Throughout this episode, Kizzy Parks unpacks the world of government contracting. She provides a roadmap and outlines the strategies she used to transition from a corporate job to securing over $75 Million Dollars in government contracts.
To Watch This Interview on YouTube, click the link below:
https://youtu.be/j7w6UucgVxQ
Connect with Kizzy Parks on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/@KizzyParks
Thanks for listening.
Click here to join the free LIVE LinkedIn Video Challenge.
Connect on social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaneemoret/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@shaneemoretgrowthacademy
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Throughout this episode, Kizzy Parks unpacks the world of government contracting. She provides a roadmap and outlines the strategies she used to transition from a corporate job to securing over $75 Million Dollars in government contracts.
To Watch This Interview on YouTube, click the link below:
https://youtu.be/j7w6UucgVxQ
Connect with Kizzy Parks on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/@KizzyParks
Thanks for listening.
Click here to join the free LIVE LinkedIn Video Challenge.
Connect on social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaneemoret/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@shaneemoretgrowthacademy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theshaneemoret
I'm excited to have Dr Kizzy Parks. Kizzy has been an entrepreneur since a very young age, reselling golf balls for cash. She later earned a PhD and established her company, kpc. Kizzy is a self-made multi-millionaire. She's been awarded more than $75 million in government contracts. She also has a new company, govcon Winners, and she mentors entrepreneurs through GovCon Winners to secure government contracts. She's helped people secure $3 million in government contracts in just six months, which is pretty cool when you grow in business, especially as a woman, as someone that really has big aspirations, there's not many mentors to look up to. I consider her a mentor and like a big sister. So give it up for Kizzy, put it hard in the audience for Kizzy. I see all of you. I appreciate all of you. So, kizzy, thank you for being here today. You know I love you. What's up?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, that was such an endearing and kind introduction. I thank you enough. I love you too, and I also want to point out you know mentorship works both ways, so you also mentor me, and that's what's great in this space.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about you selling golf balls as a child. Because you and I are different in that way, I kind of became an entrepreneur later by accident. Share a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:I lived in Good Old Danville, Illinois, which was it is. It's a tiny town and my dad was an industrial engineer. So we lived in this rural community and I always wanted funnions and nutty bars and there was, like this corner store and while I had an allowance, it's like how am I going to get these funnions and nutty bars when I don't really have an income? So my parents were always very encouraging around my odd endeavors and so my friend lived on this alley and it was littered with golf balls and my grandmother golfed. So I knew that some golf balls were worth way more than the others. So I would just collect them, I would clean them, I would save the really nice ones for my grandmother, because when they found out I was doing this, she was all about oh, I want this one.
Speaker 1:And save this one, I mean. It's creative, though, and it's cool that your grandma supported you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely creative.
Speaker 1:So how did you go from someone that has a PhD that was in more of the corporate space to an entrepreneur that built a company that secures government contracts? How did that happen? Because most people that have a PhD that are in corporate, they kind of stay there forever.
Speaker 2:There was this moment of wow. I came this far and I was in the middle of this interview with a company and they flew me out, which was like a big deal. I'd never experienced that before and I thought, oh my goodness, this is my adult job. I'm getting flown out, I'm getting interviewed, I'm going to see my office. Like I was super excited and I toured the place and thought I've come far and I'm going to have to share a desk with someone. And I could tell during the interview the people were not very happy.
Speaker 1:Oh, like the people that worked there were just not very happy to work there.
Speaker 2:They weren't very happy, like it was really clear that this was the type of company where you came in, maybe you did a couple of years and then you left unless you really wanted to stay. And the individuals who I met with, they gave the vibe of they were going in, getting some experience and moving on to something else. And I remember sharing this with my friend and she's like wow, you know, you've put in all this work, you've spent all this money and you're going to get a job or you're sharing a desk. Now, not that there's anything wrong with sharing a desk. It was just indicative of their culture, of how they treated people, where they thought it was OK just to put a ton of people in these shared spaces when this is a very successful organization. Pretty much most of us know who they are. I'm not going to say their name and I just say this is not a fit. So I started praying not to get the job.
Speaker 1:Wow, when your dream job turns into your nightmare.
