Amanda Woolery’s story: Keep submitting even it’s the last minute

The pandemic has nurtured a lifestyle – working while traveling. This living allows people to be able to work remotely while at the beach, a coffee shop, or getting lunch. And in their free time, they could go out, experience the local culture. You can tell that it’s better than sitting in an office 24/7. Why would we do that when we have the option of remote working.

Looking forward, the outlook for remote work appears bright. Upwork predicts that by 2025, around 32.6 million Americans, or approximately 22% of the workforce, will be working remotely.

When you type in the search bar on Google to find out what jobs are available for people who don’t want to be in the same place every day, you might see options like marketing or video editing. You probably won’t see someone hiring a government contractor. This seems to be why many people assume that, as a contractor, you can’t work remotely.

Amanda Woolery, the owner of Nine Solutions LLC, has stated otherwise. She has successfully secured contracts while being outside the United States. Before diving into how she achieved this, let’s start with how she branched out to become a government contractor.

Amanda Woolery Pivoted to the Race of Government Contracting

Amanda Woolery is originally from Atlanta; she had been in cosmetology for a while and had no ideas about being a government contractor. In 2022, her family moved to Miami. That’s when she found out about government contracting from a guy. However, it didn’t get into her head.

“We heard about it but forgot about it quickly,” said Amanda.

Fast forward to last year 2023, she moved to Dubai in April. Driven by her passed away father’s saying, she decided to get out of cosmetology.

She said, “I was previously a hair stylist with a salon in Georgia. Even before I officially became a hair stylist, I always had in my head the advice from my father. My father was in the military—a US Marine—and he always planted in my head, ‘Don’t just stay in one place; make sure you travel the world. If you do decide to stay in one place, just make sure you go see the world.’”

“So, I always knew I wanted to do something that wouldn’t keep me in one place. My dad passed away when I was younger, so everything he said to me always stuck with me. I held on to it,” she added.

At first, she tried to start a truck dispatching company, however, she acknowledged that the industry wasn’t a good fit for her. “I quickly learned that many truck drivers started dispatching their own trucks after COVID, so I decided not to pursue it,” expressed Amanda.

One night, Amanda was browsing YouTube when a video by Kizzy Parks popped up with an attention-grabbing start: “Do you want to be broke?” This mention of government contracting caught Amanda’s attention as she had heard about it before. She watched the video, finding Kizzy’s explanation simple, detailed, and easy to understand.

The next day, Amanda shared her newfound understanding with her husband. Inspired further by a video featuring a contract winner and his $5.5 million contract for veterans, Amanda started watching more of Kizzy’s content. With her husband already owning an LLC, Amanda registered it on SAM and began bidding on government contracts, marking the start of their journey in government contracting.

Building Up Experience – Amanda Take on Government Contracting Herself

After kicking off the journey, Amanda decided to bid on several projects. And she’s been making mistakes to make some progress.

She said, “The first contract we bid on was for catering services for the US Coast Guard in Alaska. This is a funny story because we waited until the last minute, were outside the question period, and had found a subcontractor. It was a BPA, but at the time, I had no clue what a BPA was. I know now, but back then, I didn’t. We ended up submitting a bid, but the information was probably all over the place, and I couldn’t ask the CO any questions, so I had no hope for that one.”

Amanda bid on her second contract on Unison for a battery jump start box. After submitting the bid, she received an immediate call from the Contracting Officer (CO) who questioned the accuracy of her listed price and noted the absence of pictures. The CO requested that Amanda text pictures of the product, which revealed that she had bid on the incorrect jump start box model.

Due to the similarity in model numbers and appearance, Amanda had mistakenly priced the wrong product. Upon finding the correct model, she discovered it was significantly more expensive. The CO, recognizing the price discrepancy, had asked for the photo to confirm the model, leading to the realization that her bid was for the wrong item. Consequently, Amanda did not secure the contract.

However, this didn’t make Amanda doubting about her capabilities, instead inspired her to continue and start her own LLC

She shared, “Getting that call motivated me, and I thought, ‘Okay, my husband’s company has no experience in government contracting, but we just got a call back.’ That was enough for me to know it worked and it was good. So, I started my LLC, Nine Solutions LLC, in October of last year 2023.”

