Month: September 2019

Stuff about working from home are why I love social media

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By

Thanks to https://www.allbusiness.com/federal-contracts-women-business-owners-123151-1.html

The federal government sets aside some of its federal contracts for women business owners. Is your business ready to compete for them?

For six years in a row, the federal government has achieved a goal set way back in the 1990s of awarding a minimum of 25% of all federal contracts to small businesses. That’s great news—but the federal government is still falling short of another long-time and equally important goal: awarding women-owned small businesses at least 5% of all federal contracts.

Women-owned small businesses received 4.75% of all federal contracts in fiscal 2018. So close to the goal! There is no good reason women business owners shouldn’t be playing a bigger role in federal government contracting. As of 2017, over 11.6 million women-owned firms across the U.S. employed nearly 9 million people and generated $1.7 trillion in revenues, NAWBO reports.

But in order to hit the 5% procurement goal, more women entrepreneurs will have to start competing for federal contracts. Could your small business be one of them? Keep reading to learn more about how women-owned businesses can get federal contracts.

How federal contracting opportunities for women work

Of course, women business owners can compete for any kind of federal government contract if they want to. But some contract opportunities are specifically limited to women-owned businesses. The goal is to help level the playing field for female entrepreneurs in industries that historically lack women-owned businesses.

The federal government sets aside a certain percentage of federal contracts for Women Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs). There are also some contracts that are set aside for Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs).

In order to compete for these EDWOSB or WOSB set-asides, your company must get certified as a woman-owned business. This requires your company to be at least 51% owned and controlled by women, who must make the primary decisions for the business. You’ll also need to meet SBA size standards and other criteria to be certified.

There are two options for certification. You can self-certify your business at certify.SBA.gov or go through a third-party organization that is authorized to certify WOSBs and EDWOSBs. There are four of these organizations across the country, each of which handles a different geographic area. Learn more about the WOSB program.

Before getting certified, your need to register your business with the System for Award Management (SAM). This online registry is free; federal agencies use it to find potential contractors.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

Where to get help competing for federal contracts

After going through a lot of effort, my company was certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) several years ago. We’re proud of our certification and excited that we can compete for government contracts. But the certification process wasn’t easy, and we couldn’t have done it without expert guidance from outside resources.

Trying to decide if federal contracting is right for you, and wanting to know how to find contracting opportunities and what’s involved in the bidding process? Here are some resources to get you started:

(Disclosure: SCORE is a client of my company.)

RELATED: 5 Essential Steps for Women Who Want to Become Entrepreneurs

The post How to Get Federal Contracts: Tips for Women Business Owners appeared first on AllBusiness.com

The post How to Get Federal Contracts: Tips for Women Business Owners appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Rieva Lesonsky.

Interesting info, hope this helps! really good info on financial freedom… Click To see More About this.

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By

Thanks to https://www.allbusiness.com/federal-contracts-women-business-owners-123151-1.html

The federal government sets aside some of its federal contracts for women business owners. Is your business ready to compete for them?

For six years in a row, the federal government has achieved a goal set way back in the 1990s of awarding a minimum of 25% of all federal contracts to small businesses. That’s great news—but the federal government is still falling short of another long-time and equally important goal: awarding women-owned small businesses at least 5% of all federal contracts.

Women-owned small businesses received 4.75% of all federal contracts in fiscal 2018. So close to the goal! There is no good reason women business owners shouldn’t be playing a bigger role in federal government contracting. As of 2017, over 11.6 million women-owned firms across the U.S. employed nearly 9 million people and generated $1.7 trillion in revenues, NAWBO reports.

But in order to hit the 5% procurement goal, more women entrepreneurs will have to start competing for federal contracts. Could your small business be one of them? Keep reading to learn more about how women-owned businesses can get federal contracts.

How federal contracting opportunities for women work

Of course, women business owners can compete for any kind of federal government contract if they want to. But some contract opportunities are specifically limited to women-owned businesses. The goal is to help level the playing field for female entrepreneurs in industries that historically lack women-owned businesses.

The federal government sets aside a certain percentage of federal contracts for Women Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs). There are also some contracts that are set aside for Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs).

In order to compete for these EDWOSB or WOSB set-asides, your company must get certified as a woman-owned business. This requires your company to be at least 51% owned and controlled by women, who must make the primary decisions for the business. You’ll also need to meet SBA size standards and other criteria to be certified.

There are two options for certification. You can self-certify your business at certify.SBA.gov or go through a third-party organization that is authorized to certify WOSBs and EDWOSBs. There are four of these organizations across the country, each of which handles a different geographic area. Learn more about the WOSB program.

