[00:00:01.130] - Roslyn Davis
For me, the military gave me that foundation. It really gave me a foundation to be resilient. Things will happen and you need to learn how to bounce back, pick yourself up and keep moving. Don't focus on the negative and the things that happened in the past. Just keep moving forward.
[00:00:19.340] - Freddie Kim
Welcome to the Veteran Led Podcast. I'm Freddie Kim with Mil-Spec Talent. Today I am joined by Rosalyn Davis. President and CEO of Roda Business Solutions. Please tell us a little bit about your business.
[00:00:33.770] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah. So let me give you a little bit about my background. So, you know, I did 24 years in the Air Force. I left St. Louis at the age of 18, went in the Air Force, and I haven't looked back. After those 24 years, I was a government contractor employee for about 3 years, but still supporting the Air Force client. And then I got a call that says, hey, we have a position in the federal government open on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Are you interested? So of course, it's still within that DOD, still within my blood. So, I took that position, did that for about 10 years, and then I retired from the civil service. And then about a few years ago, I started Roda Business Solutions. And so now I'm an entrepreneur and I am enjoying what I do.
[00:01:16.740] - Freddie Kim
Are you sure?
[00:01:17.600] - Roslyn Davis
I am.
[00:01:18.080] - Freddie Kim
You're enjoying it?
[00:01:18.660] - Roslyn Davis
I am.
[00:01:19.290] - Freddie Kim
We're both through it. We're enjoying it.
[00:01:21.290] - Roslyn Davis
Yes. There's some good days and there's some bad days, but I tell you, I wouldn't give it up.
[00:01:24.680] - Freddie Kim
Of course. Of course not. So, what did you do in the Air Force for the 24 years?
[00:01:29.640] - Roslyn Davis
In the Air Force, I was the career field manager for logistics plan. So, what that means is all the deployments and redeployments from all the installations is what we coordinated. So, we would coordinate with the entire base, also our combat support agencies, also theater assets and everything to make sure all of the people and the equipment and other assets were in place on time. Ready to deploy.
[00:01:52.500] - Freddie Kim
Got it. So, you and I were also chatting briefly before this, and we're just going to cut straight into it. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Can you tell us and the audience, how did your service, at what points did you learn traits to deal with the difficulty and the grind of entrepreneurship?
[00:02:11.930] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah, that, you know, for me, the military gave me that foundation. It really gave me a foundation to be resilient. Things will happen and you need to learn how to bounce back, pick yourself up and keep moving. Don't focus on the negative and the things that happened in the past. Just keep moving forward.
[00:02:28.930] - Freddie Kim
When did that happen to you?
[00:02:30.590] - Roslyn Davis
It happened to me early on growing up into the military from rank to rank, but moving into those more senior leader roles and having to be responsible for others is when it really happened to where you can't take complaints. All you can take is actions and recommendations and keep moving.
[00:02:49.440] - Freddie Kim
Yeah.
[00:02:50.170] - Roslyn Davis
And so, I use that to help propel me into being an entrepreneur because being an entrepreneur, it is a grind. It's not an overnight success for most people. But I think if you stick to it, you have the perseverance and you have the willpower to do it, you're going to have to leave out all the negative talk that you're going to hear from family and friends that maybe doubting what you're doing and continue to move forward in your path.
[00:03:18.570] - Freddie Kim
So, give me a story of just this, when you were serving, right? Or when you were— when you hit that brick wall, had to bounce back and just kind of put everything behind you or de-escalate situations. How did— yeah, some incidents there that comes to mind?
[00:03:41.200] - Roslyn Davis
There was a time where, you know, when you serve in certain leadership role, people may look at you and say, we don't think you belong in that position because you're too junior or you're too young or whatever connotation that they want to assign to you. So, I was put into a role where I had to pull 3 different functional areas together to operate and move forward. And I had never done that. It was the first time it had ever been done at this base, but we did well.
[00:04:10.850] - Freddie Kim
Where was this?
[00:04:11.650] - Roslyn Davis
This was at McCord Air Force Base in Washington. We did very well to where when we had inspections of our units, we were getting high ratings. We were getting excellent marks. We were getting best in class, and that felt good. But it also showed those people that were the naysayers that, okay, she did deserve that position. Because she proved herself.
[00:04:35.440] - Freddie Kim
So, can you tell us with your business now, what do you, what kind of service do you provide for your customers for the government contracting space?
