Government contractors often struggle with exit and succession planning. Novation requirements, Anti-Assignment Act obligations, and set-aside designations can limit a company's M&A options. Even if a GovCon firm wants to remain independent, traditional buy-sell arrangements can be complicated and inefficient. Employee stock ownership plans represent a meaningful alternative to third-party sales and internal buyouts. ESOP strategies offer shareholders tax-advantaged liquidity while creating meaningful incentives for firms and their employees. Recent legislation has even singled out ESOP-owned companies for preferential treatment in certain DoD contracts. In this episode, I sat down with David Blauzvern from CSG Partners to discuss how to determine if ESOPs are a good fit for your company, the pros and cons of the ESPO model, and much more.
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Schedule a call with Michael: https://calendly.com/michaellejeune/govconstrategysession
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Ep 287: A Unique Exit Strategy for GovCon Firms

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. That's one of the best takeaways from this podcast episode. If you wanted to, you could spend all day every day bidding on government opportunities. In fact, that brute force method is exactly how most people start and eventually end their GovCon journey. They spend months or in some cases years blindly responding to opportunities they have no chance of winning. In this episode, I sat down with Jon Barker from PTW Solutions to talk about how to avoid this trap by focusing on winnable opportunities.
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Schedule a call with Michael: https://calendly.com/michaellejeune/govconstrategysession
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
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- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
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Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 288: Focusing on Winnable Opportunities

In this special Halloween episode, I talk about a concept that author Mike Michalowicz made popular a few years ago in his book, The Pumpkin Plan. At a high level, the pumpkin plan teaches entrepreneurs how to prune away distractions in their business in order to focus on the most important areas of their business. By cutting out distractions, a business can pour all of its energy into the few things that produce the best outcomes. If done properly, this strategy will help you grow your very own great pumpkin.
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Schedule a call with Michael: https://calendly.com/michaellejeune/govconstrategysession
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
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Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 289: The Great Pumpkin

Did you know that a lot of paid advertising slots go unsold every month? In fact, this is such an issue for advertisers that there are networks dedicated to selling these spots at heavily discounted rates. The trick to getting these spots is often by waiting until the last minute to pounce on these deals. In this episode, I sat down with Rich Kagan from Last Minute Media Deals to discuss how to go about grabbing these deals and how government contractors can use them to target their buyers.
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Schedule a call with Michael: https://calendly.com/michaellejeune/govconstrategysession
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
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- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
- Email Support
- Weekly Inner Circle Live Q&A Call

Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 290: How to Utilize Last Minute Media Deals

In this episode, I interviewed William Randolph, the Founder, and CEO of Think Acquisition and MicroMarket.co about Creating Your 10K Micro-purchase offer. To be considered a micro-purchase, the contract must be under 10K. Under FAR 13.2 (micro-purchase guidelines), an authorized buyer (contracting officers and credit card holders) is allowed to purchase from you without competition as long as the price is reasonable. This doesn't mean that buyers are just going to throw money at you if your product or service is under 10K. Getting these contracts often requires three things: 1. Relationships with the buyer, 2. An understanding of their needs and challenges, and 3. A well-defined product/service offering.
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Schedule a call with Michael: https://calendly.com/michaellejeune/govconstrategysession
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
- Over 24K government contractors trained
- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
- Email Support
- Weekly Inner Circle Live Q&A Call

Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 291 - Creating Your 10K Micro-Purchase Offer

Most new government contractors struggle with three specific things; 1. Learning all of the nuances of being a government contractor, 2. Narrowing their focus to a specific niche, and 3. The fundamentals of being a good business owner. This episode will break down each of these challenges and provide you with simple ways to overcome these learning curves.
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
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- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
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Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 292: 3 Learning Curves of Successful Government Contractors

In this episode, I sat down with Nick Bernardo from MyGovWatch to discuss Who's Buying What You Sell. We touch on this from both the Fed and SLED market perspectives, how to properly search sam.gov for open opportunities, how to gain market awareness by tracking open and recently closed solicitations, and how and when to use open records requests to increase competitive intelligence.
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
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- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
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Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 293: Who's Buying What You're Selling

This episode is a high-level breakdown that will help you create your social media platform strategy. I talk about platforms, your strategy based on who you want to attract, types of content you should consider, and simple tactics for growing and engaging an audience.
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Schedule a call with Michael: https://calendly.com/michaellejeune/govconstrategysession
-----
Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
- Over 24K government contractors trained
- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
- Email Support
- Weekly Inner Circle Live Q&A Call

Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 294: Social Media Platform Strategy for GovCon

Picture this. You've identified a contracting officer who buys what you sell. The next step is crafting the perfect email to get their attention. You write the email and hit send. If this is your first time doing this, you get a big smile on your face because you know how close you are to getting a contract. To your surprise, nothing happens. You don't get a reply. You try this 100 more times and you don't get a single response. Why? The short answer is that a lot is going on behind the scenes and in each contracting officer's inbox that you aren't aware of. We sat down with Kevin Jans to discuss what's going on in each contracting officer's inbox, the order in which they respond to emails, and how to get your email to stand out so that you increase your odds of getting a reply.
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
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- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
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Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 295: Why Contracting Officers Aren't Responding to Your Emails

This episode explores crucial tips for building strong partnerships as a government prime or subcontractor. You will learn about balancing your pipeline, navigating prime-sub dynamics, and negotiating realistic terms. Discover the power of controlled communication, strategic vagueness, and decision-making authority for primes. Subcontractors, find success in specificity, favorable termination terms, and payment negotiations. Tune in for essential insights that will transform your teaming strategy and elevate your government contracting game.
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Join our Coaching and Training Platform Today!
- Our clients have won more than $14.6 Billion in contracts
- Over 24K government contractors trained
- Every document, strategy guide, and template you need
- More than 150 video trainings
- Email Support
- Weekly Inner Circle Live Q&A Call

Go check out our group coaching program here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers

Ep 296 - Tips for Negotiating Teaming Agreements

Struggling to hire the right people, especially before a contract award? In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, host Michael LeJeune talks with recruiting expert Al Vega about what it really takes to build a talent pipeline in GovCon. From cleared candidates to proposal recruiting, Al shares why “hypothetical recruiting” is critical to success and how to keep candidates warm with newsletters, transparency, and early engagement. Learn why recruiters are your brand ambassadors, the red flags to watch for in staffing firms, and when it’s time to bring in professional help. If you want to win more and deliver flawlessly, this episode is your roadmap to smarter hiring in government contracting.
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Frustrated with your government contracting journey? Join our group coaching community here: federal-access.com/gamechangers
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Ep 384: GovCon Hiring Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Game Changers was designed BY government contractors FOR government contractors.  The focus of every episode is to give listeners a new tip, trick, or strategy that will help them find and win more contracts.  Each episode features Subject Matter Experts (SME), companies that are successfully winning contracts, or nationally recognized professional speakers and authors.  The show is hosted by government experts Michael LeJeune from Federal Access and Joshua Frank from RSM Federal.  Their award-winning program Federal Access has helped their clients win over $2 Billion in government contracts.  Game Changers releases a new episode every other week.

Keywords: Government Contractor, Government Sales, Government Contracting, Government Contracts, Government Subcontracting, How to Win Government Contracts, Where to Find Government Contracts, Government Contract Support, FPDS Training, The Government Sales Manual, How to Respond to RFPs, How to Write a Proposal, Capability Statement, Government Trainer, Government Coach, Government Consultant.