Episode 47 – How to Execute A Job Search During the COVID Pandemic With Geoffrey Goldman

The government spends billions of dollars each year on goods and services, and by tapping into this vast marketplace, small businesses can secure lucrative deals, gain steady income and heightened visibility. In this episode of The Agent of Wealth Podcast, host Marc Bautis and guest Richard C. Howard dive deep into the world of government contracts.

As a career military acquisitions officer, Howard oversaw $82B+ in DoD contracts, and has advised and trained over 400 companies as a consultant. He’s the CEO of DoD Contract – which guides, trains, and mentors small business owners and sales executives through the government sales process – and the host of DoD Contract Academy Podcast.

In this episode, you will learn:

The benefits of selling to the US government as a small business.
How small businesses can find opportunities to sell their products or services to the government.
How small businesses can stand out in the government procurement process.
How small businesses and startups can utilize the Small Business Innovation Research Program.
And more!

Resources:

Disclosure: The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and content. It is not a direct transcription of the full conversation, which can be listened to above.

Welcome back to The Agent of Wealth. This is your host, Marc Bautis. I’m joined by a guest for today’s episode, Richard C. Howard. Richard is a leading authority on US federal government contracts. As a career military acquisitions officer, he oversaw $82B+ in DoD contracts, and has advised and trained over 400 companies as a consultant. Richard is the CEO of DoD Contract, which guides, trains, and mentors small business owners and sales executives through the government sales process.

Richard is the host of the DoD Contract Academy Podcast, and speaks extensively on the nuance of federal contracting strategy. Richard, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me on, Marc.

I don’t think people even realize that government contracts are out there. Can you start off by explaining this market size, and some of the benefits of selling to the government as a small business?

The Benefits of Selling to The US Government as a Small Business

The US government is the single biggest purchaser of goods and services in the world. When people think about government spending, most immediately think of big defense contractors. But in reality, the government buys just about anything you could think of – from defense and weapon-related spending, to tai chi instruction, to commodities, to food. Think about it like this: Every military base is basically a small town, or city in some cases. All of the infrastructure that goes into that town or city is paid for by the government. And they have a mandate to buy from small businesses.

So whether you’re in – cybersecurity, accounting, legal, you’re selling food, you have a franchise, you have a training business – the government is most likely buying in your area. It is very rare that I find an area where the government isn’t spending money, so the spending is vast.

The government has to buy from small businesses, yet less than half of 1% of US small businesses are actually participating in the government contracting process, despite the high spending levels.

Alright, so there’s a lot of opportunity here. How does a small business find the contracts?

How Small Businesses Can Find Opportunities to Sell to The Government

Because we’re talking about the government, there is a lot of regulation that exists to ensure there’s fairness and that the public can see what the government’s doing. So everything the government spends money on – with the exception of a couple classified contracting avenues – is public knowledge.

So, as a small business owner, you should ask, “Does the government buy what I sell?” To find your answer, go to a website like usaspending.gov and begin searching public records to find out what the government spends on.

Whatever you sell, it probably falls under something called a North American Industry Classification Code, or NAICS code. When you go into usaspending.gov, type in what you sell under NAICS – for example, accounting. The website will suggest different codes that you would fall under. You can click on that, and sort it by small business spending.

You can quickly see how much the government spends on small business contracts in your industry and area of focus.

Are these contracts location specific? Does it help if a business is located near a military base, for example, or does it not matter?

It depends on what you’re selling. By the way, government contracts certainly extend past the Department of Defense and military bases. There’s lots of different federal agencies that spend money.

Okay so once a business owner discovers how much the government is spending in their niche, what’s the next step?

Once you know that the government buys what you sell – if it’s local, they buy it in your state, or if not, you can work anywhere – the next step is to register your company. You can do that at sam.gov. That’s where all registering and most of the solicitations take place.

So when you go to sam.gov, you’ll find instructions on the screen for registering. Of course, you need to have a legal business in the United States, and come ready to register with your EIN number.

