Hey All, First off sending strength and love to anyone directly or indirectly effected by Hurricane Helene. Here in Central GA, we just got power restored yesterday, but many in my city (including friends and family) still don't have power and hearing it could be almost 14+ days 🤯... I digress... A little govcon background: Won my 1st service contract in Nov. 2023 through SAM, while living overseas since Feb 2019 with my daughters. I had submitted 4 total proposals before winning 1. I was also learning how to work with the DLA, which caused my DIBBS acct to be locked, a result of accessing it overseas. Knowing I was more interested in the product side, I decided to focus on the current contract and wait until returning to the states to pursue anything further. We're back home now. Haven't submitted to any other solicitations, but in Aug 2024, I was called up and offered my 2nd contract through the Dept. of Veteran Affairs, as they are pleased with the continued performance on the 1st contract. Let me say this, in the fulfillment of the 1st contract I heard "No" more times than I can count, we can't do that, you need to talk to this person, I don't know why they sent you to me -- it's this person you need, then that person says don't know why they sent you here, the area you're requesting is a restricted area, you need to speak to city, just for the city to say don't know why they sent you here it's not restricted and so on and so on and going back and forth, not taking "No" for an answer, until I was finally given access to the 1 - 2 decision-makers I needed. Now, with these people in my back pocket I can easily get quotes nationwide on anything in this arena. Mind you, the gov never knew any of this was happening in the background. All they knew was they needed services to start at a certain time, I agreed to that time, and DELIVERED on time. All they saw was a seamless process. I can appreciate things with a higher barrier to entry, knowing most people would stop at the 1st or 2nd "No" or sign of resistance, but if you're here...you're not Most People.