0:00

Have you ever heard about companies building their business using

0:01

federal funding and wondered how

0:05

does that happen? You might not

0:05

expect to find a lobbyist as a

0:08

guest on an entrepreneurial

0:08

focused podcast. But Amanda Wood

0:12

of Becker, is far more than a

0:12

typical lobbyist. And trust me,

0:17

even maybe, especially if your

0:17

company isn't B2G, you are going

0:22

to want to hear what she has to

0:22

say about government funding as

0:25

a potential revenue source for

0:25

growing your business.

0:33

Welcome to Right in the Middle

0:33

Market, a podcast about

0:36

pragmatic perspectives on

0:36

running, growing and selling

0:38

your business. We talk about the

0:38

challenges decisions, and most

0:42

importantly, the actions

0:42

business owners can take to

0:45

create long term value in their

0:45

companies.

0:50

Welcome to Right in the Middle

0:50

Market, I'm Stephanie Chambliss

0:53

Gaffin. And today, I am so

0:53

excited to be here with our

0:57

guest, Amanda Wood. Amanda is a

0:57

senior government relations

1:02

consultant with Becker. And she

1:02

is one of those people who has a

1:07

job that I never knew how

1:07

critical it was- I didn't even

1:11

know that there were people who

1:11

did this kind of work until I

1:14

met Amanda. And the more that I

1:14

have gotten to know her, I have

1:18

come to find what she does is

1:18

such an interesting avenue of

1:23

growth for middle market

1:23

companies. So Amanda, welcome.

1:27

Thank you, Stephanie. I'm so happy to be here with you today.

1:30

Yeah, thanks for joining us. So I think that, you know, I could

1:32

read your bio. But I think

1:35

actually to really explain what

1:35

it is that you do. I would love

1:39

to have you just tell us a

1:39

little bit about yourself and

1:42

about what you do.

1:43

Sure. So my

1:43

background is Capitol Hill. I

1:47

worked for a senator from

1:47

Florida for eight years. I was

1:50

his legislative director, which

1:50

qualified me when I left, to be

1:54

a lobbyist. But I'm a lot more

1:54

than a lobbyist. So I think when

1:59

people think about lobbyists,

1:59

they think about lots of

2:02

cocktail parties and fundraisers

2:02

and getting bills passed. And I

2:06

certainly do some of that. But a

2:06

lot of what I do is making sure

2:10

that the federal government is

2:10

either supporting or getting out

2:14

of the way of the companies that

2:14

I work with. So I identify

2:20

opportunities for the companies

2:20

that I work with to leverage

2:23

federal funding and to leverage

2:23

federal policy to support their

2:27

growth.

2:28

Okay, so the first thing that I have to ask you is, if I'm a middle

2:29

market business owner, I'm

2:33

sitting here thinking, "Okay, I

2:33

should just hang up on this

2:35

podcast, because I don't do work

2:35

with the federal government.'

2:38

Whether you do work

2:38

with the federal government or

2:41

not, the federal government

2:41

impacts everything that you do,

2:45

and your customers do. They can,

2:45

you know, promulgate regulations

2:50

that make it harder for you to

2:50

do business, they can create tax

2:55

policy that impacts your

2:55

business, but they can also

2:59

provide funding to customers.

2:59

And that's a lot of what I do.

3:02

So many of the companies that I

3:02

work with sell to public

3:06

agencies, cities, counties, and

3:06

law enforcement agencies- I help

3:11

those agencies get funding to

3:11

complete their purchase. And

3:14

then I also work on policy

3:14

issues. So it could be a tax

3:18

issue for a certain type of

3:18

business. It could be regulatory

3:22

issues that they have, it could

3:22

be permitting issues. I mean,

3:26

the EPA has their hand in quite

3:26

a lot. So I think, you would be

3:32

surprised by how much the

3:32

federal government touches your

3:36

business and your daily life,

3:36

every day.

3:39

Okay,

3:39

so I want to dig into when you

3:41

say you help find funding, help

3:41

me understand this. Tell me what

3:46

you mean, maybe give us an

3:46

example.

