my first contract was for Catholic Services I live in Ohio I'm a school teacher and I'm also not Catholic he's in California I'm in Ohio when he goes to work I get paid then I want a landscaping contract in Washington I spend 5 months winning two contracts and making six figures I'm submited a proposal every single day it's just me there's this thing called like voicemail it's crazy it's like you actually say something on the phone and they call you back today we have the one and only Dr West Fisher here so excited to have you here here thank you thank you for having me I appreciate it this is awesome yes this is terrific and one thing I love to ask people is of all of the things how did you come across Government Contracting and what made you really lean into Government Contracting cuz I've never really met anyone who's like oh I grew up and in first grade I said I want to be a government contractor nobody does I don't think anyone does not at all yeah might be a boring story I was a school teacher right I taught special ed for eight years and I was a school teacher yeah yeah I love what I did um I love my students I love what I did in that field you know but I realized after eight years and at that time I just had my Master's Degree I was making 50k a year I'm like okay this is cool but this is not like the life I really want and I heard about this thing called retire rehire I'm like what the heck is that it's like people retire and then they get rehired by the school system cuz they can't live on what they retired on I said okay that's not for me it's not for but just like everyone knows I mean long story short I I tried a bunch of entrepreneur stuff you I looked at affiliate marketing NEC marketing looked at Airbnb you know I looked at everything and I dabbled at a lot of different things it really wasn't until I came across Government Contracting through Jason White on a YouTube video and I was like Ah that's my skill set I have the skill set for that I want to I want to do that thing met him I did a seminar the rest is history really and break down what do that skill set mean so you know you're teacher you have that Epiphany like no not going to retire and then go back and work again so what are those skill sets that's that's a great question you know I didn't I skipped over I was flipping pallets like a a 4840 wooden pallet so I was School teaching I bought a course I bought a truck and I was out there picking up wooden pallet nothing against my pallet slippers out there nothing against y'all but I was making good money I actually made a good six figes my first year doing it was just me in my truck and again I'm not the RO bad flipping but yeah you're like what yeah and pallet flipping is crazy because you get these pallets for free from companies long story short it was awesome but I realized two things one it gets cold here in Ohio so that suck I don't want to be out there flipping Palace in the cold and then number two when me and my wife would travel we go to Vegas we go to Mexico we go to Dubai or whatever it is my truck's not moving and I'm not making money so I realized that I first of all I need to make money when I'm not there and then once I found Government Contracting I was was like okay copy and paste got that I can do that okay send an email okay yeah I think I can handle that adobe yeah I'm pretty good at like it was just a simple simple skill sets on the computer from the comfort of your home I said okay I can I can handle that I can handle that those fit in my skill sets oh and I love that and so what were like the first contract or contracts that you went after like what was it you're like palet life's over in the cover of my home what did you start bidding on yeah I tell people all the time so I learned the middleman strategy right and I focus solely on the middleman strategy so like my first contract is the funniest one because people were like what how did you do that my first contract was for Catholic services in the federal prison in California mind you I live in Ohio I'm a school teacher and I'm also not Catholic people said well how did you want a fiveyear contract to do that the same similar process I teach you know I I found the opportunity I called a bunch of Catholic churches uh I told them I need a Catholic priest to do Catholic service long story short they told me to call the Catholic dasis I call the dasis they say call the prison ministry I call oh there's a prison ministry duh I call the prison ministry they say chaplain Richard does the prison across the street he love to do that prison I said what's his number I called him up he tells me a $25 hour I tell the government $30 hour I submit the proposal I win the contract that's it I was and here's the thing is I tell people that story that people laugh like oh man that's so awesome how much money do he make I make $5 an hour right he works a couple hours a month m so I didn't make bank I wasn't like oh my God I'm rich now I'm a millionaire no I didn't but when I won that first contract I said whoa wait a minute ding ding ding he's in California I'm in Ohio when he goes to work I get paid I said game over game over like I I said if I could do it on that scale what if I did it on a larger scale and my next contract was for $450,000 for agback cleaning and for the Bureau of reclam nation in Las Vegas it's like 10 15 buildings a year that we hbac clean I had it for like three years now I've never been there I've never touched it but it's a $450,000 contract so that was like the next one in it I just kept going from there and I love that cuz we we