Navigating GovCon

Hi this is Pete Blum with the first episode of the Veteran Connections Podcast. My mission is to help transitioning Veterans and Veterans already out of the military engage with the business community and to share the knowledge and tools needed to successfully start a business. As Co-Host of another podcast FloridaGovCon.com I did an episode called Attracting Military Veterans (episode 14). I broke down how small business desiring to hire Veterans could find them and retain them. But I wanted to do more! There are Veterans transitioning out of the military every day. Some of them have an idea or a passion that they want to turn into a business. Having the right connections can be the one thing that makes the difference between a success or a failure. In this Veteran Connections Podcast I will be talking to Veteran business owners about what steps they are taking, the hurdles they have ran into, what advice they have for you, and what they hope life will look like a few years from now. With these real life interviews and real life results you can gain the expert knowledge from those that have been there. From your military brothers and sisters.   Today's guest is Mike Stojic. Mike is the host and creator of the Make It A Double Podcast and Founder of Revival 1869, Revival 1869 is a craft cocktail & whiskey bar & lounge opening up in March 2017 in Clayton, NC     Mike is also a Marine Corps veteran and besides being Marine brothers what attracted me to Mike is his strong desire to connect with people and find happiness even in bad situations. This aligns well with our FloridaGovCon.com Podcast as our goal is to help connect small businesses and veterans and help them through making connections. Businesses are looking for veterans, transitioning veterans are looking for new careers, and veteran business owners help bridge this gap With their knowledge and experience at both ends of this spectrum.   You can follow Mike here   Website: http://revival1869.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-stojic-a47ab1bb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revival1869/ Twitter: @revival1869 Instagram: @revival1869 Podcast (Make it a Double!): http://makeitadouble.podbean.com/     Topics   Transition from the military   How did you start your business?   Did your military experience and training help prepare you to be a Veteran business owner?   What were some of your concerns when starting your business?   What were some of the challenges you faced getting your business started?   What is the key to the success of your business?   Do you think your military experience is responsible for the success in your business or are there other things you had to apply and learn along the way?   Are you going to be able to use your business in some way to either help or hire other Veterans?   What is the one most important thing you have learned since starting your business that you can share with other Veteran business owners?   For transitioning Veterans wanting to start their own business what action items would you give them?   Summary   In this episode with Mike we had some really great advice for you to take advantage of so you can head for success:   All Veterans be sure to take advantage of the Boots To Business program. This is offered as an add on option to the TAPS class.   Be sure to study up on what it is you want to do before starting your business   White board your ideas   Planning is key to an effective startup and launch   Proper budgeting is critical for success   Be sure to get your new business involved in the community   Stay fresh to keep your business alive   Embrace social media   Network in your community and with other businesses   Avoid falling in love with your plan so much that you are not flexible   Keep your ego in check, you don't know everything   Listen to others, all feedback has some value   Know your passion so you will love what you do   The Veteran Connections Podcast provides advice from Veterans for Veterans. A lot of people like you and me that have been through the military have the same thoughts and a lot of the same questions. We may have even had the exact same struggle. I hope you find some answers as you go on this Veteran Connections journey with me where we will learn, explore, and get answers to your questions.   Another great resource for Veterans wanting to start their own business is the Small Business Administration (SBA) https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/how-start-business/business-types/veteran-owned-businesses   If you need more information or want assistance implementing one of the things you learned about today you can contact me. I can teach you techniques and strategies to help you connect and network in the business community so you can reach your personal or professional goals. Email me at peteblum@solvability.com and let me know how I can help you!   I hope that you have enjoyed this podcast episode and if you have a burning question that you would like to get answered by an experienced Veteran business owner about starting your own business go ahead and email me. I will be sure to answer it in a future episode!   Thank you for listening!  -Pete

In this episode Jenny Clark talk about the upcoming Florida GovCon 2018 Summit. With a goal for companies to go virtually vertical and double in size, this episode is one you don't want to miss. Jenny goes over what will be covered, shares her recommended reading list and invites you to the summit.   Virtually Vertical Strategies to Scale Your GovCon Business Florida GovCon Summit 2018 February 28-March 1 Orlando   Virtually Vertical: Strategies to Scale YOUR GOVCON Business Business Value Drivers Federal Value Drivers Scaling Your GovCon Business The 20 Benchmarks Recommended Reading Florida GovCon Summit Agenda Join Now   Business Value Drivers Departure Date Financial Security Exit Path Cash Flow Business Value Personal Assets Growth Value Present Value Management Minimizing Taxes Operations Financial Control   FEDERAL Value Drivers Strategic Relationships   Agencies Primes and Subs Teaming Partners Management Team Technical SMEs Professional SMEs INHERITABLE Past Performance Socio-Economic Key Skills Technology Leadership INHERENT Intellectual Property Locations Reputation Processes/Certifications Management Team    The 20 Benchmarks 1.DCAA Compliance 2.Indirect Rates Projections 3.BD/Capture/Proposals 4.Capabilities and Web 5.Pricing 6.Invoicing & Reporting 7.Integrated Processes 8.Onboarding New Contracts 9.Recruiting Process 10.HR Process 11.Contract Administration 12.Program Management 13.IT 14.Cybersecurity 15.FSO Process 16.Branding 17.Contract Vehicles 18.Financial Capabilities 19.Risk Management 20.Advanced Certifications   Florida GovCon Summit 2018 Agenda   Recommended Reading ASCEND: Forging a True Path (Anton) The Industries of the Future (Ross) Dogs Don’t Bark (Piersall) The Unstoppables (Schley) Tribe: On Homecoming (Junger) Think and Grow Rich (Hill) The Tipping Point (Gladwell) Leaders Eat Last (Sinek) Traction: Get A Grip (Wickman) Closing the Sale (Brown) Get Off the Bench (Fuchs) Save Your Time (Jans) Team of Teams (McChrystal) The Code of Trust (Dreeke) The Art of Invisibility (Mitnik) The Long Tail (Anderson) Presence (Cuddy) Big Magic (Gilbert) The Art of Work (Goins)   FEATURED VIP Workshops Value Builders – Thursday Morning M&A for Federal Virtually Vertical 2018 Benchmarking Risk Management Maximizing your Value for Exit GSA & VA Contracting International Contracting Indirect Rate Strategies   Are you ready to Grow? Virtually Vertical in 2018 Do You HAVE: Established Strategic Relationships Brilliant Past Performance Recognized Industry Leaders and Sought-after Teammates Subs Now – but PRIMES in 2019 – managing Growth to Stay Small Handle Complex Contracts, including Cost Plus Technically Challenging Uniquely Qualified to Execute Know how to get Employees the Customer Wants FOCUS on GROWTH: Pricing, Cost and Systems Strategy to bring in FIVE Years of Recurring Revenue with one Game-Changing Win!   Register Today for Florida GovCon Summit in Orlando February 28-March 1, 2018 solvability.com/govcon-summit       To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

This is the seventh and final episode of the Pricing Strategy Series brought to you by Jenny W Clark.   In this episode Jenny gives you a Pricing Strategies Summary.   Our new series starting next week will be on Veteran Connections. Pete Blum will be talking to Veteran business owners about how they started their business and what they learned along the way that they can share with you. Additionally we will find out what they are doing to help other Veterans and what strategies they have in place to achieve that.  

This is the first episode of the new Pricing Strategy Series brought to you by Jenny W Clark.   In this episode Jenny goes over Labor Pricing giving you the facts you need to get it right.

