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the broadcast is now starting all attendees are in listen-only mode good morning everyone this is Kathleen Taylor with in Nevada Women's Business Center Nevada business opportunity fund and thank you so much for tuning in to this morning's webinar I am so excited about what we're going to discuss today we're going to have a fantastic interactive discussion and we'll talk about DBE certification and the capability statement making the connection and with that being said we have some resource partners that are partnering with us we also have two guest speakers that our subject matter experts in this particular area we have a phenomenal local business owner as well was going through the process of getting certified as a DBE and we're going to hear from her shortly as audience members up please use your panel with from the GoToWebinar platform if you want to chime in with questions or answers excuse me with questions or comments our panel will be more than happy to to answer your questions and with that being said it's my pleasure to have our Resource Partners here we have both Dino Brown with the Las Vegas Urban League and also our esteemed colleague mr. Marcel Cher who is the deputy director of the Nevada Department of business and industry with us today so Dino could you share with the audience the overall perspective about the Las Vegas urban league's services for the community sure BM Las Vegas certainly we provide a variety of services to low to moderate income families everything from childcare to women's health around women who are about to have children and breastfeeding and lactation things that nature to weatherization or Community Development where we help families rebuild their homes especially comes in handy with the elderly as well as just a education as well I head up the Innovation Center for Entrepreneurship and we basically operate as a as a small business consulting firm where we help existing small businesses become more and more profitable as well as grow their their markets and improve their brands and we also help individual entrepreneurs who are looking to get a new business started we've been open since 2015 over the last four years we've helped to start over a hundred businesses in Las Vegas Valley and now we can only do so through wonderful partnerships with them Nevada Women's Business Center Kathleen as well as the Nevada Department of Business ministry and my friend Marcel so I'm very happy to be here thanks for having me excellent thank you do you know and we really appreciate your partnership as well just as we appreciate the partnership of the Nevada Department of business and industry and we have Marcel cher here here today the deputy director of the department of BNI and Marcel would you like to share some information with the audience about the Nevada Department of business and industry well thank you good morning again Kathleen Deano and our distinguished guests here welcome to actually we're hosting this event out of the what we call the Nevada State Business Center a place for collaboration for services for innovation and of course to celebrate the success of the small businesses and I'm looking forward Rebecca to your presentation and what you have to say about a component of your small business what we do here is basically the Nevada Department of business and industry is their regulatory umbrella for the state however our heart and soul are into what we call the small business sector and entrepreneurship and in that capacity of course we have a guide to starting and growing a business in Nevada which we call the roadmap to business success and that is basically something that we put together with the help of all our resource partners in order to help individuals walk through this journey of making a small business more successful from getting help and I don't know if you have a visual kathleen on the screen but as you can see there there are different categories basically not necessarily steps but just what matters the most as you are planning either to start to operate or to grow a business and today of course the subject matter has to do with certification and contracts and all this wonderful area there that also matters so resources information and tools are provided through this road map we ask the people participating today to take a look at it to also become ambassadors and they disseminate this information to other individuals who basically need a chart visual in order to just understand more this a small business ecosystem and how many wonderful organizations can talk excellent thank you so much more so and with with that being said it's my pleasure to introduce to you David Icke clerks of the McCarran Airport and he's the head of the disadvantaged business program and I'm so pleased to have you here today David thank you in addition to your guests Rebecca fountain and she is the owner of Kor building group it's the local construction company in Las Vegas and they have done a very impressive body of work on this trip such as with the currently contracted with the Venetian Hotel and Casino she has many certifications she is very active in the community as well in assisting women minorities small business owners grow their companies towards success and David you've had the the I would say the privilege because you it's very impressive what you've done so for Rebecca and you've had the privilege and working with her to help her with her DD DVDs certification and also capability statement to to position her for a certain level of contracts so that being said um but please share with the audience your your backgrounds and things about your program and how you and I can how you and Rebecca has have connected over over this time okay very good well Kathleen Marcel appreciate you inviting us to this event today this is this was great in McCarran International Airport is a great resource partner for the community and so when that said again my name is David eclipsed I am the EBE