“I follow 3 rules: do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people that you care.”
~Lou Holtz
We recently attended an event with Women Impacting Public Policy. The connections made through interacting with that organization have grown and enhanced our presence in the marketplace exponentially in the last two years. It calls to mind how important it is to show up, be present and engaged, and interact with other attendees to grow your network and share your experiences with other business leaders.
Strategic Networking
Being in the room is so important to being able to up your game every day. It’s also essential to find organizations and spheres of influence that encourage and support what you do and help you market yourself appropriately to the target audience you seek. Where you spend your time is important, and the people you spend it with are, too. It can mean the difference between winning an award and throwing spaghetti at the wall for an opportunity that doesn’t suit you.
So where are the best places to spend your time?
Break it down into simple terms:
- Who will be able to help you?
- Why should they want to help you?
- Will forming relationships with them and learning from them create a ground swell of positive reaction for your business?
Spending time networking, away from your day-to-day practices of doing business, should still generate a return on time investment that will help you achieve the goals defined in your business plan.
GovCon Organizations
Parabilis is currently engaging with several organizations. We’ve found these relationships to be vital to our goals. Some of our current engagement includes:
- The American Small Business Coalition (The ASBC)
- Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International (AFCEA)
- ChallengeHER
- Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF)
- Florida Association of Veteran-Owned Businesses (FAVOB)
- Government Procurement Conference (GPC)
- HUBZone Contractors National Council
- National 8(a) Association
- National Center for the Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP)
- National Cyber Summit
- National Veteran Small Business Coalition (NVSBC)
- Native Hawaiian Organization Association (NHOA)
- Space and Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium
- Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP)
GovCon Publications
Akin to linking up with villages that support your purpose, it’s also important to ABL (Always Be Learning) about this industry, your “competimates,” your buyers, your customers, and pertinent details pertaining to the federal budget and spending.
Great resources for on-going learning and up-to-date coverage include:
- Bloomberg Government
- Federal News Network
- FedScoop
- GovCon Wire
- LinkedIn
- Connect with government agencies, large primes, DoD information providers, industry partners, and services providers. Use this platform to follow influencers that share up-to-date resources and information for GovCons. Read blogs and articles and subscribe to newsletters from top experts in the industry.
- Nextgov/FCW
- Washington Business Journal
- Washington Technology
- And us! Connect with us, follow us on LinkedIn, check out our podcasts, and sign up for our monthly newsletters!
This is not an exclusive list. These are publicly acknowledged, top resources to assist with growing your knowledge base and understanding of the ever-changing information that comes out of the federal marketplace. It should be a daily goal to read from one of the resources we mentioned to stay on top of all that is going on in this amazing world of government contracting!
Be careful, though. Learning more will fuel your addiction to do more and do better every day. Slow and steady wins the race, so keep your head down and keep grinding. That next big contract win will be right around the corner!