Transcript: How AEC Firms Can Prepare Now for The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)

Lindsay: Well, Hey there, marketers. Welcome back to another show. I am Lindsay Diven your marketing co-pilot. And on today’s episode, we are diving a little deeper into the IIJA, IIJA. the infrastructure, investment and jobs act. this act was signed late last year of 2021 and includes $550 billion in infrastructure, and infrastructure related, projects.

So, it’s really gonna touch nearly every AEC, firm out there because it spans all market sectors. And what it also will bring is more proposals and more work. So, who could use a, you know, another proposal or two on their desk, right? No, I know we’re busy.

So, while today, we’re gonna talk a little bit about IIJA, with my guest, Melinda Colon. She’s gonna give us a brief overview of what it is, but more importantly, we’re gonna talk about, we know these proposals are coming. This work is coming. How can our business developers start preparing and more importantly, how can our marketing teams start preparing to do even more proposals.

So that’s really what we’re gonna dive in today in the second half of our conversation. So, let’s get started. Without further ado, here’s Melinda Colon, she is the CEO strategic marketer and mentor at FortisOBM. And here’s our conversation.

Lindsay: So today with me, I have Melinda Colon. She is the CEO strategic marketer and mentor of FortisOBM. Welcome to the show, Melinda.

Melinda: Thank you for having me, Lindsay, I’m excited to be here.

Lindsay: Great. And I am so excited to have you here to talk about a topic that I, like I was saying before we hit record, I haven’t really been following, but I know a lot in our audience and my audience needs to be following and needs to get more information about because it directly affects their business, their firm growth, their proposal workload. And that is the infrastructure, investment and jobs act. IIJA. So, Melinda’s gonna talk all about that today, but before we get into that, Melinda, why don’t you tell my listeners a little bit about who you are, how you got into the AEC industry, maybe a little bit about your career path and how you help firms today.

Melinda: So, I am a wow. I should write a book, but I think everybody should write a book. I’m a, I’m a problem solver and connector. And it actually started when I was a kid, when I would take apart things around my house and my mother would scream at me and tell me, why are you doing this? And honestly, I did it out of just curiosity to see how things worked. and I always put it back together, which almost surprised her when I was seven years old because you know who, which seven-year-old is taking apart, their Sesame Street alarm clock and putting it back together?

Lindsay: Goodness. Not me. Not me.

Melinda: so that was me. And, whenever I, I hang out with my mom, you know, go shopping or anything like that, you know, kids always take at least one toy. Right? You can bring one toy with you. And my toy was math flash cards, or the Scholastic magazine books. Like those were the things that I kind of pulled at., cuz I just loved that type of thinking and creativity. but as an adult, I still, I still love puzzles. I love, strategy. I love thinking about things a little bit further from the surface and figuring out how things work to make them better. And besides that, you know, just like a fun fact is I love cab, Cabernet Sauvignon, so I’m a big wine girl and just like to be silly and, just fun and, and just, you know, having a good time with living life and just being the best version of myself.

Lindsay: I love it. I love it. So, let’s talk. IIJA.

is mouthful. it. I

Melinda: Yeah.

Lindsay: I had to like to pause to make sure that I pronounce it correctly.

Melinda: Yeah.

Lindsay: Why don’t you tell our listeners a quick overview of what this infrastructure bill entails and how it will affect pretty much every AEC firm or could affect or touch every AEC firm in market sector and not just transportation. Let’s say.

Melinda: Absolutely. I think that’s a part of being a strategic thinker and looking a little bit ahead of what’s bound to happen. What the domino effect looks like with a bird’s eye point of view. And, as you know, just a marketing consultant who serves the AEC and CRE space, we’re just, you know, we’re solely focused on trying to proactively solve problems. So, the infrastructure investment in Jaza was abbreviated, I call it IIJA just for simple.

Lindsay: Okay. That’s a lot easier.

Melinda: We’re gonna just call, call it IIJA just like the third person in the room, but IIJA it was signed into the law late last year. It was about November, in 2021. And it’s rolling out now. So, it’s monies have already been distributed or at least in the process of being distributed. And it goes through till fiscal year of 2026, which is August, uh, excuse me, July of 2026. The federal fiscal year actually starts in, August so now that we’re a little bit ahead of that timeline. We can already just expect to see RFPs kind of starting to, be developed to, discussions, to be made within terms of development and design and serving and planning and all and all those types of things.

it is a 550 billion investment, across five years, which is you know, it’s not big, it’s not small. It’s a pretty decent size of work across the country. And it’s gonna include roads and bridges and, you know, major projects like that. that impact engineering firms that impact, environmental firms. because it’s a water infrastructure, including drinking water wastewater, plumbing, et cetera.

