0:00

I'm excited to have Dr Kizzy

0:02

Parks . Kizzy has been an entrepreneur

0:04

since a very young age , reselling

0:07

golf balls for cash . She later earned

0:09

a PhD and established her company

0:11

, kpc . Kizzy is a self-made multi-millionaire

0:14

. She's been awarded more than $75

0:16

million in government contracts . She also

0:18

has a new company , govcon Winners , and

0:21

she mentors entrepreneurs through GovCon

0:23

Winners to secure government contracts

0:25

. She's helped people secure $3

0:27

million in government contracts in just six

0:29

months , which is pretty cool when you

0:31

grow in business , especially

0:34

as a woman , as someone that really

0:36

has big aspirations , there's not many

0:38

mentors to look up to . I consider her

0:40

a mentor and like a big sister . So

0:43

give it up for Kizzy , put it hard in the audience for

0:45

Kizzy . I see all of you . I appreciate all of you

0:47

. So , kizzy , thank you for being here today . You

0:49

know I love you . What's up ?

0:51

Well , thank you , that was such an endearing

0:54

and kind introduction

0:56

. I thank you enough . I

0:59

love you too , and I also

1:01

want to point out you know mentorship

1:03

works both ways , so you

1:05

also mentor me , and that's

1:07

what's great in this space .

1:09

Let's talk about you selling golf

1:11

balls as a child . Because

1:13

you and I are different in that way , I

1:15

kind of became an entrepreneur later by

1:17

accident . Share a little bit about that

1:20

.

1:20

I lived in Good Old Danville

1:23

, Illinois , which

1:25

was it

1:27

is . It's a tiny town and

1:30

my dad was an industrial

1:33

engineer . So we lived in this rural community

1:35

and I always wanted

1:37

funnions and nutty bars and

1:41

there was , like this corner store and

1:44

while I had an allowance , it's like how

1:46

am I going to get these funnions and nutty bars

1:48

when I don't really have an income ? So

1:50

my parents were always very encouraging

1:53

around my odd endeavors and

1:55

so my friend lived

1:57

on this alley and it

1:59

was littered with golf balls and

2:01

my grandmother golfed . So

2:03

I knew that some

2:06

golf balls were worth way more than

2:08

the others . So I would just collect

2:10

them , I would clean them , I would

2:12

save the really nice ones for my grandmother

2:14

, because when they found out I was doing

2:17

this , she was all about oh , I want this one

2:19

.

2:19

And save this one , I mean . It's creative

2:21

, though , and it's cool that your grandma supported

2:24

you .

2:24

Yeah , it's definitely creative .

2:26

So how did you go from someone

2:28

that has a PhD that was

2:31

in more of the corporate space

2:33

to an entrepreneur that built

2:36

a company that secures government

2:38

contracts ? How did that happen ? Because most

2:40

people that have a PhD that

2:42

are in corporate , they kind of stay there

2:44

forever .

2:45

There was this moment of

2:48

wow . I

2:50

came this far and I

2:52

was in the middle of this interview with a company

2:54

and they flew me out , which was like a big

2:56

deal . I'd never experienced that before

2:59

and I thought , oh my goodness , this is my

3:01

adult job . I'm getting flown out

3:03

, I'm getting interviewed , I'm going to see my office

3:06

. Like I was super excited and

3:10

I toured the place

3:12

and thought I've come far

3:14

and I'm going to have to share

3:16

a desk with someone . And

3:19

I could tell during

3:21

the interview the people were not very happy

3:23

.

3:25

Oh , like the people that worked there were just

3:27

not very happy to work there .

3:29

They weren't very happy , like it

3:31

was really clear that this

3:33

was the type of company where

3:36

you came in , maybe you did a couple

3:38

of years and then you left unless

3:40

you really wanted to stay . And the individuals

3:43

who I met with , they

3:45

gave the vibe of they were going in

3:47

, getting some experience and moving on

3:49

to something else

3:51

. And I remember sharing this

3:53

with my friend and she's like wow , you know , you've

3:56

put in all this work , you've spent all

3:58

this money and you're going to get a job or you're

4:00

sharing a desk . Now , not that there's anything

4:02

wrong with sharing a desk . It was just

4:04

indicative of their culture

4:06

, of how they treated people , where

4:09

they thought it was OK just to put

4:12

a ton of people in

4:14

these shared spaces when this

4:16

is a very successful organization

4:19

. Pretty much most of us know who they are . I'm

4:21

not going to say their name and

4:23

I just say this is not a fit

4:25

. So I started praying not to get the job .

4:27

Wow , when your dream job turns

4:30

into your nightmare .

4:32

I remember the recruiter called

4:34

and I was just like , please , I don't want this job , I don't

4:36

want this job . And I didn't pick up the phone and

4:38

thankfully I didn't get the job . I

4:40

had some backups . There was a university

4:43

where I was

4:45

a 1099 . And

4:47

they had expressed interest in hiring

4:50

me . There was a company out

4:52

of Denver who also

4:54

provided a job offer and

4:57

it just not . Neither of them felt

4:59

right . But I didn't think I was going to

5:01

be an entrepreneur right out of grad school either

5:03

. I just knew

5:06

I had to pay my bills

5:08

. I wanted this thing , this

5:10

job , right Because we put there's

5:12

nothing wrong with the job , but we put it on this pedestal . You

5:14

get a degree , you get a job . Ok

5:16

, I wanted to go up the life ladder , get married

5:19

, have kids , have this job .

