 What's going on brother? How are you? Your hair looks fine. Don't worry about it. Oh, thanks. I'm trying to fly today Okay, I like life. All right What's going on man? Oh, nothing much, you know, just working working every day. No, no, this is what you got to do Yeah, by the way for those of you who don't know mebs one of our new interns out here He just started probably what a month ago. Yeah about a little bit more than a month. Yeah Yeah, a month ago and he reached out to me ma'am. How old are you? I'm 22 22. Okay. He's 22 He's at Boston University. Mm-hmm. Yeah Okay, and he reached out to me said he had been watching my content videos and he had won some contracts So I said look you got to come on and tell the people because you know there's a lot of self doubt out here and we want to encourage folks and Then also, you know, we just want to I've got a quote here on the screen It says the mediocre teacher tells the good teacher explains the superior teacher demonstrates and the great teacher inspires So today we wanted some inspiration Okay, because I think a lot of times as I say and as you know mebs now answer the phones He's answering the email. So if you send an email of service at gov con giants calm He's the one that actually answers the emails is responding to you out there So he's the one that you're gonna be interacting with Maria is now Doing more high-level stuff. So she's not taking the emails and she's not taking the calls So this is what you're gonna be speaking to but I just want you to know right that you're not speaking to some regular guy He's just not some random kid at Boston University So mep tell a man the extraordinary things that you've done and what you're working on So that the people can know exactly who they're talking to like, you know, they probably like oh this guy He's not Maria, you know, I won't be on the phone. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not pretty Maria. Okay. There you go. See Give me listen, but you have your own right. You've earned your own keep so tell us now How did you kind of get into the space? Yeah, so I came in from East Africa I came to the US for like school and my dad used to do a lot of government contracting back in East Africa So I was like, you know what? One day I was like, you know, my my pockets are kind of empty I was like, you know what? I need to like see if I can make my own money and see how that goes So I was like, I let me try to do something. I know how to do right? So it's a bit different than East Africa. So I came in I was like, I try and look online I was like, there's nowhere I can find anything about government contracting like why can I find anything? So then one of my friends sent me a link for PTAC and I was like, I spoke to them on the phone I was like, this is what I do. They're like, what industry are you in? What's your annual turnover? And I was like, oh my God, I was like, you know, I was like, it's already over man, like I had an idea of how it works I'll do my research and everything online. I spent like about one month I started my company about a year ago in August and I was like, I need to like figure out how this works Right? So I went to PTAC and then they asked me like all these questions They were like, it's kind of like heartbreaking as well because they were like, oh, you have you could You have to have you have to have fast experience. You have to have it. And I was like, I was like, no I was like, my dreams are already like my dreams are crushed. I'm done. I was like, it's over. I'm throwing the towel I'm throwing the towel. But then I was like, so I went to my friends all the guys it's kind of crazy That's what I'm trying to do. Right? Who's with me? And I was like, I went to school And they were like, you're like five of my friends are chilling on the porch So I was like, I was like, so who's it with me? Who's trying to do government contracting with me? And then I was like, no, I was like, damn, I was like, all right, that hurt. But two of my friends asked me What's government contracting? So I was like, I broke it down to them. I was like, let's watch a movie war dog So I sat down and I was like, we can do this. But with other things, I was like, don't think about like ammunition Let's think of some other things. And he's like, so what do you got in mind? I was like, I really don't know Like I was like, I have no idea. So we're like, all right, let's see how we're gonna do this So one of my friends gave me funding. So I knew him through school. I talked to him like we should like talk about business He's like entrepreneur his family owns hotels. So he got like he gets like a crazy salary I'm like every like every like month is that will give him money, right? So he's like, I'm looking to invest this I was like, I got your the best investment right now. I got you So he gave me he gave me $10,000 to start off my company with and I asked my friend who's an accountant now So all these guys work with me for free. Like I don't pay them. Like they just like are in the idea, right? So like a couple of the idea. So I was like, let's build something right now. Like a baby Zuckerberg Yeah, but I feel like he was a bad guy kind of low key. But you know, I'm I was like, let's