[00:04:45.130] - Roslyn Davis
So, we provide professional services, specifically organizational assessments, business process improvement, strategic planning, change management. So last year when the federal government was going through those inefficiencies and getting rid of contracts, getting rid of personnel, whatever, we would've been the perfect company to bring in to help figure out those processes and people and technology to make the federal government more efficient because that's what we do. We do it with PMI-backed methodology, being PMP certified. We also do workforce development because if you fix the processes, you also need to have the people in place to make sure that those are the right fit to have on your team. And so, we do workforce development, we do some training, we also do Leadership training, executive coaching, personality assessments, and then we do general business administration support.
[00:05:38.970] - Freddie Kim
What kind of struggle do you have right now as an entrepreneur running your business?
[00:05:44.400] - Roslyn Davis
My main struggle right now is probably finding the right teaming partners because I don't have a problem with finding opportunities. It's finding those teaming partners to put together so that we can, uh, go win that work. And it's important to find the right teaming partners because you don't want to partner with just any and everyone.
[00:06:05.350] - Freddie Kim
How do you define that? For you, what does the right mean?
[00:06:08.160] - Roslyn Davis
That's a good question. I define it as someone who wants to work with you generally and not transactional. They're looking at this as just one opportunity, but they're also looking at the breadth and the depth that we can continue to do more work together. So, we're building a relationship. a long-term relationship and not just one transaction.
[00:06:28.720] - Freddie Kim
So that's helping each other out. That's educating one another. That's coaching one another.
[00:06:34.000] - Roslyn Davis
That's sharing ideas. For instance, I use a payroll system and one of my teaming partners were like, hey, I want to start, I need to start in a payroll system. Can you help me? And so, we sat down on a webinar and I just kind of went through and said, hey, here's some pitfalls. Here's some dos and don'ts. And here's the system. And so that helped them. And I don't mind helping my teaming partners because collectively we want to win work.
[00:06:59.190] - Freddie Kim
That's the one thing that I, because I've looked at government contracting for so long, that's why I was in that course with you. And of course it's been very tumultuous, but I've just, I've seen that in government contracting, there's so much more partnership opportunities to win together.
[00:07:18.740] - Roslyn Davis
Yes.
[00:07:18.950] - Freddie Kim
Right? Of course, this is changing as we go through this. It's changing quite a bit, but there's a lot more there in the corporate sector than the corporate sector, I sense.
[00:07:29.330] - Roslyn Davis
And I've seen a shift where the federal government is moving away from single awards to they want to see a team that come together that can support their operations.
[00:07:39.190] - Freddie Kim
Right, right. Because it's more stable.
[00:07:40.490] - Roslyn Davis
Exactly.
[00:07:41.150] - Freddie Kim
Right, right. There's more stability.
[00:07:43.040] - Roslyn Davis
You're not putting your eggs all in one basket.
[00:07:44.640] - Freddie Kim
Exactly.
[00:07:45.270] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah.
[00:07:45.880] - Freddie Kim
So this is the final day for Veteran Edge. You've sat through, no doubt, many great sessions. What is your single biggest takeaway thus far?
[00:07:57.740] - Roslyn Davis
To me, Veteran Edge is more of a family environment again. It gives you that camaraderie that you got when you were in the military. It's just a different environment, but you are still all connected, one big family. It's good to be around like-minded people. And we're all entrepreneurs and we're all friendly.
[00:08:17.220] - Freddie Kim
Yeah, I know, right?
[00:08:17.960] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah.
[00:08:18.120] - Roslyn Davis
I mean, all friendly and I love that.
[00:08:19.630] - Freddie Kim
We just support one another. I mean, I'm rooting for you to win, right?
[00:08:23.570] - Roslyn Davis
We may not be in the same core competency, but if you need something, call me.
[00:08:28.040] - Freddie Kim
Anything.
[00:08:28.700] - Roslyn Davis
And I really like that about the military-connected community.
[00:08:32.050] - Freddie Kim
Yeah. So how can people find you and why should they reach out to you?
[00:08:37.130] - Roslyn Davis
So you can find me on LinkedIn. @roslyn.davis, but I only want serious people to connect with me. And I say that because sometimes you'll spend time with people that want to know, hey, how did you get started? Because all they see is where you are right now. They don't see the struggle that was behind to get you to where you are right now.
[00:09:03.970] - John S. Berry
Thank you for joining us today on Veteran Led. where we seek to help Veterans build an even bigger, better future after military service. Unfortunately, for some of our Veterans, the roadblock to a better future is that they are not receiving all of the benefits that they earned. If you need help appealing a VA disability decision, contact Berry Law.