5:20

And then how did you go from

5:22

that to the business ? How

5:25

long did it take for you to start the

5:27

business ?

5:28

It was immediate , it was right before I

5:30

became Dr Parks , so thankfully

5:33

I had some experience as a

5:35

1099 , a gig worker

5:37

, and during a kind

5:40

of an internship I

5:42

was asked if I wanted to stay

5:44

on as a government contractor

5:46

. Really had no idea what that even entailed

5:48

, I just knew that at

5:50

that organization they were military

5:53

members , people with the Coast Guard

5:55

, government employees and this

5:57

thing called government contractors . I

5:59

had no idea what it meant , and

6:02

so all I knew was this was an opportunity

6:05

to give me what

6:07

I was looking for , and that was to

6:09

create my own journey .

6:12

I love that . So , basically , you

6:14

did such a good job as a gig

6:16

worker that your expertise

6:19

or your work ethic something about you

6:21

was exceptional and they asked you to stay on

6:23

. Yes , okay

6:26

, how long did it take for

6:28

you to get your first client

6:31

in KPC , and

6:33

where did that come from ? Did that come from networking

6:36

or what .

6:38

And I want to clarify something as I jump

6:40

into this , because some people have said well

6:42

, this is easy . You , immediately

6:45

in an internship , you got a government

6:47

subcontract . Well

6:49

, I want to share something , because it's

6:52

about what you make of an open door . That's

6:55

what it's about . I was not the only

6:57

person that they offered this

7:00

to . I am the only one who grew a

7:02

business to have over a hundred team members

7:04

. So , right

7:06

out the gate , before I even

7:09

had a corporation

7:11

, I received a contract

7:13

that was a little less than six figures being

7:16

in mind . I was involved in little gig

7:18

opportunities . I was a 1099

7:20

for a very well-known private college

7:23

. I just always operated under

7:25

a sole proprietorship . I had

7:28

no idea that I should have had an LLC

7:30

or an S corp during that time . I

7:33

had no idea . So I

7:35

formed KPC . It

7:38

was in May of

7:41

08 . Is when I formed

7:43

KPC , and so at

7:45

that time I

7:47

realized if I'm going

7:49

to really make this work , I

7:52

had to think bigger . I had to

7:54

focus on my mindset , because , if

7:56

not , I noticed that there

7:58

were many people who were labeled as subcontractors

8:01

and their goal was to be hired

8:04

by the employer or just

8:06

make enough money to get

8:08

by and again , that's great

8:10

for them . That wasn't

8:13

my goal then . I just knew I

8:15

wanted something bigger . I didn't know what that

8:17

entailed . I didn't have a business planned

8:19

or some relationship with

8:21

a bank . I didn't have a

8:23

corporation then .

8:25

So , as I , when

8:27

I've made that decision to step out

8:30

and say , hey , I'm going to make this work , that's

8:33

when I started getting speaking

8:35

gigs and then the speaking gigs

8:37

added to your credibility I'm assuming

8:39

right and then got people's attention

8:42

and , knowing you , you were

8:44

able to build the relationships once you

8:46

got the attention .

8:48

Right , because often I found

8:51

it so interesting it was the

8:53

one space as an

8:55

entrepreneur had nothing

8:57

to do with federal government . This was a comment

9:00

that would come up again and again and

9:02

again . Oh wow , you're

9:04

so young . There

9:07

were always a lot of age comments

9:09

, sometimes in tons of age , interesting

9:12

age remarks , and at that

9:14

time I didn't understand it . I just was like

9:16

oh , I'm Dr Parks , I'm involved

9:18

in diversity and inclusion . I'm

9:20

just , I was so naive , I didn't really understand

9:23

what was going on . So what happened

9:25

was getting these speaking

9:27

engagements came from putting myself

9:29

out there volunteering . Oh

9:31

, you're looking for something to speak at this conference

9:34

on diversity , I'll do it . I

9:36

had no problem paying for my own travel

9:38

. Oh , wow , this army

9:40

reserves . They want me to speak

9:43

at their annual conference . Okay , great

9:45

, I don't know what that really entails

9:47

. I've never done anything like that , but I will

9:49

figure it out . I knew I

9:51

was able to do it . Going back to mindset

9:54

, it was just figuring it out

9:56

because these opportunities

9:58

, even to this day , are

10:00

still paying off . These weren't just

10:02

one and done . Hey , I received

10:04

some money , I can check the box . These

10:07

turned into long-term relationships

10:09

and , in some instances , turned into

10:12

million dollar contracts .

10:14

So let's talk about what the benefits are

10:17

of securing government contracts

10:19

for business owners . What

10:21

are the benefits and then what are the signs

10:23

that maybe you should take advantage of this

10:25

space ?

