 Hello, this is Randy. Randy, Eric Coffey. What's going on today? How can I help you? My husband's on the line because we're actually remote. He's in Dallas. I'm in Houston, so I have him merged on the call. Okay. You don't mind? No, no worries. Go ahead and merge him. All right, so I had sent you an email just because so last time we met we were still wrestling with the next codes and how to how to narrow down, right? And so after our conversation we were able to do some more brainstorming and Leland was able to look at everything. It's like, okay, maybe it's maybe it will be the infrastructure. So we have we have these two nice codes that I have sent you that's under IT. So 5 4 1 2 and 5 4 1 5 1 9. Okay. Okay. But the other side of things is like I was telling you because we have like the five of us as siblings and family we still have a couple other management strengths that we have which are event related training putting on events and so on. So we would like to still do doing some of that. Now, can we put all of those together in SAM? Yes. Like, you know, like set up the company as a resume like a management company. Okay. Yes. You listen, you can put as many next codes as you like. You can put whatever next code you like. In fact, I've had contracting officials reach out to me to take on jobs because they needed to get them out and and and done. And they told me what next goes to add to my profile in order to do the jobs. Oh, okay. That's when you get that's when you that's when you start having relationships with people. So as you go along the process, right? So it's not like it's a nice. It's not a one one and done. You can go through and you can add on take them off. You know, change them. It doesn't matter. The only time that it really starts to matter is if when you apply for one of your small business certifications, that's when they look at your primary next code. But up until then it doesn't really matter. Okay. Well, I am starting to work on the woman owned certification. So, so then you need to make a decision which one is going to be your primary code for that? Okay, because I remember you saying that You can limit yourself based on the I guess the averaging, right? Right. Yeah, so Right. Yeah, I mean I listen to you. I listen. No, no, that's so which so I'm looking at your event management codes. So out of the five six one 1920 And then a seven two one 110 Yeah, that one's not gonna work that seven two one one 110 I I emailed back instead of care realize is not gonna probably work for us because when I went and dug A little bit deeper like who were the actual vendors, right? It seems like that is actually hotels Providing that service directly. So I'm like, okay, that's not us So I know I need to stick with the five six one nine two zero And and you see that's how you come how that's how you make a decision based on pros elimination You start looking at who are the clients who are the veterans? Who are your competitors? And then you get an idea of whether or not the code makes sense But for your women owned certification, you definitely have to choose a code You're gonna have to choose one primary code Now on your SAM profile, it doesn't matter, but when it when you should when you make a decision for your Women owned business certification, they're going to ask you which is your primary next code Okay, so we need to decide between the five four one five one nine or the five one two one, I think Okay, so in that case where you got two different businesses That are focusing on different areas Can you go back in and create another business to do that or do you do Because you'll have to get both of those this certified independently, correct It would be difficult for her to to have two businesses Under her name certified as women owned small businesses So she would have to I mean it just wouldn't be realistic. But yeah, I mean effectively. Yes, leon Yes, you could go back and get two businesses qualified to do this But then if she wanted to Have one be her woman owned small business Um, she didn't have to still pick a business, right? So even if they one did it and one did event To to have her one of them become a woman owned small business She's still had to pick which one of the two So in that case it to me doesn't make a difference Like it there's no additional benefit for creating a second company I probably need to do a little bit more research into the events one But I think it probably would benefit more on the it side You know what I think I'm telling you guys I really think that you probably should look at some actual contracts That you're interested in and see which one that you can actually meet the requirements for which one we're given right now where you're at Um, which one do you have the high, you know higher probability of meeting all of the requirements or you know, not all of them But you know, let's say 90 of them the majority And that's the one I would probably go after whichever one I'm most prepared to actually Realize today And do with given my capabilities my skill sets my past performance My you know my network all that kind of stuff. That's probably what I would lead to okay Well, we can we started looking at some But then we get lost in some of all that translation that we can go back It's subscribe to my email list I you know, I send out some vocabulary words and and we help talk deal with some of that translation stuff on my website I you know we I have where we go through some