How Do I Get Involved in the CMMC Ecosystem?

[00:00:01] Hello Climbers and welcome to Season 3 of Climbing Mount CMMC.

[00:00:10] In today's episode, we're joined by Derich Phillips.

[00:00:14] Derich is the founder of Aspire Cyber as well as the CMMC Professionals Network.

[00:00:19] Our goal for today's episode is to give you guys some resources and amazing opportunities in the CMMC Ecosystem.

[00:00:26] So we hope you guys enjoy today's episode and let's get into it.

[00:00:30] Hello Climbers and thank you guys for joining us for another episode.

[00:00:34] Guys, we have got some incredible opportunities here in the CMMC space.

[00:00:39] We've got some opportunities that people have worked really hard on the past few years to give resources and education and time and effort to help you guys along your journey.

[00:00:51] And this is why Derich is here today and he does an amazing job on that, on social media, on LinkedIn, on his website.

[00:00:59] So we're excited to have him here to share a little bit more about what he does, what his company does.

[00:01:06] And yeah, let's just get started.

[00:01:07] Let's get into it.

[00:01:09] Derich, did you want to share a little bit about who you guys are as a company first and you guys' background and everything like that?

[00:01:17] Yeah, certainly.

[00:01:19] So I started in the cybersecurity career field back in 2002 when I joined the Army.

[00:01:25] So right out of high school, I always like to say before cybersecurity was sexy.

[00:01:29] I was doing cybersecurity.

[00:01:30] So back then it was called like communication encryption or something.

[00:01:35] But yeah, it's been a really fun ride.

[00:01:37] Prior to starting Inspire Cyber three years ago, I was working for Bank of America doing third-party risk assessments.

[00:01:43] And in that role, I worked with a lot of small businesses trying to help them navigate the cybersecurity requirements that they had for being a Bank of America vendor.

[00:01:52] And so many of them were just clueless.

[00:01:55] They didn't understand it.

[00:01:56] They didn't have cybersecurity staff expertise on staff.

[00:01:59] So I kind of had that aha moment, came home and told my wife.

[00:02:03] And she's not a cybersecurity person.

[00:02:05] She's a marketing person like you, Kaylee.

[00:02:08] But I knew I was on to something because she immediately said, like, that's a great idea.

[00:02:13] So typically, if I have a dumb idea, she'll let me know.

[00:02:16] But the first, so we're in Finibus about three and a half years now.

[00:02:19] The first two years, we were focusing primarily on paying the bills.

[00:02:24] So we would do anything cybersecurity.

[00:02:25] Right, exactly.

[00:02:27] Everything other than that.

[00:02:29] Last year and a half, we decided to, okay, we're going to plant our flag with CMMC readiness.

[00:02:33] So helping those small, medium-sized businesses and also research universities prepare for their CMMC Level 2 certification assessments.

[00:02:41] So we've been building now that offering and experiencing success up to this point.

[00:02:47] And now with the 32 CFR rule being final, starting to get more phone calls and people reaching out to us.

[00:02:54] It's exciting times, but scary as well.

[00:02:56] There's a lot of work allowed to really make sure you have the infrastructure in place.

[00:03:00] No, totally.

[00:03:02] And then in addition to that, as far as CPN, so the CMMC Professionals Network, in addition to all of the stuff I have going on already, you're having a full plate.

[00:03:12] I was just laying in bed and I told my wife, I think I want to start a nonprofit for supporting CMMC professionals.

[00:03:19] Because when you look at the ecosystem, there's a lot of support for the DIP and actually the certification career paths.

[00:03:25] But in terms of truly supporting those consultants and assessors outside of the cyber area, I haven't seen a lot of dedicated support.

[00:03:33] Yes.

[00:03:33] And the reason it came to mind for me is almost daily people are reaching out to me.

[00:03:39] How can I get into CMMC?

[00:03:41] What is CMMC?

[00:03:42] What certifications do I need?

[00:03:44] And I was taking a lot of one-off meetings just providing them that insight.

[00:03:47] I really have a heart for mentorship and serving.

[00:03:50] I mean, so it finally dawned on me, though, that this is not scalable, what I'm doing.

[00:03:55] I need to actually put this into some type of, build some type of community where I'm not going to answer these questions, providing feedback where I can leverage other people's brains.