have a lot of religious opportunities so we have people doing religious in Hawaii and other places and it's like I always share with people it's so overlooked and the ticket is what you're getting after which is having people do the work for you whether it's hbac it's religious so then what came from there because you've already mentioned the relig Services then HB what other things do you B on people love my story because I none of them have anything to do do with each other so HB then I won a landscaping contract in Washington recently I won a chimney cleaning contract at the Grand Canyon in Arizona at the Grand you like wait there's chimneys at the Grand Canyon yeah I know I clean 77 of them a year I know exactly where they are there are chimneys at the Grand Canyon there are houses where people live there and I have a government contract that we do those every year so chimney cleaning uh dry cleaning contract cont S I even want I like to tell people this one I want a contract for the build a aquarium for turtles in Cincinnati Ohio oh let's beautiful yeah it's fun but here my my thing I tell people all the time is like well let's see what should I Target what's my Niche and again nothing wrong with niches nothing wrong with targeting you 100% there's different ways as you know there's different ways to do Government Contracting you know you could be a prime doing the physical work that's all good you could be a prime sub an hour you can even be a consultant there's multiple ways of doing it I was just like I want to be a middleman so like I don't know anything about how to build an aquarium for Turtles but I called a company in Cincinnati hey do you build aquariums yeah we do great how much do they cost and I placed the order you know that and that was it so that's kind of how I did it and now I just again I don't I don't have a niche that I I pick I just kind of go after everything right now we're in 2024 and I know I shouldn't date stuff but um I'm submitting a proposal every single day so what are some proposals that you have been submitting what are some things if you don't mind sharing I mean as as broad as I just said I mean forklift rental you know batteries flashlights you know Landscaping snow removal just again I people ask me which one you know which one do you like the most I always tell people this you the way I kind of teach it is I I don't fall in love with an opportunity you know I don't I'm not like oh my goodness I have to do H like I've won multiple HVAC contracts I've W one in Pittsburgh I want one in Las Vegas I've want one in the Grand Canyon so I have a couple HVAC contracts but that doesn't mean I wake up and go oh where's HVAC you know I I I don't because it it just doesn't follow my my model that I teach but yeah I just that's just kind of what I'm doing when it comes to these opportunities do you have a team member who's managing is your wife involved in the business do you manage how do you handle the day-to-day I love that I love that the thing I always teach my students is that I I don't have any any employees for my government contracting business I don't I still don't to this day till this day it's just it's just me I'm I'm the one bidding proposals running it billing everything yeah there's no my wife no she's not a this is my person so she has no interest in it the way I kind of do the model is um it's just myself I know there's different ways to Outsource and you know get some people on your team and have some you know people doing different things I haven't just I haven't went down that rad yet not yet no no but that's common many people are bidding they're managing their project managing contract management and doing all those things by continuing this what happens when you get to 200 of these a month that managing then then what would you do I'm glad you asked that question I'm I'mma tell you and again I don't know this might be controversial might be controversial so we'll see I don't bid to win okay I bid to make money and that's what I I teach I to make money I don't so let's see you say you win you have 200 that you win and they're all making money then what's the plan here's the thing is I don't want to win 200 you're like I don't want that I'm not I don't want 200 exactly you're right I be scaling is great I don't want 200 though like my my well look at it if I submit 365 I win 10% of the those I win 36 contracts I don't want that that's too many I rather win like 5% so the way I kind of price it and price it is pretty aggressively I price pretty aggressively there are ways obviously do your market research and price you know conservatively but I price pretty aggressively to not win but but when I do win one I make a good amount of money on it so that's just that's just the way I like to do it um because like you said I don't want to uh get to that point like my mentor uh now Jonathan Howard he's been doing Government Contracting for 25 years it's still just him and his wife you know he's never got to the point that he's wanted to like you know build the brook and mortar and kind of really scill it up and get all the different employees and all that stuff and again some people want to do that for me it was like back when I was flipping pallets it was a a truck my dog and myself and I made six figures flipping pallets I was like you know what I love that no employees no one that works for me I just want to do that and now government contrac me I've kind of built the same thing it's just minus my dog well I guess kind of my dog he's still he he's still with us you know but not in my dayto day