How to Get Started in Government Contracting | Truth Revealed

Unlock the secrets to government contracting and tap into the mammoth purchasing power.

Kevin Jennings, the seasoned sage of government contracting, returns for part 2. With 15 years of navigating government contracting, Kevin unpacks how anyone with a marketable skill can capitalize on opportunities with the largest buyer of goods and services—the U.S. government. If you ever wondered about the behind-the-scenes action of mega-events like the Super Bowl, Kevin also pulls back the curtain on how small business certifications can open doors to build infrastructures for such high-profile occasions; and how you can do it too.

From veterans to the homeless, Kevin shines a light on how government contracts can be a game-changer in transforming their economic status. He reveals how certain programs, often overlooked, are designed to propel individuals into new heights of financial stability. For small businesses, Kevin breaks down the different classifications, certifications, and the journey to obtaining the coveted CAGE code. 

His insights give even the smallest players the know-how to navigate this lucrative yet intricate system, debunking myths and laying out a clear path to success. Kevin provides a blueprint for businesses to scale from six figures to even eight figures by understanding customer needs, mastering proposal submissions, and forging strong partnerships. You don't want to miss this one.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Honour Pursuit Podcast, where we connect with entrepreneurs, movers, shakers and business owners who build amazing things on the pursuit of their goals and dreams. And I'm your host, Brendan Boyd. What's up y'all? Welcome back to another episode of the Honour Pursuit Podcast. We're in Vegas this time with my guy back on it, right, Last episode went kind of crazy. Man Comments went crazy, the sheds went crazy, the reels went crazy, right, and a lot of people was hitting me up too, asking like they've heard about GC, the government contracts and stuff like that. But the way you was basically putting on a masterclass that last episode, I think you got a lot of people excited, man. So if y'all have watched this episode for the first time, introduce yourself one more time for the people that don't know who you are and what you got going on.

Speaker 2: 0:57

Yeah, so I'm Kevin Jennings, known as the government chiefs, and basically I am a government contractor. I've been doing government contracting for this year. It makes 15 years and for those of people that don't understand what government contracting is, it's very simple. It sounds complicated, but literally any product or service that you could sell to the public, you can also sell to the government. The United States federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world, so what we do is we show individuals how to take whatever skill set it is that they have and market it to the government.

Speaker 1: 1:29

So whatever skill set that somebody has right now watching this or listening to this, doesn't matter what it is. There's an opportunity for them to relate our skill set to the government or do some type of product or service to the government.

Speaker 2: 1:44

Yeah, the government Doesn't matter, doesn't matter what it is. The government buys everything, especially now more than ever, like back in the day, the government used to employ people to do a lot of jobs, but now they outsource everything. Everything is done by contractors, and there's a number of different reasons why the government does that. But all we care about is how do we monetize that and how do we gain from the government outsourcing?

Speaker 1: 2:11

Okay, so why don't we just start off like this man? So we're in Vegas government cheese, government contracts. There was a Super Bowl happening, so how does that work? What is you doing out here doing? Super Bowl doing what you do and just let the people know what's going on with that.

Speaker 2: 2:28

Yeah, so basically, in addition to utilizing your certifications for government contracting, you can also take your certifications, whether it be small business, hubzone A, to A Veteran Business Woman on Business. You can take those same certifications that you use in government contracting and you can use them to do business with large corporations, right? So it's been big in the news probably for the last six months. Everybody's talking about diversity, inclusion, dei programs. They've been harping on Mark Cuban and all these different people about DEI.

Speaker 2: 2:58

Well, the NFL has a DEI program as well, and so they have a large push to do business with different small businesses, and so what I've learned how to do over the past 14 years because I've been with the NFL now going on 14 years is take my small business status and basically be able to get contracts from them To do different services. One of the largest contracts that I've held and that I currently hold is I'm the general contractor for the NFL, so I basically pull all the permits and I help with the construction of the exterior infrastructure. So people when they hear that I work for the NFL and I do stuff with them, they're like, oh, so like you deal with half time and stuff like that, I'm like nah. So what I do is basically build all the infrastructure so everyone else can come in and do their job.

Speaker 1: 3:47

Okay. So I'm looking at like this If a building is being created, right, you know it's hard to have to build that infrastructure, so the building can be created. So, like, when you go in there's a big hole, like in the middle of the city. They're going to put that big gas crane in there, so then they can build the destruction, so they can actually build the building. Is that what?

Speaker 2: 4:07

it is the same thing, essentially same concept, for the Super Bowl. So here in Vegas you have Allegiant Stadium, which is where the Raiders play. It sits there, that's our blank canvas, right? So then we look at okay, what is it going to take to have a Super Bowl here in Vegas? So how many people are going to come? Like, how are we going to do traffic plans? So we do traffic plans and we close streets. Then we had to build larger entry tents for people to actually come into the game, because when you come into the Super Bowl, because of the higher security level that it is in a normal game, the security screening is different. So we had to build security screening facilities to be able to do all that. Then, when we build those security screening facilities, we need extra power, then we need fencing, then we need concrete barrier, then we got to bring in porta-potties, because now we build these tents outside.

Speaker 2: 5:00

So you got porta-potties fencing traffic power and then the actual structure that people come through. So we have to build all of that stuff so that people can then not even so much come to the game. We got to build all those facilities so the security guards can come work, so then they can get people in the game. So it's a lot of behind the scenes, a lot of the stuff that happens that nobody even thinks about, and that's what I do for them. And, like I said, this year is my 14th Super Bowl that I've been doing. It's not something I don't really talk about a lot, because to me it's just another job.

Speaker 1: 5:38

But it's a job. I mean they got some cash aid though, bro. Yeah, I mean it's cool, it's not too bad on the resume.

