Unlocking Trillions: Government Contracts - Episode 49

We are joined by Dr. Karwanna Irving and we are diving deep into the world of government contracts, a topic that holds immense potential for small business owners, especially people of color and women of color. Dr. Irving, with over two decades of experience in government contracting, shares her journey from starting as a videographer and photographer to landing her first lucrative government contract, which opened the doors to massive successes. Discover the trillion-dollar industry that is government contracting, where everything from goods to services is in demand. Dr. Irving guides us through the process, including pre-qualifications, certifications, and the mindset needed to thrive in this realm.

About our guest:
Dr. Karwanna D. Irving is an award-winning Small Business Expert who specializes in Government Contracts. She’s the founder of She’s Got Goals, LLC  and the Trillion Dollar Secret to Government Contracts.  As a 20+ year business vet who has successfully built Two small businesses of her own, Dr. Karwanna teaches small business entrepreneurs how to grow their business with government contracts so they can have consistent income,  and get paid top dollars by the #1 largest purchaser of services in the US without chasing customers. Over the past couple years, this Government Contracts Strategist has helped over 200+  business owners generate upwards of 3 million of dollars and growing in revenues.

Karwanna’s been featured on CBS, NBC, FOX, Star Tribune Business, Best Business Digest, SBA SBDC, Ticker News, The LIST TV Show and more and has shared the stage with major leaders including Les Brown, Trent Shelton, Dr. George Frazier, Stacia Pierce and others.
https://shesgotgoals.com/


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TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Naseema McElroy: Welcome to the Financially Intentional Podcast.

I'm super excited to have Dr. Karwanda Irving join us. We are going to be talking about government contracts. This is something I have no area of expertise in. This is not like anything I

[00:00:14] Naseema McElroy: know about. excited to learn about because I know that there's some, really good opportunities, especially for, People of color, women of color, all those kind of things.

But government contracting is something that is trillions of dollars. It's a trillion dollar industry and it's something that we can take advantage of as small business owners. Hey, Dr. Kawana, how are you?

[00:00:37] Karwana Irving: I'm doing well. you so much.

[00:00:39] Naseema McElroy: Of course, and I just want to dive in to kind of like what your background is, how you got into government contracting.

[00:00:47] Karwana Irving: Yeah. I actually, I consider myself to be a veteran business owner because I started like 22 years ago. But when I started my business, I actually just started. As a videographer photographer, so service based business, trying to figure out how to get consistent, sustainable income, how to actually basically, replace the job revenues that I had just, quit, to start my business venture. So it was a little bit of a journey about 5 years into the business.

I realized that it wasn't really going in the direction that I wanted it to go. Although I had learned how to make some money. It wasn't enough to really sustain my lifestyle.

And I probably was working 40 to 50 hour work weeks, really hard chasing customers. And it wasn't until I actually was freelancing for a multibillionaire that I had met at church building his portfolio, building

his website and doing photography for him. That. I realized that I was just chasing the wrong customer.

He actually shared with me

the whole concept of government contracts and how as a woman owned business, everything that I was doing for him, the government would pay me like a thousand times over. So that's, that was the introduction really

for me when it came to getting started with government contracts.

[00:02:03] Naseema McElroy: Oh my God. That's amazing. And so I think like, it's one of those things that is just, you don't know about it unless you know about it. Right. And yeah, literally, cause I'm just like, wow. And I know that government contacts, like you said, pay really well, but a thousand times over, I'm like, okay, we need to get into this, like for real, for real, so explain to me, as a small business owner.

What kind of government contracts do you have access to?

[00:02:32] Karwana Irving: There's access to all different kinds of contracts. Literally everything that we consume as individual people, the government also consumed. So if you, if you look at the government as basically buildings, right. Made up of individual people. Those are bodies is people like you and I. That are employed that are running, these agencies and they consume just the same way as a normal person consume.

So when you think of it from that concept, they consume like food, water, coffee, they use paper pencils. They use the Internet computers. They have tablets and iPhone. So they consume all that stuff. But they also wear clothes and T shirts and uniforms and all of these other things. And they use services as I.