Speaker 2:I remember the recruiter called and I was just like, please, I don't want this job, I don't want this job. And I didn't pick up the phone and thankfully I didn't get the job. I had some backups. There was a university where I was a 1099. And they had expressed interest in hiring me. There was a company out of Denver who also provided a job offer and it just not. Neither of them felt right. But I didn't think I was going to be an entrepreneur right out of grad school either. I just knew I had to pay my bills. I wanted this thing, this job, right Because we put there's nothing wrong with the job, but we put it on this pedestal. You get a degree, you get a job. Ok, I wanted to go up the life ladder, get married, have kids, have this job.
Speaker 1:And then how did you go from that to the business? How long did it take for you to start the business?
Speaker 2:It was immediate, it was right before I became Dr Parks, so thankfully I had some experience as a 1099, a gig worker, and during a kind of an internship I was asked if I wanted to stay on as a government contractor. Really had no idea what that even entailed, I just knew that at that organization they were military members, people with the Coast Guard, government employees and this thing called government contractors. I had no idea what it meant, and so all I knew was this was an opportunity to give me what I was looking for, and that was to create my own journey.
Speaker 1:I love that. So, basically, you did such a good job as a gig worker that your expertise or your work ethic something about you was exceptional and they asked you to stay on. Yes, okay, how long did it take for you to get your first client in KPC, and where did that come from? Did that come from networking or what.
Speaker 2:And I want to clarify something as I jump into this, because some people have said well, this is easy. You, immediately in an internship, you got a government subcontract. Well, I want to share something, because it's about what you make of an open door. That's what it's about. I was not the only person that they offered this to. I am the only one who grew a business to have over a hundred team members. So, right out the gate, before I even had a corporation, I received a contract that was a little less than six figures being in mind. I was involved in little gig opportunities. I was a 1099 for a very well-known private college. I just always operated under a sole proprietorship. I had no idea that I should have had an LLC or an S corp during that time. I had no idea. So I formed KPC. It was in May of 08. Is when I formed KPC, and so at that time I realized if I'm going to really make this work, I had to think bigger. I had to focus on my mindset, because, if not, I noticed that there were many people who were labeled as subcontractors and their goal was to be hired by the employer or just make enough money to get by and again, that's great for them. That wasn't my goal then. I just knew I wanted something bigger. I didn't know what that entailed. I didn't have a business planned or some relationship with a bank. I didn't have a corporation then.
Speaker 1:So, as I, when I've made that decision to step out and say, hey, I'm going to make this work, that's when I started getting speaking gigs and then the speaking gigs added to your credibility I'm assuming right and then got people's attention and, knowing you, you were able to build the relationships once you got the attention.
Speaker 2:Right, because often I found it so interesting it was the one space as an entrepreneur had nothing to do with federal government. This was a comment that would come up again and again and again. Oh wow, you're so young. There were always a lot of age comments, sometimes in tons of age, interesting age remarks, and at that time I didn't understand it. I just was like oh, I'm Dr Parks, I'm involved in diversity and inclusion. I'm just, I was so naive, I didn't really understand what was going on. So what happened was getting these speaking engagements came from putting myself out there volunteering. Oh, you're looking for something to speak at this conference on diversity, I'll do it. I had no problem paying for my own travel. Oh, wow, this army reserves. They want me to speak at their annual conference. Okay, great, I don't know what that really entails. I've never done anything like that, but I will figure it out. I knew I was able to do it. Going back to mindset, it was just figuring it out because these opportunities, even to this day, are still paying off. These weren't just one and done. Hey, I received some money, I can check the box. These turned into long-term relationships and, in some instances, turned into million dollar contracts.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about what the benefits are of securing government contracts for business owners. What are the benefits and then what are the signs that maybe you should take advantage of this space?