3:49

Well, let me give

3:49

you a fun fact first. Okay.

3:55

There are currently over 1,000

3:55

grant programs, administered by

4:00

26 federal agencies, providing

4:00

more than $400 billion every

4:08

year to states, local

4:08

governments, and public

4:13

agencies. And this is through

4:13

grants and formula allocations,

4:17

and all sorts of other payments,

4:17

transfers of funding from the

4:22

federal government, to other

4:22

entities. So there's a lot of

4:26

money out there.

4:27

$400 billion, that's, that's a fair chunk of change. And so what

4:29

you're saying is that these

4:31

grant programs then can become

4:31

like a revenue source for

4:37

potential for your clients.

4:39

It is. So I have

4:39

clients, I'll tell you about the

4:43

very first client that I started

4:43

working with 15 years ago, who

4:46

are still my clients. This is a

4:46

company that does gunshot

4:50

detection. So it's a law

4:50

enforcement technology tool. And

4:56

they've had customers for years

4:56

who have said Gosh, I really

4:59

want to bring this to my

4:59

community, I just don't have the

5:01

money to do it. So over the past

5:01

15 years, we've literally helped

5:06

dozens upon dozens of

5:06

communities bring in millions of

5:10

dollars to bring this technology

5:10

solution to their communities.

5:14

So essentially, that's what I

5:14

do. When a customer says, gosh,

5:18

I really want it, but I don't

5:18

have the money, I step in, and

5:22

make sure that they can access

5:22

those funds. There's a lot of

5:26

federal funding out there. And I

5:26

think sometimes when I talk to a

5:30

city or county that has a big

5:30

purchase they want to make,

5:34

they're a little discouraged.

5:34

And they think that, "Ah, no

5:36

that money is not for me." But

5:36

it is for them. And if they're

5:40

not getting it, their

5:40

neighboring communities probably

5:42

are. So I'm there to sort of

5:42

hold these companies, customers

5:46

hands throughout the whole

5:46

process, and make sure that they

5:49

have the funding they need to

5:49

complete the purchase.

5:52

Well, so that's a really interesting point. Because I think, you

5:53

know, when I talk to companies

5:56

that are not currently doing

5:56

B2G, right, they don't think of

6:01

selling into the government, or

6:01

they don't think of looking for

6:03

funding sources. Often what I

6:03

hear is, "Oh my God, it's just

6:08

too complicated. It's just too

6:08

hard." So what are your

6:12

favorite, your top two tips for

6:12

how people can streamline it to

6:19

make it easier? And and is it

6:19

worth it?

6:22

Well, I think being

6:22

able to approach the customer

6:24

saying, "We're sympathetic, we

6:24

know you may not have the

6:27

funding, there's funding out

6:27

there," having that research,

6:30

and groundwork done before you

6:30

approach the customer is really

6:33

helpful. I also think that maybe

6:33

not, not everyone is going to

6:40

sell to governments. But I think

6:40

what is important is that you

6:45

assess where the federal

6:45

government stands on what you're

6:48

trying to sell. So, for example,

6:48

if you are a company that is

6:55

selling police body cameras,

6:55

let's use an example. It would

7:02

be wise to know what the current

7:02

sort of policy temperature on

7:06

the hill is about the federal

7:06

government supporting purchasing

7:10

police body cameras, to have a

7:10

little bit of a look back and

7:13

see what DOJ has funded in that

7:13

area in the past. And this is

7:18

relatively easy information to

7:18

access. I think that as you're

7:24

assessing potential targets,

7:24

it's good to have done that

7:28

research and groundwork. There

7:28

are also formula funding

7:32

streams. So, let's take for

7:32

example, there's something

7:36

called the Community Development

7:36

Block Grant. And every year, HUD

7:40

provides allocations to local

7:40

governments, 2,000 local

7:45

governments. And this is highly

7:45

flexible funding. So the CDBG

7:50

funding can be used by local

7:50

governments, for, you know,

7:54

technology, safety technology,

7:54

it can be used for meals on

7:57

wheels, it can be used for after

7:57

school materials, it can be used

8:00

for programs, can be used for

8:00

all sorts of things. So let's

8:04

say that you have an item that

8:04

is an allowable use of this

8:07

funding. You should really go

8:07

check the HUD website and see

8:10

how much all your customers are

8:10

getting. So that when you

8:13

approach them, you know exactly

8:13

what they have in their budget

8:16

to support the sort of things you're trying to sell.