no I I I think that's great I think it's great because the beautiful thing about Government Contracting is you can have employees you don't have to have employees there's so many different business models that you can build when it comes to this you know what are your thoughts about the political part A lot of people don't talk about the political part of Government Contracting so if there's a change in the administration will that impact your business model at all I mean did and did you were you in Government Contracting just during the Biden Administration or through other presidential administrations I've only been doing Government Contracting for 3 years so not not the MTI administrations but I will tell you my mindset on that when people talked about that government shutdown recently right was that last year or whatever oh the government shut it down I got so many comments and posts and people are oh government shutting down what are we gon to do like what the government shuts down how does that apply to your contract you know what and I I was kind of quiet on the topic I didn't post any content because my point of view was like like it's a business model right you either submit or you don't submit you either win or you don't win like just due with the process like I had people who were messaging me for maybe five months straight well I don't know if the government shuts down what if the government shuts down and then when the government didn't shut down I recorded a video I'm like guys like you spent five months worrying about a government shutdown I spent five months winning two contracts and making six figures what which which one's worth your time you know what I'm saying so I can I can care less as with an office I can care less about political things I can care less I respect what's going on in the world but I can care less about how that applies to my business when you focus on just things that you can't control I can't controls an office I can't control the different things that are going around this world unfortunately I wish I could but I can't control that but I what I can control is submitting a proposal and focus on what's in front of me so I I don't yeah I don't pay attention to that political stuff the being able to focus on what you can control is great so if somebody decides they want to vote or not you know that's up to them and you know to be able to to bid every day some people watch you may be like oh my gosh I I can only bid maybe once every two months what does it take for for those watching to be able to bid let's say four a month what are just the basic fundamentals what are those basics of you're able to bid just four month what are those things that people need I me four four is not enough in my in my opinion if you're doing the middlen strategy I think for I think you're not even in a race if you're not submitting 15 to 20 a month but you know if you wanted to submit four like from my point of view it still comes down to the same three steps right step one find the opportunity on sam.gov step two find the subcontractor who you can partner with step three submit a proposal those are the only three steps so now you can decide how fast you want to go through them you you can spend two weeks looking up an opportunity right or you could just go to sam.gov and pulling up right now right or you could spend you know two weeks calling subs and trying to get close and see who we can partner with or you can just like be lasered focused and like really build relationships with people so you have people to go to first of all again you wouldn't have that from day one but once you have relationships you just just kind of go straight to people and then submit a proposal I think that's the biggest thing you know as you I'm sure you see people think oh my goodness I need a template I need a website I need I need I need all these things first before I can submit because I just don't know how to submit I'm just like you don't know how to put your name on the form you put your name your cage code your UEI you put your phone number you put your email address on her and you sign it like well no what does the template look like I need I need a template I need to see does tell the government how much you're charging tell them your your technical your past informance you know give the government what they ask you for okay so you can give the government what they're asking for four times a month or you could do it one time a day the choice is yours right no the choice is definitely up to the person you know there are those out there who one of their biggest struggles is finding a subcontractor which I always find interesting because if we're dating somebody or we're curious about our spouse we have no problem looking them up on Instagram and Facebook and getting information so what are some tips some strategies for those who are like I've tried I've called 20 people or somebody took a contract for me what are those things that you found every time that you're bidding on forklift or batteries or what may have you you're like this always works for me to find that best sub we giving away the sauce today all right I got you I got you the biggest piece of sauce that I can give you guys right now is Facebook Marketplace Facebook Marketplace um honestly tell my students all the time like go to Facebook Marketplace type in landscaping LA or Landscaping wherever the contract it was it say the contracts in California landscapers Facebook Marketplace La you're going to get you know tons and tons of results in Facebook marketplace where people