Speaker 2:If you are concerned about having regular revenue. So if you have irregular revenue, you're like man February was amazing, july not so much. The federal government helps with that because often the contracts are anywhere from two years. There are some contract vehicles that last 10 years in duration, so it really helps you. So you have ongoing revenue. You have a continuity offer. So in some continuity may mean a subscription, something of that nature. In the federal government, the continuity is by having multi-year contracts. So then you know oh, every year, I mean every month, I will receive, let's say, $50,000 to invoice. You have several opportunities like that. Then you have this dependable, consistent revenue. The second thing about the federal government is they buy everything. They buy everything from leadership training, different training, they buy printed materials, they purchase products and services like medical products, drum sets, they buy graphic design. They spend well over $500 billion in products and services. So then that often leads to why me? Why would they buy from me? Why wouldn't they just buy from somebody else? Because they have a mandate to set aside 25% of their sales with small businesses and, more than likely, everyone listening to this. You're part of what's considered a small business, and a small business doesn't mean it's you or you every now and again. A small business in some areas means a company doing $30, $40 million a year. So that's the other beautiful part about government contracting is they want you to grow, they want to use small business owners, and so if you're interested in offering something to the government, the first step this is free you go to Sam, like Uncle Sam Samgov, and you go and you register. It doesn't matter where you live in the world. If you live outside of the United States, you need an N, as in Nancy N cage. Otherwise you go into Samgov and you register. They love purchasing from us because when you purchase from a small business, they get us. They're not getting 10 levels down, they're not just another client. They know that whenever a small business receives a contract with a government agency, we look at it like this is a golden egg. This is very rare, very valuable. We have to just really make sure we go above and beyond for them. So they love that with us.
Speaker 1:I love that and you teach people how to do this right, because I don't want people to just go and start bidding by themselves or something, because there's probably you know, I think with government contracting, it would be good to have a long term mindset and to do the foundational stuff correctly. It may take six months or a year, but after that you could secure contracts that are 10 years or five years and multiple ones. Correct, correct.
Speaker 2:Because what's key is you have to have a strategy Right. It's like GPS If you're going to drive across the country, you need a map, you need something to inform you. Here's where you go, here's where you avoid, and the beauty of GPS is real time. The same thing happens with my strategies and with what I teach at Govcom winners, because I'm actually in it. I have several federal, government and state-level contracting companies. I'm actively bidding. I have employees, I have contractors. I'm with the same things that you are dealing with. I'm able to show you and help you understand. Here are the things that you need to do. The biggest one involves the mindset. It's number one because the belief must be. The government wants to buy what I offer.
Speaker 1:What we offer could be. Is it only products or is it also services? Then could you tailor what you offer to what the demand is. Talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yes, when I first started out, I fell into this diversity and inclusion arena. At now Patrick Space Force In Central Florida, I just became the diversity expert. I spoke at all the places. I even have a book. I became that person. What I ended up doing? I've partnered with a company that has private sector clients. Then I had, like TIA, kreff, wendy's, different hospitals as clients, all under my S-Corp. In addition to providing diversity and inclusion strategy training, anything and everything. I helped on a diversity and inclusion conference in Reno, nevada, for I think there were maybe 500 people there. Then a couple years went by and I started to take notice of the landscape and I said the following what do I have to offer next? I've offered all of these products and services. If I'm going to continue in this diversity space, there's going to come a time I'm going to hit a ceiling. There's going to be a new person or a new thing. Is this really where I want to go? I had mentors sharing that the way to really grow on the services side of federal government contracting was on staffing, on having you being paid for people to do the thing. The thing could be graphic designs, it could be admin, it could be creating ID cards. It could be checking people into a building. I really resisted that. I really had a negative belief around that. My belief lead was pretty strong. So as I get-.
Speaker 1:What was the belief? You just wanted to stick with what you knew, or yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I did. I want to stick with what I knew. I looked down upon staffing like, oh, staffing. I was so arrogant it's embarrassing to think back to this. It really is because I was like what is wrong with you? I was so arrogant about it. I just thought like, oh, I'm Dr Park, how am I going to do staffing? It's crazy because I love staffing now. But I just thought like, no, that's not what I want. One of the main reasons for it is because I've always been conditioned to be this expert, to be this expert like, okay, you're getting a PhD, oh, you're in diversity, inclusion. Oh, you know statistics, oh, you know research. So my mentality was like, oh, staffing isn't really expertise, that's so different. And I didn't understand business. I didn't really. I didn't understand at that time Because, remember, I just went directly from grad school to boom, I have an S-corp and there was phone a friend. I didn't have anyone to ask these questions with. Who were my to, who are my peers, right? So finally, as I took notice of the landscape, I said, okay, I have to make a change because, yeah, I love training and development, but does it have to be diversity? No, it can be anything. And once I made that decision, the energy went with me and we ended up getting our very first $4 million sole source contract, because the federal government has a program where you can get sole source contracts up to $4 million and that contract and we still have it to this day, 10 years later. It is for training and development. It's just for food inspectors and different people and the topic is different, but the concept is the same and I'm not involved in doing the work.
