You Don't Need to Be Smart to Get Government Money — Just Fill Out These Forms

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]The government is literally paying people to start these businesses. All it takes is one government contract to completely change your life, and it does not take a law degree or fancy connections to land one. I'm David, I run Filterbuy, an air filter company doing $23 million a month. We've won government contracts with Houston City Schools and the New York City Subway system. If the government is handing out contracts to an air filter company from Alabama, they'll hand one out to you, too. There are three ways the government creates business opportunity. Contracts, regulation, and the tax code. So, let's take a look at how the system actually works and how to get your piece of it.

[00:00:37]You see, every city, school district, and government agency in America needs to buy stuff, and they are legally required to let you bid on it. The government has billions set aside for you. Here's how to get some. So, let me tell you about how Filterbuy got a contract with the Houston City [music] School system. We didn't know anybody.

[00:00:53]We didn't have a lobbyist. We found a bid on a website called Bidnet Direct.

[00:00:57]It's basically a job board for government contracts. The school district needed air filters. We looked at the requirements, made sure we could meet them, and put together a proposal and submitted it. Six weeks later, we got notified that we won. The same thing happened with New York City Subway system. We found a bid, we submitted a proposal, and we won. Here's what most people don't realize. The government has to take bids. It's the law. They can't just pick their friends' company because they like them. Every opportunity gets posted publicly, and every qualified proposal has to be evaluated under the rules of the bid. That means that the playing field is more level than most any other market that you'll ever compete in. So, you're probably asking yourself, "Why doesn't everybody do this?" Two reasons, I think. Most people don't know that these websites even exist, and the people that do treat it more like a lottery instead of a [music] process. The businesses that win consistently track every open opportunity, never miss a deadline, and they just keep submitting. If you're in the US, you can go to websites like Bidnet Direct for local and state contracts. You can go to sam.gov for federal contracts. Those are the best two places to start. There are many others depending on your industry. You can search for your industry, set up alerts, when a bid comes up, make sure that you can meet the requirement, and submit something clean. Your goal in the beginning is just to get in [music] the room. Even if you don't have a business yet, spend 15 minutes browsing those sites. I love to do this looking for ideas. If you don't know what kind of business you want to go into, this would be a great way to start. See where there's government demand. Look at what your city is buying. Look at the contract sizes. When you do that enough, you'll start to see patterns and [music] opportunities that you never even knew existed. But if winning a few contracts doesn't feel like enough, there's a category of business where the government doesn't just buy from you, it creates the demand for you. These are some of the best businesses in America and most people walk right past them.

[00:02:43]The government is creating guaranteed demand for these businesses. Filter by spends over a million dollars a year on trash collection and waste removal. We have to. It's a regulatory requirement.

[00:02:53]If we don't comply, we're going to get fined or shut down. We also spend low six-figures every year on fire inspections. They're not optional.

[00:03:01]Here's what that means for the vendors we hire. They have a customer with highly recurring demand and very little incentive to walk away. The government is the largest customer in the world and it's also the one writing the rules.

[00:03:14]Think about the things that actually create this dynamic. The government passes a regulation, businesses are forced to comply. That compliance is going to require a licensed vendor, somebody that's licensed by the government. Getting that license takes time and paperwork. So, most people never bother. That becomes your advantage. The barrier to entry is just getting a license and most people, they're not going to do it. For example, fire inspection companies, waste removal, elevator inspection firms, grease trap cleaning companies. Actually podcasted with two people that do this, a guy that manufactures paint booths because if you're going to paint in an enclosed environment with a spray that the government doesn't want in the air, you're going to have to buy a paint booth. And that guy found an angle to do that. [music] Environmental compliance contractors, every one of these businesses exist because a law said it had to. I know a guy in Birmingham who got his fire inspection license about 4 years ago. He had no background in fire safety. He just took a course, passed the test, and got certified. [music] Today, he does recurring inspections for over 50 commercial [music] buildings.

[00:04:16]Does the same buildings every year like clockwork. The government created the demand, he just showed up and harnessed it. That's the pattern. Find the thing that nobody wants to do because it sounds boring. Go get the license, show up consistently, cash the checks, and win. [music] You want a little more info like how are you actually going to start this? Google your city business license requirements and look for services that require certification. Look specifically for things that businesses are required to hire for. I'm not talking optional services, required. [music] Again, fire inspections, backflow testing, one of my favorites. Elevator inspections, hazmat disposal, make a list. Then look at how many providers are serving your area. If you see a lot of demand and not a lot of competition, that's your signal. If you're not ready to start a business yet, that's fine.

[00:05:03]Just know that this category exist. When you're ready, this is one of the best places to look. You know on my Boring Money podcast, I can tell you at least half of my guest fit the bill as serving one of those industries. So, it's definitely something that works and is scalable. I want to spend a minute on a specific government-funded business as a thought bubble. It checks every box of what makes a great boring business and almost nobody takes it seriously. Waste collection and disposal in the US is a tens of billions of dollars industry.

[00:05:32]Garbage doesn't disappear in a recession and trash doesn't take a quarter off.

[00:05:37]And the government is one of the biggest customers in the entire industry. Most cities contract out some or all of their trash collection to private haulers.

[00:05:46]They post bids on the same public procurement websites that I mentioned, and that's where this gets interesting.

[00:05:51]You're not going to win a citywide contract on day one. You start with commercial buildings, things like restaurants, office buildings, warehouses, construction sites. Build revenue, get compliant, build credibility, then go after the municipal contract. When you win that contract, you got a highly recurring customer, a fixed route, and a check that shows up on a predictable schedule. We pay our waste vendor over a million dollars a year, and they're not going anywhere.

[00:06:16]That is what market power looks like in a boring business. Is it glamorous? No.

