No Risk, No Reward?!

The beginning of an adventure in GovCon...

A little over five years ago, I decided to retire from the Air Force after a 20+ year career. Only a week later, a 100-year pandemic was declared, tanking the economy and seemingly upending the world…

I have impeccable timing…

Towards the end of 2024, I began seriously considering starting my own Government Contracting (GovCon) company. After all, entrepreneurship has been lifelong dream, and I wasn’t getting any younger. Fast forward to January 2025, I made the decision to press ahead. Within weeks, the new administration took office and began scrutinizing all aspects of the government – thrusting the GovCon world into turmoil…

See, I told you -- impeccable timing! 😎

Lucky for me, my timing of retirement from the Air Force worked out just fine, and I’ve been fortunate to spend these last several years in the GovCon industry, particularly in the Defense and National Security spaces, leading various corporate functions and learning the ropes of GovCon “outside the fence line” from some amazing mentors. But most importantly, delivering capability for our nation’s defense and our warfighters.

And despite the current turmoil across the GovCon landscape, I still see a tremendous amount of opportunity ahead.

So, we’re moving forward! We’ve all heard the colloquial phrase “No risk, no reward” right!?

Empennage Strategic Solutions launches April 2, 2025 – no way I could have an anniversary fall on April fool’s day!

Empennage (More on the name in a later post!) will have two strategic business thrusts. The first, is to provide GovCon consulting services to businesses of all size, but admittedly, with a strong desire to help small businesses navigate and succeed. The second thrust is to develop relevant solutions and offer services to our government agency partners. This latter thrust will take time, and I’m hoping to use this newsletter to document the journey.

There is no shortage of GovCon advice available on the interweb: podcasts, e-books, articles, etc. Some good, some great, some AI-generated…😁

The Stabilizer Strategies Newsletter will aim to supplement available content, provide a containerized approach for GovCon topics, and document “how to build” a GovCon business from scratch. Hopefully you’ll subscribe (it’s free!) and follow the journey!

Looking back on the last three months, it’s been a whirlwind, particularly the last 45 days, getting the core business foundations established. A major milestone was receiving our Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB) certification from the Small Business Administration! That was quite the process and will be a topic we cover within the first few months of the newsletter’s topics. Stay tuned!

Whether you’re an old friend, acquaintance, new to the GovCon space, or exploring how Empennage Strategic Solutions might be able to help your team – I look forward to connecting or reconnecting with you. Feel free to drop me a line: jhenderson@empennage.us

Until next time…

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