of that And I and I would encourage you just to watch more videos because you become more familiar with the lingo It's not as bad as people think it is It really it's a lot of the same stuff over and over and over. Yeah Let's think about think about this way you guys You know are probably like twice as smart as these government people I'm just being honest with you they're trained in one specific function and that's it So, yeah, that person who's writing the contracts may seem like they are more knowledgeable in you But all they know is about contracts and then the guy who's handling the it stuff I mean, that's all he knows about is the it he knows nothing about the contracts And so the the reason why this government contract the whole thing seems confusing is because as a small business You have to learn all aspects. You've got to learn the technical side You've got to learn the contract side. You have to learn the management side You know the compliance. So that's why it seems overwhelming for us as small business owners You know, we have to learn every aspect of this And then on the government side, we're you know, they they only learn their one job function But I may like on a given on any given contract. I probably deal with Eight different government people On the contract stuff. It's it's the same thing. It's repetitive over and over and over again If you start pulling down and looking at and reading Um, those bid packages, you'll see similarities They're all using the same far languages. They're all referencing the same far codes But if you don't look at them, then it seems like a mystery But you've got to pull them down and read them And then, you know, I would rather you pull them down read them and ask questions about that Okay, you know this next thing is not anything to get hung up on The other question I have is um So we've done a lot of preliminary late work Nice codes all those different things setting up everything getting all the preliminary stuff done But we need to get you know, how do we start getting the I guess the next step is just start just over and over applying for different contracts So we believe that we would be good fit that. No, I no, I disagree. No We have to build relationships, right? So we have to start I'm sorry. I missed that randy. I missed what you said No, I would say I know we need to start with the marketing by the target area target market Working, yeah, I just got to looking at the Yes But yeah working on that to get some of the inroads Yeah, you need to what you need to do leon for one of the first things you've probably you got to do is Um, like I said, I would pull down a contract that I was interested in Find out what the requirements were and then Find out how to why become make sure that I am pre qualified to fulfill, you know, in all those areas Whatever they're asking for, you know, if they're asking for specific type of equipment I would make sure I have that equipment if they're asking for Um specific type of personnel I make sure I have access to you know that personnel or that you could hire them if needed You know all that kind of stuff. So I would make sure I'm pre qualified Um for all the things that they're asking for and any particular solicitation that you're going after Or that you're interested in pursuing I would say And then, you know, that would help guide you because let's say I want to actually give you a contract You're not even ready to take it because you didn't even you didn't even get yourself pre qualified for all the things that you needed like credit with suppliers or If I told you hey, you're doing this it project But I need five of these, you know, these people that have these specific it certification Do you have five of those people ready to go? I'm going to pay you 30 percent Margin over and above what they cost you But do you have them? Right, so that's the kind of stuff. That's what you that's what people what I would encourage them to start looking at Okay Then I'll you know, that's the biggest thing because The next step I mean, it's a lot of business items that we're doing right now But they're not moving towards actually no completing, you know getting getting actual contracts or getting business in the door So my goal is how do we start getting business in the door? So right and that's how you do it is you Identify the requirements start getting, uh, qualified or pre qualified Find out how do you meet all those requirements and then at the same time someone's building relationships with the people in the government in Because whatever contract they have out today, they'll have it out next month. They'll have it out next year. They'll have it out next quarter They're coming back around. They mean they're they're doing these things They're they're they never stop So you don't have to worry about like missing this one job or missing this one contract opportunity It's going to roll back around a month from now, you know the next quarter the next, you know, whatever the next cycle the next period So just get prepared for be prepared for the next time it comes back around Okay, so should we not be looking more though at this point in time as sub so Maybe targeting the primes instead of targeting the um actual agencies Boys, okay, so we do we think I think I think it depends on On you and what you decide, right? if You pull down a contract an it meant an it That you believe you can't do the entire contract because of its scope Then yeah, I