actually when when I mean about Facebook Marketplace is clarifi where you see people selling lawnmowers that's Facebook marketplace where you see people selling stuff that's the marketplace you also see people in there that put a dollar or zero dollar because they're a service provider they just want someone to find them guess what if and this why I love about people like I try to teach people you could be at work on your phone and just going hey do you provide you know Commercial Landscaping service hey do you provide commercial service and because it's Facebook Marketplace they actually message you back same day I've gotten so many quotes the same day by just having a conversation I'm talking on my computer but you can be on your phone just doing Facebook messenger and people say well I can't get a quote have you sent a message to someone on Facebook I love that that's such a good and it and it seems much safer than Craig's List or Angie's List or what may have you that's out there so I love that that's a great nugget and you know also kind of digging deeper into that cuz another kind of pain point that pops up is well how am I going to fund this how am I going to buy the batteries who's paying for this hbac who's handling the chimney cleaning and what have you found in your experience that works for you and works for your students as far as undo so the first thing I always tell people is to start and yeah I don't want people to take it the wrong way but I do tell people to start with Services first like you don't want to hop in and do a you know a million dollar product contract so you got to buy a million dollars in iPads for you know the government and you got to call up Apple hey Apple can you send a million dollars with iPads and I'll just pay you in 30 days Apple's probably GNA say no right so so I mean you could negotiate net3 but they're probably going to say no so I tell people like you might want to start with a service first because at least with a service you got this thing called net 30 which means that they do the work first then they send you a bill and now you have 30 days to pay them so you can invoice the government so that's kind of what that's the foundation I gave people but now again some people watching this maybe you got 40K and business credit available you know maybe you got adk sitting over here or that you're just like man I fixed my credit up now what I do with it well government contrac it could be a good place to put that credit at to put it to use but if you don't have it then you can focus on services or you can like try to get net 30 accounts or try to get things of that nature but there just to be upfront I I tell people all the time to be aggressive in pricing like let's say you're getting flashlights and let's say the government wants to buy 100 ,000 flashlights and you can get them for a dollar a piece let's just hypothetically okay that's $100,000 you don't got $100,000 lat around but let's just say you charge the government $200,000 okay so now you're going to make $100,000 profit my question to everyone watching this if if you're going to make a $100,000 in 30 days would you figure it out yes would you right Right Said Yes like figure it out like okay if the money's there the government money is there you put enough money on top to make money okay so now go figure it out we got different you know resources but it's like if you're not resourceful what does it matter I just I love that I love that because I find that to be one of the number one skill sets in Government Contracting you have to be resourceful yes what are some things that you're like man I wish people would stop doing this in Government Contracting is there anything you've come across where you're like please stop doing this yeah stop being lazy especially in the middleman concept don't you can't just grab an entire solicitation and send it to a company and say hey give me a quote give everything you need and you know you just do everything and then like first of all that's not even legal that's like not legal but second of all it's like does some be lazy I tell you all the time like as a middleman we're helping you know blue collar workers we're helping small mom and po companies get government contracts so we need to help them like if they say Wesley I cut grass but I don't know how to fill out this stuff I don't know how to do these different things you kind of got to spoon fee your subs and let them know okay well I just need you to focus on a quote for this and then I need you to focus on this piece and now this piece and that's that's called not being lazy but some people out there you know I might call a sub and like oh yeah I got that email from someone and say it's 80 pages right yeah that's it yeah I think we're not interested it's like yeah cuz someone sent you a 80 page document if someone sent you a 80 page document would you read it no I be like I'm not interested like yeah I I have no interest so just people please stop being lazy and doing the lazy like actually take a step by step and now she help you yeah I love that cuz you don't have to send them 80 Pages you can you know send what you need to send what are some some other things that you wish people would stop doing the obvious one is stop going it alone and not investing in a in a mentor you know we got we got the legend over here miss Dr parsonal like if you guys are watching this like stop beating your head against the wall and struggling when you got someone like Dr Parks right here who can help you and actually get you results faster like I tell people