How to Start a Government Contracting Business in 2026 (Step By Step Guide)

0:00Yeah, so just how did you get into government contracting and why is this a space that more small businesses need to really ponder? Yeah, so I mean I grew up in government contracting, [music] so I'm probably one of the few and and somewhat [music] fortunate to to be able to say that. My parents worked for My dad worked for Raytheon, my mom worked for Northrop and Lockheed and they both decided to stop working for those respective companies and start one in my house when I was 8 years old. So, they promptly sent me back [music] downstairs, basically said put office clothes on because jammies were not

0:32office attire and then put me to work as basically a small marketing bond for for them in their early days. So, yeah, [music] it was a a family business that that they raised me in. They were super successful woman-owned small business. They did ocean engineering, so they laid every subsea cable for the Navy since 1999. They installed this large wave energy test facility that's out in Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. Um, and they're responsible for every floating fence that you'll see around a naval vessel either in port or or off offshore. So, that's that's their their business. They were very successful doing it. I worked every role

1:13in that business, so small business is very near and dear to my heart. I've seen how flexible they can be and and how they just kind of operate kind of like not only that it was a family business, but they operate more as as family sort of companies. So, it's they tend to care more about their employees, they tend to care more about the people that are working for them and I think that that kind of is reflected in their customer customer relationships as well. So, I think that that's kind of important to note as as growing up in a a small business. I I really understood and came

1:46to understand the the value and the benefit of the relationships that [music] you can establish as a small business. So, I ultimately worked, like I said, every sort of role in that small business from admin to BD to project and program management. I did a little bit of financial here and there, but really like stayed away from that as much as I

2:05could. Um, and then ultimately, uh, graduated with, uh, an undergrad in health and life sciences, at which point I found out academic health research was not what [music] I could spend the rest of my life doing. Great cause, but not not the most welcoming environment that that I have found in in business. So, I I realized that I I needed to pivot. So, I ultimately realized that at that sort of around that time that my parents were were getting older. They were about 78 at the time. So, they needed the

2:34opportunity to retire if they wanted it. So, I offered to either run or sell their company. And because I am not an engineer by training, um, I was like, "Okay, well, let's let's [music] figure out how to to sell it. I think that's probably going to be the best like choice and route to go anyway." So, I found a company that had a synergistic manufacturing footprint in West Virginia, uh, and then brokered the sale of their company. So, ultimately was responsible for managing innovation of like 20 plus [music] years of contracts and managing the the migration of all of the employees. And, uh, once that was kind of all said and done, I

3:10had given the the new company as it was, uh, merged and and rebranded. I rebranded it. I gave it a new name and tagline, basically a new aesthetic, and um, sent them back off into government contracting. So, I It was, uh, a long long journey to get to the point where I decided to to kind of go off on my own

3:28and start my own thing. But, uh, when I was doing that, uh, it was like the heat of COVID. So, it was June of 2020 when I started my company. And it's it's really interesting. There's a lot of like similarities to to the kind of environment that we're in right now. And it's like the the

3:45commercial business is, um, volatile. It's there's a lot of unknowns. It's kind of up and down, and ultimately government contracting is a very sustainable and reliable way to diversify your revenue streams as as a business in in any sort of industry. So, it just kind of occurred to me that there so many small businesses out there that don't really understand that the government is buying what they are producing, providing, selling their services, their products, their hardware, software solutions, the government is is probably buying it. So, they ultimately just are kind of unaware of that, and they need somebody to help guide them through the ins and outs of

4:26what can be a daunting maze to kind of approach from from the start. So, that's kind of how I I started, and I have been successfully running a the consulting company doing fractional business development for for small businesses and contracting acquisition support for the government for the past 5 years. So, yeah, here here I am today. No, I love I love this. I love this because there are some where it's like, "Oh, I don't want to be involved in what the family is

4:54doing." And what you did was so loving. And it's for just to to level set, if you could go into what innovation means, because often you know, people talk about, "Oh, I'm going to buy a franchise, right? Yeah. [music] I'm going to buy um like a like a dirty business. I'm going to get into laundry or a boring business, right? I'm going to buy an HVAC." But you rarely I I I can't really I I haven't really come across I a government contracting firm. It's something I talk about, but you don't really hear it. [music] So, if you could just kind of dive into what is