AC DVD lays on officer for McCarran International Airport and the DBE is the disadvantaged business enterprise certification program which is a federal program under DLT now there are two certifying agencies that certify the DVD program is ourselves McCarran International Airport and then also end on okay now the DB program is like I said it's a federal program geared towards minority women-owned businesses and small businesses for helping them start and also compete against other contractors for state federal and county jobs to give them a level playing field of bidding on these projects it helps them towards a DBE goal that the hotels or other industries established okay for fa projects we also have a goal that has to be met per the faa regulations and so this certification helps the small businesses grow in the community now a couple thing about the certification there's some that it's a federal program and like I stated but there's certain restrictions the personal net worth for the business owner cannot exceed one point three two anything from 1.32 is considered is it better okay then most of the ownership for the DB program is 51% or more that person he or she must have total control of their company okay and the process takes about 90 days to get it from start to finish but then the certification is voted on by the NUC keyboard and that Nevada unified certification program board which consists of McCarran International Airport RTC North and South Reno Tahoe Airport Parsons TV and and I okay that's just a quick snapshot of the TV program but it's very very attention okay next one and Rebecca how did you what what would you like to share with the audience in reference to your experience as an entrepreneur and going through the process of the DBE certification well thank you for having me as I've been in construction over 30 years during the balloting and bone amaze - I know this area really well and I've always wanted to have my own company which I uh I have for many years and that David have the outreach event about two years ago and my intention with my company was to get in and do the karen airport work so in meeting david the initial meeting was excellent but it was the follow-through I had to follow through what he suggested and that went along would get any certification I had been certified through we Beth West as a woman on cert and a certified company but I hadn't done the DVD program yet so when I went through that process it can through some people it can be daunting to through all the paperwork and and and wonder if you're doing it right and then do the interview the on-site interview but it to you is if you are controlling your company and you're operating that from the standpoint that David spoke it's a it's a no-brainer to get your DBE certification and what it's done for core it's allowed us it's opened doors for us because it is a area where they do want to make the goals and as long as I can back up what I say I can do such as reading on my contracts then it opens the door and I get to bid and it makes a level playing field so it's been an excellent program and it continues to be because we do quite a bit of work at McCarran Airport excellent and with that being said could could you and and David give us a little bit more detail and what you mean by it opens the door for you could you give a little bit more concrete examples does it give you more leverage when when you're when you're a company's proposal or our quote for bid is being reviewed by a purchaser by the person that's that's overseeing that the contract does this does the DVD DBE certification or other certifications give you some type of leverage well I'm doing yes it does it definitely has to and when I stay open the door this state and the federal government and I don't want to incorrectly but they have bonus that they need to meet and so it's not easy to meet those goals on their men because there's not a lot of qualified certified companies that can do this work so we become that minority in the mix of it all and so they're going to look at our bid they're going to want to work with us their intent is to work with us but it doesn't mean that we're entitled just because we're certified it doesn't mean we're entitled it just means they're going to look at us a little bit more than they might another just because they do their photos and we can provide that so I don't know if that answers your question definitely but I know that it's it's assisted me in every aspect I fit on the Raider stadium I fit on a lot of hotel projects and everyone is looking for a qualified certified company and we're fortunate enough my organization that we need a lot of those criterias maximally and so Rebecca when it comes to this qualification of being eligible what are some of the barriers that preventing regionals from maximizing what you just mentioned I honestly think saiga barriers are just actual intimidation I think small companies such as mine and smaller that are starting out they don't think they qualify to even bid the work because it's it's it's the state or it's the city or it's just a more intimidate on them they're intimidated the other is the paperwork process the paperwork in order to bid and state level type project its stringent you have to understand the paper work and it's all based on fact and law and the end-user the the state or it Karen as an example you know their purchasing department contracts Department they can't deviate from the law and so it's up to us the contractor that's bidding to prepare our paperwork correctly or we get disqualified that intimidates a lot of contractors that are out there so in in my world all my subs we take care of their paperwork because that's our general contractors so we make sure the paperwork is accurate correct stories their assistance to basically hold hands and for someone to help you with the paperwork I believe the way that we handled it in in terms of my company we actually would just reach out and ask questions and a lot of a lot of