March MADNESS in GovCon
As we work on our brackets here at BOOST (okay, Lisa is working on her bracket…she’s already dominated in fantasy football), I’m compelled to write on a few bouts of madness that we’ve observed this year.
- Chasing Phantom Work – If we got paid for every time someone approached us with “my prime will give us workshare if we just find the right candidate,” we’d have cashed out years ago. Folks, the whole “best athlete on the field” thing on an IDIQ vehicle does NOT pay your bills. It’s a way to increase revenue for the prime while filling impossible slots that their recruiting shop has chewed through over the past four months. If you have an elusive TS/SCI with Poly doing cool stuff – demand more workshare or try to funnel it to you as a Prime. Don’t chase workshare that doesn’t exist.
- Using your friends and family network – While everyone relies on their network when they first start, if you are still using your unqualified nephew to run your contracts, accounting or BD shops after your first couple million in revenue…STOP. Move the family relations back to Sunday dinners and focus on your business. You need to up your game and utilize folks who can help you grow.
- Doing it all yourself – If you are a CEO who still is handling all your back-office, and business development, writing proposals, are direct billed and are over a million in revenue, you are doing it wrong. It’s time to stop relying on your billable margins and build a company that grows. Outsource the back-office and focus on business development, proposals, client management and building relationships. CEOs close. Period. Spend your time on growing your company, growing your relationships and your team. Give up a little in margins now so that you can enjoy the growth sooner.
- Desk-slave – If you spend most of your time hiding behind your laptop, crossing emails off your to-do list, you are a manager, not a CEO. If you, as CEO, don’t get out from behind your laptop and engage with your clients, your employees, your business partners and your providers, you will be forgotten. Partners want to team with folks who know Intel. Clients want to know that you are engaged. Employees want to see you occasionally. Quit hiding and thinking that your business will grow. Get out there and HUSTLE. Attend events. Stay on top of the industry. Know your competitive landscape and who is winning and losing.
I know, all harsh truths are easier to say than to do. But you are in control of your growth. Merely being an observer gets you nowhere. Own your success.
As you take a hard look at these truths and discover where you can improve, let BOOST LLC help to support you in those efforts. At BOOST we specialize in providing the right people to support your back office so you can do what needs doing on the front lines. As the only Back-Office Support company with a direct link to the area’s leading matchmaking company we can not only support your Human Resources, Contracts, Recruiting and GovCon Accounting efforts but your matchmaking dreams as well. For more information or to simply see what we’re about visit www.BOOSTLLC.netor email Stephanie Alexander at [email protected]