maybe you want to look at being a sub of subbing out a portion of that work If you pull down an invent management contract that you believe that you can fulfill and put all the piece together Then you may want to be a prime on that Okay, just depends on the scope of work that you're looking at I I mean, I think that yeah an it field um because it is such a broad area And it's hard to say, you know, I've seen it contracts that involve setting up like network equipment on on boats on uh Those uh, not boats like those navy ships Um where they you know people are building like a wireless network like a like a land system on a on a navy ship I don't know if Leon can do that. Maybe he can maybe he has the capability of doing that. I don't know Yeah, so like one of the little contracts we looked at a while back. There was uh, they were Outfitting and trying to build up several places in San Antonio. Um, they were one network cable ran. They were wanting the um Wi-Fi connectivity established and all those other pieces So that's something that we we could we don't have the the skills as far as to complete all of it right away But that's something where we can we can bring on people to get that done A lot of that is is manual labor and then some of it is technical Um establishing and configuring the the routers and and those different things that to To read back to the the servers and switches. So And that's the end point. I think that you know, we could go in as a as a prime Right, right are right, okay But it may be something that that it takes like almost 200 people to do Um something like that. I think that may be more that's maybe out of our ability That just takes something where you know, it takes 200 sort of people that may be out of our ability But if it was something that maybe only takes about 15 or 20 people to do that's something that's well within our ability And that's and that's the way you make a decision based on that Okay, yeah, I think and that's pretty I think And randy so for me randy, that's what I'm saying. It's very difficult to say just depends on the opportunity in the project Okay, I mean that makes sense. You know, it's just you know For me as you're managing the business of okay trying to build it trying to make sure you you know Because the other thing is like a business plan They they're like, okay, I need to have a business plan Like there's all this stuff that has to get done. So I'm feeling like I need to have all these things You know tees crossed and I've dotted before I should start making you step and I think you will I think the relationship Yeah, I I think you will because Before you build a relationship, you're going to grab the forecast list, right? If you grab the forecast list before you know before you grab the forecast list, you're going to do your target market list Target market list is going to tell you who the people to call Um, the forecast list is going to tell you what to talk about the project Yeah, and so I mean you're going to have you're going to be prepared And then before you decide to take on a project You will have already pulled down a job that was similar in scope similar size in nature And you will have already found out what the prerequisite prerequisites were to to fulfill that job And you will have already found a way to either meet them and or you know Have the ability to meet them if you know push comes to shove So at that point, I feel like you'd be ready and I think you would feel that way as well Because now you have all that you have all the pieces There's really nothing that you would be missing at that point Yeah, I think we have the other part we've had to wrap our mind around because I think one of the issues we have as engineers We tend to analyze to death instead of just like instead of stop punching numbers stop Whatever Yes Out of it. Yeah, but one of the things that we have circled around a hundred times that we're trying to get out of is Well, there's only five of us. Well, how do you take a job? That and we're in texas So do we limit ourselves just to texas that we can drive to or are we going to be able to we we not we need to Open our minds to think okay. Well, what are those consulting not consulting companies per se, but Recruiting companies or whoever that we need to probably build relationship with so we can then Contract workers in Washington, DC or Right, and that's to now that is a very important step. Yeah, you you need to do that I think that that's an that's a must because you cannot If you limit yourself to geography It's gonna you're gonna find you're gonna self An uphill battle working with the government because they that's not how they they're structured. They're they're they're international So you you need to that's why I said pull down some contract opportunities So you can review them and see what the scope Services are and see, you know, how you become compliant. That's that's to me. You should absolutely do that in the beginning Okay, well, I think that would be our next step over the next few weeks Pull several and kind of just start going through them with a fine tooth comb Okay, sounds like no sounds like fun. I think you guys got your work cut out for you. You got some homework to do Absolutely have a lot of homework to do I keep plugging away I'll circle back around in maybe a month or two All right, sounds good. I appreciate it. Thanks guys. Thanks, Leon. Thanks, Randy. Thank you. Okay. All right. Take care. Good luck