again the love these smaller contractors they don't realize that they can pick up the phone and say hey I don't understand help it what this is saying can you assist me or explain it to me or direct me to somebody that can most people won't pick up the phone and make that phone call now one thing in fact if I made Marcel optional by uh when I go out to do outreach events or talk with newly applicants that want to go to get the DV certifications okay the one question that I always ask them I go so how come your company how come I have not heard of your company meeting on projects they haven't Karen or these other agencies and the intimidation factor like Rebecca just stated it's a big thing so what I do on my email blasts are like get from Nevada p-tech is the benefit Tech has a lot of a lot of courses that they offer for free how to do estimating how to do read a contract how to do a bit and mccarran's going to put on within the next few months a workshop maybe in May and June timeframe on these specific areas that people are intimidating up from contracts bidding and insurance and so on so the resources are out there even more now since we are going out there outreach events and looking at applicants they get them going and get their business started in these fields well I'm hoping that the individuals listening to this webinar will understand that and basically in a way to say well there is help out there to understand that what but also to help in terms of the how to do it exactly that you were saying absolutely and David mentioned Nevada PTAC they have been an excellent resource over the years for us and what going back to that intimidation people don't really think impede with the phone and call PETA and they can talk to the director over there if they wanted to include that available and they just don't realize it so that's what I've done because I'm I'm intending to move into the federal market would be federal contracting and that's a whole different ballgame than doing the carry name to do a contracting they get the in terms of paperwork processes so I reached out to Nevada PTAC and sat down with them and started the process of understanding step-by-step what it's going to take my company to do federal contracting and we are now bidding on three different contracts at Creech right now so you progressed good for you I know excuse me I'm just so thrilled to take your part of your story it's it's quite enlightening and whenever I'm partnering with the Department of business and industry the Las Vegas Urban League and having fantastic resource partners that just McCarran Airport here and we're all working together and this is kind of like the fruit of our labor so to speak you and your company and how you've grown and developed it's it's really incredible very impressive so I'm so so proud of you I really am and you know yeah yes so Rebecca and David here I'm something that's that's very important I've seen in this marketplace is 2015 right Rebecca says and she's been lucky because she is that competent of a business owner to pick up the phone and call I guess my question is twofold number one what are you doing to help improve the perception that this help is available because right ptex been around for years SP agent amount for years and going back to where I'm Rebecca answered quite frankly around you know is there somebody to hold it you hold your hand well lots of places don't do that so the first question is what are you doing differently to get the word out that you that you guys exist and you're there to help and and number two do you have the resources to Holdings that's written both you and David I'll I'll take the answer I can get okay so same thing with the Urban League you know we've been doing this for four years now and really word-of-mouth is the most popular thing that drives people to use my doors but what what I'm some wondering what differently can I do and so I'm hoping to get some insight for you on that okay so Dino so what I'm doing with with our outreach events is number one to help I'm old-school okay so more customer service oriented I do not like getting on the emails all the time I like going out pounding the pavement and talking to these compan es and level the playing field for them because again do you know the intimidation factor is always there okay they are scared to take that first step and I tell them if you don't take that first step you're not going to get anywhere so I put out an olive branch there and I and I walked the dog with him for example this DBE certification application I sit down with him I scheduled a meeting about two hours with them and I go page by page every question Wow and I go do you understand this okay who told this the reason that helps me doing that is because I can automatically feel if the company or the individuals are qualified already because I don't want to waste people's time so old-school me work walking the dog from start to finish on this application what I do is I write draft on the application first because I give that to them I use that math use that for them as a guy and then in turn I automatically send them an email with a clean copy of the application and the personal network and I tell them to transpose it and also provide me the documents that's for part for the application and then I will meet them a second time when they're ready I do not push them to get this application done I tell them I work at your pace okay when you are ready I'll come out and see them again so I usually usually meet with them twice okay and then on the third visit when everything is ready to go I take that packet from them and now our clock starts ticking it's four by regulation ninety days to get this application reviewed and approved or or further for a review so yet you know I'm old school man and all that I'll add to that I know that getting involved in community efforts that are out there organizations has been a very large impact on my company and so I joined the Nevada Contractors Association several