Speaker 1:Well, I was just going to touch on that Was part of that belief. Like that you had to do it, you had to be the one doing the training. Like you had to be the one on the stage, you had to be the one going in there and training the teams, because staffing is. You're not the one doing it anymore.
Speaker 2:It was. I was so afraid and I thought, oh, how am I going to make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do? I'm not there. I had that again. Another limiting belief. Another belief led. I thought how can they really do it as well as I can do it? And who am I going to be able to find to do this? And while I had other team members helping me the only employee at the time, so other people who would help, it was just 1099 as needed. And with this it was like, oh my goodness, I'm relying on these people to really help grow this company.
Speaker 1:So you had to become a leader and learn how to basically match the best set of skills and I bet personality weighs in, because if you have three people with the same skills for that fulfillment of that training, there's probably one that will get along better with the management of that company or whatever. So you really became kind of like matchmaking the skills set experts with the companies that needed them.
Speaker 2:Definitely.
Speaker 1:And what was the learning curve? How long did it take you to become a great leader?
Speaker 2:Oh man, it's a. It's a work in progress. I mean, I'm way better than I was 15 years ago, but the thing is working on your mindset, working on your leadership skills. It's not a check the box. You're continuously nurturing them because the needs there are the basic needs. You look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but there are also needs that may change. There's some needs that are more important to some people, that are less important to others, and so I'm constantly learning and growing as a leader and making sure that my team is doing the same and hiring accordingly, definitely based on our current goals. Because, for instance, our current goal is to take KPC to be a hundred million dollar a year company that takes a way different skill set and a different mindset than when I started the company 15 years ago and didn't even know what it meant to send in an invoice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I have to say you know, kizzie and I, what we've known each other for three years now. Three years, kizzie, something like that. Yeah, and I think that you're one of the only people since three years ago from LinkedIn that has continued to grow in their business and in their brand. That I know, because most people have kind of either stagnated or fallen off completely.
Speaker 2:So it's easy to stop, it's easy to rest on your laurels, it's easy to look at your bank account or your investment or your 401k or your real estate portfolio or you know, your ability to go on 2.5 vacations and say, okay, this is great. And I did that for a really long time. And one of the reasons I shifted and I'm not just saying this because I'm here, I've said this publicly on my platforms is Shanae is she would just the way, she would coach me and she would say you know, you need to get out there and post videos, you need to get a newsletter, you need to do and it's like she's right because I'm there's so much more I want in life and in order to accomplish that, have to put in the action. I know I didn't come this far for this life. It's this life Amazing. Of course, every single one of our lives is amazing. We're all here today. This is all a blessing, but it's about taking things to the next level, because I truly I just want to help people. I want people to know. I want every one of you to know government contracting is for you. The bureaucracy you hear about is really not that bad the myths that are out there. It's just to keep you away. If that was the case, then how was I, how was I able to build a business when I just went out from grad school? I didn't serve in the military. I didn't work for the government. I don't have any, really no, there is no husband that works for the government. I love it. Now this is so powerful and we'll take questions and about give us about another story.
Speaker 1:We'll take questions and about. Give us about another five to 10 minutes. If you're loving the room, put a heart in the audience. I want to know who you are. We love all the 200 of you that are in here. Click the share button at the bottom of the events so that you could share it with your network, because LinkedIn does not store the recordings and it will give someone in your network the opportunity to also listen in and maybe come and raise their hand. So, uh, kizzy, I want to ask you two questions and if you're interested in all this government contracting stuff, you know, do message Kizzy, but also don't be afraid to, when we do raise our hands, to just ask about mindset. She has a very successful business. She's continuing to grow both in her brand and in her business and that kind of. You know that goes beyond government contracting too. So there are a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners, out there. They want to do the video thing, they want to do the social media thing, they want to go live. But they say, kizzy, you know I don't have time for that, I'm running my business. What would you say to them?