Speaker 2: 5:45

Yeah, no, it's not bad. It looks good on paper, but it all comes back to government contractor Got you. So I'll tell you real quick the back story of it. The Super Bowl came to Miami in 2000 and it was going to be played in 2010. So 2009, the NFL started coming and they started doing all the community outreach and anybody who lives in any city where there's been a Super Bowl you've seen the community outreach. They started typically like a year before the Super Bowl and they reach out to the local businesses and they want to see how can they get local businesses involved in the Super Bowl right. So they came to Miami.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Yeah, this was before you was working with them.

Speaker 2: 6:23

This was before. That's how I got into it. Okay, so I go to one of these meetings in June of 2009. I had just literally, I had just started my business less than a year prior and I signed up with the state. I had my federal certifications and I had my local certs. So the NFL reaches out to the local municipalities and they say, hey, we're trying to find local small businesses. So then the cities and the counties, they send emails out to everybody and say, hey, the NFL is looking for small businesses to do these things. If you think that you can do it, you know, here's how you get involved.

Speaker 2: 6:56

So I went to one of the conferences that they held in June. I literally sat in the back of the room and I was like, yo, there's, no, there's nothing for me here, because when I think Super Bowl, I think events. So I think party rental companies, I think catering companies, you know printing companies. I'm a construction company Like what is there for me? But then, because I went to the event and registered with them, somebody reached out to me a little bit after and they're like hey, we're looking for somebody to do temporary staffing for our construction because we need laborers to come in and you know, pull seats out of the stadium, build floors, and then we need somebody to pull our permits. And so I was like, well, I'm a general contractor, I got my GC license, all right, cool. And that's how I got started with them. That was like I said, that was for the game that took place in 2010.

Speaker 2: 7:43

That was my first Super Bowl and that just been going ever since then and my role expanded over time, like I started originally as just a vendor doing the labor like I talked about, and then slowly just progressed and moved up the ladder and then this year I've got my. This year is my second year having a direct prime contract and having a full, like project, you would say, under my scope. So what's a direct prime? So originally when I started, I worked kind of like what people think it was like, as a subcontractor. So I had a contract with the person that had the contract with the NFL, gotcha. So that's how I started. And then two years ago, they basically the NFL started dealing directly with me. They're like we don't, we're not gonna have to go through other people anymore. We, you've proven yourself at this point. You've been with us, you know, over 10 years. We know your work ethic, we know what you can do, so we're gonna start giving you contracts directly, and they started giving me full scopes.

Speaker 2: 8:44

And they're like okay, when you were working with the other company, you were providing labor and pulling permits. Well, now we want you to build full events. So, like last year in Arizona, I did open the night. That's the, that's like the media day, it's the Monday before the game. So, like last year, they gave me a contract to do open the night. So I built the entire open the night and then this year they gave me the entries. So I did all of the entries and then next year in New Orleans I'll do all of the entries and anything else.

Speaker 1: 9:10

How long is the contract typically? So? So like when you in this position, is it like? Is it just like year over year?

Speaker 2: 9:17

So the NFL likes to do multi-year. Okay, everybody's different, but it's very similar to government contracts Same thing with the government. With a government contracts, government usually wants to do multi-year because they want consistency and continuity. Yeah, so the NFL is no different. They want consistency. So, like they typically do, two year contracts on the larger ones they're five year. So that's how I had. Originally was the, the prime that I was working under, had a five year and they had two five years. So I was with them to through two cycles of a five year. I was with them through the first five year. They renewed for another five years. I was with them through that and then after that, then that's when I started doing stuff on my own.

Speaker 1: 9:53

Is your revenue stuff. If you're an entrepreneur and your revenue is stuff, you don't need to fix your products or services. You need new audiences to discover you more consistently. Podcast guessing is an ideal way to be discovered 24 hours a day by your ideal clients and guess what? The more people that know you, the more people can flow. You Head over to podcastmasterypackcom and take advantage of your first or next podcast. Let's go. The corporate version of this is like you're able to basically like diversify in the government contract and finding other opportunities to utilize it, but you got the opportunity because you was in position.

Speaker 2: 10:29

Yep and I had my certifications from government contract. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 10:33

And I know in the first interview that we did, you were saying for someone to put themselves in position, how long it takes.

Speaker 2: 10:41

So to really do it the right way, it takes six, nine months right To really position yourself the right way, and that's just honestly. That's just going through and getting all the paperwork done. It's gonna take you six to nine months just to get all your paperwork on point, get all your certifications and, to be honest with you, that's typically where a lot of people just fall off. They just don't want to.

Speaker 1: 11:03

They don't weather it.

Speaker 2: 11:04

They don't want to because it's a long time. You think when you start a normal business, you can start a normal business and start generating revenue in 90 days. And this like if you go on the SBA's website. The SBA tells you that it takes 18 to 24 months to build a successful government contract company. So the Small Business Administration is telling you off top if you're not willing to invest two years of your time, don't even do government contracting Right.

Speaker 2: 11:29

So a lot of people aren't, and the reason the SBA says two years is because typically it's gonna take you six to nine months just to get the paperwork. Then, once you get the paperwork completed, then it's gonna take you another nine months to understand how to leverage your certifications, understand how to bid on contracts, how to use them. You know what I'm saying. So it does take time, which is one of the reasons why I created government cheese. I wanted to think of a way that I'm like well, how can I cut that time in half and how can I utilize all the things that I've learned over the years? What shortcuts did I learn? That I could possibly try to cut that time down and that's what we were successfully able to do with government cheese is figure out a way how to cut that time down. Take it from 18 to 24 months. I try to go nine to 12 months.

Speaker 1: 12:15

Who's an ideal person to do government contract Like? And then I wanna ask you, like what is a position of somebody that's doing currently, right now, that can do it, that can just get into it.

Speaker 2: 12:29

So, honestly, I would say the ideal person I know most people are thinking like I would say like a business, but it's not even a business type that I would say is ideal.

