Brisbane, QUEENSLAND, 20th May 2020 – New book Winning Government Business: The 6 Rules And 9 Absolutes For Small To Medium Businesses (Qld 2020 Edition) is launching at the perfect time for local small businesses to access the Queensland Government’s $100-million Coronavirus/COVID-19 recovery fund.
The book, Winning Government Business, has been written by Brisbane’s own Thomas Pollock, a 20-year expert on how Aussie small businesses can find, apply for and win government contracts and tenders – even against the big boys.
The timing is fortuitous. The book – in production for over 18 months – is launching in the same week when Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced The Queensland Economic Recovery Strategy: Unite and Recover for Queensland Jobs.
The recovery strategy outlines how the Queensland government will put forward $100 million in small business funding to help the state economy bounce back from the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
Premier Palaszczuk said the strategy’s goal was to help out small businesses that had been forced into hibernation, restructuring or an online migration.
“Small businesses represent 97 percent of all businesses and employ over 970,000 people or 45 percent of the state’s private-sector workforce,” the Premier’s strategy announcement said.
Against this background, small business can deploy the advice and action plans in Winning Government Business to ideally position themselves to capture their deserved share of the funding.
Author Thomas Pollock says the timing of the launch during the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic was completely unexpected, but it highlights an enduring truth: “When times are tough, the only sector that always increases spending is the government”.
“To achieve its policy goals, governments frequently turn to the private sector. Most people think that means they want to work with big business, but the reality is they also welcome partnerships with the small businesses that represent an extremely important part of their voter base,” he says.
“However, given the strict criteria that government must follow, their committees and selection panels must be certain that small businesses are capable of delivering what’s required.
“My book sets out concrete steps for how your small business can prove it’s one of the capable ones.”
The book itself is the summation of Pollock’s own small business journey, where, across nearly two decades of hard graft, he sought, chased and, finally, won considerable government contracts.
The process of writing Winning Government Business began in 2018, and as the economy slowed through 2019, Pollock saw the urgency for its message mount with each new month of flatlining economic indicators.
Then, with the domestic-international one-two punch of the catastrophic bushfire season and the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, his book is hitting shelves at the precise time it’s needed most.
“The timing is a total coincidence. Yes, there were rumblings of tough times ahead back in 2018 – but no one expected anything like this,” he says.
“I just hope small businesses can adapt some of the book’s techniques and tips to win contracts that keep them going – or even keep them growing – right through to the end of all this and into better times in 2021 and 2022.
“Tough times are definitely now upon us. Applications for this new funding are open right now and the book is available to help you apply.”
Winning Government Business has already made some powerful friends. The Federal Small Business And Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell has even supplied the foreword, writing:
“There may be no magic formula for SMBs wanting to do business with government, but this book can certainly provide you with some of the secrets to success.”
Meanwhile, the Queensland Small Business Champion, Maree Adshead, has expressed a keen interest in the book’s message and has requested an advance copy.
Copies of Winning Government Business: The 6 Rules And 9 Absolutes For Small To Medium Businesses (Qld 2020 Edition) are now available online at and at Amazon, Booktopia and all major online retailers.
Additional information:
Who is Tom Pollock?
With almost 20 years of Australian SME experience, Thomas Pollock has worked hard to help many businesses establish new revenue streams to keep them growing through good times and bad. Winning business with all levels of Australian government was a central part of this. In Winning Government Business: The 6 Rules and 9 Absolutes, Pollock distils that knowledge and experience into direct and effective action steps that small businesses can undertake to claim their rightful share of the government business pie. In his downtime, Pollock spends time with his wife and three young sons in suburban Brisbane, Australia.