years ago and that was a little intimidating being a woman on GC in the valley and the stigma that the NCAA has is you know it's an all man type organization Association and it just was intimidating to be this woman contractor to walk into that arena since joining though I became chair of the Diversity inclusion council three years then thank you and then I chair the steering committee for that and then I was inducted into the board of directors last year as their first woman I'll say second woman because Linda Harris was the first woman sitting on that board she has since retired and so now I'm the lucky one I guess you can say you sit at a board of about 40 men that are all prime contractors we're talking about the big boys I'm sure building our stadiums and so forth that can be intimidating but what I have found is they have embraced my presence they have embraced my knowledge my experience my wisdom and it's it's been an excellent experience but by donating and being a part of community that has made a big impact to me that's cause of success for my own company excellent a really quick question a tune um and and David I appreciate you cuz I'm all school as well I think that's fantastic with your accomplishment is particularly as a woman so I'm gonna stun the state a worst-case scenario I'm gonna do it to ask you guys to compare right so a similar certification no unless I don't know if it's similar or not but I've had clients that I've tried to get certified for SBA 8a and let me give you like again the worst case scenario so I have a contractor in North Las Vegas and it took me and him together about three years to finally get certified because every time we submit paperwork they literally would go sniffing everywhere to try and find discrepancies man I just drew the process out so with that being said how similar is your certification process to or you know like you use the word stringent and I saw whether I use all the time with regard to you know how difficult it's going to be and what you know you have to be able to be comfortable enough as a person as a business owner to let somebody basically you know Pat you down and understand all of your shortcomings and things that you need to look you know out for how similar you mentioned 90 days David so how close you know what is the realistic amount of time on average to get DBE certified realistically you know it would take about 30 days okay you have a great consultant from LA that helps to us do these on-site reviews and and once the application she reviews she lets us know if there's any more questions or this is ready to go for the board and then in turn she represents those companies and addresses them to the board they new speed board for approval but the thing is though you know is like we were talking about old school they should if the company has questions regarding certification they should automatically go back to the originator of that organization and SMA so why is it taking so long where can can I sit down with you and can we walk the dog and go through the application so we don't have to dwell down on time I know AAA is very stringent with their paperwork I go because I know that the DVD paperwork is very regimented too as well that I enjoy question you did you did thank you and speaking of questions we have a couple from our audience members okay so first one is your address to you David could David explain briefly what what would go into establishing net worth okay then the personal net worth is nothing related to the business okay the personal net worth is just how much you are what you have on hand ie the your properties that you may have additional properties the cash on hand that you have in the bank any IRAs any we're going through the checklist on my head any brokerages if you have partnerships or stocks in your company something to that effect equates to the personal net worth now with that I also look at your liabilities you have any loans do you have any mortgages do you have any unpaid taxes okay all those factors play into the personal net worth and mind you I did not say anything about your business it's just your personal net worth that you have on end right now balance sheet for you as an individual they can do you know I'm sorry the the personal financial statement that most certification system has asked for is a good old-fashioned balance sheet on you as a person having nothing to do with the business at all yes and you probably answered this question David but I'll ask one person wanted to know what assets are counted or excluded example 401k okay so I do have the the the the pink BMW right now here okay so the asset I'm going to go down the checklist real quick cash and cash equivalents retirement accounts which includes IRAs 401ks pensions brokerages investment accounts assets held in a trust loans to shareholders and other receive you receivables real estate excluding your primary residence so on the personal net worth we do not include the primary resident of your area but if you have other properties which I've seen the past yeah you must list that on your personal net worth statement life insurance caste surrender value only other personal properties or assets those can be considered as like a Europe vehicle juries furnitures at home okay and other business assets or interests for the applicants firms so say for example your you own other businesses besides your primary business and that came straight from the personal Network State fantastic and another person comment commented how would I get in touch with the gentleman who will walk through the DBE certification with my organization his assistance sounds amazing and I would love to tap into that resource awesome so here you go get ready to take this down okay my email address is David e DAV IDE at McCarran MCCA are a 10.com and but wait there's more when give you my personal number area code seven zero two five one three six eight six eight you can contact me either by phone or by email and I will get back to you and I'm