Speaker 2: 12:37

It's more of the person, the business owner and the mentality of the business owner. So the ideal person to do government contract is somebody that is tenacious, that has like no quit in them, that is like going to succeed no matter what. If someone approaches this and they have that tenacity and they're like I'm gonna succeed no matter what happens, they'll be successful in government contracting. If you get a person that quits too soon, that's who government contracting is not for. So I would say, like the ideal person is just a hungry person, someone that has that fighting, that dog in them. If you only got that dog in you, you're not gonna be successful in this. Now, if we take it to the next step, like you're saying, like from a business perspective, it sounds crazy but honestly, anything, especially nowadays, like nowadays the government is giving contracts for any and everything I go on a lot of sometimes and I'll tell people like please challenge me.

Speaker 1: 13:30

Yeah, we did that you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 13:31

I'll tell them like yo drop something in there and like, challenge me to find you work, and to this day I've yet to be stumped. What I tell people all the time is the government buys what you sell. They just typically don't buy it the way you used to sell it.

Speaker 1: 13:46

You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 13:48

So it's like if you understand that, okay, the government buys what I'm selling. I just gotta frame it a little bit differently. What you do when you think about it, right? So if you're selling a product to me, you're gonna sell it to me one way, Cause I talk how you talk, you know what I'm saying, I understand. So you're gonna sell your product to me a certain way. But if you're going, you're trying to sell that product to somebody that doesn't identify with you, that doesn't understand you, you gotta sell it a different way.

Speaker 1: 14:10

Yeah, package it and repackage it.

Speaker 2: 14:11

It's the same thing with the government. You could take that product that you sell, but you just can't sell it to the government the same way you sell it to a person. So to answer the question, I mean it's anything like you know. Of course you're gonna have your top industries right. So that's gonna be your construction, your IT, your healthcare, light and defense. Those are gonna be your top ones all the time, right. If you go outside of that, there's a lot of opportunities for professional staff and professional services. The government's getting away from having employees to do professional services, administrative services, things like that. One of the great examples of it was like the DMV. A lot of the people that work at your local DMV now aren't government employees anymore. They're contracted out because the government found that it's more advantageous for them to contract out that person to sit there and renew your driver's license as opposed to having them be an actual government worker.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Boy. They need to get more people in there, because no matter where you go over there, they ain't gotta know people working.

Speaker 2: 15:08

And that's because now they're doing it as contract at work. So now what they'll do is they'll put it out for bid and say, hey, we need to process this amount of licenses per day or per month. How many people will it take to do that? And then contractors will say, well, I can process that amount of stuff with four people. So that's why you're going to DMV.

Speaker 2: 15:29

So other than a company, staffing it and then the company staffs this. So you're going to DMV and there'll be 12 lanes. But yeah, it used to run at 12 lanes when the government was doing it. But now they got a contractor that says, well, I can still give you the same process and it will.

Speaker 1: 15:40

Less people and save the government money, so that's why you see that. So when I'm in the DMV like I was in the DMV maybe like a month, a month ago, two months ago I had to renew the license. I mean, I'll renew the registration and get a new license. So it was very similar to what you're saying. There was definitely like 10 lanes in there. There was like four people in there and hella people sitting there, so that potentially was a staffing company with a government contract that had the subcontractors in those seats.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Yeah, it depends on the state.

Speaker 1: 16:11

Yeah, essentially, Essentially yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:13

So there's a lot of states now that have outsourced a lot of those positions. Yeah, it just depends on the state. There are some states that still currently have people working that and it's typically those states are the states that have large labor unions, because they have agreements with the labor unions. But when you have states that do not have labor agreements, those are the states where you're gonna see that they outsource.

Speaker 1: 16:36

Is there any people clarification of people that would be excluded from getting a government contract? So like, what if you were locked up or something?

Speaker 2: 16:49

No.

Speaker 1: 16:50

You could still get a government contract?

Speaker 2: 16:51

Yeah, there's no. So what happens is, when you talk about excluding, so the government can't really exclude people from being in business, because then we wouldn't be America. So what makes America America from a business perspective is free enterprise. Yeah, so the government can't say, well, we can't do business with you because we don't like this type of person, because then the government is breaking all the rules that America stands for. Right, so now what they can say is that you're limited on what you can do based on certain things.

Speaker 2: 17:20

For example, if you're not a US citizen, you can still get government contracts, but you can't get small business certifications. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have to be a citizen to do that. You can operate your business outside of the United States, but then they're going to limit the type of work that you can do because you're not a US-based company. If you, like you say, had a past right, so you can own a company that does government contracts with a past and you can have a criminal record, but they may say that you can't bid on certain type of contracts based on your record, but you can still get one, but you can still get other contracts.

Speaker 2: 17:54

So, for example, where we see that happen, a lot is say you have a criminal past that includes financial crimes. They're not going to allow you to bid on stuff financial services related. That makes sense, yeah yeah, and when you think about it it all makes sense, right. And then the same thing say you have violent crimes, you may not be able to get security clearances, so you may not be able to go in federal courthouses if you have gun charges in your past, which once again, it makes sense. So there's things like that. But they won't say that OK, because you have a past, you cannot work at all. No, that's, that is illegal, that's unjust. So there's opportunities for everybody, but depending on what your situation is, that may change the type of opportunities. What's?

Speaker 1: 18:39

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Speaker 2: 19:20

Government contracts truly is a way for people to go from nothing to something.

Speaker 1: 19:27

Well, I mean, that's really why I brought it up. There's a lot of people that probably just out here just don't know that this opportunity exists.

Speaker 2: 19:34

I talk a lot like and I'm always doing stuff catered to the vets, for example. Because when you talk about homelessness, for example, the homeless veteran population in this country is out of control and they don't know that there are actually programs for veterans. A to get places to live, the government will literally for veterans. The government will help them get somewhere to stay, help them put food on a table. There's grants available for veterans to start businesses and then they have a program through the SBA where they have a veteran surplus property program. So if a veteran starts a business, that veteran can reach out to the General Services Administration and they can get surplus property from GSA to basically start their business. And that can be surplus property like, literally, buildings for free.

