Apply for status as a minority-owned business or a woman-owned business or a disabled veteran-owned business. You can apply for this status at the state level as well as, in some cases, at the city level, also at the federal level. Now, there are certain advantages to obtaining this status. One of which is that certain state governments will require that a certain percentage of their projects go to entities that have that designation. And that means that you might have the opportunity to apply for those sorts of state projects directly.
Additionally, if the state is doing work with a large consulting firm and that firm then will need to farm out a portion of their contract value to smaller firms that are designated as a minority- or woman-owned, or disabled-owned businesses. And if you have that status, then you can come in as a sub-contractor to those large firms and get a piece of that project.
If you’re starting your business today, you may not be able to apply today, but it’s worthwhile to research the requirements in your state. Go ahead and download the application form, so you can look at all the requirements and make sure that you start checking those requirements off over time. In some cases, you may have to be in business for a year or two and show tax returns for that period. But there might be some other requirements. And if you’re aware of them now, you can start researching and checking them off, and getting them done so that the earliest possible moment, you can go ahead and apply for that status