How it’s going to impact other, other sectors of the industry, really all of the classes within commercial real estate are the zoning. Okay. And, and really once we identify where these decisions or where these demands are locally, we’re gonna start to see some, some shifts and adjust to how it impacts commercial real estate. Thus, design engineering firms and, construction managers.

So let me give you a real example. here in central Florida, uh, I attended the SMPS industrial program, and it was a great discussion about how some industrial facilities are, they’re trying to pass. and get approval by those local municipalities to put industrial warehouses and, cold storage and things like that closer to residential. It’s usually not a… never, it’s never a mix of those two. But because of the demand, because there is a lot of like Amazon shopping and, just kind of shop on demand where you just order something and it’s delivered to your, to your door. And in addition to just overpopulation, housing, it’s just all connected.

So, if, for example, there was a developer who had a plant to build a multifamily stick building. Let’s say four, seven stories on the corner of Ivanhoe and Colonial, then basically that needs to be reevaluated and discussed. Okay. Does this make sense, or do we need to move it or what are some of the parameters? What are some of the, the boundaries that they need to live in and once it’s constructed then okay. Then it impacts everybody else. So there has to be in influx in retail, hospitality. I mean, it has to serve the people that are actually gonna live in it. So, when the infrastructure bill came out and, you know, there was, it was populated in various publications across the country. I was actually interested in it because it is more than just roads and bridges. It’s more than just sustainability and water and wastewater. It is really improving the way that we live and work and play. There’s a lot of reasons why this is a good opportunity for us as industry leaders, marketers, and business developers, to be smart and to be proactive about what we do, with our time as we’re preparing for these types of RFPs to, to hit the streets that we’re actually interested in. So…

Lindsay: Well, what are besides the roads, bridges, water and wastewater. Weren’t there. I’ve not done nearly as much research as you have. I’ve just read, you know, some articles in just general publications, like just note general news outlets, but isn’t there, like broadband isn’t there, like, you know, stuff like that, that’s not typical? So that would affect, you know, any of those, those AEC firms that, that do that kind of infrastructure, or I know I, my old firm, we did a lot of cell towers. and back in the day radio towers, like decades ago.

Melinda: I know. So, overall, the summary, what the bill is proposing is, to fix or enhance roads, bridges and major projects, and in expansion of passenger and freight trains.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm

Melinda: so that’s, we can talk all day about that.

Lindsay: mm-hmm

Melinda: just with our, you know, the. Just the recent holiday season that we experienced last year. So that is definitely a great response. general safety, safe street programs, pedestrian safety programs.

Lindsay: Mmm. Okay. Right.

Melinda: so that’s gonna be a bigger thing, cuz there’s gonna be, you know, more live, work, play smaller communities. Where there’s retail on the ground floor to yep.

Lindsay: like road diets and safe streets and.

Right

Melinda: Yes. Yeah. And, uh, buses, rail cars and stations, and to start to bring public trans transportation or transits into, you know, just the modern age and what we consider to be modern in just keeping up with what’s happening today and what the demand is for today.

Lindsay: now is this, I’m throwing this question at you. So, if you can’t answer it,

Melinda: I will let you know. Yeah.

Lindsay: so back in like, I don’t know. Was it the oh 8 0 9? The tiger. That’s the last one. I, the big infrastructure package I remember, but there were like caveats where it had to be like shovel ready. It was like funding and grants to shovel ready projects. Meaning the planning was done. The environmental assessments were approved. The design was done. They were ready for construction. Is this similar to that? Or is it all types of projects? You start design and planning through construction.

Melinda: this is all types of projects. And what you’re speaking to is during Obama’s first.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm

Melinda: Uh, I can’t think of the word at the moment, but yes, I understand what you’re saying. And there were a lot of, rushes to start something and then nothing happened after the fact. but obviously added to the impact that the commercial industry had, you know, From the recession at that time,

