Tag: CEO

Karen Viera: Doctor, CEO, and SBA Award Winner

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Learn from the doctor, CEO, and SBA Award Winner, Karen Viera, on how you don’t have to be an 8a certified to do business with the government!

BACKGROUND

Born in Barbados, Dr. Karen Viera came to Florida at the age of 18 to attend the Florida Institute of Technology.

She has a master’s in management, a doctorate in Biomedical Sciences, and is a proud graduate of the SBA Emerging Leaders program.

She is also the founder and CEO of The Med Writers, a company providing writing and consulting services for the food, supplement, and biotech industries. 

Apart from that, she also founded Make a Supplement, a team of scientists and doctors who work on any supplement and health-related projects. 

Dr. Karen Vieira is the SBA Miami’s 2018 Woman-Owned Small Business Person of the Year.

BUILDING HER BUSINESSES

Dr. Viera really loves writing, and she started writing on a freelance basis.

Then, when there was more work than she could handle, that’s when she started to subcontract it to some of her school friends. 

The small project then grew and was eventually incorporated as The Med Writers.

She then started learning more about building a successful business through reading a handful of books and resources and joining different programs. 

She even joined the SBA Emerging Leaders Program, as well as other related programs, to learn about the government space.

“Both of those programs made me stop, evaluate my business, ‘Where am I at? Where am I headed?’ Create a plan, a three-year, five-year kind of plan, and then start back on my trajectory, rather than continuing blindly.”

Meanwhile, she also built Make a Supplement in order to help a handful of people to get their supplements off the ground. They help them with the writings and marketing for the supplement. 

ADVICE FOR ENTREPRENEURS

1. Run your business right. 

Stop running your business like it’s an afterthought. Instead, your business should come first. 

With this in mind, don’t let anything hold you back. Remember, the world is your playground, and anything you want to accomplish in life, you can do if you set your mind to it.

“Don’t overthink it, just do it. Put one foot in front of the other. Figure (it) out.”

2. Small businesses don’t show up in other markets. 

As competitive as other markets might be, there are still a handful of niches where nobody is showing up. 

So, what you need to do is to respond to it. If it’s out of your league, you might want to work with a prime or tell other small businesses. 

Consider that if no small businesses show up, most opportunities will just be handed directly to huge corporations. 

3. Go for opportunities that suit your business.

The biggest misconception that people have is that most 8a businesses got their contracts because of their certification.

That idea is not true because these 8a businesses still need to bid and respond to sources sought notices. 

Besides, there are a handful of variables that come with an award. For example, the federal buyer might want to award it because they’re the lowest bidder, or they just provide the necessary solution, among others. 

So, you need to know your business and your numbers and then bid for opportunities that make sense for your products and services. 

4. Be better at writing proposals.

One skill that you need is being able to write a good proposal.

Consider that these federal buyers want responses that follow the format, so if you don’t follow the format or don’t really know how to write well, then you might not be evaluated at all. 

This is why Dr. Viera recommends having different people on the team with different expertise related to what you offer and others who are more specialized in the technical writing stuff.

“Keep it simple. Don’t overcomplicate things, and don’t overanalyze things. Just do it. Action.”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about how SBA Award Winner Dr. Karen Viera built her business, then be sure to click the resources below.

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu, where you learn everything about government contracting!

10: Medical writing, proposal writing, CEO and SBA Award Winner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP8gSzEV0SY

 

Angela O’Byrne: Award Winning Architect and President of Internationally-Known Perez APC

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Learn how to win local and international federal contracts with award-winning architect and CEO of Perez APC, Angela O’byrne!

BACKGROUND

Angela O’Byrne came from Cali, Columbia where she was born and moved to the United States years later. 

She then earned two master’s degrees in architecture from Tulane University and in real estate development from Columbia University, respectively. 

Meanwhile, she became part of the Perez APC, a U.S. based architecture and planning company with international reach. A few years later, she was asked by the owner to take over the company. 

Currently, O’Byrne is a licensed architect in 15 states, a licensed general contractor in two states, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a LEED Accredited Professional.

She has also successfully led complex design and construction projects around the world, including a $500 Million USAID contract in Afghanistan— the largest infrastructure construction contract awarded to a women-owned business to date by the USAID-Afghanistan Mission.

With all of these, she was named as the 2016 Small Business Person of the Year in New Orleans and the first runner-up for the National Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“Keep going around the world and keep doing more and more.”

ADVICE FOR BUSINESSES

1. Bid but ask for a debrief. 

O’Byrne doesn’t think that bidding is a bad strategy, in the sense that it’s a way to get your name in front of people. The only thing that you should do is ask for debriefs.

Although you don’t win every bid, you will be able to learn a lot from it through asking what’s wrong with your proposal and it also helps agency decision-makers learn from your company. 

“Like everything, if they don’t know who you are and they’ve never met you, at some point, you do have to look on FedBizOpps and start submitting proposals… You’re not going to win it the first time because they don’t know who you are.”

2. Market to international missions.

It’s not enough to just go after contracts in Washington D.C. because there are far more opportunities in the international market. 

With this, why not market to missions because these basically have their own budgets. 

Apart from that, you can meet people who are doing these jobs for years and learn from them. Although you will be spending money on marketing, the return on investment is far more advantageous.

3. Find the ones who want to help.

Avail all the resources that you can use in building your business and these include organizations and people who want to help you. 

In fact, it was years on being in the 8(a) program when O’Byrne got their first contract and she would have never done that without the help of their Procurement Technical Assistance Center person. 

So, you really have to find the ones who really care and then latch onto those people and they will help you. They really will. 

“You can tell quite quickly who in those agencies and which OSDBUs actually care about the mission and want to help you. And you can tell which ones don’t care. So, don’t waste your time with the ones that don’t care because they will waste a whole lot of time.”

ARE YOU COMMITTED ENOUGH?

Building a business is really difficult and it is easy to get discouraged, so O’Byrne recommends to do some soul searching and decide whether you’re committed enough to stick it out.

You have to decide, “Are you committed enough to stay the course?” Because if you’re not, don’t do it. 

Don’t put yourself through this because it’s going to be tough. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs. You never arrive, you’re always striving, and it’s always going to be difficult. 

“It’s not for everybody. You know, you really need to be real with yourself and don’t do it, if you don’t really feel like you’re up for it.”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more on how to win local and international federal contracts with Angela O’byrne, then be sure to click the resources below. You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

005: Angela O’Byrne – Award Winning and Internationally Known Architect

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/2019/05/28/005/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbcwfN57Y9Y