Today I am going to talk about how your company can benefit from hiring our military veterans and having a veteran friendly program at your company. One of your greatest company assets is your employees. I know you want great employees who give you their best and communicate well with your customers.   Sometimes finding cream of the crop employees is hard and takes a lot of work. I am going to go ahead and say that some of the very best employees are military veterans. They have a strong work ethic; they are disciplined, detail-oriented, they adapt to any situation or environment. Hiring a veteran brings strong leadership to your company and is just smart business.   Now I'd like to take a minute to say my motivation for talking about this today is for a couple of reasons. First of all one of our goals at Florida GovCon is to help small businesses gain a competitive edge and succeed by providing the knowledge that can help you make better business decision concerning government contracting, technology, software, social media, marketing, and more. We want you to be able to take your business to the next level. So helping your business learn techniques to find and keep veteran employees will ensure you have a strong and reliable work force.   The other reason is because helping veterans is something I am passionate about. After serving 11 years in the military and getting out of the Marines with a good conduct discharge I thought transition would be really easy. What I found out was there are challenges with finding a good company, and more importantly one that is the right fit. Sometimes there is a communication gap that is hard to get across due to terminology or even the "I vs team" issue. Even after finding a job it can be a real struggle and it might not last if it's not the right fit. There really needs to be a level of understanding and respect for what our military veterans have been through.   Keep this in mind when thinking about hiring a veteran. Many go in at an early age and spend their life serving their country. They work their way up taking on enormous responsibilities. Think about some of the things they are responsible for: attack and support aircraft, hundreds of troops, deploying units around the world, protecting the nation. I could go on and on but I won't. In the military you unit, your team is your family. They are like your brothers and sisters. Now think about your company and all the things that you are responsible for.   So these days I do everything I can to help transitioning veterans make a smooth transition. I help with resumes, coaching, networking and introductions. I volunteer at Project Transition USA to help teach monthly classes to transitioning veterans on how to use LinkedIn to create a brand, network, and find a job. I am a student Veteran mentor for the University of South Florida and a couple other veteran mentoring websites.   I want the veterans to find you I want to introduce them to you. Are you veteran friendly? Do you have a reputation for hiring veterans? Have you made it easy for veterans to find you?   How do you get these highly motivated, dedicated, and skilled veterans to join your company, and how do you keep them? That is what we are here to talk about today.   Another exciting thing I just wanted to throw in there is how awesome it is for the last episode of this series not only to be about helping you find the veterans and them finding you but it is also International Podcast Day! I love podcasting, I love helping veterans, and I love helping small businesses. Podcasting gives me the ability to talk about the things I love and to help others succeed at the same time. So for International Podcast day why don't you help someone too and share this podcast with them. FloridaGovCon.com     So let me answer those questions attracting veterans!   First of all you want to be completely clear about the fact that you support and are interested in hiring veterans. You can add something about this on your website. A great thing to do is have a dedicated page or sub-domain where the information is veteran specific. You can talk about your goals of hiring veterans, you can have testimonials from currently employed veterans, you can highlight jobs available that would be a good fit for veterans, use words like leadership, challenge, team, and career. Having a dedicated page or sub-domain allows you to market directly to veterans and you can use a special URL even using the word veteran. Also on your website be sure to publish your mission statement and core values. This is something veterans understand as they are mission oriented and they will feel more at ease knowing what you stand for. Use military friendly language on your website, let them know about career paths, opportunities for promotion, team events, and that their family is also important to you.   Highlight your current veterans workforce! If you already have military veterans that are employees you can introduce them to potential new veteran candidates. Let them know there is someone that understands them and that will show them the ropes. Have an employee veteran be part of the interview process for veteran candidates. You can mention employee veterans, their branch of service, and how your company has benefited from hiring them. Let veteran candidates know that your company takes a special interest in helping veterans transition from the military to the corporate workplace.   Educate your recruiters to target veterans and change the recruitment process to meet the goal of recruiting veterans. Highlight jobs already identified as a good fit for veterans. Have your recruiters explain why the veteran would be a good fit and how they could be successful in the position. Remember your job descriptions need to be translated into language that veterans can understand and match up with skills they had when serving in the military. You or your recruiters need to be skilled at gauging a veterans proficiency from their resumes. Many recruiters may not be able to translate military skills to a corporate job.   The resumes of many skilled veterans may not make it through your application tracking system if you have one. It should be setup to additionally recognize military related keywords. If possible in your applicant tracking system the resume could even be tagged to separate veteran resumes from the rest of them so a dedicated veteran recruiter can review them. Your recruiters may have to probe for the veterans accomplishments, collateral duties, awards and recognition to figure out if they are a fit for your company and how their experience can add value to your company. Remember they have been trained in a team environment where everything is we and not I so they are not used to talking about themselves or their achievements. It may take multiple rounds of open-ended questions, solid listening skills, and patience.   To be veteran friendly don't just stop at the recruiters. Ensure you educate your employees about the importance of hiring veterans as well. You could even have a training program for your non-military employees. They can learn about the military community and what they bring to the table.   Once you have hired a military veteran match them up with a mentor, preferably also a veteran, who can show them the ropes of your company. The mentor will make the transition from military to regular life much smoother, and your new hire will feel like the company cares about their growth.   Start the team building right away.  On the veteran's first day have the mentor show the veteran around and meet the teams and have lunch with the veteran. Introduce the veteran to the chain of command. Go over benefits, policies and procedures, dates for evaluations, career paths and timeline.     So with this information do what you can to make your company military-friendly and be a motivator for military veterans. Watch their leadership and dedication help transform and move your company forward!   And don’t forget to use your social medial accounts to spread the word about your company's veteran opportunities, veteran friendly program, and your love for veterans and our country.   You can mention FloridaGovCon.com and International Podcast Day too!   Next week Jenny will be starting and is excited to bring you a new series about pricing strategies.   I hope that you have enjoyed this podcast and I hope you enjoy this series.   FloridaGovCon.com is brought to you by Solvabilty. If you have questions or want to learn more about what we can offer you go to Solvability.com and click on contact. There you can request a free system assessment. Thank you for listening and let me know how I can help you?

