Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mack McKinney, Founder of Smooth Projects, located in Gambrills, MD, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I teach government and contractor teams how to design, develop, field, and support complex systems for defense.
Tell us about yourself
As an Air Force officer, I saw equipment and systems that had not been thought out from the start to include users' operations needs. And I knew I could help correct that. I am motivated each day by the young US and Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who count on the defense community to provide them with the systems they need to defend all of us.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Developing the Integrated Mission Engineering Framework, a now-proven approach that ties together systems engineering, digital engineering, and mission engineering. When combined with the Technical CONOPS, the result is faster development of user-driven systems at lower costs.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Surviving cash flow inconsistencies. Sometimes you must risk the business in order to save the business.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Do your homework. Don't enter a market where there is no competition unless you have a revolutionary product/service.
- Fail often and fail early. Learn, adapt and move on. And don't mix personal assets/money and start-up money.
- Build several circles of trusted advisors and confide in them. You need a truth-teller that will be unflinchingly honest with you.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.smoothprojects.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmoothProjectsCONOPS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MackMcKinney8
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smooth-projects-conops/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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