SBA is now asking 8(a) businesses to provide their disadvantage statements via Certify, launching a gold-rush of spam-quality “consultants” who have never written an approved disadvantage statement pushing their wares for a healthy fee. Some of their advertising relies too heavily on the exclamation mark—your entire business is at risk!!!—while others ride an imaginary inside track to approval, despite that SBA stresses it recognizes the challenges of this request and is attempting to make the process as easy as possible.
Chaedrol is an 8(a) firm, and our disadvantage statement was approved with two revisions in several weeks. The process was extended, because I uploaded my statement when the system prompted; later, I received an email telling me to wait for SBA’s request.
My first try answered the journalist-W questions in an essay with transitions from point to point; SBA requested I follow their format exactly. My next rejection was because I uploaded the wrong file, a nonsensical working draft no other human should have been forced to read, rushing per my usual.
Last Friday afternoon, I pasted correct text into the Certify field and uploaded a PDF with the same in which SBA’s questions were set bold and answered immediately. (Example: Where did the incident occur: <NAME OF TOWN>.) Here are the lessons I learned:
(1) I can tell my story better than anyone else, and in fact, SBA wants to hear the business owner’s perspective, not one filtered through legalese or jargon. The narrative must describe exactly two separate events, and SBA has said they know writing this may be challenging, so excessive detail is not required. I wrote approximately 300 words for each event. SBA has provided the outline; learn from my mistake—they expect it to be followed exactly, giving us freedom to respond with our story as we otherwise choose to tell it:
- Where did the incident occur
- When did the incident occur (estimates are fine)
- What took place, and
- How did it adversely affect the 8(a) participant?
The event could be one moment or something that happened over years. This may be the actions of one individual or a pattern of action from a group of individuals. Don’t spare anyone’s feelings. Respond directly to each question. But then,
(2) Consider these files may be leaked. Assume your document may one day become keyword searchable. I can’t tell you what that means or what you should do with the assumption. Your truth is yours to share in your disadvantage statement, or everywhere, or nowhere. But still,
(3) Take a day. Sleep on it. Read it again the next day. I tried to create distance, so I could evaluate the narrative from a reader’s perspective. Don’t feel bad about anything you wrote; make improvements, as necessary. Read and revise until the edges are just sharp enough to tug at the reader’s heartstrings without harming the writer. Finally,
(4) Don’t worry. If your 8(a) application process was as long and uncertain as mine, you may fear this will be similar; anecdotally, it’s not. In my head, I most feared a message in Certify saying, “That’s all? Get over it!” Of course no such message came. Chaedrol’s approval, however, did within one business day of uploading the correctly formatted statement. I’ve heard similar success stories from others.
And if you have a question, contact me. I’m happy to share experience with my fellow 8(a) business owners. We’re in this together, and I think we’ll be just fine.