5:35innovation, and how is that connected to the buy for the audience? Yeah, yeah. So, for for those small businesses and and for I guess anybody else out there who's curious, innovation is the the process in which you go through to basically sell your contract to a the the firm that is buying your your company. So, you ultimately during the process of of an M&A are going to be evaluated for all of your your contracts in government contracting. So, they will value all of your contracts. They will take a holistic look at all of them to make sure that they understand what the parameters and what the restrictions and

6:10what the if you've got like small business restrictions and things like that. So, they'll they'll go through and evaluate all of like the the contract standing and the value from from [music] that standpoint. And then ultimately they will basically during the process of the buy, they will have to go and get permission from the government customer to sell that that contract to transition that contract

6:33into the new owner's name. So, it can be a it can be a relatively easy process with government customers that are [music] informed. They understand the process is coming. You've talked to them already. They are comfortable with the buyer and this is not a surprise to them and it's not like, "Okay, you were working with us today and tomorrow it's like, who the hell is this? Why are they coming into my office?" Like, you know, it can be fairly easy process if if you've got the relationship and you've you've let them know and they've been involved in at least some of it from from relatively early stages. You know, I

7:08know that there's limitations and [music] and conversations at some point with those those M&A's, but from the novation standpoint, it's it's the giving of permission by the government to allow that contract to transfer hands into the company that is buying your company. Oh, I I appreciate that. And what about those out there who maybe they're just starting out, maybe they worked in the government, maybe they had [music] any family experience, maybe they're just like, "I don't really know much, but I'm kind of interested. Where should they start? Other than let's say magically they have a business, they have a sam.gov, cage codes or BIs. What are the first

7:51like three things that these different new per se [music] business Yeah. government should do. Yeah, so I mean I guess it kind of it does depend a little bit on like how much you know about government contracting. So if you were like if you're coming out of a role as like an acquisitions expert or contracting like officers representative or something like that in the the acquisition process, you're probably going to have a little bit more insight and a little bit more understanding of of how the process works and the things that you need to do to to kind of follow the the rules with the process

8:25than what you would have if you were [music] even coming out of a different role like in government or if you had the family experience, you you may have some differentiated understanding there. So just kind of like depending on where you're starting, I always think it's just smart to get real familiar and comfortable with your local Apex

8:43accelerator. I'm always like an advocate of I pay tax dollars, you pay tax dollars, everybody's paying tax dollars. So like let's at least leverage them as much as possible and use those resources like [music] the Apex that that come at you know or free to us by way of our our tax dollars going to to fund those organizations. [music] So those are super helpful groups. They're local basically everywhere. You can find one that's within driving distance usually. So it's it's not too too bad to connect with them. They do a bunch of

9:13online and virtual training too. All of their services are free. So it's basically kind of like get trained up and get [music] get kind of a foundational level of of knowledge and awareness. Like go on Amazon and go get hey gov con get help, you know, shameless plug for the book and go go kind of do [music] some DIY and

9:33and self-learning there. And then once you kind of have come [music] you you've got the basics kind of of contracting, then you need to go learn the language of your your agencies. So, they will have an entirely different dialogue that they will speak than all of the other people that you will talk to in in other agencies. So, making sure that you're you're speaking that language and you're you're not using industry jargon jargon that's unfamiliar and you're not putting things into into context that might make sense

10:04to you but won't make sense to them. Kind of just getting that that great first understanding of of how your customer speaks, what they talk about, and how they talk, and making sure that all of the materials that you're developing and all of that sort of lends itself to that that specific dialogue as well. And then ultimately finding like just kind of doing a little bit of digging and trying to like utilize those free again websites sam.gov, usaspending.gov, and doing a little bit of market research to see where those dollars are actually going and have been going over the past, you know, the [music] five years or so, three five years,

10:41to see where those sort of pockets of money for the things that you do are and getting a better understanding of of, you know, which other customers may be most appropriate and and you might want to kind of reverse those steps so you find the agencies and then learn their language as second, but, you know, making sure that that's kind of it your in your first uh set of set steps that you're going to take in getting in this market is is [music] important. And is there a particular agency or department that you recommend for people who are new? Is it, "Hey, go to Department of War, no federal, no

