How to Win Your First Government Contract With No Past Performance and No Experience

In 2000, a Marine was running with a 120-lb rucksack in Virginia Beach when his femur snapped in half. >> I had three leg surgeries and I didn't walk for a year and I was ultimately medically retired from the Marine Corps as a Lance Corporal. >> He got hurt at work and it ended the only career he had. >> It slowly became my mission to make sure that other people don't get hurt at work. >> So, he sells safety equipment. Not because it was a good market, because of what happened to him. And when he quit his corporate job to do it, he had a business plan, a disabled veteran certification, and no customers at all. So, he wrote an email, two sentences long, and he sent it to 20 prisons. >> I'm a disabled veteran. I started a safety product distribution company. I have no idea what I'm doing in terms of government contracting. I could really use your help and guidance. >> One person wrote back. That one reply turned into a single case of gloves and eventually a $10 million company. But, the email isn't the part most people miss. It's the first line of it. Because being a veteran didn't just make him eligible for contracts, it made him findable. >> You were down here just last week. >> I was in Fort Lauderdale for a healthcare conference. >> What was your interest in in participating that conference? >> We just joined this uh organization called HIDA, Healthcare Industry Distributors Association. >> Okay. >> Basically, it's a group that lobbies on the behalf of manufacturers of healthcare and the distributors that get those devices into the healthcare facilities. They lobby in Washington on our behalf. Our interest is that we sell our biggest customers are federal Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities, the state of California Department of State Hospitals, the prisons. Each prison has a healthcare facility within it. So, we do a lot within the healthcare space. >> Now, tell us about Blackbox Safety. What exactly does Blackbox Safety do? >> Blackbox Safety is a distribution company. >> Okay. >> And most manufacturers of products, any product, do not sell directly to the end user. Typically, a manufacturer will get the product to the end user through some sort of distribution channel. The best example of a distributor that everybody knows is Amazon. So, at the consumer level, and now it's very common with businesses as well, they'll use Amazon as a distributor to purchase products and supplies. So, Amazon's a big one. Another big one is Grainger. >> Yeah, Grainger. >> So, that's very common for companies to get their maintenance, repair, and operations equipment. Nuts, bolts, fasteners, mops, mop buckets, paper towels, things like that. They'll purchase from Grainger. And so, those are some big-name distributors. We're a small distributor. >> Sure. >> So, we purchase products from the manufacturer, and we get those products delivered to the end user. And most of our end users are government agencies. >> Okay. Now, how did you get into that? >> Well, it uh it all started in the Marine Corps. I was uh serving in the United States Marine Corps during the 9/11 time frame. I joined the Marine Corps in 2000. I was medically retired in 2002. I was involved in a training accident, and I was running with a 120-lb rucksack uh in Virginia Beach, and my femur snapped in half. I had three leg surgeries, and I didn't walk for a year. And that was essentially an occupational injury. I got hurt at work doing my job, and it changed my life forever. And I was ultimately medically retired from the Marine Corps as a lance corporal. And uh when I got out of the Marine Corps, the first thing I did was use my GI Bill. I went to college, got a four-year degree in business, and my first job out of business school, uh I wanted to do something in sales and marketing, cuz that was a good fit for my temperament and my interests. And I found a company that manufactured safety harnesses. Uh Uh, the product category is called fall protection. you would see these safety harnesses on guys climbing wind towers, oil rigs, structural steel. Gravity is everywhere, so everyone in an occupational setting is affected by fall protection. Anytime there's a leading edge or exposure to a fall, you got to put on a safety harness. So, I got a job selling safety harnesses, and that was my entry into safety. And I did that for a period of time, and I started to connect the dots. Like, I got hurt at work, changed my life forever. And so, it slowly became my mission to make sure that other people don't get hurt at work, so they can continue to do the things that they love to do with the people that they love to do those things with. And I got very passionate about this field, and I went to graduate school. I got my master's degree in public health and occupational safety. At that company that I started with that made safety harnesses, that was a 3M company. And I eventually within 3M moved from sales and marketing to the management the the practice of health and safety. And I became a safety engineer, where I was doing accident and fatality investigations and writing corporate health and safety policy. So, I had been in this field for 10 years. I loved the field of health and safety, but I also loved the sales and marketing aspect. And I started to watch Shark Tank. And you do. