. You may
define what legacy means to you differently, but it means
something that sustains past you.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Right.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
But she helps these small businesses and she helps them to.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Navigate this complex world of government contracting, right, and she
helped individuals win. But she's not just I keep saying
help them with contracts. She's not just assisting with contracts.
So let me just slow down. She's not just assisting
with contracts, she's commanding them. There is a total difference,

(06:26):
is this, And it's that you know, people say we
are not the same. This is that This highlights that
she doesn't just assist with contract she's commanding them. She
has negotiated and managed over thirteen point two billion and
federal contracts and she's built like this, this.

Speaker 5 (06:45):
Entire ecosystem, I should say.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
Of brands that confuse entrepreneurship, technology, purpose, and power. And
I say those later three to the latter three. They're
so necessary right now in our time, right now. We
always looking for other ways, digging other ways to be
impactful right now. But we really have to understand how

(07:08):
to look how look at how technology, purpose and power can.

Speaker 5 (07:15):
Be fused together.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Through the app Diva, her tech brand, she co develops
revenue generating apps with CEOs, which I tell individuals, your
CEOs of yourself.

Speaker 5 (07:30):
Anyway, but you have to operate like that, get you know.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
CEOs continue to level up creatives and athletes who are ready.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
I must say this again, who are ready.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
There's a difference you connect with people when you say
you want to level up, say it, versus when you
are ready. So she helps these individuals who are ready
to expand their empires into the digital space. And the
one thing I can say, we're definitely like minded. Linda

(08:08):
believes that one brand shouldn't box you in like it.
Your brand is success, your brand is a legacy, Your
brand is achieving your goals.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
That's not boxed right.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
So her journey, and as we get to hear more
about it tonight, is a masterclass in building multiple brands
that speaks to every layer of who an individual can
be strategic SOLFO and you can be scalable and I'm

(08:46):
a living example of that. So with no further ado,
I am going to bring our guests to the stage. Hi,
I told you did it already. Shit so much for
having me listen. No, I thank you so much for

(09:10):
coming on here and grasing us with your presence. So
the pleasure is mine and you're welcome as well.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (09:17):
First, I say thank you so much for actually getting it.
You're the first podcast and I've been on tons that
knows how to connect the dots. I'm like, well, I'm
just not miscontracts and grants, but I'm everything. I'm everything
CEO because a CEO's we need technology. You know, we
we you know some of us are dating and relationships

(09:39):
in our sixties, you know some of them. We're all
dealing with family. So all of my brands speak to
everything that the CEO needs. And as you get that,
it's not the fact that I get to talk about
everything and how they relate to one another that is amazing.
So I just wanted to say thank you so much
for for recognizing that they all talk to each other.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
They all talk to each other.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
And I tell individuals that for life in general, like
what you're doing, all your touch points talk to each other.
There's no separations. Like evenen I talked to athletes and said, okay,
you're focusing on sports, but you know you are a business,
right and you know you have CEO and you and same.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
Thing entertainment all the way around.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
So there's touch points and even what those of us
do to help individuals, it's not this box either, right,
it's this thing that one people say, you know, think
out of the box. Think go out of the box.
I have gotten to a point in my life where
I said, crush that box. Why why are you're in one?

Speaker 5 (10:35):
Anyway, Let's get rid of a box and create whatever
we are creating. So no, I'm more very.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
So.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
I usually do the open introduction for individuals, but.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
I always want them to just from their own words,
just tell people like, you know who you are or
whatever it is that you want them to know before
we get started, not just from my intro of who
I see you are.

Speaker 5 (11:02):
So let you know, well, hey, I'm you know.

Speaker 6 (11:05):
I am a serial entrepreneur. You got that right, been
in business for thirty years. For thirty years, and I've
been it's almost as if when I started it was
I got not planned on. I started as a nonprofit
and so I kind of just went from a nonprofit

(11:25):
and and we'll probably get into that with some of
the questions. But what I want people to know most
about me is that I try to touch every single
layer of their life, everything from business, you know, to family, uh,
to dating and relationships because so many of us are
in that pool right now.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
And technology.

Speaker 6 (11:44):
I remember, you know, long before AI came out, you know,
I was like, man, if I could just ought to.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Make my brain and faund there comes AI and I
and it literally has done that. So yeah, just pretty
much everything that touches the EOS life, I have a
brand that contributes to that, and and and and that's
that's kind of it. In a nutshell. I love it.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
So I'm gonna pick up a pick up from there.

Speaker 4 (12:10):
Then, like, let's back up a little bit, and we're
not even gonna talk about just necessarily what inspired you
right in your journey to step into this world of
federal contracts. Just now, I want you to just give
us a little overview of kind of what inspired inspired
you to help people in the manners of the way
that you help them. So probably more than likely it

(12:30):
starts with us something that we needed, we are we
needed at a particular time. So let's back up on, Linda,
just talk about what that looked like as you're walking
up through your journey.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
That kind of it starts.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Web contracts and grants. That was my that was my
flagship brand.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (12:48):
And believe it or not, I had a nonprofit and
I had a nonprofit where I was transitioning to women
from Webetter Work.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
It's actually how I got to Georgia.

Speaker 6 (12:56):
I was a White House appointed to the Web Federal
Work Advisory Board because I had transitioned more women from
Web for the work than anyone else in.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
The country, in the country at a at a pay
rate much higher than everyone else.

Speaker 6 (13:08):
Everybody else was getting jobs, you know, like housekeeping jobs
seven dollars an hour.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Our average.

Speaker 6 (13:15):
Per hour rate in the eighties, excuse me, in the
nineties was like seventeen.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Bucks an hour.

Speaker 6 (13:23):
And so what happened was I was really good at
doing that. But what I found was that more people
were more excited about the fact that I had done
my own five oh one C three and.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
Got my own contracts than they weren't with the results
of what I was doing.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
I had, you know, I had Marriott ups.

Speaker 6 (13:42):
At that time there was a web of the work
initiative in place, so I had them saying, oh, could
you come in and build a web of the work
When I was like, the way I'm training these people, Lord,
I don't want to do I'm not a consultant, I
teached I'm a trainer.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
And after my contract ended, I had.

Speaker 6 (14:00):
Had so many people who wanted me to come on
as a consultant to help them start a nonprofit get.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Contracts and funding. And that's how it started. It started
with something as.

Speaker 6 (14:11):
Simple as people needing that, and then as time went on,
I developed additional brands to support that. The one that
came next was Contracts in Capital eight and fourteen, which
is of course not sports and entertainment brand. And then
there's the app Deva because at that point I needed
tools to help me do what I did better and faster,

(14:34):
so I created apps for CEOs because I have a
busy life, so I figured everybody else had a busy
life too, And then now as a result of the
last seven years. And this is my latest brand. You
don't even know about this one.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
It is called Emotional Ammudity.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
It's my journey through grief, heartbreak and business transformation. In
the last seven years, I've lost the an immediate family
member every single year, our business partner, our close friend,
and I also was in a relationship and that relationship
and it was just another.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Loss, not so much the relationship per se. It was
just another loss. And then AI came. I had to
transform my entire business.

Speaker 6 (15:19):
So I was like, I got to get this out.
I gotta get it out. So emotional Immunity is exactly
what it sounds like. It's right after the science of vaccines.
It means staying and dealing with your pain instead of
not trying to deal with it. And the first second
book is called Healing with the Ones that Broke Me.
So just like a vaccine, you know, you get you

(15:39):
get that, you get injected with the very disease that you're.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Trying to not be cured from. But what happens is
you build up for tolerance and eventually you have an immunity.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
Uh. And so that's and then our last technology project
is plus one, which is basically a where business meets lifestyle.
You know, everybody I do business with, you know what,
they like socializing too. So we put that together, did
a great job with that. And that's the two newest
products that we have out right now.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
And I got to tell you.