all the time I invest in my in my education I I've invested and you as you as well you probably said it before I've invested hundreds and thousands of on education but has made me millions and millions and millions so then people go well I'm just going to go do it for free you know Sam dog is free I'm just going to go do it for free okay nothing against it the way the website is free but it's like or you can go faster and invest in the mentor I mean just through this video Alone by you sharing Facebook Marketplace hopefully people see hey you know this is the real deal and that's the value of working with someone because you have all your strategies I have my strategy we all have different strategies but what's key is that investing in yourself because if you don't invest in yourself how can you even have the confidence to ask the government for $200,000 for a price quote on flashlights you're going to freak out and think oh I'm not I can't charge that much and they're 50 cents at the Dollar Tree and it's like I get it because I've been there I used to be the type that I would not charge Pro appropriately and do things like that but they I agree with you and I'm a lot of mentors too and you got to have a good Mentor and have lots of mentors lots of in your life yeah absolutely yeah what are some more things that you wish people would do or like students of yours or people or even things you're doing where you're like yes this is exactly what you should do back down to me again submitting every day is it's for me personally I feel like it's a numbers game I think so many people get bogged down into like uh the page four line six I'm not sure how to answer that question and it's just like and I get it people are afraid it's government you know you don't want to you know mess things up I get it but I really just think that people just took the time to just like submit the proposal again there's so many people that reached out to and Hey Wesley and I'm sure it's same as you they I've had my cage code for six years I've had my cage code for 10 years I've had I had someone say I've had a casage code for 20 years I'm like well how many proposal have you submitted none they're like what am I doing wrong well first of all you got to submit a proposal like it's that simple that's why I'm always talking about submit submit submit because that that's going to get things going even though you might submit it wrong you might fill something out wrong you might do something wrong nine times out of 10 the co would tell you Hey listen you didn't give me this document or hey this is not filled out right or hey I need this and maybe they don't give you that that information but at least you did something that is so key I'm I I'm always like bid bid bid you got to put in something because it's like you're you're trying to sell a pen but if nobody knows you have the pen then how can they bite exactly so you you have to submit however you choose to do so federal state whatever right but you you got to submit I think that's that's key and what's also nice is not every agency but some agencies are really nice and they may have you revamp revise what you submitted they're cool with you making Corrections some of them may not be but you don't have to be perfect exactly again some people like you said some people won't give you that way to revise it but it's okay that's why you go submit another one tomorrow yeah well look at it yes are there any areas that you're like oh my gosh I don't bid on that any kind of work that you're just like no I don't want a piece of that oh for sure I always say for me personally I don't know if you teach it that' be cool if you do you need to teach me but seriously I don't I don't do real estate you know I haven't did any are you done real estate I haven't done any I'm aware of it I know of some people that have done some things but I feel like with real estate you have to have a piece of property they want or bid on the pro the property management side exactly yeah I agree I agree so I had no experience in real estate I tried a few and it didn't work out and I'm like okay I just I just I tell people just don't start there like you can work your way up there and get there at some point but just don't start with real estate and then the next one I always tell people it's large scale construction like you know what what happens in construction things go over budget right that's just how construction works so you got large scale buildings that are millions and millions of dollars and you're you know that's going to be your first contract I don't know I just I I just would be nervous I I just tell people like if it's a multi multi-million dollar deal and that's your first one I I wouldn't do it for your first one maybe down the road maybe get some experience in managing team and managing subs and managing different billing services and you know requesting government to pay you up front different proportions things like that but you're not going to know that from day one so to go win a contract for $5 million building nah I wouldn't do it all right and you have to have the bonding and yeah yeah and there's the bonding yeah there the bonding that's that's the main thing too you got to go get the bonds you got to pay for the bonds you got to yeah it's a lot of moving Parts with construction like my little fish or not fish tank turtle tank in Cincinnati Ohio I know what's so funny that contract I won for $36,000 that's how much that aquarium like a normal size aquarium cost with 36,000 but here's a here's a here's a kicker I paid 38 for the