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> That's pretty cool. I like that. >> And I I started to, you know, watch a bunch of different videos on how to start a business, what's involved, and I figured out I can do this. I think I can do this. And I was also aware of some of the advantages of being a diverse supplier, being a service disabled veteran owned small business. >> I knew that there would be some advantages there, and it would help me grow a small business. And I made a really hard decision to resign from 3M. And the first day as an unemployed entrepreneur, I sat down and wrote my business plan for Black Box Safety. And that was over 5 years ago. >> Wow. Yeah, that's incredible. Do you believe that small businesses should write business plans? >> Yeah, it's a starting point, right? There's I'm sure there are plenty of successful businesses that have not written a business plan. >> Right. >> I had already seen it in my mind's eye when I wrote it down. >> And that actually actually one of the things that I think for a lot of business owners is you do have to be able to see it first before you can actually achieve it. So, that's why I was asking just because I would have never guessed you still went back and reviewed it later on to to compare, but that's surprising. >> And here's another point that I think is important to understand, Eric, is that my business plan it wasn't written in a vacuum. I didn't write it by myself in secret. Within weeks of resigning from 3M and sitting down to write my business plan, I applied for a SCORE mentor and they matched me with a retired executive near my zip code within driving distance of my zip code that understood the market and the space where I was trying to start a business. And his name was Joe Folsom and he had experience with manufacturing and distribution. And it started with an email, it was followed up by a phone call. And I've talked to a lot of people that have had all different types of experiences with their SCORE mentors. And and mine is unique, but it was a very positive one. We met at Caribou Coffee once a week for the first couple months. And so, he was very involved in my development. And every week we would sit down and go over a certain portion of my business plan. And he would ask really hard questions. And so, it was really helpful to have that kind of guidance, but also someone that was able to provide constructive criticism with all of his experience. So, that's one of the things that I did that I recommend to everybody, especially in the beginning, is take advantage of all the free resources that are available. You know, maybe there's 10 resources available, and maybe only one of those is going to be helpful, but you just don't know which one that is. So, I left no stone unturned. I took classes with the SBA both online and in person. I took the SCORE classes. I did a SCORE mentor. There were a bunch of boot camps, Boots to Business. There It's amazing how many resources are available. I took advantage of all of them. >> Right. >> And and it really benefited me in the beginning. >> Sure. Absolutely. Now, I see that you're part of VIP. I'm looking here on your side as well. So, I'm with Barbara Ash's crew. That was great. You said that you did accident hazard investigations. What does that mean? For 3M? >> So, when I was at when I was at 3M, I was a safety engineer. So, 3M has 220 manufacturing facilities, and if there's an accident or fatality at a facility, I would be deployed with a small team to go investigate that accident. >> Ah, okay, okay. >> And you know, do a report, things like that, lessons learned, write future corporate health and safety policy to make sure that accidents like that don't happen again. In answer to your earlier question about, you know, how is my Was there a pivot from my original business plan to where we are today? I don't know if this is clearly documented in my business plan, but we started with health and safety products because that was my background, that's what I knew. So, the first thing I did was I sent out an email to 20 prisons within driving distance of my home, and I just sent an email to each safety officer at that prison, and just intro It was like two sentences long. It was like, "Hey, my name is Jackson. I'm a disabled veteran. I started a safety product distribution company. I have no idea what I'm doing in terms of government contracting. I could really use your help and guidance. I sent that out to 20 individuals. One individual replied. And he said, "Hey, my son just joined the National Guard. That's really cool. Congrats on starting your business." I asked him if I could visit his facility. He said, "Sure, we don't get a lot of requests for that, but you're welcome to come by." So, I went to my first prison and I noticed that they used disposable natural gloves. And my first government order was for a box of natural gloves. >> One box? >> Yeah. Yeah, well, a case. So, within a case, it's like a small cardboard box. Within a case, there's 10 small boxes inside. >> So, from one case? >> Yeah, that was my first order. >> That's great. That's great. I like that. But, let me ask you this. I thought the story was leading to was you actually learning about like like how to do business. Say say more. So, that person bought from you. They became a customer? >> They became a customer. They sent me >> And then I guess what I was saying was I thought that you were leading alluding to the fact that we we met this person so he could teach you about how to do government contracts, not that you actually want to sell him something. >> I don't know that it's disingenuous to tell someone I don't know what I'm doing and I'm soliciting their advice. I really am soliciting their advice. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm brand new to the space. >> No, sure. >> Any feedback. How do you buy? Who do you buy from? What do you send them purchase orders on? A credit card? All that stuff. But, what resulted from those conversations was a purchase order. >> Wow. >> And and I feel like that's A, I need that information. I'm not lying when I say that I need advice. But, B, I feel like they probably get emails all day long saying, "Hey, this is what I do. Do you want to buy something?" >> Oh, absolutely. Right. >> So, it turned out >> I I love it. I love this I love I love what you did. I love how you did it. Now, how did you choose prisons? Why prisons? >> Because it's a high-hazard industry. So, >> I didn't know that. Okay. Okay. >> Yeah, well, we >> Okay, I didn't know that. See, that's a that's a small detail that I didn't know. I learned something. >> Because we sell safety supplies, we target government agencies that have a lot of employees. And whenever you've got a lot of employees, some of them are doing something that is hazardous. I mean, every office at some label at some level is going to have a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher >> Okay. >> and a safety sign, maybe a defibrillator. But, the more employees they have, the more exposure they have. And somewhere there's probably a facilities maintenance guy that's climbing up on a ladder to change light bulbs. So, the more employees equals more risk. And the more likelihood that they're going to be purchasing safety products. Prisons, very high hazard. I mean, if you've ever watched, you know, reality TV, um those correctional officers have a dangerous job. And so, the correctional officers, they wear lots of personal protective equipment, gloves, body armor sometimes, face shields, goggles, etc. And then, every state calls them something different. What In Minnesota, they call them offenders, but you know, the inmates, the >> Right. >> the residents of the institution, they also carry out occupations. They're working in the kitchen, they're doing maintenance, um they're doing janitorial and sanitation duties. So, they're also going to be wearing personal equipment, gloves and glasses and hearing protection and things like that. >> Yeah, you went straight to what we would call the uh end user, right? And so, >> Correct. >> that's a fantastic strategy. I I I love it. Now, from my understanding, something happened when COVID hit and your business took a turn. >> We grew a lot because of the products that we sell. All the products [clears throat] that we sell were in high demand throughout COVID. Nitrile gloves, hand sanitizer, masks, respirators, face shields, gowns, all of those products have been in high demand in every sector. And we were three years in business. I had just hired my first two full-time employees, so there were three of us. And we had, you know, we had established ourselves as a vendor with a variety of government agencies at the local state, and federal levels. Um, and at that point our sales was pretty low, but but very common for a small business that's only three years in business. But we were a known entity. There there were people that knew that we were in the space, that we were a government contractor, and that we provided personal protective equipment, also known as PPE. And within the first week of COVID, so like the second week of March 2020, our phone started ringing off the hook. And we were able to we were in a position to quickly respond and get a lot of personal protective equipment to the places where it was needed most. >> Did your business grow 100%? 200%? >> It was 3,000%. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. It went from 300,000 in gross revenue to like 10 million in gross revenue. >> Wow. >> It was uh it was crazy. But uh and our head count doubled. We went from three full-time employees to six full-time employees. >> Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. >> Yeah. Yeah, it but um it was very high stress. Like increases like that um can sometimes put a company out of business. >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Um, for a bunch of different reasons. >> Sure. >> And um we were very fortunate. We were very blessed that everything worked out the way that it did. And it was a lot of long days, a lot of long nights. We traveled a lot, and when no one was traveling, so the airports were empty, but if there was a container of gloves in New York, we had to fly out there immediately