Lindsay: mm-hmm

Melinda: what this bill, there was a little bit of padding in that they’re, they’re putting a, they’re putting some restrictions and some banding around what, what they want to focus on. So, in addition to the rows and bushes and the passenger freight trains and, you know, pedestrian safety. There’s like you mentioned broadband expansions and ports and waterways. So there really is trying to keep up with what are just overall the demands that we’ve needed to have, to really be more robust as a country, as a, and just responding to the need in different areas. So, from California, all the way to south Florida, what are some things that we constantly come up against over and over again? And it’s kind of like a wish list that came true. Um, so, airport runways, the gates to taxiways. that’s been in the news in the past 10 years. Water infrastructure, including drinking water. That was in the news. Power and grid systems. I mean, oh my gosh, that has been the news. So just really responding to that and also cyber security. So that’s, you know, the mission critical side of the industry. It’s gonna be impacted for resiliency management. That’s been the news. So just really taking all of these major, major challenges that our country has had and, and putting this bill together to say, hey, we are responding to this and we’re putting money behind it. It’s not just like a wish list that we’re saying we would like this to happen. And no, this is actually has been signed by the president and it’s going to happen.

Lindsay: happening. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that that’s kind of is a good segue into my next question is, you said that it starts this fiscal year, and it goes through the end of fiscal year 2026. So, what is the timing of some of these projects, which are rolling out from this bill?

Melinda: Yeah. Wow. So, generally speaking, cuz I can’t speak to every single one. You know, it, that would, I, mean, I mean that would be, I don’t even, I don’t, I don’t think that list exists publicly. I don’t think that would be, you know, something that I could get my hands on. Just little ole me with my little marketing agency, but I know that there have already been RFPs, created, developed, discussed that impact here locally in, in Florida. And I’m assuming that that’s happening across the country. And so, it’s really gonna come down to in actually, um, the, uh, orange county mayor discussed this a couple of weeks ago at a luncheon. mayor Dyer has, he mentioned that it really comes down to demand and need. So, we look at like, what is the most important thing that we need to focus on and where is the community that’s being most impacted by it and then work down, to identify what those budgets are gonna Look at what the scope of work is gonna look at, um, what the schedule is gonna look at. So, it’s really important now. and we’ll get into this, cuz it’s the next thing that we’re gonna talk about, but it’s really important now just to, if you, haven’t already to dust off your little Rolodex of contacts at the city and county level because, they’re experiencing a lot of challenges just like you and I and our clients, our business owners and we need to, we need to really start to have a conversation, not around the infrastructure act, but also. how we can help solve problems for them so that we can start to build those relationships so that we can hear about, the opportunities way before they hit, the RFP stage.

Lindsay: Yeah. Is the money flowing to kind of these lower, to where the demand is greatest to the city and county level and like probably the state DOTs?

Melinda: That’s right.

Lindsay: Yeah. And water, water authorities, and kind of the, the money’s being funneled to them. And then they’re deciding how to use it. Okay. That’s good to know, because that is a little bit different. Then my last experience with this, the bill, the tiger. I think it was tiger. That were, it was like the D O T already had to have the projects identified in order to get the funding and like submit those projects to the feds to get the funding.

so that’s a little bit different. That is a, a good distinction, especially for some firms, especially if you work like the example you gave earlier about like maybe a developer, trying to build a, you know, a, a four story mixed use on a prominent corner in a downtown, can there be some funds if you put some certain aspects in your project? Is I think is what you’re trying to get at and so maybe you should guys should go speak to the city or the county or the, the jurisdiction having an authority, in that zoning and that planning to see what’s available.

Melinda: And using your power as a resident and really identifying who the real stakeholders are, you know, you do have the, the city and state officials, but they have clients too. So, figuring out who those clients are and billing relationships around that too, I think that’s really important, important a part of business development. I’m gonna say it’s a bigger problem because of where we are in, you know, in the world right now and what we’re, experiencing post pandemic in the industry. And so, it’s, it’s like, okay, so people are gonna win these, you know, people, companies are gonna win these, opportunities and they’ll have awarded them. And then what? What does schedule look like? What does materials look like? you know, what does that really look like? I mean, how does that keep moving along so that we can finish this multifamily, mixed-use structure right here on a major intersection in the metropolitan city. So, I know that those are real questions. I’ve heard them before. And I, and I think that what we can do is the best that we can do. and that’s really building those relationships and connecting with people at those levels so that we are prepared more so than if we just kind of sit and wait for something to happen.

Lindsay: because they might not it’s sounding like. It’s not gonna be like how I coach people. when I’m, you know, like my intro to BD 1 0 1, it’s like, okay, go look at the cities or the counties that have money, or they have funding look at their CIP P projects for the next five years. You know, if they align with what you’re trying to do, then, you know, go start building their relationships with. Them. This bill sounds a little bit different because those projects might not be in any C I P plans yet.

Melinda: right? Yeah.