Speaker 6 (16:12):
When you do business, when when you do people do
business with who they like and you know that. And
so for me to be able to have the opportunity
to have my clients, you know, also put them together
for business. And I cannot man give you an example.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Of the of the epitomy of work. All right. So
there's this young young lady, her name is Toya. She
was already a client of mine. Okay, this is this
is what plus one is all about.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
It.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
And it came because you know, uh, you know, I was.

Speaker 6 (16:45):
Always invited to stuff and I didn't always you know,
I was married, so my husband was.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
In DC at the time when we had dual residency.
So I was like, I can go. I don't need
a date. I just want to go to the party.
I want to go to the super Bowl. So that
was that's where it came from. But Saturday, last Sunday for.

Speaker 6 (17:01):
Our season opener, I put my season opener tickets Falcons
on my plus one app saying, Hey, who would like
to be my plus one for the Falcons game? Well,
she replied, she was already and we were already doing business.
Will come to find out she's a major Falcons fan.
But her first cousin is vice president of events at

(17:24):
Mercedes Bans, a relationship that I wanted.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
So of course I chose her. So she came, we
would had club seats and I got to meet her.
She came to our section. So that's exactly what plus
one is about.

Speaker 6 (17:38):
It's about taking my business relationships and exposing them to
social experiences and allowing other people to do the same thing.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
And so that's just the kind of.

Speaker 6 (17:47):
Whole gamut of everything that we got going on now.
And that's kind of how I got started. I got
started literally doing and now it was a nonprofit.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
I was doing community work and I should have been
writing because listen, that is some amazing things that you
have going on too, and it makes sense how all
of it ties together as well. I want to go
back to what you said you was doing. Is it
to make sure I was hearing correctly? Is it welfare
to work?

Speaker 3 (18:12):
Yeah? Well, from the work.

Speaker 6 (18:13):
Back in the eighties, President Clinton had a had a Welfare.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Of Work, well, Welfare of Work Initiative was what it was.

Speaker 6 (18:23):
And at that time, you know, corporations were required to
have welfare of work programs because at that time, women
had to work in order to get They either had
to work or go to training.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
In order to get their benefits. And I kind of
see that that's kind of going back to that.

Speaker 6 (18:39):
And the name of my organization at that time was
called Power and it was an acronym for providing Opportunities
for welfare reform and that's what I did.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
And so now it looks like that's gonna kind of
kick back up.

Speaker 6 (18:49):
So if there's anybody out there who's looking to have
a training program that is tried and true and we
want to get a contract, because I can guarantee you
that's gonna be a lot of state agency is going
to be looking for try especially if they require that
from those individuals that are receiving assistance.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
So great program.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
So when you did that, though, when you was helping
women from welfare to work for you on your own
personal side, business side, you were landing contracts or landing
some type of partnerships that they people were seeing.

Speaker 5 (19:20):
It was like, I know you're having me here, but
how are you doing this? Is that what you were saying?

Speaker 6 (19:24):
Well, what happened was I got a contract with this
with with the with the state of Maryland at the time,
and so they would send people to me.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
I had a program I had, you know, I wrote,
I wrote, they had put the RP out.

Speaker 6 (19:37):
I wrote it, you know wan and I basically said, hey,
I And at that time I was I was I
was paralegal, and it was a majority, you know, majority company.
But I noticed that of the few blacks, I would
always I was always helping them, and every time I
would sit with them and talk to them and track them,
but I would get promotions.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
So I'm like, hey man, I'm kind of great at this.
The guy was in the mailroom is now big time
in the I T department and and so that's that's
how I started.

Speaker 6 (20:06):
I just trained them, and then I went out to
major corporations and said, hey, look, I tell you what
I'm gonna do. I'm not gonna be one of those
training programs where people come and see it for an
hour and fill out paperwork.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
I rented and I was like a mansion, and I
turned every room into a different industry.

Speaker 6 (20:24):
And I even had a childcare center on site, and
I made those ladies come as if they were at
a job. The receptionist was my recession. I had a
position for every one of them. So when it was
time to graduate, they had They were already used to
coming to the coming to the office every day for
forty hours, you know, excuse me a week for forty hours.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
They knew how to dress, they knew how to speak.

Speaker 6 (20:44):
I felt whatever talent they had, that's where I put
them and Marriott ups when I tell you, on graduation,
we had major corporations fighting.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
That's how we got such a high price point.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
They were fighting over our women because they had come
to the training center and they literally saw literally saw
what we were doing and how we were doing it,
and they were like.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
No, I'll take that when not that one. This was
helping in that one.

Speaker 6 (21:12):
And I had graduation for them and sometimes that was
the first time that some of those ladies that ever didn't.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Walk across the stage and it was so amazing. I
love doing that. That was that was a great time
in my life.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
That sounds astounding. First of all, you went above and
beyond what you were brought there. I mean, obviously something
that's natural that you do. We need more of views
duplicated in so many different industries because we, you know,
limit people based on what their current circumstance may be
and we don't know why, right, we label them because
of that, instead of putting them in positions not to

(21:44):
only get opportunities, but put them in position to train
for more and more other opportunities that are beyond what
we were supposed to give them. Like that is amazing.
Did you segue out of that? Once you start doing
that with individuals training them you put I mean, the
creativity is just off the charts.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's just wild.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
How you just said that and you use a different rooms.
So when you segue out of that, how did you
go next? And how did you identify who I'm actually
going to help because right at.

Speaker 6 (22:13):
That time you were being sent Yeah in other words,
well that at that time, and I'm sure Georgia has
something similar. Now, I was on an approved list, and
that meant that when they went to d Facts to
you know, sign their paperwork or you know, sign up
for their for their talents, they would look and the

(22:33):
caseworker would match them up with the program that they
thought was the best for them. But I was the
only one that had child care because I knew that
that was a barrier. I had transportation. I got a
van and I was like, y'all want to go to work, y'all.
And and one of the role of the ladies was
a driver. So I was like, okay, you can be
the driver, you could be the reception, you could be

(22:54):
the daycare.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
For about it. Because one of the young ladies wanted
to have her own daycare. I was like, okay, we'll
get your training right here.

Speaker 6 (22:58):
And so everybody had a role. It was a role
that they could go out and do for real because
they were real business roles. Uh. And so at that
point that's just kind of how I you know, they came,
uh and they were they were called referrals. But you know,
I had such a long waiting list because it was,
you know, it was just my training center. And at
that time, my competition was I forgot. I thought man

(23:20):
man was it not man power? It was man something
I forget with this, But they were like there was
there was well no man Power was a staffing agency,
but it was started with an m it was something else.
But everybody was trying to get into the into the
business because there was a lot of money in it
at that time, a lot of contracts at that time,
and so uh you know, but those programs couldn't touch

(23:40):
mine because they had those people going in and sitting
in a in a big old conference room filling out
job applications. Ah like that ain't no training because you
got paid when they personally got their job. And I
was like, okay, well I built my price because I said,
I'm gonna send this person out on the job hunt tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
They don't even know what they're doing. Let me get
them for a month, let me teach them, let me try,
and then I'll do that.

Speaker 6 (24:01):
So the process was literally the life cycle of getting
off welfare and getting a job.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
That was what it was intended to be.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
That's amazing even I've never even heard about such programs
that I know, especially in my college years. I did
get public assistance.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
I was.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
Fortunate enough to have social workers who seen what I
was doing as a college student, and they were kind
of circumventing some of the stuff that you're supposed to
do to help support me and move forward, but you're
in that part of that system, not because you always
hear the other side, right, We always hear those who
are getting assistants they're just lazy, focused on We always
hear the negative side.

