Ed Benjamin

About me:

Hello! Welcome to my MySpace page. I am not sure what to write or even how to post these comments on my Page. No doubt any one of my five grand children could do it with their eyes closed; but three are located in Florida and the others are in Austin. When I see them, I want them to enjoy being around me and not doing chores like fixing Papa’s MySpace page. So I will muddle though and hopefully prove that you can “teach old dogs new tricks”. Here I am! So the first thing I need to do is tell you a little bit about me. I am a freelance writer located in Bulverde, Texas, which is considered to be in the San Antonio, Texas metropolitan area. I am not a native Texan but to quote a friend of mine, Hank Wilson, “I wasn’t born here but I got here as soon as I could.” I first arrived in San Antonio, Texas in 1963 when I enlisted in the United States Air Force and they flew me from North Carolina to Lackland Air Force Base to attend Officer Training School (the 90 day wonder school which produced amazingly smart Second Lieutenants). Landing at the airport, the first thing I noticed was the heat and it was only May 10th. The second thing I experienced was the meeting with my first Technical Sergeant. I handed him the records of the 30 other enlistees I have been charged with escorting from North Carolina ‘because I was going to be an officer”. He asked everyone to form a line and I stood back to watch. Fifteen seconds later, there I was . . . in line with the others . . . ramrod straight at attention, every muscle in my body tensed, saying with all my heart, “Yes SIR!, No SIR!” After he reminded me that he was a Sergeant, and he ”worked for a living”, I had changed my tune and was quickly shouting “Yes. SERGEANT, No SERGEANT!” As if that was not enough, after a bus ride to Lackland Air Force Base, I met my first Chief Master Sergeant (or “Chief”). When I retired from the Air Force 27 years later, these images were burned into my mind. Those experiences only reinforced what I had learned studying History as an undergraduate, Non-commissioned Officers run the military services. When I retired from the Air Force, I started work on my first novel but did not get very far. After three months, I sat down and examined my finances and determined that I had more money going out than I had coming in so I began my career as a proposal writer and consultant helping my clients win government contracts and obtaining grants. Soon, I realized there was a “formula” I could develop which would help me determine the exact requirements the government was looking for when they put out a procurement solicitation. I had spent several years in my Air Force career being part of procurement teams for major Air Force systems, so I had a pretty good idea of what to look for when the government issued a solicitation for a bid. I have really only worked at this part-time as I receive assignments, but I have been very fortunate. Since 1991, my clients have won contracts with a current value of over $12 billion. I always said that I would write a book to explain my formula so that others could share in the knowledge. I get a lot of questions from many people asking how they can get government contracts. Many of my clients are large corporations but I have also helped individuals get business with the government and I have helped some people receive grants from state and federal agencies. I wanted to end up with a book that would help the beginner understand the process of obtaining contracts and/or grants from local, state and federal agencies. I think I succeeded. Actually, because I included those “secrets”, the techniques which helped me write comprehensive proposals which helped win contracts, I believe the book will be of value to the professional proposal writer. I started this page in July 2009 because I wrote this book and I wanted to let people know about me and the reasons I wrote the book. My book will be published by Outskirts Press in September 2009 and if you want you could buy it on Amazon.com, ..http://www.bn.com/..>, other sites, and hopefully your local bookseller. I hope I have not been too self-swerving but now you know about my book.