Getting Started in Government Contracting
There’s a little known federal program that offers free, one-on-one guidance to any business of any size looking to work with any level of government.
Good Morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
The president of the NFIB wants the 2017 small business tax cut made permanent.
Roughly a third of hiring managers admit they ask job candidates questions they know are illegal.
In job interviews, do you focus on whether the candidate will be likely to stick around?
You know that looming recession economists have been predicting? Economists now say, never mind.
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING
Gene Marks writes about a “hidden-gem” program that helps small businesses figure out how to sell to the government: “With trillions being spent on infrastructure, manufacturing and other programs, just about every business owner I know is interested in doing work with the federal government. Unfortunately, most are unsure where to get started and others are put off by the complexity of the process. This doesn’t have to be. Apex Accelerators, a little-known program within the Department of Defense, can help overcome these challenges and create new revenue streams for many small businesses.”
“The program assists a wide range of businesses that pursue contracts not only with the Department of Defense but with most other federal agencies, state and local governments and with prime contractors who work directly with the government. The program was authorized in 1985 but moved to the Department of Defense in 2020 in order to build ‘strong, sustainable, and resilient U.S. supply chains.’”
“According to Apex’s director Khalil Mack, the program is ‘a hidden gem’ in the government. ‘We exist in order to help small businesses successfully compete for both federal and state government contracts, regardless of the agency,’ he said. ‘We provide one-on-one counseling and a lot of hand-holding.’”
“Never done business with the government before? Reach out to Apex at one of their more 97 offices across 49 states and territories (including ones at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and Kutztown University and numerous locations in New Jersey and Delaware). An adviser will help match your business to contracts offered by all agencies of the federal government specific to your industry.”
“All of the services provided by Apex are free and available to businesses of all sizes. There is also an emphasis on helping underserved businesses — such as businesses run by people with disabilities, or in historically underutilized business zones, as well as companies owned by women and veterans.” READ MORE
TAXES
Brad Close, president of the NFIB calls for the small business tax cut that was part of the 2017 Trump tax cuts to be made permanent: “The deduction, which about 9 in 10 small businesses use, allows for a 20-percent deduction of qualified business income. It’s the biggest tax cut for small businesses in history, helping level the playing field against large corporations. Its savings have helped small businesses create jobs, raise wages and grow at a crucial time for the U.S. economy. Main Street is already pulling back as the 2025 expiration draws near, fearing that it will soon face a massive tax hike. This damage will be repeated if the deduction is merely extended.”
“Small businesses don’t need a cycle of uncertainty every few years, worrying if Congress will or won’t protect their relief. They need the confidence to continue investing, expanding, and improving their communities.”
“The best way to give them that confidence is to make the small-business deduction permanent. There’s already a bipartisan bill to make it happen: the Main Street Tax Certainty Act. Congress should pass it immediately.” READ MORE
HUMAN RESOURCES
Job interviews can be riskier for businesses than they realize: “It's a scenario made even more complicated by the intense hiring environment, remote work, and the complex scenarios managers are facing in the post-pandemic world. That's according to a Resume Builder survey of 1,000 hiring managers, which found 32 percent admitted they knowingly ask illegal questions. Some of the most problematic topics include questions around family status, pregnancy, age and prior salaries — areas that can potentially lead to employment lawsuits.”
“Sometimes, it's not even intentional. For instance, companies must navigate a patchwork of varying and ever-changing state laws about what managers can ask a candidate about salary history. A question that may be legal in one state is illegal in another. There are also reasons why candidates will answer them.”
“‘Many job seekers are desperate for work and they believe that not answering a question might take them out of the running for a position, especially if it’s a question where the answer would work in their favor,’ Toothacre said. ‘Many people also don’t know what is illegal to ask, so they answer questions openly, not thinking about the consequences or bias someone might have.’”
“The survey found hiring managers are likely to cross the line when it comes to questions around salaries, with 39 percent of hiring managers saying they ‘always’ asked about salary history despite it being illegal to do so in 30 states.” READ MORE
Will that new hire stay with the business? “The way many companies and many candidates approach the interview process--often the last gateway to filling or landing a job--is frequently flawed. Both companies looking to hire and candidates looking to be hired usually focus on the wrong things during the interview, leading to bad hires and higher turnover. The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way. The solution is to focus on will more than on skill. The distinction between skill and will in the hiring process was popularized in the book Who by Smart and Street.”
“Every interview is a two-way conversation between an employer and a job applicant. However, these interviews are often treated merely as screening tests to assess whether the candidate has the appropriate skills and experience to function in the job and perform at a high level.”
“The truth is that an applicant's resume probably covers most of these qualifications (unless they lied). These days, you might even have used AI and machine learning to help screen for the best candidates based on the skills and experiences they listed.”