T. photography, of course, multimedia communications, public relations, they buy buildings, they sell buildings.

So that's all real estate. Literally every type of exchange that you can put into the marketplace in exchange for a dollar. You can do that on the government side, only the checks are bigger because they are the entity that write the checks.

And yeah, so basically, if you are in business and you're selling something, there's a great chance that you can also sell it to the government and it'll basically be 1000 times over what you're currently getting paid selling it to an individual person.

[00:03:53] Naseema McElroy: So what was your first entry into government contracting for your business?

[00:03:58] Karwana Irving: Yeah, for me, like the very first contract that I had landed after figuring out the whole blueprint to how it really works because it's not an easy thing. It's very complicated or it could be complex if you don't know what you're doing. And I didn't know what I was doing. So it took me a couple of years to really make all the mistakes and figure out.

What was the right way to do it. But the very first contract that I landed, of course, it was 70, 000 for 28 days of work. And mind you, those 28 days were just two hours a day because I was doing photography. So that's 56 hours. So in one contract, I was already replacing what I was doing as an individual, freelancer working 40 to 50 hour work weeks.

365 days, basically a year with the exceptions of holidays. So I was able to replace that in a single month, you know, for hours. Um, And so that was my 1st moment. Wow, this is a real thing. And it really does work and. Just imagine if I did this again and then again and have contracts simultaneously and I did that.

So I just kind of like, went over what I did and just did it again, repeated the same steps. And before I knew it, I was managing like 10 to 12 contracts simultaneously of similar size and larger. So within a short period of time, I was able to go from, 30, 000 years to like multiple six figure months, you know, with government contracts.

And yeah, and then for me, it was just like, once I understood , how it really works, I was like, wow, this is a trillion dollar secret. Cause literally the US government actually spends multiple trillions, in fact, the federal government in 2020 spent over 10 trillion. On business products and services.

That's just the federal government alone. Mind you, there's the state government and there's local government as well, but 10 trillion and 23 percent was obligated to be spent with minority owned and women owned small business concerns like myself, that was over 2. 6 trillion that was on the table. So for everyone that's not doing this, they're missing out on access to multiple trillions of dollars that's on the table.

When you have. That type of access to capital or whatever, however, you want to look at revenues or potential customers that you can acquire and you don't take advantage of that. You're literally leaving hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars per business on the table.

[00:06:18] Naseema McElroy: And I love that because you're telling me like how you were going from. 50 60 hour work week down to like basically a 10 hour work week and like exponentially growing your money And I know a lot of us are trying to leave the nine to five to get back some of that time freedom But open businesses and end up spending so much time Working in our business.

So inquiring minds want to know like how do you qualify? for government contracts qualify your business for government contracts

[00:06:49] Karwana Irving: So good question, because I designed the perfect experience for this. It's called the GovCon challenge. So if you go to GovConChallenge. com, you can actually get registered. I have a pre qualifications challenge where I show people all the documents you need to have how to position yourself as a problem solver to solve the problems that the government are looking to write big checks for and basically how to market yourself to the government and who to market it to.

And so that pre qualifications process. GovConChallenge. Helps you to streamline the process to getting to contracts faster. Once you do that groundwork, everything from there is just , it's a little bit more smooth sailing, especially when you have , a step by step blueprint.

But yeah, so ideally if you have a business, you have to have all your business documents in order. That is if you have an LLC, then you need to have your articles of organization. If you have a sole proprietorship, then you need to have your fictitious business name filing. So really those types of documents, all of your legal documents should include like an operations agreement for those who have entities maybe your articles of organization.

I think I said that, but your bylaws, if you have an LLC, you have to have bylaws. If you have like partners, you have to have Partnership agreements. If you have stocks, you have to have your stock agreements. So you basically have to really have your documents in order. You do have to either have filed taxes or have filed personal taxes because, of course, in order to do business with the government, they want you to be a taxpayer.

