Step one to getting your piece of trillions of dollars that the government spends with small businesses just like you is to get registered.
By the end of this video, you will have the steps that you need to take in sequenced order so that you can start to bid contracts with the government to become registered to be and have the opportunity to win contracts.
And I’m giving you the must do steps to getting registered to do work with the government, yes, I’m dishing the details all right, here.
Learn the steps and then execute and then check it off your life.
Step One
The first step is your business foundation. You need to have a
- Business foundation
- Business entity structure
- EIN/Tax ID number
- Business bank account
I know you know how important it is to have a business bank account. I’m not talking about a personal bank account, a business bank account so that you’re not mixing funds and monies and expenses together.
Step Two
You need to have your DUNS number, Dun and Bradstreet number. If you don’t have a DUNS number, you can get one and it’s FREE. It doesn’t cost you anything but your time.
Now, here’s a little sugar for a dime. Dun and Bradstreet may reach out to you. They may try to sell you something that costs money. What did I say previously? I’m going to repeat it to you because I feel it’s really important. You don’t have to pay anything, nothing to get your DUNS number. There is no cost. They may reach out to you, but it is free.
Step Three
The third thing you’re going to do in getting registered with the government is you’re going to do your SAM registration. You need to have your:
- Entity structure set up
- Tax ID number
- Business bank account
- DUNS number
… in order to do your SAM registration.
Remember I said sequenced steps. So you need to do the steps above in the order that I laid them out for you here.
Let’s dive a little deeper into the SAM registration, just so you know getting your SAMs registration is a process.
You’re not going to sit down and say, “Oh, I’m going to go ahead and do my SAM registration and get it all done in one sitting.” Not going to happen in most cases.
First, you have to request access to the SAM registration portal. That’s where it automatically may not happen in one sitting, just depending on how long it takes for them to give you access. So go ahead, request your access as soon as possible.
Once you receive your access, then you can complete your registration. Make sure you already have the information that I mentioned above. Have it handy because you’re going to need that information as you’re filling out your registration.
Here’s the main thing I want you to pay attention to. Once you complete your registration and it goes into a submitted status, it’s going to tell you to print off some documents. It’ll give you the link.
Don’t just click, click, click without reading.
It’s going to give you the link. You’re going to download those papers. It’s going to tell you to print the documents out on your company letterhead, so do that.
Then you’re going to have to take the signed documents and get them notarized. You will sign the documents in front of a notary.
Here’s the other thing I want to share with you. Before you mail them off to the government, make yourself a copy. What if they lose them? It’s the government and sometimes they do. So make yourself a copy before you put them in the mail.
Make a note of when you mailed your documents so that you can track your registration and make sure the government received your documents.
Now, you’re just waiting for your SAM registration to become active.
I get asked this all the time. When should I start? Now.
When is a great time to start? NOW.
It would have been a week, two weeks, a month, or a year ago, whenever you started your business but since you didn’t do that, now is the best time to get started.
As a reminder, just depending on what all you have in place and what you don’t, it could take you anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
I’ve seen 21 to 30 days in order to get an active SAM registration email saying that, “Your registration is active and here’s your CAGE code.”
When you receive those two things, you’re good to go.
If you missed any of the videos in this series, I’m going to put the links down below. They are important, especially if you’re just getting started in government contracting. Make sure you go back, watch those videos, get caught up so that you’re making sure that you’re doing everything step by step, in sequence order, to make it happen and not have to go back and redo something or fill in a step because you left a gap somewhere.
I’m filling the gaps here for you. If you missed a video, watch the replays there down below.
Previous videos in this series: Road To Becoming A Government Contractor
Video #1: Is Government Contracting Right For You? – https://feliciastreeter.com/blog/government-buzz
Video #2: Confirm Your Place As A Government Contractor – https://feliciastreeter.com/blog/confirm-your-place-gov
Video #3: Get Registered For Federal Government Contracts – https://feliciastreeter.com/blog/get-registered (you’re watching here)
I encourage you to share this blog and video. If you know of anyone, any business owners, share this with them. The government contracts with all small businesses, so share this video with two or three of your business besties, your best friends, your colleagues, business partners, or whoever you may know that’s looking to start a business. You see someone on social media that says, “Hey, I just started a business.” Or, “Here’s my business” share the video with them.
If you’re not already on my email list, make sure you do that because I’m sharing tips and strategies and things like that via email, and I usually put more on the email than I do here on the video, so you don’t want to miss that. You can do that at feliciastreeter.com.
Now you know exactly what you need to do to get your business registered and qualified to do work with the federal government.
If you want to know more, make sure you grab the Sequencing Formula: The Steps To Winning Government Contracts.