Today's guest created a company that uses a combination of technology and social networking to obtain financial services for the military and veteran communities, and to help veterans build businesses. He is also a contributor at Forbes, writing on veterans entrepreneurship and military leadership in business. He is listed as one of the "Mighty25 Veterans to Watch in 2017. He is an Air Force Veteran and the Co-Founder & CEO of StreetShares. I would like to welcome Mark L. Rockefelle   Hi this is Pete Blum bringing you another episode of the Veteran Connections Podcast where my mission is to help transitioning Veterans and Veterans already out of the military engage with the business community, and to share the knowledge and tools needed to successfully start a business. The Veteran Connections Podcast brings you experience and advice from fellow Veterans who are business owners and have made the transition from the military and into the business community.   There are Veterans transitioning out of the military every day. Some of them have an idea or a passion that they want to turn into a business. Having the right connections can be the one thing that makes the difference between a success or a failure. In this Veteran Connections Podcast I will be talking to Veteran business owners about what steps they are taking, the hurdles they have ran into, what advice they have for you, and what they hope life will look like a few years from now. With these real life interviews and real life results you can gain the expert knowledge from those that have been there. From your military brothers and sisters.   Today's guest created a company that uses a combination of technology and social networking to obtain financial services for the military and veteran communities, and to help veterans build businesses. He is also a contributor at Forbes, writing on veterans entrepreneurship and military leadership in business. He is listed as one of the "Mighty25 Veterans to Watch in 2017. He is an Air Force Veteran and the Co-Founder & CEO of StreetShares. I would like to welcome Mark L. Rockefeller.     You can follow Mark here Website: https://streetshares.com/ LinikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markstreetshares/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StreetShares/ Twitter: @StreetShares     So I know that you are all about Veterans becoming entrepreneurs! I love that and feel the same, and of course that is what this podcast is all about. I feel like finance is one of the biggest hurdles a Veteran faces in wanting to start a business so it is going to be great talking about those issues and things StreetShares can do to help.     Topics   So tell me a little bit about what you did in the military.   Transition from the military (easy or hard)   What was it that caused you to start your business? Got the idea while in Africa?   Tell us about your company's mission   Grants for Veterans?   I read your article, Why Is Government Contracting a Good Idea for Veterans? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-government-contracting-good-idea-veterans-mark-l-rockefeller   I like how it ties in nicely with what Jenny and I are doing with Solvability and the annual Florida GovCon Summit. I'm involved with that community and there are so many great people and Veterans in that industry. I am obviously promoting Veterans starting their own business and doing what I can to help them with this podcast and other resources. I do think Veterans going into that industry have an advantage and I like what you said in the article that "As A Veteran, You’re Already in the Market"   What were the steps you took to get your business up and running?   Do you feel like your military experience and training helped prepare you to be a Veteran business owner?   What were some of the challenges you faced getting your business started?   What is the key to the success of your business?   Last year you said StreetShares, has funded more than 300 veteran-owned businesses since launch. Do you know of the top of your head what that number is up to this year?   Would you say it was your military experience or other things you learned that have been more helpful in making you successful in your business?   Are you going to use your business in some way to either help or hire other Veterans?   What is the one most important thing you have learned since starting your business that you can share with future Veteran business owners?   For transitioning Veterans wanting to start their own business what action items list would you give them?   Another great article you wrote for Forbes was "Why The Military Is The Best Entrepreneurship Training Program In America". I wanted to put that out there so people could read and learn even more from you.    https://www.forbes.com/sites/marklrockefeller/2016/08/03/why-the-military-is-the-best-entrepreneurship-training-program-in-america/#69c0ff2b3d60       Summary   In this episode with Mark we heard some great advice you can take advantage of on your own vetrepreneur journey!   Test your idea and see if people like it before going full force into it, some tweaking may be required or you may realize you need to start over with a new idea   Keep your day job until your own business can sustain you   Build a great team, even if they know more than you it will only benefit your company   Use grants first to help get started   Hold off on getting an office space if your industry allows, there is a lot of cost associated with that     Mentioned   Combat Flip Flops- https://www.combatflipflops.com/    The Veteran Connections Podcast provides advice from Veterans for Veterans. A lot of people like you and me that have been through the military have the same thoughts and a lot of the same questions. We may have even had the exact same struggle. I hope you find some answers as you go on this Veteran Connections journey with me where we will learn, explore, and get answers to your questions.   Another great resource for Veterans wanting to start their own business is the Small Business Administration (SBA) https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/how-start-business/business-types/veteran-owned-businesses   If you need more information or want assistance implementing one of the things you learned about today you can contact me. I can teach you techniques and strategies to help you connect and network in the business community so you can reach your personal or professional goals. Email me at peteblum@solvability.com and let me know how I can help you!   I hope that you have enjoyed this podcast episode and if you have a burning question that you would like to get answered by an experienced Veteran business owner about starting your own business go ahead and email me. I will be sure to answer it in a future episode!   Thank you for listening!  -Pete

Today's guest is an independent film maker and actor that has produced and directed two short films and been an actor in film and TV. We met while volunteering at a Veteran event hosted by A Warriors Mind in Tampa Florida where we were both representing Racing4Vets. He is an Army Veteran that has been on four combat deployments. He is the Founder & CEO of Ginomai Films Limited. I would like to welcome Alfred Cox.   Hi this is Pete Blum bringing you another episode of the Veteran Connections Podcast where my mission is to help transitioning Veterans and Veterans already out of the military engage with the business community, and to share the knowledge and tools needed to successfully start a business. The Veteran Connections Podcast brings you experience and advice from fellow Veterans who are business owners and have made the transition from the military and into the business community.   There are Veterans transitioning out of the military every day. Some of them have an idea or a passion that they want to turn into a business. Having the right connections can be the one thing that makes the difference between a success or a failure. In this Veteran Connections Podcast I will be talking to Veteran business owners about what steps they are taking, the hurdles they have ran into, what advice they have for you, and what they hope life will look like a few years from now. With these real life interviews and real life results you can gain the expert knowledge from those that have been there. From your military brothers and sisters.   Today's guest is an independent film maker and actor that has produced and directed two short films and been an actor in film and TV. We met while volunteering at a Veteran event hosted by A Warriors Mind in Tampa Florida where we were both representing Racing4Vets. He is an Army Veteran that has been on four combat deployments. He is the Founder & CEO of Ginomai Films Limited. I would like to welcome Alfred Cox.   You can follow Alfred here Website: http://www.ginomaifilmslimited.com/ LinikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfred-cox-b5b80a124/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ginomaifilms/ IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7814220/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ginomaifilms   Alfred Cox is an Army Veteran with 17 years service with 4 deployments. In 2016 he became an independent film maker in New Port Richey, FL and produced 2 films on Amazon Video called “The Loan” and “In Return”. In 2017 Alfred secured his first speaking acting role in a web series called “Dawn and the Dead” and is currently in preproduction for his Star Wars fan film entry called “The Gauntlet” for the Lightsaber Choreography Contest 2017 in November. Alfred is also a producer for a feature film in Colorado called “ Blood Loss”   Topics   So tell me a little bit about what you did in the military   Transition from the military (easy or hard)   What was it that caused you to start your business?   