not one to wait I am one to react really quickly and then I will definitely come out to you and I will sit down with you and we'll go over these applications and the processes and answer any questions that you may have and this person responded thank you thank you thank you now so we talked about the DBE process to a degree and you're a fantastic resource David so with that being said let's transition to the capabilities statement and Rebecca could you share with us how you came into developing your capability statement how it's been effective and in getting you an audience so to speak with buyers and decision-makers for bidding on contracts sure so the capability statement was kind of a work in progress initially I put one together they off of a template and then as I would show it to somebody's whether it was at a federal contracting event or McCarran event I would didn't ask for pratik and so David's been refined enough to critique the federal government liaison that I was talking to he was very kind to critique he made sure he critiqued because the federal government looks were a little bit different type of information than what we would on the public side so I basically have two capability statements that I utilize and then I took that information and then I had it doctored up by a marketing firm just to make it look pretty so but they're very important they should have all the detail information about your company your certifications your licenses your bombing capabilities just the various information that's important to that particular scope of work that you would be entering into and they make a big difference because people look at you if you have a solid for the goodies it's fantastic one of the things that I wanted to clarify Rebecca is their capability the statement we professionals if we're looking for a job we put a resume together a professional wrestling yes so what you are saying this is comparable to a an individual resume this is a sort of business resume which is called the capabilities a statement that is correct that's fantastic so in addition to that not only the certifications what are some of the other main categories if they're a format that identifies some other areas that really matter when you are trying to present your business effectively yes so some of the detail information would be like mine a ik coats so any ice two coats because that is that's horrible federal site but the state use it utilizes those codes it helps them determine what type of projects that they can send your way our accuser RFPs cage coat that's a federal number that is utilized and you have to be involved in sam.gov so where we've been registered on sam.gov now for almost five years so that information is important your si si code is important so those type of code that allows a a project coordinator at McCarran or in contracts or somebody from the federal government they can look that up and they find you immediately through their system and then they can introduce themselves and/or start sending are accused your way of request for quotes so those are some of the important pieces of information can I throw something everybody ok so capability statements also is one of the resource areas that we help with at McCarran Airport Airport so when I go and do outreach events or see applicants there's two questions I asked my goal to talk about the TV application and then I talked about their capabilities in muammar so the reason why I say that is because like you stated and Rebekah's as well the capability statement is a resume for your business and but there are there is no right or wrong answer on a capability singing it's how much passion you put in that capability statement that you want the end user to convey of what you are offering okay there's a couple of areas that I want to talk about that I talk to individuals is I tell them okay what is about your company that best suits the needs of the agency over another so what makes you better over a Company B okay what is about your services that make you stand out from the rest what is about your employees that gives you the advantage over your other competitors and why are your products better than the others okay as a business owner you always got to think one up on the on your competitor in order to get where you want to be okay you can't just sit on your hands and knees and just say okay I'm just going to be standard across the board okay that won't get you anywhere you need to bump it up a little bit to the fact of okay here's why I'm better and this is why I you should pick me over this company okay so with that said one thing that I have and I Rebecca hit it on the head is that we have templates that for the capability statements and then I also send those out to with the application because I want to see the businesses grow I want to see their capabilities they may get out there to the public and I want to get the capability statement because I email blast that to everybody all the Chamber's all the general contractors so everybody knows what your business does so I'm not one for you sure do weekly basis basically sharing that information with all the resource partners which is just amazing but I am so glad that you are mentioning that there is a template so we can adjust you know because you know listening to the two of you is a combination of a company overview maybe some of the products or services that you offer I don't know if it includes maybe the list of the companies that you work with what differentiate you from the rest sort of your unique capability putting into the grid so that's that's just wonderful and so speed back really quickly on something that David said while he has templates one thing that I'm sure that he does he's gonna customize the template to each individual owner and their business and one of the things I've seen over time I've also gotten this from other entrepreneurship sounds around the country associated with the Urban League is that the capability statement yes it's definitely