She also took Kizzy Parks’ five-day challenge.  After the challenge, she was confident and still waiting for her UEI and CAGE code. Once she received them, she immediately started bidding on contracts.

First Government Contract Win – Hard Work Pays Off

Amanda’s LLC is registered in Georgia. From October to April, she became weary of constantly checking SAM and Unison. She was scrolling through them as if they were social media, but the endless cycle became draining. After some time, Amanda decided it was time to change her strategy. Despite submitting bids and getting closer to success, the lack of wins was wearing her out.

“I was submitting bids, I was not winning them, but I was getting closer,” said Amanda.

She decided to look at the Georgia procurement website. While on there, she saw a contract for UGA catering services. UGA stands for the University of Georgia, located in Athens, Georgia.

Amanda used to live there for about five years. She immediately knew who to call for this job—a cousin of an ex who had a catering company. The contractor called her ex and got her contact information. She connected his cousin, and that person sent her all the necessary information.

On a Friday night, Amanda discovered that her proposal needed to be submitted by the following Monday. Since it was already after hours, she faced the challenge of completing everything on time. She had not yet spoken to a contract officer and had several questions that she felt she didn’t have time to address before the deadline. The situation made her consider not submitting the proposal at all.

Despite these challenges, Amanda decided to work on her proposal over the weekend. She diligently gathered all the necessary information and pricing, preparing to meet the deadline. With the deadline set for 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time the following day, Amanda resolved to take a chance and call the contract specialist on Monday morning.

“I’m glad that I did that because I called her, and she was so nice; she was very helpful. She was glad to hear from me because she was just like, you know, a lot of people do not submit because they are intimidated by the bidding process. She said that if I needed any assistance throughout the way, just let her know,” explained Amanda.

She continued, “We ended up talking on the phone for a very long time, and it brought my confidence up. So, after I spoke with her, the last thing I had to do was get a document notarized, which was really easy. I did learn that a lot of the state contracts, actually most of the state contracts, require you to have an affidavit notarized to submit with your bid.”

After our conversation, the last thing Amanda needed was to get a document notarized. She used notarize.com, which was quick and easy.

With two minutes to spare before the deadline, Amanda submitted everything. The following day, she received an email saying she had been awarded the contract, and she would be sent over the contract details. The win was actually a state contract.

For pricing, she calculated it based on a per-person rate. The contract is structured with one base year and five option years. It covers various events throughout the year, with charges depending on the number of attendees.

She said, “So, I only put $3 on it. The way we priced it was like this: she priced it per person, so if they had an event, this was for a contract with one base year and five option years. It was basically for any events over the year, and depending on how many people were there, we charged per person. She was charging $20 per person, and I just put $3 on it.”

She also said, “I just wanted to build past performance and credibility, to show people that I have experience. Even though it works without experience, it’s always better to have some.”

Amanda’s contract was estimated at $200,000. It was especially significant to her that she secured this contract on her mother’s birthday, making the day even more special. Amanda felt deeply grateful, as the achievement represented the payoff of the hard work she had invested from October 2023 to April 2024, proving that her efforts had finally yielded results.

Key Takeaways from Amanda’s Tale

From October 2023 to April 2024, it was six months for her to figure out what was her suitable approach to the government contracting game. And she had won, faster than many other people who pursue the same opportunity. Even when she doesn’t win, she take these lessons to keep her pushing forward.

Don’t Give up – The Goal is Closer than You Think

Amanda is a type of person who’s not going to give up because the road is long.

“If it took me a year, I still had in my head that if it took three years to get my first contract, I was going to keep working at this because I could see it was a proven system,” said Amanda.

According to Kizzy Parks, Amanda won because she was able to learn, apply what she learned, and adjust as needed. It wasn’t just luck; it’s a direct result of her efforts. While some people might win a contract in a month or five weeks, Amanda did it even faster than what the SBA usually predicts.

Kizzy Parks noted that, “I attended an SBA event where they mentioned that on average, people win between 14 and 16 months. Amanda won way faster than that, and most people give up.”