Lindsay: So, they might, the city is identifying needs, or they’ve had needs, but they haven’t had any funding. So, they’re not on any plan.

Melinda: That’s right.

Lindsay: And so, what I’m hearing you say is that it’s probably a good idea just to talk with them anyways, and as a constituent one, or then, you know, as an AEC firm that can help bring some solutions. and there might be an opportunity to create the project. Cuz now there might be funding there.

Okay. So we talked a little bit on the business development side, you know, I’m starting to kind of understand your thought process in terms of like, trying to, you know, and it, and it might just be not building new relationships, but making sure you’re re-engaging with the existing relationships that you have and having these conversations, with them about IIJA You know, and hopefully you’re entrenched in your firm’s offices communities where you know that the needs are. And so, you can help them kind of formulate the plan too. that would, for me, that would be the ideal situation if I was, you know, managing a BD team at an AEC firm.

Melinda: Absolutely same here. And that is the advice that I give my clients is when we’re talking about, an RFP and I ask them, okay, so what planning have you done? What discussions have you had? What are some of the challenges beyond the RFP that you could tell me about? what are their deal breakers? You know, that’s something else, else, you know, they’re just like, I don’t know. It’s just an RFP. We could do the work and. And I responded and I tell ’em, I say, you know, I gotta be real, real honest with you. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there’s been a lot of acquisitions of mergers in the last two years, there have been a lot and there have been a lot of new firms that have just popped out of nowhere.

So, we wanna make sure that we’re differentiator ourselves as much as possible beyond our projects and people and building those relationships. Cause that that’s the spot. That’s the sweet spot that you can’t really shake that if, if you know someone and you trust them, it goes way further than, the projects in people sometimes.

Lindsay: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So, we talked a little bit about the development side. What about the majority of my audience are marketers or people who are responsible for the proposal side of the business? so. it sounds like there’s a great deal of work coming. which means that there’s gonna be a lot of proposals to win that work. so, what, like what efforts or systems or AEC marketers can be doing now, knowing that there could be a barrage of RFPs, cuz it sounds like it’s gonna hit every market sector.

Melinda: Every market sector, and here’s the reality. And I’m gonna just, you know, put my hair down a little bit. I know, and I’m gonna speak directly to your audience. I know y’all are. Wait a minute. There’s I can’t do it. I mean, I’m eyeballs deep in RFPs right now. we have 10 presentations next month, you know, I understand that. I completely understand that these are, this is really real, uh, solutions to being prepared for this, prepared for IIJA. So, the first thing that I’m gonna suggest realistically, is dusting up that wish list that every marketing department has, you know, those wish list items that we wish we could ever get to. And. I would actually reach out to a third party, like a subcontractor, like FortisOBM to help with that, to get you there. that’s really, really important cuz that takes off some pressure that you have on trying to do all the things. So that’s really number one. and I speak from experience.

and then number two is, you know, going back and if you have the comments PDF, sometimes I start with this with newer clients who are just like, we wanna work with you. We just don’t know where to start. I actually say, hey, why don’t you just add me into your QC process of a proposal before it runs out? Like pink team. Let me part be a part of pink team or red team or something. let me be a part of that. And then at least I can get more familiar with how you speak and the branding and graphics and people, all that happens. But what I would say internally is going back to those commented PDFs from your subject matter experts and from your internal marketing support and updating your master files. Like, if there are years of experience that needed to change project information that needs to be changed, go ahead and update those. we all have them. We just usually don’t know what to do with those marked up PDF. We usually try to delete them as quickly as possible because it’s like, oh my gosh. You know, but if we can be ready to just do those types of cleanups, it would actually get us a lot further. And updating infographics, you know, so years of experience, number of projects with a client, Quick, these are quick updates, but they go a long way,

