In this episode we feature Miguel Sanchez. After discovering my videos while living in New York Miguel decides he wants to get into truck delivery providing courier services to the government. After months of no results he decided to switch gears and pursue the consulting route. In his research he learned that IT was a major marketplace with opportunity galore. I know how some people can see it as intimidating considering the size and scale of the contracts. Not Miguel, he decided that’s exactly...
Apr 20, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Today’s interview, we talk about something very different. Emily Harman, has 38 years of service to the country as both a Naval Officer and civilian federal employee. Working hard and ultimately, retiring as a member of the Senior Executive Service in May 2019, the equivalent of a two star Admiral. In her retirement, Emily did the inner work and learned a very valuable tool: listening to the guidance of her inner voice and her authentic self, to create a roadmap for an authentic and fulfilling l...
Apr 13, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 87
In today’s Making A Giant episode, our guest Raffa Gibbard is the CEO of Brave Once Contract Agency. She has over ten years experience in both construction and contracting with the Army. With her experience, Raffa understands what the customer needs and she knows how to supply it in a timely efficient manner. In 2019 Raffa came on to the scene as a GCG helping share her knowledge of the VA Entrepreneur / Employment Track. As a veteran she was able to successfully have the government help reimbur...
Apr 06, 2021•47 min
Helleni (Donovan) Moon , CEO of EIDOS Technologies from Manassa, founded the company in 2015. Just a couple years later, EIDOS was nominated for the 2021 Prince William Chamber business award. She has over 20+ years of successful service delivery for both federal and civilian agencies and has contributed to their mission-critical government programs. Helleni provides strategic direction on corporate growth strategies, company culture, workforce and recruiting initiatives to capture top talent wh...
Mar 30, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 86
In today’s episode Maria interviewed James Lee, an IT professional who decided it was time to make his mark on the world. Without spoiling the story I will tell you that James had a little special someone who help spark the idea for pursuing laundry service contracts. That’s right! He did not pursue any sexy or sleek big money idea, it was something so simple that most people overlook. James always had ideas but the fear of failure always stopped him from moving forward. Since retirement, he kne...
Mar 23, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Wade Watts serves as the inaugural National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) University Program Director (UPD) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). In this role, Wade is responsible for building collaboration between academia, the venture/business community, and the DoD by expanding defense innovation. To this position, Wade brings significant entrepreneur and academic experiences as the former founder, CEO, and COO of two startup companies, and an award-winning executive with more th...
Mar 16, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Aliahu “Alli” Bey started his government contracting journey in 2015 after he was awarded a multi-million-dollar U.S. Air Force tactical weapons support contract. One portion of the contract provided cybersecurity on ruggedized deployable laptops. Mr. Alli Bey reached out to a former business colleague, Adam Austin, owner of a cyber company in Pennsylvania. Mr. Austin’s experience and involvement was a no-brainer and he was promptly brought on as a partner that led to developing Totem’s Cybersec...
Mar 09, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 84
In today’s episode of Making a Giant we present to you veteran business owner Liseth Velez, CEO of LJV Development. She has recently become a superstar at the Govcon EDU breakout sessions as her company continues to land contract after contract both at the federal and state government levels. Started out in the military as an HVAC Technician, Liseth is no stranger to hardwork or the construction industry. When she formed her company LJV, she immediately started to win small projects and dove int...
Mar 03, 2021•53 min
Anthony Closson is a USAF Veteran and the Founder and CEO of Colossal Contracting- an SDVOSB Value-Added Reseller and IT Solutions Provider that has broken away from the pack bringing them to the forefront of the Defense and Civilian Industries by embodying their foundation as a company built upon military core values. Anthony brings to the table more than a decade of executive leadership experience and over 15 years of managing IT integrations. He is also a certified Project Management Professi...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Hey listeners, this is Eric! As some of you may know from listening to the last few week’s episodes we have a new podcast entitled Making A Giant. The show featured the students of GovCon EDU who recently won their first contract. It is a much different perspective from our traditional podcast format where we interview experts in contracting. This show features everyday people who decided to take the plunge into the world of federal procurement and was successfully awarded with their very first ...