10:26

If you are concerned

10:28

about having regular revenue . So

10:30

if you have irregular revenue , you're like

10:32

man February was amazing

10:34

, july not so much

10:37

. The federal government helps

10:39

with that because often the

10:41

contracts are anywhere from

10:44

two years

10:46

. There are some contract vehicles that

10:48

last 10 years in duration , so

10:51

it really helps you . So you have ongoing

10:53

revenue . You have a continuity offer

10:56

. So in

10:58

some continuity may mean a

11:00

subscription , something of that

11:02

nature . In the federal government , the continuity

11:04

is by having multi-year contracts

11:06

. So then you know oh , every

11:09

year , I mean every month , I will

11:11

receive , let's say , $50,000 to

11:13

invoice . You have several opportunities

11:16

like that . Then you have

11:18

this dependable , consistent revenue

11:21

. The second thing about the federal government

11:23

is they buy everything . They

11:25

buy everything from leadership

11:27

training , different training , they

11:30

buy printed materials , they

11:32

purchase products and services

11:34

like medical products , drum

11:37

sets , they buy graphic design . They

11:39

spend well over $500

11:44

billion in products and services

11:46

. So then that often leads to

11:48

why me ? Why would they buy from me

11:50

? Why wouldn't they just buy from somebody

11:53

else ? Because they have a

11:55

mandate to set aside 25%

11:58

of their sales with small

12:00

businesses and , more than likely , everyone

12:02

listening to this . You're part

12:04

of what's considered a small business , and

12:06

a small business doesn't mean it's you or

12:09

you every now and again . A

12:11

small business in

12:14

some areas means a company doing

12:16

$30 , $40 million

12:18

a year . So that's the other beautiful part

12:20

about government contracting is they

12:23

want you to grow , they want to use small business

12:25

owners , and so if you're

12:27

interested in offering

12:29

something to the government , the first step

12:31

this is free you go to Sam

12:34

, like Uncle Sam Samgov

12:36

, and you

12:38

go and you register . It doesn't matter where

12:40

you live in the world . If you live outside

12:42

of the United States , you need an N , as

12:44

in Nancy N cage . Otherwise

12:47

you go into Samgov

12:50

and you register . They love

12:52

purchasing from us because

12:54

when you purchase from a

12:56

small business , they get us . They're

12:59

not getting 10 levels

13:01

down , they're not just

13:03

another client . They

13:06

know that whenever a small

13:08

business receives a contract with a government

13:10

agency , we look

13:13

at it like this is a golden

13:15

egg . This

13:17

is very rare , very valuable . We

13:19

have to just really

13:22

make sure we go

13:24

above and beyond for them . So they

13:26

love that with us .

13:28

I love that and you teach people how

13:30

to do this right , because I don't want people

13:32

to just go and start

13:35

bidding by themselves or something

13:37

, because there's probably you

13:39

know , I think with government contracting , it

13:42

would be good to have a long term

13:45

mindset and to do

13:47

the foundational stuff correctly

13:50

. It may take six months or a year

13:52

, but after that you could

13:54

secure contracts that are 10 years

13:56

or five years and multiple

13:58

ones . Correct , correct

14:00

.

14:01

Because what's key is you have to have a strategy

14:03

Right . It's like

14:05

GPS If

14:08

you're going to drive across the country

14:10

, you need a

14:12

map , you need something

14:14

to inform you . Here's

14:17

where you go , here's where you avoid , and

14:19

the beauty of GPS is

14:21

real time . The same

14:24

thing happens with my strategies and

14:26

with what I teach at Govcom winners , because

14:28

I'm actually in it . I

14:31

have several federal , government

14:33

and state-level contracting

14:35

companies . I'm actively bidding

14:38

. I have employees , I have

14:40

contractors . I'm

14:42

with the same things that you are

14:44

dealing with . I'm able to

14:46

show you and help

14:48

you understand . Here are

14:50

the things that you need to do . The biggest

14:52

one involves the mindset . It's

14:56

number one because the belief

14:58

must be . The government wants

15:00

to buy what I offer .

15:05

What we offer could be . Is

15:07

it only products or is it also

15:09

services ? Then

15:11

could you tailor

15:13

what you offer to what

15:16

the demand is . Talk

15:19

about that a little bit .

15:20

Yes , when I first

15:22

started out , I

15:24

fell into this diversity and

15:26

inclusion arena . At

15:29

now Patrick Space Force In

15:31

Central Florida , I just became

15:34

the diversity expert . I

15:36

spoke at all the places . I even

15:38

have a book . I became

15:40

that person . What

15:43

I ended up doing ? I've partnered

15:45

with a company that has

15:47

private sector clients

15:49

. Then I

15:52

had , like TIA , kreff , wendy's

15:54

, different hospitals as clients

15:57

, all under my S-Corp . In

15:59

addition to providing diversity

16:01

and inclusion strategy training

16:04

, anything and everything . I

16:06

helped on a diversity and inclusion conference

16:09

in Reno , nevada , for

16:11

I think there were maybe 500 people there . Then

16:15

a couple years went by and

16:17

I started to take notice of the landscape

16:20

and I said the following what

16:22

do I have to offer next ? I've

16:25

offered all of these products

16:27

and services . If I'm going

16:30

to continue in this diversity space

16:32

, there's going to come a

16:34

time I'm going to hit a ceiling . There's going to be a new

16:36

person or a new thing . Is

16:38

this really where I want to go ? I

16:41

had mentors sharing that the

16:43

way to really grow

16:45

on the services side of

16:47

federal government contracting was

16:50

on staffing , on

16:53

having you being

16:55

paid for people to do the thing

16:57

. The thing could be graphic designs , it could be

16:59

admin , it could be creating ID cards

17:01

. It could be checking people into a building

17:04

. I really resisted that . I

17:06

really had a negative belief around

17:08

that . My belief lead was pretty strong

17:10

. So as I get-

17:13

.

17:13

What was the belief ? You just wanted to stick

17:16

with what you knew , or yeah

17:18

.