start looking at what we can do, right? So we started looking at budget to start looking at like state budgets Like who has like the biggest like budget. So we started looking in New York And I was like, okay, let's start looking at some samples about some small municipalities within New York Right. So like really look at Rockland County look at other counties. I know you don't champion like State but this is like, you know, it's like starting tiny tiny I was like, let's look so I found this tiny tiny county in New York that had a contract for four pages, right? There was like a four page contract. It was so easy to read. I was like, that's not bad I was like, and then there was like asking for clay targets clay shooting targets Like like little ones, right? So I was like, I don't know what to do about this But like let's start looking at online. So we started googling some stuff And then I found this guy who supplies clay targets in Canada So I was like, do some research about how to find historic data to figure out what my competitors were bidding before their personal one before And I found the freedom of information act that allows us to like have like, you know, free access to like the public procurement So I was like, all right, let's see how much this person like won this contract for last time It was like $8,000 and my supplier was was quoting me at around It was 8,500 already over that and I was like, I have my margin or anything. I was like, damn So I was asking my friends like, so what should we do? He's like, let's put in an offer at 10,000 10,000 flat and I was like, you know what doesn't hurt like we're not paying anything else, right? So when we filled out the the documents, he sent it out. Oh, that's my friend right there, Anthony press squarely That's it. That's the guy do with So we filled that together and we sent it out And then, you know days went by like weeks, you know, we were like, you know, this is a proof of concept We'll see if it's actually like we hit now. We'll start moving forward with it, right? So he's like I got an email. I turned over the next like a week after I sent the email, right from Westchester county And I was like just woke up. I looked at my phone. I see purchase order and I was like I was like, no way bro. I opened this thing. I zoomed in. I like looked at the five times I was like, that's just my name. That's just my company name and that's the price we want. I lost my mind I woke up my neighbors. I ran down to my mom. I was like, we won the contract. My mom has no idea what I'm talking about And like I was like, this is the best day of my life, right? So, uh, it's crazy. So we finally did it We I called the the guy. I was like, yes, can you deliver to this place? I drove from here to Westchester county for like a profit of a thousand dollars and my mom's like, why are you Driving all the way there for just a thousand dollars like people are looking at me like I was like I can't go to party on the weekend. I have to go to Westchester county to deliver my clay targets They're like, how much are you making? It's like a thousand dollars. They're like, ah, that's not that's not too much bro And I was like, it's about the relationship. You don't understand. I was I'm not in a relationship with these people So they're giving me more contracts, right? So I got there I started like unloading the clay targets myself by hand because I didn't want anything to fall anything I was there for two hours unloading And then they were like Thank you so much. And then so what happened is this is this I still have this is like what motivates me So I keep this in my desk. This is the first thing I ever sold the government. So I keep this Always think about this is a play targets, right? So this is like like, uh, I think it was like 10,000 cases of these So this gives me motivation, right? So I started calling them afterwards, right asking them How do we do can we do anything better? Like, you know, how was our service? They're like, you are the best You were the best Like clay target supplies we've ever had and we're going to give you contracts every two months For clay targets like the same month. I was like I was like, you aren't the best you've ever Right, you're like, wait, are you serious man? This is the first time I'm doing this man So he's like, but you know what man? First of all, you just said something and Anthony kind of echoed that Which is your great relationship builder People look at it like the thousand dollars like, oh, it's just a thousand dollars Right because they weren't thinking so they would have mine had a drop shipper drop ship it Or you know and it could have been broken. Maybe a lot late That's what the last person did the last person did that they broke it They broke so many their target and they still build them for it And they were like, no, we don't want to do this So that relationship that you champion so much is the key like it's huge, right? And you even sold it for a higher price than they were used to paying Yeah And they were just happy with the service that I provided to like get it to them. So I was like, you know, that's amazing So that happened and then it was crazy. So then Anthony and me were sitting down. We're like, okay, this