As I was reading last week’s San Jose Business Journal, I came upon this quote from Jason Papier, president of Fluent Wealth Partners LLC:
My advice to business owners looking forward is seeing that there’s a major shift in economic focus from consumer spending back to government spending — infrastructure, social issues — figure out how to position yourself to thrive in that type of world.
This is a trend that you, a woman business owner, should be paying attention to. There is every indication that the new administration, as well as Congress, will be spending more money in the private sector. This is a time to pay attention to political messages, even if you managed to make it through last year’s campaign unscathed.
Listen to the industries that will be affected by government spending. Not only will defense and wall-building continue, but new investments will be made in green technology and health care. Can you position your business to handle this new work? What about the state in which you live? Even with slashed budgets, things need to get done. State governments often turn to the private sector to do the work without the overhead of staffing.
An excellent web site to get information regarding how to get started with the federal government is WomenBiz.gov . In order to discover what you need to do for a particular state government, you need to start with your state government’s web site and search on terms like “small business” and “doing business with the state of xxx.”
Spend some time doing research about what you need to do. Develop a plan to move forward to get registered and determine how you will respond to requests for proposals. Consider partnering or subcontracting with other firms to get started.
It being the government, nothing will happen overnight. However, if you start now, when the government is ready to move forward, you will be ready.
