In today’s episode, Mike Cantave shares his background story as an immigrant to this country who was raised in Canada. He came to the United States for college where he would eventually meet his lovely wife. Later he went on to eventually become a pilot and start his government contracting business. Today he has 3 planes and is continuing to grow his contracting business with his wife and kids plus a sales staff that he built from scratch. Mike is the President of the 2Lyons Aerospace LLC, since 2014, they have been in the business of supplying airlines worldwide quality aviation spare parts in a timely, cost effective manner. They cater and provide spare parts, repair management, professional services or government procurement. When 2Lyons Aerospace first started out, Mike’s vision was to contribute honesty, personal pride, hard work and transparency to an industry where things are not always so transparent.  They now serve customers literally all over the world, now able to turn their passion into what they do everyday. Looking for innovative ways to serve our clients and their business needs. Enjoy this episode with Mike Cantave while he is interviewed by Maria Martinez

Govcon Giants Podcast

Making A Giant 011: Maria Martinez and Mike Cantave - Building a product based business in the aviation industry from the ground up

We are bringing you an earth shattering govcon superstar in today’s episode. Venus Quates if you’ve never heard the name is a servant leader, forward-thinker and proud veteran of the US Air Force. Her company LaunchTech where she serves as the CEO solves the presentation and launches the future of technology in the space, financial services, healthcare and public sectors. Her firm was ranked #66 on the 2021 Inc 5000 list with a 3 year growth rate of 5,682%. Venus, with over 20 years of domestic and international experience, has acquired a wealth of technical and business knowledge across a wide range of demanding roles and sectors. She has led several engineering, technology, and data-driven initiatives with major Fortune 100 and 500 companies, global banking giants, and leaders in the Intelligence and Defense industries.  Venus has traveled all over the world and educated the masses on technology innovation in business, diversity, and inclusion in STEM, the utilization of data science, and how implementing all can benefit community and economic growth.  What I love about this interview is how Venus was very specific in describing what her company does well. We discuss her sources for wisdom and inspiration, mentors and more. Which one of her previous jobs impacted her Govcon Journey the most and lessons learned. Stay tuned for what is sure to be a fan favorite episode for our next Giant, Venus Quates.

108: Venus Quates: Highlighting the importance of technology, people, and work values

On today’s episode with Making a Giant, our guest is Demetrius Walker, a Marine Corps veteran and the CEO of Fhito Logistics. Demetreus’ company specializes in logistics services, facilities support and management services, and supply chain management. Originally from Alabama Demetrius worked odd jobs prior to the military. Including being a DJ in Atlanta. As a veteran Marine he thought like many others that he would be guaranteed a job for the post office or State worker. That didn’t pan out so well. So he went off and found work in a manufacturing facility on the Assembly line. This episode takes you from the beginning stages of founding Fhito Logistics all the way to the point of winning his first 5 contracts. I hope you enjoy this episode with Maria Martinez and Demetrius Walker.

Making A Giant 010: Maria Martinez and Demetrius Walker - Finding your niche and sticking with it

In this episode, we're discussing the all new, effective immediate policy: the SBA deciding to suspend bona fide place of business requirements for 8(a) construction contracts. We have Meghan Leemon from PilieroMazza, a business law firm that serves a strategic partner to government contractors and commercial business from across the United States in numerous industries.  Meghan counsels on a broad range of government contracting matters. She advises companies on small business procurement matters, particularly on issues related to eligibility and participation in small business federal procurement programs, such as the Small Business Administration’s Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs), 8(a) Business Development, and HUBZone programs as well as the All Small Mentor Protégé Program and the VA’s VetBiz VIP program. She also assists clients in maintaining compliance with the FAR and small business regulations. Meghan discussed what does this policy mean, how does it impact small businesses, what is a bonafide office in the first place, why was it created and we also got into the other rules and changes that have been implemented recently that may be affecting you and your small business. Stay tuned for this episode, as Meghan shared helpful insights that would help your business.