Speaker 1: 20:22

So why does it seem like veterans have no idea that there's a difference?

Speaker 2: 20:26

Because they don't know. It's like anything. Like are people in Paris for lack of knowledge? That's what it says in the Bible. It's the same thing, like there's a lack of education out there and, based on that lack of education, people aren't, they're not taking part in all these things, and the veterans are only one thing. I don't want to harp on vets and make it seem like they're not doing it, because it's everybody.

Speaker 1: 20:43

Yes, everybody, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 20:45

But there's a lack of education out there Because people aren't educating. And then nowadays it's not, and I say it all the time, but it's not sexy. Yeah, you do say that pretty often People not checking for it, Like people not checking for government contracting Because it's not talked about. It's not cool.

Speaker 1: 21:02

So some of the biggest government contractors would be like who would?

Speaker 2: 21:05

top three Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Like those are your top government contractors.

Speaker 1: 21:13

And then Mark Dimm, Mark Cuban, have a government contract with you.

Speaker 2: 21:16

Yeah, yeah, something like every, all, your, all, your largest businesses and business owners are involved in government contracting. The way I tell people is business. You know, we always hit a thing like every entrepreneur has seven streams of income right. So government contracting typically is the top one or two stream for most businesses and most business owners. Because it's, it's, it's not going nowhere. They can count on it, the money going to be there. All they got to do is perform and they will get paid, Perform.

Speaker 1: 21:47

you're going to get paid.

Speaker 2: 21:48

Perform, you're going to get paid. So all of those business owners, they have a government contracting company and that's their Consistence.

Speaker 2: 21:55

And then they take that money and their profits, and then they can say, okay, now I want to branch off into this, I want to branch off into this, branch off into this, and that's what they all do. They'll be Jeff Bezos with AWS or Elon Musk with SpaceX, like that's what they do is they'll make their money from the government in those ways, and then they'll say, okay, I also want to do X, y and Z.

Speaker 1: 22:14

Is it typical for someone to hold multiple government contracts? Oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2: 22:17

Yeah, you can hold multiple contracts with the same agency. You can hold multiple contracts with different agencies. You can hold multiple contracts in different industries. Right, that's that's typically what most people do. That's how you really gain success is you figure out your niche, you figure out your lane and then you just start racking them up.

Speaker 1: 22:37

Now we got to go to some of these questions because the last, the last episode that we did, you definitely had a bunch of questions on there, so let me pull one up. So one of them said what is it? Is there a specific link to go to for various certifications, or are they different?

Speaker 2: 22:58

So there's different ones at different levels. So all your federal certifications you're going to go to the SBA. So SBAgov, that's a small business administration. So you go to SBAgov. That's going to be all of your federally recognized certifications. So that's going to be HUBZone 8A Woman Owned Veteran Owned Economic Disadvantaged. Woman Owned Economic Disadvantaged. Small Business and then Small Business. So that's going to be straight with the SBA. When you start to go on your regional and state level, you can go to your local states. Right, most of your states are going to mirror federal programs and then, depending on the state and the state's demographic, they will have additional programs. And this is where it starts to get tricky with states and then local municipalities. So one of the biggest misnomers that's out there, specifically with government contracting on the federal side, is, anytime people hear a small business, they think minority, smaller minority are two completely different things and they don't correlate in the federal government.

Speaker 1: 24:06

So I think you said last time a small business, anything under $5 million, or something.

Speaker 2: 24:10

It depends on your NAISC code.

Speaker 2: 24:11

So depending on what your NAISC code is. That's what determines whether you're a small business or not. So, for example, my primary NAISC codes are in the two, threes, so in the construction, and right now those are tracking around $45 million. So, essentially, until I make more than $45 million over a three-year average, I'm still considered a small business, right? So when we're talking federal, everything is based on size.

Speaker 2: 24:35

When you start getting into your states, that's when you can start talking about minority contracts, minority set-asides, lgbtq set-asides, because those are going to be based on the demographic of your state. So, for example, if there's a state that's primarily African-American, you're not going to see African-American contract set-asides. Why? Because that's the majority. So when you talk about government contract and certifications, what they're trying to do is they're trying to level the playing field, right?

Speaker 2: 25:11

So like, for example, I tell people I'm funny but not funny in Miami, where I live, a white male is a minority. So a white male has more preference than a black male or a Latino male because they're the minority and that state and that area. So there are not minority set-asides in South Florida, because you know what I'm saying everything's flipped. And now you go to somewhere and even in the state of Florida. If I go to like Tampa, tampa still does black-owned business set-asides because typically there's not a lot of black-owned businesses in Hillsborough County. So when you start to get on your state and local level, that's when you start adding more different things into it and that's where you really got to become a student of the game, because once you understand how the game is played, then you can understand how to play it.

Speaker 1: 26:02

You know what I'm saying so, someone asks is there a different process for certifications?

Speaker 2: 26:09

On the federal side? No, on the federal side it's going to be all the same. It's very straightforward. Once again, you go to your state and local side. Then your certification process changes based on who you're doing it with.

Speaker 1: 26:20

Do you need a website in order to become a government contractor? You?

Speaker 2: 26:24

don't need a website. What I tell people is you need some way to be validated, so you need a website name. I would say do a simple landing page that describes the services that your company provides, and that's it. You don't need a page that is 10, 12 different pages deep that can talk about everything. It's not that serious to the government. They just want to know that you do exist.

Speaker 1: 26:56

So this one says I'm from Kentucky, I usually look out for NOx solicitations. He said the weirdest one I came across was engraved door hammers for award ceremonies. So he's saying there's a bunch of variations of different types of contracts and submissions that they're looking for?

Speaker 2: 27:18

Oh yeah, depending on what agencies you're looking at, you can get crazy. There's a lot because they honestly buy everything.

Speaker 1: 27:25

That's crazy. My man said engraved door hammers.