17:18

Okay , I did . I want to stick with what

17:20

I knew . I looked down

17:23

upon staffing like , oh

17:25

, staffing . I was so arrogant it's embarrassing

17:28

to think back to this . It really

17:30

is because I was like what is wrong with you ? I

17:33

was so arrogant about it . I just thought

17:35

like , oh , I'm Dr Park , how

17:37

am I going to do staffing ? It's

17:40

crazy because I love staffing now . But

17:42

I just thought like , no , that's not what I

17:44

want . One of the main reasons for it

17:47

is because I've always been conditioned

17:50

to be this expert , to

17:53

be this expert like , okay , you're

17:56

getting a PhD , oh , you're in diversity , inclusion . Oh

17:58

, you know statistics , oh , you know research . So

18:01

my mentality was like , oh , staffing

18:03

isn't really expertise , that's

18:05

so different . And I didn't understand

18:08

business . I

18:10

didn't really . I didn't understand at that time

18:12

Because , remember , I just went directly from

18:14

grad school to

18:16

boom , I have an S-corp and

18:19

there was phone a friend . I didn't

18:21

have anyone to ask these

18:23

questions with . Who were my to , who

18:25

are my peers , right ? So

18:28

finally , as I took notice of

18:30

the landscape , I said , okay , I have

18:32

to make a change because , yeah , I

18:34

love training and development , but does it have

18:36

to be diversity ? No , it can be anything

18:39

. And once I made that

18:41

decision , the energy went

18:44

with me and we ended up getting

18:46

our very first $4

18:49

million sole source contract , because

18:51

the federal government has a program

18:53

where you can get sole source

18:56

contracts up to $4 million

18:58

and that contract and

19:00

we still have it to this day , 10 years later

19:02

. It is for training

19:05

and development . It's just for

19:08

food inspectors and different

19:11

people and the topic

19:13

is different , but the

19:15

concept is the same and I'm not involved

19:17

in doing the work .

19:18

Well , I was just going to touch on that Was part

19:20

of that belief . Like that you

19:22

had to do it , you had

19:24

to be the one doing the training . Like you

19:26

had to be the one on

19:28

the stage , you had to

19:30

be the one going in there and training the teams

19:32

, because staffing is . You're

19:34

not the one doing it anymore .

19:38

It was . I was so afraid

19:41

and I thought , oh

19:44

, how am I going to make

19:46

sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do

19:48

? I'm not there . I had

19:50

that again . Another limiting belief

19:52

. Another belief led . I thought how

19:54

can they really do it as well as I

19:56

can do it ? And who am

19:58

I going to be able to find to do this ? And

20:01

while I had other team members

20:03

helping me the

20:06

only employee at the time , so

20:09

other people who would help , it was just 1099

20:13

as needed . And

20:15

with this it was like , oh my goodness

20:17

, I'm relying on

20:19

these people to

20:21

really help grow this company

20:23

.

20:24

So you had to become a leader and

20:26

learn how to basically

20:29

match the best set of skills

20:31

and I bet personality weighs

20:33

in , because if you have three people with the same

20:35

skills for that fulfillment

20:38

of that training , there's probably one that will

20:40

get along better with the management of that company

20:43

or whatever . So you really became

20:45

kind of like matchmaking

20:48

the skills set experts

20:50

with the companies that needed them .

20:53

Definitely .

20:54

And what was the learning curve ? How long did it take

20:56

you to become a great leader ?

20:59

Oh man , it's a . It's a work in progress

21:01

. I mean , I'm way better

21:03

than I was 15 years

21:05

ago , but the thing is

21:07

working on your mindset

21:09

, working on your leadership skills . It's

21:12

not a check the box . You're

21:14

continuously nurturing them

21:16

because the needs there

21:19

are the basic needs . You look at Maslow's

21:21

hierarchy of needs , but there

21:24

are also needs that may

21:26

change . There's some needs that are more important

21:28

to some people , that are less important to others

21:30

, and so I'm constantly

21:33

learning and growing as a leader

21:36

and making sure that my team

21:38

is doing the same and hiring

21:40

accordingly , definitely

21:43

based on our current goals . Because , for instance

21:45

, our current goal is to take KPC

21:47

to be a hundred million dollar a year

21:50

company that takes a way different

21:52

skill set and a different mindset

21:54

than when I started the company 15

21:56

years ago and didn't even know what it meant to send

21:58

in an invoice .

22:00

Yeah , and I have to say you know

22:02

, kizzie and I , what we've known each other

22:04

for three years now . Three

22:07

years , kizzie , something

22:10

like that . Yeah , and I

22:13

think that you're one of the only

22:15

people since three years

22:17

ago from LinkedIn that has

22:20

continued to grow in

22:22

their business and in their brand . That

22:24

I know , because most people

22:26

have kind of either stagnated or

22:28

fallen off completely .