All in all, the process takes a couple weeks sometimes, but at the end of it you’ll get what they call a CAGE code and UEI number – these are federal identification numbers for your business. Once you have those, you can start bidding on contracts.

By bidding, do you mean writing proposals?

Yes.

How Small Businesses Can Stand Out in the Government Procurement Process

What can a small business do to separate themselves from the others trying to do the same thing?

Good question. This is really where most companies fail in selling to the government…

Once your business is registered through sam.gov, you will begin to see what’s called a request for proposal, or RFP. At that point, a business can begin writing a proposal. But, the government is very regulated in how they buy products and services.

For instance, if I saw an RFP come out that the government is looking to buy a $3 million landscaping contract for base X, I can’t just pick up the phone and talk to someone to get my questions about the contract answered. Now, if it’s a big contract, the government will answer most questions publicly through sam.gov. In those cases, you might get some answers that can inform your proposal.

But otherwise, you won’t be able to set up a meeting with a government worker. You won’t be able to develop a relationship…

So, before the RFP comes out, there’s something called the market research phase. Let’s say you’re a software developer, and the government is putting a command and control platform together, and you have a great user interface for that. Well, it’s during the market research phase that you can engage with the government if you really want to have a shot at landing the contract later on. Meaning, before the RFP comes out, we want to know who is doing the purchase, and we want to know the details of the opportunity ahead of time.

If you want to differentiate yourself from the rest of the herd, you want to look for things like a request for information or sources sought. When those come out, they’re squarely in the market research phase. At that point, you can set up a meeting with the government.

I recommend small businesses to respond to requests for information. They’ll answer questions like:

How long have you been in business?
Do you have past performance?
What do you think of the approach the government wants to take?

And, you’ll be able to suggest things. For instance, when you register your business, there are different certifications. Examples include:

Small business certification
Woman-owned small business certification
Disabled Veteran-owned small business certification

If you happen to have one of those certifications, you do have a leg up, because the government needs to set aside a specific percentage of contracts to those certified businesses.

But, back to the market research phase, you can actually recommend that the government lists the contract for a specific certified group. So, you’re helping the government write the solicitation, and you can give yourself a leg-up if you suggest a certification you have.

Okay, so you’re trying to influence the decision a little bit. Have you ever seen a case where a small business had a product or service that the government isn’t spending on, but they propose it to them?

Yeah, there are a couple of ways to do that. I would say if you take away one tip on selling to the government, it’s to get meetings and build relationships with the people that actually buy what you sell. There’s a lot of ways to do that, but mainly through research.

If your business sells a product or service that the government is not actively looking for, but you want to sell to the government, the government needs two things: A requirement, and funding.

The Small Business Innovation Research Program

If it’s an innovative solution of some kind, for example a patent, you can go after something called the Small Business Innovative Research Program, or SBIR. Any government agency that spends a certain amount of money in research and development has got to contribute to this program. So, the SBIR program spends about $4 billion a year on innovative research and development contracts with small businesses.

This is a way to basically propose your product or service to the government, because they have funding in the SBIR program. If the review panel thinks that what you have is innovative, and that it would achieve a government need, you can win one of those contracts.

Phase one of SBIR is kind of low dollar. Let’s say, for example, you’re creating a VR training system. In that case, phase one might just be a feasibility study. You might propose that the government uses a VR or augmented reality training system to help maintain or fix aircrafts, for instance. Well, that might resonate with the board. That first phase one event is probably going to be somewhere around $100,000-$150,000, which is small for government contracts.

But, what you’re really doing is:

You’re establishing past performance with the government, because now you have a contract.
They’re now going to help you find people in the government that would potentially sponsor you.

Now you can’t totally rely on the government SBIR office, you also need to put yourself out there to find a sponsor. If you find somebody willing to sponsor, but they don’t necessarily have to have money, they just sign a memorandum of understanding for you to go to phase two.

Phase two is to develop a prototype, or set up a demonstration. There could be a lot of different things that you’re recommending, but that’s the phase two piece.

