Listen to this week’s podcast, as I talk about the things that I am thankful and grateful for this year in this special episode. My message is to be mindful of the things you consume, to be mindful of your thoughts and your beliefs and actions and to focus your energy and time on the things that really matter that will bring you the success for yourself and your business. In this episode, I shared about how your perspective in life will affect the way you live your life. As a great example, I ta...
Nov 25, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 111
Today’s guest is Rockstar Rochelle Bonty of Missouri. Rochelle is a mother of 6 who started out working customer service jobs which she hated. From there she got a job with the union as a laborer and then moved up to carpenter. After being laid off from that job she moved to another company and worked in HVAC. But this time around she knew that it could happen again and so she started learning what it took to create her own business. Please do not tune out as I promise this will be one of the be...
Nov 17, 2021•59 min
Today’s guest, Jean Ibañez Payne is the founder and owner of TI Verbatim Consulting (TIVC). Jean is a navy veteran with nearly 20 years of workforce training, culture assessments, strategic communications, program and risk management, diversity and inclusion programs TIVC is a SBA 8a and 100% Hispanic, Service Disabled Veteran and Women Owned Small Business with three business core capabilities; Workforce Development, Translation and Interpretation and Workplace culture organization their missio...
Nov 09, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Today’s guest Stephanie Addo Principal Owner at ACJ Luxury Maintenance LLC. ACJ provides janitorial services in the NYC/NJ area to commercial and government entities. Stephannie Addo is what you would call a ‘serial entrepreneur’. Not only does she strive to succeed at achieving her own business and life goals, she is on a mission to inspire and counsel other women to pursue their own dreams by overcoming the fears that may be holding them back. A veteran of the United States Army, Stephannie wa...
Nov 03, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Today’s podcast guest Molly Mayhew is the founder and President of Mayhew Technology Solutions, a small business systems integrator supporting customers in the federal, state and local marketplace. She began Her career in the US Air Force as an Information Systems specialist, where she was introduced to the world of government contracting from the buyer perspective. Post-military, Mayhew was a leading member of the team who received the 1999 Tinker AFB Business Management Award, and the 2001 Air...
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 109
In today’s episode, Mike Cantave shares his background story as an immigrant to this country who was raised in Canada. He came to the United States for college where he would eventually meet his lovely wife. Later he went on to eventually become a pilot and start his government contracting business. Today he has 3 planes and is continuing to grow his contracting business with his wife and kids plus a sales staff that he built from scratch. Mike is the President of the 2Lyons Aerospace LLC, since...
Oct 19, 2021•1 hr 11 min
We are bringing you an earth shattering govcon superstar in today’s episode. Venus Quates if you’ve never heard the name is a servant leader, forward-thinker and proud veteran of the US Air Force. Her company LaunchTech where she serves as the CEO solves the presentation and launches the future of technology in the space, financial services, healthcare and public sectors. Her firm was ranked #66 on the 2021 Inc 5000 list with a 3 year growth rate of 5,682%. Venus, with over 20 years of domestic ...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 108
On today’s episode with Making a Giant, our guest is Demetrius Walker, a Marine Corps veteran and the CEO of Fhito Logistics. Demetreus’ company specializes in logistics services, facilities support and management services, and supply chain management. Originally from Alabama Demetrius worked odd jobs prior to the military. Including being a DJ in Atlanta. As a veteran Marine he thought like many others that he would be guaranteed a job for the post office or State worker. That didn’t pan out so...
Oct 07, 2021•1 hr 31 min
In this episode, we're discussing the all new, effective immediate policy: the SBA deciding to suspend bona fide place of business requirements for 8(a) construction contracts. We have Meghan Leemon from PilieroMazza, a business law firm that serves a strategic partner to government contractors and commercial business from across the United States in numerous industries. Meghan counsels on a broad range of government contracting matters. She advises companies on small business procurement matter...
Sep 30, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Our guest for this week’s episode, Mr. Eli LaSalle, is a GovCon Edu student that is into the commercial real estate investing. Eli shared his knowledge about a lot of new and interesting concepts of real estate investing that will peak your interest. This episode may not be directly related to Government contracting but for the vast majority of folks that are very successful at the GovCon realm, the next arena that we go into is real estate investing. Eli has founded Dynamic Property Concepts in...