Speaker 2:I mean I'm going to say you got a minute of time, but hear me out, because we say that a lot like oh, I want to go to the gym, you don't make the time. I want to spend more time with family. I want to make the time. I'm ready to talk, I got it, but hear me out. What is your goal? What kind of life do you want? So, for instance, there's a gentleman we're in a coaching program together and he talked about that. He missed an event with his child. I could tell that it really tore him up and his goal was to spend more time with his family and to go camping and do all these things. And in that program the coach was like okay, well, in order for you to do this, you are going to have to take yourself out of being in the business. You're going to have to bring somebody else on, and so he has an. Over the weekend I received a picture of him and his family all happy on this hike that they are on. I mean it was and I think they're gone for almost three weeks, which is amazing because he had never done anything like that before Now. While some of you may not be in the financial position where you can hire somebody. What can you do? That's the question. What are you able to do? Is it that, once a week, you're able to devote maybe two hours to creating content? Is it that, instead of creating content and worrying about someone editing, maybe you go live three times a week? I mean just here on LinkedIn? It's fairly easy to go live. Maybe you decide well, I want to do both, okay. Well, there are people out there who will even edit your videos for you at a very nominal cost on a variety of platforms, because, at the end of the day, being social, let me share with you what this brings for you. It is going to exceed your wildest dreams. The gentleman I just spoke about he is involved in selling office furniture, office chairs, refurbished chairs, office furniture. He has built a eight-figure business selling office chairs and office furniture, largely because of his YouTube channel. And so Wait, repeat that, repeat that. I know he started out on YouTube. He was just like oh, I just wanted to get some attention from and it's just, I mean regular office chairs and refurbished office chairs. And he said next thing you know he's like I'm doing millions and millions and millions in business because they would feature a chair. People want to buy it or he then became an expert. He had this unlimited mindset and so and he also approaches it different just like each and every one of us we all have our own personalities. There's enough space for every one of us. But what he did is he made it a priority, so he put the content on there. Now he's to the point where other people are often in the videos, but nonetheless, it's about his intent of hey, I just want to generate some business has turned into this eight-figure business and he continues to grow his channel and the same thing happens. I know what's happened for me. I posted and that's how I connected with Shanae. I posted regularly on LinkedIn and that helped me twofold. One, I got the attention of some government employees, because this is the number one space for government employees. Many of them are here, many of the agencies have pages and you can do a lot.
Speaker 1:They're lurking in the background looking.
Speaker 2:Right, and you can also lurk with them too, because you can see who are they connected with, how you can get in contact, what events. There are even people on LinkedIn who post government bids. I mean, it's amazing the resource, so it led to visibility there. And then, second, I received my very first paid GovCon winners client. He was a five-figure client. I had no website, I had nothing. He saw some videos, we had a call and I closed the deal. I was still, to this day, blown away by that. That's just from LinkedIn. So the question is, if you want to be able to achieve your goals, video is the way Hands down. Whether you sell office chairs, you're selling something around coaching, consulting, whether you're selling phone cases, this is the place for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. I love it. So you're taking questions. Kizzi, you want to start taking questions? Yes, okay, so if you have a question for Kizzi, click the hand icon at the bottom right of your screen and raise your hand. It could be related to government contracting. It could be related to content creation as a founder. Just raise your hand and we'll bring you up. So, jase, what's up?
Speaker 3:Hey, good morning today and hey, kizzi, thank you so much for sharing all this knowledge with us. Really appreciate it. My question to you is this I run a recruitment agency and we've obviously been trying to get into government contracts. The problem that we've been facing is we don't know how to. How long does it normally take for someone to secure a government contract?
Speaker 2:The answer to that is up to you.
Speaker 1:Let me answer that, Jase.
Speaker 2:It's going to take longer without Kizzi, I mean truly it will Just like, with how it's going to take you longer than if you don't have Shanae, because when you have someone who's been there, done that and has a proven record, I know all of the potholes, landmines to avoid. And especially for recruiting, the federal government's always recruiting State level. I just went through a free platform last night and I saw opportunities just in different counties in Florida by just digging deeper and having that strategy. So it's something where you follow the strategy definitely in less than 14 months, because the small business administration's 14 months Definitely way less than that. If you follow the strategy. I've had people who just by watching my free content they've won a contract. Often those contracts are service I mean our product base or small service. So again, it's about you. What type of recruiting are you currently in?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do sales recruiting.
