What were you doing prior to teaching others, where you were able to learn this skill and knowledge for yourself?

I’ve always found myself teaching other people what I’ve learned as I was learning it. Even prior to having a coaching program. I was doing it for free. I love sharing transformational information. I remember when I learned about credit and how to leverage it to access capital. That was a new perspective for me. Prior to knowing how credit really works and learning that it’s not really for you to go shopping to me was a big deal. This is the stuff they don’t teach you in school and should. So as I began to build my net worth of hundreds of thousands of dollars in lines of credit, I shared it with everyone who would listen. I did the same when I learned about free money from class-action lawsuits, which gave me access to even more money, and when I learned that you can actually buy cheap land and turn liabilities into assets. And I was doing all this while going through a troubled relationship that ultimately ended up in divorce, raising small children, and trying to find my voice and where I fit in the world.

So that’s what I was doing prior to having my coaching program where I not only teach entrepreneurs how to land lucrative government contracts that are already set aside and earmarked for women-owned and minority-owned disadvantaged businesses, but I also teach them everything I know about wealth creation, success strategies and how to become self-made millionaires.

How can government contracts enhance income and stability for independent businesses?

The huge difference between selling a business service or product to an individual person vs selling to a premium client like the government is getting paid 1x for your service vs getting paid in bulk for that same service to perform it multiple times over a 2–5 year period. Government contracts is supreme stability for small businesses. In fact, most big brands that you may be familiar with like Canon, Amazon, Uber, Starkist Tuna, Tesla…etc to name a few, all have government contracts. At one point Wonder Bread got a government contract. It’s just that most people don’t know this and of course, large businesses like these are not telling.

Because of the Small Business Act of America, the rules that govern government contracts and how they’re divided out with small business goals and obligations…., that levels the playing field for even a micro business to win big lucrative contracts.

One good government contract can be worth ten years of income from regular paying clients. You get your time back. You work smarter and not harder and you can truly begin to create wealth instead of just getting by as a small business.

In fact, one of my recent clients who just got started not even six months ago landed 5 contracts within his first 4 weeks of getting started and recently reported winning a $750,000 contract to house the homeless. And that’s simply because of the simplified 3 step strategy he learned in my program on how to leverage his socio-economic disadvantages to get access to opportunities like that.

Is there anything you’ve learned along this journey that may be more crucial to people of color when going after government contracts?

Absolutely. Most people of color give up too soon. I can say this because I use to do it too. Many sabotage themselves by not taking action on opportunities because they want someone else to guarantee their success. But the truth is, you can only guarantee your own success by taking action. And by not taking action, you are guaranteeing zero results so it’s pointless.

I’ve learned that you’ve got to believe in yourself and be relentless when it comes to winning in life and in business.

Karwanna D.

BONUS: “3 important things I’ve learned along the way to becoming a first-generation, self-made millionaire myself are…”

– Karwanna D.

1. You can’t do business alone. You need help. You need a tribe and in order to get there faster, you need a coach.

2. You gotta have money to make money. And even when you don’t have money, you gotta be creative and willing to do what you gotta do to get it and eliminate all excuses. Most people who don’t have money, make that an infinite thing. You can’t just stop there. You gotta fix your credit if it’s jacked up so you can use other people’s money. You gotta rent your car out when you’re not using it to make some extra money so that you’re able to invest in your business so it can begin to grow by quantum leaps. It’s like a farmer. You can’t expect to have a good harvest if you don’t plant any seeds. When you don’t have seeds to plant, you gotta figure out what you’re going to do to get the seeds to plant so you can reap the harvest you want to reap. The principle of giving is so real. Luke 3:38 says Give and it shall be given to you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Well, that’s harvest. If you don’t give, your pressed down shaken together running over will be empty. So what does that say about small businesses that are struggling right now? You haven’t given enough into your business to reap the harvest yet. But it’s coming if you invest and take action.

