Helpful Hints
Back to Basics ~ Certifications
To celebrate this New Year of 2012, we thought it appropriate to talk about diversity certification again … how it came about and the value of being certified as a business that is minority, women, veteran, disabled, service-disabled or LGBT owned and operated.
Read MoreIntroducing the Small Biz Open Mic Forum
The U.S. House Small Business Committee has launched a new online forum — Small Biz Open Mic — to “give small business owners from all across America the ability to communicate directly with the House Small Business Committee” Rep. Sam Graves (Chairman of the Small Business Committee) stated in letter to small business owners.
Read MoreNarratives: What’s Disadvantaged 2?
Writing a narrative about your disadvantaged status? A simple definition of disadvantaged for certification purposes is “a systematic or systemic barrier to opportunity”. Your first step is a generic statement. “I perceive I have experienced professional rejection for reasons of “… ethnic origin, disability, residence, gender, race, education, or “Other, describe”. Then, you will need to write about specific instances of bias against you and how this bias has had a negative impact on your ability to enter into or advance in business
Read MoreNarratives – What’s Disadvantaged?
Writing a narrative about your disadvantaged status? A simple definition of disadvantaged for certification purposes is “a systematic or systemic barrier to opportunity”. Your first step is a generic statement. “I perceive I have experienced professional rejection for reasons of “… ethnic origin, disability, residence, gender, race, education, or “Other, describe”. Then, you will need to write about specific instances of bias against you and how this bias has had a negative impact on your ability to enter into or advance in business.
Read MoreSmall Business and the Federal Government
Because federal agencies and their primes are mandated to meet these goals – to spend 23% of their contract dollars with small business, including 5% with SDBEs and WSBEs and 3% with SDVSBEs and HUBZone businesses – there is incentive for them to work with small certified business.
Read MoreOvercoming Stereotypes
Overcoming the new MWBE stereotypes in the business community is hard work. Practice transparent diversity yourself – in your work force and supplier base and publicize your commitment to diversity.
Read MorePreparing the Personal Net Worth Statement
In many ways, the personal net worth statement is similar to your business’s balance sheet. It is a snap shot of your financial standing at a particular moment in time. It is used by certifiers to help determine social and economic disadvantage.
Read MoreCan’t Get No Information
Bidding government work can be a long, and admittedly sometimes frustrating, process; however, it can also be rewarding. Our willingness to put effort into finding out what our targeted clients wanted from us, using the tips shared here, helped us foster and cement long-term involvement with our government clients.
Read MoreThe VOSB Verification Program
In October of 2010 President Obama signed the Veteran Owned Small Business Verification Act, a law that requires the status of firms to be confirmed as owned and operated by Veterans, Service-Disable Veterans or an eligible surviving spouse; assuring that these business are indeed eligible for VOSB (Veteran Owned Small Business) contract set asides.
Read MoreTwo Little Words
Small diverse businesses can be particularly vulnerable to requests for MWBE procurement participation when lack of transparency is at issue. You can use these guidelines to help protect your business.
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