Speaker 5 (24:43):
We don't hear about one. We don't know why.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
And people got to be very careful. You don't know
when you get a position ever have assistance, but we
never hear about the people in there who are taking
their position even more seriously to help position them. Well,
you started focusing on, you know, like you said, entertainers, athletes,
and I pointed, you know, veterans, women. What made you
start to shift to focus on the specific individuals you

(25:06):
started focusing on?

Speaker 6 (25:08):
Well, I had when I first, you know, started the program,
the person who actually actually she sat on.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
A gazillion boards, my mentor, doctor Mary Walker. She's she's
gone out, but she kind.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
Of took me under her wing, and so I learned
the whole government space with her. And so I was
doing ADA certifications. I was doing GSA schedules way back
in the eighties. Mab, I've been I've been doing AA
cert I've been doing ADA when you girl, when you
had to send them in binders, and so though I

(25:41):
noticed that the people who needed my help the most
at that time because ADA was just coming out.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
It was just coming out.

Speaker 6 (25:46):
So most of the people I was working with were
small aighta excuse me, small minority businesses that were trying
to get ADA certified. And that's how I got specialized
in doing, you know, working with those in socioeconomic groups.
Then the service to say, well veteran certification came out,
and then woes became out, so they're all certification, which,

(26:07):
by the way, I just want people to understand, because
this is one fact that most people don't really understand,
that certification is not based solely on ownership.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
It's based on control.

Speaker 6 (26:19):
So you've got a lot of people out here who
think that there's you know, I'm a woman owned business
or a man who will put a business in his
wife's name, thinking oh, okay, well she can get certified.
Well no, sir, she's been a housewife or life. And
they look at her resume they realize she doesn't control
the company. And that's why certifications are you know, are
usually rejected because there's not been somebody to be able

(26:40):
to demonstrate that the soo socio economic designated person is
not the person in control. And there's all kind of
other ways for control as well. For example, if you
only have one customer and y'all share office space and
he has some say so in your business, that person
has control. So it's not just our ownership, it's about

(27:01):
who influences the company on.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
The day to day.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
Can you explain to them since we kind of got
there real quick because don't want to get off of it.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
Certifications, Yeah, I had got the like my law firm certified,
we bank and other stuff, and like you said, it's
very strangent, like you have to understand and know.

Speaker 5 (27:18):
But why are certifications?

Speaker 4 (27:19):
Why should some individuals, especially you know, business owners of
course consider certification.

Speaker 5 (27:24):
How would that help position them?

Speaker 3 (27:28):
It's a smaller pond. It is a smaller pond.

Speaker 6 (27:31):
So you know, you got set sides and so you know,
only people who have a certain designation can actually you know,
respond to those RFPs. Now, the other thing is some
of them are also contract vehicles, meaning service disabled BETT
is a certification, but you can also get a sole

(27:52):
source contract. So as a a ADA is a certification
for minorities, but you can also get a soul source contract.
And that's s l E meaning a contract that is
awarded to you without having to be it's negotiated. And
so those are the certifications that are most important unless
you are oftentimes fulfilling the need of a prime to

(28:15):
meet certain requirements. So those certifications that are not contract
vehicles are a great way to get your foot in
the door with the company as a subcontractor so that
you can build your past performance. But if you are
a company that once you have built your past performance
and you are ready to prime, then you need to
start looking at those certifications that also act as contract vehicles.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
And can you explain to them because some of our
listeners or viewers now listeners that will listen on to podcast,
may you can understand some terminology. So with the RSPs,
can you explain to them what that is? And then
the second question is the certification can you kind of
explain what businesses would benefit because some people think they wouldn't.
But I got sort of fighted out was hearing all

(28:59):
different type of businesses that we're getting composed those forces
and everything.

Speaker 5 (29:05):
So those are two things I would like you to
address now.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Are also called solicitations are bids same thing and you know.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
That's that's you know, there's a centralized depository called SAM
and all the opportunities that the government has are in
that system.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
And so you gotta bid, you gotta do the paper.
Even with the sole source, there's paperwork.

Speaker 6 (29:31):
So you definitely have to go through the process of
understanding the life cycle of one identifying the opportunity, two
vetting the opportunity, three capturing the opportunity. Now, let me
tell you the difference. Vetting means, oh, yes, I can
do the work. Capture means how likely is it that

(29:52):
I will win? And I just posted this about this yesterday.
The one thing people don't do. Most people run straight
to the scope for work and they just head down.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
Not in the proposal.

Speaker 6 (30:05):
There's a section called Section M Evaluation factors. Every federal
proposal has a Section M, and it tells you how.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
The government is going to award that.

Speaker 6 (30:20):
They tell you past performance, price or technical approach. Those
are the three things and they put them in the
order that's most important. So if you don't have past
performance and past performance is number one in terms of
ranking factors, that's a.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Bench you probably shouldn't been on.

Speaker 6 (30:37):
Or if you do, you need to go find a
partner who can meet those past performance requirements. So if
you don't understand anything else, go to Section L, which
is instructions to offerers, because I promise you if they
say ten fives and you give them twelve, they won't
even look at it.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
It could be the best proposal in the world.

Speaker 6 (30:55):
Section L Section M the most important part of a
solicitation because they tell you exactly how the government is
going to award it.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
And the other one you was there, I cover everything
the R people.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
The second one was type of companies that can benefit
off of being certified. Some people thought, oh, I'm thinking
of just this, but no, you're speaker. There's maybe good
companies that put out proposals or bids to bring certain
speakers in.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
So can you kind of speak to sure.

Speaker 6 (31:25):
I can tell you that the majority of the people
who get certifications, they get certified, and I think that
they think all of a sudden, the phone's going to
start ringing off the hook. And back in the day
they did. Back when Ada Man I had people in
one week's time went from zero to a million dollars.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
Because it was new, there was only a few people
in the program. Now there are thousands.

Speaker 6 (31:46):
So now you have to have a strategy. You have
to have a business development strategy. So what that certification
does is it decreases It decreases the pool of people
who are going to be looking to bid, especially at
the subcontract level. At the prime level. Of course, those
certifications are great too, because now you can go after

(32:07):
those second sides.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
The sad part about it this people don't bid.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
It's like, you get this wonderful, shiny certification and you
don't bid. Nobody is going to pick up the phone
and say, hey, I got a contract for you.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
That does happen sometime.

Speaker 6 (32:20):
But if you don't get your if you don't work
your certification or your contract vehicle.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
And by the way, let me just say this, the.

Speaker 6 (32:30):
GSA schedule that is the easiest and quickest contract vehicle
that is not socioeconomic driven. It is like a big
old catalog that every single government agency buys off of.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
It's like an proved vendors list, like a preferred vendors list,
and once you in it's a twenty year contract.

Speaker 6 (32:54):
But the thing is, if you're a small business, it's
great because what happens is GSA go out and gets
the task orders. They're knocking on doors for you. All
you got to do is respond to the task orders.
You don't even have to do any business development.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
But people will get on that GSA schedule and they
will not submit pins.

Speaker 6 (33:12):
So if you're gonna take advantage of the certification or
any type of contract.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Vehicle or the GSA schedule, you've got to.

Speaker 6 (33:19):
Have a big strategy or a task management system that
says I'm gonna bid at least three a week, or
four a week or five a week, because it's all
about numbers, and you're not gonna hit those huge numbers
if you're just sitting back going after one proposal, sitting
back and waiting if you're gonna get that one. Anybody
who's serious about government contracting at a minimum should be

(33:42):
submitting for bids month.

Speaker 5 (33:44):
So you're saying g as GA a.

Speaker 6 (33:48):
General GSA General Services Administration, they're like the they're like
the purchasing department for the entire government. They buy everything,
and so a lot of small businesses just don't know
about it. But if I was a small when I
am a small business, but I'm not getting on GESSA scheduled.