aquarium I lost two grand on that I lost two grand on that and I tell people all the time first the government said they they changed the wood they wanted they wanted this very expensive wood I was like whoa whoa whoa we we can do the wood but that wasn't in the scope of work the government like well yeah but that's the wood we want I'm like well that wood cost like 15 grand by itself so they chased the wood they changed it it doesn't matter but the point is I tell people that story that I lost 2,000 now again I put it on credit cards and obious is good but I lost two grand on that $36,000 aquarium now multiply that by a multi-million doll contract that you underestimate a couple zeros here and there and now you're like you you're only your sub you know 300,000 380,000 like that's that's not happening so that's why I just say large scale construction if you if you don't know what you're doing I you might have some great construction contracts I don't know but if you don't know what you're doing I wouldn't start no not for you no I don't do construction we do a lot of Staffing and Professional Services and it I love Staffing I love Staffing different positions and we're waiting to hear back about Oasis plus which we'll hear back in December so excited about that that's good advice because we've all been there even big companies they've done it to where you underbid or the agency changes the scope and some watching this you may think well why couldn't he have just gone back well it doesn't exactly work like that it doesn't work like that there are times when yes they may work with you and there are times where they're going to be like nope this is just what it is and if you don't want the contract let us know because we'll give it to the other person you know there's other usually other companies who bid so what are some kind of opportunities that you're like man I'm like you want more of or you're interested in I know you mentioned a little bit of Staffing but are there other areas that you're like man I would love you know want some sheep sharing contracts I don't know do you hear me talk about that one I was talking about sheep sharing too I thought that was I thought that was awesome saw that last it was posted you saw that recently yeah I saw to free opportunity yes I've been telling people now on T I was like sheep Sher I was like yes like that's exactly what I would love the middleman like I know people like that sounds weird like what's weird about it I call some some Farm or somewhere that do you share sheeps yeah we do how much charge for a sheet okay great let's put let's work together you know like but I mean there's no Niche there's no particular nothing I know my one friend was telling me about um call centers I heard a lot of good thing about call centers like big money and call centers I haven't been on yet I'm kind of looking to find them and see I kind of I don't really see that many maybe I'm not looking the right place I heard good things about call centers but outside of like that like I I really don't like I can tell you I don't I want to keep myself really small I don't need like these huge things so if I came a c across a contract that I make you know 5 10K a month on that's cool if I come across a contract that I make a good one time 30k profit on like you know I tell my students now it's like it's all about profit obviously you know what's your take-home like people win these million doll contracts or $450,000 contracts I'm like well what's your profit well we're actually making like you know 10K like okay that's great you make some money but it's like don't don't pitch the oh I won $450,000 contract but your profit is like not there so my whole thing is that's why I said I'm pricing aggressively I want to aggressively I want to win contracts very few but I want to make good money on them that's that's that's the whole point which I I'd like Fab to your point because you're submitting every day it only takes a couple and then the races so I think that's really good you know I I had a mentor many years ago she had a call center contract and hated it really oh this it was very hard the management side of it it was hard to staff it it was in like a like a rural community and this is what she had shared I have no idea idea about the contract but she said it was very challenging to staff I don't think she renewed it or I'm not really sure but she didn't care for it I have come across every now and again there's a call center contract but there's just so many what what are some of the most unusual so we talk about sheep sharing you know contracts where you're like I can't even believe they're buying this I tell people like all the time my first one was Catholic Services people like wait you're not Catholic how does that work I'm like well you don't have to be Catholic so I think that's always paints a picture for people but last year I saw one that was for uh picking up Rog kill like roog kill on the on the highway and I was just like I wanted to work it too I was like yeah I want to get that one I was like but I couldn't find it up I was like how do you find cuz usually like cities do that but how do you find like a company that picks up roog kill and I couldn't find one I I actually didn't getting it but it's like I know like who who gets excited about Ro kill no one does but I mean like I thought it was cool I was like that's like a contract it was down in like Alabama somewhere and every time you know animal unfortunately me's demise like I get paid like that sounds cool like unfortunately like you don't want bad