Speaker 2: 27:29

I've seen different stuff, like when they do their ceremonies. There's all types of opportunities because every agency is different. They're looking for different things.

Speaker 1: 27:37

What's the process in terms of getting a cage coat?

Speaker 2: 27:43

Cool, good one. So cage coat process works like this you have to incorporate your business. Once you're incorporated, you get your EIN. Once you get your EIN, you go to samgov and start your registration. First thing you're going to get is going to be your UEI, that's your unique entity identifier. After you get your UEI, then you're going to get your cage coat. So basically, you follow those steps get incorporated, get your tax ID or EIN, then register on samgov. First you get your UEI and then, after you get your UEI, then no process your cage coat.

Speaker 1: 28:15

And then how long does that take? Typical timeframe from start to finish. What were we talking about? We'll start to cage coat or we'll start to. I'll take you through the whole thing.

Speaker 2: 28:23

Okay, so say youif you have a business already incorporated, you already have your EIN. You go to samgov, input all your information, get your UEI. From the time you get your UEI, which is that's one day, that's literally you sitting at the computer in one day and you'll get your UEI. It takes about 90 days to get your cage coat.

Speaker 1: 28:43

Okay, that's if you have an established business and I should finish it and then just submit it and wait for it to come back, and then just wait for it to come back.

Speaker 2: 28:50

All right. So you don't have an established business, so you're going to establish your business and then do the process. It's going to take you typically about four to six months, and the reason being is because when you start a brand new business, you don't exist in any databases yet. So it's going to take time for the state that you're registering to then notify the IRS, to then notify the Department of State, to notify the Treasury. It's going to take time for all of these different people to recognize that this business exists. What's going on, guys? This is Kevin Zenniser, government Cheese man. Be sure to tap the link below, tap in with our Intro to Government Contract and course, and also be on the lookout for the next Intro to Government Contract and Bootcamp. You can find all this information at wwwthegovernmentcheeseorg.

Speaker 1: 29:36

So just to break that down, the difference is if I had a business that's already generating some revenue, it does not necessarily even generate revenue. Just have my EIN, just have it, yeah, and it just being established and recognized, correct. So I was like, okay, this information I'm getting today.

Speaker 2: 29:52

I want to start. I want to start Got you, got you. So the big difference is, if you had that company already established, you could slide through the system and say three months. If you don't have that company established, it's going to probably take four to six months just to get your cage code.

Speaker 1: 30:08

I mean, that's not bad, though it's not.

Speaker 2: 30:11

And, like I tell people, I teach a lot of our students like, from the time that you register and you commit yourself to this whole process, there's a lot of things that you should be doing in that three to six month window while you're waiting to get your cage code. There's a you need to be doing your market research right, so you need to understand who's buying what you're selling. You need to understand how they're buying it. You need to understand who your competition is right. You need to put together your marketing strategies. You need to be doing your capability statement. You need to do a SWOT analysis. Like there's a lot of things that you could be doing in that time that you're waiting to get your cage code so that when you do get your cage code, you can go to work. You can go to work, yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:48

What's typical age as far as someone to get a government contract? Like, how young can you start so?

Speaker 2: 30:56

the. You guys can Google this Snapple Facts the youngest self-made billionaire is a government contractor. So the youngest billionaire was Kylie Jenner, right, but then she got surpassed by this individual, alexander Wang, who's now the youngest self-made billionaire and he is. It comes from government contracting. He built some drones and then the government gave him a multi-billion dollar deal for these drones and he became the youngest. Zero to a billion, yeah, off of government contracts. It's crazy. And he's I want to say he's early twenties. So you believe that?

Speaker 1: 31:34

everyone should have a government contract.

Speaker 2: 31:37

I think everybody should have a government contracting business. I think that it just makes sense.

Speaker 1: 31:43

If you're a stay at home mom right now should you have a government contract?

Speaker 2: 31:46

I think so, Like if you're a stay at home mom, you could do products Like the same way I tell people like in government contracting. That's kind of how I started was doing products. I was Amazon dropshipping to the government before Amazon was a thing, so I mean you could so break that down.

Speaker 1: 32:02

So when you say doing products, are you talking about like toilet paper?

Speaker 2: 32:04

Yeah, Like toilet paper, pencils, pens. Hdmi cords, extension cords.

Speaker 1: 32:11

So when you say in drive to the government, you're sending a right to one of the offices.

Speaker 2: 32:16

So there's different websites where the government goes and they basically put out to us as government contractors to say, hey, these are the products that we're trying to buy and it's basically the products that the government needs to work every day. So, like I said, paper, pencils, pens, toilet paper, toner, all these different things, and so basically all you'll do is they'll send the request and say, hey, we need to buy 10 pallets of paper. Then you'll find the manufacturers. You'll negotiate your pricing with the manufacturers. Then you go back to the government and say, okay, I've negotiated with this manufacturer, I can get you those 10 pallets at XYZ cost. The government then gives me a contract to do it. I let the manufacturer know hey, all right, I have a purchase order for this. This is what we're going to do.

Speaker 2: 33:01

I set up shipping and have them shipped directly to the government. So you drop shipping to the government, drop shipping to the government. I have them shipped directly to the government. When the government receives it, I receive notification that they have received it and accepted it. The minute they receive it and accept it, I'm able to invoice for it. They pay me, I pay the vendor.

Speaker 1: 33:19

So is it a net 30 or 60 with that vendor? No one, that is a government contractor?

Speaker 2: 33:23

No one Our students is. You want to set up a 30 or 60, get a 30 or 60 day vendor account from your vendor, then negotiate fast payment terms with the government. So there's a thing called a prompt payment act. Under the prompt payment act, the government has to pay you within 30 days of successful invoice. So if you can set up 30, 45, 60 day terms with your vendor and you know you're gonna get paid within 30 days from the government, you're never out any money. And then, because you're drop shipping it, you're not even paying for the shipping costs. You're literally just goes right there. You get paid, you pay them, you keep the margins Full disclaimer. Are you gonna get rich doing that? No, you're not. You ain't doing nothing. So you can't expect to like make a lot of money, Can you you gonna eat off those?

