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:
www.dodcontract.com | DoD Contract Academy (Podcast) | Usaspending.gov | Sam.gov | Small Business Innovative Research Program | Bautis Financial: 7 N Mountain Ave Montclair, New Jersey 07042 (862) 205-5000 | Schedule an Introductory Call
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.
Going through a divorce can be extremely stressful and overwhelming. Could you benefit from the support of a divorce coach? In this episode of The Agent of Wealth Podcast, host Marc Bautis is joined by divorce coach Jason Levoy to discuss what it’s like to navigate the divorce process with a coach on your side. This conversation is dedicated to bringing you full details about a source of support you may have overlooked until now.
In this episode, you will learn:
- At which stage people usually engage a divorce coach
- Why some people approach Jason after a divorce is final
- What sets Jason apart from other divorce coaches
- Jason’s tips for people at different stages of divorce
- And more!
Tune in to hear from divorce coach Jason Levoy and consider whether coaching is right for you!
Resources:
Bautis Financial | Jason Levoy | The Divorce Resource Guy Podcast
Welcome to the Agent of Wealth with Marc Bautis of Bautis Financial. Today we have a special guest in-studio and that is Jason Levoy. Good morning gentlemen. How are you? Good morning Aric, how are you? Good morning. Doing fantastic. Jason, thanks so much for being here. Marc, can you introduce the guest for us.
Marc:I can. We brought Jason Levoy on today’s show and Jason is a divorce expert. Going through a divorce can be extremely stressful and overwhelming. Jason is actually a former divorce attorney turned divorce coach who helps people navigate the divorce process. He is also the host of the popular podcast “The Divorce Resource Guy,” where he talks about all things divorce related. Jason, welcome to the show.
Jason: Great Marc. Thanks for having me. I’m so excited.
Marc: How did you get into specializing in divorce?
Jason: Surprisingly, I actually wanted to be in the divorce space when I went to law school, which was not right away. I went to college and after graduating I was actually in the pharma industry for a couple of years. I went to graduate school in California and planned to be a writer for TV and film, believe it or not.
I went to law school a little bit later, but when I went, it was for the actual purpose of becoming a divorce attorney. And I remember it like yesterday. People said: “Why would you want to do that?
Marc: How long were you a divorce attorney for?
Jason: I was a divorce attorney for I think between five and six years.
That’s all I did. And again, that’s what I wanted to specialize in. Some people practice law as generalists. They practice all different areas of law; divorce law being one of them. Other people specialize in it. So I specialized in it and that’s all we did. It was a complicated enough area that for a lot of people, that’s the only area that they will work in.
Marc: At some point did you say “Alright this is not what I want to do anymore?”
Jason: There was a moment; and it was a very clear moment. And if we have time, I’ll share the story with you because I remember it well. I was sitting in my office and I was working with another attorney. I don’t remember if it was the wife or the husband that I represented, but I was on the phone with the other attorney for the other spouse and we were talking about a custody issue; it was a really small issue in the big scope of whatever else was going on. And it really had to do with who was going to be home on a Saturday morning to pick the child up at 11:00 or 12:00. That’s what we were talking about; one hour time and we were spending a lot more than one hour trying to figure this out.
Between our respective clients not agreeing and having their own motivations for wanting certain things there, both attorneys became frustrated and I became super frustrated. I remember it like it was yesterday: I hung up the phone and I put my arms up in the air and I said: “that’s it.” I said: “I am not going to do this this way for the rest of my career. And there has to be something better out there, a better way to help people.” Again, the whole intent of why I became a divorce attorney was to help people. Right. So that’s where the coaching became a bud and turned into a flower, so to speak. That’s when the idea to coach instead of actually represent people in their divorces was born.
Did you go straight from being an attorney and pivot to being a divorce coach? Yeah after that I quit. I quit being a divorce attorney and I haven’t done it since. In a formal capacity, I do not represent anybody now in their divorces. I strictly coach and what I find is that I can help so many more people that way. I also get to work with people nationally.
I have had people from other countries even come to me for help, but that’s a little bit harder. My reach is so much more now than what I was doing as a divorce attorney only working with people locally in New Jersey and in the area where I lived here.
The Phases of Divorce
Everybody going through a divorce goes through the same general principles.