things happen like I got a friend like coach Jay he want a contract either last year or two years ago it was for I forgot the exact title but I think it was plane crash removal or it was like yeah literally the contract is like unfortunately if as a plane was to crash and skid Off The Runway and crash that company would come in and remove the plane and he's like I pray I never need to be for that but that was a contract that he actually won like he put a proposal in he found a company put a bunch of money on top of it and he was like man if it happens it's going to be a Payday but it's not going to be not going to be a good pay but that's this example of like just like there's just weird stuff out there like the government buys everything you can think of from sheep shearing to clean up road kill to Catholic services to you know forcing you know conflicts overseas and wars and stuff like that and everything there's there's there's there's government contracts for every there there truly is and what are your thoughts on State and local is that something that is part of your daily bid pattern is it something you're going to roll in later what are your thoughts on State and local great question for me I only do federal long story short like nothing wrong with State nothing wrong with local I think that a lot of people come to me they think oh should I do state oh should I do local oh should I do federal I'm like well none of them are better than either one of them like some people say States easier some people say Federal I don't care just I always just tell people pick one and make a lot of money at that and then expand so you're right eventually I probably will expand to like state and local some point but right now it's just Federal just one lane that's it sometimes people come to me they say Wes can you teach me the state I live in Oklahoma how do I win you know this contract with my local College I'm like got the wrong one you got to go call somebody else like I'm not your guy because it's like I focus on one thing and that's it I think that's great because people there's a lot of similarities but it it's great to really hone in on one area and expand or and Dabble but also see what works for you there's so many different a agencies do you have a favorite agency or you're pretty open you're like it doesn't matter as long as say yeah it doesn't matter I don't I couldn't tell you a name of my favorite at all because I don't it isn't long as long as the check's clear I don't really care I don't care I believe little USDA so USA will always be my favorite what about events like are you the type do you go to different Outreach events do you is that something that's part of what you've done over the past three plus years i' be curious to here what you what you do about that I personally have not I personally have not attended any events and I always tell my students like I just I just haven't needed to like I mean yes you can go build relationships with different you know departments and you can do that but I feel like if you're like a prime that's going to actually physically do the work that's like 100% what you should be doing like 100% there's no reason why not to go to your local Apex meeting or go to your local event and like build those reports no reason and what I do I just haven't needed to what about you I I think they there's value there there's definitely a lot of value it's all about what somebody's goal is what is their goal what is their goal with their business why are you attending the meeting what's your objective with the meeting so if it aligns then by all means because I walked away with a contract by attending an AA meeting I've walked away with a relationship with one of the biggest it companies because of going to an meeting uh I met my old Mentor because of meanings it all varies but for those who are like H I got to win I need to get a contract don't go to meeting don't go you should be bidding should be bid bid bidding learning you got to you know do those things so I think as long as people understand it's part of the sales cycle but you're not going to go to an event and somebody's like yes I'm just going to give you this $2 million contract like not gonna happen doesn't work that way they not just sitting there handing out who would like this contract come on in you want this contract that's good no I I want to I want to one day maybe attend some stuff and like I said I figure out the goal why I'm there like for sure but I just I I haven't yet no yeah and there's there may more and more are in person again and I don't really plan on going to any anytime soon but you never know if if something changes but the cool thing is there's a lot of events All Over America they're not all have you found because some people think well yeah this is great but don't you have to live near DC or been in the military or worked for the government I mean have you found that living in the midwest has had any kind of negative impact on what you do not at all not at all I even tell people when they get started with my program it's like I was a school teacher right I was working a typical School teaching job I was get home at 3:30 4:00 really get settled at 5: and like you know what it's after 5 now like I'm like who can I call it's after 5 so what did I do I called California like and that's how I won my first contract in California and then my my next contract was in Las Vegas then my next one was in Washington state the state of Washington and I'm like well I tell people that story because it's like I had to do it at a necessity