22:34

So it's easy to stop

22:36

, it's

22:38

easy to rest on your laurels , it's

22:41

easy to look at your bank account or your investment

22:43

or your 401k or your

22:45

real estate portfolio or you

22:47

know , your ability to go on 2.5

22:49

vacations and say , okay

22:52

, this is great . And

22:54

I did that for a really long time . And

22:59

one of the reasons I shifted and I'm not just saying

23:01

this because I'm here , I've

23:03

said this publicly on my platforms

23:06

is Shanae is she would

23:08

just the way , she would coach

23:11

me and she would say you know , you need to get out there and post videos

23:13

, you need to get a newsletter , you need to do and it's like she's

23:15

right because I'm there's so much more I want

23:18

in life and

23:24

in order to accomplish that , have to put in the

23:26

action . I know I didn't come this far for this life . It's this life Amazing . Of

23:28

course , every single one of our lives is amazing . We're

23:30

all here today . This

23:32

is all a blessing , but it's about taking things to the next level

23:35

, because I truly I just want to help people . I

23:39

want people to know . I want every one of you to know government contracting is

23:41

for you . The bureaucracy you hear about is

23:43

really not that bad the

23:47

myths that are out

23:49

there . It's just to keep you away . If

23:53

that was the case , then how was I , how was I able to build

23:56

a business when I just went out from grad school ? I

23:58

didn't serve in the military . I didn't work for the

24:00

government . I don't have any , really no , there is

24:02

no husband that works for the government . I

24:05

love it . Now this is so powerful and we'll take

24:08

questions and about give us about another story .

24:13

We'll take questions and about . Give

24:15

us about another five to 10 minutes . If

24:17

you're loving the room , put a heart in the audience . I want

24:19

to know who you are . We love

24:21

all the 200 of you that are in here

24:23

. Click the share button at the bottom

24:25

of the events so that you could

24:27

share it with your network , because LinkedIn does not

24:30

store the recordings and

24:32

it will give someone in your network the

24:34

opportunity to also listen in

24:36

and maybe come and raise their hand . So

24:38

, uh , kizzy , I

24:40

want to ask you two questions and

24:42

if you're interested in

24:44

all this government contracting stuff , you

24:47

know , do message Kizzy , but also don't

24:49

be afraid to , when we do raise our hands

24:51

, to just ask about mindset . She

24:53

has a very successful business . She's

24:56

continuing to grow both in

24:58

her brand and in her business and that kind

25:00

of . You know that goes beyond

25:02

government contracting too . So

25:04

there are a lot of entrepreneurs

25:07

, business owners , out there . They want

25:09

to do the video thing , they want to do the

25:11

social media thing , they want to go live

25:13

. But they say , kizzy , you know I

25:15

don't have time for that , I'm running my business

25:17

. What would you say to them ?

25:22

I mean I'm going to say you

25:24

got a minute of time , but hear me out

25:26

, because we say that a lot like oh , I want to go to

25:28

the gym , you don't make the time . I want to spend

25:31

more time with family . I want to make the time . I'm

25:33

ready to talk , I got it , but hear

25:35

me out . What

25:37

is your goal ? What kind of life do you want ? So

25:42

, for instance , there's a gentleman we're

25:44

in a coaching program together and

25:47

he talked about that . He

25:52

missed an event with his child . I

25:55

could tell that it really tore him up and

25:58

his goal was to spend

26:00

more time with his family and to go camping

26:03

and do all these things . And

26:05

in that program the

26:07

coach was like okay , well , in

26:09

order for you to do this , you

26:12

are going to have to take yourself

26:15

out of being in the business

26:17

. You're going to have to bring somebody else

26:19

on , and so

26:22

he has an . Over the weekend I received

26:24

a picture of him and his family all happy

26:26

on this hike that they are on . I mean it was and

26:28

I think they're gone for almost three weeks , which is

26:30

amazing because he had never done anything like

26:33

that before Now . While some

26:35

of you may not be in the financial position where

26:37

you can hire somebody . What

26:39

can you do ? That's the question . What

26:41

are you able to do ? Is it that

26:44

, once a week , you're

26:46

able to devote maybe two

26:48

hours to creating content ? Is

26:51

it that , instead of creating content

26:53

and worrying about someone

26:55

editing , maybe you go

26:57

live three times

26:59

a week ? I mean just here on LinkedIn ? It's

27:02

fairly easy to go live

27:04

. Maybe you decide well , I want

27:06

to do both , okay . Well , there are people

27:08

out there who will even edit your videos

27:10

for you at a very nominal

27:13

cost on a variety of platforms

27:15

, because , at the end of the day , being

27:18

social , let me share with you what this brings for

27:20

you . It is going

27:22

to exceed your wildest dreams . The gentleman

27:24

I just spoke about he is

27:26

involved in selling office furniture , office

27:30

chairs , refurbished chairs , office

27:32

furniture . He has built a

27:34

eight-figure business selling

27:37

office chairs and office furniture

27:39

, largely because of his YouTube channel

27:41

. And

27:43

so Wait , repeat that

27:45

, repeat that . I know he

27:48

started out on YouTube . He

27:50

was just like oh , I just wanted to get

27:53

some attention from and

27:59

it's just , I mean regular office chairs

28:01

and refurbished office chairs . And he said

28:03

next thing you know he's like

28:05

I'm doing millions and millions and millions

28:07

in business because

28:10

they would feature a chair . People

28:12

want to buy it or he then became

28:14

an expert . He

28:17

had this unlimited mindset and

28:20

so and he also approaches

28:22

it different just like each and

28:24

every one of us we all have our own personalities

28:27

. There's enough space for

28:29

every one of us . But what he

28:31

did is he made it a priority , so

28:34

he put the content on there

28:36

. Now he's to the point where other people

28:38

are often in the videos , but nonetheless

28:41

, it's about his intent

28:43

of hey , I just want to generate some business has

28:46

turned into this eight-figure

28:49

business and he continues

28:51

to grow his

28:53

channel and the same thing happens . I

28:55

know what's happened for me . I posted

28:57

and that's how I connected with Shanae . I

29:00

posted regularly on LinkedIn

29:02

and that helped me twofold

29:04

. One , I got the attention

29:06

of some government employees , because

29:08

this is the number one space for

29:10

government employees . Many

29:13

of them are here , many of the agencies

29:15

have pages and you can

29:17

do a lot .

