Marine turned CEO, Alex Hernandez, shares his experience in the federal marketplace that turned his company to a $50 million construction firm.
BACKGROUND
Alex Hernandez began his career as a Captain specializing in logistics operations in the U.S. Marine Corps.
After over four years, he worked for a private firm before building his own company, Hernandez Consulting & Construction. As the CEO and Chairman of the Board, he handled his project management and general contracting firm specializing in design, construction, design-build and real estate development.
He also sat on the Board of Directors for the Veterans Services of America, Inc. and the Tulane Alumni Association as well as act as a Managing Partner of Albert Architecture and the New Orleans Redevelopment Fund.
Over the years, Hernandez Consulting & Construction has been named six times in the Inc. 500/5000 list. Alex Hernandez was named as Louisiana’s Small Business Person of the Year in the year 2017.
EXPERIENCE IN THE FEDERAL MARKETPLACE
Hernandez Consulting & Construction started as a company specializing with cleanup work. They also worked with a lot of rebuilding and even diving into the security system business.
Then, they transitioned to the construction business because the margins weren’t there for them and it is not what they wanted to do. Besides, he wanted to niche down their expertise.
“Figure out what your niche is and then actually figure out what niche is needed out there.”
Other than that, he also decided to work with people who have the necessary background to handle different positions. One of these is his business partner who had a background in banking and is now helping him to raise capital for the firm.
“I’d probably tell people out there if that’s something they’re looking at, it’s just a matter of finding the right partners. If you don’t know how you go raise money, well there’s people out there that know how to do that and you can team with them and work with them on doing some of that.”
ADVICE FOR OTHER BUSINESSES
Hernandez believed that business-minded individuals just really need to go out in the marketplace and achieve their goals.
However, in order to do this, there will be times that you need to maintain a level of effort because you will be doing various tasks until midnight and even do it on the weekends.
Besides, you are the owner of your company. Although you have employees who work in various types of positions, you should work harder than them because you kind of lead them from the front.
“It sort of drives in business. I mean, look, they’re not going to work, they’re not all owners in the business. So, at some level, you know, they’re not going to work as hard as you, but at least it does help drive them… They’re succeeding and they’re growing because you’re helping through that.”
RESOURCES
If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Alex Hernandez as he shared his experience in the federal marketplace that turned his company to a $50 million construction firm, then be sure to click the links below:
017: Alex Hernandez – Marine turned CEO builds a $50 Million Dollar National Construction Firm
https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/017-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjqmlAWSpaw&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=7