(34:09):
If I were at someone looking to get into government
contracting right now, I would look at the very first thing.
We only have to be in business two years, and
you have to have at least two relevant past performances
where you've done this work before. But now they've even
relaxed it that if you don't have it under your company,
but you are anyone in your company that's considered key personnel,

(34:32):
you can use their experience. So they're making it easy.
And I'll tell you why they're making it easy now.
And you're gonna hear a lot about it because of
this administration with all of the contracting officers, you know,
being let go okay, a lot.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Of things that are now what are called open market.

Speaker 6 (34:48):
Open market means I'm gonna go out here on sound
I'm gonna see one of these proposals and I'm ana
be it. That's open market GSA schedule. The only people
who can bid on the GSA schedule. People who are
on the GSA schedule you can't bid. And so you're
going to see a lot of the open market opportunities
go away. You might there might be thousands out there now.
You might look six months from nine and there might

(35:09):
be one hundred. Because the government is basically saying, why
do we have a way to buy stuff with companies
who have already been vetted, companies who already have been
determined to be fair and reasonable pricing.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Why are we doing open market bidding?

Speaker 6 (35:22):
And we can just send put out a task order
and people who been on it, those are the people
who want to get the work. And it's streamslining. It's
streamslining very rarely. Is it one of those great, big
old proposals. Now it's basically you know, task orders. So
anybody who's listening and who's looking for the best place
to start, if you've been in.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Business two years and have past performance, it's definitely the
GSA schedule, not the eight A.

Speaker 6 (35:48):
Everybody rushes out to get an eight I was like,
for what eight eight is only eight years or nine years?
You're graduating year nine and if no one has asked
you do you have your A. It's too early because
it's relationship driven, and if you don't have any relationships,
you're gonna let that you're gonna look up in.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Year six, it's gonna be gone.

Speaker 6 (36:08):
Get on the GSA schedule first, get your two or
three task orders, get get a relationship with the contract
in office or an agency and then let AA be
secondary because now people know who you are and they
don't mind giving you a so source contract because you've
already delivered on a task order with the GSA schedule. Wow,

(36:28):
the GSA schedule is the way to go ada and secondary.
So any of you out there who will thinking.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Where should I get where should I get my AA
after you've got some past performance and some relationships yep,
and to.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Your point two partnerships. And that's why I always talk
about this and intertwining in a lot of my conversations.
Partnership is huge too, because where you may not be strong,
you could partner with somebody who's strong there, but you're
strong with there.

Speaker 5 (36:52):
Not Now you come together and it's partnership and you
can land a contract offering it together as it's now.

Speaker 6 (37:01):
One thing I want to address with that because people
really really get it wrong, especially on a socioeconomic settle side.
Just say it's an aid, to just say it's a
woman owned fifty one percent of the work has to
be performed by the person who holds the designation. So
when you're looking for partners, make sure that they are
partners that bring that that now if they're. If they're not,

(37:23):
they're whoever has a designation has to primate and they
have to do and they have to do fifty one
percent of the work. So make sure when you're looking
at partners And there's two types of partnerships, okay, there's
your basic teaming okay, and then there's what.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
They call CTA. I won't get too involved with that,
but here's the thing.

Speaker 6 (37:44):
The difference between a small business can subcontract to a
large business and still be considered small, y'all hear me. Now,
a small business can contract to a large business because

(38:04):
you're doing it as a you're doing it for capacity.
Now if that company, if that large business has something
that you don't that but for that thing, you would
not be eligible.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
You cannot go out now you cannot. You cannot team.

Speaker 6 (38:23):
With a large business and still keep your small business designation.
You can only subcontract, meaning I've done this work before,
I just need you to help me do more of it.
That's very important. A lot of people lose their small
business side standard because they are they are teeming with

(38:44):
a large business and and you can't do that.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
That's called that's called an affiliation.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
And you can't have that right, And I'm happy you
highlighted that because it's definitely strategic and strategic and understand
a difference between partnering and subcontracting. Also to your point, right,
you don't want to ruin the reason why you qualified
to be certified. You brought it up earlier. If your
woman certified, it has to be majority women owned a
lot of people. If you're gonna partner with your husband, no,

(39:10):
it's a family business. You knew what your baby, it's you,
but you add your husband and then you can't prove
that it's woman owned or to the you may So
it's these things you got to think about where paperwork
comes important.

Speaker 5 (39:21):
That's right, because you're.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
Gonna have to submit things like the agreement and the
operating agreement everything to show who owns what. So as
you're also adding people to your dream, you have to
pay attention to how that may interfere with how you
can move up in different levels. You can't be women
owned and equally owned by male. So I'm happy you

(39:42):
said that because it made me think about that. Even
with partner and be careful of how you are phrasing that.
I said partner with and I'm happy, Linda definitely clarified too.
Just also the way you do a subcontract, don't come
partnering that when this joint venture and then.

Speaker 5 (39:56):
All of a sudden, right, that's right, it's dismantle all
of the why.

Speaker 6 (40:02):
And you looked up in your small business fast five
standard has been revoked and now you're not a small
business anymore because you associated or affiliated with a large business.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
With a large business that makes you either not women
own you know, I guess the minority own, black owned.
Because I had to submit birth certificate. I had to say, hey,
I need a birth certificate of it don't matter what
I look like, no matter I strapped up, I think
I look like a black woman, I don't care. They
said you could be hispanic whatever. We airth certificate to

(40:31):
see what's said on that on there, and I remember
there was someone who had an issue what was actually
saund It was just crazy.

Speaker 5 (40:38):
So they drilled all the way down.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
So question, as we're talking about contracts as an opportunity,
you hear a lot of especially women owned businesses, but
minority owned businesses, black owned business.

Speaker 5 (40:51):
Access to capital is a huge issue.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
But it sounds like to me, right, you access to
capital with people trying to get just borrowing money or investors.
But this is a whole sector that seems ignored as well.
So when we look at small business owners owners, what
are some misunderstandings, misconceptions or overlook things.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
I would say you there's one thing that very few
people even know about.

Speaker 6 (41:17):
Pretty much every single contract has what it's called a
third party assignment clause.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
Okay, what that means is.

Speaker 6 (41:26):
That if you find a lending institute a lending institution,
they become part of the contract.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
So there's no risk. But here's what happens. And I
tell you what the.

Speaker 6 (41:37):
Bad side to that one is. And I tried many
many years to educate banking institutions. They don't have a
checkbox for that. They were like, misslending, We're not government contractor,
so what if somebody.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Doesn't perform, we can't.

Speaker 6 (41:52):
I was like, that's why you need to partner with
contracts and grants because if this contractor messes up, I
got five hundred mole in my arsenal that can get it. However,
this is an amazing way for you guys to create
a whole another product called third party assignment contracting.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
So you give the person the money for the contract.

Speaker 6 (42:12):
And guess what you get paid the person who's lending
the contract is all payments.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
Go to the person who's in the linding. So there's
no risk.

Speaker 5 (42:22):
And if the and the risk that some.

Speaker 6 (42:24):
People are concerned about, which is what they don't perform,
guess what, you just have another subcontract to start a
bit start your own business.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
You know, it says, Okay, there's just so many ways.

Speaker 6 (42:33):
But it's called third party assignment clause. And all you
have to do is ask the contractor contracting officer to
invoke it and find a financial institution that will, you know,
work with you in some of the what you call
it c CDFI's community development financial Institutions CDFIs. They're starting

(42:56):
to kind of get it now. And I've even seen
the government depend up on how the person uh sets
up the agreement.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
I've seen them.

Speaker 6 (43:04):
Use you know, like you know, private lenders as well
private lenders as well, so that that that's that's a contract.
Excuse me, that is a capital type of product that
not a lot of people know anything about. But outside
of that, at the end of the day, if you
can't if you don't have ninety days worth of money.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Uh, and it happens all the time. How how I
want what? What type of contract? You?