a resume but it's also somewhat of an elevator pitch beat that meaning that when someone looks at it they want to know more and so there are many times where the capability statement will point because a lot of business summers I have so much to say about their business they're not gonna get in one capability statement but if I can entice somebody to go to my website where there's way more information about my employees and well I'm good and and other success stories with different types of jobs as I've done then then then you've really hit it on the head because I just look at this one piece of paper or double side piece of paper like hmm ww you know David McCarran Airport calm and now now I see now I get it I'd necessarily get it from them from that one pager but now I get it and so if you can use the abilities statement to drive your potential you know a potential vendor or you know contractor or contract to you know more information about yourself you you're all the more ahead of the game and it goes back to you know setting yourself apart from competition like David was talking about and we also have another question for the audience and this person would like each of the panelists opinion about this and it reads is the capability statement template and advantage or disadvantage I have designed mine to look differently than many other others I would love to learn each of the panel's opinion on whether keeping information in the same place or format is a benefit so how about we start with you David okay so it sounds like Kathleen he's asking here's I guess there's certain structure that he's is that what I'm getting across okay so your template that you may have may work for certain areas okay certain companies or certain bits okay but you have to take a look at what type of contract you're looking at to promote your business in a certain field okay you may have to tweak it just a bit okay but not that much you always want to keep the meat potatoes of your business so you can convey that to the end-user okay so I hope that answers the question okay and how about we have European Rebecca well I'll go back to an experience I had when I was with the federal federal event and the gentleman looked at my capability statement and he said you have good content because content is very critical I said but you have a lot of wasted real estate on your cape ability statement because I thought it would be pretty to have some of the pictures of my company and things like that in the logo and it did take up too much real estate on my capability statements so I went back I need to explained I needed to add some more detail about the companies such as what David was talking about what am i passionate about her what is my niche in terms of being a general contractor and so I added some of that information and then it became a valid capability statement excellent Marcela oh I think absolutely is there an advantage to have an a-cup ability a statement by all means I own a small company with my wife we have a couple bility statement and like Rebecca was saying is an evolving document of continuous improvement which is the beauty of it and just reinforcing what Dino is saying you can use that as an elevator statement or elevator speech that you can present your company so it keeps evolving so absolutely yes it is an advantage excellent and do you know what are your thoughts I think that the template is a great is a great start you don't want your capability statement to be generic but you do you do have to have certain things in it like Dave and Rebecca are saying I kind of liken it to you know I can jump on be plan calm to do my business plan but if I use that as a template to start then I'm them on my way but I don't want my business plan to look like something you can get off be planned on my business plan or my capabilities they meant to reflect me and my company so I think a template is important to start but then like Marcel was saying you know this is not a static document this will be a dynamic document because you'll need to change it based on the number of different projects that you do and the things you want to show off about your business so it's a great place to start but I wouldn't depend on it for you know for my BLM and all final product ok but thank you for your comments and thank you for your no audience I'm I really enjoyed this hi everyone is interacting and with that being said let's make the connection between the DBE certification and the capability statement so bringing the two together any thoughts on that David one thing about having the capability statement and the DBE certification together okay one thing about the DBE certification you do not need a capability statement for your packet however anytime you go out to a outreach event or because there are many out there because we mostly tend a lot of them you want to make sure that that capability statement is ready to go because that's the first thing that business owners or agencies like McCarran and the federal government and county and so on that's the first thing that they look for okay don't come in there empty-handed and say hey I'm company a and I'm interested in working with your company the first questions are going to ask you where's your business card where'd you keep it buddy same and what can you do oh dang steams me David could you repeat that because I've seen this before please repeat that I knows the basics but please repeat okay so again when you come prepared for these outreach events okay you must as a business owner and I say this all the time to applicants I see you must come prepared with a business card and the capability statement do not come empty-handed to those events because they are not going to remember you if you don't have anything they're not going to look at you and say okay this company is not serious about this they're just gathering information okay so don't waste their time don't waste your time be determined be focused and be mission oriented to get what you want to