Speaker 2:Are you open to pivoting because the federal government's need for sales professionals may be a little limited?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have a fully automated client acquisition system that's now predictable for the sales side. We're kind of adding three more recruiters to the mix that we've onboarded and we're kind of pivoting for like travel nursing, as an example, as one of them. So I don't mind pivoting.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're open to pivoting, by all means, because they, for instance, we have religious positions. I have Catholic and Protestant religious positions in Hawaii, quantico and Georgia and it's just recruiting, and so not that you necessarily have to staff religious positions, but it's just to give you an idea. The federal government is staffing everything. If you've ever been to a military post or base or you had a, okay, so think about that. Every single person you've encountered they need staffed. Chances are they're not a government employee.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's good perspective. I grew up with Marines and my family so I'm very familiar with some of these bases. But yeah, absolutely Definitely interesting connecting after this chat.
Speaker 2:You can DM me. I have a wait list on govconwinnerscom, but just DM me would be way faster.
Speaker 1:All right On Trey.
Speaker 4:Dr Kizzy Parks, one of my favorite human beings, highly brilliant, highly educated, highly melanated. I love everything that you do. So that's that, and love watching you on YouTube. Thank you so much for being honest. And when you had, there's a question I want to ask you actually like really quick. So when you said you had no one to ask questions when you graduated in between being Dr Parks and an entrepreneur, if you could go back five or 10 years even, what business or mindset advice would you give your younger self? And then the second one is how do you strike a balance, when you do risk taking, between, like, taking really both steps and then managing potential downsides, because it's a lot of money that's involved in government contracting?
Speaker 2:There is. I'm right now in the middle of bidding on this. I don't even know what the ceiling is. It's $10 billion, something ridiculous that I'm bidding on. So, okay, there's this big part of me where I wouldn't give myself any advice because everything that I've been through has led me to this. So I just you know. But to answer your question, first and foremost, I would tell myself it's going to get better. It's going to get better, and I would have emphasized with myself at that point in time you got to learn business basics, you have to work on trust and you have to work on confidence. Those were the biggest things for me. All of the trials and tribulations that I've encountered have come from having holes in those areas.
Speaker 1:What was your second question on Traya Risk?
Speaker 4:taking. How do you balance?
Speaker 2:I love risk taking. I love it. I love it so much it scares my team. I do.
Speaker 4:It's like Shanae and Sean Caryl On Traya knew it.
Speaker 2:I love it because if risk, so here's the deal If you're not taking the risk, then you're not going to be able to reap the big reward. However, comma, I always have some type of net. Now, I may be 50,000 feet in the sky and the net is like three inches above the ground, but I'm going to have some type of net because my mindset, my manifestation, my thoughts, that all of that is so strong. I'm not afraid of failing because I look at it as a learning tax. Well, as I do certain things to help minimize failure per se, I look at the risk to see if. Number one is it worth the payoff? That's first and foremost when am I going to get by doing this risk? Number two is this something? Is this a long-term risk? What is going on with this risk? Is it a one-day risk? Is it a three-day risk? What type of energy is going to be involved in this risk? Number three I think about okay, is there like some kind of known quantity case study of this, doing this, taking this risk, this chance is going to lead to the result that I'm looking for to get us closer to our goals? Those are the kinds of things that quickly go through my mind and also what helps, because sometimes I just want to do everything. I do have a chief of staff who I bounce ideas off of, and I really appreciate that, and I have an amazing legal team, who also helps too. But those two things aside, is you just have to be prepared. Especially starting out. Early on took so many risks or I did things that I didn't even realize were risk. Today I still take risks, but they're definitely way more calculated.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Thanks, andrea Shankar.
Speaker 5:Good morning, Dr Parks. Thank you so much for sharing all that knowledge with us. My question is as you grow a team, at what point do you realize it's time to add a person, and what is the first thing you delegate to that person in that instance?
Speaker 2:I focus in on what type of skill set do I need in order to allow myself to shine Shine being selling for me, For GovCon winners and for KPC. It's about who are those people that are needed so I can shine and go out there and close deals.
Speaker 5:So for GovCon winners.