Sep 22, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Our guests for this week’s episode are the President and CEO of CIWRX. CIWRX has people, processes and technology to create full life-cycle business and technology solutions, customized for each organization. With access to business and technology leaders, they help businesses thrive in the most hostile business climate. Jerry and Jim who have been in technology for multiple decades are now combining their skill sets to leverage their knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and bring that into the ...
Sep 15, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Our guest for this week’s episode, Margery Newman is an income member at Bryce Downey & Lenkov. Her practice encompasses construction mediation, arbitration and litigation in both the private and public sectors, and related business litigation. Her clients include owners, general contractors, subcontractors, specialty trade contractors and disadvantaged business enterprises. Margery counsels clients on drafting and negotiating construction contracts—including dangerous subcontractor clauses—...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 104
We are doing something a little different in this episode, we do not have a special guest, but what I will be discussing is about the seven construction contract clauses that pose special challenges for contractors. This is a Youtube live that I streamed back in July this year and the reason why I streamed it was as a response to the deadly collapse of the deadly Florida building and the reason for the episode is because I want for all the small business construction contractors and subcontracto...
Aug 31, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 103
In today’s episode we want to feature a newly minted 8a company that is doing things the right way. Tomas Santos – Alejandro, CEO, Founder and Principal Engineer of Advent services of Florida began his roots in Mayaguez Puerto Rico. Advent Services empowers federal, state, local and private sector clients and partners to solve problems, manage risk and advance their corporate objectives. Certified 8(a), HUBZone and SDVOSB. After working as a software engineer he founded a company that was eventu...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Over the course of the last two years in this podcast, it’s been a journey. And now a community with seven thousand people who go through our free course and training and six hundred people going through the paid course. We’re making a big impact in the government contracting world. Doing this podcast has been really life-changing not only in the sense that it put me in a better place career-wise and my path towards everything that I want to achieve professionally, but it’s introduced me to a lo...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 101
In this episode I wanted to discuss a topic widely anticipated that is going to impact all small businesses around the world, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification or more commonly known as CMMC. To do that, I enlisted my friends Adam Austin and Alli Bay over at Totem Tech to help me discuss where the government is on this matter and more importantly how can you, as a small business, certify your business without needing a 10 or 20k consultant. That’s right, DIY CMMC. Because of the con...
Aug 04, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 100
So many people ask the question about needing past performance and how to start without certifications. Well, Micro purchase is one of the tools that are commonly used for small businesses to win contracts. People think that set aside is the key to winning but SAP also known as simplified acquisition can be an even more powerful tool. Learn how easily a Federal buyer can purchase up to $10,000 from you immediately (and up to $20,000 or even more in times of emergency response). Not just products...
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 99
You got your meeting...now what? We're going to be talking about the hidden wins you need to create, from contact to contract. You’ll discover the concept of micro-wins (not micro-PURCHASES; something that comes even before THAT!) learn about the two types of wins you need to create with your buyers, and get the three GovCon checklists you’ll use to get you from takeoff to landing, so your business can soar. In today’s interview with Judy Bradt we are discussing how to prepare for your call and ...
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 98
This week we bring you another managed service provider, Elizabeth Jimenez of NeoSystems. Neosystems is a full service IT integrator, managed security, cloud managed hosting, and managed services accounting, HR and IT. Elizabeth Jimenez is the Executive Director, Strategic Development for NeoSystems, she is responsible for building and managing strategic relationships with partners, government agencies, industry influencers, and clients, as well as driving NeoSystems' brand vision, value, and cu...