Tell us about your company's mission   What were the steps you took to get your business up and running?   Do you feel like your military experience and training helped prepare you to be a Veteran business owner?   What were some of the challenges you faced getting your business started?   What is the key to the success of your business?   Would you say it was your military experience or other things you learned that have been more helpful in making you successful in your business?   Are you going to use your business in some way to either help or hire other Veterans?   What is the one most important thing you have learned since starting your business that you can share with future Veteran business owners?   For transitioning Veterans wanting to start their own business what action items list would you give them?   Summary   In this episode with Alfred we heard some great advice you can take advantage of on your own vetrepreneur journey!   Self-fund if possible so that you are the one that owns your idea   Research and educate yourself so you know your risks   Determine your end game   Watch tutorials for your industry   Always have a backup plan   Mentioned   A Warriors Mind- http://www.awarriorsmind.com/   Racing4Vets- http://www.racing4vets.org/   A quote from Albert If I have any advice to young film makers, it is this. Don't give up, keep pushing forward, and ignore the haters if possible. This business is vast. There's no room for art in this. If you're able to write, direct and produce a film and get it on Amazon for a profit, Then you're doing something right. Wash, rinse, and repeat.   The Veteran Connections Podcast provides advice from Veterans for Veterans. A lot of people like you and me that have been through the military have the same thoughts and a lot of the same questions. We may have even had the exact same struggle. I hope you find some answers as you go on this Veteran Connections journey with me where we will learn, explore, and get answers to your questions.   Another great resource for Veterans wanting to start their own business is the Small Business Administration (SBA) https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/how-start-business/business-types/veteran-owned-businesses   If you need more information or want assistance implementing one of the things you learned about today you can contact me. I can teach you techniques and strategies to help you connect and network in the business community so you can reach your personal or professional goals. Email me at peteblum@solvability.com and let me know how I can help you!   I hope that you have enjoyed this podcast episode and if you have a burning question that you would like to get answered by an experienced Veteran business owner about starting your own business go ahead and email me. I will be sure to answer it in a future episode!   Thank you for listening!  -Pete

Today's guest is a project management and career transition expert. He is a Navy Veteran and host of The "Extra Tap Class" Webinars. He is the Co-Founder & CEO of Vets2PM. I would like to welcome Eric Wright.     Hi this is Pete Blum bringing you another episode of the Veteran Connections Podcast where my mission is to help transitioning Veterans and Veterans already out of the military engage with the business community, and to share the knowledge and tools needed to successfully start a business. The Veteran Connections Podcast brings you experience and advice from fellow Veterans who are business owners and have made the transition from the military and into the business community.   There are Veterans transitioning out of the military every day. Some of them have an idea or a passion that they want to turn into a business. Having the right connections can be the one thing that makes the difference between a success or a failure. In this Veteran Connections Podcast I will be talking to Veteran business owners about what steps they are taking, the hurdles they have ran into, what advice they have for you, and what they hope life will look like a few years from now. With these real life interviews and real life results you can gain the expert knowledge from those that have been there. From your military brothers and sisters.   Today's guest is a project management and career transition expert. He is a Navy Veteran and host of The "Extra Tap Class" Webinars. He is the Co-Founder & CEO of Vets2PM. I would like to welcome Eric Wright.   You can follow Eric here Website: www.vets2pm.com LinikedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/docwright/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vets2pm/ Twitter: @Vets2PM   Eric is a decorated two-service, two-era United States Military Veteran; Founder and CEO of Vets2PM; an experienced, credentialed project manager and mentor; and an entertaining instructor/public speaker on project management, PMI’s PMP® and CAPM® exams, and on project manager development. He helps Military Veterans the world over become successful PMs in the CIVDIV through inspiration, translation, training, and placement. For more information, please visit www.vets2pm.com.     Topics   So tell me a little bit about what you did in the military   Transition from the military (easy or hard)?   Hard, took 12 long, dark years!   What was it that caused you to start your business?   I realized that as a military Veteran and a project manager, general manager, and business professor and executive, I knew what the Veteran was capable of and what industry needed them to look like, sound like, and act like; I just needed to map it. So I did; and the result is a complete transition program to take Veterans from Service to Project Manager; i.e. the program and company name Vets2PM!   Tell us about your company's mission:   It’s simple; help Military Veterans become Project Managers!   What were the steps you took to get your business up and running?   From 50K’, I created the concept and proved it in the marketplace year 1; I am building it to scale in year 2; and we’ll scale in year 3 by developing the additional business lines of Professional Placement Services and Project Management as a Service, which will augment our Veteran training and development channel.   Tactically, we obtained a business license, filed OA, created Web Site and curriculum, and marketing message. After several extremely hard knocks, I’d add I should have secured a trusted Accountant and Attorney much earlier! Do that! Find the money! Even if you’re boot-strapping!   Do you feel like your military experience and training helped prepare you to be a Veteran business owner?   For sure! It helped me develop autonomy; communications savvy around identifying audience and level, answering their probable questions through analysis and preparation; decision-making; problem-solving; leadership, followership and coaching; planning, and clearly identifying objectives, processes, standards, and discipline to those things.   These things, by the way, also serve project managers well Pete! Which is why I have a working hypothesis that since PMs and Entrepreneurs fill the same organizational, economical, and societal role of creating value using disparate scarce resources, Entrepreneurs would benefit from project management training!   What were some of the challenges you faced getting your business started?   Balancing “working in the business” with “working on the business”, and rejection and hostility.   What is the key to the success of your business?   We provide a clear solution and simple plan to qualified Veterans on securing meaningful, lucrative careers in project management. We inspire them; help them translate their secondary military occupation experience into commercially viable, highly valuable resume, social media, and project management credential content civilians recognize; train them if necessary; and provide them with lifetime job coaching and career assistance in project management.   Would you say it was your military experience or other things you learned that have been more helpful in making you successful in your business?   It was every single battle scar I’ve received; homework, papers, knowledge from multiple degrees; professional OJT under wise mentorship and training culminating in several professional credentials; transition struggles over a 12-year period; and my military training and experience. After all, it’s the latter that’s the foundation to persist and complete the others!   Are you going to use your business in some way to either help or hire other Veterans?   That is the only thing my business does. We place PM-credentialed PMs into starting salaries averaging $80-$95K a year at a rate of 93%!   This number and rate is steadily growing too, because we form new partnerships monthly that result in placement opportunities for our Brother and Sister Veteran PMs.   I would like to add though Pete, I am not Vets2PM though; instead I see myself as a Veteran that focuses his entrepreneurial efforts on brining solutions and companies into the marketplace that help Veterans transition.   