I was like well I I really I didn't think I think I did now I learned there's this thing called like voicemail right it's crazy it's like you actually say something on the phone and like it stays on their phone and they call you back it's like the craziest Adventure it took me like three years to figure it out I know I'm been serious oh my God I'm dying over in here Dar leave a vo that's you back it took me years to figure that out and you know the thing is people will you know like because people are so used to not leaving voicemails or like being just really weird when you call but like if you leave in voicemail and especially you're looking to do business if somebody doesn't call you back they clearly don't want to have a business exactly they're not in yeah they don't call you back they're just not in business they're not a good fit anyway and I'm like you calling them business leave a voicemail they'll call you back so I I tell all my students that now I'm like okay now I do call it East Coast I I've won you know three contracts in the state of Ohio where I live at my closest contract is like an hour to have you know south of me I never physically been there but it's like now like later on I started bidding in my home my home state in my home area but I didn't need the start there so like when it comes to like DC and Washington and Maryland and all that like yeah there's a bunch of contracts there but it's like what does it matter if you're if you're if you're working with a sub anyway your sub can be like my one of my sents has a contract in Puerto Rico actually I think two one was for rice and one was for beans and for emergency uh emergency relief and he won those contracts make some good money on them and it's like he doesn't live in Puerto Rico like he doesn't go to Puerto Rico like he lives in Pennsylvania like so it's like it it doesn't matter where you live at yeah it doesn't matter at all as long as you have good Subs you you do what you need to do that's what matters you have to deliver and on that know how can people best get in contact with you cuz I know you're all over social media but where do you want people to go you have an amazing YouTube channel yeah where can people connect with you I mean YouTube channel is just my name West fer they can look me up on YouTube I know I'm I'm really active like I said I'm live right now to my Tik Tok community on Tik Tok so make money with West is the Tik Tock hashtag or Tik Tock andle do they just type in West Fisher you you'll find me somewhere whatever you know platform you guys are searching I think that's that is tremendous and you have a challenge that you offer I think every month yep the FED day challenge yeah you do a five day challenge as well right I'm doing a new one coming up but I I have yeah we got I got a lot of new figur an out of stuff I love it I love the five yeah we've done I've done 10 now I've done 10 five challenges yeah tring over a couple thousand people they've been a lot they've been really rewarding so we got whenever someone watches video we have another one coming up so just look up you know my my information depending on which one watches this and there there'll probably be one coming up you know down the road you know and again for people watching it's just valuable for you to learn apply and adjust that's all you got to do learn apply adjust that's what you got to do whether it's a challenge whether it's a video whether it's being on Tik Tok Instagram LinkedIn wherever it is still vital because you have somebody over here who's winning these opportunities that people talk about and they say that you can win and he's winning them this is then pie in the sky and and maybe you're tired of me and you're like whatever KY are over you hopefully you're not Pearl you know the there's so many opportunities and I think that's what's so cool about Federal Government Contracting is all the things that you sit on I'm so grateful to you hey I'm think I'm grateful to you I mean serious in congrats to what you're doing I've heard Miss kissy part name so many times like oh KY I've heard your name so many times so like you're killing it you're helping your students you know succeed so congrats to what you're doing like I love it our community is so great like I tell people all the time like Dr kuana Who you interview a good friend of mine you know you you and Jason White like we're all no one's bashing anyone no one's like oh you know forget that coach forget this like everyone's just like listen this is the opportunity you find someone who connects with you who you rock with and go you know what they said I need to get a m I like I like Miss kissy Parks I connect with her she's we got the right personality I'm going to rock with her and I'm going to she's going to take me to the mountain top that's how this works that's how life works and you know as you as a business evolves it's also important to look into the right kind of Mentor especially for those that may want a GSA schedule or contract vehicle or they really focused on exiting you know there's there's coaches for all of those areas so that's what's beautiful it's not just how you go about finding a and winning contracts there's like there's somebody for everything which is also really beautiful it speaks to the beauty of Government Contracting because you can sell basically everything to the federal government the biggest buyer supplier whatever of the world so well I appreciate you again and thank you so much for being here and for all my amazing GOC winners everything is possible so and until next time