Month: January 2020

This Week in Govcon (1/17/2020): Here’s What You Need to Know!

Posted on by Eric Coffie

No sense in wasting your Friday, let’s get to the meat and potatoes and start doing the activities! With this, you might be interested in what happened this week in our GovCon community. Here’s what you need to know!

EXPERIMENTING

This week, I was testing YouTube Live with a guest speaker using Zoom. It was a beta test for my goal of bringing live speakers on my platform.

We started at eleven in the morning and it turned into a spectacle as people started tuning in. For a good laugh, watch it here.

But you know what the result of this little experiment? It is wound up being my most watched and rated video in 24 hours over the last 47 videos I published. Go figure!

“Sometimes your accidents turn into your successes.”

READING

The book “Too Big To Fail” gives a behind the scenes look at the financial crisis on Wall Street and in Washington. It provides an accurate account of just what took place.

I was a victim when the collapse happened, but I was also a beneficiary because it brought me to the path I am currently on right now.

CYBER SECURITY AT AGENCIES

The other day, I was having a difficult time trying to send emails to a Navy base because it kept getting flagged.

What I learned from a Construction manager was that personal email is allowed if no private information is being shared.

The other alternative is to use DoD safe which is where they send you a link to an external “cloud” service that will take your email and then send it to the user. I found this to be an effective way for getting the message that didn’t make it across.

GROW BIG

Our friend Jennifer Namvar of Leidos, the Billion Dollar Capture Manager that we have featured in our fourth episode of our Govcon Giants Podcast shared a quick 2020 survey with me regarding my federal goals for this decade. 

After answering it, I ended up signing into her free 14 page toolkit, The Ultimate Govcon Growth Strategy, which was super awesome. If you’re interested, check it out here.

CELEBRATION

My friend Jay from BEB podcast, where I was featured last month, was nominated for Top 10 Black Podcasts That are a Must Listen in 2020. Congratulations Jay!

If you have not heard my interview, I shared it in episode 35 of our Govcon Giants podcast. 

GOVCON GIANTS GOES ON TOUR

We are coming to a city near you! So far, our tour in Miami on January 25th and in Dallas on February 29th have been confirmed.

If you want to help us make arrangements for a location or venue in your hometown, email Maria Martinez at service@govcongiants.com and let her know. For tour dates and locations, make sure to follow us on Instagram or on our Facebook page.

We are also looking for suggestions and ideas to make it better. So, tell us what you want us to see, do, and experiment with! Let’s go 2020!

FREE COURSE

By the way, we have taken our FREE GovCon course and moved it onto an official LMS platform, so you can watch as quickly as you like. Click here to learn more.You can also join us here at GovCon Giants or subscribe to our weekly news updates regarding everything about government contracting.

040: Jonathan Hard talks DoD Cybersecurity Certification requirements

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Today we are having a conversation with Jonathan Hard who frequently speaks on the topic of Covered Defense Information in compliance with DFARS 252.204.7012 clause. Which is the safeguarding covered defense information and cyber incident reporting.

Jonathan is the CEO and President ofH2L Solutions, Inc. (H2L).H2L specializes in Cyber & Information Assurance and provides Cyber Security solutions for government and commercial customers. Jonathan has presented at various regional conferences on the subject including Infragard, ISACA, ASIS, NCMA,NCMS to name a few

039: Mark Masters – Firefighter turned Inc 5000 Award Winner

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Mark Masters of the Cherokee Nation founded his company Chloeta in 2009. Just 10 years later he was placed on the list of fastest growing companies in the U.S., #606, Inc 5000 award winner.

Mark is a wildfire firefighter. Mark started fighting wildfires at age 18 and was part of the most tragic events in our nations history including, Superstorm Sandy and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mark didn’t have to look far to choose his calling as he is a 3rd generation wildfire fire fighter.

In today’s interview your’e going to hear about his heroism and his resiliency in starting a successful business around a career that he loved.

038 : Jon Tellier of JetCo Solutions – An Extension of the Sales and Marketing Team for Businesses

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Jon Tellier is the President at JetCo Solutions. In this position, he recruits and leads a growing team of employees who help businesses sell to all levels of government. Jon also leads all capture efforts for JetCo Solutions.

JetCo Solutions has earned a positive, strong reputation among the Michigan defense industry community, winning contracts valued at over $4 billion. Jon has developed relationships with industry, academia, and government and is viewed as a leader in military, veteran, and business affairs.

037 – Andy Wells of Wells Technology from $1,400 to $90M

Posted on by Eric Coffie

For my inaugural 2020 episode. I would like to take you back in time to before there was a Scorecontracts or Govcon Giants.

My original idea was to launch a podcast, not a YouTube channel. So I reached out to a few SBA award winners and the first person to ever email me back was Andy Wells III President of Wells Technology.

Andy Wells is a member of the Red Lake Ojibwa Tribe where he still maintains his family farm on the Red Lake Reservation.

As of the time of this interview the companies revenues were averaging upwards of $90 million annually.

In today’s episode Andy shares some of his toughest time for the business, why he chose to resign from a 20 year teaching career, overcoming struggle and ideas for new upstart companies.