Small Business Ownership.
Our company works primarily with small companies — all of them highly qualified and unique in their industry. We don’t work with small companies because we can’t land a big. We work with them because we WANT to. The innovation, the ideas, the culture… everything about small biz excites us. We are passionate about giving highly qualified small companies access…
Continue ReadingOffense or D?
Sometimes, you play offense. Sometimes, you’re D. I just returned from a hockey weekend. Our son is a freshman and plays hockey at Ole Miss. (Yes, SEC schools have hockey teams.) The SEC tournament last weekend was in Nashville. Ole Miss finished an impressive second. Our kid is a reliable defenseman. On the ice, he intensely protects his goalie. He’s…
Continue ReadingFuzzy Math of SBA Goals?
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is again under fire for how the determine the success of agency small business programs. SBA has claimed victory in achieving the 23% goal given them by Congress – the claim is that 23% of federal contracts are awarded to small businesses. Their vocal challenger is the American Small Business League (ASBL), based in San…
Continue ReadingFederal Budget Blues
Passing a federal budget has been… well… let’s say “challenging” for Congress for the last seven fiscal years (FY). It was spring of 2009 when a full budget resolution was more recently passed for FY10. FY10 is the last year Congress passed an ACTUAL full fiscal year budget. (Seriously. I’m not making this up. It was 7 ½ years ago.)…
Continue ReadingRemembering and Prioritizing
The Friday before Memorial Day… Employees gearing up for a long weekend, with plans for parades, cook-outs and events which commemorate the intent of the holiday. Congress is gearing up for a recess week. For those who want the reminder: Memorial Day began as “Decoration Day” shortly after the end of the Civil War. The intent is to remember and…
Continue ReadingNDAA Controversy?
shared an article regarding a committee markup of the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act. The potentially controversial aspect of the markup is that it addresses exemptions for federal contractors who believe their religious rights would be compromised by complying with an executive order that bars federal contractors from discriminatory behavior. The language was offered by Congressman Steve Russell, a Republican…
Continue ReadingGovernment is Big.
Actually, government is more than big. It’s huge. Targeting your public sector sales efforts has a shrinking effect, focusing your effort and making the audience more manageable. When you use evidence to determine government agency targets that are realistic and functionally appropriate – realistic in terms of your ability to win and functionally appropriate based on your past performance areas –…
Continue ReadingCheers to this team. THIS TEAM!
It’s been quite a week. As a leader in this company, I’m sometimes overwhelmed by our good fortune. Our team. Oh, this team. They step in, they work hard, they accept feedback, they laugh, they get shit done. Our holiday party for JetCo is tomorrow night. We gather with each other and our “others.” We laugh, we eat, we drink….
Continue ReadingLessons from Paddleboarding
The water, the oar, the board… waves or calm, it’s peaceful. Good thinking time while exploring the nuances of the lake. Looking outside with snow dusting the ground, paddleboarding in Lake Michigan is either a distant memory or a long way off. JT and I are an organized people, so we obviously needed a rack to store our paddleboard in our garage. (The…
Continue ReadingFuzzy Metrics are Crap
When the SBA size guidelines come out, we pay attention. We look at agencies grade poorly as targets with the thought they might want to increase their scores. We look at agencies performing well as targets because they are friendly to small and diverse companies. Thanks to Women Impacting Public Policy for the link to the House Small Business Committee…
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