8:19

That's really interesting, so if you think about, again, if you think

8:21

about selling into your

8:25

customers, it's always

8:25

convincing them of the need,

8:27

convincing them that you're the

8:27

solution, and then helping them

8:30

find the money to buy it. So,

8:30

you know, it's really

8:33

interesting that it sounds like

8:33

there's both the policy aspect

8:36

which may increase the need for

8:36

a particular product, but then

8:41

also being able to help find the

8:41

funding. Now you've talked about

8:44

a couple of examples that, to me

8:44

are sort of intuitive for this

8:50

type of work, right, body cams,

8:50

you know, law enforcement

8:55

technology. Tell me the company,

8:55

you've worked with, maybe an

8:59

example of something that you

8:59

would just not think of, for

9:04

being a likely candidate for

9:04

this kind of work.

9:07

Okay, I've got one

9:07

that comes to mind immediately.

9:10

It's a company I'm working with

9:10

that does off grid electric

9:15

vehicle charging. So it is solar

9:15

powered electric vehicle

9:22

charging. And I'll tell you, the

9:22

federal government does not fund

9:28

a lot of off grid electric

9:28

vehicle charging as sort of a

9:32

standalone need. But what we

9:32

were able to discover is that

9:36

there's another use case for

9:36

this. So if you've got this off

9:41

grid, electric vehicle charger

9:41

that's charging vehicles, maybe

9:44

fleet vehicles, maybe public

9:44

vehicles, a public amenity that

9:48

a city is providing, or even

9:48

hospitals sometimes have them,

9:52

or shopping centers. But if

9:52

you've got that as a day to day

9:55

asset, it's also there in the

9:55

event of a major grid field. So

10:00

there's a lot of attention on

10:00

emergency preparedness in the

10:04

federal government. Every year,

10:04

the federal government provides

10:08

$1.1 billion in preparedness

10:08

grants to cities and counties

10:14

for things like this. So what

10:14

we've done is we've established

10:18

this company that came to the

10:18

market as an off grid solar

10:22

vehicle charging company, as an

10:22

extraordinary Emergency

10:26

Preparedness and Response asset,

10:26

in order to make it qualify for

10:29

a number of federal funding

10:29

streams.

10:32

That's

10:32

a great example. And I love that

10:35

and, you know, I think it will

10:35

probably feel familiar to a lot

10:40

of our listeners, because when

10:40

you think about it, you always

10:43

think about how do I frame my

10:43

product, my service, in light of

10:47

the customer that I serve, and

10:47

so it's doing exactly the same

10:50

thing. But it's saying, look,

10:50

most people may be buying

10:53

because of your primary purpose.

10:53

But there's a very viable

10:56

secondary. And if we just

10:56

emphasize that, or frame that in

11:00

a different way, all of a

11:00

sudden, you or your customers

11:02

now qualify for this whole new

11:02

funding stream that you perhaps

11:05

hadn't even thought of.

11:07

Exactly. So we

11:07

follow the money. And I work

11:10

with companies to make sure that

11:10

they qualify for these federal

11:13

funding streams. We've had a

11:13

series of COVID relief bills

11:18

over the past five or six

11:18

months, the largest of one of

11:22

them being the Cares Act. And

11:22

the Cares Act provided several

11:26

trillion dollars in funding for

11:26

cities and counties, but also

11:30

for hospitals and educational

11:30

institutions, for transit

11:35

agencies for all sorts of

11:35

agencies, public and private.

11:40

And what we've really done a lot

11:40

of over the past couple of

11:43

months, is helping companies

11:43

position their product as a

11:47

COVID response tool There are a

11:47

lot of things that you may not

11:52

have originally sort of, you

11:52

know, thought of as a COVID

11:55

response tool, that we can

11:55

actually provide justification

11:59

so that these customers can use

11:59

their funding, that they're

12:03

receiving on a formula basis

12:03

from the federal government to

12:05

complete their purchase. So it's

12:05

a lot about just sort of being

12:09

aware of what's out there, so

12:09

you can match those

12:12

opportunities to the customer

12:12

and to the product.

