Fact: Federal, state and local governments buy over $450 billion combined in goods and services each year. Part of that can be yours if you know how to get it.

Fact: Federal procurements under $25,000 never go through bid/RFP process. The only way to earn these government procurements is to market your business wisely.

You probably know there are huge opportunities for any business to earn government contracts. But how will YOU win them?

It’s easy to think of government as a thing, an entity of inanimate form, but actually, government is made up of people, hard-working business minded people just like you. With that in mind, marketing to government is actually branding your name in minds of many thousands of government people who buy what you sell.

If you will be doing business with Federal government, first step is to become registered in Central Contractor Registry (CCR). The CCR is a vendor database that collects and distributes data about potential contractors to government buyers. It helps Government Buyers know who you are and that you’re a valid contractor. You can find it on internet at: www.ccr.gov.

Your next step is to find right people. Numerous government buyers purchase different things. Some buyers only purchase supplies, while others are responsible for everything needed in their division - from property to paper clips. Do some research to find out who buys what you are selling. It really is all about who you know. Once you find name and contact information of right person, its all a matter of getting to know them and giving them an opportunity to know you and your business. This is when you educate buyers about your wonderful products and services.

Unfortunately, however, few take full advantage of Acrobat’s capabilities. As a result, their documents are not as effective as they could be. Here are seven easy ways to improve image and effectiveness of your Acrobat files. 1. Activate links:

E-mail and web site URLs on many Acrobat files look like active links, but don’t function. Although blue and underlined, links do not take readers to different pages in publication, launch their e-mail program and address an e-mail, or open an Internet browser and go to a web site. After creating an Acrobat file, you must activate links. Start by selecting Advanced Editing Option, and use Link tool, to outline link, assign an action, and format link. Then, you must remember to re-save your Acrobat publication. Most important, every time you return to original program and make any changes and create an updated Acrobat file, you must remember to reactivate links! Otherwise, links will no longer function—even though they will still appear blue and underlined. 2. Insert and delete pages:

The full version of Acrobat Distiller permits you to insert, delete, and extract—or copy—pages from one Acrobat document to another. This permits you to create “composite” publications containing pages created with several software programs. You can include pages created with a variety of software applications with a framework created using Microsoft word. This newsletter, for example, contains a copy of Mind Map I used to organize my thoughts. The page shows how you can use Mind Mapping to do better work in less time. 3. Save as...