29:18

They're lurking in the background looking .

29:21

Right , and you can also lurk

29:23

with them too , because you can see who are they connected

29:25

with , how you can get in contact , what

29:27

events . There are even people on LinkedIn

29:30

who post government bids . I

29:32

mean , it's amazing the resource , so

29:34

it led to visibility

29:36

there . And then , second , I received my

29:39

very first paid GovCon

29:41

winners client . He was a five-figure

29:44

client . I had no website

29:46

, I had nothing . He saw some

29:48

videos , we had a call and I

29:50

closed the deal . I was

29:52

still , to this day , blown away

29:54

by that . That's

29:57

just from LinkedIn . So

29:59

the question is , if you

30:01

want to be able to achieve your goals , video

30:05

is the way Hands down

30:07

. Whether you sell office chairs , you're

30:09

selling something around coaching , consulting

30:11

, whether you're selling phone cases

30:13

, this is the place for you .

30:16

Yeah , I love it . I love it . So

30:18

you're taking questions . Kizzi , you want to start taking

30:21

questions ? Yes , okay , so

30:23

if you have a question for Kizzi , click the hand

30:26

icon at the bottom right of

30:28

your screen and raise your hand

30:30

. It could be related

30:32

to government contracting . It could be related

30:34

to content creation as a

30:36

founder . Just raise your hand and we'll bring

30:38

you up . So , jase , what's up ?

30:41

Hey , good morning today and hey , kizzi

30:44

, thank you so much for sharing all this knowledge

30:46

with us . Really appreciate it . My

30:48

question to you is this I run a recruitment agency

30:51

and we've obviously been

30:53

trying to get into government contracts . The problem that we've

30:55

been facing is we don't know how to

30:57

. How long does it normally take for

30:59

someone to secure a government contract ?

31:03

The answer to that is up to you .

31:07

Let me answer that , Jase .

31:09

It's going to take longer without Kizzi , I

31:12

mean truly it will Just like

31:14

, with how it's going to take you longer than if you

31:16

don't have Shanae , because

31:18

when you have someone who's been

31:20

there , done that and has a proven record

31:22

, I know all of the potholes

31:25

, landmines to avoid . And especially

31:27

for recruiting , the federal government's always recruiting

31:30

State level . I just went through a free

31:32

platform last night and

31:34

I saw opportunities just in

31:36

different counties in Florida by just

31:38

digging deeper and having that strategy . So

31:42

it's something where you follow

31:44

the strategy definitely

31:46

in less than

31:48

14 months , because the small business

31:51

administration's 14 months

31:53

Definitely way less than that . If you follow the

31:55

strategy . I've had people who just

31:57

by watching my free content

32:00

they've won a contract . Often those

32:02

contracts are service I mean our product base

32:04

or small service . So again , it's about

32:06

you . What type of recruiting are you

32:08

currently in ?

32:09

Yeah , I do sales recruiting .

32:11

Are you open to pivoting because the federal government's

32:14

need for sales professionals

32:16

may be a little limited ?

32:18

Yeah , so we have a fully automated client

32:20

acquisition system that's now predictable for

32:22

the sales side . We're kind of adding three more

32:25

recruiters to the mix that we've onboarded

32:27

and we're kind of pivoting for like

32:29

travel nursing , as an example , as one of them

32:31

. So I don't mind pivoting .

32:35

Well , if you're open to pivoting , by all means

32:37

, because they , for

32:39

instance , we have religious positions . I

32:42

have Catholic and Protestant religious positions

32:44

in Hawaii , quantico and

32:46

Georgia and

32:48

it's just recruiting , and

32:50

so not that you necessarily have to staff religious

32:52

positions , but it's just to give you an idea . The

32:55

federal government is staffing everything

32:57

. If you've ever been to a military post or

32:59

base or you had a , okay

33:02

, so think about that . Every single person

33:04

you've encountered they need staffed . Chances

33:06

are they're not a government employee .

33:08

Yeah , no , that's good perspective . I grew

33:10

up with Marines and my family so I'm very

33:12

familiar with some of these bases . But

33:15

yeah , absolutely Definitely interesting connecting after this

33:17

chat .

33:17

You can DM me . I have a wait list

33:19

on govconwinnerscom , but just DM

33:22

me would be way faster .

33:23

All right On Trey .

33:25

Dr Kizzy Parks , one of my favorite human

33:27

beings , highly brilliant , highly

33:30

educated , highly melanated . I

33:32

love everything that you do . So that's that

33:35

, and love watching you on YouTube . Thank

33:37

you so much for being honest

33:39

. And when you had , there's

33:41

a question I want to ask you actually like really quick

33:43

. So when you said you had no one to ask

33:45

questions when you graduated in between being

33:48

Dr Parks and an entrepreneur , if you could

33:50

go back five or 10

33:52

years even , what business or

33:54

mindset advice would you give your younger self ? And

33:56

then the second one

33:59

is how do you strike a balance , when you

34:01

do risk taking , between , like , taking really

34:03

both steps and then managing potential

34:05

downsides , because it's a lot of money

34:08

that's involved in government contracting ?