Jul 14, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 97
This is part of 2 of her 4 Part series that she filmed with me on our YouTube channel. For the month of July we are bringing back our resident superstar, Judy Bradt. For over 32 years, she’s been an expert in federal contracting. We are so lucky to have Judy come on our show and share tidbits of the wisdom that she has accumulated over the last 3 decades. Today’s session, How to get in front of your federal buyer and win your meeting. This was a live session that we taped earlier this year and s...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Today’s guest I want everyone to meet Judy Bradt, CEO of Summit Insight. For over 32 years she’s been an expert in federal contracting. We are so lucky to have Judy come on our show and share tidbits of the wisdom that she has accumulated over the last 3 decades. Today’s session, 5 People you need to meet & the players and layers method we discuss getting in front of the right people sooner. This was a live session that we taped earlier this year and so you will hear Judy and I go for about ...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Today’s guest, Student Ash was researching the government market and quickly discovered what we call the certification trap. All of the agencies, so called experts and gurus, preached getting certifications as the pathway for small businesses to be successful. After doing some mental calculations Ash figured that if you make the pool smaller and smaller for businesses and we the 90% are all chasing the 20% pool who is really making the money? She quickly learned that this was not a winning strat...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Joshua Duvall is the founder and managing partner at Matross Edwards LLC, a Washington, DC-based government contracts and business law firm serving government contractors nationwide. Josh is trusted counsel and outside general counsel to small and mid-size government contractors, where he counsels clients in complex government contracts matters, including bid protests (agency level, GAO, COFC), disputes, teaming agreements, subcontracts, joint ventures, regulatory compliance, and cybersecurity. ...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 94
Today’s guest, Nicole Sharp founded her company Griffin Consulting Partners in 2017. Though she formed the corporation, it wasn’t until a few years ago that she decided to go full time and really work on the business. GCP offers solutions in the fed health space and work with companies looking to grow and get into the space. With the mission to combine analytical thinking and intuitive understanding to unleash the full potential of their customers by delivering uniquely tailored consultancy serv...
Jun 08, 2021•1 hr 32 min
Sarah Dunn started her career in the insurance industry by chance. She complimented a woman’s shoes at a recruiting expo which led to her landing a spot in the highly competitive and prestigious Aetna Healthcare’s Group School reserved for the top 1% of applicants after graduating early from college. After graduating as one of the top recruits from the Aetna Group School program, it landed her in the Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia insurance market as a national Aetna consultant for insur...
Jun 01, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Ariela Wagner is the president and founder of SunRay Construction Solutions. She has over 14 years of construction industry experience. With the mission to be the best and easiest construction document service in the USA, SunRay secures the lien rights of general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers nationally and helps them get paid. For a nominal fee SunRay ensures that each required Preliminary Notice, Lien and Claim on Bond is carefully, thoroughly and timely executed as per the rules/l...
May 25, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Today’s show is part 2 of a two part series with Roberta Moore. She had so many stories to share that we could not get the all into one single episode. For those of you who do not know, Ms. Moore began her career as a DoD civil servant for 10 years before opening her business, Amoorer Inc. embarked on her government contracting journey, providing healthcare staffing services back in 2002. She graduated from the 8a program in 2014 but prior to that was part of a group of business owners who all s...
May 18, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Mike Melo president and CEO of ITA International started his company with his wife. Interestingly, it was Melo's father who inspired the name of his company, ITA. It is derived from a passage in a 1910 speech by Teddy Roosevelt referred to as "The Man in the Arena" in which Roosevelt praises those who work hard and demonstrate values of leadership, integrity, and hard work rather than simply sitting on the sidelines. ITA International LLC works toward a secure, stable and sustainable world. Thei...
May 11, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Roberta Moore founded AMOORER, Incorporated 19 years ago in 2002 as a recently divorced, single parent of three boys. Amoorer Incorporated is an 8(a) graduate, HUBZone Certified, Woman-Owned Healthcare staffing small business. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Strayer University and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland University College. Roberta began her career as a DoD civil servant for 10 years before opening her busines...
May 06, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 89
With more than $247M dollars thrown at training and education of small businesses and little thrown into marketing we try and help showcase the ups and down of the business of govcon. Each week we bring on a speaker who has been involved in either growth as a small business, supporting small and medium size businesses or creates opportunities for either of the two categories In this episode, we bring you a 2-time guest, Matthew Schoonover, Principle of the law firm Schoonover and Moriarty. Matt ...
Apr 27, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 88