Lindsay: Mm-hmm

Melinda: getting references. So going back to nurturing and, and just kind of reconnecting with our relationships at those levels at the stakeholders and clients is actually making sure that those references, still work. There have been a lot of job changes and we wanna make sure that we have the right title, the right email address or the right phone number. People have gotten married. You know, all of those things have happened. We wanna make sure that those things are updated. And then client testimonials and reference letters, those are easy gets, you know, one, one thing that we do for our clients could certainly scratch their head or like, we don’t even know what to ask. We just kind of give them like an intro, you know, two or three sentences, and then brief description of the project that we work with them and then let them finish it up and sign it off, put it on their letterhead and it’s done. So, keeping it in as easy as possible because they actually do wanna give you that information. and if your SME, your subject matter expert is like, I can’t get to this right now, whatever, drop the email off for them forward it to them so that they can forward it to that contact. So, try to, I guess, when it comes to client relationships, it’s also not just the external, but it’s the internal client and fostering those relationships with your subject matter experts with your admin team, with the rest of your marketing team, your business developers, just so that we are all in this together. I mean, it’s just kind of the cliche, that we’ve been speaking for the last two years. But it truly is important in the AEC industry, because if we all work together for something the work, the workload is a lot lighter. So, these are some tips that I can help you guys with, like, you know, your audience with in, in terms of, how do I get any, any, and all of these things done, Melinda? Just ask for help. You know, people want to help you. I want to help you our team here at FortisOBM wanna help you. So, just make it easier for yourself so that you can keep proceeding forward.

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah. And I like that the last tip about the internal relationships, you know, we are just talking about business development and how, you know, those external relationships are so important because people, they wanna work with people they like. So, we can’t forget that internally, because if you have a good relationship with your subject matter experts, or like you said, your admin team, your finance team, don’t forget about your finance team. And, you know, your operations director, your cm, you know, just, whatever that looks like in your firm. If you have, if they like know like, and trust you, they’re more willing, I know to get you information now it might still not be timely or the best information, but they at least will try harder for you. And like, you know, just think about yourself. Like if there’s somebody that just really annoys you at work, like you’re not gonna be super quick to get back to them. or you’re gonna just kind of like half-ass it or give them just the bare minimum. And so, think about, you know, it, it goes back to the golden rule, like great treat others, like how you wanna be treated. But I just think that gets so overlooked and that’s something, I know after doing, close to this is what episode 73 doing, you know, 50 interviews we’ll get to the rapid-fire questions, but you know, one of ’em is what is your number one piece of advice for new marketers? I would say more than half of the responses are, get to know your technical staff, build relationships.

So, there is something to it. and so, and I know it’s harder now because we’re working, some of us are working remote. Some of us are working in the office. I know when I worked at my last firm, we were spread out over six offices. So, it, it was like working remote. So, it’s like much harder than to just bump into somebody in the break room. You know, talk about your weekend. You have to like proactively to build those internal relationships, just like our BD teams have to proactively build those client relationships.

Melinda: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.

Lindsay: Okay. So just to recap, sorry, I’m gonna get off my soapbox.

Melinda: No, this is all great. And I’m so glad that we’re in alignment with that because it is actually a thing. I think that a part of being a really good marketer is knowing how to be a project manager and a client server. So, both internal and external, it’s not just, you know, what does it look like out outwardly, but building those relationships, getting to know each other, Hey, if they’re annoying, you know, that’s okay. They can be annoying. the world is made up of all different types of people, but at the end of the day, if we can all be a team then in focusing on, on one end result, which is to, get awarded more projects and grow and, get promoted and all those fun things. Then we’re all working towards the same goal. And if there are ways that you can actually speak to someone that is challenging to speak to in that way and just say, okay, so what do you need? What can I help you with? And in just being, you know, forthright about it, actually, I mean in my experience, actually it works out better than not to say anything at all. or just wait for them to ask you something. So yeah, I definitely love the pro proactivity. in that marketing role.

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah. So, you gave some really great advice for AEC marketers. I think they should do this ongoing, but I think now there is, you know, this sense of urgency because of the IIJA bill. you know, in this barrage of, we know the proposals are coming. So, you know, that’s another gripe I hear it’s we don’t know they’re coming well, they’re coming. We’re telling you; Melinda and I are telling you right now, they’re coming. They’re gonna affect your firm one way or another.

Melinda: Absolutely. One other thing that just popped to mind is doing a SWAT analysis. That actually is a good activity to do regardless of any time, is just kind of check in with at least some, one person from your, your leadership team in your marketing department and just having a SWAT, like what are our strengths? We just opportunities and threats and because they change. and so, we’ve gone through a lot of change in the pandemic. So, this might be a good opportunity to do the SWAT and that way we can actually create a to-do list together. That’s an applicable to our company, you know, custom and something that we’re all really passionate about.