do if your business owner and you want to get somewhere come prepared excellent excellent and Rebecca how has the dynamic duo of a of a DBE certification or any certification that you that you have and the capabilities David how effective has that been for you when you are in front of a decision-maker it's a lot of times in my arena my capability statement and certification gets submitted with the package so it's not that I'm actually in front of these people but because it's there because it's together because it's well thought out it's it's professionally I went the route of having it professionally created it has made a difference it's impressive and that's the the intent is we want to impress whoever is going to be reading it and our Ducks are in order it means we know our business so it just speaks volumes when you have that information put together correctly and together so it's been effective that's fantastic and with that being said do you know Marcel any comments and the in the the conv the dynamic duo combo of the DBE certification and ask David to repeat and I will frame that into networking because I think it goes into this whole umbrella of effectively networking in some cases we just think that we just show up right exactly man with a passion brand a knowledge base of what we do I agree and I think just having that capability in this statement that in some cases I have replaced that forever sure yes yes because there's no longer applicable or a lot of information it is just with one page and then from there you capture that website from there you can capture even your contact information that perhaps you may have in a business card but I think it's just excellent because I think a part of also educating ourselves and our audience is that we are better prepared to do effective networking and we do it not only just with the knowledge base of our business but we also do it with a heart yes absolutely we I want to add to one other experience when I first met David it was on an outreach event and I stood back and watched his table you know where they had their their set up and I knew that he would be the person I should introduce myself to so one that takes courage I didn't want to be intimidated but I was a little intimidated because I was new to the game at the time but I did I would not walk straight up to David I introduced myself I handed my card to him and we had an exchange looked ida i but one of the things he said probably a year later is the one thing that impressed him was that i had a rock-solid business card which I do and that I was willing to come up and look him in the eye and introduce and follow through with what he suggested so those are really critical things to do when you go to these outreach events as well absolutely it's it's the the you're the presence that you create the how you impact a person's perception of you as well it's all of those things come in time but in within that moment it really is about your own growth and development how you want to present yourself and what you're willing to do in order to accomplish those goals and you've done that so remarkably Rebecca and with that being said I also want to include Dino do you know any comments on on this and the dynamic duo marriage if you will of the DBE and capability statement has that been an asset or benefit for your clients to keep that top of mind when they are interacting with certain decision-makers so I see the two as being you know cohesively linked especially for contractors you know you need both especially looking at you know at state opportunities and fair opportunities yes you what have you but if anything gets taken away from this discussion I have to just mimic what um Rebecca was saying a lot of the training that I do at the entrance of Center is really around not so much you know creating a business plan and and getting all your ducks in order and getting all your finances in order etcetera it's really about you know how you present yourself and so Rebecca is not the average entrepreneur right Rebecca the phone and call people I want reproduce Bob knows it I see don't want to do that the entrepreneurs I see their best-in-class practitioners their best in class chefs their best in class you know contractors in and they want to be doing what they do the chef's want to be in the kitchen the time track I want to be on-site they don't want to do the community outreach that you guys have pointed out is so critical so my train is a lot around you know what you need to start doing a B C and D I had to put you in front of a lender you're not ready yet I'm not gonna put you up on that lender unless you can show me that you're ready to be in front of them and it's the same thing with community outreach you need to be able to get out and promote it yourself and that's something much more not you know it's much more difficult than it sounds so I salute you Rebecca and you know you know for accomplished and I salute Dave as well for the fact that he's like you know giving out his his personal information that's a I have something I've done that I sometimes regret I actually do love the hospital recently I was getting phone calls every day like an idiot I took them and I helped with them but you know sometimes you need some time to yourself some people I get another cell phone but I'm think to both of you this is fantastic information I hope that our listeners understand that you know it's not just being in the kitchen it's not just you know hammering nails it's not just selling cars you've got to be active and proactive about your business if you want to get these you want to get these government contracts be they state local or federal you know you can't just sit back the example I was gonna meet before about the a day process you know my client actually got you know he vacation and he sat back and he started to blame me and other people that he wasn't getting government contracts because you have it doesn't mean that they're gonna pick you out of you know hundreds of