Before getting certified, your need to register your business with the System for Award Management (SAM). This online registry is free; federal agencies use it to find potential contractors.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

Where to get help competing for federal contracts

After going through a lot of effort, my company was certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) several years ago. We’re proud of our certification and excited that we can compete for government contracts. But the certification process wasn’t easy, and we couldn’t have done it without expert guidance from outside resources.

Trying to decide if federal contracting is right for you, and wanting to know how to find contracting opportunities and what’s involved in the bidding process? Here are some resources to get you started:

(Disclosure: SCORE is a client of my company.)

RELATED: 5 Essential Steps for Women Who Want to Become Entrepreneurs

The post How to Get Federal Contracts: Tips for Women Business Owners appeared first on AllBusiness.com

The post How to Get Federal Contracts: Tips for Women Business Owners appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Rieva Lesonsky.

Anything related to working from home is important. What do you think. Let us know in the comments below.

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By

Thanks to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/personalbrandingblog/~3/__rHGdtt4YI/

In business, planning for the future is as difficult as it is necessary. Branding your business, just like building your personal brand, means you have to think about the long term. What works in establishing your brand today might feel stale tomorrow. It’s impossible to know what the coming year might hold for your company — or others — but that doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing.

Future-prepping means trying to assess what your company is going to need, both in the short and long term. Immediate planning means balancing budgets, identifying target markets, and anticipating industry changes. For longer-term planning, however, you have to think bigger.

It’s hard to predict what’s coming next — or how it will affect your company. If you’re looking to build a sustainable business brand going forward, focus on these steps first:

1. Invest in cutting-edge thought.

Most people try to predict what’s going to happen down the line, but some actually know what they’re talking about. Thinkers on the bleeding edge of their fields aren’t easy to come by, but their insights can be invaluable for helping your business thrive well into the future.

Whether it’s an outside consultant or one of the country’s best futurist speakers, finding an expert with insights relevant to your business can go a long way. Whether it’s blockchain, the Internet of Things, dynamic ads, or something else entirely, expertise in a sector you want to capitalize on can give your brand a powerful edge moving forward. 

2. Make it digital. 

You’ve heard it before: Digital platforms are the way of the future. But what does this mean for your company? Sure, more and more business is done digitally every year, but what else can be done on computers that isn’t already? 

As it turns out, quite a bit. Telecommuting is surely poised to take over as time goes on — more than two-thirds of managers report an increase in productivity from remote workers. Remote work can save money on commuting and office overhead as well. Similarly, video conferencing looks to slash travel costs while enabling businesses to enjoy more personal face-to-face communication than ever before.

Anything from accounting to marketing could almost certainly be streamlined using a digital platform, so how is your company preparing?

3. Go green. 

It’s not just a trend — consumers are increasingly looking toward companies that have environmentalism at the heart of their message. More than 70% of consumers are willing to pay a premium of at least 5% for more sustainable products, with many happy to pay even more. By taking the green revolution to your office, you can significantly increase your brand’s standing with a large number of consumers.

It’s not just about image, either. As time goes on, renewable energy gets cheaper. Switching your business’s infrastructure to more sustainable power sources now can save you big bucks down the line. A more energy-efficient office can also slash power bills. When it comes to greening your business, it’s an investment in your company’s success, both now and in the future.

4. Automate the right way. 

Everyone has heard that robots are coming for humans’ jobs. While that may not be completely true, it is true that automation is becoming a more valuable tool for businesses every single day. Marketing automation alone has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry in less than a decade — and other sectors are looking to follow suit. 

One of the best places to start the automation process is with menial tasks that prevent workers from doing the valuable work you hired them for. Look for automation platforms that do things like store email templates or perform mundane customer service. By eliminating those tasks, your workers can focus more on expansion and increasing revenue. 

Businesses planning for the future need to account for the fact that their competitors will increasingly automate their workflow, and you’ll have to do the same to keep up. Automating at random isn’t going to cut it — you need to develop a strategy for automating the tasks the currently drag your team down the hardest and go from there. 

Planning for the future might sometimes sound like science fiction, but it’s very real. Businesses that stay on the bleeding edge of what’s happening are far more likely to survive and thrive as time goes on. If you want to make 2020 and beyond work for your brand, you need to stay ahead of the curve. 

The post 4 Ways to Plan for Your Business in 2020 and Beyond appeared first on Personal Branding Blog – Stand Out In Your Career.