34:11

There is . I'm

34:13

right now in the middle of bidding on

34:15

this . I don't even know

34:17

what the ceiling is . It's $10 billion

34:19

, something ridiculous that I'm bidding on

34:21

. So

34:24

, okay , there's this big part

34:26

of me where I wouldn't give myself any advice

34:29

because everything that I've been

34:31

through has led me to this . So

34:33

I just you know . But to answer your question

34:37

, first and foremost , I would tell myself

34:39

it's going to get better . It's

34:41

going to get better , and

34:44

I would have emphasized

34:47

with myself at that point in time

34:49

you got to learn business

34:53

basics , you have to work

34:55

on trust and you have to work on confidence

34:57

. Those were the biggest

34:59

things for me . All of

35:02

the trials and tribulations that I've encountered

35:04

have come from having holes in those

35:06

areas .

35:07

What was your second question on Traya Risk

35:09

?

35:09

taking . How do you balance ?

35:13

I love risk taking . I

35:16

love it . I

35:18

love it so much it scares my team . I

35:21

do .

35:22

It's like Shanae and Sean Caryl On

35:25

Traya knew it .

35:27

I love it because if risk

35:29

, so here's the deal If you're

35:31

not taking the risk , then you're not going to be able to reap

35:34

the big reward . However , comma

35:36

, I always have

35:38

some type

35:40

of net . Now

35:43

, I may be 50,000

35:45

feet in the sky and the net is like three

35:48

inches above the ground , but

35:50

I'm going to have some type of net

35:52

because my

35:54

mindset , my manifestation , my

35:57

thoughts , that all of that

35:59

is so strong . I'm

36:01

not afraid of failing because

36:03

I look at it as a learning tax . Well

36:06

, as I do certain things to help

36:08

minimize failure per

36:10

se , I look

36:12

at the risk to see if . Number one is it

36:14

worth the payoff ? That's

36:17

first and foremost when am I going to get

36:19

by doing this risk ? Number

36:21

two is this something ? Is

36:24

this a long-term risk ? What

36:27

is going on with this risk ? Is it a one-day

36:29

risk ? Is it a three-day risk ? What

36:32

type of energy is going to be involved in this risk

36:34

? Number three I think about okay

36:36

, is there like

36:39

some kind of known quantity

36:41

case study of

36:44

this , doing this , taking this

36:46

risk , this chance is going

36:48

to lead to the result that I'm

36:50

looking for to get us closer to

36:52

our goals ? Those are the kinds of things

36:54

that quickly go through my

36:57

mind and also what helps

36:59

, because sometimes I

37:01

just want to do everything . I do

37:03

have a chief of staff who

37:05

I bounce ideas off of

37:08

, and I really appreciate

37:10

that , and I have an amazing legal team , who

37:12

also helps too . But

37:14

those two things aside , is you

37:17

just have to be prepared . Especially

37:19

starting out . Early on

37:21

took so many risks or I did things

37:23

that I didn't even realize were risk . Today

37:25

I still take risks , but they're definitely

37:28

way more calculated .

37:30

I love it .

37:31

Yeah .

37:32

Thanks , andrea Shankar .

37:36

Good morning , Dr Parks . Thank you so much for

37:39

sharing all that knowledge with us . My

37:41

question is as you grow a

37:43

team , at what point

37:45

do you realize it's time

37:48

to add a person

37:50

, and what

37:52

is the first thing you delegate

37:55

to that person in

37:57

that instance ?

37:58

I focus in on what

38:02

type of skill set do

38:04

I need in order to

38:07

allow myself to shine Shine

38:09

being selling for me , For

38:12

GovCon winners and for KPC . It's

38:15

about who are those people

38:17

that are needed so I can shine and

38:19

go out there and close deals .

38:21

So for GovCon winners .