So these air taxpayer dollars that you they want to give you so that you can continue the

The circulation of money and pay taxes back , into that pool in that pot. So ideally, if you have , your business documents in order, everything else is just really now, how do I refine what I sell in a way that it's appealing to the government and we help you do that in the GovCon challenge.

[00:08:35] Naseema McElroy: So it sounds like there might be a little legwork up front, but once you have kind of this basic foundational structure, you can duplicate this to the contrast as you submit. Like you said, you started with 1 and then you were just running contract back to back. Yeah. And how much time upfront do you think most small businesses would have to put into

[00:08:58] Karwana Irving: .

It kind of, it kind of

[00:08:59] Naseema McElroy: if they don't have it?

[00:09:01] Karwana Irving: Yeah, it really depends on the person, how organized they are, how quickly they take action, how motivated they are to actually do the work because it is definitely work up front. And I would say, if you're not the type of person, if you're the type of person that has a job, or maybe an employee mindset, you're used to.

Someone giving you a paychecks. It's a whole different way that you respond to when you're now you're a business owner, you have to do all this documentation. So a lot of people sometimes you find people are like, they're frustrated because it's so much documentation. Right? So it all depends. If you're an action taker, it can take you like a week really to just get all your ducks in order.

To , refine how you position your offer to the government and to identify what government agencies are literally buying your stuff so you can know strategically who to market it to. Aside from like those action takers, I mean, I've seen people take years to do it because they're dragging their feet.

So again, it all depends on the person and their personality type. Yeah.

[00:10:01] Naseema McElroy: so do businesses have to have any kind of special certifications or licenses? Like I've heard things being thrown around like minority business, certified minority woman owned and all these different kinds of things, yeah,

[00:10:14] Karwana Irving: Good question. So you don't have to have any special licenses to do business with the government outside of what your, your industry is already requiring. For instance, if you're a contractor, your industry is already requiring your general contractor's license. It's the same for the government, right?

If you're like, a plumber, you're already required to have a certain type of bonding and certain type of licenses for that particular industry. So it's no. Industry specific requirements, but when it comes to certifications for socioeconomic disadvantages, you're not required to actually have those certifications, but having them actually gives you more leverage.

Say, for instance,

when I was talking about the the USA spending and how 2. 6. Trillion was on the table on the federal level in 2020. That was based off to 26 percent their spending goal to go to small business concerns. According to the small business act of America.

And small business concerns are defined as businesses that has under 500 employees is defined as women owned businesses, minority owned businesses, disadvantaged businesses that are generally making under on average .

30Million a year on an average of 5 years or so. And like LGBT members that have been disenfranchised underutilized as well as veterans and Native Americans. And if you actually identify as a person that's been disenfranchised, a socially disadvantage. In those particular groups, then having your business officially certified under those categories can actually allow you the ability to participate and set aside spending and funding.

For those business types, yeah, so and in addition to that, it allows you to basically have some leverage to work with larger firms that have that are obligated to utilize those groups. So, It definitely is like the ticket to getting there faster.

[00:12:05] Naseema McElroy: so it's not a hindrance, though, for you get started, but it's something that you would definitely recommend if you fall into one of those groups for you to obtain in order to get those those carved out funds.

[00:12:18] Karwana Irving: so when I work with clients, I actually help them I believe in getting the work done. Right? So for me, it's you might as well just go ahead and get fully optimized so that you're ready and you don't have to get ready in the process and potentially miss out on an opportunity if you're already a woman in business and you've already Thank you.

We appreciate it. Basically qualify yourself to do business with the government, but you haven't gotten that certification and maybe there's a contract exactly for what you do, but you have to be certified. So now you got to go back and wait 45 to 90 days to get certified. And in the meantime, that contract probably came and went, right?

So if you're fully optimized and you're ready already, you don't have to get ready. And so that's why I believe in like doing the heavy work upfront. And then from there, your focus could be just. Optimizing the opportunities that are out there, pitching and winning contracts.

[00:13:08] Naseema McElroy: That's my motto. If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready.

[00:13:13] Karwana Irving: Yes.

[00:13:15] Naseema McElroy: So you're a veteran in, doing all of these things. Do you do consulting or is it a course or how does it work? How do you work with people who are in getting government contract?