- The Breakup, the downfall of the marriage
- The Filing of a complaint in court
- Dealing with the exchange of information during the process
- Negotiating custody and parent time
Those are universal issues no matter what state you’re getting divorced in. So that’s what I focus on; the generalities in helping people and guiding them through that process.
Marc: So where do you come in? Right from that first phase that you’re talking about-the breakup? When usually does someone engage with you?
Jason: They engage with me in all different phases.
I can’t tell you how often people tell me: “I wish I found you last year.” Or after the divorce is over, but they’re still dealing with post divorce issues. “I wish I found you three years ago.” I hear that all the time. But my ideal client, I tell people, is finding me and engaging me before anything is filed with the courts; before the courts even know who you are and why you’re preparing for your divorce. Or even thinking about it before you have an attorney. I help people choose the right attorney for them because that’s crucial. Choosing the wrong attorney can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Does Every Divorce Need an Attorney?
Jason: That’s a great question. The answer is maybe. You would think as an attorney I would say “yes, you definitely need an attorney.” But there are certain situations where I’ll be honest, you probably don’t need an attorney. For example, if both sides are really amicable, they can communicate well with each other, and the issues to be resolved in the divorce are rather simplistic. But, even if there were a whole host of issues that needed to be dealt with, if both parties can work together amicably and agree, then no I would say you don’t need an attorney. The whole point of an attorney is to do things that you can’t and to guide you in the space that you don’t have a lot of experience in.
For example, I would represent the spouse that was receiving alimony or entitled to alimony and we would get to the phase in the process where we’re negotiating the alimony amount and the duration. Even though my advice might have been to this person: “well from my experience and pursuant to the law, you are most likely entitled to 20 years of alimony,” and give a ballpark number of whatever I think that range would be. If my client came to me and said: “I’ve talked to my spouse. I’m going to accept 12 years of alimony” and gives me a reason that is good for them, I’m okay with it, and there’s nothing hazy going on then that’s fine. That’s her choice. I see my role as the attorney in that situation not to blow that up and say: “No don’t do that because you’re entitled to or I think you can get more.” As long as she understands what I’m saying, it is her life and she makes the decision on her life.
I’m just her advisor and at the end of the day, did she need me? Probably not. But even people who represent themselves, at the end of the process if they agree on things with their spouse, it will get written up into a marital settlement agreement. Then that should be reviewed by an attorney at the very least, just so they understand exactly what they’re agreeing to and the legal effects of that.
What Happens Post-Divorce?
Jason: Yes absolutely. Unfortunately, just when you think the divorce is over, it’s not. And that’s usually when you’ve got children involved, minor children. So people come to me with parenting issues all the time or they have to file post-divorce applications for relief. If somebody is not living up to their end of the settlement agreement, I will help them and coach them through that. I will help them if they have to file a motion and they are representing themselves; I will help them write the motion. I won’t write it for them. But, I will guide them and explain to them what they should be including in the motion: what points to hit, what the courts are looking for- that type of thing. I do a lot of that work.
Marc: Are there stages in the divorce process that you get involved in more frequently than other stages?
Jason: That’s a good question, too.
It really varies. Ideally I get somebody before the divorce actually starts and they’re thinking about it, but they’re not sure what to do. Or they may ask me: “do I need an attorney?” That’s the ideal situation working from somebody in the beginning. A lot of times, unfortunately, I get people who are in the middle of it, or who had an attorney but are not happy with them for whatever reason. Or, their attorney dumped them because the money ran out and they’re embroiled in a contested divorce situation. I work with people a lot in that situation where they’re somewhere along the process.
Marc: Going back to the post divorce stage, do you ever get involved helping someone, maybe not necessarily to help them file a motion, but helping them get back on their feet? It’s a big life changing event,
Jason: Yeah absolutely. Post-divorce life is intertwined with everything that happens in the divorce. So, I’m constantly working with people. It’s maintaining their focus no matter how bad it is right now, (and it could seem really bad) if you’re in a difficult divorce. At some point it’s going to end. And at some point it will be over and you will have your post divorce life to think about. But you should start thinking about that now. What do you want your post divorce life to look like? What do you want to do? Ideally what does that look like? If you could paint it on a canvas, what would it be? Every decision that you make in the divorce should be guided towards reaching that post divorce goal for yourself.