“So why waste time discussing these qualifications during the interview when you could spend your time together focusing on what's truly important: Does the candidate have the will to do the job?” READ MORE
RETAIL
A growing online menswear store is opening a brick-and-mortar location in Portland: “Milworks does a lot of business online. For a store with only one brick-and-mortar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it has a significant social media presence, logging nearly 46,000 Instagram followers of its ‘rugged yet refined men's goods.’ Menswear publication MR Magazine named Milworks, run by married couple Heather and Tim Ellis and brothers Jesse and Jason Meyer, a merchant of the year in 2023. MR said it represented ‘the style that made Milwaukee famous.’ The first store opened in Milwaukee's 3rd Ward neighborhood, and Jason Meyer told the Milwaukee Business Journal the name was meant to evoke Milwaukee's blue-collar heritage.”
“The deal will put Milworks next to a Stumptown Coffee Roasters that opens April 20. Matthew Goodman, vice president of 11W owner Downtown Development Group, described the 1,750 square feet Milworks will occupy along Southwest 11th Avenue as ‘high drama space,’ measuring 27 feet from floor-to-ceiling. Not only are the high ceilings ‘super dramatic,’ Tim Ellis said, but the fact that it's a corner store with ‘huge windows’ should help draw in passing pedestrians.”
“What's more, close proximity to the Ritz-Carlton hotel that opened a few blocks away last year is a business boon. In Milwaukee, Milworks sells to a lot of hotel guests, including business travelers in town for conferences or sales meetings, Meyer said. ‘You don't really get that in the 'burbs as much.’ ‘Plus, at the end of the day, we're just a little bit more of a downtown-type store,’ Meyer said.” READ MORE
THE ECONOMY
About that recession: “Most economists thought that the Fed’s aggressive campaign to raise interest rates would do far more to slow the economy than it has. Growth has outperformed expectations, based on a combination of government spending, increased immigration and resilient consumer demand. Workers are feeling confident enough about their jobs to keep up their shopping habits. Now economists generally don’t think the economy will get anywhere close to a recession over the next year.”
“Job gains have also far exceeded forecasts, possibly owing in part to an immigration-fueled increase in population. Economists still expect a slowdown to come imminently, if only because businesses have exhausted the pool of available workers.”
“In recent years, neither economists nor investors have seriously doubted that the Fed would succeed in bringing inflation down to its 2 percent target. The question has been what it would take to get there. Economists, however, modestly increased their 2024 inflation forecasts, even before the latest round of hotter-than-expected price data.”
“For more than two years, economists have steadily lifted their interest-rate forecasts as growth showed little signs of slowing and inflation remained above the Fed’s 2-percent target. An exception came in January, when economists forecast steeper rate cuts than they had three months earlier, confident that inflation was nearly conquered. This time, they have gone back to expecting a higher path for rates.” READ MORE
STARTUPS
Silicon Valley is buzzing about a relaunched audio app: “Airchat, pitched as a ‘social walkie-talkie,’ is the latest social-media platform to capture the attention of tech insiders and creator economy talking heads. Cofounded by Naval Ravikant (former CEO of AngelList) and Brian Norgard (former Tinder CPO), Airchat launched in 2023 to a lukewarm adoption. It relaunched in April and this time, it's taking off. Somewhere between Clubhouse and X (formerly Twitter), Airchat's feed of audio snippets transcribed by the app has sparked conversation. Silicon Valley insiders, from VCs to startup founders, are feverishly sharing on the new app. Tech reporters like The Washington Post's Taylor Lorenz are also on the app, and even former Republican congressman George Santos has arrived.”
“Already, the invite-only app has a channel dedicated to the creator economy titled ‘Creators’ — including industry figures like Eric Wei (CEO of Karat), Lia Haberman (influencer marketing expert), and Brett Dashevsky (host of Creator Economy NYC events). Dashevsky, a self-described ‘avid Twitter user,’ said that Airchat is already displacing his average Twitter screen time.”
“‘There's something that's so much more human and fun about the platform that Threads and Twitter just don't have,’ he told Business Insider.” READ MORE
THE 21 HATS PODCAST
The Art of Building a Real Estate Boutique: This week, in episode 192, special guest Jenelle Etzel, who majored in weaving, tells Shawn Busse, who majored in ceramics, why she believes attending art school and managing a punk rock band were perfect preparation for building a thriving real estate business. Her agency, Living Room Realty, has 130 brokers, roughly $5 million in revenue, and a market position that stands out among the big boys. While she once considered business a dirty word, she has embraced entrepreneurship and learned lots of important lessons, mostly through trial and error. For one, she figured out that there was a segment of the housing market—or the potential housing market—that more traditional brokers were ignoring.”
“She also figured out, somewhat counterintuitively, that her real customers aren’t the people who buy and sell homes. Her real customers, she says, are her own brokers, who happen to be independent contractors: “I can't tell anybody what to do,” Jenelle tells us. “So it's like being a politician, in a way. I've got a lot of responsibility with very little authority, and that's an interesting leadership challenge.”
You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.
Thanks for reading, everyone. — Loren