Now I know I am one of tens-of- thousands saying that, but I do it daily. In fact, I am founding a software company as we speak that will revolutionize Veteran transition through professional translation. If the Veteran can identify a profession that has a body of knowledge and a professional credential demonstrating his or her command of that field, they’ll be able to translate their military experience into it for their resumes, social media profiles, and profession-specific credentials. The difference is this is not enter-your- experience and here’s an equivalent title or suggested job, but capturing and presenting your secondary parallel career in the military as its unique stand-along profession.   I believe this will change the game; heck, even disrupt it! A lot of traditional yet antiquated models and paradigms are about to be shattered.   I’m not “that guy that started Vets2PM; I’m that guy that founds social needs-driven industrial solutions to help military Veterans NOT take 12 years to transition from service-to- civilian like I did Pete”.   What is the one most important thing you have learned since starting your business that you can share with future Veteran business owners?   Hustle, hustle, hustle; never taking “No” for the answer.   For transitioning Veterans wanting to start their own business what action items list would you give them?   This is probably more philosophical than you were hoping, but there are a lot of great programs, organizations, and other Veteran Entrepreneurs, like this and you Pete, that can help with the tactical, so, I would say…   Think about a solution to help somebody else with a painful problem; Develop, Beta test it, and sell one, even if for a dollar; Then figure out how to do that 1 million more times, and you’re set; You’re a millionaire, but more importantly, you’ve helped hundreds, thousands, or millions first! And that’s the key; you have to help somebody else first or there’s no value, no motivation through reciprocity, no deep root ball of value. You get paid to help others; first!   Summary   In this episode with Eric we heard some great advice you can take advantage of on your own vetrepreneur journey!   When you start a business your family starts it with you, find the right work/life balance so you get the work done but still make time for creating those awesome family memories   Learn to delegate so you are not the bottleneck in your business   Answer the questions "who you provide value to" and "what would that value be"   Test your idea until someone is willing to pay for it, then go scale that   The Veteran Connections Podcast provides advice from Veterans for Veterans. A lot of people like you and me that have been through the military have the same thoughts and a lot of the same questions. We may have even had the exact same struggle. I hope you find some answers as you go on this Veteran Connections journey with me where we will learn, explore, and get answers to your questions.   Another great resource for Veterans wanting to start their own business is the Small Business Administration (SBA) https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/how-start-business/business-types/veteran-owned-businesses   If you need more information or want assistance implementing one of the things you learned about today you can contact me. I can teach you techniques and strategies to help you connect and network in the business community so you can reach your personal or professional goals. Email me at peteblum@solvability.com and let me know how I can help you!   I hope that you have enjoyed this podcast episode and if you have a burning question that you would like to get answered by an experienced Veteran business owner about starting your own business go ahead and email me. I will be sure to answer it in a fu

Today’s podcast is about the specifics of labor distribution and payroll for federal contractors.   There are five elements of the labor distribution and payroll process:   Organizing Employee Data: data to know who is working what job, and what information you have to get to report and bill on that job   Process for employee timesheets: including training employees the rules for completing and submitting timesheets, making sure they understand the requirements of federal contracting   Time Approval and reporting process: process must be fast, with minimal questions and errors, treated like a production line; consider special requirements for overtime and changing the charge numbers when one task ends and another begins   Labor Costing: discussion of simple situations where there is a single hourly pay rate and a more complicated one where there is a salary amount and variable number of hours; for example, anytime you have a semi-monthly payroll and salaried employees.     Payroll Processing: how you send hours to the payroll processor, how to account for special pays such as overtime, bonus, leave payoffs and pay rate changes.   Let’s start with Element 1 – Employee Data.  First, is the employee hourly or salaried?  Does the salaried employee have to account for all hours?  Are there conditions where some salaried employees get paid straight-time overtime?  Do you have Time & Materials contracts where the employee can select multiple labor category codes or do you assign it for them?  The labor category code should be on the timesheet, and actually any code that is required for billing should be traceable back to the timesheet.  We also recommend that you standardize and use codes, not descriptions, and set it up so the employee only sees the codes they are authorized to charge to, in order to reduce confusion and errors.   For new employees, you’ll want to make sure that they can be on-boarded quickly, so they have a timesheet they can use within the first day or so of starting.   For employee changes, especially pay rates, you’ll want a process that communicates updates quickly once they are authorized, so that everyone is using the correct information, and errors are minimized.  Whenever possible, you should set up your employee changes to start at the beginning of a pay period, or you will spend lots of time with retro-active changes and manual adjustments.   Now let’s talk about Element 2 – Timesheet Process.  Make it as easy as possible for your employees, the Program Manager and any reviewers or approvers.  Some timesheet systems have reports that can be reviewed on a daily basis.  You can run a “floor check” and make sure people are completing time daily.  It is a requirement that employees complete daily, and everyone in the company is required to complete a timesheet.      The timesheet process also needs to provide for how to complete the timesheet when the employees is out sick, on vacation or holiday.  Typically, you’d allow a supervisor to complete when the employee is out, and have the employee validate the interim timesheet, and signing it when they are back in the office.   On more advanced timesheet systems, the Program Manager can run reports to see who is charging to their contract and how many hours, on a real-time basis.  Giving the Program Manager access to these reports will help them identify and address issues early.  Some systems even allow budget hours to be loaded and will stop people from charging based on contract end date, by popping up error messages.   Having leave balances and tracking in the timesheet system can be beneficial, so that people cannot take leave when their balance is zero, or maybe you let them borrow leave up to a limit of say, 40 hours.   You will also need to make sure you have written instructions for employees and supervisor on how to complete timesheets.  New employees should be given these instructions and trained either by Human Resources, Payroll or the supervisor.  Some companies have found creating a new employee checklist helpful in this training.  The instructions should also document the process for correcting timesheets and adjustments.   Let’s talk about Element #3, Approval and Reporting process.  You need to get employees paid and you need to report time and also process billings, based on the timesheet dates and other cutoff dates.  Setting up your systems, you need to consider process for month end reporting, billing and payroll cycles.  For example, if you have semi-monthly payroll and monthly billing and monthly financial reporting, everything “cuts off” on the same dates.  Or, if you could have weekly timesheets, biweekly payroll and biweekly billing or billing on a cycle like 4-4-5 which is 4 weeks, 4 weeks and 5 weeks.  All of this should be synchronized if possible in order to streamline your processes.      You also care about this process because you want to get your billings out as fast as possible.  You want it to be accurate so it can be approved and accepted by clients and put into the system for payment, hopefully within 30 days.  If you are a subcontractor to a prime, it may be a “pay when paid” relationship, so you need to submit your billing to hit the billing cycle of the prime.  You will have to wait until their bill which includes your cost has been paid.  If you are late or miss their billing cycle, it will be much longer so be sure to focus on that schedule.    When you are setting up these processes, or considering making changes, take time to insert some “lag” in your payroll.  Many companies will have semi-monthly timesheets ending the 15th and the end of the month, and then pay day will be the 25th and the 10thof the month, respectively. Whenever you can, you should have at least 10 days between the end of the payroll period and the pay date.  