[00:13:24] Karwana Irving: yeah, so great question. So I have a coaching program, so I actually your coach that walks you through the process of a streamlined blueprint that actually gets you results. Right? So you don't have to spend 2 to 3 years trying to figure it out, doing it all wrong, trying to Google and YouTube your way into a process that you never know if you're doing it right or not.

So I actually design a whole blueprint. Great. Where I work with clients over a 90 day period and within that 90 days, a lot of our clients are already winning contracts. So, We have some, even though it's it's not the norm, but it does happen. We have some that are winning contract within the 1st, 5 weeks, depending on your work .

Ethic that could happen for you. We have many of their Atlantic contracts within three to six months. And that is like the normal average three to six months. But these are not like small contracts. These are like quarter of a million, half a million, you know, you just gotta be willing to get through that first, 90 days of.

Processing all the paperwork and positioning and and basically learning how to , basically unlock your codes, which I talk about in my challenge. When I say unlock your codes, I mean, what do you want to sell to the government? What do you currently sell? And how do you identify what the government is buying and match that with what you're selling?

So sometimes you got to get out of your own way, be a little bit open minded, be a little flexible because. If you call it mindset, for instance, if you call it like what you do mindset coaching, maybe you're what you're actually coaching people to do is have the mindset of how to spend their money or whatever, how to look at money.

Right? So that's really actually financial consulting. So on the government side, we actually have to label it what they call it. It's financial consulting. It's not mindset coaching. And so if you're not flexible and open minded to really making that Translation between the two worlds, you can really stay stuck looking on these websites for something that says mindset coaching and you never going to see that.

yeah, it's definitely a lot of work, but in the process of doing the work, you become a premium entrepreneur, you become the person that the government really will write a big check for. So that's what it all comes down to.

[00:15:31] Naseema McElroy: It's definitely something that will elevate you from just a, your normal small business status. But I was thinking like, is there any particular industry that you see contracts most prevalent in? Is it a service based business? Is it a product based business? Which do you see more of?

[00:15:48] Karwana Irving: Yeah. So I do have a book that's called don't duck the government. They've got your money is all about how you can make millions pitching and winning government contracts. And in that book, I also talk about both service based and product based businesses. There's, there's room for both, right? So if you're a product based business, there's opportunities every day to buy products.

Like they're always buying products and they're always buying service. It's not that one is spending more than the other. It's just opportunities everywhere. So if you're a product based business and you want to sell products to the government, some of the hiccups, especially with small businesses, especially those who are of small business concerns sometimes , you lack capital.

To be able to operate on that high of a level. So if you see a quarter of a million dollar contract to source water bottles to the government, which those are, that's a real example of what I've seen. Do you have 50, 000 where you can buy it? And if you don't, that's a problem, right?

And so access to capital is a huge hurdle for small businesses. So this is the reason why. We don't only just help people understand the process of doing business with the government. We show you, you need to be building business credit. And that's very key so that you can leverage those credit lines and those vendor accounts to be able to source something like a 50, 000 contracting opportunity to make 500, 000.

That's like a hundred percent. I don't know what, what that is. A thousand, percent

[00:17:14] Naseema McElroy: Yes.

[00:17:14] Karwana Irving: you got to get out of your own way. And unfortunately, I see a lot of times they're like, Oh, I don't have, I don't have money to get it started. You better figure it out. You better figure it out.

If you're, if you're really serious about creating wealth with your business or making real money in your business, you got to figure it out. Sometimes that figuring it out is getting outside of your own way and overcoming the obstacles that are in your way, which means that you have to put a little bit of money into building that credit line, right? A little bit of money into fixing your personal credit. All of this stuff works together. And, and, but some other ways around for product based businesses. Okay you have a product, you're building business credit. In the meantime, you see some opportunities there that you can't participate in because of these hurdles.

How about there's a, there's a service based thing that you can do, right? Maybe there's a service based things that you can do, clean up a parking lot. Quarter of a million dollars, right? These are real examples that I've seen clean up a parking lot for a quarter of a million dollars and then reinvest that money for your product based businesses.