Speaker 6 (43:31):
I want a million dollar contract? Okay, well on day
one and you've got to hire five people.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Do you have no? No?

Speaker 6 (43:39):
I said, so, No, you can only go after a
contract the size of what you have in terms of
liquid capital, because you're gonna have to s You're gonna
have to finance that contract for at least ninety days.
But it's gotten better it used to be, you know,
but once you get through that ninety days, it's pretty
much like clockwork.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
But those first ninety days if you don't don't have
capital in place. So don't don't be so eager to
get a large contract. You know, get one that you
know that you can hand them start off with.

Speaker 6 (44:07):
Maybe two hundred and fifty thousand or whatever, you know,
using your personal lines of credit or whatever. And then
once you build past performance, then other people will be
willing to take chances with you. And you also can
you know that might be your your that might be
your partnership strategy. Hey, I'm gonna you know, partner with
and that I do a lot of those. I do
a lot of negotiations where small businesses have the relationship

(44:29):
with the contracting officer. The contractor wants contracting officer wants
to give them the work, but they know they don't
have the capacity, so they'll come to me to ask
me to find them another business that I trust that
they can use. And what happens is that company primes
the contract simply because they can finance it, and the
secondary company they still get past performance. They just don't

(44:52):
have the capacity to be able to manage a large contract.
So you know, in that case, you got to get
someone you can trust. People you know use their relationship
to get a contract, and the prime just ran off
with the relationship and you never hear from them again.
So those stories do happen. So you have to, you know,
work with someone you know that can trust. And you know,

(45:12):
I've worked with so many companies over over the years,
so I have a very very strong, strong, strong pipeline
of companies with all socioeconomic designation.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
And that's why relationships are important. And that's why connecting with.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
The right individuals, not disconnected with individuals, but the right
individual experience and done it. But not even just your experience,
you brought in your whole essence and or like this
is what you did when you did work from welfare.

Speaker 5 (45:41):
Right, you focus all the way out.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
You're just bringing Lenda Chapman to every situation, and so
you're thinking like this, that is a huge one with
the third party third party clause S clause because.

Speaker 5 (45:56):
Whatever they do land it goes to whoever's lending.

Speaker 4 (45:59):
But at least you can get that money up front,
because that is one of the reasons why individuals. But
then I'm gona think strategically, like you said, maybe start
small and build up or do other things, but don't
get things because you may see this contract, but you
don't get it as soon as you approve.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
You gotta upfront.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
And that goes back to the number one issue.

Speaker 6 (46:22):
That keeps small businesses from doing well in the government space.
And I gotta say this, they don't know how to
price people lose their shirt because they don't know the
difference between direct and indirect costs.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
They just give a rate. I'm like, how you come
up with that rate?

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (46:40):
I went online and that's how I was like, sut
hard And it's another reason why you should not care to. Oh,
I'm gonna do what the last person did. And I'm
gonna knock off five percent. You don't know that person
might own their building, but you pay rent. How are
you going to base your rate on somebody else's circumstances.
Maybe he owns his own tools, his indirect cast. Well,

(47:00):
he might not have any. You might have a whole lot.
That's why your rate is higher. And one thing about
the federal government, that's why everything is not always about
the cheapest price. They just want to know that it's
fair and reasonable. Fair and reasonable means that it's your
cost and curd plus a reasonable markups.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
That's what it is.

Speaker 6 (47:19):
And if you can prove to them through your cost
price analysis, this is why I charge this price. I
don't want to gouge you. But look, I have rent,
I have you know, vehicles, I have tools, and most
people just look, they don't know what they're doing, and
they get these big old contracts and they lose them
because they don't know how to price. They don't know

(47:41):
the difference between a firm fixed price and then a
per unit price, and they just pull rates out of
the sky and that is killing small businesses. So once
you understand pricing and wonder and know how to do
what I call a cost build up.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
Figure out how to do one.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
Whatever it is you sail, whatever widget or a person
you sail or resale, figure out how to do one,
and then just increase quantity. But you gotta know exactly
what your indirect costs are, how much of it you know,
and you gotta you gotta load your rate because you
got your pay rate, but then you got all the friends,

(48:20):
that's another thirty percent, and then you got the gilliana
because now you got you know the cost of doing business,
and then there's profit. So you're talking about a fifty
percent markup probably for your pay rate. Whatever you pay
the person, chances are your bill rate is going to
be fifty to seventy five percent higher simply because of
your indirect costs.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Absolutely no, and it's important to your point for them
to know it, but also to know it when you're asked.
So a lot of times minority owned businesses, black own
businesses will lose opportunities too because we don't know the
information for ourselves, and more importantly, we don't know the
information to communicate to whoever we need to communicate.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
For the opportunity.

Speaker 4 (49:03):
That's important to know that because they're already determined even
then saying in front of you, you're getting that no,
because they already read what your entire business about.

Speaker 5 (49:12):
You can have the most exceptional service of product.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
But because you aren't able to answer these shoot go
to sharp watch some episodes of Shark tanks. See what
they ask right, and see if you can answer those questions,
and then also see how they respond to the ones
who can't answer it, and then they'll tell you what
those questions they're asking, and then start answering those.

Speaker 5 (49:29):
Questions for yourself, because we have to know how to
communicate you.

Speaker 6 (49:33):
And if you ever get to the negotiation table, you
got to know when you can say no, I can't do.

Speaker 5 (49:37):
It for that yeah, because a number focus don't get.

Speaker 6 (49:41):
The contract that if the government comes back and says, okay,
well can you reduce it by twenty percent? I said,
this is my favorite line when I tell somebody decide
when I'll give you a rate, If you ask me,
can I get a twenty percent discount?

Speaker 3 (49:51):
I was like, sure, you can get a fifty percent
discround what fifty percent of the work? And you are
you going to do now?

Speaker 6 (49:56):
Because what you don't get to do is to get
a discount without a shift in scope.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (50:03):
Absolutely, So now I'll say, okay.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Well you need to come down twenty percent.

Speaker 6 (50:08):
Okay, well here, maybe what you can do the recruiting then,
and you could, But never ever should you reduce your
rate without a change in scalp because if.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
You do that means your price is too had to
begin with you ought not having that much wiggle room.

Speaker 6 (50:25):
It should be cost and curd plus indirect costs plus
a reasonable markup, typically between ten and twelve percent. So
when you hear a person saying, oh, eighty percent, no
it ain't.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
No, it's not you.

Speaker 6 (50:36):
You do not have an eighty percent markup. What it
is is you just lumped it all together and you
think it. But if you really sit down and did
a cost price analysis, you'll realize that you're only making
eight percent profit. Everything else is indirect cost. But because
people don't capture it, and they don't all they see
is the checks coming in, checks coming in, and checks
coming in. They never realize the loss until the contract ends.

(51:00):
But they still got two more months to pay people,
and they gonna have their income to do it.

Speaker 5 (51:05):
And this applies outside of government. This is just business.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
One on one to understand whatever you're offering. These are
some of the things that we need to go back
and understand, and I get it right. So these are
not some of the conversations we've had. We just have
conversations of be an entrepreneur. You this great start your
business like no one really went and I'm so grateful
that we're now. Things are happening. Is that's forcing us
to kind of go backwards and fix some things. But

(51:30):
this is why I love having these conversations. This is
what's going to help you government contracts or not. To
understand what you need to do to be successful for
your business and not be constantly struggling.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
What are some of the so if somebody was an entertainer.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
An athlete, what would be some of the reasons that
they would think about Possibly is it starting a whole
seperate business, or is it they can offer a service
from intertainy.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
I'll work with the athletes that do it a variety
of ways.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
A lot of they just want me to help them
with their foundation, and then other cases.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
I'm like, gods, you do realize that you know, and
most athletes don't understand the value of the relationships. Oh
I'm not the president of the bank. Oh he's my
next door neighbor.