Speaker 2:I knew I needed someone to operate the day to day In order to go in front of camera. Beyond all of these things, figure stuff out, dream all of that. I needed that With KPC, for instance. Right now I've made the decision we're going to really go heavy into staffing. So I'm in the middle of bringing on a second proposal writer who just focuses on staffing and so it's about, in order to have that person come on, be it an admin, be it operations, be it personal assistant, be it the person doing the thing, as long as it elevates you to bring in more sales, that's great. But you also have to be mindful and be prepared that you're going to have to train them and make sure that they're aware of what you want them to do the objectives. How is this position and how are they helping you get closer to your goals? So one thing that we've started doing is I ask candidates what are your five-year goals? Because if a person doesn't have goals or they say I don't believe in goals, that's great, I do. So you're not going to be able to help me and the company and our team move forward with goals if you don't believe in goals. So that's key and also holding them accountable, because we'll get into this space of. We know we need to grow. We feel it, especially as entrepreneurs. You just have that feeling like, oh my gosh, I need help. But then the steps needed to make sure the people we bring on for success are often rushed. And when they're rushed we think, oh, nobody can do it as good as I can. And the thing is, yes, they can. It's just to really understand what do you need that person to do? What are the expectations, what are their goals, things of that nature. So I would suggest bringing somebody on as soon as you financially can afford them, as long as it's helping you lead to more sales. I had inconsistent sales with GovCon winners because my energy was all over the place as soon as I brought in my team member. All of that has changed. Now we're exceeding all of our goals because the energy is going where it needs to go and it allows me to focus in on what's important for me.
Speaker 1:Thank you, shankar Frankie.
Speaker 5:First of all, congratulations Dr Keezy Parks and Shanay for having a great LinkedIn live event. I have somebody that wants to ask a question for us.
Speaker 6:Hi, good morning everyone. Thank you, dr Spark and Shanay. My name is Lorna. I invented a product and it's being used now in hospitals, but we did. For the number of years that we have been manufacturing the product, we have not had one government contract. How do we do that?
Speaker 2:The key to something like that and thank you and good morning to you and I appreciate the question and that is there has to be a need. So if, by being demonstrate the need, so for instance, the federal government, they will hold events where vendors like yourself, you can show and do demos, whether it's some type of medical device, if it's a technology, what may have you? There's tons of events like that. The second thing there are these small business innovative research cibbers that are out there where the government is funding you to kind of take this thing, do some research, get it ready, so then you could see different phases of funding, and it's something that a particular government agency will want to use. Third technique is you getting in front of a government agency and these I call this dialing for dollars, but it's also known as a capability brief where you get in front of an agency or agencies who purchase something similar. I mean, I understand you have a patent and things of that nature, so you can show them. Hey, here's what we have, here's how it's better, here's how it's going to improve things for you. That's what it's about. It's you going to them. That's what's really key. I love it.
Speaker 1:And Frankie connect with Kizzy on the back end. Kizzy, tell everyone where they could find out more. What's your website? How can they find out about GovCon winners if they want to start securing some government contracts?
Speaker 2:Well, there's a couple of things I would suggest for this is free because you all stayed until the end go to profitablecontractsco. Profitablecontractsco. I also have a pre-launch for my book that's coming out at the end of summer. It's a very small investment. You get a ton of free items at winnerswaybookcom. Winnerswaybookcom. Make sure you follow me on LinkedIn. You can DM me. If you just want to get on our overall wait list, you can go to govconwinnerswaycom wwwgovconwinnerswaycom and connect and then, with those of you who DM me, you'll be invited to the Facebook group and to check out my YouTube content. I have an awesome active channel. I go live at least twice a week. I'm going to get to the point where I go live daily, maybe twice a day, and I take questions. So this is a perfect opportunity to ask and to connect. It's a great place to go, so check us out. Please do so.
Speaker 1:Anything else Kizzy, before we end.
Speaker 2:Government contracting is for you. The government wants to buy what you offer. As long as you're willing to sell them to them the way that they want it, there's no reason. There's no reason whatsoever. I mean SpaceX, amazon, linkedin they all sell to the government. Tons of small businesses do Businesses of all sizes, businesses all over the world. I met a couple. They're out of Poland and they're like yeah, I have a cage code, we're government contractors. I was like, wow, and I just met them at a random event and nothing to do with government contracting. It's a great on tap place because the government always pays their bills. You're not going to have to worry about your bill being in collection. I love it.
Speaker 1:For those of you who enjoyed the room, leave your feedback in the comments. Follow Kizzy. You could do that by clicking on her face and clicking follow and again to learn more about government contracted. Message the word winners to Kizzy, so you just DM her the word winners on LinkedIn. God bless you everyone. Have a phenomenal day and we'll see you again later. Ciao.