12:16

So

12:16

that's really interesting. And

12:19

if we dive into that just a

12:19

little bit more. So, the COVID

12:24

response, is that, you know, I

12:24

think a lot of companies are

12:30

obviously, able to take

12:30

advantage of that, where are you

12:33

seeing them stumble?

12:36

I think that they

12:36

need to go into the customer

12:41

with a COVID response

12:41

justification already written up

12:45

and in mind. Let me give you

12:45

another example, part of the

12:52

Cares Act, with something called

12:52

the State and Local

12:55

Stabilization Fund- $150 billion

12:55

dollars to every state, and to

13:01

any county with 500,000 or more

13:01

people. Um, there are some

13:06

restrictions on this, it cannot

13:06

be used for anything that was

13:09

funded in the community or

13:09

state's budget before March 1.

13:16

So it had to have been something

13:16

that was not budgeted for; a new

13:19

need. It has to be for something

13:19

that is COVID response. And it

13:24

has to be fully expended by

13:24

December 31 of this year, which

13:29

is pretty darn quick. And we're

13:29

seeing, communities of a half

13:36

million people, which is large,

13:36

but not really large, getting

13:40

you know, $120 million, $150

13:40

million, getting these huge

13:44

allocations, and stressing out a

13:44

little bit about how to spend

13:48

it. So we're helping them spend

13:48

it. So we are giving them the

14:00

assurance they need in order to,

14:00

one company I'm working with

14:03

sells a whole lot of IT

14:03

infrastructure. The kind of

14:07

infrastructure that supports

14:07

return to work and supports

14:11

telework, in addition to being a

14:11

solution for sort of day to day

14:14

means. So being able to go into

14:14

a state CIOs office, or a county

14:21

CIO office and saying, "You know

14:21

that project we've been talking

14:25

about for the past year, the big

14:25

project that you really want to

14:27

do, but you haven't had the

14:27

money for, did you know you

14:30

could use your Cares Act funding

14:30

for this?" They're like,

14:33

"Really?" and then we show them

14:33

and we show them the

14:36

justification and we show them

14:36

sort of the the documentation

14:41

from the Department of Treasury

14:41

that gives them the confidence

14:44

to go ahead and complete that

14:44

purchase for an item that's been

14:47

on their wish lists for a long

14:47

time, using this windfall that

14:51

they've received from the Department of Treasury.

14:54

So this has been really interesting to think about the government is

14:56

a potential revenue source in a

14:59

way that is perhaps unexpected

14:59

and that a lot of companies may

15:03

not have thought about. When we

15:03

come back from this break, I

15:06

want to talk a little bit more

15:06

about the regulatory aspect that

15:09

you mentioned briefly before. Right in the Middle of Market is

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16:15

Welcome back. We are here with

16:15

Amanda Wood from Becker, talking

16:18

about ways to be able to work

16:18

with the government to fuel

16:23

growth in your business. So just

16:23

before the break, we were

16:26

talking a lot about how to

16:26

leverage various government

16:32

programs as a potential revenue

16:32

source for your business. I now

16:36

want to shift a little bit, you

16:36

were talking about understanding

16:39

the regulatory environment,

16:39

understanding the maybe, what

16:44

the current sentiment is towards

16:44

your sector of the market. So

16:49

let's talk about that a little

16:49

bit more, how would one go

16:52

about, and again, most business

16:52

owners, they're obviously very

16:56

tuned in to what's happening in

16:56

their interest industry. Do you

16:59

find that they're also tuned in

16:59

to what's happening from a

17:01

legislative perspective? Or is

17:01

that sometimes a black box?