The Small Business Innovative Research Program is really great for getting your feet wet. Even if you have a developed product but you’re modifying it for government use, that would also qualify for the program.

Going back to finding these opportunities, my father actually had a government contract through a larger corporation. He created a pellet that went into 50 caliber ammunition. He wouldn’t get the government contract himself, but General Dynamics or Olin would go through him to create this component of their contracts with the government. Are there opportunities like that out there?

Yes. That’s a really good point. There is a variety of ways the government can buy things from a small or large business owner. For example:

Contracts.
Subcontracting.
Sole source contracts.

As a business owner, you need to understand how the government is buying what you’re selling. That’s something that you can do pretty easily with the research tools the government offers.

Let’s say you own a company that is licensed to do HVAC. Over time, you’ve built a relationship with the government office that purchases contracts in construction. From that relationship, you learn that next year, Hanscom Air Force Base is going to be building an office building, and you have interest in installing the HVAC system. But, you aren’t able to take the full construction contract.

What I recommend you do is look through a website like usaspending.gov to see which construction companies have done that type of work with the government – illustrating past performance – and reach out to them about this upcoming opportunity. The fact that you’re bringing them this opportunity sweetened the pot for them to work with you, involving you in the project.

If you reach out to three companies like that, you’ll get at least one or two bites to form an agreement and go after a large contract together. That’s very helpful for a small business, because the big company can handle the proposal writing, and so on.

Artificial intelligence is all the rage right now. Do you see AI being used to uncover some of these opportunities, or to help small businesses in this process?

It’s interesting that you bring that up. Two of my recent episodes on the DoD Contract Academy Podcast were about AI in the government space.

One of them is called Govly, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable government contractors, OEMs, and distributors to accurately plan for government purchases years in advance

The other is called Rogue, which is an AI tool specifically designed to help businesses write proposals for government contracts. It kind of works like ChatGPT.

Business Financing and Government Contracts

What happens if a business needs financing to fulfill an order from the government?

First, it depends on the contract. If it’s a SBIR contract, where the business is developing something for the first time, then you can win the contract before you have to start development. But those are research and development contracts.

So let’s say you win a small services contract that involves employing 20 people. The small business will have to pay those individual employees before the government pays the small business. That’s because there’s about a 90 day turnaround time on invoicing to the government.

Now, there are certain financing houses set up specifically for government contractors. One thing to know is once you win that government contract, it’s one of the most secure contracts you’re going to have. So a lot of banks know they can count on the government paying the business.

That’s also one of the reasons companies go after government contracts – because it increases the value of your company.

Are Government Contracts Recession-Proof?

In addition to AI, the other thing that we’re constantly hearing about is this looming recession. At a high level, how is government spending compared to other industries?

Government spending is more stable. I always recommend that business owners – small or large – have one stream of income from commercial sales and another stream of income from government sector sales. The government is spending year over year, whether there’s a recession or not.

But I would say that the government experiences difficulties in different ways, and typically at different times.

Usually, if you have a three-year government contract, for example, you’ll receive that funding month over month. Now, there are times when the government shuts down, or when there is sequestration. The government can terminate a contract for convenience. But if they do, there are regulations to protect the companies that held the government contract.

That’s good. Well, we’re just about out of time. Richard, thank you for joining me today. You did a great job explaining how businesses can leverage government contracts as well as how to navigate the government procurement process. What’s the best way for our listeners to contact you or learn more about your advisory coaching services?

Your listeners can go to dodcontract.com to schedule a consultation. On the website, we also have courses available. And of course your listeners can check out my podcast, DoD Contract Academy, on whatever platform they like to listen on.

Great, we’ll link to those resources in the show notes. Thanks again, Richard. And thank you to everyone who tuned into today’s episode. Don’t forget to follow The Agent of Wealth on the platform you listen from and leave us a review on the show.