Kizzy expressed her thoughts to Amanda that, “The simple fact that you’re not giving up, even though you don’t live in the United States, speaks volumes about you and what’s to come for you. People always look for excuses, but I can feel from your energy that you’re not one of them—you are a go-getter.”

It Doesn’t Matter Where You Are to Bid on Projects

One thing that has to be said again that Amanda won her first contract while she was in Dubai. This means that you don’t have to stay local to chase after these opportunities.

As shared Kizzy Parks, there are numerous opportunities for bidding on contracts globally. By using platforms like sam.gov, you can search for and bid on contracts not just in your own state or country, but also in locations around the world, such as Dubai or Canada.

Kizzy highlighted that contractor could bid on contracts anywhere in the world. “I even had a woman reach out to me from Jamaica, talking about opportunities we could bid on there. There’s no shortage of possibilities,” said Kizzy Parks.

Keep Submitting Even It’s the Last Minute

After her first win, Amanda now is bidding on a few contracts. Amanda’s recent bidding experiences have taught her some important lessons. She found that her habit of hesitating when reviewing contracts at the last minute could be a challenge.

Amanda recalled, “I just had a contract for tree removal that I submitted for, and I don’t know, I think I have this thing about looking at contracts at the last minute, so I always have this hesitation, like, ‘Oh, it’s the last minute.’ We would have had to do a site visit, but I just thought, ‘Well, go for it anyway,’ so I went ahead and found someone to do the job. He went out, did the site visit, gave me a price, and we submitted our bid. Unfortunately, we were not selected; this was on Unison.”

Two weeks after Amanda had submitted the bid for the tree removal project, she received a call from the contract officer. Amanda missed the call and discovered the voicemail later. Amanda decided to call him back.

The contract officer explained that he needed to verify if Amanda’s bid for the tree removal was still valid and if her subcontractor could still perform the job at the quoted price. Amanda confirmed with her subcontractor that everything was still set and informed the officer of this.

Amanda reached out to him, and he said that she has been awarded to contract, but he need to clarify some things out.

You Don’t Need to Worry about the Upfront Costs

Another valuable lesson came from a bid she worked on for a diesel fuel delivery contract.

The contract was for diesel fuel, but it needed to be delivered to a remote location in Alaska, so it had to be transported by air. Initially, Amanda wasn’t sure who could handle such a service, but she decided to give it a shot.

She started by using ChatGPT to find out who delivers fuel by air or who she should contact for such a task. It provided her with some useful wording, which helped her start her search. Amanda eventually found a company but hesitated because she wasn’t sure how she could manage the upfront costs, especially for a service involving tens of thousands of dollars and requiring payment on net 30 terms.

Despite these concerns, Amanda reached out to the company and spoke with a representative for about an hour. The representative shared insights about their competitors and agreed to submit a bid. She also mentioned that Amanda’s bid had a good chance of winning due to the lack of competition in the area. They went ahead and submitted the bid, even though Amanda informed her that payment would only be made after the service was completed.

Amanda noted that, “I did let her know that they were paying on net 30 terms and that she would not be able to get paid until afterwards, which was for tens of thousands of dollars. She just responded, ‘Okay, there’s no problem; we submitted it.'”

Unfortunately, another competitor won the contract. However, this experience was valuable because it taught Amanda not to let challenges like upfront costs or uncertainties deter her from bidding. She almost didn’t bid at all because of these concerns, but having faith that payment would come later proved to be crucial.

She suggested, “I just want people to know that don’t let things like that stop you from bidding, because I almost did not bid because I was just like, is going to like what the cost of a job like that is upfront and you know, have faith that I’m going to pay them later.”

Don’t Let Fear Stop You from Taking Action

In the world of contracting, it’s easy to be paralyzed by doubts and uncertainties. Many professionals find themselves stuck in a cycle of “What if it doesn’t work out?” But Amanda offers a refreshing perspective: instead of focusing on potential failures, ask yourself, “What if I don’t try at all?”

“Not enough people ask that question. So, I’m the type of person who thinks, ‘What do I have to lose?’ If someone says no or if I fail, so what? I’ll get back up and try again or try something else. Don’t let fear stop you from taking action,” said Amanda.