I Won 4 Government Contracts With the Middleman Strategy…And I Regret It.

The GovCon middleman strategy is everywhere right now. Win the contract. Find a subcontractor. Keep the difference. And it works, I've done it four times. But I had to come out of pocket $30,000 on a contract I had already won. And nobody told me that was coming. In this video I break down the three things that happen between winning and getting paid that nobody puts in the tutorial: the cash flow gap, the risk you inherit as the prime contractor, and the expertise problem that keeps most middleman operators from building a real business. I'm Stephanie Richardson Parker, 7-year active government contractor, PMP certified, WOSB/DBE/MBE certified. I manage $10-20 million in federal contract portfolios. I used this strategy. Here's what I actually learned. WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS VIDEO: What the middleman strategy actually is, and why the tutorials leave out the hard parts. The $30,000 cash flow gap: what happens when the government is late paying and your sub isn't. Why as prime contractor you own the risk; no-shows, missed deadlines, property damage, all of it. The expertise problem: winning landscaping + HVAC + janitorial + snow removal = what business exactly? What the middleman strategy actually gave me: past performance, confidence, relationships. The 5 things I would do differently if I were starting over today. Every week in our Substack newsletter we breakdown how government contracting actually works, no $3,000 courses, no guru promises. Just the real-life stories you can actually learn from.