Speaker 2: 34:08

margins yeah can you create income 110%. But if you learn the process and you replicate the process, even making three to 5%, you know what I'm saying. It's a lot because you gotta think if you're making, if you're processing orders for the government, and every time you process an order it's a, you know, call it a $100,000 order, just for simple numbers. So if you're processing a $100,000 order on a 5% margin, that's five grand. If you do one of those a week, that's $20,000.

Speaker 1: 34:36

Mm-hmm, yes, not bad From the home that's a quarter million.

Speaker 2: 34:40

Yeah, from your home. Yeah that's a quarter million Off the couch.

Speaker 1: 34:43

Off the couch.

Speaker 2: 34:44

So it's like but that's what I say. You're not gonna get rich doing it, but you can definitely create it's a quarter million, it's not bad. You can definitely create a sustainable business and create revenue for yourself doing it. Like I have a lot of students that do it and you know they'll make $1,500, $2,000 a week in profit. But that's the equivalent of working a job. You gotta think, if you're making $7,500, $9,000 a month from your house, like that's not bad, because what's the median income these days?

Speaker 1: 35:15

Like $6,000, $7,000, $5,000, $6,000.

Speaker 2: 35:18

So you gotta think the average American is going to work every day and they're only making $4,000 a month.

Speaker 1: 35:24

Yeah, they're putting a lot of sweat equity in. They're putting a lot of sweat equity in.

Speaker 2: 35:28

So to me, to me it's a no-brainer, but that's because I've been doing it, I guess. But then when I introduce it to people and I have students that do it and they start to really see it and they're like why have I just now started doing this?

Speaker 1: 35:41

Yeah, what's the different variations of, like, the government contracting opportunities? Right, because obviously you can get a contract. Right, and then you say you can sell products, and then earlier you was talking about how you can basically leverage and get a corporate contract. So are there other opportunities for you to make money with government contracting?

Speaker 2: 36:01

Yeah, and there's a bunch of different ways. So you can start at the lowest level, which are the products, and you can progress into your services. Then, from there, you've got single service contracts, which is, hey, we need XYZ, done? You go, do that and get paid. Then you have multi-year you know what I'm saying. You have the multi-years, or the ones that I like.

Speaker 2: 36:21

So those, like I said, that's gonna be your two to five year contracts while you're providing similar products or services on a consistent basis, and then, from there, you have your legacy contracts, which are those are the ones, like you see, like your Boeing's, your Northrop Grumman's, your big government contractors, even Jeff Bezos with like AWS, they get legacy contracts.

Speaker 1: 36:40

So those are like what's that mean? 10, 15, 20?

Speaker 2: 36:42

year contracts, gotcha, and then those are lifetime contracts, essentially. So there's a number of different ways to get involved at a number of different levels. It just depends on your comfort level. There's different thresholds, so like, for example, anything under $25,000 doesn't go on samgov, so that means it doesn't get public Anything under Under Under, yeah, so there's an entire industry that lives under the thresholds, so those bids you'll never see online because they're under $25,000. So there's that. Then there's, like I said, there's your 25 to 250, which are under the simplified acquisition threshold. So the way that those are procured are completely different, so they only have to do a certain amount of work to be able to award those. So there's so many different things, so many different rules, but once you learn the rules and you learn the game, you can take it wherever you wanna go.

Speaker 1: 37:38

So how do you do your? So you do these workshops where people can come they can learn about government contracting, you breaking down the process and everything. So what does that look like? So if I'm watching this or listening to this right now I saw the first episode I'm like, oh man, he going deeper. Now I can see it. He got a contract with the NFL. That's crazy. I need to get into this. But I wanna learn from you, cause I've been reading like two comments here and these people like I want the 101, don't wanna meet your person.

Speaker 1: 38:12

So how can people like get one of those workshops and how does it work?

Speaker 2: 38:17

Yeah, so what I do is I do in person boot camps. I do one every quarter. Okay, so four times a year, four times a year. And what I do is I go to different cities. I limit it to 30 people. The reason I do that is because I wanna be able to pour into the individuals. I didn't want to start doing these big, massive, hundred, 200 person events because then I felt like it wasn't personal. And the thing with government contracting is, if you don't grasp the information like we talked about, you're gonna just fall off. You know what I'm saying. So I do these small 30 person boot camps where I can really get to understand you and your business. I do four of them a year. This year we're here in Vegas, and March we're gonna be in Atlanta, dallas and then Orlando. So you got Vegas, march.

Speaker 1: 39:06

Atlanta, Dallas, and then you finish off in Orlando.

Speaker 2: 39:09

Yeah, so those are the four cities that I'll do this year. How do you pick the cities? I try to move around. I try to always do. I try to come to the West Coast at least once a year because I love the West Coast, but small business doesn't thrive on the West. It's very strange and I didn't realize it till a couple of years ago. But, like on the East Coast and down south, a lot of people, there's a lot of entrepreneurs. The West Coast is not really like that, which is and I still don't understand why. So somebody, if you can explain to me why, please, yeah, leave a comment below.

Speaker 2: 39:45

Please leave a comment below and explain to me why I don't understand it. You know what I'm saying. But I know that the hunger is out on the West Coast. So I always try to come through one of the West Coast and I love my West Coast family because the way they think is just so different than the way we think down south. So I love to come out here and get that energy from them. I love my family from the Bay. The people in the Bay think a certain type of way, like the people in LA. They think a certain type of way. You know, I got people in Arizona and Phoenix. They think a certain type of way and it's just all so different than how we think on the East Coast and down south. So that's how I pick the West Coast is. I always try to do one West Coast city. So we're in Vegas. Down south always shows love. Last year we did Miami in May, but there's a lot of entrepreneurs in Atlanta. The business scene is crazy in Atlanta, so that's why we're doing Atlanta this year. I always try to go to Texas because, same thing, the entrepreneurial spirit in Texas is heavy. So last year we did Houston, so this year we're gonna do Dallas. Dallas, yeah, yeah, right.

