Former US Marine Corps Sergeant turned construction firm owner, David Rambhajan shares his advice on how to leap past the competition using joint ventures. 

BACKGROUND

David Rambhajan enlisted at the age of 17 and served the US Marine Corps for eight years. 

After that, he then established his own company, Industria Construction Services, in 1993 and is celebrating over 25 years of providing general construction and professional construction management services. 

With his experience, Rambhajan is a big supporter of small businesses and veteran-owned firms that he allocates his time as an advisor to fellow entrepreneurs.

He is also serving the  U.S. Small Business Administration, Elite SDVOB Network, and the Warrior Summit Coalition as part of the Board. 

EXPERIENCE IN THE FEDERAL MARKETPLACE

In working in the federal arena, Rambhajan had worked with several subcontractors and businesses to do joint ventures together. He is very critical in finding the right partner that has the same goals and values as him. 

“I mean the business is great if you could do it and make some money for both of you and deliver some good work, but you have to both have the same values. You have to both be able to work together, you have to build, be able to trust each other. So, it takes time to find the right partner.”

Also, when he finds someone that is not willing to invest the same time and energy as his, he won’t continue working with that person. 

“You don’t want to force it. You want to be humble, hardworking, and humble and develop that relationship. And there are ways to do it. And so, you know, you might be knocking on a door that might not be the right opportunity either.”

Another thing that he also experienced is working with various agencies including the Army, the Navy, and the GSA. With this, he learned to understand the differences in the requirements of every agency. 

“I know it’s a little scary when you look at these contracts that are 300 pages long for construction, but, you know, you got to learn and understand what their requirements are and you have to meet them because, you know, you don’t want to get an issue with the prevailing wage wage requirement and or reporting requirement.”

With all of these, Rambhajan learned three things that enabled his business to continue growing in the marketplace.

“To me, communication is king. You have to communicate, you’re orchestrating a team.The next thing is workflow. I don’t want to see you send one body out. I need the work to be done. I need the teams, you need to put enough labor to get the work done. And the third thing, they’re all equally important in effect to each other, is cash flow. And so with this cash flow, I’m able to employ that best subcontractors who enjoy getting paid as long as they perform.”

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Rambhajan advises small businesses to learn to diversify and provide value. There are a handful of programs that small businesses can and government agencies that they can work with but all of this will be wasted if you don’t provide any value to these agencies. 

Also, he encourages  business owners to plan and check if they are on track. They should have a strategy along with the system, their process, and their routines. Part of this process is what Rambhajan called three Rs or the resource, risk, and reward. 

Primarily, you need to identify all of your resources. This is your time, money, skills, and energy. 

In using these resources, there’s always risk involved. So, you should identify these risks and understand how you will deal with it.

Lastly, there’s the reward. However, this reward can only be achieved if you will be able to identify the risk and avoid it.

“Look at your resources and say, ‘How can I use my resources properly to build something so that, you know, I can enjoy what I want for that final honor. What’s the reward? What’s the… is it financial independence and what does that mean? What’s the dollar value?’” 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with David Rambhajan as he shares his advice on how to leap past the competition using joint ventures, then be sure to click the link down below.

026: David Rambhajan- President of Industria Construction Services – How to leap past the competition using Joint Ventures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVX6nA5WwU0&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=21

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/david-rambhajan-president-of-industria-construction-services-how-to-leap-past-the-competition-using-joint-ventures/