107: Meghan Leemon - SBA’s suspension of Bona Fide Place of Business Requirements for 8(a) Construction Contracts

Our guest for this week’s episode, Mr. Eli LaSalle, is a GovCon Edu student that is into the commercial real estate investing. Eli shared his knowledge about a lot of new and interesting concepts of real estate investing that will peak your interest. This episode may not be directly related to Government contracting but for the vast majority of folks that are very successful at the GovCon realm, the next arena that we go into is real estate investing. Eli has founded Dynamic Property Concepts in 2012 as an independently owned and operated real estate, project management and construction services firm. Dynamic Property Concepts LLC (DPC) is a full service Real Estate development and Government Contractor.  Their portfolio now includes residential, multi-use, and commercial development initiatives with the core value to deliver quality service to every client, every time, and everywhere. Stay tuned in this episode with Eli and learn more about investing in commercial real estate. 

106: Eli LaSalle - Investing and Understanding Commercial Real Estate

Our guests for this week’s episode are the President and CEO of CIWRX. CIWRX has people, processes and technology to create full life-cycle business and technology solutions, customized for each organization. With access to business and technology leaders, they help businesses thrive in the most hostile business climate. Jerry and Jim who have been in technology for multiple decades are now combining their skill sets to leverage their knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and bring that into the federal contracting arena. With access to more than 50 patents, their solutions are currently being tested by several agencies for applicable / practical use in the federal sector. Their decades of work in Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery are especially timely during and after this coronavirus pandemic. As a sought-after consultant, they help organizations harden their security infrastructure. Jim has also given seminars and training in the Darknet, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. Stay tuned to learn all about CIWRX and how you can harness an idea or invention, and start your technology company doing federal business.

105: Jerry Ladd & Jim Babcock - Implementing Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity solutions in Federal Contracting Arena

Our guest for this week’s episode, Margery Newman is an income member at Bryce Downey & Lenkov. Her practice encompasses construction mediation, arbitration and litigation in both the private and public sectors, and related business litigation. Her clients include owners, general contractors, subcontractors, specialty trade contractors and disadvantaged business enterprises. Margery counsels clients on drafting and negotiating construction contracts—including dangerous subcontractor clauses—mechanics’ lien claims and foreclosure actions, construction defects, MBE, WBE and DBE certification and compliance. She has been recognized by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers and Leading Lawyers for her work in construction law. In today’s episode, we sit down and go over some of the dangerous subcontractor clauses, however, as we talked about in our previous episode, they are favorable if you’re the prime and they are only dangerous if you’re the sub. We also got into some interesting topics because she had done seminars and presentations on post-Covid 19 construction contract clauses, implicit bias and its impact on diversity, construction industry, returning to work issues following covid and much much more. 

104: Margery Newman - Understanding construction law with complex construction litigation and related business litigation

We are doing something a little different in this episode, we do not have a special guest, but what I will be discussing is about the seven construction contract clauses that pose special challenges for contractors. This is a Youtube live that I streamed back in July this year and the reason why I streamed it was as a response to the deadly collapse of the deadly Florida building and the reason for the episode is because I want for all the small business construction contractors and subcontractors out there to be aware of some of these potentially dangerous construction contract clauses. I listed seven in this particular video but I discussed four other areas of concern outside of these seven construction clauses. We decided to make it into an official podcast as we have a different audience to reach more people and so I hope as a result of listening to this episode, you may want to do something different and revisit some of your contracts. I also give you strategies and things to consider and ways of approaching that. So tune in to this episode and get your notes ready.