But your time sheet data should be processed as quickly as possible for reporting and billing, even if you have a few days before payroll is due.  Most payroll services require a minimum of 2 days for processing, with an extra day to consider when there is a holiday.   The approval process should first be completed by the supervisor for that employee, someone who can confirm that the employee was working, and who knows their assignments are being completed.  It’s important to set submittal deadlines, such as noon EST on the first workday after the timesheet end, so that you can count on when the timesheets will be ready to process.   There will always be a few stragglers with the timesheets. Here’s a tip: if you have someone who is consistently late, you may be told “just short their pay” but we don’t recommend that.  Instead, just charge the hours needed to make up their full base pay to their Leave balance.  They will be motivated to correct it so they get their leave balance corrected, and they will still get paid.  Make sure the process is set up to work best for your employees, as simple as possible.   Let’s talk about Element #4, Labor Distribution.  The Labor Costing process is called Labor Distribution.  How do you show how much cost applies to each job?    In a simple case, let’s say Linda makes $20 per hour and the company has biweekly timesheets with biweekly payroll, so there should be 80 hours on Linda’s timesheet.  Linda has 8 hours of holiday for July 4, then 32 hours of vacation, then 40 hours to the Zombie Missile contract as a Junior Analyst.  For Linda’s costs, 8 hours of holiday at $20 per hour is $160 in cost charged to the Holiday Expense account.  Then, she has 32 hours at $20 per hour which is $640 in cost to charge to the balance sheet account Accrued Vacation.  The balance of 40 hours at $20 per hour which is $800 that gets charged as direct cost to the Zombie Missile job.    Let’s take another scenario with Sam the Program Manager, who is salaried and routinely works extra hours, but only gets paid his base salary.  The hours over 80 hours in the biweekly pay period are called Uncompensated Overtime.  Sam the Program Manager gets $4000 in salary every 2 weeks, so that would be $50 per hour when he works only 80 hours in a pay period.  When he works 100 hours in an 80 hour pay period, he has 8 hours of holiday and 92 hours of Zombie Missile testing.  Since Sam’s salary is a fixed amount of $4,000, his labor cost is charged as 8% to holiday (8 hours out of 100 hours) which would be $320 in labor cost, and 92% to Zombie Missile direct labor, which would be $3680 in labor cost.  Mathematically the same, but used more frequently is a “diluted hourly rate”, which is salary divided by total hours worked. So $4000 divided by 100 hours is $40 per hour as a diluted hourly rate.   You see that it can get complicated, because the diluted pay rates for your employees will fluctuate based on how many hours they work each pay period, especially if there is uncompensated overtime.  Another issue with salaried employees comes up with they are either hired or terminated in the middle of the pay period, or when they have leave without pay.  Whenever possible, it makes more sense to require salaried employees to take vacation or other paid absence time before allowing them to record leave without pay – because all of these exceptions require special handling and manual processing.   This is a topic that I could go on and on about because there are so many exceptions and special situations.   Let’s talk about Element #5 Payroll Processing.  How do you get the hours for your employees reported to your payroll service in time for payroll processing?  First off, you need to make sure you have a least a week lag between the end of timesheet period and payday period.  Setting up 2 weeks or 15 days is even better.   You really want to seamless upload or integrated process for payroll if you can. Think of it as a production line again. It needs to be as efficient and fast as possible, with no rework and no manual intervention, because errors and corrections can be co

Today's guest is an Army Veteran that was a combat medic. Today he is developing wearable technology that could help the military and the medical industry save lives. He is the Founder & CEO of Warrior Within Athletics and the Founder & CEO of Stealth Performance Communication. I would like to welcome Jordon Kestner.   Hi this is Pete Blum bringing you another episode of the Veteran Connections Podcast where my mission is to help transitioning Veterans and Veterans already out of the military engage with the business community, and to share the knowledge and tools needed to successfully start a business. The Veteran Connections Podcast brings you experience and advice from fellow Veterans who are business owners and have made the transition from the military and into the business community.   There are Veterans transitioning out of the military every day. Some of them have an idea or a passion that they want to turn into a business. Having the right connections can be the one thing that makes the difference between a success or a failure. In this Veteran Connections Podcast I will be talking to Veteran business owners about what steps they are taking, the hurdles they have ran into, what advice they have for you, and what they hope life will look like a few years from now. With these real life interviews and real life results you can gain the expert knowledge from those that have been there. From your military brothers and sisters.   Today's guest has is an Army Veteran that was a combat medic. Today he is developing wearable technology that could help the military and the medical industry save lives. He is the Founder & CEO of Warrior Within Athletics and the Founder & CEO of Stealth Performance Communication. I would like to welcome Jordon Kestner.   You can follow Jordon here Website: https://www.stealthperformancecommunication.com/ Website: https://www.warriorwithinathletics.com/ LinikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordonkestner/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stealthperformancecommunication Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/warriorwithinathletics   Topics   So tell me a little bit about what you did in the military   Transition from the military (easy or hard)   What was it that caused you to start your business?   Tell us about your company's mission   What were the steps you took to get your business up and running?   Do you feel like your military experience and training helped prepare you to be a Veteran business owner?   What were some of the challenges you faced getting your business started?   What is the key to the success of your business?   Would you say it was your military experience or other things you learned that have been more helpful in making you successful in your business?   Are you going to use your business in some way to either help or hire other Veterans?   What is the one most important thing you have learned since starting your business that you can share with future Veteran business owners?   For transitioning Veterans wanting to start their own business what action items list would you give them?   Summary   In this episode with Jordon we heard some great advice you can take advantage of on your own vetrepreneur journey!   Learn everything you can from You Tube videos, there are good ones on business from Harvard, Simon Sinek and Gary Vaynerchuk   Get a mentor   Attend a business accelerator program   Use LinkedIn to network and find the right people to help you move forward   The Veteran Connections Podcast provides advice from Veterans for Veterans. A lot of people like you and me that have been through the military have the same thoughts and a lot of the same questions. We may have even had the exact same struggle. I hope you find some answers as you go on this Veteran Connections journey with me where we will learn, explore, and get answers to your questions.   Another great resource for Veterans wanting to start their own business is the Small Business Administration (SBA) https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/how-start-business/business-types/veteran-owned-businesses   If you need more information or want assistance implementing one of the things you learned about today you can contact me. I can teach you techniques and strategies to help you connect and network in the business community so you can reach your personal or professional goals. Email me at peteblum@solvability.com and let me know how I can help you!   I hope that you have enjoyed this podcast episode and if you have a burning question that you would like to get answered by an experienced Veteran business owner about starting your own business go ahead and email me. I will be sure to answer it in a future episode!   Thank you for listening!  -Pete