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Unemployment has reached a record high because of the Coronavirus. In just one and a half months, these numbers soared from 3.5% to over 16%. With a slowly re-opening job market, hiring is hopeful for the near future. Whether you are recently entering the job market for the first time or for the first time in a while, searching for a job can be difficult during these unprecedented times. Marc Bautis welcomes guest and professional career coach Geoffrey Goldman as they talk about the state of the job market and how to execute a job search during the Coronavirus.

In this episode, you will learn:

Where to start your job search.
How to reach out to someone on LinkedIn.
What to include in your online professional profile.
How to stand out in an online job search.
The future of work-from-home.
And more!

Resources:

Bautis Financial: (862) 205-5000 | bautisfinancial.com | Geoffrey Goldman | Episode 26: Changing Jobs? Don’t Forget About Your 401k

We’ve gone from labor markets operating at full capacity earlier in the year to record unemployment after the lock down from the Coronavirus, which we actually went from 3.5% unemployment about a month and 1/2 ago, to over 16%. Now we’re starting to slowly open up the economy and hopefully that means it will be a lot of rehiring going on.

This is about as crazy of a time, as probably anyone has seen in the job market. We just crossed last week, over 30 million unemployment claims, which blows any period going back to the Great Depression.

Some questions regarding the recovery are:

What kind of recovery are we going to have?
Is it going to be a V shape, where the fire hose opens up and there’s a big hiring spree?
Is it a phased approach?

We know there’s a lot of unemployed people right now, and we’re starting to see slowly, the economy pick back up again.

Where Should Someone Start In Looking For A Job Right Now?

Things will come back. Companies are hiring now, even on a limited basis. There will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Jobs are going to come back. If you’re a job-seeker, hang on!

Right now, in the meantime, job-seekers should:

Keep Skills Current

Whether it’s studying PowerPoint online or maybe taking something that they used in a job or could be used in a job. PowerPoint is an example, but it could be anything. You can use YouTube, you can use your public library, or LinkedIn Learning, which is great and free.

Sometimes, when a person becomes unemployed, their skills atrophy as if they haven’t been exercising for a few months. So, they put on a few pounds and you kind of lose their step a little bit. It’s kind of the same thing.

Job-seekers should stay sharp, stay not only aware of what’s going on, but keep their skills sharp. Some ideas to sharpen your skills in are:

Microsoft Office
Public Speaking
Selling Skills

Learn a New Skill

There’s a great opportunity now for people to pivot and to shift gears. Right now, there’s a great opportunity for people, maybe to learn some new skills and maybe to take something online. Maybe it’s a class or a webinar; polish up some new skills or maybe make a shift into a new career path.

Stay Current: Have a Strong Presence on Social Media

Whether you are a recent college graduate or the mid-career professional, you must have a strong presence on social media. You want to have a strong presence on social media, because if you do promote yourself on LinkedIn, Facebook and some other platforms, you’re going to get a return on that investment. And likewise, if you don’t do that, you’re going to be harder to find.

Right now, with so many job applicants out there, with so many people that are out of work that are in this game, you need to be able to stand out a little bit. You need to post on LinkedIn on a regular basis as well as Facebook. People really respond to postings.

People have really been forced into relying on social media now, or even more so than in the past. Make your LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook profiles robust. LinkedIn is obviously the number one site where recruiters are spending their time. So, be active! Comment on people’s postings, and you will see a return on that investment.

Anyone from any field can benefit from being active on social media. Whatever your background, whatever your position or skill set, absolutely be active. You never know what opportunity might come up. It could be a group you’re in on LinkedIn or Facebook. It could be you just responding to a post as a software developer. Then, someone sees your comment and they like your background. You never know. Being active on social media and reaching out to people directly- being proactive- can really help anyone, even those that might not think that social media might be right for them.

Are Social Media Profile-Writing Services Worth It?

There are a lot of good services out there, and there are consultants and people who will help you compose a good profile and resume. However, an individual usually can edit and create their own LinkedIn profile. It doesn’t take much, and it’s like anything else. If you click at it, and you play with it, and you add to it, and you get comfortable with it, you can really do that yourself. You can compose some ideas and some thoughts, you could add things to it.Some people get intimidated a little bit by LinkedIn and social media, but the more you play with it, the more you use it, the more you get your hands dirty, the more comfortable you will be.