103: Eric Coffie - 7 Risky Construction clauses to look out for

In today’s episode we want to feature a newly minted 8a company that is doing things the right way. Tomas Santos – Alejandro, CEO, Founder and Principal Engineer of Advent services of Florida began his roots in Mayaguez Puerto Rico. Advent Services empowers federal, state, local and private sector clients and partners to solve problems, manage risk and advance their corporate objectives. Certified 8(a), HUBZone and SDVOSB. After working as a software engineer he founded a company that was eventually purchased by a tribal firm where became the manager for a firm that he once owned. The silver lining of the story is that during that stint of working for a large native corporation he learned how to grow and scale a business. After leaving the company he set his sights on bigger targets which eventually led him to creating Advent Services. Funny thing is that when our resource specialist Erika set up this interview with Tomas he already met me in person 2 years prior. We knew each other from a NPS event in Orlando Florida that we both attended. The point I’m making is that if you keep showing up eventually the dots will start connecting. Be prepared to hear the journey of how a small startup IT firm turned an idea into a successful growing business. I want to welcome our next Giant, Tomas Santos Alejandro.

102: Tomas Santos – Alejandro - From a small startup firm turned an idea into a successful growing business

Over the course of the last two years in this podcast, it’s been a journey. And now a community with seven thousand people who go through our free course and training and six hundred people going through the paid course. We’re making a big impact in the government contracting world.  Doing this podcast has been really life-changing not only in the sense that it put me in a better place career-wise and my path towards everything that I want to achieve professionally, but it’s introduced me to a lot of extraordinary people that I’ve now become friends with, I’ve now become colleagues with and we talk to a regular basis and it’s given me a new set of relationships that I didn’t have before that are tied directly to my industry. So to anyone who is considering launching a podcast, don’t worry about the money, don’t think about it in terms of dollars and cents and how much you’re going to make in terms of doing a podcast, think about it in terms of being able to shape and design the next five years of your life. The people who you want in your life, in your world, in your space, and being able to shape what that looks like for you. I want to thank everyone who listened to my podcast and downloaded my show, everyone who gave reviews and it has been an incredible journey and I’m looking forward to the next hundred episodes. 

101: Eric Coffie - Reflections, my extraordinary guests, and the two year journey of the Govcon Giants Podcast

In this episode I wanted to discuss a topic widely anticipated that is going to impact all small businesses around the world, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification or more commonly known as CMMC. To do that, I enlisted my friends Adam Austin and Alli Bay over at Totem Tech to help me discuss where the government is on this matter and more importantly how can you, as a small business, certify your business without needing a 10 or 20k consultant. That’s right, DIY CMMC. Because of the contracts that Haight Bey & Associates had with the government they were forced to become an early adopter of CMMC even before it was mandated to all contractors. As a result they went through the exercises themselves as contractors and are now coming on to tell us all about what that experience was like. Over the next 90 minutes we cover Level 1 thru 3, NIST and they also give out a bunch of free goodies to help contractors understand this process as best as possible. Today’s lesson is so great that if it wasn’t on YT would qualify for a CEU credit. Grab your paper and pen. This is content rich learning today. By the way, if you don’t make it to the end they have an extensive list of downloadable links. Visit: https://govconeric.com/cmmc for a list of all things CMMC. Now let’s welcome our next Giant, Adam Austin.

100: Adam Austin - How to prepare Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification with Totem Technologies

So many people ask the question about needing past performance and how to start without certifications. Well, Micro purchase is one of the tools that are commonly used for small businesses to win contracts. People think that set aside is the key to winning but SAP also known as simplified acquisition can be an even more powerful tool. Learn how easily a Federal buyer can purchase up to $10,000 from you immediately (and up to $20,000 or even more in times of emergency response). Not just products, but services, too! You’ll learn how to create new low-risk offerings that can get you ahead of the competition. What an advantage – not just at fiscal year-end, but all year long, even when other buying is slow! Imagine fast, easy, wins without expensive complicated proposals, opening the doors to bigger contracts. They can be closer than you ever imagined! With more than $24B spending using SAP it is a method that most people commonly overlook strategies in their toolbox. This is the final part of our 4 part series with Judy Bradt. If you missed the first three go back and watch episode 98, 95 and 96. She is the CEO of Summit Insight and a 32 year government contracting wiz. This episode was pre recorded on a YT live session that I hosted so you will hear us answer questions from the audience. Stay tuned and enjoy this power packed session with Judy Bradt.