Lindsay: Yeah, I love it. So just to recap, some of these is dust off your wish list. Get that wish list done. and you can hire help to do that because we all know the proposals, you’re doing today are still gonna come. And then two parts of that is looking through all of your comments, your commented PDFs, you know, from your previous proposals and if anything changed or needs to be updated in those master files, based on the comments, go ahead and update those master files. Hopefully you have a CRM, so you can put ’em in there, but if not the very least in the master files, updating infographics, getting your references updated. client testimonials and letters, I think that is a great time to do that. And then lastly, the SWAT analysis, is great. I think it’s, you could do it in the frame of IIJA and then I always like to do it every year, at least, as part of your business development planning for the following year. But I think you can do one specifically for IIJA. Or specifically for your marketing team and say, okay, where do we need help with, here’s our strengths as a marketing and proposal response team. Here’s our weaknesses. Here’s where we need support.

Melinda: That’s great. Yes, that’s great. I

Lindsay: I love SWAT. So, you can do ’em through the lens of, you know, whatever you’re working on.

Okay. So, before we close today, I wanna hit you with the rapid-fire questions. Are you ready?

Melinda: Okay, Okay.

Here we go.

Lindsay: Question number one. What is your number one piece of advice for marketers who are new to the AEC industry?

Melinda: Don’t be afraid to learn. Be humble, hungry and smart. There’s a really good book, ideal team player. I suggest you read it. and the industry, there’s so much information about the industry itself, but as a person, as a professional work on how you can be a better team player.

Lindsay: I love it. And that book was called ideal team player.

Melinda: Yes.

Yes. And actually, it’s about, it’s about the construction industry. So, it’s really fun read.

Lindsay: Hmm. I haven’t heard of that ideal team player. I’m making a note and I’ll link it up for everybody in the show notes Question number two, what has been your favorite or most memorable win?

Melinda: Oh, my gosh. That’s easy. So, it was actually, three years into the industry and, uh, within. Two weeks on, you know, at a new job, I helped win 150 million science tech projects. And that was just kind of fun to be honest, I was like, oh, that’s fine. so yeah. That that has to be memorable. The second memorable I have to share is, it was a bigger firm. It, uh, bigger project. It was for over a billion, uh, with U S D A and we shortlisted went to interview and we lost by just a couple hundred thousand dollars. So, it was like, man, we just, like, I felt like it was a win to me, cuz it was just like we did all the things that the client was asking for except for the, the price. So, it had, and I have no control over that, but. So, I did my job and I just felt really good about that.

Lindsay: Good. I like it. And then question number three. What are you excited about?

Melinda: Oh man. Wow. I. I nerd out about strategic marketing and just serving my clients. you can ask any of them that kind of have those moments on a call and I’m like, Ooh, what, what about this? And, just seeing that we can, we can help them improve their win rates is really exciting, but also being really creative in that storytelling. so just kind of pulling out some stories from them outside of, we have really great people and projects, and really telling the story behind the people and the firm. So that’s really what I like.

Lindsay: Okay. And then one last question. How can firms get in touch with you?

Melinda: Okay, so that’s easy. You can, email me directly at [email protected] or you can check us out on our website at fortisOBM.com. So, Fortis F O R T I S O B M.COM. We also have a podcast and hopefully we’ll have Lindsay on as a guest in the near future. And just, we just love having great conversations about things that impact the architect, engineering and construction space, as well as commercial real estate.

Lindsay: Awesome. Well, I will make sure that all those links get into the show notes. And thank you so much for being with us today. I know I learned a lot and I appreciate your time.

Melinda: Yeah, this was fun. Thank you so much.

Lindsay: Well, okay. There, you have it. You have some high-level overview of what is involved in IIJA. How it’s gonna affect firms spanning all sectors, not just transit, rail, roadway, but water, wastewater, public transportation, airports, power grids, broadband, you name it, mission critical. It’s gonna affect all of our market sectors.

And so hopefully you came away with today’s episode with how your business development team whoever’s responsible for business development, how they can start preparing. And more importantly, whoever’s responsible for proposals, whether that’s marketing coordinators, proposal coordinators, you can start doing some stuff now, or if you don’t have the capacity now hire a firm like Melinda’s to help you with those action items to get ready today. So, you can also still do the proposals that you still have to get out the door.

So, tell me what you think of this episode. are you preparing for IIJA? Have you started seeing proposals already from IIJA let me know over on the show notes page. you can leave me a comment over there. MarketersTakeFlight.com/73. you can also find all the links to get in touch with Melinda. we talked about a book, and we talked about, she also put together a more in-depth podcast episode that goes more in depth of what’s, Included in IIJA. And you can find that over on the show notes page as well.

Again, that’s MarketersTakeFlight.com/73. And don’t forget if you liked this episode, share it with a friend, a colleague appears. and that way they can get up to speed on IIJA as well. Okay. My friends that are it for me today until next week. Bye. For now.