11:16tri-state and local"? Cuz everybody wants to know, "Where do I start? Where do I begin?" as far as targeting a potential buyer. Yeah, so I mean, if you can find like tools that have both state and local and federal, like you're you're going to have some some better uh outcomes from the efforts of doing that market research. So [music] I know higher gov no like not sponsored by them or anything but they have both state local federal opportunities. So it's it's kind of easier to get a better sort of 50,000 foot view of everything to get a better sense as to whether you want to start

11:55maybe somewhere local because it's easier for you to get to and those relationships [music] are easier for you to build and it's you know a smaller organization. So it's easier for you to get sort of embedded with them and get a get a more fluid relationship going cuz at at the federal level it it can be a little bit like the relationship building can take time. It can just be a little [music] bit sort of less connected than than other industry relationships cuz they can keep you kind of at an arms length distance just as a contractor during the acquisition process. So there you can face that kind

12:31of coldness that you might not face if you're just able to walk into somebody's office down the street at your local city hall, right? So taking those things into into consideration is is always important and you know obviously there's going to be more compliance and security regulation if you're working [music] with Department of War versus if you're

12:49working with civilian agency. That is kind of starting to shift. So we're seeing some a lot of overlap in the cybersecurity and compliance requirements for for both now nowadays [music] but just making sure that if if you're interested in working with with the federal government you you are aware of the the compliance requirements that come with it and that there may be some cost you know associated with complying with those those regulations and compliance requirements before you get started so you're not you know wasting money and time on something that you may not ever

13:22want to pursue. Right. And then another way to help with building relationships and [music] also kind of figuring out which agencies are networking events. I know that right now NASA has a has one coming up. They have like a a matchmaking [music] event. If you could talk to or talk about like what are what's like the one thing that small businesses really need to lean into and to do when they attend a matchmaking event with an

13:54agency. Yeah. NASA, could be USDA, could be FDA. What is that thing that they all should be doing? Yeah, yeah. So, I mean matchmaking events are are absolutely vital. They're so important for small businesses and for government alike cuz it just gives them the opportunity to talk face to face and that interaction that you just don't get in in virtual situations. Um and you can build a lot of trust and rapport in those conversations if you come prepared. So, if you come prepared having done your homework, having even just step out of your way and do a quick Google on either the company or the organization and

14:27person that you're meeting with to make sure that you understand what their priorities are, what they're interested [music] in, like what their uh like swim lane is or their their industry focus. They they may be in one specific area of NASA that focuses on propulsion. So, if you've got like a propulsion thing, you want to be like really direct about like

14:46the fact that you've got that alignment. Um and if it's somebody who's more of like a generalist, like a small business officer, you can kind of ask for those people who do focus on the areas. Uh you can ask to be connected with those folk the those people that do focus on the areas that that you support. So, [music] you can get more connectivity in in that way by by just doing that level of homework ahead of time to figure out you who you're meeting with, what they do, what their role is like within the the government

15:14or organization. Um and come [music] ideally come to them with some sort of opportunity to talk about, and just kind of coming to to brief them on all of your amazing, wonderful, wonderful skills, which I'm sure are amazing and wonderful, but you know, they they want to hear about how you can apply them to their problems, rather than just how

15:34they're being applied in general today. So. What is like the biggest mistake that it's small or large cuz there's no there's no shmedium in government Yeah. often make in these networking events. But like and and I'm focusing on the in-person because there's way more in-person. Every time I check my email So many in-person events happening. So many of them. Yeah. Several are on sam.gov, several are on e-byte, which people always eventbrite that is that people always overlook is the uh power of eventbrite. And [music] it's free usually to sign up. So what is that like the mistake or the you know, you can speak to several, but what are those

16:16the mistake or mistakes that you see these businesses making at these [music] events? There are so like one of them is like just kind of what like exactly what you said, there's so many of them and so many companies will just be like I have to get to every single one of these and I have to talk to every single person and I'm like it gives me anxiety even saying that. It makes me so uncomfortable because I'm like there there's just no way and there there's just no way that you can be like productive in in trying to actually get to all of these events. You're going to

16:49first of all run yourself down, burn yourself out really quick, but then also were you focused on any outcomes from those? Like by the time that you get home, you're just focused on the next event that you're going to and trying to figure out how to get get after the next event, rather than thinking about, okay, I need to then do what is the the second