So there's always ways around. And if you have a service based business, you can productize. As well, and actually sell a product to a company, the service that you're delivering. Say, for instance, you have a janitorial cleaning business. You can productize the janitorial supplies that comes along with your janitorial services.

Right? So you can be doing both simultaneously. Really? You just have to make sure that you're really thinking about how am I going to deliver? Because you definitely once you sign a contract, it's up to you to deliver because you don't want to get like a bad rep for like taking on something that too much for you to chew.

And then you drop the ball and then they're like, Oh this, this company right here, they, they dropped the ball, so you can't do that. But there's opportunities for you to really grow and scale.

[00:18:57] Naseema McElroy: What are some common mistakes that you've seen people make? Like just not delivering on the service that you promised. I understand that's a big mistake, but what are some common things people, make even before getting contracts that kind of hinder them from getting the contracts?

[00:19:11] Karwana Irving: Like one of the biggest mistakes is just really not being. Flexible or open minded and what I mean by that is so I was helping a young lady who had a t shirt brand. So her t shirt brand is a specific brand. That only means something to her. Say, for example, she had a boo boo kitty t shirt brand and you want to sell t shirts to the government.

They're not going to buy your boo boo kitty brand, but they will buy a million dollars worth of t shirts. Right? So when you so basically, because she couldn't sell her brand name. She was just like this is not something that the government is buying. They are buying it because a T shirt is a T shirt.

It's just that you got your label on it. They don't want your label on it. You can still sell it. So you really got to get out of your own way and just become the expert in your industry, right? Your industry is clothes and apparel because if you can sell a t shirt, you can sell the pants.

You can sell the shoes. You can sell the belt. You can sell the backpack. You can sell the accessories, right? So you really just have to take a step back at exactly what you do and just look at it from a broader scope. What industry are you in? You're in the apparel industry. So that's 1 of the biggest mistakes I've seen.

And then the 2nd, biggest mistake is just. Yeah. People trying to figure it out on their own when, you're never going to figure it out. That's a huge mistake because within 6 to 12 months, if you have a blueprint, you could be like, a quarter of a million or half a million dollar. More, I want to say richer, but that's not a word, but wealthier, right?

More wealthier than what are today. So that's a huge mistake trying to figure it out. And you don't know to figure out what are you trying to figure out? You've never done it before. So you don't know what to look for, what to ask for. You don't know what to do. And so that's a, that's a very hard thing, like for me, cause I see people make that mistake often, and I also see the vision of where they could be.

This time next year, had they not tried to do that?

[00:21:05] Naseema McElroy: Is there any type of businesses that you just would not work with, or would that just, you see, have not gotten any success with government contracts?

[00:21:13] Karwana Irving: I've actually helped hairstylists get contracts selling wigs to the government, but because I don't see like opportunities often, I don't really prefer, it's not my preference to work with hairstylists because unless they're also willing to sell hair. Or beauty supplies.

And so that's one of the things but really outside of that I think that if there was a business like so say like The sex toy industry like if you're trying to sell sex toys, i'm just like I I can't help you with that I'm, i'm not the don't buy it.

They probably do right on the military base They probably do but I can't really help you with that because it's It's conflicts with my brain. You know what I'm saying? It conflicts with my brand and I ain't done enough research in there really say I can help you get results. And so I only work with people that like, literally, if you get into my program, it's because I know I can help you, right?

We really turn away clients because we don't work with people that we know we can't help. It's just a, it's a waste of our time, waste of your time. You know what I'm saying? So we want to get people to get results.

[00:22:18] Naseema McElroy: Well Cheers to not making false promises to people that you you can't help because you know out here. It's no, you can't help everybody, and it's good to know who, Hey, this is probably not a good fit. So I just wanted to ask that, but I know you also have some quick tips for people to get started in government contracting.

Can you share those?

[00:22:37] Karwana Irving: Yeah. So quick tips to started with government contracts, go to govconchallenge. com get pre qualified first, because when you get pre qualified, it makes it so much easier because you have, you'll have a broader idea or a perspective on basically what you need to do to start winning faster.

