10 Lessons Learned From 17 years in Government Contracting so you're never going to know everything in government contract never you're never going to get to a point in time and you're going to say I know everything I started out in 2017 and I ended up getting my first subcontract at Patrick space for which is it was Patrick Air Force Base then so you're never going to know know everything that's number one you got to be okay with it you got to be aware with it of this second lesson from being in this space for 17 years you know I'm 28 so I started when I was like four is that this is not a get-rich quick scheme this is not that come across it a lot lot of messages hey I need money or I'm a single parent I lost my job I saw a video can I really make this money of course you of course can make money there's no reason you can't succeed in Government Contracting but you're not going to go from your current life to yachts and it it just doesn't happen like that instead it brings us to the next one which I think what is that make number four you can easily win a contract there's it's not hard to win a contract it's not hard to win a contract at all this is our card for tonight the universe is supporting my efforts my dreams manifest into reality before my eyes cuz the other thing I noticed had to do with mind when I first started out yeah I had this subcontract I loved it I was excited it was great and I ended up getting other opportunities but then I just was real messy and I didn't know exactly what to do and I kind of thought like that was that so that's another lesson for now that might be six or seven is you want to surround yourself with people who lift you up around your same level look we have some moments you know I was like oh and then and then after being there I was like oh my God what did I really am I'm I'm I'm energetically drained I'm sad I'm a little annoyed and the same thing will happen to you you're going to expect your loved one your mom your dad your auntie your uncle your grandma your grandpa your kids your cousins to support you and to Rally you and to love on you because you're in this space of government contract cuz you see that the universe is supporting your effort and they're not going to do that and while this example I'm sharing with you had nothing to do with that it's to say and that it's a group of people that couldn't and can't be where I am because they're not there yet just like your friends family you know but we are here for you I I think year one or year two I was at like I think almost half a million it was really crazy but what I soon learned is you got to understand proposals you got to understand a solicitation you need to understand what wage determination is you need to understand how to fill out a standard form you need to understand that just because you want a middleman doesn't mean you don't do any of these things or you don't understand these things because I was still subcontract you got to understand so that's why I created proposal that wins.com 447 lifetime access the other lesson I learned is you can't partner with everybody you're definitely going to pay you're going to pay a big old learning tax I partnered that was mad somebody kind of recommended excuse me these people in Philly they just straight up scammed me and I wasn't who I was I never got paid I did all this work for free it was terrible and it was even worse because they look like me and I'm not saying if you don't look like me then you can scam me I'm just saying that I really hate when people play up the audience that they're like I remember one of my early coaching students he was very eager to quickly grow his business right so he met somebody who claimed they had contract and that they could help him with Staffing or something I don't know so I said well let's look them up and they didn't really have any contracts and I just said look I get where you're going You're eager you want to get this work but this is not the person to work with this is part of the lessons learned this is not it so you have to be prepared for that it's great that you offer Trucking or you do HVAC or you're in North Carolina or you're in Texas but you have to be very leery of the people you partner with and that brings me to the next lesson you got to have cash people would always talk about you got to have cash flow you have cash you got to have cash you got to have cash in your business so I'm going to pull a card so that's why before I go into the abundance card for tonight we have abundance so here's the deal y'all in order to figure out the money part you have to lean into what are your goals what are your goals my goal right now is a minimum of a million a month what is your goal okay let's say your goal is 300 a month what is it going to take you to get to 300 a month if you have to do factoring you have to take out a loan you got to use a credit card you have to pull from 401k you have to factor in no pun intended the fees affiliated with doing that so if you're bidding at 100,000 it's going to cost you 20,000 to take out money you got to factor that in this is really important I started out in this video saying one of the biggest lessons I learned is you're always learning apply and adjusting that's why I strongly suggest winners way book.com winners way book.com proposal that wins proposal that wins cuz you there's never a time when you're going to say to yourself oh I know everything in Government Contracting it's always changing the laws the rules everything's changing it's business so it's key to factor these things in early I had another person reach out they thought they were going to make like 20% actually their profit would have been maybe 10 or seven because they didn't factor in one of the expenses that's