Feb 16, 2021•56 min
For the first time ever we are interviewing someone from APTAC (Association of Pocurement Technical Assistance Centers). If you have never heard of APTAC or PTAC for short, the non-organization has offices around the country in every state that provide free and low cost training and technical assistance for small businesses. They host workshops and matchmaking events, offer one-on-one counseling and can provide you with resources to reach federal, state and local government agencies. My recommen...
Feb 09, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 82
In our second episode of Making a Giant Maria sits down and speak to Leilani Lacusong. Leilani is an accountant that saw the great opportunities in government contracting. She made some bold moves from applying for her 8a, to contacting Eric for help and driving from state to state “for the love of contracting”. Today she has won a few sole source with the help of the Govcon Giants community. Listen as she tells us her journey to win her first contract.
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr
Today’s guest needs no introduction... Mr. Steven Koprince of Koprince Law founded the blog SmallGovCon, where he has written more than 1,100 posts on government contracting legal issues. The site is viewed by thousands of readers each month and is one of the official must read websites for learning about new rules, changing policies and court findings in federal procurement. Steven is the author ofThe Small-Business Guide to Government Contracts(AMACOM Books, 2012) and Steven has also written c...
Jan 19, 2021•1 hr 42 min•Season 1Ep. 81
We are taking you back to our very first episode... Narjis B. Ali is the President and CEO of Sure Secure Solutions, an 8a Woman Owned Information Technology (IT) Security company founded in 2004. The companies core capabilities include Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Content Management and Information Management. She has received numerous awards dating back to 2012 and most recently the prestigious 2016 US Small Business Administration and NASA Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year award...
Jan 14, 2021•45 min
Hey GovCon Giants today, we are mixing things up a little bit. Starting this month, we will be featuring an all-new podcast that we call Making A Giant. That's right, Making A Giant. This podcast will showcase persons, businesses who got their very first win, not their 10th contract, not some large multi-million dollar contract, but their very first one. In today's very first episode of Making A Giant, we feature someone who I know as the Mad Guitarist. Chris Facey joined Govcon EDU, and on our ...
Jan 06, 2021•1 hr 4 min
In today's episode. We meet with the man who spent the last four years fighting for the little guy. Robb Wong was sworn in as Associate Administrator Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, GCBD, in March of 2017, where he advocated for small businesses and represents them on behalf of the President of the United States. Historically the Associate Administrator Government Contracting Business Development overseas over $500 billion and total federal spending, helps ensure that ...
Dec 29, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Judy Bradt needs no introduction in the government contracting world. For more than 32 years, she's been helping people in federal contracting as a consultant, speaker and author. She's helped thousands of businesses from solopreneurs to multi-million dollar corporations find their fast track success in the federal arena. Judy says there's no such thing as doing business with the federal government, instead of asking what can I bid, winners focus on the right question, Who's my buyer? That's bec...
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 79
As a special guest, Mr. Brian Henry, President of Henry General Contractors, who was a former truck driver turned multi-million dollar general contractor. His journey began as a dump truck operator when a good friend approached him about doing more. The business owner was a former employer of his cousin and asked Brian, who's going to be the next MBE and the area. Realizing that his time spent sitting in the dump truck waiting on loads could be more effectively used in managing projects and team...
Dec 10, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 78
The time that we've ever hosted a guest for a back-to-back episode. But when we finished the interview, I had only gone through about half of my questions and we still had a lot of stones to turn over. For those of you who caught my interview with Kizzy Dominguez last week, today will be more of her wisdom, insights and knowledge. If you're not familiar with Kizzy, She always knew that she wanted to be an entrepreneur from an early age, eventually landing herself to founding K Parks Consulting, ...
Dec 03, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Telltale signs of entrepreneurship often begins when we are children and today's guest Kizzy Parks Dominguez KParks Consulting Inc. As a kid, she cleaned golf balls located in an alley behind her friend's house and resell them through a fence to golfers. She used the money to buy FUNYUNS® and Nutty Bars. Kizzy always knew she would become an entrepreneur and earn an advanced degree in psychology. Her entrepreneurial spirit meshed well with her inquisitive nature as an adopted child who always wa...