Not 2 years, 5 years from now, how you can win within your 1st, 6 to 12 months, like lucrative contracts that really will change your life. And so get yourself pre qualified. That's the best thing that you can do. That's why we pretty much designed that specific experience, but also. Think a little bit bigger than, I'm gonna go make some money with the government and I'm just gonna fall out and, buy cars and, this type of stuff really, for me this, this thing, especially for minority owned businesses, especially for women I believe that.

Every woman should already be a millionaire, especially if she has her own business. And there's a way for you to do that. If you do this smart and strategically, a million dollars should be your baseline. That should be your bottom, right? If there's enough money on the table for each woman in business to be able to do that.

And for me, the bigger picture is. Do we have enough women millionaires out there? If not, I can show you how to do that. But also, do we have enough money going through black and brown communities? If not, you need to be doing this so that you can actually stimulate the local economy, in the black and brown communities, but mostly I look at this.

This whole government contracting thing, like when I first got started, I was just like, I just want to make some money, right? I want to, I just want to make some money. I want to be able to stay home a little bit, and not be working so hard to make the type of money that I make. And I've been able to do that, but over the years it's developed into more of a wealth creation strategy.

So I'm able to not only create generational wealth for myself and my family, but show other people who look like me how to create generational wealth for themselves and their families. And I look at the whole scope. Of the government being a partner that, and you being the contractor partner with the government where you're able to redistribute wealth back into the hands where it actually belongs.

And you just got to think a little bit bigger than just making a little bit of money.

[00:24:47] Naseema McElroy: I love it. You think it's small. I love it. No, but I wanted to know with the impending government shutdowns and all that kind of stuff, how do you perceive that impacting people getting government contracts?

[00:25:01] Karwana Irving: It affects people who work jobs. It affect people who depend on what do you call that? Social security and welfare and stuff like that. It may affects regular, normal, middle class people or poverty people who are in poverty, but when it comes to government, the government contracting side, it really does not and it really kind of depends.

Right? For me. When there was a shutdown before, normally, when those things happen, the government is writing a new bill to solve the problems that they just created because of the shutdown, which means that there's money that's going to be coming down the pipeline for small businesses.

And every time they write a bill. Where there's money attached to it, then that small business act kicks in where 26 percent of that bill has to be spent with small business concerns. That's you and me. So for me, I think it's an, it's an opportunity. So anytime there's like a shutdown or a crisis or a recession or a pandemic or anything that's happening, those are opportunities for small businesses to participate in the spend that's going to come out of those types of situations.

[00:26:08] Naseema McElroy: And I just ask that because I know people have excuses always. Just oh, no, it's probably not a good time to get into it. And I always tell people, you know what?

Nothing is perfect. Get started and then just see and then figure it out along the way. I like that.

Um it, it, it,

[00:26:24] Karwana Irving: Because people do make excuses, but it's like, for me, I learned a long time ago that those excuses are really your poverty guard that wants to keep you where you are. So you'll say things like, oh, it's a recession, it's not a good time. Based on what, what information, what do you mean it's not a good time?

It's it's a perfect time because , during the Covid pandemic, when a lot of things were shut down, you know what happened? My business was 10 x and I was already making multiple six figures a month, 10 x beyond that, right? During the pan. And not only just me. A whole bunch of businesses that were doing business with the government.

So when people are making these excuses, they're making it off of their limited information that they know. They don't know what's on the other side. That's why they say that it's a poverty guard. That's, basically wants to keep you where you are. Yeah, make a decision and take action Yes,

[00:27:09] Naseema McElroy: It's hard to get people to step outside of their comfort zone, but listen, comfortable often equals broke. So

[00:27:16] Karwana Irving: That's true. That's true.

[00:27:18] Naseema McElroy: yeah, like normal is broke. So you got to be able to a little bit uncomfortable. You got to step outside of those things that are immediately in front of you and learn new things. And that's why I love having a podcast because I get to learn what's possible.