Another point is, a lot of people struggle with their resume because they’re concerned and they’re not sure how to make it shine or stand out. You can hire a professional for that. But, don’t lose so much sleep over it. Focus on the job search and how you’re marketing yourself to people, and companies don’t lose so much sleep over your resume. In recent times, resumes have been a bit devalued to the point where recruiters only look at them very briefly or perhaps at certain keywords.

Is your LinkedIn profile just your online resume, or is there a twist or theme to it? Should it be a little bit different than what your resume has on it?

I really prefer the latter. Your online profile is going to mirror your resume in many ways. Having said that, it isn’t a carbon copy. I think that the LinkedIn profile is much more living and breathing. It’s usually more interesting and colorful than a resume. You can have recommendations from other people. You can give recommendations to people, and then you can ask for one.That’s almost like a living, breathing virtual reference list, which is great because if an employer says: Can I see some references, please before we extend an offer? You can have recommendations on your LinkedIn profile, and that’s kind of a living and breathing thing. So, it should mirror your resume for the most part, shall we say, 90%? A LinkedIn profile is a little more interesting. It’s more living and breathing, and that’s where people are going to see you first. So that is your first impression. Later in the process, they’ll say: Can you please send me your resume?

Reach Out to People: Network!

You can be proactive about looking for a job and people will understand. There’s a level now of empathy and care where people understand. A lot of people are going through a hard time right now; that is understood universally. So, don’t be shy about reaching out to people in the spirit of networking, and you have to give to get. Don’t just ask and don’t just try to take when you reach out to someone; maybe you can offer them some help. Even if you are unemployed, who knows? Maybe you can refer someone to them. Maybe you can talk their profile up a little bit or their services. So, offer to help. You have to give to get. You can reach out to someone and let them know that you’re in the spirit of networking looking to help. And then, you can also mention that you’re currently in a job search and you can tell the truth and say: “I was laid off. My company had some layoffs because of the Coronavirus, and I’m now in a job search and I’m interested in in X, Y and Z.” Make it a two-way street. Offer to give someone and to help people, not just: Hey, I’m looking for a job.

What Are Some Key Changes in the Job Search Market?

Social Media Is Important

Over the years- if you look 10/15 years ago, the resume was everything and everyone was focused on the resume. Every word has to be perfect on the resume. And now we’re seeing a lot more online, a lot more social media.

A More Casual Environment

Years ago, you picture a corporate office building, where someone goes in in a suit, and they have multiple challenging interviews based on the resume. That kind of thing does still exist. But, what’s happened is employers are now starting with phone conversations and perhaps a Zoom, a Skype, a web conference. Interviews have become much more casual. With millennials and folks that are now running some job interviews, it’s much more of a casual conversation.

They want to know:

Who are you as a person?
Will you fit into our corporate culture?
Are you going to be easy to work with?
Are you going to be able to wear multiple hats?
Will you be fun and caring in terms of treating other people at our company?

Now, they start with phone conversations or web conferences, and much more similar to a conversation. It’s much more of a relaxed conversation than a formal interview was, maybe 20 years ago.

Episode 26: Changing Jobs? Don’t Forget About Your 401k

How to Prepare for Interviews in a New Job Market

Get Familiar With Web Conferencing Software

Get used to working out of your home, whatever that may be. We all have different situations. Get comfortable with these web conferencing tools. So, when you do a job interview via one of these softwares, you are familiar and you show some level of savvy with it.

Prepare in Different Ways

Your Skills and Qualifications

You can prepare for the actual position and what exactly you can bring to the table for the job in the company. You do want to be able to match up things that you’ve done in the past with what the new job requires.

