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Lacan McQuarrie A government contracting expert providing consulting services to help small businesses begin doing business with the federal government. Her company, Verve Consultants, provides business development, compliance, proposal management and certification services for companies interested in government contracts. Through her 20+ years of experience, she is familiar with the demands facing small business owners, helping clients overcome the hurdles of business ownership and government contracts to reach their revenue goals. It is often called a “bridge” to connect For more information www.verveconsultantsinc.com
SmallBizLady: How do I become a federal contractor?
Lacan McQuarrie: If you have already set up your business entity and have an EIN number and business bank account, your next step is to complete the registration process at SAM.gov. Once your registration is approved, you are ready to begin as a federal contractor.
Tips: Take the time to understand the rules and regulations you must comply with as a government contractor. Compliance is critical to maintaining active status.
SmallBizLady: What does it take to sell a business to the federal government?
Lacan McQuarrie: As a federal contractor, you are required to write a functional statement equivalent to a government resume. At a minimum, the statement of competence should be concise about the products or services you provide to the government, what differentiates you from other companies, your past performance, and company information. Competence statements should be customized to the target institution. As a tip, if you know an agency you’d like to work with, check out that agency’s website to see if they offer the information or format you want to see.
SmallBizLady: How do I find contract opportunities?
Lacan McQuarrie: Research is the key to finding opportunities. There are many survey sites and it is important to execute a strategy to find the right opportunity for you. Some free tools to mention are:
- The System for Award Management (SAM) is the official federal government site where you can find all public and valid contract opportunities. SAM.gov
- SBA maintains Subnet, a Subcontracting Network database that provides available subcontracting opportunities.
- USASpending.gov provides historical information about government contracts awarded, contract amounts, and expiration dates.
If you know an agency you would like to do business with, visit that agency’s website and search for contract opportunities.
How to become an effective communicator
Meredith Bell is co-founder and president of Grow Strong Leaders. Her company publishes software her tools and books that help people build strong relationships at work and at home. Meredith is an expert in leader and team communication, author of three books, and host of the Grow Strong Leaders podcast. She co-authored her latest book, Connect with Your Team: Master the Top 10 Communication Skills, When Peer coaching made simple, with her business partner, Dr. Denise Coates. In it, Meredith and Denny provide how-to guides for improving your communication skills and serving as someone else’s peer-her coach. For more information: https://growstrongleaders.com/
SmallBizLady: What is the first communication skill essential for both leaders and team members?
Meredith Bell: Yes I am listening. By far the number 1 skill as it is the foundation of everything else. Most people think they’re pretty good listeners, but they’re really just waiting their turn to speak. Listening includes several sub-skills: paying full attention to the other person, paying attention to what the other person is saying as well as non-verbal things such as facial expressions and body language, showing empathy, and speaker. “received” a message to restate to make sure that is speaking.
SmallBizLady: What’s the 3-step process you need to take to change a habit or learn a new skill?
Meredith Bell: we can learn almost It’s the best way to run a skill, but that doesn’t mean you automatically start running that way. That’s because our brains are physically connected to how we currently perform our skills. We literally have to rewire our brains and that takes time.
The three steps you need to complete are: 1) Focus – Decide to focus on improving one skill (or aspect of a skill) at a time. 2) Behavior – Practice new behaviors over and over. 3) Reflection – After each situation where you practice the action, take time to ask yourself five questions and reflect on how it went. What happened? Why did you do it that way? what was the result? What do you think will be different in the future? What are the next steps? Steps 2 and 3 must be repeated many times for the new pathway to become stronger than the existing pathway.
SmallBizLady: Her latest book, Connect with Your Team, describes three types of feedback. What are they and why are they important to your business?
Meredith Bell: The first is giving positive feedback or thanking someone for a specific reason. Most of us hear far more criticism than praise throughout our lives. It’s important for others to know what they’re good at, especially if it’s a behavior we want them to repeat.
Next, do so in a way that provides constructive feedback and supports and encourages others.There are five parts: 1) Affirm the good. 2) explain in particular problem behavior. 3) Describe how it affects you and others. 4) Reset expectations and earn their commitment. 5) Offer encouragement and support. Too often we withhold this kind of feedback. The end result is that the other person doesn’t realize their actions are causing problems and nothing changes.
Third, receive feedback respectfully. That way, the other person can feel comfortable being honest with you. Here’s how to do it: 1) Listen without being defensive. 2) Apologize for your actions, if necessary. 3) Thank you for your feedback. 4) Commit to new behaviors, follow up, and ask how you’re doing from their perspective. Everyone has blind spots. If people around us think we don’t appreciate their opinion, we will continue to make the same mistakes.
How to reduce stress and avoid burnout
Vernon L. Williams is a stress prevention strategist. He is an author, speaker and coach with a reputation for challenging, encouraging and equipping his clients to prevent stress and burnout. From the beginning of his entrepreneurial career, Vernon has earned a reputation for exceeding client expectations and helping people see their problems in a whole new light. He is the author of his eight books containing the top seven myths that perpetuate stress (and how to dispel them). Vernon has created several courses, including Prevent Work Stress and Positive Mindset Strategy for Business Owners. For more information: www.Preventworkstress.com
SmallBizLady: There are tons of books on stress, but why is stress such a problem?
Vernon L. Williams: The short answer is because most of the information about stress is based on myths. There is a myth that stress is inevitable. It’s a normal part of owning a business and all business owners go through it. Believing this myth can lead business owners to think they have no choice as to whether they are stressed or not. Business owners expect to be stressed, so they get stressed and stress remains a problem. How do you know?45{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} of his executives say they are stressed. If stress is unavoidable for business owners, 100{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} report feeling stressed.
SmallBizlady: How is your approach different and why does it work?
Vernon L. Williams: Earlier I touched on the myth that stress is inevitable for business owners. A second common misconception is that stress is inevitable and the best way to deal with it is to manage it. Healthy ways of coping with stress (exercise, spending time in nature, watching interesting movies, etc.) and unhealthy ways of coping with stress (excessive alcohol use, drug abuse, overeating, etc.) there is. The healthy and unhealthy way to deal with stress is to deal only with the symptoms, not the cause.
My approach is to help dispel another misconception about stress. Stress is caused by the environment. I’ve seen two people experience the same situation (e.g. traffic jams), one stressed, and she no longer stressed one, so that this is false. I know As Epithetus said, one is disturbed not by things, but by the way one sees them. So I focus on the real cause of all stress. It’s not the situation itself, it’s our idea of the situation. King Soloman, the wisest man who ever lived, said: Your life is shaped by your thoughts. – Proverbs 4:23. With that in mind, I teach my clients to replace negative, stress-producing thoughts about their situation with positive, empowering thoughts.
SmallBizLady: What is your process called and what do you need to implement it?
Vernon L. Williams: my process is stress prevention (or SPM). To be successful, business owners must reject common myths about stress. A prerequisite for my process to work is that the client 1) acknowledges that his thoughts create his own stress, 2) believes that living a stress-free life is possible, 3) Decide to control your thoughts. If these preconditions are met, instead of allowing thoughts to enter the mind and control emotions, the client must 1) monitor his thoughts and 2) engage with each thought by asking critical questions. It must be challenged (e.g. Is this idea helpful?) If the answer is yes, accept it. If the answer is no, don’t accept the idea.
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