and inspect them all and then figure out a way to get them from New York to California. And that was routine. We were doing that every single week and there was a tremendous strain placed upon our cash flow. Required a lot of creativity, a lot of diligence. We went from doing quarterly or monthly cash flow statements to daily cash flow statements. >> Mhm. >> Every single day we were crunching the numbers to make sure that that at no point in time would we run out of cash. And that was really challenging and really stressful. >> No, I would imagine. I know a lot of people during that time because there was such limited supply the I guess the manufacturers start changing the way they were where they were selling it and and requiring you know, people to pay up front and things like that. >> Exactly. Yeah, the industry changed overnight. >> Right. How they did business from how they traditionally did business prior to that. >> Yep. >> Wow. Wow. >> But we made it. We made it and and here we are. We just celebrated our fifth anniversary. We still have six full-time employees. Things have calmed down a lot and in reply to your earlier question about, you know, was there ever a pivot or uh you know, a deviation from our business plan? Basically after after COVID started our customers, the the prisons, uh the health care facilities, they would say, "Hey, we know that you guys do PPE. You've done a great job. We have enough PPE. Can you do this?" And they would send us a list of, you know, a request for quote. >> Right. >> Or a request for information or sources sought. >> Right. >> And we would respond because we're a distributor of products. And so our mantra became, "If you need it, we'll deliver it. And so essentially we're a distributor of supplies to the government. And if you can put it in a box and ship it, or if you can strap it down to a pallet and put it into a truck, we will distribute those items to the government agencies and to the private customers that we serve. So we have over time, we have become what I describe as a sourcing company. So our customers send us a wish list of of the products and supplies that they need, and we move mountains to fulfill those requests. >> So besides the SCORE mentor, the SBA classes, what are some other things that small businesses, you know, that you you know, resources that you've taken? Have you part of any other organizations that you can think of? Professional organizations? I know for us in construction, we're part of SAMI. Anything like that? >> Yeah, we're involved in a bunch of stuff. I would say if you're at the beginning stages of your business, the two most important people in your life are your accountant and your attorney. Whether you pay for them, or they're a friend, or a relative, or a resource provided through a non-profit, that stuff is really important. You need to understand how to read a financial statement, you need to understand cash flow, and uh how to speak that language, and and understand it yourself. I feel like it's not a great idea to hand that off to someone else until you've grown to the size where it's no longer an efficient use of your time to be doing the daily bookkeeping. But in the beginning, I did all of my bookkeeping, and then I had, you know, my actual bookkeeper audit my books at the end of each month and close out the books, but I was constantly involved with the cash flow, and that was that was really helpful. That's you got to understand your finances. So and a CPA is really helpful. And then an attorney to guide, you know, your decisions with insurance and the formation of your company, things like that. And for all these things, I mean, we used friends and family for a lot of it. Friends and family and then like some of the nonprofits, there was uh a nonprofit for diverse suppliers that would provide legal counsel at no charge. And so we leveraged those services to to incorporate um and to form the the legal structure of our company. So we took full advantage and that was super helpful in the beginning. And then as we grew, as we became as they say procurement ready, um that's kind of the the words that like the PTAC uses. So the Procurement Technical Assistance Center. They say, "If you're procurement ready, you formed a business that's that is such that you can start conducting actual transactions." That's when we started moving towards the PTAC and the Small Business Development Centers to help position us to do business with the government. >> [snorts] >> And then once we move beyond that stage, that's when we started getting involved with these associations like you're mentioning. Associations that that are really involved with both, you know, the diverse suppliers and the government organizations and private corporations that value supplier diversity. And so that's when we started getting involved with those organizations so that we could network with other businesses just like ours and share lessons learned and leverage each other's strengths and weaknesses, but also get us in front of these large organizations that want to work with us. And the first one that I joined was Veterans in Business known as the VIB Network. And we talked a little bit about this the last time