Marc: I see the coaching part definitely intertwined with it. As the divorce is ongoing could you still be a coach without having your background as an attorney? It seems like having that background is critical to being as successful as you are with it.
Jason: Well I’ll tell you this; there are a lot of people out there who label themselves divorce coaches but they’re not attorneys and that’s ok, but they do different things. They focus on a lot of the emotional aspects of what’s going on in the divorce. I do that too because it’s all intertwined, but what makes me a little bit different is as an attorney I am coaching people from an attorney’s point of view. I coach from the point of view as an attorney who’s done divorce law before. I understand the dynamics at play and what the court is looking for and what you need to prove in certain situations and evidence and everything involved with divorce. I’m not giving legal advice per say to people, but I am giving an attorney’s perspective on what I think you should be doing and what you should be thinking about.
I can coach people on everything from how to dress to court and on how to talk to a judge, which you would think is really simplistic stuff but it’s very important stuff. I could tell you stories about the times that I’ve seen people who didn’t know how to do that and it would just blow your mind. It’s the little things that are critical. When you add them all up you know that’s what creates your divorce process for you.
Deciding Divorce is the Right Path to Take
Jason: That doesn’t happen overnight. Or at least it shouldn’t happen overnight. I just talked to somebody yesterday and they wanted to hire me to do some coaching and you know something happened. They had it, and you could tell they were still emotionally charged from that experience. So I said, “I agree what happened to you is not good.” Maybe this is the road that you will end up going down, but sit with it for a few days. Talk to me on Monday. Let it marinate and just settle down for a day or two.” You never want to make any decision on life when you’re emotionally charged, so I always caution people. It’s funny because even as a divorce attorney when I was representing people and in their divorces they would come to me and say, “All right, we’re done. Let’s file a complaint right now. I don’t even have to think about it.” I would say, “OK, but you’re going to think about it.”
You would think divorce attorneys would jump up for another client right, but I would actually coach people to to see if there’s any opportunity to reconcile. As an attorney, this is what I did. I hated seeing marriages really break down especially if there was any chance of reconciliation or working it out by going to therapy. If one part of the couple came to me and said we’ve never been to marriage counseling before. I would say maybe we should pump the brakes here and give it a shot just to try it out. You never know what can happen. I’ve seen a lot of relationships and marriages come back from where you would think they were at the point of no return. If both people went and found a good counselor or a therapist and really wanted to try to make it work. That has happened multiple times and other times it hasn’t, but at least you want to try everything before you decide to end the marriage.
Marc: Do you see that you are getting engaged more with the husband, or wife, or are both equal?
Jason: Definitely more women, but I have my fair share of men too. It’s just different, I think it’s interesting because I think from a male perspective they’re more reluctant to come out and approach me or approach anybody with the fact that they’re having a problem. I don’t know if it’s a masculinity thing but I especially find that for women it’s easier for them to come out and say, “I’m dealing with this and I need help,” or “Who else is having these problems? Is it me? Am I crazy?” Men do it, but I just find that it takes more for them to get to that point.
Marc: What trends are you seeing in divorce? One thing that’s come across me as an adviser is that I’m seeing more and more articles about divorce happening later in life. Are you seeing that on your side or are you still seeing divorces mostly from younger couples?
Jacon: It’s a range, but there’s definitely an uptick in people getting divorced later. I would definitely say that. It’s interesting, I think a lot of that is financially driven. I mean, nowadays it’s often where you have both parents working just to make ends meet. So when you get divorced what happens is you’re going from one combined income in one household and you’re splitting that into two. Now you need 2 houses, you need to support two homes or residences, so that’s two mortgages or a mortgage and rent and then furnishings and electricity and two of everything. It’s just harder especially on one income.
I think a lot of people stay together because they feel like they can’t survive just on their income even if they were going to get some level of support and they don’t like what that looks like. I don’t blame them, it’s hard to downsize. On the other side of that do you stay in a toxic marriage? I know a lot of people who still think it’s beneficial to stay in a bad marriage when you have young children. They are staying together for the children and I am not sure I agree with that, although I totally understand it. I think children are resilient now. Not that they weren’t before, but the children are resilient. If you have two parents who agree that the marriage failed that doesn’t mean they will be bad parents. They can still be great parents and they can still solidly co-parent together even after divorce and the children will still flourish. You need those agreements and both parents have to be on the same page, but it can work.
