Posted by admin on February 26, 2010 under The 8a Mentor Blog | 
Why are our prices so low?
Our goal is to be an high quality affordable option. When we announced the Narrative Writing Service, our $497 price point shocked the competition. Suddenly people had a choice, it became an instant success, creating quite a buzz across the web. The Narrative Writing Service has revolutionized affordable narrative preparation. If you are seeking an affordable narrative option, we invite you to become our client.
Attention: Women, Minorities, Service Disabled Veterans
We have successfully written narratives for women, minorities and service-disabled veterans. Each narrative receives personal attention to detail in telling the right incidents to meet the preponderance of evidence sought by the SBA reviewers.
So now you know who we are and why we are here. Have you been putting off applying for 8a because of your narrative? Give us a call, let’s talk. Call toll free: 888-802-9620 (M-F: 9am – 4pm Central)
Posted by admin on under The 8a Mentor Blog |
Before starting to fill out the SBA 8(a) application, you must be registered in these four databases, in this order. Plan on spending about a week to get of the forms completed. These are short forms and you do not have to pay someone to complete them.
1. Employer Identification Number (EIN) - The EIN is a permanent tax number and can be used immediately for many business needs, including: opening a bank account; applying for business licenses and filing a tax return by mail. > http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html
2. Business Registration – DUNS Number - Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) provides a unique nine digit identification number, for each physical location of your business. The D-U-N-S Number assignment is FREE and is a requirement to register with the US Federal government for contracts or grants. It can be created within 1 business day. Note: After you register with Dun & Bradstreet they will start calling or emailing you to sign-up for additional services.
Note: It is NOT necessary to sign-up for these services. It will NOT affect your ability to get government contracts. > http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform
3. Central Contractor Registration (CCR) – To do business with the Federal government and to be certified under the 8(a) Program or as an SDB, you must
register in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. CCR is a government-wide single point of vendor registration. CCR is a key aspect of
streamlining and integrating electronic commerce into the Federal procurement process. > https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/default.aspx
Note: If you are a new registrant to CCR and/or updating your profile, expect a 24 to 72 hour waiting period before you can access to the SBA 8(a) application.
4. General Log-in System (GLS) – SBA supports a single log-in point for all services called the General Log-in System. It will take about three days for your
login information to be available. Recommendation: While you are waiting for the registrations to become active, go ahead and start writing your narrative.
> https://eweb.sba.gov/gls/dsp_addcustomer.cfm
Posted by admin on under The 8a Mentor Blog |
What is the Preponderance of Evidence?
This is the criteria the SBA review team judges your narrative against. Where is the criteria listed? There is no checklist that I am aware of, but you can look to the SBA FAR for clues to what your narrative must include.
How Do You Meet the Preponderance of Evidence?
You must provide incidents demonstrating when you have experienced discrimination and harassment in your personal and professional life. Your story will be unique to your circumstances.
When you choose The Narrative Writing Service, we ask probing questions to uncover the events that shaped your life and help you address the preponderance of evidence. These incidents demonstrate how your life events meet the social and / or economic disadvantage requirements of the SBA 8(a) program criteria. Complete your narrative rapidly with confidence, and meet the preponderance of evidence criteria with the Narrative Writing Service.
Posted by admin on February 3, 2010 under The 8a Mentor Blog |
I have been helping small business owners to prepare their narratives for five years. Here are three of the most important things to avoid when preparing your SBA 8a Social / Economic Disadvantage Narrative.
1. Don’t write a report, make it personal – The narrative is a story, not a report. Many of my college educated clients assume that the more facts and quotes you add, the better the narrative. This is not true. The narrative is a personal story of incidents of discrimination and harassment that have kept you from reaching your potential. Keep your narrative in the first person, recounting events in your personal and professional life.
Remember that the social disadvantage narrative is based upon negative experiences, I call this the “lemon story” versus the “lemonade story”, so there is no need to add good news to make it appear you have “overcome obstacles”.
2. Keep the quotes short – While it is good to include quotes to reinforce and enhance your narrative, keep them short, no more than a couple sentences. Be sure to give basic reference information,but you do not have to prepare a bibliography, again it is your story, not a report. Do not include more than seven quotes in the total narrative. Normally my client narratives range from six to ten pages in length. The quotes should be reinforcing specific issues, for example: If you graduated from a high school with a very high dropout rate or if your community has a very high crime rate.
3. Be specific and detailed about incidents - When you are describing incidents from your personal or professional life, be as specific as possible. Be sure to include:
-the month/year of the incident
-the name of your supervisor
-any witnesses to the event
-a summary of the event
-and most important the economic or financial fallout from the event. This is especially important if you do not have court documents to support your claims.
Here is an example:
In 1999, I met with John Smith of Acme ABC Prime Contractors in Houston, Texas to talk about partnering on the upcoming NASA contract. While he was intially interested in speaking with me on the phone, I noticed that in our face-to-face meeting he avoided making any promises to partner with my company. And he kept speaking directly to my assistant, John Jones even though John reminded him that I was the owner of the company. It was apparent Mr. Smith would rather work directly with a male salesperson than a woman. Not getting this partnership cost my company approximately $100K per month for five years. See attached: A notarized statement from John Jones on his description of this failed sales meeting.
Tags: 8a certification, 8a certify, 8a mentor, 8a narrative, 8a narrative help, 8a training, design2train, disadvantaged owner, economic narrative, help sba 8a application, minority owner, sba 8a, sba 8a help, service disabled veterans, social disadvantage narrative, woman business owners, woman owners