that we met, but I found the VIB Network because I was looking for a diverse supplier to do my printing. I needed to print capability statements in preparation for a conference I was going to attend. So I Googled disabled veteran printing company and I found this company uh Diego and Sons Printing. They were disabled veteran owned. They printed my capability statement. One of the owners of the company, Diego and Sons, was her name is Rebecca Aguilar Gardner. And Rebecca and Cole Woodman founded a nonprofit called Veterans in Business Network, the VIB, which matches these organizations of value supplier diversity with the veteran owned small businesses. And I met Rebecca and she told me about the VIB and I didn't know anything about it at the time, but my response to her was, "How can I get involved? What can I do? I want to be a part of this." And [snorts] so every year I would help her put on the next conference. There it is. There's vibnetwork.org. So they host an annual conference, which is really helpful. That was the last conference. That's yeah, I'm we're in that picture. We received the Veteran Business of the Year award from the VIB. That was super exciting and we're really grateful and honored to have been the recipient of that award. But I would say the the biggest value that the VIB does is they've got a directory. So it's a directory of all the veteran owned businesses in America and that directory is used by these corporations and government agencies to to find diverse suppliers. They can fulfill a need. I was starting my business. It was a quote from Elon Musk. And he said that starting a business is like chewing glass while staring into the abyss. And so that quote was very meaningful cuz it just validated like, "Hey, what I'm doing is very challenging and it's it's okay to feel this way." The hardest thing is is my personal tasks because I'm a manager and there's six of us and so I'm constantly trying to support the team. >> Right. >> But in the meantime I've got an email. People are sending me emails. >> Right. >> And so I also have to manage myself and that can be really tough. So just replying to emails in a timely fashion, being responsive, fulfilling my obligations >> Right. >> can be really tough. And I don't have a personal assistant and and I wish I did, but it's like every available resource I want to put it into sales and marketing so that you know, we can grow and sustain the business and pay everyone's salary and pay for the rent and the lights. >> Yeah. >> So it feels selfish to you know, deviate some of those resources to a personal assistant. Let me I want to throw in a plug. One organization where you will find some of those people is the IVMF, the Institute for Veteran and Military Families. >> Okay. >> IVMF? >> Talk about it. >> So they're housed at Syracuse University. That's where their corporate headquarters. They're a nonprofit. Their founding funding partner was JP Morgan Chase. >> Nice. >> So JP Morgan gave them all the startup capital to get the organization off the ground and now they're they just received I think 50 million in funding through the Carlyle Group. I think Daniel DiAnello who is a veteran, I think a Vietnam veteran, but just a great guy and he owns a private equity company called Carlyle Group. >> I know the Carlyle Group. >> Yeah, so it's a very well-funded organization and they do a phenomenal job of connecting veteran-owned business with large organizations, you know, Fortune 100 organizations that place a high value on supplier diversity. >> Wow. >> And we attended our first IVMF conference in September and we were introduced to a handful of really big companies. >> Yep. >> One of them became a client and a really good client. Just just from attending this event. Gets you to the kind of So, they had a bunch of people from J.P. Morgan Chase there. They had a bunch of people from Fiserv, which is formerly First Data. All these large organizations are very involved with the IVMF. And uh they have an annual conference called Veteran Edge. And uh we ended up connecting with what became just an amazing customer over, you know, since September. >> Uh I know Scott. >> In a very short period of time, they helped us grow our business. And they have a program called V-Wise, Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship. >> Okay. >> I was able to attend the the reception and meet all the women veteran entrepreneurs going through the program. This organization has done so much uh to help our business. And they're um they're just a class act. And they do Boots to Business. They do um you know, these different boot camps, depending on what stage your business is in. And they're regional, the boot camps are. So, you apply, you submit an application, you have to have references, things like that. And then uh so we're yeah. Yeah, huge fan of this organization. You When you mentioned J.P. Morgan Chase, they're they're very involved. >> See? You see how we how we talk about things and it comes out? And then this is this is the resource that we're talking about. This is perfect. This is exactly I I I love that. That's great. Uh couple more things and I'll, you know, and we'll close out. Um you mentioned stress. How