Today's Guest

Dr. Kizzy Parks is the President of K. Parks Consulting, Inc. (KPC). Which specializes in helping small businesses win government contracts. She recently launched GovCon Winners to help service-based businesses learn how to find, bid, and win government contracts. Kizzy has secured over $50 Million in federal government contract awards. In this episode of Winning on Main Street, she shares how she got her start in entrepreneurship and how an unexpected opportunity grew into a thriving business. 

Episode Transcript

(Please excuse grammatical errors due to transcription)

Gordon Henry:             Hey, hey, this is Gordon Henry at Winning on Main Street. And this week we're fortunate to spent some time with Kizzy Parks. Welcome to the show, Kizzy.

Kizzy Parks:                  Well, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Gordon Henry:             So quick intro on Kizzy, she's the president of K. Parks Consulting where she's won well over 60 million in government contracts. And recently she started GovCon Winners to help service-based small business owners learn how to win their own profitable government contracts. All right, so let's get into this so that small business owners who are listening can understand how this world of government contracts may apply to them. So first of all, do you deal with federal government, state government, local government, all three? What's the span?

Kizzy Parks:                  All of the above. My sweet spot is federal.

Gordon Henry:             Okay, great. So in terms of what type of business this applies to, so you think of especially federal government and my mind, I always think about, okay, this is going to be defense-related, big government contractors, Boeing, Grumman, giant companies that make planes and things like that, but we're talking about smaller businesses here. And so most of those probably are not in defense or I don't know, you tell me. What areas do you handle contracts in?

Kizzy Parks:                  What's interesting is the top areas in the federal government tend to be healthcare, IT, engineering, construction, facilities, management, and professional services. And those are just the big buckets. So underneath that, it's training, if someone is an executive coach or they provide leadership training. Underneath that is also carpet repair, carpet cleaning, painting walls. Also under that is staffing nurses, staffing mental health professionals, staffing pharmacists, staffing IT professionals.

                                   And so what's awesome about the government contracting space is whether it's you because when I started out, it was just me. I was it. And it's changed as time it's going on, but even if it's just you or maybe there's you and a couple people or you and some 1099s, it doesn't matter. What's important to the federal government, are you able to resolve their pain? It's about how do you apply your current business model or the thing that you offer and mold it to meet the needs of the federal government. You got to work it a little different because it's a federal agency or state or local, but it's really about how you shift it to fit them.

Gordon Henry:             So then digging a little deeper, I think of the government and I think others do and think paperwork, red tape, long process. Right or wrong?

Kizzy Parks:                  I like the answer, it depends. And here's why I say that. So throughout these 10 plus years, I've worked with Walmarts, record labels, global, humongous, publicly traded organizations. And when I compare that experience with the government, there's really not too many differences, in that they have their way. There was a process in which Walmart operated. I had to wait 90 days to be paid. There was a place you had to go to submit your invoice. That's no different than the government. They usually pay within 15 to 30 days.

                                   There's a place you typically go to submit your invoice. And even how the work all came about, it was still Walmart had a need, the government has a need and they both thought, hey, you're able to fulfill it. So it's something where it's about persevering over. We've all been in those positions where you get that first client and you're just so excited because you finally get them. And then that's when the real work begins when you have to actually execute. And I would say that execution piece is no different than commercial or for the federal side.

Gordon Henry:             Okay. Now how big an opportunity we're talking about, I mean, if people are listening thinking, we hear numbers around the size of the government, but how big is this size of this government procurement that you're talking about?

Kizzy Parks:                  So typically the government spends over $500 billion a year on all different things. And what's awesome about it is also you can partner with someone who's in the federal government space. So for instance, we partner with IBM and so they have the name recognition, they have a history, they have a legacy, everybody loves IBM, right? So we get to partner with them and we're still accessing that government money, it's just that we're teamed with them, so that's cool about the opportunities is you can go about getting them in a variety of ways.

Gordon Henry:             Okay. So what exactly is the service that GovCon Winners provide? If I'm a small business, do I contact Kizzy Parks at GovCon Winners and say, "I'm interested getting a government contract. Help me how to do it." Is that how it works?

