Build trust and deliver

I picked up this book about government contracting a long time ago. I've avoided reading it because it looked SO dry but it's actually pretty good!

Becoming a GovCon Expert: How to Accelerate Your Success in Government Contracting

What surprised me was the fact that in the first chapter, one of the co-authors makes the point that successful government contracting businesses are build on a trust in you, not successfully doing paperwork.

"You have the skill, experience, training and most importantly…contacts. Those contacts are people who know, like, and trust you already and are willing to help you navigate the Government Contracting (GovCon) landscape. These are the people who want you to do the work because they know they can depend on you. Remember, people pay to have their problems solved and they don’t want to take chances. They want guarantees. They want peace of mind. They want security. If you create a company based on connections with people who know how good you are at what you do, you have a better chance of getting hired to fill the contract. But if you don’t have those relationships, then you have to prove in other ways that you can get the job done."

The book is focused on building out a Govcon company, but the same idea applies to being a solo 1099.

If you become a trusted professional, clients will want to work with you.

Having clients that want to work with you give you leverage to set your terms with prime contractors, meaning you can negotiate a 1099 role with a higher billable rate.

This is why in my book I say to not worry about the paperwork until after you get your first gig and instead to focus on making sure you are valuable to your current clients and future clients.

Build trust and build a network.

This is the way to 1099 success.

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.