099: Judy Bradt - What is a micro purchase and how to use them

You got your meeting...now what? We're going to be talking about the hidden wins you need to create, from contact to contract. You’ll discover the concept of micro-wins (not micro-PURCHASES; something that comes even before THAT!) learn about the two types of wins you need to create with your buyers, and get the three GovCon checklists you’ll use to get you from takeoff to landing, so your business can soar. In today’s interview with Judy Bradt we are discussing how to prepare for your call and get invited back. That’s right! Not just call call call, you want someone to call you back on the other end. Well in today’s 90 minute session Judy and I are going to discuss practical techniques and strategies for accomplishing just that. Stay tuned for today’s episode with my colleague Judy Bradt. We have not covered 3 of the 4 part of my series with Judy and boy has it been a blast. If you missed the first parts, go back and look at episode 95 and 96. How to Win your Meeting and the 5 people you want to meet. If you love Judy’s message, make sure to check her on her website summit insight, she is a regular on LI and puts on webinars, does coaching and a whole host of wonderful things for the Govcon community.

098: Judy Bradt - How to prepare for your call and get invited back

This week we bring you another managed service provider, Elizabeth Jimenez of NeoSystems. Neosystems is a full service IT integrator, managed security, cloud managed hosting, and managed services accounting, HR and IT. Elizabeth Jimenez is the Executive Director, Strategic Development for NeoSystems, she is responsible for building and managing strategic relationships with partners, government agencies, industry influencers, and clients, as well as driving NeoSystems' brand vision, value, and culture. She is also co-founder of The Cyber Guild, a non-profit, which is focused on transforming cyber groups into a cohesive human-centric organizational fabric, and the Executive Director and Advisory Chair of the Uniting Women in Cyber, an annual conference dedicated to celebrating women in cybersecurity, where she is instrumental in the organization's annual conference. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Radford University and is a registered practitioner of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program from the Department of Defense. In this episode, Elizabeth will explain the concept in full detail of why small businesses should consider MSP as a viable option when scaling their business. Listen to our next Giant, Elizabeth Jimenez.

097: Elizabeth Jimenez - Why small businesses should consider managed service provider when scaling their business

This is part of 2 of her 4 Part series that she filmed with me on our YouTube channel. For the month of July we are bringing back our resident superstar, Judy Bradt. For over 32 years, she’s been an expert in federal contracting. We are so lucky to have Judy come on our show and share tidbits of the wisdom that she has accumulated over the last 3 decades. Today’s session, How to get in front of your federal buyer and win your meeting. This was a live session that we taped earlier this year and so you will hear Judy and I go for about 90 minutes fielding live audience questions. This is part of 2 of her 4 Part series that she filmed with me on our YT channel. Last week we discussed who are the people that you want to meet. If you missed it go back and listen as it was excellent. Grab your paper and pen Judy is about to break it down into palatable pieces. If you have not had the chance to catch up to some of her earlier recordings on YT make sure to check them out as people raved about how great her message was.

096: Judy Bradt - How to get in front of your Federal Buyer and “Win” your meeting

After the real estate market crashed in 2007 Mr. Coffie launched a successful consulting company helping small business owners earn millions in revenues via federal small business programs. In 2012 he launched Evankoff Construction, a steel erection company building airplane hangars and metal buildings for government agencies around the country. In 2017 Mr. Coffie launched Scorecontracts @ YouTube a channel to help other small businesses achieve their revenue goals using the power of federal contracts. The podcast Govcon Giants is dedicated to showcasing the scalability of growing a business harnessing the power of federal dollars. The marketplace is wide open for all that want to gain a piece. Meet some of the world’s greatest masterminds behind the trillion-dollar behemoth. We interview small firms, large firms, past and current contract officials, government agencies and their representatives all in the name of helping the small business get a leg up in the industry. If you want to participate in this market then you are in the right place.

hubhopper

Govcon Giants Podcast

hubhopper