17:05

I think that some

17:05

are, and the smart ones are, and

17:08

the way a lot of them are doing

17:08

it, if they don't have their own

17:10

lobbyists is they're really,

17:10

really using their trade

17:13

associations here in DC, I

17:13

cannot emphasize enough how

17:17

important those organizations

17:17

are for giving you situational

17:21

awareness for giving you talking

17:21

points, for knowing when to,

17:25

sort of energize you, when to

17:25

make the call, when to do a fly

17:30

in that we're doing a lot of

17:30

virtual fly ins these days,

17:33

which also work. But I do think

17:33

that trade associations are

17:37

really important voice here in

17:37

DC and extremely influential. So

17:44

if you're not going to go out

17:44

and get your own lobbyists, and

17:47

not everyone needs one, I would

17:47

really urge you to get plugged

17:50

into your trade association.

17:50

There's a trade association for

17:53

everything here. So trust me,

17:53

there's somebody looking out for

17:57

your interest here in DC, and

17:57

you should take advantage of

18:00

them. They trade associations

18:00

survive, based on showing value

18:05

to their members. So get in

18:05

touch with them and see how you

18:09

can be active They will, I have

18:09

no doubt they will put you to

18:13

work.

18:14

Absolutely.

18:14

Okay. So that's a great place to

18:16

start, right? Because a lot of

18:16

organizations especially maybe

18:19

if they're just dipping their

18:19

toe into this world, probably

18:22

not going to hire a lobbyist as

18:22

a first step. And so that's a

18:25

great suggestion. Just start

18:25

with your trade association, to

18:28

make sure that you're aware of

18:28

what are the top issues? And so,

18:34

how does that work in DC? And I

18:34

think this is something where,

18:36

again, if I come back to my

18:36

blackbox question, I think a lot

18:40

of times, you know, we all know,

18:40

lobbyists don't always have the

18:44

best name, perhaps. I bet you've

18:44

got a bunch of great jokes and

18:49

memes collected on that topic.

18:49

But how does that happen? How

18:54

do, whether it's trade

18:54

associations or lobbyists or

18:56

individual companies? How do

18:56

they shape what's happening from

19:00

a legislative perspective, or can they?

19:02

They absolutely can

19:02

shape it, and part of it is just

19:05

sort of being here, being in the

19:05

mix. For a lot of my clients, if

19:12

I'm working on policy issues for

19:12

them, I'm happy to go up to the

19:15

hill and meet with folks and

19:15

make our case for the passage of

19:19

a bill or the funding of a

19:19

program. But when it comes down

19:23

to it, having that sort of

19:23

personal interaction with your

19:27

members of Congress and their

19:27

staff, is really important.

19:29

Nobody can tell your story, as

19:29

well as you can. So what I think

19:34

the really important function of

19:34

trade associations and lobbyists

19:38

in DC is to give you sort of a

19:38

timeline, give you expectations,

19:43

give you a strategy, give you

19:43

situational awareness, and arm

19:47

you with what you need in order

19:47

to be effective on your own

19:51

behalf. So, nobody hires me and

19:51

then disappears and says, "Okay,

19:56

let me know when this project is

19:56

done." It's a partnership,

20:01

whether you're working with your

20:01

own lobbyists, or whether you're

20:03

working in a coalition, or with

20:03

a trade association, I'm just

20:07

going to say one more plug for

20:07

trade associations, because I

20:10

think they're really important.

20:10

I think that, you know, a major

20:15

function of trade associations

20:15

is lobbying and federal

20:18

advocacy. The other major

20:18

function is just learning from

20:23

your peers. They provide so many

20:23

opportunities to learn best

20:27

practices from some of the other

20:27

folks in your industry, attend

20:32

meetings. I just think that

20:32

they're a great entry point, if

20:36

you want to become active, and be safe.

20:38

yeah,

20:38

I certainly know that they also

20:42

are great ones to be able to

20:42

stay on top of what's happening,

20:44

and then help you, because it

20:44

can be really tough, you know,

20:48

you're busy running your

20:48

business and with your life, and

20:51

so to know what's happening, and

20:51

it may either be something

20:53

that's getting in the way, or

20:53

that is about to create either

20:58

an opportunity or a challenge,

20:58

but you may not even realize

21:00

that it's coming. Okay, so

21:00

that's a little bit on the

21:05

policy front, the third category

21:05

that you mentioned, Amanda, that

21:08

we haven't talked about yet, is

21:08

the regulatory front. So do you

21:11

think about that separate and

21:11

distinct from policy or are they

21:14

one in the same bucket?