17:07mistake, which is follow up with people. People all the time are having great conversations at these events. You know, the you have like something really engaging, you're really compelled, like you have a really like you've got a connection going, and then they ghost you, [music] and you haven't heard from them, and like you're just like, what? I thought I thought that was so like I thought we just became best friends, like in that conversation was really great, but you like never reached [music] out, and then by the time that yeah, I realized it, it's like a week or so down the road, and I'm just you know,

17:39the shine of that amazing conversation's fading a little bit, so it's like you really have to focus on making a concerted effort to follow up, and follow up pretty promptly. I mean, I I try to do like as [music] soon as I can, I try to scan business cards, and make sure I've got something kind of ready to go in terms of a great talking with you, like let's see if we can continue the conversation, just to get [music] in their inbox, and make sure that I'm I'm mentioning what I talked them about, so that they don't forget, and and I try to do that day of, you

18:11know, make sure that I'm getting at least back to them, and continuing that that pull, cuz if if you wait [music] a week, if you wait two weeks, if you wait Lord forbid like a month, I think I had somebody call me like a year after, and was like, hey, did you go to this thing last year? I just wanted to connect with you, and I was like, did I like let me remember, did I? No, like please don't do that. Just make sure that you follow up like with even a brief note, like two sentences, three sentences, just to kind of like remind them who you are, what you talked about,

18:41and that like you want to continue that dialogue. That will help pull that relationship along, and it'll you'll get way more out of your your events that you do attend by making [music] sure that your your follow-up is is effective. Um, and then I think probably just like the third one I would see is uh companies often times, and especially small companies, if they've got the opportunity, they're trying to get booths, [music] and they're trying to get really big presence there at these events, and I don't blame them for that, but I do think that it puts them into a position where they have to wait behind

19:16that booth for somebody to come by instead [music] of having the ability to go connect with people where they are and have conversations where where you may have some some sort of consolidator by a spot. Um and it kind of just puts you into the the same space that that you might not want to be like in that entire [music] event. So, making sure that you've you've got some if if you do insist on getting a booth, just making sure that you've got some folks that are are able to kind of float around and visit and go other places in that event so that they're not all just

19:49sitting waiting for somebody to come by, you know, like a rural lemonade stand just waiting for somebody to come buy a glass, you know. [laughter] I love that, a rural lemonade stand. Yeah. Or over here in Michigan, we got the the bread lady stand and Yeah. the different apples and and corn and all the things. I love that. And like one of my mentors would call it like a walking exhibit. Yeah. She would have her team go and walk around and you know, I want to talk about the business cards because some may think like a business card, like don't I just use my

20:23phone? Maybe even if you could just speak to the fact that people still have them and importance of them. Yeah, so uh I still have them. I uh I actually do something like I think is pretty unique. I've got like these pink army women that I I bought that are are like those little uh little BMC toys figurines of of, you know, the green army men. Uh they have made them in a uh a female and they have made pink

20:53versions of this little uh army woman. Uh and I have uh attached them to my business card. I just hole punch them and tie them with a ribbon and like I still do that by hand and I it's a very loving effort, but it it really makes [music] my card stand out because they're getting like a little fun little piece of swag cuz it's attached to the card and it keeps the card kind of like together. So, I've I've a bunch of success [music] and everyone has loved getting a little pink army woman with with their card. So, I think that that's um [music] a great way to differentiate,

21:23right? Is is calling and bringing something different to the business card. I also have like QR code on my card. So, I am like coming up with the times. It's not just [music] like plain paper text that that says, you know, here's my name and my email. But, having those business [music] cards, having something to hand somebody and to give them, still there's still something to be said about that. It's like the [music] the being able to pay more attention when you're writing on paper than when you're typing on on a laptop. There's

21:51like some science behind that, right? It's being able to hand over a piece of paper, something physical, rather than just tap, you know, scan, buy, and moving into the next thing. You're you're dedicating a little bit of mental effort to the interaction uh and it makes it that much more memorable and that much more special. So, I think that that there is still definitely a place for business cards and and I still have, you know, I've got a big old box of them that I've I've collected at events. So, yeah, I I always value that that interaction of exchanging. No, I I love

22:22that cuz it allows for standing out. You're giving something to somebody. We love that. We're like, "Ooh, we got something." Like we love that and we can go back. [music] And also because we we have kind of like a special guest behind the scenes. And you could talk to how do you balance all of this while being a mom? Cuz how old