For me, the military gave me that foundation. It really gave me a foundation to be resilient. Things will happen and you need to learn how to bounce back, pick yourself up and keep moving. Don't focus on the negative and the things that happened in the past. Just keep moving forward.
[00:00:19.340] - Freddie Kim
Welcome to the Veteran Led Podcast. I'm Freddie Kim with Mil-Spec Talent. Today I am joined by Rosalyn Davis. President and CEO of Roda Business Solutions. Please tell us a little bit about your business.
[00:00:33.770] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah. So let me give you a little bit about my background. So, you know, I did 24 years in the Air Force. I left St. Louis at the age of 18, went in the Air Force, and I haven't looked back. After those 24 years, I was a government contractor employee for about 3 years, but still supporting the Air Force client. And then I got a call that says, hey, we have a position in the federal government open on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Are you interested? So of course, it's still within that DOD, still within my blood. So, I took that position, did that for about 10 years, and then I retired from the civil service. And then about a few years ago, I started Roda Business Solutions. And so now I'm an entrepreneur and I am enjoying what I do.
[00:01:16.740] - Freddie Kim
Are you sure?
[00:01:17.600] - Roslyn Davis
I am.
[00:01:18.080] - Freddie Kim
You're enjoying it?
[00:01:18.660] - Roslyn Davis
I am.
[00:01:19.290] - Freddie Kim
We're both through it. We're enjoying it.
[00:01:21.290] - Roslyn Davis
Yes. There's some good days and there's some bad days, but I tell you, I wouldn't give it up.
[00:01:24.680] - Freddie Kim
Of course. Of course not. So, what did you do in the Air Force for the 24 years?
[00:01:29.640] - Roslyn Davis
In the Air Force, I was the career field manager for logistics plan. So, what that means is all the deployments and redeployments from all the installations is what we coordinated. So, we would coordinate with the entire base, also our combat support agencies, also theater assets and everything to make sure all of the people and the equipment and other assets were in place on time. Ready to deploy.
[00:01:52.500] - Freddie Kim
Got it. So, you and I were also chatting briefly before this, and we're just going to cut straight into it. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Can you tell us and the audience, how did your service, at what points did you learn traits to deal with the difficulty and the grind of entrepreneurship?
[00:02:11.930] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah, that, you know, for me, the military gave me that foundation. It really gave me a foundation to be resilient. Things will happen and you need to learn how to bounce back, pick yourself up and keep moving. Don't focus on the negative and the things that happened in the past. Just keep moving forward.
[00:02:28.930] - Freddie Kim
When did that happen to you?
[00:02:30.590] - Roslyn Davis
It happened to me early on growing up into the military from rank to rank, but moving into those more senior leader roles and having to be responsible for others is when it really happened to where you can't take complaints. All you can take is actions and recommendations and keep moving.
[00:02:49.440] - Freddie Kim
Yeah.
[00:02:50.170] - Roslyn Davis
And so, I use that to help propel me into being an entrepreneur because being an entrepreneur, it is a grind. It's not an overnight success for most people. But I think if you stick to it, you have the perseverance and you have the willpower to do it, you're going to have to leave out all the negative talk that you're going to hear from family and friends that maybe doubting what you're doing and continue to move forward in your path.
[00:03:18.570] - Freddie Kim
So, give me a story of just this, when you were serving, right? Or when you were— when you hit that brick wall, had to bounce back and just kind of put everything behind you or de-escalate situations. How did— yeah, some incidents there that comes to mind?
[00:03:41.200] - Roslyn Davis
There was a time where, you know, when you serve in certain leadership role, people may look at you and say, we don't think you belong in that position because you're too junior or you're too young or whatever connotation that they want to assign to you. So, I was put into a role where I had to pull 3 different functional areas together to operate and move forward. And I had never done that. It was the first time it had ever been done at this base, but we did well.
[00:04:10.850] - Freddie Kim
Where was this?
[00:04:11.650] - Roslyn Davis
This was at McCord Air Force Base in Washington. We did very well to where when we had inspections of our units, we were getting high ratings. We were getting excellent marks. We were getting best in class, and that felt good. But it also showed those people that were the naysayers that, okay, she did deserve that position. Because she proved herself.
[00:04:35.440] - Freddie Kim
So, can you tell us with your business now, what do you, what kind of service do you provide for your customers for the government contracting space?
