Growing up as a natural-born leader, Karwanna D. always envisioned herself as someone who makes an impact on the lives of others.
For her, success was a collective endeavor, instead of an individual pursuit. With this same thought, Karwanna has impacted the lives of hundreds of entrepreneurs.
As a Government Contracts Strategist, Karwanna D. is helping businesses grow and scale by pitching and winning government contracts. Find out more about this impactful leader in this Exclusive Interview.
What according to you makes one a powerful woman?
A powerful woman is one that is willing to do the work to achieve success or whatever they want to achieve.
How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?
I was not born into success, I had to work hard, shift my mindset, and invest in myself to get to where I am now. And I always tell my clients, success doesn’t just fall into your lap, you have to do the work and put in the work because nothing comes for free.
“Free” doesn’t just mean monetary. It also means time. There’s always going to be a cost attached to success, whether it be time or money, or sometimes both.
What is your earliest memory as a leader/entrepreneur that you remember?
I remember I wanted to get up on the pulpit as an inspirational speaker and share my knowledge of scriptures as a minister in our church. It was made to be a joke as if I wasn’t approved for leadership in that capacity. But yet there were boys as young as 10–12 years old who were praised for getting up on the pulpit to share their knowledge in scripture and leadership.
What I learned from that experience is that there is a time and place for everything, and it was just not the place nor the time for me to be great. I didn’t let it deter me from developing into the leader I am today. Also, the confidence that I had as a little girl, made me realize now that I was a natural-born leader.
How are you helping entrepreneurs grow their business with government contracts?
Government contracting is the most untapped resource when it comes to growing and scaling a profitable business and I simply teach entrepreneurs the step-by-step process on how they can make millions pitching and winning government contracts as a small business. By showing how businesses can play their cards right, they can easily add 5, 6, or even 7-figure income in just one contract alone – doing the things they are already doing with their business.
As a Government Contracts Strategist, what are the roles and responsibilities that you are needed to shoulder?
Many entrepreneurs spoil their success by not taking action on opportunities because they disqualify themselves by thinking that it’s not for them or they think they just don’t fit the bill. Hence, my role as a Government Contract Strategist is to make sure that my clients have the tools, knowledge, and strategy to land a contract where they can do it themselves all they need to do is to take action.
I believe in the principle of teaching a man to fish so that they never starve again. While it’s good to do all the work for someone on their behalf, that’s not really a sustainable business model. That’s why I always empower my clients to win contracts on their own, it actually helps them to grow and develop in their own professional space where the sky is the limit.
Being an established entrepreneur, what according to you are the most essential things when it comes to building a business?
1. Foundation
Like building a house, having a solid foundation is important. And I always talk about building a business around government contracting and having the right foundation with your business will attract government agencies, which will open up a pool of opportunities for your business to land a lucrative contract.
2. Invest
You must plant seeds to reap a harvest. Many entrepreneurs think they have to save to get ahead and that it’s better to get something for free or cheap rather than make a serious investment into something. This is the principle I’ve learned while building my business and it helped me to turn my struggling business into a multi-million-dollar empire.
Invest in yourself – get a coach. Invest in your business – build a website, buy that software, hire people or really anything that will elevate your business.
What have been the biggest challenges you have faced in your entrepreneurial journey?
I use to be very shy about sharing my success stories with others because I didn’t want people to think that I was bragging, or they might get the idea that I was better than them. And this is one of the biggest challenges I had in my entrepreneurial journey.
So I have to overcome my own thought, change my mindset, and stand boldly in my greatness, and evolve into the philanthropist that I am now where I am impacting the world by sharing not only my knowledge as a government contract expert but also my success stories knowing that somebody needs to hear my experience and be inspired by my story and transformation.
Looking back at your journey, what would you have done different when starting out?
I used to really undervalue myself and my business offer and I didn’t ever see myself either making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or generating millions of dollars as a solopreneur until I did the math. I realize that being goal-oriented in business, especially when it comes to forecasting predictable income…. requires math as well as a roadmap to get there.
It was just a few short years ago, that I was at a conference full of motivated women entrepreneurs whose goal was to make their 1st million in business. The presenter broke down so clearly what was required to achieve that goal that it literally changed my life forever. She shared the million-dollar math. To make a million you have to sell a $1000 product or service 1000 times, or a $10,000 product or service 100 times, or a 100,000 product or service 10 times, and so on…
The more the premium price, the less hard you have to work, and that simple concept made my head spin off the wall. To sell at a premium price, you have to have a premium offer to sell to premium buyers and you know what? The government is a premium buyer! And so are corporations! So, this is definitely something I could’ve done differently when starting out.
Finally, what does the future look like for you, both professionally and personally?
Professionally, I am looking to train more coaches to coach my clients with a team to run all the operations. Ultimately getting my business to run efficiently on its own.
Personally, I will continue to expand my reach as a philanthropist and make a global impact. Write more books. And at the same time have more quality time with my family while we cross out more things on our travel goals and vision board.
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