Kizzy Parks:                  It does. It's for someone who has never even pondered government contracting. It's for someone who maybe you won one contract. And it's also for those who maybe you've won several government contracts. The whole goal is to help you find, bid and win profitable contracts again and again and again because it's a space where the government's constantly purchasing, whether there's a recession, there's a lockdown, war, government's still buying. And so having that mentor is really key because that's what made the difference in my 10 plus years. I had no idea. It took me 10, 13 years to figure out what I know now and this is the opportunity to really learn these strategies because they work.

Gordon Henry:             Okay. So if I'm a small business and I think I have a service or product that the government may want and I call you, do I have to know in advance what I'm applying for? Or do I call you and say, "Hey, Kizzy, what's out there for me? What are the opportunities available to me?"

Kizzy Parks:                  That's one thing that's really amazing about this space is your formal background or your business could be web development, but maybe you're like, look, I just really want to get into janitorial services. There's something about it. That's what I want to do. No one's going to question you. And so that's so cool is whether or not you know want to go into a space or you don't want to go into a space, you don't know what you want to go into, that is perfectly fine because when I first started out I was all in on diversity and inclusion and some of my mentors would say, "Kizzy, the money in the federal governments and staffing." And at that time I was all in my ego and I said, "Staffing, I don't want to be a glorified staffing company. I didn't go to grad school for this." And sure enough, they were right. And it's a big piece of what my flagship company does today. So what's great is to be able to explore these different opportunities because there's so many ways in which the government buys and there's so many things that they offer.

Gordon Henry:             What kind of fee do you take or more specifically, do you take the fee from the small business or do you take the fee from the government? How does your fee structure piece work?

Kizzy Parks:                  I take the fee from the small business and I will explain why, because this comes up all the time, people have asked or they'll say, well, I don't understand why can't someone just take a percentage of... Which I would say outside of the federal government or in real estate or other businesses make sense, understood, I'm on board. In the federal government space, it's a little different because there are contracts that are sometimes five years. So should I be privy to five years of your revenue? No. Or what if you don't get all five years? There's a lot of things, that little nuances, it's not just simply, here's what I'm offering. Here's what we're paid, done deal. So I like empowering because I don't want a cut. If anything, I would want part ownership of a particular company or to form what's called a joint venture, but as far as the setup, it's just a flat rate. You get lifetime access to all of the mentorship and you learn every single thing that I did and do to win contracts.

Gordon Henry:             Got it. Okay. And how does the federal government evaluate the small business? So is it how many years of business you've been or who's got the lowest price that probably seems high in the list. What are the criteria for selection?

Kizzy Parks:                  Those are things I'm asked all the time. People always wonder, does the government base bids on lowest price? Do they base it on the numbers of years that you're in business? And the answer is, not exactly. So taking a step back, the government will want something. So let's say they want IT training. They want IT training. They probably have told you the dates. They told you where. They've given you all the information. And then what they'll also do is say to you here is how we're going to evaluate you and the way that they evaluate you, it varies. And that's no different than at a state level contract, a county or a city or even a big company like Walmart. They still have some kind of criteria that they use to determine are we going to really work with this vendor or not? So the criteria that they use, it varies, sometimes it might be priced, but not always. It's not always based on price because the thing is when purchasing something that's so low or so inexpensive, we've all been there. You get what you paid for.

                                   And often the government knows that too, so they don't want to pay a minimal amount and they get a subpar help desk team or they get a subpar product that's going to hurt all of our military members, so that really varies. And then as far as the experience, the government is really cool in that they understand. In the sense of you could start today and win a contract in a few months, they're not going to ask like, well you've only been in business a few years, as long as you explain in your proposal or explain in networking events, then they really understand because what's most important is you're solving a problem that they have and that supersedes everything.

Gordon Henry:             It sounds like you help the small business figure out what the opportunities from the government are that might apply to them. Are they looking for my type of IT staffing? And then do you actually walk the business through the application process? Are you holding the business' hand as they're doing it? Because it does sound daunting.