Speaker 6 (52:14):
Boy. So if they're not interested in being in business
as a CEO, partner with someone and let you be,
let the athlete be the person who drives the relationship.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (52:28):
And I wasn't going to say this, but since you
brought it up my next project product, I haven't come
up with a name with it yet.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
I was, you know, Dave tolliverth you know, Dave neighbor.
It's going to be my little guinea pig.

Speaker 6 (52:41):
And what we're doing is, I'm like, you know what
think of eBay, but instead of widgets relationships, Hey, I
want to meet the vice president of.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
Chase Bank. How much does it work to you? Okay?

Speaker 6 (52:59):
So now I'm given athletes and celebrities and entertainers a
way to monetize their relationship because there's business people out there,
because it'll cost you five thousand dollars to get to
a VP that level of relationship, especially that level of
warm relationship. So now I'm saying, okay, let me monetize
your relationships. Because as a person who's been paid for
business development my entire life, I know that people are

(53:21):
willing to do that. Some people are willing just for introductions.
But think about what if it came with an athlete
who had a great relationship with someone and they trusted
that athlete, and so they're going to do business with
that person because they liked them, because the athlete.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
Brought them to them.

Speaker 6 (53:37):
So for the most part, that's how I help them develop.
And then for those who are in business, it's the
same process. The fact that they're not there an athlete
doesn't change the model, especially in terms of government contracts.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
I think Roddy White is a perfect example.

Speaker 6 (53:51):
I didn't have the opportunity to work directly with them,
but I did work with someone in his office on
the government contract.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
He had a construction firm. I don't think he knew anything.

Speaker 6 (53:59):
About construction, but he had one of the you know,
one of the larger construction companies here in a matter.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
So the process is the same.

Speaker 6 (54:07):
But the difference is that the relationships that celebrities, entertainers
and athletes have just gets them to the table a
little quicker.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Smart strategic Listen, if you ain't here, this is someone
to absolutely connect with and when you're serious, someone to
actually reach out to that like I said, when you're
ready to really understand this. We're gonna have to learn
every strategic tip position as we move forward. I mean,

(54:42):
just look at it.

Speaker 5 (54:43):
We can't get consumed in our climate.

Speaker 4 (54:45):
We have to get more empowered, more motivated, more invigorated,
and we have to start learning these things like this
we really do, because that's what's gonna shift this to
our position. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about
some of the other things that you're doing. So you
mentioned a few other things. Contract you can start with
anyone first. So you have the app we talked about,

(55:06):
the first one, in fact.

Speaker 6 (55:08):
That can just go to my website Linda Chapman dot com,
and all of my brands are there. It is listed
right there. It's just like a big old link tree.
So whichever one you're interested in, you just click on it.
And I have a really nice giveaway that I have
and I want people to get it because everybody needs it. Okay,

(55:28):
one of it. I call it the Freelance Freelance or
emergency Guy, and I also have a cyber attack Emergency
Guy because I'm gonna tell you, one day we're gonna
go to pick up this this Internet and it ain't
gonna be there.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
What's happened to your website? Who got your stuff?

Speaker 6 (55:40):
You gotta have certain information with a with the freelance
check excuse me, emergency kid. It's getting information ahead of
time because freelancers are usually solopreneurs. Okay, what if they
get sick?

Speaker 3 (55:55):
Do you know that you got the child? Name the mama?
Look before? Are a free lance answer?

Speaker 6 (56:01):
I give them this form to fill out and it's
and then you know the form is it's a template,
and then it's you can enter you know, enter.

Speaker 3 (56:07):
The data right there.

Speaker 6 (56:08):
I need to know your emergency contact. I need to
know where your back up drive is because I need
to get my stuff. There's a lot of things that
small businesses just kind of leave out there because at
the end of the day, if something were to happen
to me, I still got people I gotta pay. What's
gonna happen if I fall out or getting an accident
or something, they gotta wait for their money. No, there

(56:29):
needs and I have There should be a trigger, and
I tell everybody to create a trigger. My trigger is
that if you if I miss a meeting, oh come
send the avalance for me. I don't miss meetings or
if you don't hear from me, or I don't respond
to an email within two days, you better.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Check on me. So whatever your trigger is, if what
it does is it.

Speaker 6 (56:48):
Triggers that emergency response, which might behave call my daughter,
call this number, email this person.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
Here's the past.

Speaker 6 (56:55):
Word to me is all of that needs to be
in one place because the day is going to come,
whether it's a freelancer ghost shoot, or the internet goes
out for three or four days and everything you know
is on the internet or on your phone, your bank
stuff keeps in that emergency kit. I just think everybody
should have it, everything from medication to cash, everything that

(57:20):
you need personally and professionally in the event.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
Of a cyber attack.

Speaker 5 (57:26):
Cyber attacks are real, Yes they are.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
So it's Linda Chapman dot com and you go down
and at the bay bottom.

Speaker 6 (57:31):
It says click here to get the you know, the
get the you know, the emergency kit, but everything else
in between. You got the plus one, you got emotional immunity,
you got the app Diva Age Appropriate, which is my
dating and relationship brand.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
And there's so many women out there who are in.

Speaker 6 (57:47):
There, you know, forties, fifties and sixties, finding themselves, you know,
still dating. Unfortunately for me it was because of widowhood.
But at the end of the day, here I am.
So that's a conversation too, because now how do you
do that and run a business? So we're talking, we
talk a lot of bit about that too, So across
four generations.

Speaker 5 (58:05):
By the way, absolutely well the I mean you already
kind of answered.

Speaker 4 (58:08):
Then how do because these different brands that you just mentioned,
I was gonna ask you, how do they you know,
work together?

Speaker 3 (58:15):
Yep, but they yep.

Speaker 6 (58:17):
Plus one put your put, your put the person that
you want to meet in a social about it is
where business meets lifestyle. Now some people may use it
for a dating app made it so, but when you
feel your profile out you say, look, I only want
the people who I only want people who want a network. Okay,
well you're only going to get those events where people
have clicked networking, and so you get to decide the

(58:39):
type of Plus one it is. But for the most part,
it's really just where business meets lifestyle, and it's people
who are already doing business together and now they're starting
to socialize.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
Together, right and and so it could be the business
relationship have to be healthy, you find it. So that's
helping in business. But even if it was something that
was personal relationship, that affects your business, Oh of course, right,
So all that stuff, anything effects what you're actually doing.

Speaker 5 (59:04):
So you have the plus one. What was the other one?

Speaker 3 (59:06):
The other one emotionally immunity. That's the book series.

Speaker 5 (59:09):
That's the book series. How many three books.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
The first book is called The Avalanche.

Speaker 6 (59:14):
When I tell everybody what happened, I just break down
the last seven years, lost my sister first, then my
husband and my parents then, oh it was just horrible.
And the Avalanche. And then the second one is Healing
with the ones who broke me. And that's really about
me literally going face to face with my ex and
with those other people in my lives, you know.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
And it's just not for exes. It's for mothers and daughters,
fathers and sons, pastors and congregation, anybody that left you broken.

Speaker 6 (59:44):
You've got to face them. You've got to be injected
with them so that you can be around them and
not be.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
Negatively impacted by it.

Speaker 6 (59:53):
So I share my story of how I did that,
how I had to wean myself off of a particular situation.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
So that now I could be in the middle of
that situation and it not impact me at all at all.

Speaker 6 (01:00:04):
And then the last book is called Emotionally Emotionally Immunized.
It means, Okay, I'm here here, here's the restoration.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
This is what came out of it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
I talk about what my new business model looks like.
I talk about what my you know, what my dating
life looks like. Now I healed from that. So now
I'm like, if you could just get through, you can
just get through the process. On the other side of
it is where you will find healing and peace and
all of that good stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
So it's a three part series.