In this episode Jenny breaks down the do's and don'ts of the cash flow and explains the process for her examples.   Don’t Do This: 1. Take Draws when needed instead of establishing salary 2. Be liberal with personal loans to employees 3. Give bonuses when you hear you’ve won 4. Sign up for season tickets with your favorite sports team 5. Celebrate your success with a new sports car 6. Buy a new house just before you negotiate your Line of Credit 7. Float your company across credit cards 8. Pay yourself well and hire family members 9. Generously pay your consultants & subcontractors early 10. Borrow from the company to pay your income taxes   Do This: 1. Corporate Structure – S Corp instead of LLC 2. Buy Sell Agreement and Key Man Insurance 3. Determine needs of owners – equity, work effort, pay, benefits 4. Pay Back Shareholder Loans before increasing salary/benefits 5. Don’t use up all your CASH to reduce your year-end taxes 6. Use company credit cards only for business – set a good example 7.Create a line between personal and business – don’t subsidize or use business funds for personal 8. Arrange for line of credit with bank 9. Finance capital investments with term loans 10. Preserve your personal credit during business growth 11. Invest in automated and outsourced corporate services to keep headcount balanced 12. Let initial billings go about 90 days to catch up gap between new hires 13. Pay Subs on a Pay When Paid plus 5 days Basis 14. Wait for profit to be realized before bonuses/pay raises 15. Create an owner’s bonus/compensation plan with a GOVCON business advisor (STEP) 16. Know your strategy for Succession, Transition, Exit and Planning 17. Regular meetings with executives on financial status and cash flow   To contact Jenny W Clark CEO Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus 1:1 Coaching

In this episode, Jenny Clark talks about Pricing Buildup from Cost. Building Up Your Cost and Pricing Making Sure You Make A Profit   What are the Costs you must Cover? Building a Prototype DIRECT COSTS Design Costs Engineering Hours time Engineering Pay Rate Assembly Costs Assembly Hours times Pay Rate Materials Actual Costs of Materials from Bill of Materials INDIRECT COSTS Tools and Facilities Design Software Business Licenses and Accounting   Components of Labor Buildup Direct Labor (Hourly Pay Rate) Fringe Rate (Percentage of Labor) Overhead Rate (Percentage of Labor) G&A Rate (Percentage of all above) Fee (Profit)   Let’s Start with Definitions Direct Labor Your Employees (not subs, not consultants) Direct Labor (Hourly Pay Rate) Annual Salary divided by 2080 Hours Base calculation here should consider productive hours like 1880 hours excluding 200 hours of leave Consider: Specific employees that meet the labor category Estimated salary for new hires Mix of both specific employees and projected new hires Fringe Benefits When you hire employees, you have costs associated with each payroll plus any benefits   Payroll Taxes Leave Group Insurance 401K Matching/Profit Sharing/Safe Harbor Workers Comp Overhead Support costs for your technical work force   Recruiting Training Certifications Tools Facilities cost if they are in your office General & Administrative (G&A) Corporate Expense Cost of executives, accounting, human resources Bank fees, legal expenses, professional fees Property taxes and state income taxes Profit or Fee Fee is the same as profit Depending on the contract type and risk Typical federal contractor fee percentage could be 6% to 12% Maybe higher in fixed price because of risk Primes will pressure you to accept lower profit rates Consider only if you are trying to create new relationships or break into new markets – your risk is higher than theirs     To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark talks about Incurred Cost Submission For DCAA.   What is an Incurred Cost Submission For DCAA? FAR 52.216-7   Incurred Cost Submission (ICE = Incurred Cost Electronically) Incurred Cost Submission for Federal Contractors Allowable Cost and Payment Clause FAR 52.216-7 Check your Cost Reimbursable and Time & Materials Contracts   Why Do We Prepare an Incurred Cost Submission? Purpose of the Incurred Cost Submission Settle your Indirect Rates for the Fiscal Year Prepare Incurred Cost Submission Send to DCAA DCAA Notified of Receipt DCAA accepts as Adequate or Rejects (so you do it over) Small Business – Low Risk Group – Rate Letter approval If Audit will be performed – expect it 3-5 years from now   When Do We Prepare an Incurred Cost Submission? Due 6 Months after the End of the Contractor Fiscal Year Most Small Businesses – December Year End so June 30 Due Date Profit and Loss Statements Indirect Rate Calculations 941 Federal Wage Reports (for Gross Wages Amounts) Contract Briefs (Customer, Modifications, Contract Type, Values) Contract Billings/Summaries for Year and Contract To Date Time & Materials Hours by Labor Category, Direct Travel/ODC and Applied G&A Subcontracting information   How do we prepare the Incurred Cost Submission? Go to DCAA.Mil Download the Incurred Cost Electronically spreadsheet and instructions Fringe, Overhead, G&A, Facilities and other allocations (Detail of Pools, Allocations, Bases) Costs by Contract – Direct Labor, Direct Travel, Subs, Materials Indirect Rates at Actual, Provisional and the Rate Variance Cumulative billed split out by Fiscal Year and computing Billable Variance compared to Contract Funding   Need Help?? There are about 30 schedules on the Incurred Cost Submission! We can work with you to do your INCURRED COST SUBMISSION         so you learn to complete it yourself Saving you lots of time, errors and headaches!   How can Solvability help you? E-mail me: jwclark@solvability.com       To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark talks about GovCon Challenges and Trends for Small Business.   Challenges for Small Business Creating a Pipeline Focusing on future trends Staying engaged with industry leadership Understanding that competitors have changed Finding strategies for sustainment Trends Search for Credentials and Checkbox items Team Flipping Personal relationships into corporate relationships Constant investment in meetings, conferences Use of advanced research tools for filtering your best opportunities Long lead approach Geographically choosy How is your Company Found? Profiles and Being Seen SAMS Website Social Media Presence Constancy Credibility Competency Multiple Strategies Expand services to new agencies Focus on becoming Prime Contractor Technology innovation Problem Solving Requirements driven – Vehicle, Team How can you adapt to commercial market? Ask Yourself!! What problems are you solving? Where are the federal decision makers?   How can you find multiple ways to pursue market?   How could a CEO Alliance Mastermind help you? E-mail me: jwclark@solvability.com     To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark talks about GovCon Joint Venture Accounting for All Small Mentor-Protégé Program.     What is a Joint Venture? Joint Ventures in Federal Contracting Two (or more) Companies create a third company Usually a legal entity, new corporation Purpose to go after Federal Contractors with combined strength Joint Venture must meet criteria for federal contracting (SAMs registration, DCAA compliance, facility security clearance, etc.) What is the All Small Mentor-Protege All Small Mentor-Protégé Program Online Application for approval by SBA Turnaround usually 30 to 90 days Qualifications of the Protégé apply to the JV May have more than one Protégé Method for Small Business to lean on larger company for financial strength and organization Method for “Other Than Small” to team on small business and other statuses (WOSB, VOSB, Hubzone) 8A Mentor-Protégé still available with different rules How Would a Joint Venture Help Your Company? Benefits of Joint Ventures SUSTAINABILITY: Manage Your Size Standards – longer term contracts without exceeding your NAICS codes SCALABILITY: Combined strengths of JV Partners BANKABILITY: JV invoices and collects, but has minimal costs itself CREDIT ABILITY: PEERS – not Prime/Sub – MITIGATION of RISK EXTENDABILITY: Combined team to pursue other activities SHARE ABILITY: team stronger than individual members How Would a Joint Venture Help Your Company? More Ways to Work with Partners on PEER level One More Strategy to Broaden Your Base Formalize Long Term Relationships How does Joint Venture Accounting Work? Joint Venture WINS Contract ADMINISTRATIVE Function in the Joint Venture usually managed by one of the partner organizations Partner A performs monthly work and invoices JV Partner B performs monthly work and invoices JV ADMIN at JV combines invoices and submits for payment Customer pays invoices to JVs Payment deposits in JV account ADMIN processes payment to Partners for monthly invoices Ask Yourself!! Do you have business teaming relationships with larger companies who might consider a Joint Venture? What would you need to learn about All Small Mentor Protégé to consider it fully?   Have you identified larger opportunities worth pursuing if you had a long term partner?   Would you want to participate in our JV Boot Camp Program? E-mail me: jwclark@solvability.com       To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark talks about GovCon Cost and Pricing.   How do you determine your Cost and Pricing Balancing Competitive Pricing with Profitability Price Low Enough to Win Price High Enough to Profit Manage Growth and Cash Flow Create Scalable Systems What Makes Your Bankable Makes You Buyable   DOES YOUR PROFIT AND LOSS LOOK LIKE THIS? REVENUE:   Usually Monthly Billings DIRECT COSTS (AKA Billable Costs)   Direct Labor of Employees Working on Contracts   Direct Travel for trips taken for contract purposes INDIRECT COSTS (Support Costs, Shared Costs, “Overhead”)   Fringe  (Payroll Taxes, Leave, Benefits)   Overhead (Support cost for technical workforce)   General and Administrative (Corporate) UNALLOWABLE   Interest, Entertainment, Advertising, Sponsorships, etc If it doesn’t, then I cannot compute your indirect rates, and you will NOT PASS a DCAA Audit.   