Kizzy Parks:                  Yeah, help them through the process, help them with how to bid, how to understand, help them through the three key areas. You have the registration and then you also have the where to go, how to find, how to really identify what to go after and understanding the government's mindset. And then lastly, you have how to respond or how to bid on these opportunities because the thing is, it's about shifting to this world of government contracting. That's all it is. It's just making these shifts. It's not a copy and paste of what you're doing, but that's no different if you're global. If you're a small business, but you also have clients outside of the United States, it's probably not a copy and paste. We've had clients throughout other countries and there are different nuances and approaches that we had to do. And so the same applies to the government, but throughout the process, I'm there providing that mentorship along the way.

Gordon Henry:             And people may think, well, this sounds like a lot of work to get one contract, but isn't it true that once you get a contract, very often those vendors get additional future contracts? I remember I had a relative of mine did some training work for the Army. They had a training company and they did work for the Army and it seemed like once he had the first one, they did it again and again and again and it became this steady stream of income in the future. Is that a pretty normal kind of story?

Kizzy Parks:                  It definitely is. Once you get in and you become what they'll call a known quantity, then they're starting to know you, like you, trust you. And what's great is you can not only get additional work, but then they may say, "Hey, I know you offer training, but by chance, do you also offer computer parts?" And you may think what because they trust you so much, they're going to start to look to you as the go-to person. And then the other thing is often they'll refer you, which is nice because the government is real sensitive about you actively marketing while you're working on the effort. And so what's cool is they'll refer you out, so then the Navy or the Air Force or Space Force may contact you and say, "Hey, we heard you're awesome, you provide this training. Could you do the same for us?" And it definitely helps once you just get one.

Gordon Henry:             Yeah. Great. When we come back, we're going to hear more about Kizzy's thoughts on what you would tell future entrepreneurs. Stay with us.

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Gordon Henry:             And we're back with Kizzy Parks and really interesting story about how small businesses can get involved with government contracts and really open up who you sell to by working through someone like Kizzy to access tons of government contracts. So it's really a big space that I bet a lot of entrepreneurs haven't really even thought about it, so hopefully this will be a lot of valuable information to them. We only have a few minutes left, but I'd like to ask you what you would tell an entrepreneur who may be just starting their company or just beginning to market themselves, what should they be thinking about as they try to grow their company from startup to something big?

Kizzy Parks:                  I remember when I first started out and I felt like I had been thrown into an ocean with a blindfold on is how I felt, well, what I perceived as ocean. It was a lot of trying to navigate and figure out my surroundings. And so I suggest to those who are just starting out is that you think you're in this ocean full of sharks and you're drowning and in reality, you're in a little kitty pool and there's an inch of water, in that you're going to get through this, that being an entrepreneur, especially a small business owner, we are the backbone of the economy. The second thing is that your entire focus must be on these two areas, sales and outstanding delivery, client delivery, sales, client delivery. You don't have a business without sales, unless you purposely set it up to not generate revenue, which I don't think you're doing, but you have to have sales and figure out what does it take for you to put in a dollar and get $32 back every time.

                                   And so one of the great ways of doing that is providing amazing client experience so that those who you are serving can now serve as your cheer squad. They're referring you, they're buying more or you're figuring out how to alter your prices or how to package things based on the feedback of those who you're just starting out with. And then I would say the third suggestion, my little three buckets here, is definitely have a mentor. Finding a mentor, there are mentor out there who have been there, done it. It is so vital. I've been part of a CEO nexus group out of Orlando for several years now. And this particular group just happens to be all women. They have a variety of these groups, but what's awesome, we're all entrepreneurs. Regardless of what we do, we all have the same kind of situations regardless. And I adore that because then I get to learn from them, ask them questions, figure out things like COVID, who had a game plan for that? No one. So those are definitely the areas, but focus in on the sales and the client delivery.

Gordon Henry:             Yeah. Great, great advice. Thank you for that. In our last minute or two, I love to do a quick lightning round, a couple of quick questions for you just to get to know you a little bit better as a person. First of all, do you have a particular mentor or person you've learned from over the years who's helped guide you, tutor you, inspire you, anything like that?