[00:06:21]Will you be the most interesting person at a dinner party? Well, if you're at my dinner party, probably, but the reality is definitely not. But, here's what most people miss. When I tell someone Filter Buy pays a million dollars a year for trash collection, they look at me like I'm crazy. The reaction is the opportunity. Nobody glamorizes waste hauling, so nobody competes for it.

[00:06:40]Meanwhile, the guy we paid just bought his third truck. I'm not saying go buy a garbage truck tomorrow. I'm saying find the boring government-mandated business in your city that nobody wants to do.

[00:06:49]That's where the money is. And just for all the people that say, "Well, somebody's already doing it." Well, you know, somebody's already doing almost anything that makes money. Ultimately, you got to decide, are you going to set up a system that allows you to harness it? Go get your CDL, get your hauling permit, land two or three commercial accounts so you have revenue history when you submit that bid. If you're not ready for that, just file this away. The principle applies to any boring, recurring, government-mandated service.

[00:07:18]Trash is just one of the most obvious examples, and that's why I use it here.

[00:07:22]Okay, here's the part that most people miss entirely. The government doesn't just create demand, it also subsidizes the people who build these businesses through the tax code. The tax code is just a set of incentives. If you follow them, you're going to get rewarded. If you don't, you're going to pay for it.

[00:07:40]The one thing I want to be extremely clear before I get into this is talk to your CPA. I'm not an accountant. The tax tail shouldn't wag the dog here, but these rules absolutely should be a part of the conversation. So, I hope you learn something from it. The government built a tax election that can cut your tax bill by thousands of dollars a year legally. This one tax form can save you $4,000 a year, and here's how it works.

[00:08:04]When I was still running a side business years ago while I was working at Goldman Sachs, I had no idea that this existed.

[00:08:10]I was just writing checks to the IRS like everybody else. Then, my accountant showed me the S corp election, and I thought, wait, this has been available the whole time? Here's how it works. An S corp election is a form you can fill out for your LLC that completely changes how you're taxed as an owner. Say your side business makes $100,000 a year. If you're a sole proprietor, what most people are by default, you generally pay self-employment tax on the business profit. That's roughly $15,300 gone before income tax. Here's what changes when your LLC is taxed as an S corp. You split that income into two buckets, a salary and a distribution.

[00:08:48]So, hypothetically, say you pay yourself a reasonable salary, maybe $60,000 a year. Your payroll taxes on that are about $9,200 a year. The other $40,000 comes to you as a distribution. You still pay income tax on it, but you skip the 15.3% self-employment tax. That saves you about $6,100 on that portion alone. You might have to subtract the payroll service and an accountant. Let's say that costs you $2,000 a year, and you're still netting around $4,000 in real savings every year without making an extra dollar. This is one of the only places in the system where you can legally choose how part of your income gets taxed. But, it gets more interesting as your income grows, because as your income grows, every dollar you can legitimately move from salary to distribution creates payroll tax savings. Over time, that adds up to real money, especially when you add in compounding. One thing to note though, the salary has to be reasonable. The IRS watches for people who pay themselves a dollar to dodge payroll taxes. Don't be that guy. Pay yourself what the market would pay someone doing your job. Also, below $60,000 from your side hustle or business, accounting costs usually eat the savings. This strategy matters once you start making real money, not before.

[00:10:01]If you're not there yet, file this away.

[00:10:03]Once your side income hits $60,000, this becomes one of the highest ROI moves that you can make. So, your next steps are talk to a CPA, ask specifically, "Should my LLC elect to be taxed as an S-corp?" And what's the right salary to distribution split for my income level?

[00:10:19]And if you don't have an LLC or a side hustle income yet, that's fine. Just know that this tool exists. When you get there, it's waiting for you. There's a part of the tax code that lets certain businesses pay practically no taxes for years, and it's completely [music] legal. Buy equipment, write a big chunk of it off in year one. This is how business owners in the right industries lower their tax bill legally. Here's something I love about equipment-heavy businesses, and this applies directly to trash collection, HVAC, construction, [music] and a lot of what we've been talking about. When you buy a truck or a major piece of equipment for your business, the tax code lets you write off a large portion of that cost in year one.

[00:10:57]Actually, in today's tax code, 100% of that in year one. This is called bonus depreciation or a Section 179 deduction.

[00:11:05]Your accountant will handle the details, but here's the plain English version, at least as I understand it. You buy a $100,000 truck for your waste hauling business. Instead of spreading that write-off over five to seven years, under the current tax rules, you may be able to take a large portion of that deduction in the year that you bought it. That can lower your taxable income meaningfully. You didn't lose money, you moved money from a future tax bill back into your business today. Most people think that a higher earner is a higher earner. What actually happens is business owners in trades, logistics, and manufacturing often pay a lower effective tax rate than someone making the same income on a W-2. The government put this in the tax code on purpose.

[00:11:45]They want businesses to invest in equipment, so they reward it. The people who know this use it every year. The people who don't keep writing bigger checks to the IRS and wondering why.

[00:11:56]Again, the tax tail shouldn't wag the dog, and believe me, I've done some stupid things when I was doing exactly that. But, it absolutely should be a part of the conversation when you're evaluating a business. If you're still working a W-2 and thinking about starting something, this is one more reason to look at equipment-heavy industries. The math works differently [music] once you own the trucks. If you already own a business with significant equipment, ask your CPA if you've been maximizing bonus depreciation. If you're evaluating a new business, factor equipment write-offs into your analysis from the start. And if you're not there yet, if you're still in your day job thinking about what to start, just know that this advantage exists. It's one more reason that boring, equipment-heavy businesses quietly create millionaires.

[00:12:39]If you want to see more boring businesses [music] where regulation, recurring demand, and tax advantages all come together, watch this video right here.