is cool. This is actually working. Let's do something else Then I went to staples like the same thing this agency asked for for labels for like labels to stick on to things So I was just the staples and I was like, you know what let's try it out. Why not? I bought it from staples I sent in the offer and accepted it I was like, I went to staples I was like, what is happening? And this is it was crazy. So I started winning those contracts, right? And then me and Anthony were trying to figure out who we can look for for some advice for some mentoring and how to Take this to the next scale, right? So we sat there. We were like the researching online and Anthony called me. He's like, meant I found the guy I was like, what do you find like I found the guy on youtube this guy on youtube is doing he's telling People exactly what you're telling people and I was like, no way. I was like, really? Who is he's like Eric coffee? Look him up. So I started looking up your videos I went to Anthony's house. We sat there for like hours Pull put your videos on the big screen montage Eric coffee Eric coffee Our jaws on the floor We're like this guy is saying because I I was telling people that you know We could do this business, but no one was listening to no one's taking me seriously, right? And and the ptech was saying that people use government contracting as an additional source of revenue for their main business they have And I was trying to do a business solely on government Right, so I was like there's no shot that I'm going to make this And then you came along and you were like saying this and we were just like Mind blown we're like this is so sick And then we started doing it and linked up with you. I messaged you and Last been good Now let me ask you something because this part, all right, and I'm very proud of your story I love your story. It's great And by the way, one of the things that I told mails me first came in is hey, look, I'm very proud of you But that's not what I teach Relationship building part but not the local contracts, but I'm very happy because he did practice Uh, he you know, he he got an understanding of how contracts work He proved to people that you didn't need past performance He proved right that the guy who's the first and one of the things that I say all the time The government does not get the best people they get the people who actually go to them So that's why there's so much room and opportunity for all of us who want to be better contractors Who want to actually give good service to charge even a higher price because They're not getting the best people. They're just getting the people who respond Yeah, oftentimes that's people who are accustomed to in government contracts They take it for granted Like you said, they give them broken targets and they still charge them And so those people really I found myself meps personally when I started working for nana kid They were kicking a guy off the base because they kept giving them chances He wouldn't listen They were so used to being the man on campus and getting all the work and all the money that they're like Ah, you can't find anybody else and I'm the only one and we showed up came along Kick them off and it brought us on it gave us a four million dollar contract Now The funny thing is now you met me Right, like how long ago was it that you met me like we I mean not net but like we DMed and we started talking about working together Yeah, that was over the summer. I think it was in July. Okay, July Now You went to a meeting with me. Oh, yeah So let's talk about the meeting and what went down because Not many people get a chance to go to meetings with me And by the way, wait, hold on before you say that if you did not watch monday's video We talked about mentors and one thing that mebs fringes said is he's a relationship builder And we talked about giving right giving giving giving he reached out to me Right, but now I wasn't the first person reached out to you also reached out to some other people. Yeah Okay, who else did you reach out to we talked about it today? I reached out to the guy who was who actually was the war dog Like the actual the dude who actually is the guy that the movie's based on And I I messaged him. I was like and my first I think my first line was I think this is gonna this was probably a long shot but Do you think you could give me some like advice? I have a lot of these questions I'm trying to get into government contracting, but I'm not trying to do the ammunition I'm trying to do something else Please show me how you started right and he wrote me like two words saying what questions and then just I poured it on from there So one of the things that I think that that's a great illustration Is the fact that you were not afraid to reach out to people Yeah, no, right. I think a lot of us we So many of us have watched the movie war dogs. I don't know how many of us actually thought to reach out to the guy Who was the movie was based off of yeah, but you did And then also you watched my videos and then you reached out to me Yeah, because I feel like it doesn't hurt right all you see is like seen and then not replied you left on red You get ghosted and it's like all right. You move on then right? Yeah