And I also get share. With other what's possible because you, you, you don't know what you don't know until you're exposed to it. And a lot of information, unfortunately, is gate kept for communities of color people that look like us. And so I'm committed to sharing those opportunities. So please walk us through what it looks like to work with you.

Do

[00:27:53] Karwana Irving: Yeah, so the prerequisite actually, and working with me, preferably is going through the 5 day challenge. If you go with challenge dot com, you get yourself pre qualify. And then from there, you can actually apply to work with me inside my 90 day accelerator program where we help you with your foundation.

We help you with your marketing. We help you identify the top 10 agencies that are buying , what you're selling and we help you like unlock some of , the code. Like basically when I say unlock codes, I mean, basically maximize on your invoicing. So for instance, if you're a childcare provider, you provide childcare.

Maybe you invoice. Per parent, and you actually get paid to watch the kid, but on the government side, we actually help you break out the services to where not only are you getting paid for the daycare, but the after school care, but for the tutoring and for feeding the kids and for whatever else that you're doing.

So we help you maximize on your invoicing opportunity. So we'll show you how to do that and some, and then we show you how to basically. Pitch and respond to the contracting opportunities, help you understand the bidding process. So it's a whole blueprint from even somebody who has absolutely no knowledge, we walk you through from no knowledge all the way to becoming the expert and then from there, , it's really a rinse and repeat.

Once you start pitching and winning, it's a rinse and repeat process.

[00:29:12] Naseema McElroy: you have ongoing support for people that have finished the accelerator?

[00:29:17] Karwana Irving: Yeah we have ongoing support. Basically depending on where you are after the 90 days, we may extend your 90 days to give you additional support. We have a weekly coaching and Q and a call where wherever you are in the training process. If you have questions, if you're stuck on anything, we hope you get past that hurdle.

And then we have a private Facebook community that you can join where. The community is super awesome. So everybody's always sharing wins. They're always helping other people with information as well in there. Just a community, just being in that community would like, mind individuals alone is definitely a plus.

But, yeah, we have a full support team that, get like, if you're missing in action, which happens if we're not seeing you on a Q and a, when I see you posting, we're not seeing you. Do the work, then our team will actually be like, hey, what's going on? Do you need support anywhere?

What's going on? So there's a level of accountability, although you don't have an accountability coach. There is some level of accountability where we really want to know where you are. We really want to see you take action so that you can get results while you're in our program.

[00:30:17] Naseema McElroy: I love it. So let people know where they can find you, where they can sign up for your accelerator and what's next for you.

[00:30:26] Karwana Irving: Yeah to follow me on social media, you will go to Caruana D Speaks on Instagram and Facebook. And where else can you find me? Youtube. com forward slash Caruana D. I'm there. And again, govconchallenge. com is the prerequisite to applying for my accelerator program. So get yourself registered for the challenge, get pre qualified, and then you can apply to work with me in our accelerator program.

[00:30:53] Naseema McElroy: Sounds like your program is super comprehensive and can help people that you can help. And super interesting cause I'm like, oh, okay, I probably can do some things there.

[00:31:03] Karwana Irving: Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:31:06] Naseema McElroy: I'm always like how does this work for me?

[00:31:08] Karwana Irving: Yes.

[00:31:09] Naseema McElroy: But yeah, I'll definitely post all those links in the show notes, but I really just wanted to thank you so much. I've learned a lot. Like my mind is really blown right

[00:31:18] Karwana Irving: Thank you.

[00:31:20] Naseema McElroy: Yeah. You are a super knowledgeable in the industry and I know you can help people.

So I'm hoping that. People will take advantage of this opportunity. If you ever heard about the prevention contracts or you haven't, there's probably some potential opportunities for you. So don't sleep on it. There's so much more opportunity out there than excuses. So I always encourage people to just take action.

And it's one thing you take away from the show is just to take that quiz. You're doing exponentially better than the person next to you. So I encourage everybody to step up, take action. And yeah, I love this program, Dr. Caruana, but thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, this has been awesome.

[00:32:04] Karwana Irving: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

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