Speaker 6 (01:00:34):
It's my journey, excuse me, three part series with my
journey through grief, heartache and business transformation.

Speaker 4 (01:00:43):
So we have the partnering or pairing of your plus
one that helps you build and connect relationships. You have
this three part series that's about healing. Right, we bring
who we are to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
October the first us by the way, and I'm giving away.

Speaker 6 (01:01:01):
The first book, you said, So it starts, yeah, October
the first is the first release. October the first, and
I'm giving away and I'm telling you I'm giving it
away because.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
I want people to know how bad it can be.

Speaker 6 (01:01:18):
And I don't want anyone not to have access to
it because somebody is going through something right now.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
But I like when you see all the stuff that
I went through in seven years, people thought, oh my god,
there's a lot of.

Speaker 6 (01:01:30):
Stuff behind this right here that was going on, and
I just you know, it's my book, the second book,
because it's a process.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
I'm still working on the price point for that.

Speaker 6 (01:01:38):
But my first book, the Avalanche, it basically chronicles what
happened in the last seven years.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
Usually when someone goes through a lot, you feel that passion.
You feel passion in things that they actually do.

Speaker 5 (01:01:50):
You feel something there. That's why they do so much.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
So is there an event, some type of thing you're
doing to introduce the book on October first?

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
Or do they go?

Speaker 6 (01:02:01):
You can go to Linda Chopping dot com and uh, actually,
those people who get the get the emergency kid. I
automatically send them one. If anybody who gets whose email
I have, I'm just sending to them, Hey, here you go,
this is on me. Hope you get some reading out
of the Hope you'll get some comfort out of that,
because what it does is it sets you up for
the second book, Healing with the Ones that broke me.

(01:02:24):
I mean now that people don't want to know how
I did that, and so I'm gonna I'm gonna walk
you through that process. Where there is you trying to
get another relationship with your mother, uh as a daughter,
because you know there's some there's some mother daughter relationships
out there that are broken. There's some father son relationship,
there's some baby mama relationships.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
Heal with the one who broke you because we miss
you don't have a choice. Well you do have a choice.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
M Well, yeah, you do have a choice. Either stay
stuck or not is the one we missing? Like, okay,
so we got the healing, we have the partnering. Of
course we have the contracts. Is if like I'm missing,
there's one more.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
Oh, there's plus one.

Speaker 6 (01:03:08):
There's age appropriate, there's plus one age appropriate miscontracts and
grants plus one eight four. I mean, well contracts in
capital eight to fourteen.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
Yeah, that's it, that's it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
Okay, Well, all those definitely work together. If you were to.

Speaker 4 (01:03:26):
Just speak to individuals that are listening now, especially newly
founders or first time or even those thinking about because
there's a lot of displacement. You know that's going on
right now, right So if there's this placement, people are
gonna have to figure it out. What are some of

(01:03:48):
the things they can think about as they're developing or transition.
Are trying to get better with identifying such opportunities to
help them.

Speaker 6 (01:03:58):
I think the first thing is literally recognizing that you
need help. I mean, you know, I get a lot
of people, you know, that think that they're in a
better place. In other words, they don't they don't realize
because I and that's part of my healing, I didn't
even know I was depressed until I wasn't anymore. Because

(01:04:21):
I was still have I still had to show up
as a mother, you know, I had to show up.
You know, I had to show up as a mother.
I had to show up as a grandmother. I had
to show up as a CEO. So there's a lot
of people going through some stuff and they don't even
know they going through it until they start to.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
Come up out of it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:35):
Because I knew I was off, I used to tell
I say, I don't feel myself something. I couldn't put
my finger on it, but I knew. And then as
I started going through my my process of healing with
the one that broke me. That's when that's when it hit.
When I can sit and have a conversation with a

(01:04:56):
person who broke my heart, When I can sit and
have a conversation with you know, my daughter because maybe
you know, we didn't have the best relationship and we
had to you know, come up with a whole other
way of getting back to where we needed to be.

Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:05:11):
And I don't know that I knew that I was
in that situation until I started coming up out of it.
So a lot of people just don't know. So be
honest with yourself and have some type of accountability system
where you are accountable to yourself that says, when this happens,
I know I'm in trouble, you know, don't start As
my mama used to say, don't wait until the water

(01:05:33):
gets up here, start yelling when it gets on your ankles,
start yelling when it gets on your ankles. Don't wait
till this. Don't wait till it gets up here, because
you ain't gonna have time to fix it. But yeah,
just in terms of being a founder entrepreneur, recognizing that
everything in your life contributes to you. As a CEO,
so make sure you take care of those things. You

(01:05:56):
don't have a choice about technology anymore, you don't, you know,
you don't have to us about family, you know. So
you got to have family, friends, business relationships, all of
those in order to succeed as a CEO. You're gonna
touch every area of someone's life.

Speaker 5 (01:06:12):
I love that part that you said right there.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
I mean every all that and you're gonna It's always
been needed, yep, but more so now than ever. All
of the all the parts of your life make you
like you know the famous phrase, I separate my personal
professional like who you are personally, what you have going
on personally is going to affect the professional. And even

(01:06:38):
when you think it's not, you don't talk. People from
the outside can feel it. Yep, you can absolutely see it.
So you want to look at each aspect to see
how can I work on all these aspects that you
show up in every right context in the way that
you need to absolutely show up.

Speaker 5 (01:06:55):
Is there anything that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:55):
You want to leave our listeners or viewers with that
he did not touch And I know one of the
things they really want to hear, but I want you
to leave. What you want to leave is because people
are people are. People are struggling there, People are struggling,
you know, financially, and they don't know. They don't know
resources and opportunities are out there. They only know what

(01:07:17):
they always hear. And again they always just hear, you
need an investor, you need this.

Speaker 5 (01:07:20):
They don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:07:21):
I can tell you right now, So you are if
you are, If you not on the AI train, you're
gonna get left behind. So invest in a course, do
something to at least understand what it does. Because I'm
telling you, and I just posted about this yesterday too.
I was like, at the end of the day, people

(01:07:43):
think that AI is going to take their jobs, and
I'm saying, I'm using it to make myself more valuable
because who's gonna fact check Who's going to fact fact
check check GPT? When you submit a proposal tat GPT,
you don't know if you're doing it right or wrong.
So now my time is more valuable. And another point

(01:08:07):
now is you got to get away from hourly pricing.
If people who are hourly pricing got to get away
from that because AI took away time, So now you
priced about the value of what you deliver. What used
to take you forty hours to do might only take
you an hour now, but guess what the value of

(01:08:27):
the end result is still that value. So make sure AI.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
Just just learned. Take a course to start with the basics,
but please learn AI.

Speaker 6 (01:08:36):
It almost it almost for a minute there, I just
thought it was gonna wash my business completely away. But
I had to adjust and I went out and I
got all the training and I started using it, and
so now I'm very, very comfortable with it. I just
think if there's one thing people have to do AI,
because AI even makes the government contracting process a lot

(01:08:57):
easier because now you can submit way more big and
grants as well.

Speaker 5 (01:09:02):
And I agree with you on the AI.

Speaker 4 (01:09:04):
Definitely get training so you understand how to use it
responsibly effectively. It is definitely a help to the point
we were just saying, if you don't have the finances
already and there's a struggle, that is your team. Like
using artificial intelligence now compared to all the official intelligence
in the past, you can literally designate team members yes

(01:09:25):
to do very specific things, and that team member to
do I want to focus on myself and strategy.

Speaker 5 (01:09:31):
I want to be my collaborator on very very specific things.

Speaker 4 (01:09:36):
But that to know everything, or to least get you
started on the right path, get a training to understand
how to do it.

Speaker 5 (01:09:43):
I can take away jobs, but it can.

Speaker 4 (01:09:45):
Definitely because even what big businesses are finding when they
even tried that, you still need a human aspect.

