Why you should get into government contracting as a minority-owned business.
That's what this video is about today.
I'm diving into the five things you need to know before you make the decision as to whether
you will dive into government contracting or not.
It doesn't matter whether you're just starting your business, you've already been in business
for a while in the private sector, or you're just venturing off into government contracting.
This video is for you.
This video is going to tackle exactly what you need to know before you make a decision
about government contracting for your business.
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The U.S. government spends billions of dollars every year with small and minority-owned businesses.
If you're not in the government contracting game, you're leaving money on the table.
What I'm about to share is intended to help you better understand the benefits of being
a minority-owned and small business as a government contractor.
The first thing I want to share with you is set asides.
What are set asides?
Set asides basically in a nutshell is that you have a particular certification.
Here we're talking about minority businesses and small businesses.
We're talking about the various certifications.
If you have one of the certifications, the government have categories of which they set
money aside, contracting dollars each year based on those categories.
Let's talk about the categories that we're going to cover here today as it relates to
minority-owned businesses.
We're talking about at the state level.
We're talking about your minority business enterprise certification.
We're talking about your DBE, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise certification.
We're talking about your MWBE, your Women Minority Business Enterprise certification.
Then also at the state level, you have a state HUB certification.
We're talking about those types of certifications that are given to minority-owned businesses,
as well as the small business certification.
At the federal level, we have your WOSBE, Women-Owned Small Business.
We have your, let me see, EDWOSB, which is your Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned
Small Business.
You also have small business.
You also have service-disabled and the veteran certifications.
Now, also at the federal level, we have what we call the Federal HUBZone certification
as well.
Then the other one that everyone comes to me about, and in most cases, if you're coming
to me, you're just getting started in government contracting and you're not ready for it anyway,
but it is the 8a program.
I did want to throw it out there in case you heard the name.
Yes, I know about the 8a certifications.
But if you're just getting started, that's not something you want to look at, yet.
I don't want to spend time here on this video with you guys and it's not something that's
going to serve you right now.
We're talking about your state-level certifications, as well as your federal.
You need to know the difference because it will relate to your customer with certifications
you need to have and who accept particular certifications.
Let's talk about the steps to applying before I dive into some numbers and statistics for
you because I know you want to know the actual numbers, right?
The steps to being able to do work at the federal level are one, you need to get registered
in the SAM registration, step one.
Step two is, of course, you apply for any certifications for what you have.
Here's the thing that a lot of people miss out on and some states are different than
others, but they do require a two year minimum of being in business in some cases.
Again, each state is different.
They run separately, so you do have to check with your local state agency and see what
all of the requirements are.
Now, at the certification level to qualify, there are also some other things involved
outside of the two-year minimum if that's one of the requirements.
One of the other big requirements is that whoever is applying for the certification
must have majority ownership in the business.
If you're applying, for example, for a women-owned certification, that means that women-owned
has to hold 51% ownership.
That's majority ownership in the business.
Don't leave me yet.
Stick around because I'm giving you some stats.
Down below in the comments I want to know, share with me what certifications you currently
have or/and which certifications you are currently working on getting for your business.
Let's break down the numbers.
I want to break down the numbers of what's available for you if you qualify for one of
the minority-owned certifications.
I have my little cheat sheet here because it's numbers, statistics, and I want to give
you the real deal.
23% of all prime contracts are...
How do I want to say it?
Set aside for small businesses.
5% of prime and subcontracts are to be set aside for small disadvantaged businesses,
5% of women-owned small businesses for prime and subcontractor, and then you have 3% of
prime contracts to HUBZone certified people, and then you have 3% of prime and subcontract
work to be given to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.
As of this recording, the government had spent $128 billion I think to be exact a couple
of years ago with small businesses.
Of course, you know their data doesn't come that fast, so we're a year behind in that.
But over the last six years, it has steadily increased, the dollar value.
Percentages have remained the same, but the dollar value of these classifications, these
categories have increased to that.
The government is spending over $120 billion with small businesses.
Don't you want to get your piece of the pie?
A nice little piece would be delicious and very lucrative.
There you have it.
Now you know the types of certifications, the benefits, and you have tangible numbers
that I just gave you to help you decide if you're leaving money on the table.
Now, here's a little FYI for you.
In most situations, it takes about 60 to 90 days to receive your certification.
It's why I stress so much with you guys.
You come to me and you're like, "Hey, I want to start doing government work," and then
you put it off and you put it off, and then, oh my gosh, here's an opportunity that you
want to bid and now you want help in getting everything done, the infrastructure set up,
and it just does not happen that fast.
You have to be proactive and start doing the work necessary to lay the foundation before
the opportunity presents itself.
Because if you wait until the opportunity presents itself, you're too late for that
opportunity.
Keep that in mind and ask yourself, are you leaving money on the table?
Are you leaving money on the table?
Just keep that in mind.
I don't want you to wait.
Don't wait until there's an opportunity.
If this is something you know you want to do, start laying the groundwork today so that
you're prepared for when the opportunity presents itself.
Guess what?
While you're waiting on certifications and things like that to come in, there are other
things that you should be doing in your business to be proactive, and getting a jump start
on becoming a government contractor.
I always tell my clients that there is always work to be done.
There is always work to be done.
You should always be doing some type of work, moving your business forward so that you can
secure some of those larger contracts, increase your profits, yes, and grow as a government
contractor.
Now, if you’d like to dive deeper into government contracting using your certifications to secure
those larger contracts, to make sure you're profiting in your business, then I want to
encourage you, encourage you, now is the time and the doors are open for the Contractors
Edge Bootcamp where you're getting access to all of the course material.
Plus, you get to come to a live four-week online Bootcamp where we're going to dive
deeper into the procurement process of finding opportunities, putting together your bid and
proposals, how to break down those solicitations, the important pieces that will take you from
where you're at to where you want to be is inside of the Contractors Edge Bootcamp.
Make sure you go check it out.
I'll definitely put the link below and it's over at http://feliciastreeter.com/bootcamp.
If you like this video, make sure you hit the subscribe button and turn on the notification
bell so that you're notified when new videos come out, when I go live here on the channel.
I encourage you, this is a time of service, share this video with someone that you know
is a small business owner because here's the thing, the government buys everything just
about.
The only thing I say they really don't purchase is the people, the soldiers.
They don't purchase those, but they buy everything to support them.
If you know someone, don't you qualify them for government contracting.
Let them qualify themselves through the processes and free resources that I have, or they can
ask me and I can help them in determining if government contracting is viable for them.
But don't you decide that because you just may not know enough about their business.
Use this time as a time of service and share this out at least to a couple of other small
businesses in your spectrum.
All right.
Until next time, I'll see you right back here.
Bye for now.