Solvability RPM (Rate & Pricing Model) Profit and Loss Statement – Budget and Forecast Revenue – What You Know You Can Count On Direct Labor Costs – Assume Your Current Billable Headcount Continues Direct NonLabor Costs – Travel, Subs – base on history Indirect Labor Costs – Leave, Overhead Labor, G&A Labor (Corporate), Business Development Labor, Bid & Proposal Labor Indirect Rates Should be Computed from your Profit and Loss   Solvability RPM (Rate & Pricing Model) RPM Worksheets for Forecasting and Tracking Active Contract Listing with Monthly Revenue by Contract Indirect Rate Model to Compute from your Profit and Loss “What If” Columns to estimate impact of growth What is the Multiplier on Labor? Wrap Rate Calculator   If Bill Rate is $100 Per Hour, what should the employee pay rate be?   If Employee Pay Rate is $50 Per Hour, what should the billing rate be?   Ask Yourself!! What would it mean to KNOW where you are making money? How would accurate information help you win more contracts and grow faster and more profitably?   How would you invest in your company and yourself if you had more cash flow? What risk are you taking by NOT having the right answers? Why should you be doing this all ALONE?   Do You Know What Your Wrap Rate is and what it needs to be? Download our Free Wrap Rate Calculator wraprate.solvability.com E-mail me: jwclark@solvability.com   To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark talks about DCAA Pre-Award Survey SF1408.     DCAA Pre-Award Survey SF1408 Must Be Requested by Contracting Officer To Pass it, you must be able to show how you compute your Indirect Rates If you cannot compute your indirect rates from your Income Statement, then you don’t have accurate information to price your jobs How do you know whether you’re making a profit when you bid?   DOES YOUR PROFIT AND LOSS LOOK LIKE THIS? REVENUE:   Usually Monthly Billings DIRECT COSTS (AKA Billable Costs)   Direct Labor of Employees Working on Contracts   Direct Travel for trips taken for contract purposes INDIRECT COSTS (Support Costs, Shared Costs, “Overhead”)   Fringe  (Payroll Taxes, Leave, Benefits)   Overhead (Support cost for technical workforce)   General and Administrative (Corporate) UNALLOWABLE   Interest, Entertainment, Advertising, Sponsorships, etc If it doesn’t, then I cannot compute your indirect rates, and you will NOT PASS a DCAA Audit.   WWW.DCAA.MIL    Information for Contractors 1.Follows Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). 2.Proper Segregation of direct costs from indirect costs. 3.Identification and accumulation of costs by contract. 4.Indirect Rate calculations and allocations. 5.Uses General Ledger Accounts and controls. 6.Timesheets show employee recording hours to contracts, indirect labor and leave. 7.Labor Distribution system charges employee labor cost to contracts, indirect labor and leave. 8.Monthly Closing process. 9.Exclusion of Unallowable costs. 10.Tracking by Contract Line Item (CLIN), Task, etc. 11.Segregation of preproduction costs from production costs. 12.Tracking against Contract Funding. 13.Ability to support requests for progress payments. 14.Adequate, reliable data for pricing follow-on acquisitions. 15.System in full operation   QBO is TOO SIMPLIFIED to pass a DCAA Audit. People get it because they want ONLINE access. SO GET IT HOSTED INSTEAD!   Jenny’s Recommendation: ▶QuickBooks Desktop Premier   https://quickbooks.intuit.com/desktop/premier/ ▶QuickBooks Enterprise ▶https://enterprisesuite.intuit.com/ ▶Have it Hosted ▶Recommend that you use INTUIT payroll because others are not truly integrated. ▶Timesheets must show AUDIT Trail – Hours and COSTS by Job   ▶https://quickbooks.intuit.com/desktop/premier/   ▶https://enterprisesuite.intuit.com/ More User Security   ▶https://www.sandworkspaces.com/   If you already have QuickBooks but it’s not set up to be DCAA Compliant: - Change the Account Structure & Reclassify Transactions - Break out your Gross Payroll Hours and Pay by Employee & Job - Method and Process for setting up Item Codes and Customer: Jobs - Review and Correct items that are coded incorrectly - Written Process and Training - Training for your staff, including Excel and advanced Reporting   This may be why your Banker doesn’t take you seriously… - Items on the Balance Sheet that need to be on Income Statement, which means your PROFIT is wrong - Negatives where there should be positives - Large numbers that don’t make sense - Items called by archaic names - Old Invoices on the Accounts Receivable Aging that you’ll never collect - Profit and Loss by Job Report shows huge profit swings - Profit and Loss by Month report shows a roller coaster of revenue and profit   Complexity, Timing, Qualified Personnel   Set up a FREE Evaluation Meeting with Solvability today What would it mean to KNOW where you are making money? How would accurate information help you win more contracts and grow faster and more profitably?   How would you invest in your company and yourself if you had more cash flow? What risk are you taking by NOT having the right answers? Why should you be doing this all ALONE?     To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark talks about all the Speakers, Sessions, and extras that will be at the Florida GovCon Summit including the Veteran Connections Track.     GovCon Track: Targeting, Teaming and Tactics Lt Gen Thomas Baptiste (USAF Ret) Bill “Roto” Reuter Jeff Piersall Paul Huszar GovCon Track: Targeting – Wednesday Feb 28 5 Tips for Improving Business Development Outcomes Now Hot Topics for Small Biz GovCon - SBA Differentiating Your Federal Business Seismic Shift: Innovation Strategies Innovation Agility The True Path to Value Creation What Makes You Bankable Makes You Buyable GovCon Track: Tactics – Wednesday Feb 28 DFAR Cybersecurity CMMI Accreditation and Process Improvement News and Updates on GSA/VA Schedules Cost and Pricing Integrated Business Systems GovCon Track: Tactics – Wednesday Feb 28 DFAR Cybersecurity CMMI Accreditation and Process Improvement News and Updates on GSA/VA Schedules Cost and Pricing Integrated Business Systems GovCon Track: SPEAKER & Reception 5 to 7ish 5PM Jeff Piersall on FREEDOM through Ethical Capitalism Book Signing: DOGS DON’T BARK AT PARKED CARS GovCon Track: Targeting, Teaming and Tactics- THURSDAY Joint Ventures: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly How to Structure Effective Teaming Relationships How to get from HERE to THERE The Power of Partnering GSA/VA Compliance GovCon Track: Targeting, Teaming and Tactics- THURSDAY Operating OCONUS Prime/Sub Management VALUE BUILDER workshop with CEO Leadership FORUM 9AM to NOON Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors™ Workshops with Guy Timberlake What You Don’t Know about Codes & Contracts Can Hurt You! The Complete FPDS-NG Overview VETERAN CONNECTIONS TRACK Wednesday Step Out, Step Up Boots to Boardroom Entrepreneurial Victory for Veterans 3000 Miles for Your Why Charting Your Career Finding Your Path Creating Opportunities and Navigating Change VETERAN CONNECTIONS TRACK Thursday Getting Connected Everybody Sells Cheap Tricks Kicking in Doors Veteran Entrepreneurship Getting Started in Federal Contracting   Register Today for Florida GovCon Summit in Orlando February 28-March 1, 2018 solvability.com/govcon-summit     To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark and George Meyers talk about the Small Business Development Consortium and Connecting the Dots for small businesses.     About The Small Business Development Consortium How did SBDC Get Started? How do you “Keep the Dream Alive?” What makes SBDC Different? What are your Top 3 Tips for Small Business?   What the Future Holds How do you see Procurement Activity for Small Business Contracting Changing? What are some opportunities you see for Small Business? How does the Online World affect federal contracting?   Register Today for Florida GovCon Summit in Orlando February 28-March 1, 2018 solvability.com/govcon-summit       George Meyers, President Small Business Development Consortium https://www.smallbusinessdc.org/         To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus

In this episode Jenny Clark and Carroll Bernard talk about How to Clear 3 Major Hurdles to Government Market Success. Also what will be covered at the Florida GovCon Summit.     Major 3 Hurdles ▶ Strong Leader with the right Mindset ▶ Strong Business Foundation with Solid Value Proposition ▶ Enhanced Specialized Knowledge   What is your WHY? What fuels your passion to serve the government marketplace?   The Federal Government Marketplace ▶ How do you Define it? ▶ Why should Small Business be Involved?   Carroll Bernard February 28-March 1 ORLANDO at the Florida GovCon Summit ▶ Tell us about your Session at Florida GovCon     ▶ Session I – LIVE at Florida GovCon     ▶ Post-Conference Online Session II     Register Today for Florida GovCon Summit in Orlando February 28-March 1, 2018 solvability.com/govcon-summit       Carroll Bernard, Co-Founder & CEO Govology         To contact Jenny W Clark CEO, Solvability, Inc www.solvability.com Phone 256-882-6276 E-mail jwclark@solvability.com Linkedin Solvabilityjwc Twitter Solvabilityjwc PROGRAMS Workshops Podcasts Webinars Self Study Hand to Hold RPM Prime Focus