I’ve seen it so many times where the marriage fails but they get amicably divorced and they are great parents and they both can talk to each other. Actually there are times where the parents’ relationship with each other is stronger after the divorce than during the marriage. This is fine, but again sometimes it doesn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t co-parent together.
Marc: What tips would you give to someone who’s at each of these different stages of divorce and how to make the best the best of it?
Jason: Do they have children? If they have children, especially in New Jersey, the focus is the best interests of the child. That should be the main focus. Everywhere and anywhere is do what’s in the best interest for your children. It’s not about you anymore and that became true when you had children, whether you were married or not. The focus should be on providing for your children and in doing what’s in their best interest and not getting along with your ex or disparaging your ex in front of the kids and talking about bad about them or trying to alienate them from their mother or father. That’s not what you should be doing. Stop doing that and focus your efforts elsewhere. That’s why it kills me when I when I see that stuff going on. I actually stopped being a divorce attorney was because I didn’t want to be a part of that dynamic anymore. I didn’t feel like I was helping and I didn’t want to be part of the problem. It pains me when I see alienation going on and and parents continuing to fight each other after the divorce because they can’t get over themselves and whatever happened during the marriage.
Marc: I saw on your website you you have a Divorce University. Is that how you structure your engagement with someone?
Jaosn: I offer a variety of coaching packages under the Divorce U umbrella.
I have three core packages: Bachelors, Masters, and the PhD programs. I do that because everybody’s situation is different. I figure the majority of people situations would fit into one of those packages.
The Bachelors
For example, the Bachelors program is if you have one issue that you just need help with and to work through, but other than that you’re pretty good. Then the bachelors program is probably for you but.
The Masters
If you have a situation where you’re just totally overwhelmed and you need all the information you can get about divorce I developed and created a video divorce course on how to get divorced A-Z. That’s the Masters program and if you purchase that you can watch it anywhere online as long as you have Internet access. You have a password and registration safeguards so it’s only you who can access it. I literally walk you through every phase of the divorce process step by step through narrated presentations. It’s like I’m talking to you right now except on the computer and pretty much telling you everything you need to know, what documents you need to be getting, and thinking through each stage all the way from preparing for divorce through a divorce trial if unfortunately you ever get there, and hopefully you don’t. That is more of a do-it-yourself option, for people who are comfortable with that.
The PhD Program
The PhD program is both. It’s both personal divorce coaching with me and access to the video course on how to get divorced A-Z, so you get the best of both worlds.
Marc: I know you mentioned the trial. I know you’re not practicing attorney but do you ever get involved in trials when there is a divorce?
Jason: Yeah, I mean especially with people representing themselves. If they find themselves facing a divorce trial they need a lot of help because the trial is not easy. It’s not even easy for attorneys. I do help them organize themselves and get them prepared as best as I can to get through that experience. Realistically, if you’re finding yourself faced with a divorce trial a lot of things went wrong in a lot of places. The majority of cases settle and should settle and sometimes it takes two. It always takes two. If you find yourself with somebody who is just hell bent on having a trial to settle the divorce you might be faced with that experience.
Marc: I know you’re a fellow podcaster. What do you talk about on your podcast?
Jason: My podcast, “The Divorce Resource Guy,” podcast it’s divorce coaching. It’s what I write about except the difference is I have guest experts on. I’m your guest today, but hopefully you’ll be my guest in the future. I’ll have guests in all different aspects of the divorce arena. Anyone from therapists, to other coaches, attorneys and we just jam on everything divorce. I really enjoy doing it and I hope it’s informative for everybody and a little bit entertaining at the same time.
Marc: Great. Well I think we’re just about out of time. Thank you for joining us Jason. How best can people connect and reach out to you?
Jason: You can find everything about me through my Website: jasonlevoy.com. I have a free private Facebook group people can join. You can access my podcast through there and learn about my Divorce U programs. If anybody ever has any questions about me or what I’m doing just email me at [email protected].