21:17

To me, they are one

21:17

in the same, because Congress

21:20

greatly influences the

21:20

regulatory environment in DC. So

21:23

while we think of the executive

21:23

branch is doing the regulatory

21:27

work, there's so much

21:27

congressional oversight. So we

21:30

really work everything, sort of

21:30

in a parallel manner. I think

21:36

there's often a perception that,

21:36

you know, the executive branch

21:41

is just as sort of political and

21:41

transient as the legislative

21:48

branch. But one of the things

21:48

that I've really loved about my

21:52

experience in DC over the past

21:52

25 years, is that there are so

21:59

many people in federal agencies

21:59

that have been there for so

22:02

long. That our career staff that

22:02

I've worked with, for over a

22:06

decade or more, to try to help

22:06

my clients. So I think that

22:12

having political relationships

22:12

is very important. And having

22:16

replaced relationships with

22:16

staff is very important. But

22:20

equally important, is those

22:20

really day to day, hard working

22:24

subject matter experts at

22:24

federal agencies, because when

22:28

you do have a regulatory issue,

22:28

they're the ones who are going

22:31

to have the historical knowledge

22:31

and the context for you to

22:34

resolve the issue in the right

22:34

way.

22:38

Well, that's really interesting, because I know, this is, of

22:39

course, a time when a lot of

22:42

people are starting to think

22:42

about, obviously we have an

22:44

election coming up, so if there

22:44

were to be a change in

22:48

administration to say, "Gosh,

22:48

how much does that impact what

22:53

may be available in terms of

22:53

funding?" So without getting

22:56

into any particular political

22:56

prognostication, what is your

23:00

experience about how do

23:00

elections and the outcome of

23:04

elections change? It's

23:04

interesting, you know, your

23:06

point about the career

23:06

politicians that the folks that

23:10

are there, you know, obviously

23:10

transcending any particular

23:15

administration, but how does an

23:15

election impact that?

23:19

Sometimes I feel as

23:19

though the election season

23:22

impacts things more than the

23:22

actual outcome of the election.

23:25

So the election season causes

23:25

people to I would say politicize

23:32

things a great deal. We're

23:32

experiencing that now, but I

23:37

think that so much of what the

23:37

federal government does on a day

23:43

to day basis, is very stable,

23:43

more so than you'd think. So

23:52

many of these federal programs

23:52

have been around for decades.

23:54

And most are around for decades,

23:54

because they're really good and

23:58

important programs. There are

23:58

policy changes that happen. I

24:02

would say, one of the probably

24:02

the biggest trends in the past

24:06

four years, in terms of policy

24:06

changes have been things that I

24:10

think impact people more than

24:10

you think but are not what you

24:13

hear about on the news. And it

24:13

is, you know, streamlining,

24:17

there's been a real trend

24:17

towards streamlining and

24:19

regulatory relief and relief on

24:19

permitting, but that's not the

24:23

big issue you hear about on the

24:23

news. So I do think that the

24:29

federal government, sort of

24:29

despite the political winds,

24:33

tends to keep marching on at a

24:33

rather steady pace for you know,

24:38

98% of the functions of the

24:38

federal government is

24:40

responsible for. So yes, we will

24:40

be able to leverage the

24:48

political outcomes no matter

24:48

what they are, we may leverage

24:50

them a little differently. But,

24:50

but the majority of what we do,

24:54

is not deeply impacted by

24:54

politics.

24:58

Which I think is so interesting, because again, I've lived both

24:59

in the DC area and outside of

25:02

the DC area, and I think that is

25:02

one of the things that outside

25:06

of the DC area, when you think

25:06

about government, you think

25:08

about the political aspect, you

25:08

think about what you hear on the

25:11

news. And having lived in the

25:11

area for a long time, I

25:15

understand what it is that

25:15

you're saying, which is that

25:18

there are a number of people who

25:18

have been there through multiple

25:21

administrations, regardless of

25:21

which party happens to be in

25:24

charge at the time. And that

25:24

that's actually where a lot of

25:28

the work is getting done. And

25:28

that much of the work that's

25:31

happening, and as you said, a

25:31

lot of the good work that's

25:34

happening, are the things you

25:34

are never going to hear about on

25:37

the news.