38:23

I knew I needed someone to

38:25

operate the day to day In

38:28

order to go in front of camera . Beyond

38:31

all of these things , figure stuff out

38:33

, dream all

38:35

of that . I needed that With

38:38

KPC , for instance . Right now I've

38:40

made the decision we're

38:43

going to really go heavy into staffing

38:45

. So I'm in the middle of bringing on

38:47

a second proposal writer who

38:50

just focuses on staffing

38:52

and so it's about

38:54

, in order to have that

38:56

person come on , be it an admin

38:58

, be it operations

39:00

, be it personal assistant

39:02

, be it the person doing the

39:04

thing , as long as

39:07

it elevates you to bring

39:09

in more sales , that's great . But

39:11

you also have to be mindful and be

39:14

prepared that you're going to

39:16

have to train them

39:18

and make sure that they're aware

39:20

of what you want them to do the

39:22

objectives . How is this position

39:25

and how are they helping you get closer to your

39:27

goals ? So one thing that we've started

39:29

doing is I ask candidates

39:31

what are your five-year goals ? Because

39:33

if a person doesn't have goals or they say I

39:35

don't believe in goals , that's great , I

39:38

do . So you're not going to be able

39:40

to help me and the company and our

39:42

team move forward with goals if

39:44

you don't believe in goals . So

39:46

that's key and also holding them

39:48

accountable , because we'll get into this space

39:50

of . We know we need to grow . We feel

39:52

it , especially as entrepreneurs . You just have that feeling

39:55

like , oh my gosh , I

39:57

need help . But then the

39:59

steps needed to make sure the

40:02

people we bring on for success

40:04

are often rushed . And

40:07

when they're rushed we think , oh , nobody

40:09

can do it as good as I can . And

40:11

the thing is , yes , they can . It's

40:14

just to really

40:16

understand what do you need that person to do

40:18

? What are the expectations , what are their goals

40:21

, things of that nature . So I

40:23

would suggest bringing somebody

40:25

on as soon as you financially can afford

40:27

them , as long as it's helping

40:29

you lead to more sales . I

40:31

had inconsistent sales with GovCon

40:34

winners because my

40:36

energy was all over the place as soon as

40:38

I brought in my team member . All

40:40

of that has changed . Now

40:44

we're exceeding all of

40:46

our goals because the energy is going where

40:48

it needs to go and it allows me to focus in on

40:50

what's important for me .

40:52

Thank you , shankar Frankie .

40:54

First of all , congratulations Dr

40:56

Keezy Parks and Shanay for

40:59

having a great LinkedIn live

41:01

event . I have somebody

41:03

that wants to ask a question for us .

41:06

Hi , good morning everyone . Thank

41:10

you , dr Spark and Shanay . My

41:12

name is Lorna . I invented a product

41:15

and

41:17

it's being used now in hospitals

41:20

, but we did . For

41:22

the number of years that we have been

41:24

manufacturing the product , we have not

41:27

had one government

41:29

contract . How do we do

41:31

that ?

41:34

The key to something like that and thank

41:36

you and good morning to you and I appreciate

41:38

the question and that is there

41:40

has to be a need . So

41:42

if , by being demonstrate

41:45

the need , so for instance , the

41:47

federal government , they will

41:50

hold events where vendors

41:52

like yourself , you

41:54

can show and do demos , whether

41:57

it's some type of medical device

41:59

, if it's a technology , what may

42:01

have you ? There's tons of events like that . The

42:03

second thing there are these

42:05

small business innovative research

42:08

cibbers that are out

42:10

there where the government is funding

42:12

you to kind of take

42:16

this thing , do some research , get

42:18

it ready , so then you could

42:20

see different phases of funding

42:22

, and it's something that a particular

42:25

government agency will want to use . Third

42:28

technique is you

42:31

getting in front of a government

42:33

agency and these I call this

42:35

dialing for dollars , but it's also

42:37

known as a capability brief where

42:40

you get in front of an agency

42:42

or agencies who purchase

42:44

something similar . I

42:47

mean , I understand you have a patent and things of that nature , so you

42:49

can show them . Hey

42:51

, here's what we have , here's how

42:53

it's better , here's how it's going to improve

42:55

things for you . That's what it's about . It's you

42:57

going to them . That's

43:00

what's really key . I love it .

43:03

And Frankie connect with Kizzy on the back end . Kizzy

43:07

, tell everyone where they could find out more . What's your

43:09

website ? How

43:11

can they find out about GovCon winners

43:13

if they want to start securing some government contracts ?

43:15

Well , there's a couple of things I

43:18

would suggest for this

43:20

is free because you all stayed until the end

43:22

go to profitablecontractsco

43:25

. Profitablecontractsco

43:28

. I also

43:30

have a pre-launch

43:33

for my book that's coming out at the end of summer . It's a very

43:35

small investment . You

43:37

get a ton of free items at winnerswaybookcom

43:42

. Winnerswaybookcom . Make

43:45

sure you follow me on LinkedIn . You

43:47

can DM me . If you

43:49

just want to get on our overall wait list

43:51

, you can go to govconwinnerswaycom

43:54

wwwgovconwinnerswaycom

43:58

and connect and then , with

44:00

those of you who DM me , you'll

44:02

be invited to the Facebook group and

44:04

to check out my YouTube

44:06

content . I have an awesome active

44:09

channel . I go live at

44:11

least twice a week . I'm going

44:13

to get to the point where I go live daily

44:16

, maybe twice a day , and

44:19

I take questions . So this is a perfect

44:21

opportunity to ask

44:23

and to connect . It's a great place

44:26

to go , so check us out . Please

44:28

do so .

44:29

Anything else Kizzy , before we end .

44:32

Government contracting is for you . The

44:34

government wants to buy what you offer . As

44:37

long as you're willing to sell them to

44:40

them the way that they want it , there's no reason

44:42

. There's no reason

44:44

whatsoever . I

44:47

mean SpaceX , amazon

44:49

, linkedin they all

44:51

sell to the government . Tons

44:53

of small businesses do Businesses of all

44:56

sizes , businesses all over the world

44:58

. I met a couple . They're

45:00

out of Poland and they're like yeah , I have a

45:02

cage code , we're government contractors

45:05

. I was like , wow , and I just met them

45:07

at a random event and nothing to do with government contracting

45:09

. It's a great on

45:11

tap place because the government always

45:14

pays their bills . You're not going

45:16

to have to worry about your bill being in collection . I love it .

45:19

For those of you who enjoyed the room , leave

45:22

your feedback in the comments . Follow Kizzy . You

45:25

could do that by clicking on her face and clicking follow and

45:28

again to learn more about government contracted

45:31

. Message the word winners to Kizzy , so

45:33

you just DM her the word winners on LinkedIn . God bless

45:35

you everyone . Have

45:37

a phenomenal day and we'll see you again later . Ciao

45:40

.