Speaker 2: 40:57

And then the fourth city I always wanna do something during the holidays, like that November, december timeframe, in Florida, because everybody wanna escape the cold Cause. Most people were like my people, that's from up north, you know what I'm saying. They're like yo, I'm trying to get out of here. I wanna, I gotta come to Florida. That's a fact, you know what I'm saying. So I always try to do that December in Florida. So last year we did Tampa, so this year we're gonna do Orlando.

Speaker 2: 41:25

So that's how I picked the cities. I wanna move around more. I tried to do last year, I tried to do Chicago, but Chicago was tough just because we tried to do in the summer and the timeframe just didn't work. It was super, super expensive. I tried to do New York. Same thing. It's super, super expensive to come to New York and do stuff. I think maybe next year I'm gonna try Philly or the DMV, maybe like Baltimore. Yeah, I think I'd like Baltimore or Philly. I still wanna do something Midwest. I may try Chicago again, or maybe Indianapolis or maybe like Kansas City. So I'm always I'm looking at the cities based on, like how the people are moving and that's how I picked them.

Speaker 1: 42:12

And then what can I expect from those? It's like two days or what? One day, two days, three days, yeah, two days.

Speaker 2: 42:17

Man them. Boot camps be crazy, bro, the boot camps. I love doing them because I tell people like straight up, I'm not a people person, like I don't like people but I like my people. So when I put that room together of them 30 people, it's like 30 of my people and it's a vibe Like the energy is crazy, the networking is crazy because it's only 30 people.

Speaker 2: 42:41

Like I market it, but I'm very selective with the type of people that we allow to come to the events. So, like I personally interview people, like when they send a submission, and like I'm interested in the boot camp, I have my office automatically set them up with a 15 minute console for free. I want to see if they're good fit. Yeah, cause I want to see if they're good fit Cause, like you got to be in the right mind frame. So the rooms I'm starting off by telling you the rooms are like curated, amazing. Then, as far as the learning, I go through it all. Like, literally we start from A, assuming you don't even have a business. Yeah To working all the way through that.

Speaker 1: 43:20

We do Sam registration, we do people are doing this in real time.

Speaker 2: 43:24

In real time, okay, and I'm going step by step by step, line by line. We go through all the certifications, understanding what they are, how to, how to apply for them, like how to leverage them. You know what I'm saying. Then we go into the market research, understanding the customer. Then we dive into the actual like proposals. Before you even like get to submitting a proposal, like you got to understand the different types of procurement methods that the government has. So we dive into all of that. Then we get, of course, get into proposal submission.

Speaker 2: 43:58

And then on day two, man, we really dive in into understanding how to subcontract, how to be a subcontractor, how to find subcontractors, how to find potential business partners, how to find vendors, how to leverage vendor relationships. And then I finish off day two with like really giving people action items. So it's like all right, cool, you sat through the last two days, now let's make some money. Here's the sites where you go to, where you can make money tomorrow. Here's how you can do things outside of the box to make money tomorrow. Then we even get into I have typically I have two speakers come in. Well, one speaker. Usually this time in Vegas we're doing two, but I have individuals come in that are going to teach you things, that are going to multiply your business immediately.

Speaker 2: 44:46

I tell people, if you come to one of our boot camps, even if you don't do government contracting when you leave you'll be a better business person Because the things that we're going to show you and the things that we're going to talk about are going to enhance your business in every way. Even if you decide, you know a government contracting and, for me, that workbook that you're going to get, if you implement some of that stuff into your normal business, you're going to three or four extra business off top and then on top of that, like from the business credit, the funding, the financing, we literally give people the money to do government contracting. If you can make it through the day two and you can make it to the end of day two and you don't fall asleep or decide the government contracting for you, you're going to make all your money back that you invested to come to that event.

Speaker 1: 45:31

So they can expect to go from zero to get in a government contract, get in the access to the funding that they may need Right Probably, locate what area of government contracts and that they want to do and then figure out how they can make money fast.

Speaker 2: 45:46

No, from two days, two days. I have a lot of people that are in our course and community. I love my course, I love my community. But even the people that are in the course and community will tell you the bootcamp is you have to come to a bootcamp. I see I have some.

Speaker 2: 46:01

I have amazing stories of individuals from bootcamps. Like, literally God in our program was in the course and community for like three or six months come to a bootcamp and within three months after the bootcamp, literally seven, eight figure businesses. Like I got one individual that literally went from not being able to afford to buy the course. Like had to like patch up bread to buy the course, then patched up bread to come to the event, couldn't come to the first bootcamp that they wanted to come to, had to wait three months to the next one. Came to that one and then literally within six days of coming to that bootcamp, eight figures in contracts. Now seven, eight figures in contracts. So within 12 months of being in the program we're from literally having no business to a eight figure business.

Speaker 1: 46:50

So government contract can get really take somebody from like a struggling business to a seven figure, eight figure business.

Speaker 2: 47:02

Yeah, and it sounds crazy when I say it, but like, yeah, straight up, straight up, like you can go from and I've seen it and I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it and I wasn't a part of it but to go from zero to a seven or eight figure business in 12, 18, that's not unrealistic. A six figure business in 12 months is that's common, yeah, that's we're at. Six figure business in 12 months is that's every day, that's no problem. But seven or eight figure business in 18 months is not unrealistic.

Speaker 1: 47:38

Is there? Is there some type of like mindset shift? Someone I might, let's say, working nine and five would be, let's say, a traditional entrepreneur or sole-preneur that they need to have when getting a government contract or working.