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Today's podcast guest is Frank Spencer III, President of Aztec Contractors Inc. When he first started in construction, his father offered to sell him a dormant construction business for just a $1,000. He essentially just purchased the rights to the name, but the story does not end there. His father also charged him rent to use the space where he set up his first office. Even knowing that Frank had very little funds to work with. To hear the rest of the story tune in all the way to the end on the...
Nov 17, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Today's guests, Cesar Nader, CEO of X Corp solutions of Virginia is leading the charge and helping the small firm grow to the mid-tier level, harnessing the power of federal contracts. Mr. Cesar Nader is a highly sought out speaker and thought leader in the government contracting space. You may have heard him speak at the National 8a Conference, HUBZone, Veterans in Business or Amex Open events. In 2011, mr. Nader retired from the Marines. And shortly thereafter started teaching military veteran...
Nov 10, 2020•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 74
In today's episode, we turn the tables around and interview another service provider to the government contracting space, Teresa Jacobsson, CEO of JW Industries Group, an Alaska Native spent the better part of a career serving the people and communities of Alaska as the founder and president of the nonprofit organization, the Alaska Tribal Administrators Association established in 2013 to support successful and healthy tribal administration and Alaska, the Alaska women's leadership forum, which ...
Oct 28, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Today's guest is Marie Gill of MGill and Associates. Her story is like most entrepreneurial journeys where it has the shares of bumps and bruises. Today her organization operates the MBDA Export Center, one of only four in the entire country and the only one in Florida. She has been making an impact helping small businesses since the early 90's and continues to be a difference maker all the way through the global pandemic. I can tell you that I've known of her organization since I first learned ...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Many suppliers want to know how do we get business credit? During a Mastermind Monday YouTube Live session I sat down and interviewed my friend and credit expert John and we discussed ways of starting getting business credit. Business credit is very inportant when starting and building a business so be ready to take notes and action during this episode. Learn EVERYTHING You Need About Government Contracts Here https://govconedu.com...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Rebecca Aguilera-Gardiner had a crazy idea back in 2016 of how to connect with a veteran business owner easily. And from that idea was born the VIB network. The VIP network today has grown into a national organization, launching their own industry conference, the national veteran business conference, connecting veteran entrepreneurs to contracting opportunities. And fact, if you are listening to this episode, when it first comes out, you still have time to register for the 2020 event that takes ...
Oct 08, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Today's guest is Lincoln Tyson. Lincoln is the managing principal and founder of Tyson Project Management Group (TPM Group), which is one of the most well-known and prolific construction, relocation, and logistics government consulting firms in the nation’s capital. His company, TPM group is 8a and HUBZone. He's been awarded contracts working at the White House. Today's episode Mr. Tyson tells us how he started off his journey, attended college at North Carolina A&T but moving from there, he...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Carol Craig, founder, and CEO of Craig Technologies earned a BA in Computer Science from Knox College and a BS in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Illinois. Following college Carol was accepted into the Naval Flight Officer Program, spending 3 and a half years in the Navy and becoming the first female aviator to join her P-3C Orion squadron. Following a medical discharge due to a training injury, Carol earned an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of ...
Sep 21, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Today’s podcast guest Patrick Heffler, President of Heffler Contracting Group. Patrick is a San Diego native and he shares his incredible journey as a construction contractor who benefited greatly from the power of federal procurement. When he entered the 8a BD program in 2012 his revenues were roughly $320,000 and he had 1 employee. As of December 2019, he hit $32,000,000 in sales and now has more than 96 full-time employees. He is extremely grateful for the opportunities, training, and partner...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 68
August 20, 2020, IG Live: College student drops out to pursue government contracting and it works. Lands his first contract in 3 months 1 week before not knowing how to pay his rent. IG @govcongiants
Sep 01, 2020•33 min