do you handle stress? >> Personally, I do yoga, I go to the gym, try and take vacations. Um you know, I end up having to make a lot of apologies. You know, I would say like once a quarter, I sit the whole team [clears throat] down and I'm like, all right, this is, you know, I I try and take ownership of my mistakes throughout the previous quarter. And identify it, you know, apologize, make amends, and then tell the team what I'm going to do going forward to try and not be that guy anymore. And then, you know, learning how to delegate, we do that through standard operating procedures. We have an SOP for everything. So, being able to delegate, that offloads a lot of stress. >> You know, so where do you see yourself the company going, Blackbox Safety, right? Where do you guys want to go? I know you're a visionary, you've got this plan. Where do you see yourself headed next, you know, 2 to 3 years? >> I mean, so we're a sourcing company, and that's what we do. We We get a list of We get the products to our customer. If you can put it in a box and ship it, we do it. And so, we grow that sourcing business through sales and marketing, reaching out to trying to connect with as many government agencies as we can and private corporations that value supplier diversity, and let them know that we are really good at sourcing. And so, in order to grow that, we need more sales and marketing. And we just hired two new sales people that started One of them started 2 weeks ago, the other one started 3 weeks ago. So, we're getting them trained up. And so, that I'm trying to grow it. We're in like a 2-year process of getting a bunch of of our products on the GSA schedule to make our products like easily procurable by federal government agencies. We just signed a distribution agreement with Grainger. So, Grainger has government contracts, and they're able to add us to their existing government contract. So, the government agencies on that contract can purchase through a small business. Right. So, that was a huge growth play. Uh so, just little things like that. Yeah, I don't know if that answers your question or >> No, it does. Uh is there anything that you're looking for now, partners-wise, that I can, you know, you know, this is going to be heard by thousands of people out there. Are you looking for any type of partners or any strategic relationships, right? So, again, someone listening to this that may say, "Hey, I think I can help him." You know, what kind of strategic partners are you looking for? >> Yeah, um so, there's So, Stephanie I I remember her last name. She owns this company called Govmates. >> Yep. >> And they match up, you know, an 8A with a disabled veteran. >> Got you. Okay. >> It's an online online platform. >> Kind of like TeamingPro. >> Yeah, probably. >> Okay. >> Um and then so I went to one of her presentations and she talked a lot about teaming and joint ventures. I would just went through Veterans in Procurement. That's another nonprofit that puts GovCon owners through government contracting boot camp. I just went through that in Bethesda, Maryland and they talked a lot about teaming and joint ventures. And so I think that that's an untapped resource for us is either partnering with, you know, a very large government contractor like Booz Allen Hamilton or, you know, all the big names in government contracting. You know, doing the mentor protege program. >> Yep. Yep. Yep. >> Yep. Either doing a mentor protege program or doing a joint venture with an 8A or a HUBZone. Teaming with another small diverse business like ours that has a capability that we don't have. Those are things that we're looking into. Yeah, so Govmates We we got to follow up on Govmates. It sounds like a a great program. >> All right. >> So teaming, joint venture, mentor protege, those are some of the things on our horizon. And then we also want to employ more veterans. And so Department of Defense has a program called SkillBridge where active duty service men and women that are in their last 6 months of service could come work for a company like ours for their last 6 months in service. They keep getting their military wages, but they're working full-time at Black Box Safety. That's something that we're looking heavily into cuz we really want to give back and pay it forward and, you know, provide meaningful employment for you know, people that have served our country. So we're in the beginning stages of SkillBridge. >> Some final parting thoughts for people that are listening that are very happy to hear what you're doing in the space. They're excited. You know, what are some words of encouragement that you can give to them? >> I mean, if you're a veteran-owned business, you got to join vibnetwork.org, the directory. It's free to join. I talked a lot about IVMF. I'm a huge fan of them. If you're a veteran, that is another great resource that I highly encourage you to like get involved. And when I say be involved, like contact these organizations, find the next event, ask if you can volunteer, like actually become involved. Don't be a spectator. Don't be a voyeur. Like become a part of the organization. >> No, I love it. I love it. That's great. That's great. But no, thanks for coming on today.