Your Personal Attributes

Maybe outside of those specific job skills, be prepared to talk about things:
Where do you want to be in five years?
What is your ideal position? You might get called for a certain position, say software engineer. But, you’re really hoping for something different.
Make a list of that and be able to have a good conversation about not just the position, but who you are is a professional, and what you can bring to the table in general.

Networking

Networking is crucial for anyone of any age, and it’s going to be easier for those who are more established in the job market, who could go back in time and reach out to colleagues from past jobs and that kind of thing. Having said that, those the recent college grads and the folks that don’t have that deep tenure, they can be aggressive and networking as well even now during the Coronavirus. They can reach out to people that they went to school with, maybe look up companies and look up on LinkedIn to see if people went to school with them, and that kind of thing.

Months ago, before the Coronavirus, you could go to an in-person networking event. You could go to a trade show or a conference. You could buy a ticket and attend, and then do some in-person networking. Now, everything’s online because we have to be safe and stay at home.

So, use the different avenues at your disposal; not just LinkedIn of course. Maybe groups and reaching out to people, perhaps chamber of commerce, perhaps reaching out to different organizations that foster networking in your local area.

Don’t spread yourself too thin. In other words, If you are in the New York/ New Jersey area, reach out to people in your area mostly. Then, once in a while, you can network with people around the United States and around the world. Reach out to people in the local area who are working professionals and be proactive with those who are in your industry. Reach out to people that are perhaps in your industry that might be able to lend a hand.

Be Proactive

It’s important to be proactive. You can’t just put a resume out there, make a LinkedIn profile, and just hope that all the recruiters and the employers come. It’s reaching out, finding and targeting what you’re looking for, being proactive on LinkedIn, commenting and engaging with people.

The people who stand out are typically the people who are more successful, and it’s not very challenging.

It doesn’t take much; as long as you have good, regular, constant activity and you can share an article. You can share a video. You can create your own content. You can share other people’s content. You do need to stand out. It’s a large ocean out there off job-seekers, and you do want to stand out and get people’s attention. The more active you are, the more you’ll see a return on that investment.

The Work-From-Home Culture

The work-from-home, or virtual work industry was very popular before the Coronavirus hit and now will be even more so. You’ll have people who are hybrids where they’re going to work from home some of the time. Then, in the future, they’ll go back into the office some of the time. But we’re going to see a real shift in employers really opening their minds to having people work 50%, 75%, or even 100% virtually from home.

Employers are seeing that there can still be a great level of productivity even with people working virtually. For the average job-seeker, increase your skills in virtual work. Even looking at other tools like instant messaging, employee engagement tools, things where virtual work is going to shine. More and more employers are going to be open to that. In future months, when we do return to normal, and people return to physical offices, a lot more people than in the past will be working virtually, absolutely.

Because companies may not have these big physical office presences, they might have an office and maybe some people are in on Monday and Wednesday while the other half of the company is on other days. It’ll definitely be interesting to see where the trend goes.

The Present

There is one company that does work virtually. But, instead of having a Zoom call in the morning or a Zoom call in the afternoon, they actually have cameras going the whole day. They do that so that if someone’s working, they can have that interaction without having to (and as easy as it is nowadays) have a video conference with them. It’s like an always-on video conference that if one person has a question, they can just speak into the microphone and can ask. It’s essentially a walk to the cubicle next to you. They’re trying to recreate that engagement that fosters that environment, even if it is virtually.

The Future

A lot of new ideas and solutions are going to present themselves because of the Coronavirus. We look at virtual workers all or nothing. We think: Oh, the person is always working from home or they’re always in the office. Sometimes it’s great to have the best of both worlds, where an individual works from home some of the time, and then they meet with clients or prospects or colleagues out in the field some of the time, and they go into the office some of the time. Some interesting hybrids and new solutions are going to present themselves.

Yeah, it’ll definitely be interesting. Alright, so that just about wraps up our show for today. Geoffrey, how best can someone reach out if they want to reach out to you?

If you would like to reach out to Geoffrey, you can find him on LinkedIn and reach out. His name is Geoffrey Goldman. It’s Geoffrey with a G. His email is [email protected].