Speaker 5 (01:09:51):
So part of the game. Just integrate it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:55):
It can't you faster and better and time is what
we need back.

Speaker 5 (01:10:01):
God, that's the most.

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
Expensive off the table. That's right, taking time off the table.
So it gives you back your time. It also not
just gives you back your time. You have a person
to collaborate. It's like we have this genius right here
on our stage.

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:10:14):
You say, okay, well I can't talk to the Lenda
all the time.

Speaker 4 (01:10:17):
You can get on there and try to ask it
the questions, look at things you know, really start.

Speaker 6 (01:10:23):
I'm gonna put my I've actually created a Linda Chatman
box and I'm going to put that on my website
probably next week, so that those people who want to
have access to me, Hey, you can have access to
me there you go. Anything you want to ask me,
you can ask hecuse, I've been talking to her for
the last two years.

Speaker 3 (01:10:38):
You know everything I know. I call it AI lender.

Speaker 5 (01:10:41):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:10:41):
You come up with a different names. So the more
you use it, the more you train it. There's things
of course, especially when it comes to uh, certain professions
like legal. We got you gotta double check a lot
of different things, reference a lot of things you can't
just because it's picking up based on the tokens it
was given. And if anything given and correctly, you can
come tweak something or act somebody else and tweak it

(01:11:03):
and then begins to.

Speaker 5 (01:11:04):
Grow and get better and better.

Speaker 3 (01:11:07):
But that's accurate. Who knows if it's accurate?

Speaker 6 (01:11:10):
Right, it's going on Because if somebody came out and said,
you know, hey, you know this is this is a pencil,
and I know it's a pain, and somebody put out
there to check dept this is, that it's gonna tell you, oh, okay,
well this is a pencil. So you've got So that's
what I'm saying. Now use it to leverage your subject
matter expertness and whatever industry you're in, because now you

(01:11:33):
check check GPT.

Speaker 4 (01:11:36):
And now you build a ten US that's all your
staff and your team, and then you can bring other
people on and it helps you to think things quicker,
like you said, produce certain things quicker. You say, help,
let's let's let's collaborate on this marketing strategy right here.
And it comes back and takes some oh to think
about that, and you go back and forth with it
with conversations.

Speaker 5 (01:11:54):
So I agree with you on the AI.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
Tremendously, and of course I agree with you on understand
that every part of you touch whatever it is that
you're currently doing or thinking about doing.

Speaker 5 (01:12:07):
So well, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:12:09):
I thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:12:10):
I appreciate that this is This is definitely going to
be it'll be on the podcast, but I wanna slice
this up to bring people here to keep listening. How
can people connect with you so they already know to
go to Linda Chapman dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:12:24):
That's why I put everything in a hug.

Speaker 6 (01:12:26):
Everything you don't have to go to you can get to,
put to my social media, you can get to the information,
you can sign up for the app, you can get
your emergency kit. Everything is in one place on Linda
Chapman dot com. And it says the real Linda Chapman.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
You're in the right places. It's all things Linda Chapman.
That's what it said.

Speaker 4 (01:12:46):
Whether you go go to Linda Chapman dot com. Uh,
go ahead and check that out. Connect with her and
do more than connect. See how her knowledge, her expertise,
and what you're doing can work for each other. See
if there's a mutual beneficial thing there. So I thank
you so much for those who have tuned.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (01:13:09):
Absolutely for those who tuned into Night for the conversation
with Linda y As you've seen, she pulled back the
curtain on different strategies, especially when it comes to contracting.

Speaker 5 (01:13:20):
A lot of people not even thinking about that. But
go back to curtain.

Speaker 4 (01:13:25):
You have to think about the structure of your business,
the structure of what you're doing, to make sure that
it aligns with opportunities that are out there when you
find the opportunities. The one big thing that Linda brought
up is read and understand the opportunities. What a lot
of us get stuck on and this is in all industries,
this is not just entrepreneurship's sports and entertainment.

Speaker 5 (01:13:47):
We get stuck on that number.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
We see a dollar sign and we run for yes,
it's this, and we forget about all the other terms
and information that's a part of it. The one thing
Linda brought up, especially for opportunities. You see that number,
Now go to that line.

Speaker 5 (01:14:00):
Uh G. There you go, go to the line see
what is expected? See all the different see what they're
not just expected.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
Dissertation, I'm sorry, the evaluation factors.

Speaker 5 (01:14:17):
There you go about to say, not just what suspected,
but what what do they what do they want to
look at? They're they're literally telling you this.

Speaker 6 (01:14:23):
They're telling you how they're going to board it, like
they all that. They don't they never look past the
scope of work. They so busy trying to figure out
how they're gonna do the work.

Speaker 3 (01:14:34):
I'm like, well you don't. They said you have to
have done this five times, You've only done it three?
Why you didn't?

Speaker 5 (01:14:40):
So that That's what I'm saying. So that's in a
lot of things we do.

Speaker 4 (01:14:43):
Listen to entrepreneurs, listen athletes, entertaining, anybody read what's expected,
especially when a person tells you or a company tells you,
Because a lot of times they don't tell you, you
wonder why you're just not getting opportunities. But when they
tell you and you're not taking the time to dissect that,
and then if you can meet every expect tation communicated
in the way in which they are asking for you, communicator,

(01:15:06):
I would literally follow yes, the I do enough a.

Speaker 3 (01:15:10):
Question and answer.

Speaker 6 (01:15:10):
I just curtain pace the section of the instructions to offers,
and I just respond. Just respond that way you hit
every single bullet point instead of.

Speaker 5 (01:15:20):
Every single bullet point.

Speaker 4 (01:15:21):
And that is in contracts, that's in our life in
general for those who are unfortunate, probably displaced. Even if
you're back in the workforce and you said I just
want to get a job, it's the same thing when
you're looking at a job posting. Pay attention to everything
it's saying, speak spew it's language back to them because
when it goes through HR, it's all the things are
automatically getting weaned out based on what set and what's

(01:15:42):
not set. So this is just a mindset of how
to deal with anything, how to help you few business growth,
build your generation of wealth once you feel that business growth,
and just to unlock so much out there that is
meant to be locked up. You have individuals like Linda
who are giving you the tips that you can apply
across board. I mean we talked capital, we talked just

(01:16:05):
being confident by if you understand information and you follow it.

Speaker 5 (01:16:08):
You should have a confidence on what you can do.

Speaker 4 (01:16:11):
We talked about what partnership means, how you don't alleviate opportunity,
how you eliminated if there's opportunity here, think about how
you're structuring what you're doing to make sure that you're
in the best position for the opportunity. Don't add partners
or do things that can that can actually hurt that.

(01:16:32):
So if you're building something meaningful, definitely don't just chase visibility.

Speaker 5 (01:16:39):
Chase valuability.

Speaker 4 (01:16:41):
And this is what we're all talking about right now,
right don't forget I understand social media got put things out,
but know that you're putting things out because it's a
part of your plan of valuability and not visibility.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:16:54):
I like that and the kindness back by all this
stuff talks about.

Speaker 3 (01:16:58):
Okay, I like that. It would have been a pleasure.
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:17:02):
So Hey, you can reach me my emails on there
and my phone numbers on there.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
However you need to reach me, please reach out. I'd
love to hear from you. I look forward to doing
this again sometime one on some stuff. How about that
you said what I said, maybe you can be my
plus one on some stuff. How about that.

Speaker 4 (01:17:21):
I promise you I will listen, and I'm a woman
of my word. I promise you I will everybody else.

Speaker 5 (01:17:27):
The more you know, the more you grow, the more
you learn, the more you earn when you share your care.

Speaker 4 (01:17:31):
Keep elevating until next time, keeps driving, keep growing, and
most importantly, keep seeking elevation, peace and progress.

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