John Burns is an accomplished leader. He is a retired United States Army Colonel with a distinguished military career, including as a commander in combat. He built a successful IT consulting business after the Army. It was then he saw a government contracting opportunity he thought he could win. And win it he did.
But now what? Transforming from being a one-person consultancy to building a company with multiple employees that could service a multi-faceted government contract is a tall order. That’s when Burns turned to both the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and its government services partner organization, the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center at UCF (Florida PTAC at UCF).
“It was time to make a major pivot,” recalls Burns. “I needed help. I needed expertise on how I could scale up a company and identify the processes and systems necessary to do so. That’s when I sought out the Florida SBDC and PTAC. My consultant Steve South was superb. We laid out a game plan to get all the pieces I needed to have in place – employee hiring, insurance, worker’s comp, payroll, benefits – to jump start my business. Then I did it.”
Today, Burns’ company Eagle 6 Technical Services, LLC is a multi-million dollar Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) specializing in cybersecurity, command, and control, and logistics and maintenance systems. It is currently expanding into managed security services for the commercial health care sector as well as for government clients and has broadened itself into being a full-fledged security integrator, providing physical security, information security and personal security solutions.
From the start, Burns has taken advantage of all that the Florida SBDC and PTAC have to offer, including the high value, no cost, expert business consulting he receives from South; business training seminars and workshops; and access to expansive market research resources. He went on to participate in two of the Florida SBDC’s Services for Leaders programs, the Advisory Board Council (ABC) and the Small Business Institute® (SBI®).
The Florida SBDC at UCF’s Advisory Board Council is a no-cost board of experts providing advice and counsel to help businesses grow. The Florida SBDC acts as a matchmaker, creating a customized board of volunteers selected to address the specific needs of the client. The Small Business Institute® connects small businesses to the resources and management expertise of UCF’s College of Business Administration through consulting projects overseen by the Florida SBDC and performed by UCF MBA and other qualified business students.
For information about Eagle Six Technical Services, please visit https://eagle6usa.com/.