[00:04:45.130] - Roslyn Davis
So, we provide professional services, specifically organizational assessments, business process improvement, strategic planning, change management. So last year when the federal government was going through those inefficiencies and getting rid of contracts, getting rid of personnel, whatever, we would've been the perfect company to bring in to help figure out those processes and people and technology to make the federal government more efficient because that's what we do. We do it with PMI-backed methodology, being PMP certified. We also do workforce development because if you fix the processes, you also need to have the people in place to make sure that those are the right fit to have on your team. And so, we do workforce development, we do some training, we also do Leadership training, executive coaching, personality assessments, and then we do general business administration support.
[00:05:38.970] - Freddie Kim
What kind of struggle do you have right now as an entrepreneur running your business?
[00:05:44.400] - Roslyn Davis
My main struggle right now is probably finding the right teaming partners because I don't have a problem with finding opportunities. It's finding those teaming partners to put together so that we can, uh, go win that work. And it's important to find the right teaming partners because you don't want to partner with just any and everyone.
[00:06:05.350] - Freddie Kim
How do you define that? For you, what does the right mean?
[00:06:08.160] - Roslyn Davis
That's a good question. I define it as someone who wants to work with you generally and not transactional. They're looking at this as just one opportunity, but they're also looking at the breadth and the depth that we can continue to do more work together. So, we're building a relationship. a long-term relationship and not just one transaction.
[00:06:28.720] - Freddie Kim
So that's helping each other out. That's educating one another. That's coaching one another.
[00:06:34.000] - Roslyn Davis
That's sharing ideas. For instance, I use a payroll system and one of my teaming partners were like, hey, I want to start, I need to start in a payroll system. Can you help me? And so, we sat down on a webinar and I just kind of went through and said, hey, here's some pitfalls. Here's some dos and don'ts. And here's the system. And so that helped them. And I don't mind helping my teaming partners because collectively we want to win work.
[00:06:59.190] - Freddie Kim
That's the one thing that I, because I've looked at government contracting for so long, that's why I was in that course with you. And of course it's been very tumultuous, but I've just, I've seen that in government contracting, there's so much more partnership opportunities to win together.
[00:07:18.740] - Roslyn Davis
Yes.
[00:07:18.950] - Freddie Kim
Right? Of course, this is changing as we go through this. It's changing quite a bit, but there's a lot more there in the corporate sector than the corporate sector, I sense.
[00:07:29.330] - Roslyn Davis
And I've seen a shift where the federal government is moving away from single awards to they want to see a team that come together that can support their operations.
[00:07:39.190] - Freddie Kim
Right, right. Because it's more stable.
[00:07:40.490] - Roslyn Davis
Exactly.
[00:07:41.150] - Freddie Kim
Right, right. There's more stability.
[00:07:43.040] - Roslyn Davis
You're not putting your eggs all in one basket.
[00:07:44.640] - Freddie Kim
Exactly.
[00:07:45.270] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah.
[00:07:45.880] - Freddie Kim
So this is the final day for Veteran Edge. You've sat through, no doubt, many great sessions. What is your single biggest takeaway thus far?
[00:07:57.740] - Roslyn Davis
To me, Veteran Edge is more of a family environment again. It gives you that camaraderie that you got when you were in the military. It's just a different environment, but you are still all connected, one big family. It's good to be around like-minded people. And we're all entrepreneurs and we're all friendly.
[00:08:17.220] - Freddie Kim
Yeah, I know, right?
[00:08:17.960] - Roslyn Davis
Yeah.
[00:08:18.120] - Roslyn Davis
I mean, all friendly and I love that.
[00:08:19.630] - Freddie Kim
We just support one another. I mean, I'm rooting for you to win, right?
[00:08:23.570] - Roslyn Davis
We may not be in the same core competency, but if you need something, call me.
[00:08:28.040] - Freddie Kim
Anything.
[00:08:28.700] - Roslyn Davis
And I really like that about the military-connected community.
[00:08:32.050] - Freddie Kim
Yeah. So how can people find you and why should they reach out to you?
[00:08:37.130] - Roslyn Davis
So you can find me on LinkedIn. @roslyn.davis, but I only want serious people to connect with me. And I say that because sometimes you'll spend time with people that want to know, hey, how did you get started? Because all they see is where you are right now. They don't see the struggle that was behind to get you to where you are right now.
[00:09:03.970] - John S. Berry
Thank you for joining us today on Veteran Led. where we seek to help Veterans build an even bigger, better future after military service. Unfortunately, for some of our Veterans, the roadblock to a better future is that they are not receiving all of the benefits that they earned. If you need help appealing a VA disability decision, contact Berry Law.