3. You have to believe in yourself. If you think you can, you’re right. If you think you can’t, you’re right as well. Faith and doubt both derive from the same thing. It’s called energy. When you have faith, that means you focus your energy on believing that you will achieve the desired outcome you hope for. Positive energy. When you have doubt, that means you focus your energy on all things negative and that can only produce an undesirable outcome that you subconsciously attract in your life. When you get that and understand that you get to decide the success of your own life, you’ll find that all things are truly possible and when you add action to your faith, the impossible happens.

What if you are not an attorney or don’t have immediate access to one? Can you still prosper with your strategies and seal great deals?

You don’t need to be an attorney to get government contracts nor do you need to have immediate access to one. All you need is a business, a service that you offer, and an idea of pricing. Everything else is really about knowing how to read and respond. However, you can definitely seek an attorney to look over contracts before signing them and I recommend that you do. Especially the contracts that exceed $500,000 or more. You want to be very clear on what your deliverables and expectations are and there are affordable and low-cost legal services out there that you can use as a small business such as Legal Shield or other similar services.

As you learn more and teach more people, where do you see your business going in the future?

I definitely see myself growing and scaling to where I will train other coaches to coach my clients as well as a team to run all the operations. Ultimately I can see my step-by-step system to be a well-oiled machine that can run 90% efficiently on its own without me physically being in it. That’s the goal. Each one teach one. Train up others and expand my impact as a philanthropist globally with foster kids and teen girls.

Have you been able to secure any government contacts regarding teaching the process of securing government contracts?

There are definitely government contracts for teaching others how to secure government contracts as well as how to start a business, market a business, brand a business, and other areas of business development. I’ve personally had opportunities to secure a contract doing so, but my preference in government contracts has been focused on landing them for video production and photography services, which I currently have for my multi-media business.

What have been some of your biggest challenges, as well as biggest accomplishments thus far?

I think one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to overcome was believing in myself and standing boldly in my greatness. I had to evolve into the person I am today. I use to be extremely shy and very modest to the point where I didn’t want to share my success with others because I didn’t want people to think that I was bragging or thinking that I was better than them. Once I started getting results for my own business as well as helping my clients get life-changing results in their business I learned that it’s ok to share success. Because somebody is going to be encouraged and inspired through my story and transformation.

One of my greatest accomplishments thus far was creating a vision board that challenged me to become the person that has everything on that vision board and seeing myself accomplish everything I envisioned from the type of car that I wanted to drive to the husband that I wanted to attract to the house that I wanted to have…how much money I wanted to save and assets I wanted to create to pass down for generations to come. Dreaming about it is one thing, but I’m so proud of myself for creating a plan of action, sticking to it, working hard, and accomplishing it knowing that’s not it.

Now it’s time for my next level of greatness and a part of that was officially getting my Doctorate in Small Business Government Contracting, which I get my diploma this fall, and positioning myself as a philanthropist so I can impact the world. And I’m doing it with a new baby. Now that’s amazing. So for all the moms out there who think everything has to stop because you have a baby, think again. Strap that baby on and get to work.

Are there any myths about government contracting that you’d like to clear up right here, right now?

Some people think that you have to be selling war weapons or gasoline to get government contracts, but really you can sell paperclips and piano services and still get lucrative contracts. The government buys everything and in my latest book Don’t Duck The Government, They Got Your Money, I share many examples of services you can sell to the government and secure massive contracts that will help you quickly scale your business in quantum leaps.

Do you have anything coming up that you’d like us to stay in the know about? How can we connect with your works and announcements?

I have a 5-Day Challenge that helps small business owners get pre-qualified for government contracts. During this challenge, you not only walk away pre-qualified, but you also get a complete gameplan of what you need to do to position yourself to land the #1 biggest purchaser of business products and services in the entire world, as your client. Plus you have the opportunity to get my personal outline for bidding that you can use to start pitching and winning lucrative contracts for your business when you select to become a VIP during the challenge. To join the challenge visit GovConChallenge.com