Speaker 2: 47:52

It's a complete mindset shift because the problem with most people, honestly, is they don't really think that it's possible. Like they dream, like everybody dreams, but nobody expects their dreams to become reality their dreams, like you, just expect your dream to always be a dream, just be a dream, yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:09

That's why you call it a dream, like people don't have business to say that's my reality. So I had a dream that I was doing XYZ. They don't say, oh, I'm going to do XYZ. So yeah, it's a complete mindset shift and that's that's why, like I said, I talk to people that join my community because I want to see where's your mind at and where do I need to take your mind, because I can give you all of this information. I could sit here and literally give you the blueprint, but if your mind isn't aligned, it's not going to matter, cause you're not going to do what I'm telling you to do, and if you do, it's not going to work because you're not aligned. So it's a complete mindset shift. And then that's the first thing that has to happen is your mind has to be on point Dial down.

Speaker 2: 48:49

If you're not, it's not going to work for you because it's not easy, but it's very rewarding Because you got to think on a seven figure business right that's operating at a 10 or 12% profit margin. So we're not even talking about overhead, we're not even talking about paying your bills to operate your business. We're talking about pure profit margin 10 to 12% margin. You're talking about a hundred, 150, $200,000 of pure profit, like if you don't know how to live, what you going to do when you get an extra 200 grand. You're going to spend that, john, because your mind isn't where it needs to be. You're not ready to have that type of bread. So you have to have your mind completely aligned when you come into this. If not, it's not going to work for you. You're going to get that money and then you're going to go broken and you're going to say this is the worst thing I ever did. But it's not the worst thing you ever did. It's that you weren't ready for it. Yeah, it wasn't ready for it yeah.

Speaker 2: 49:50

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so mindset to me is very, very big. I work with the entrepreneurs within my community. A lot, a lot, a lot with mindset. And you know a crazy thing, I find that the males struggle the most. Most of my successful students are females.

Speaker 1: 50:10

And government contracting.

Speaker 2: 50:11

Yeah, yeah, I mean government contracting, because that's my community, but I just look at it from a business perspective. You know what I'm saying. Like my females, after a little bit, I worked with them, I talked to them. Their mind is so much different there. So the males that are in my program, they struggle because they struggle with changing their mindset Cause they're so like no, this is me, this is who I am, this is my identity, I'm this, I'm this, I'm this. And it's like if you don't shift, it's not going to work for you.

Speaker 1: 50:41

Man, this was good. This was a good part too, yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:44

I mean.

Speaker 1: 50:44

so, like what you do for the, what you got going on with the NFO with this contract, this exists with other teams, potentially like a similar situation Everybody everybody has a small and diverse business program.

Speaker 2: 51:01

You know the NFL, like I said, has one, but the NBA has one, mlb has one, the MLS, major League Soccer they have one. Every team has some sort of programs that they have. So within the sports industry it's everywhere. You know you go into corporate America, target, walmart, all of the large corporations. They have supplier diversity programs, like everybody has these opportunities. So that's why I tell people, if you get into this and we can show you how to get the certifications, you may say, hey, I don't want to do government contracting because my business doesn't fit there, so maybe you can take those certifications and maybe you can become a supplier for Target, you know what I'm saying for somebody else, because they all have the same thing going on.

Speaker 1: 51:45

So I want to and on this, what's an area I guess in government contracting a way you can maybe apply some of these certs that's like, you know, like little known or obscure or people don't even think about it, like what's an arbitration that might be right in plain sight that people utilize. They ain't even think about it.

Speaker 2: 52:07

So one of the big ones that's hot right now and we talked about it before is like digital marketing, social media marketing, things like that. That's hot right now just because of how the world is going If we talk about emerging, possible emerging businesses and emerging industries the EV industry is a big industry.

Speaker 2: 52:28

That is an emerging industry because it's just being created. So electric vehicles are. They're somewhat big to us now because we've seen them. You know what I'm saying. We know about Tesla, we know about Rivian, we know about all these ones that we use, but we haven't started to see the government use these yet. So a lot of your electric vehicles to date have all been personal use. But now you're gonna start to see the transition into where the government's gonna start to use them. So now you're seeing your major car companies come out with vehicles. Like you know, ford's got the pickup trucks now that are battery powered. So eventually you're gonna see the F-150s go to 250s, 350s, 550s. So your heavy duty vehicles, you're gonna see them be electric your buses, your police cars, your fire trucks. So, as that shift happens, the same way that, like, you have to charge your Tesla to charge the station where the police gonna charge, there ain't gonna be no place if it only charge.

Speaker 2: 53:30

There's no place. If it only charge, no one's gonna have it, so they have to create their own charging stations. So there's a lot of different things, that's just one like a merge.

Speaker 1: 53:37

That's a good one, though. That's a good one, yeah.

Speaker 2: 53:39

That's one that's about to go crazy. And I was actually put onto that one by the DOT. So one of the small business directors at DOT, like I, was like yo, what's something I could tell them, my people, to get into? And she was like here's a quick one.

Speaker 1: 53:53

Yeah, that makes sense. That's a gem for y'all right there. I gave y'all a free game.

Speaker 2: 53:57

If you don't use it, like I said, I can't help you. All I can do is give it to you. It's up to you to run it.

Speaker 1: 54:02

So let her know where they can tap in with you, how they can get to one of the boot camps, take advantage of your course, stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 54:09

Yeah, so definitely already know. On socials it's government cheese, gov underscore cheese. That's the social media stuff. So that's YouTube, tiktok, facebook, instagram, all of that. Thegovernmentcheeseorg is the website. On thegovernmentcheeseorg you'll be able to get info for the course and you'll also be able to find the different boot camps For our men spend another great one.

Speaker 1: 54:33

Appreciate you, Listen. You guys welcome. My well, not welcome, but you're definitely tapped into another episode of the Honourful Soup podcast. This is Brendan. That's Kevin Government Cheese. Make sure that you tap with them. All the links will be below. We'll check you guys out on another episode. We'll see you guys next time.