25:38

Very true. Very

25:38

true. So, my day today will not

25:43

be changed dramatically after

25:43

November 3. And I don't have

25:49

deep concerns about being able

25:49

to accomplish the things that

25:51

I've told my clients that we're

25:51

setting out to accomplish the

25:54

next year. Because, you know,

25:54

we, we come to the Hill, and we

25:59

come to agencies with a really

25:59

strong story, and a use case

26:03

that aligns with the priorities

26:03

of this country. So as long as

26:07

we have that on our side, I

26:07

don't worry about the politics

26:11

very much.

26:12

So Amanda, I know that you are an extremely pragmatic person. And

26:13

as I think, you know, here on

26:18

Right in the Middle Market, we

26:18

are very pragmatic, that is what

26:21

we try to do, is give very

26:21

pragmatic tips to business

26:24

owners, and to those who advise

26:24

them. So okay, to sum all of

26:28

this up, if you were to give two

26:28

pieces of advice to a middle

26:32

market business owner right now,

26:32

and let's take the use case of

26:35

somebody who maybe has not dip

26:35

their toe into this world of

26:39

thinking about the government or

26:39

government programs as a

26:42

potential funding source, what

26:42

would be two things that you

26:44

would suggest?

26:45

First, would be do

26:45

an analysis of what the federal

26:49

government is spending for what

26:49

you're doing. And it maybe in

26:53

ways that you wouldn't sort of

26:53

expect, it may not be directly

26:58

the federal government spending

26:58

it, it may be federal government

27:01

grantees spending the money. So

27:01

take a look at you know,

27:05

potential customers. We saw

27:05

through the Cares Act, that it

27:08

doesn't have to be cities or

27:08

counties, it can be

27:11

universities, it can be law

27:11

enforcement agencies, transit

27:15

agencies, things that you

27:15

haven't thought about as being

27:18

federal purchases, like cleaning

27:18

solutions. My goodness, the

27:23

Federal transit agency has spent

27:23

a lot of money on cleaning

27:26

solutions this year. Just you

27:26

know, think about that a little

27:30

get a little creative, because

27:30

there is federal funding for a

27:32

lot of it. The other thing I'd

27:32

say, and this is so so

27:36

important. Your member of

27:36

Congress sees you as a

27:40

constituent, you are a

27:40

constituent and a constituent

27:43

business. And they want to help

27:43

you. And they want to look out

27:46

for opportunities for you. Make

27:46

sure you establish a

27:50

relationship with your member of

27:50

Congress and their staff.

27:53

They're back in the district a

27:53

lot. You don't have to come to

27:55

DC to do it. You don't have to

27:55

have an agenda. You can go in

27:59

and set up a meeting and

27:59

introduce yourself. Because then

28:02

when they see an opportunity, or

28:02

something that will be could be

28:05

a major hurdle for your

28:05

business, they can bring it to

28:08

your attention, you already have

28:08

that relationship established.

28:10

So that's, I think that's super

28:10

important. You don't have to go

28:13

in with an ask the first time,

28:13

but you do need to establish a

28:16

relationship.

28:18

Those

28:18

are two great tips. Amanda,

28:20

thank you for being with us today.

28:22

Thank you.

28:23

I'm Stephanie Chambliss Gaffin, and you've been listening to Right

28:24

in the Middle Market, a podcast

28:27

about running, growing and

28:27

selling your middle market

28:30

business. We'd love to hear your

28:30

comments about today's episode

28:33

or ideas for topics you'd most

28:33

like to hear in the future. Send

28:36

me a message on LinkedIn or drop me a line at [email protected] and

28:38

don't forget to subscribe to

28:41

hear more pragmatic tips. Until

28:41

next time, be well and be

28:46

creative.