By Debbie Gregory.

Although a lot of work goes into winning a government contract, it can be very lucrative, making the hoops worth jumping through. If you’re wondering where to start, here are some tips to get you started.

All businesses can benefit from networking. No matter what stage your business is in, from just getting started up through well established, building relations and strategic alliances with mentors, other business owners and contractors can only help you. Check out networking events at veteran incubators, military bases, colleges, chambers of commerce, outreach centers, etc.

Make sure you have a team in place to handle what needs to be done. Go for quality, not quantity. Make sure that regardless of how many people you have, they know what their responsibilities are and can get them done correctly and in a timely manner.

If you were buying a house, you would want to begin the funding process before you put on offer in. In the same vein, you want to have your financing lined up before you make promises on deliverability. The SBA is a great resource, so make sure you check out how they might be able to assist you.

Build your performance history. Every company started with that first job, first order, first contract. Now is the time to start establishing your track record. Keep it on track by completing what you say you’ll do, and do it to the highest level.

Toot your own horn. Leverage the internet to showcase what you can do and what you have done. Make sure you keep your website up-to-date and post on your social media platforms.

If you don’t have many employees, remember that not every job has to be done by an in-house person. There are a number of ways to outsource the work on an “as-needed” basis.

If you do your homework ahead of time, you will be better positioned to bid on that government contract when the opportunity presents itself.

By Debbie Gregory.

Just because your company does not contract directly with the government does not mean you lose out on the opportunity. Large companies who are hired as the prime contractors more often than not use smaller companies as subcontractors to provide the services they don’t already have in place.

In order to make sure you are in a position to accept a subcontractor opportunities, here are some thing you should prepare in advance:

Have knowledge of your business’s processes, resources, staff and capital. The government is notorious for requiring a lot of paperwork, so having this information at the ready will give you the opportunity to jump in to the process quickly.

The companies working on government contracts also have diversity requirements to fulfill, so if you are a veteran owned business, a woman owned business, a minority owned business, etc., make sure you have the appropriate certification.

Keep current on what contracting/subcontracting opportunities are available. In addition to online sites that specialize in these searches, sign up for VAMBOA membership and you will receive emails whenever we receive requests for proposals from our corporate sponsors.

Reach out to the person in charge of the project to see if you can pre-qualify your services. There’s no point in filling out the paperwork and going through the application process if they require something you can’t comply with.

Speaking of paperwork, it is imperative to provide all information requested, whether it makes sense to you or not. Try to keep all information concise and to the point, and submit it as early as you can. This will give you some leeway to correct any errors or answer any questions prior to the deadline.

Hopefully, you have already reached out to the project manager before submitting your application, so a quick communication to check on the status of your bid helps to further build that relationship. It will also help you receive a status update.

If you don’t win the bid, your contact can possibly help you understand why. Rather than focusing on the defeat, think of it as an opportunity to better prepare for the next opportunity.

If you won, now’s the time to get busy and ramp up. Make sure everything is in place for you to deliver on your promise of performance.

Following the successful acquisition of the Military Connection web site by Veterans Home Care, LLC , Debbie Gregory will now turn her full attention to VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association. VAMBOA.org is a 501 (c) 6 non-profit trade association with over 7,000 members nationally and more than 400,000 combined fans and followers on social media.

“After serving their country, many U.S. military veterans start and run their own businesses,” said Gregory.

Although every successful veteran and military business owner is different, there are a number of qualities they have in common. As a rule, they’re intelligent, resourceful, dedicated, hardworking, and committed to team success and completing the mission.

“Veterans tend to employ veterans,” Gregory added. “VAMBOA works to ensure the success of its membership by connecting them with private corporations and government agencies. It’s in our country’s best interest to invest in the leadership potential of our military veterans.”

Military veterans know when to lead, when to follow, and how to respond to a variety of situations and apply just the sort of leadership that circumstances demand for success.

Corporations interested in a diverse supplier network are invited to contact VAMBOA to evaluate sponsorship opportunities. VAMBOA is the “go to association” for Veteran and Military Business Owners. VAMBOA is supported through corporate sponsorship and Veteran Business Owners are not charged any membership fees. Corporations interested in evaluating sponsorship opportunities and Military and Veteran Business Owners wanting to learn about membership may contact VAMBOA at info@vamboa.org.

By Debbie Gregory.

An effective marketing strategy is the most important tool in a small business owner’s toolbox. A marketing strategy looks at all of the areas of your business activities and helps each one support the next. Understanding how to create an integrated marketing strategy will help you make better individual decisions regarding specific marketing tactics.

To start, understand that it’s crucial to have a company name, logo, colors, imagery and other graphic elements that help communicate your strategic positioning to your customers.

Those marketing aspects can be displayed on your excellent website. Keep in mind that your website is the business card of today. And the first thing any potential customer will do is Google you and look for your site. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Make it count. Make sure your company website is attractive and easy to use. Keep movement, sounds and flashing graphics to a minimum.

Start thinking about content as the voice of strategy, so all the content that you produce, your web pages, social media articles, blog posts, newsletters and press releases, this is all content. You want to think about the intention that you have for every piece of content, because content today is used to create awareness.

Social media can be a good source of traffic and exposure for your business, but don’t just keep it limited to your company’s; also take advantage of your own personal social media.  Even if you only have 50 or 100 friends on a social media platform, each of them will know hundreds or even thousands of people.

Remember that there is a real world out there, separate from the cyberworld. Don’t miss the opportunity to network with real people offline. Join business groups that help promote each other, including county chamber groups, breakfast business groups, etc.

And last, but not least, don’t be afraid to ask. Ask for reviews, feedback, comments, likes, reposts, etc.

Although there have been multiple studies on individual characteristics and operations on owner managers, there are knowledge gaps related to the challenges these entrepreneurs encounter when entering and building their ventures. To fill in that gap, the National Association of Veteran-Serving Organizations(NAVSO) has commissioned Purdue University to study what is driving entrepreneurial success so that these veterans can be better served with improved resource allocation. The Veterans and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) is proud to assist in securing participants for the study.

The insights from this survey will help deliver best practices for providing realistic solutions for the issues and challenges these veterans face.

“We are so grateful to the VAMBOA community for joining us on this important research for veteran entrepreneurs.” said NAVSO CEO, Chris Ford. “We expect the research results to help future veteran business owners gain access to capital, change how incubators and accelerators support founders, and in the end, help more veteran businesses succeed. Founders and Co-Founders who participate in this research are really paying it forward to the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

“There are some qualities that servicemembers and veterans have attained through their military service that make them excel as entrepreneurs,” said VAMBOA founder and CEO Debbie Gregory. “Traits such as leadership, discipline, the ability to solve problems and a “can-do” attitude contribute to their success. We are happy to help get the word out to our members and other potential participants of the survey to ensure the best possible result.”

NAVSO is offering incentives valued at more than $2000 to be awarded to more than sixty participants who complete the survey. At the end of the study, the research team will conduct a random drawing and determine the winners: one $500 winner, one $250 winner, two $100 winners, ten $50 winners and fifty $20 gift cards. All personal identifiable information will be masked and confidentiality will be strictly enforced.

Those wishing to participate in the survey can do so at https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6WnSXOMSn3fw5lH?utm_source=VAMBOA&utm_medium=Email%20%26%20Social.