something else that's really important under lessons learn you have to factor in every single expense you got to ask is there additional fuel AG you got to factor in what if that vendor doesn't show up or you have to replace them or if there's weather delay you have to factor all this in that's why one of the biggest Lessons Learned is this is business y'all we're here in business this is not just some I'm make some quick money because there's people out there who I can relate to they look like me they sound like me it sounds good okay great how does business work some companies can't make Pro can't make their payroll some companies have to liquidate some companies have to take out debt some companies file bankruptcy what I want you guys to know is is don't use these unknown answers as excuses I don't always know how to price there are companies that you can pay to help you with pricing I remember once I was teaming with this almost billion doll company and they had this woman on the team and that was her job her freaking full-time job was pricey but it takes you a point to get there look at Society how did Apple come up with how did they determine what to sell this phone at I don't know how did they determine to what to sell this at you you know it's like you got to start somewhere and that's one of the biggest lessons from all of the lessons I've learned in 17 years gosh of doing that is you just got to go out there you're never going to know everything but if you're the type of person I got I got to know I got to know I just I can't be like that and you're controlling it's not going all you're going to do is create a job for yourself and you're going to be miserable I've been there done that here is the deal y'all lean into where these messages are coming from have you ever heard me say that the market is too sad saturated have you ever heard me say this I believe and I know it's easier to win in a weird area is it easier to win if it's unusual is it easier to win if you're going to need half a million dollars of course in comparison to hey we're looking for janitorial lowest cost people use the word saturated to justify the fact that they lost if they're the ones complaining about now every now and again I might like I may slid the word in there and say it's saturated I don't think I really do have y'all ever heard me say that I mean I'm being really honest I don't think I ever say that cuz I don't believe that any area saturated this is another lesson that I learned if you're going to a government location you want to make sure you don't have any warrants that you don't have um Pew pews on you or in your car even if it's legal where you live you want to make sure you dress the part if you're going to measure have a real measure don't use your phone don't don't do all this please don't you know take photos ask for a copy of the attendee list make sure you're respectful you know maybe print a copy of the opportunity or have it on your phone the other lesson that I learned in the space is that people in the government want to help you yeah there might be some interesting characters but overall they want you to be a success they want you to deliver they want you to be part of their team as far as how they Define okay so don't look at them like uh the government they're made out of human being when I first started out 17 years ago I was a no- at- all I really you couldn't tell me nothing I'm going to tell you right now I'm definitely not that person thank God card of the day I have the view of abundance cuz I didn't have that view before and the universe is supporting my efforts didn't really think that so the thing is if you think you know it all you're going to run into problem and I especially see this with those of you in it engineering you think oh I know all of this I know how to do this I'm so smart those of you who have an advanced degree a master's PhD you're a medical doctor you think you know it all connect with me in 3 months tell me what's up so when I first started out Patrick Air Force Base a lot of people would come to me Dr Parks I heard you got these contracts Dr Parks I want to get into Contracting was a very weird phase in my life so for those of you who are active military or recently retired or worked for the federal government sparkling water don't get it twisted this is my lesson learned just because you have that experience or those touch points does not mean you're getting contracts so keep that in mind it's easy to be a bum it's easy to be mediocre it's easy to be overweight it's easy to eat crappy food it's easy to live a dismal life it's easy to be in a crazy relationship or marriage it's easy to be with busted up people and so spending your time here and learning from somebody who cares from somebody me I am growing and elevating in all these spaces Health Wellness spirituality just life in general and so I'm hyped up to share this week every single time I go back to the States it really rattles me and you know I love America it's the greatest country in the world I'm not going to be living there has nothing to do with politics or anything I just I need to be able to eat food that's not trying to not that I'm digressing it's related because if you win a government contract and your health is trash then what is that going to do for you so here are the next steps whether it's 10 lessons 100 lessons or a thousand lessons you always learn apply adjust learn apply adjust you have to do that learn apply adjust if you just learn and take it in that's cool book winners way book.com winners way book.com like subscribe notifications send to 10 people everything is possible I love and adore you you got this don't stress out over it don't get all caught up in some stuff I love you bye everything is possible