22:40is it How old is your baby? Uh yeah, she's 9 months and I hope that she hasn't come all the way through on audio too much. She is uh I've I've definitely got the noise suppression on. Um but, it is it is a new and different challenge every day, especially because she's growing so quick and now it's like

22:59I've got to look out for where she is. I've got to make sure I've got like eyes on her. If she's too quiet, I'm like, "Okay, what are we doing?" Um so so I would say I I am pulled away from my desk uh a lot more than I used to be, but it it really has given me like a different sort of respect for uh those moms that that deal with all of the like family logistics barriers to coming back to work and to going to events and you know, being able to rejoin society as a mom because it's it's like if I don't have child care, then and if I am child

23:34care, I work from home, like right? Like I am child care, then I've got to find some alternative or I've got to borrow my husband's time to be able to make sure that I'm able to to go and attend various events or speak [music] and and do all of these these things that I I love doing. So it's it's really um it's actually why I created a nonprofit that I'll I'll just plug right now and Yeah, please. Yeah, it's called conference kids. Uh and the the main priority there is to to give kids an opportunity to participate and engage at events that their parents are going to uh to be able

24:08to welcome working parents to to the event first of all, which working parents often times are choosing just not to attend or they leave early because they they've got other obligations. Uh so you're you're welcoming an entirely new and and exponentially larger audience to your events by by working with us. And then ultimately, it's giving the kids exposure to the industry that that mom and dad mom and dad works in. So you've got the opportunity to have them engage in age-appropriate and industry-relevant like STEM-based activities to give them an and it gives them a conference experience. So they feel like they're cool, they're hanging out and growing

24:44their networks from a really young age and then their parents are able to go and experience [music] the event and engage at at various sessions like they they want to. And without that that sort of lingering thought of you know, do I need to call the babysitter or do I need to make sure my kids doing okay at all? Yeah. Oh, I I love that you shared that. That's such a good idea. And then, you're really active on LinkedIn. Yeah. Uh how would you love people to reach out to you? Cuz especially since we talked about networking and just continuing the relationship, LinkedIn is a great place

25:19to do that. So, Or better yet, Chelsea, how can um the amazing my amazing GovCon winners, how can they army That's to you on LinkedIn? Yes, um please reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm Chelsea D. Roberts, uh and I'm I'm everywhere on LinkedIn. I also host the the GovCon Unscripted podcast, which you can find uh in the the LinkedIn group as well as on my page and Collaborative Compositions, which is my

25:42company. Um and then, you can find uh GovCon Unscripted on our YouTube channel, and I'm hoping I will have you on as a guest here very soon. And you will get you uh on on the platform as well. Um but yeah, Chelsea D. Roberts on LinkedIn, and yeah, I I love being on LinkedIn. I'm always reaching out to people, and it's always so fun when you get to connect with somebody that you've known on LinkedIn in person at an event, and you get to have that that moment of like, "Wow, it's been so long that we've known each other, and now I'm actually meeting you in person." So, yes, um I I love all

26:15of those those interactions as well. Yeah, I love that, too. And and I encourage leveraging LinkedIn, especially in government contracting, both LinkedIn and Facebook, cuz you have agencies that'll go live on Facebook. They're two of the platforms that they're very welcoming and opening Yeah. open to. So, please like reach out, connect with Chelsea. Uh anything else you want to share with all the amazing GovCon winners? If you are feeling like fun and getting adventurous in AI, I've got some prompt guides on my website, which is

26:51collaborativecompositions.com. So, if you feel like uh you could use a good guide full of prompts to to get your GovCon game going, then I encourage you to to check those out and see if those might be some It'll be awesome. And if you guys share the link the website again? Yeah, it's collaborativecompositions.com. [music] And that's all spelled out. I know it's long, but it's we'll get that hopefully in the in the notes for the episode and we'll we'll get that out to everybody as well in as as a link. Okay. Well, I appreciate it. I'm so grateful that you're here. So, everyone, please make sure you like,

27:24subscribe, hit the notification button, check out Chelsea on LinkedIn. Just go into LinkedIn and I know that some of you you have to figure out how to best represent yourself on LinkedIn because you may have a page that's connected to your employer. We understand that. Right? [music] Yeah. It's just every day doing something a little more than the next [music] and you're going to get there cuz it's not hard to win a contract. So, I appreciate you and everything is

27:52possible. Take care. Bye, y'all. Bye.