Kizzy Parks:                  Yes. Tons of mentors. So my mentors have assisted throughout the different phases of where I am as an entrepreneur. So right now, I'm at this phase of learning how to really show up and sell digital product and mentoring and coaching. So there's a woman by the name of Shanee, who's phenomenal, she has over a million followers on LinkedIn and she has just been there as a mentor, providing all types of strategies. She's been there as a supporter to really help me because my wheelhouse is government contracting. And so pivoting into this world of selling online, it's very different. And so she has been phenomenal through Zoom, through text, through email, through phone calls, she has been terrific.

                                   And then also my other big mentor in my life and it is what it is, but they're the people who, I don't know, I'm not going to go into all of them because sometimes you like these people and sometimes you don't, but I really get a lot of mentorship from different professionals out there where you pay to take their courses. And so I've learned a lot about leadership, self-development. I've learned a lot about how to structure my business, how to invest different revenues because I would say that's... I mean, I don't know if you all have found this to be the same thing, but I have found that many entrepreneurs don't talk about the investing piece. They may show you here's the house or my car or the vacation, but they're not really talking about here's how I reinvest what I've made. And then lastly is just my faith has been really helpful throughout this whole experience.

Gordon Henry:             Fantastic. You seem like a very busy person. How do you manage your time? Do you have a secret for how you manage your time?

Kizzy Parks:                  Yeah, so I chuckle because when I first started out, I was like a bird in an airport. Every now and again, especially a small airport, and a bird comes in and they're all over the place and they're disoriented and they're trying to get out and they're circling and that's how I was. Every day, it was like a five alarm fire, every single day for probably a good 10 years. And I mean, the only structure I really had was just going to the gym and making sure things didn't fall apart.

                                   So thankfully, I got out of all of that. And once I implemented processes and procedures in my flagship company were ISEL certified, that's when everything freed. So now I live this life of what I want to do, meaning I wake up whenever I want to wake up. I fit in the gym when I fit in the gym. I'm constantly going to different training and development things. I have people helping with my social media, so I don't have a strict schedule per se. It's about tasks that I need to complete throughout the week. And then I figure out how to best accomplish them based on what I'm doing that day or how my energy goes. So what's great is I get to live my day and my week and my months how I want to live them.

Gordon Henry:             Oh, that's great. Favorite hobby?

Kizzy Parks:                  Oh man. I think my favorite, I love working out.

Gordon Henry:             Okay.

Kizzy Parks:                  I love fitness. I love lifting weights. Oh my goodness.

Gordon Henry:             Okay. So that's what keeps you going? Well, that's a good thing. And then finally, do you have a guilty favorite celebrity or famous person?

Kizzy Parks:                  Oh yes. I love a lot of celebrities and oh my goodness. I will say like the guilty one, oh my goodness, I mean, I love my Kardashians. I always joke and say they're my cousins because I admire their entrepreneurial field so much. So they're who I love, but I love all types of celebrities. That's another fun area, celebrity stuff.

Gordon Henry:             Okay, great. Well, you've been fantastic. And again, I think people have probably learned a lot about an area that many didn't know much about, so I really, really appreciate everything you had to share with us. So in terms of people getting in touch with you, I just want to remind everybody, so we got govconwinners.com, right? And can I share your email address?

Kizzy Parks:                  Yeah. By all means.

Gordon Henry:             So I see Kparks@govconwinners.com, right?

Kizzy Parks:                  Yes.

Gordon Henry:             Okay. That's awesome. Great. Well, thanks for coming on the show. It's great to have you and really learned a ton.

Kizzy Parks:                  Well, thank you so much, Gordon. I appreciate it. This is such an honor.

Gordon Henry:             Yeah. Well, thank you. And thanks to our producer, Tim Alleman, and coordinators, Diette Barnett and Daniel Huddleston. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please tell a friend or colleague or family to subscribe. Please leave us a five star review. We'd really appreciate it. It helps us in the rankings, the algorithms and all that stuff. Until next time, make it a great week.

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