So now you reach out to me. We talked. It's okay, ma'am. We're gonna this guy is smart. I like him He's energetic. We're gonna bring him on now and then It so happens that I'm already working up in boston area in that area. I've got a meeting coming up Tell us the story That's crazy because I was like everything in life happens for a reason right because I was in florida And you weren't you're like you're from florida and then I came back to boston and you were doing you were coming up here I was like this dude is following. This is great. No, I'm joking But like it's like always like around so I was like I got takes opportunities. I reached out to you I want to get to like, you know get to know you like get to see you like and like 3d But after this, yeah, and then I had no idea that I was going to a meeting So I I thought it's like uh, hey, what's up? How are you like, you know, and then I came in and then It was like a proper meeting and I was like I you could probably tell how clumsy I was because I was like knocking into stuff I was so stiff. I was like, I don't know what to do, man But it was a really eye-opening experience And it got me excited because like to be part of a community like this like of like minded people And like it's not just people talking about it, but giving advice but actually showing practically that this is what we're doing And it gave me excited because you guys were talking about Such big things, you know like talking about such big things like in the m's, you know I'm just dealing with the thousands here. You guys are like in the hundreds over there. I was like, oh my god I was like, I'm the right place, but I didn't say anything. I was so nervous One of your friends was like clowning me all the time. He's like, you don't talk. You're a ventriloquist or something Hey, man, because I'm used to talking to my friends about this because like that's a level of like not You guys are like miles ahead and says it just makes me want to push myself even more Your boys say he's the only one ever put up with you talking about government contracts Oh, yeah, no, I I talked his ear off like It was like with the phone like we're at a night out. We're at the club Me and him would like have like little little conversation like I'm like, let's come here with the music's quiet I'm thinking about this that's skin my mind right now. You know But it's because I use a nugget that you said like you said like for example reach out to the contracting Person that you already know and ask what else can I do? What else can I do? And I did that I called them and they were like, yeah, you supply us the clay targets Can you supply us a shotgun ammo to shoot the clay targets as well? And they were like, this is the price we wanted that and we will give you like we'll give you the like whole contract for a year And I was like, I wish I had the guy to do That's how I reached out to you. I was like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No Yeah, no, let me tell you that's a good story and and by the way that first meeting that we're at That mebs sat in we were with one of our tribal partners that we had just brought into town And he has a hundred million bonding and so we Mebs was in on the meeting with a tribal partner two companies that did 28 million dollars each And we were with a former chief of contracting for gsa Who had a limited warrant and had written contracts to the hundreds of millions of dollars? And that was his first meeting that he sat in with us at a big round table That he couldn't fit in the room because it was like 10 people in the room And he had to sit off in the corner in the back and just be quiet. So But it was exciting it was exciting No, but this is definitely uh Like I was I was like shocked that I found someone on youtube who does exactly what i tell my friends Let's do and you said it and I was like It's meant to be right and then you know and again one and then you were able to Actually come in and see what we did like a real life Yeah, like, uh, you know just behind the screen or behind youtube So you actually able to come in and see us putting paper to pen and plan a strategy out And then now obviously with us working together, uh, you get to hear the conversation about the things that we're working on moving forward Yeah, no, it's it's it's crazy. It's been a it's an insane journey, you know No, we're just getting started, but we just get started in fact today we connected One of our students who won the contract in africa. You know what i'm talking about We just connected her with another potential client of ours that uh does base management contracts to go after something Over in africa for base facilities management. So we're gonna we're gonna get to tanzania So don't worry. We're gonna get there. We are going to get there. We're already in africa We're gonna do a base management contract in africa. So tanzania where it's next africa's the move man We're gonna we'll get there. We'll get we'll take you there. We'll take you back Hey gubcon family visit gubcon edu.com for course information Find out how you can get enrolled right now for one price annual subscription For all of our dozen plus courses and offerings visit the website gubcon edu.com