thousands of contractors you've got to get out there and let them know you exist and why you're more important than other people who do this work you know it's more than just Nellis Air Force Base you will be going for you you won't be looking outside of the Vegas market that's what a day gets you you have to use the tool if you don't use the tool it's mean you just wasted three years of your time in my time quite frankly Thank You Dino and with that being said uh any closing remarks this has been fantastic and thank you again audience members for attending we've really enjoyed your comments and to our esteemed panelists as well so with that being said uh David Rebecca Marcel Dino any closing comments or pearls of wisdom that you'd like to leave with the audience today let's start with Rebecca I would just say get involved in your community exposure is everything and develop your relationships don't be afraid to walk up to the head of a commerce like I do Latin Chamber of Commerce luncheon and I walk straight up to Peter Guzman the president and make sure he knows who I am I the same when I sit on the board of directors for NCAA if I don't know some of those board members I make sure they know who I am so it's nerve-racking sometimes it's but I've gotten accustomed being nervous so they just go with it so I would just say get out there and get involved in the community and I would like to know your thoughts about this real quick there's a distinct difference between approaching someone with in being fearless and approaching someone and being foolish yes so your thoughts about that you if you're going to approach somebody if you don't really know what you're gonna say if you're nervous just approach them just shake their hand introduce your and say you'll be seeing me around to keep it very simple if you don't have something confident to say but just take the opportunity when it's in front of you very good thank you excellent David okay so I'm glad that everybody was able to look and listen to us and look at these little nuggets that are out there okay there are a lot of resource partners out there that will help your business do not be afraid to pick up that phone or email them or even contact them and say hey I need help okay call us we're there for you so that's that's all I can say about that use your resources that you have out there absolutely thank you for that and before we leave I would like for all of you to share your contact information as well if anyone would like to follow up with you Marcel closing comments well again listening to David the importance of we're not perfect we are resource foreigners but this interaction today green forces that we have a robust customer experience it goes beyond customer service it goes into the customer experience people with the expertise people with the time in the heart to hold hands and walk you through the process and again let me repeat we are not perfect but we with that perspective I think we are quite blessed yes to work as a team helping individuals out there and we will continue to do that contact information very simple for us is business dot and V gov call us and we'll put you in contact with the right resources and again thank you so much everyone for being here today definitely and you know any closing comments and your contact information nope my contact information is um our website is WWLP and victor UL org my email is d BR o WN e at LVL org and i'm not gonna give you my phone I will call you back and says you know we're not perfect and we're not but we are blessed well so you know speak for yourself I'm probably close to perfection you're gonna find so do everything that we can from the bottom of our hearts to help you absolutely it was my heart to see you know owners like like Rebecca and and partners like like David you know doing some of the great work that they're doing yes yes god no that's fantastic it really is I agree as I was saying earlier this is like the fruit of our labor and excellent excellent work Rebecca and could you please share your contact information with the audience yeah if they go to my website it's Kor B is a boy G calm and there's a contact page in there there'd be able to reach to me very good and David one more time your contact information okay my email address is David E d-a-v-i-d e at McCarran MCC ARRA M calm thank you and your phone number my cell got me on this one seven zero two five one three six eight six eight and you can call me anytime and schedule an appointment and ask questions I'll be there for you excellent and and one of our audience members that thank you so much and David you will hear from a miss Walsh so yes the Portland absolutely excellent and ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for tuning in on the Saturday to the startup steps webinar provided by the Nevada Women's Business Center Nevada business opportunity fund and partnership with the department of business and industry and also with the Las Vegas Urban League and again thank you so much David eclipse with the McCarran Airport you are a rock star and also with Miss Rebecca counts and you are a superstar we really appreciate it and also we would like to hear your feedback for those of you that tuned in we will send you an auto and auto survey after the webinar so please give us your thoughts and with that being said if you have any questions please give us a call the Nevada Women's Business Center at area code 702 seven three four three five five five if you have any questions about entrepreneurship training counseling and also funding options on Kathleen Taylor and once again thank you so much everyone for this fantastic reven or in collaboration with the Nevada Department of this is an industry Las Vegas personally and also McCarran Airport and a stellar fantastic thriving successful local business core Cheers the core the core building group with Rebecca fountain fountain at the hill thank you have a good weekend bye everyone thank you guys you know good job Kathleen absolutely you