[00:04:05] And that's why I decided with CPN.

[00:04:08] And I told my wife about it and her initial response wasn't as favorable.

[00:04:14] You already have so much stuff going on.

[00:04:16] Why are you doing something to do?

[00:04:17] It was just really a call over me.

[00:04:20] Like, I have to do it.

[00:04:21] Like, they really need help.

[00:04:23] There are so many consultants out there or aspiring CMMC consultants who don't know where to start, really confused.

[00:04:30] Hey, let's build a community.

[00:04:31] And the surprising thing about it, this has been so exciting for me.

[00:04:35] It's really rejuvenated my just entrepreneurial experience because, as you know, Bobby, being an entrepreneur can be very lonely.

[00:04:43] Oh, yeah, for sure.

[00:04:45] You're kind of trying to figure this out on your own.

[00:04:47] And even if you're hiring employees, it's still a different dynamic.

[00:04:50] But what I've learned with CPN being a nonprofit really can leverage the community.

[00:04:56] People are willing to volunteer and contribute and be part of that mission as long as it's something they're buying into and it serves the purpose.

[00:05:03] So it's been fun, but it's going to be extra busy.

[00:05:07] It's like starting a new business.

[00:05:08] It's crazy.

[00:05:09] I bet.

[00:05:10] I would love to hear.

[00:05:11] I'm just curious.

[00:05:12] Like, when you started that, what was, like, your main goal?

[00:05:16] You know, for somebody, if somebody was stepping into that space, into the network and was being, you know, a part of the community, what would you want them to get out of it?

[00:05:28] Like, when you were starting this?

[00:05:31] Yeah.

[00:05:31] I would say the number one goal is career development and company that would mentorship.

[00:05:38] So ultimately, really, our primary mission is going to be mentoring or thinking about targeting those college students or recent grads or people transitioning into cybersecurity compliance, potentially from other career fields.

[00:05:51] Having a clear career pathway for them and education and support and resources where it's kind of like a one-stop shop.

[00:05:58] Take them from transitioning period all the way to serving on a CMMC assessment team, soul team.

[00:06:06] So essentially, yeah, that whole kit and caboodle.

[00:06:10] That's really exciting because CMMC, those are deep waters.

[00:06:17] They run so deep.

[00:06:19] They're very specialized.

[00:06:20] Yeah, they're specialized.

[00:06:22] You have to have so much understanding of scoping and design and architecture.

[00:06:28] It overarches so many technologies, the compliance, the controls, understanding what they mean, how they apply to you and how you can.

[00:06:36] I mean, it's just crazy deep.

[00:06:38] And that's just understanding the system, you know, let alone now you have to start thinking about DFAR requirements, the ecosystem at large and kind of what that looks like.

[00:06:50] That is a very tall order.

[00:06:54] When you're thinking about bringing on someone, especially, you know, trying to help coach them through that process or bring them on to that.

[00:07:00] How do you see that journey going time-wise and like that process going?

[00:07:06] Because that seems like that would be really hard to do.

[00:07:37] Yeah.

[00:07:39] And I think that experience has made me more of a rebel when it comes to cybersecurity because I don't like the current model where, let's say, if you look on Indeed at cybersecurity roles, 10 years experience or something like that.

[00:07:54] I don't believe that.

[00:07:56] I don't believe that that's required.

[00:07:58] For me, the approach I've taken, especially as an entrepreneur, is we've hired interns that just have a security plus certification and really not a lot of experience.

[00:08:07] So they just graduated from college, even just associates.

[00:08:11] Because we really want to have that inclusive environment in terms of the non-traditional cybersecurity professionals.

[00:08:19] Where my mother belief is as long as you demonstrate aptitude, I can teach you cybersecurity, especially compliance and the more specialized skills.

[00:08:30] You can learn that on the job, hands-on training is my approach.

[00:08:34] And I'm taking the same approach with CPN and the CMMC ecosystem where, yeah, you may not come in the first year configuring GCCI or anything really technical.

[00:08:47] But, hey, let's start off with helping you learn how to develop policies and procedures and things like that.

[00:08:54] And then really start specializing more if that's the path you want to go down.

[00:08:58] But just expecting them to come in and have all of those skills already, I just don't think that's the most inclusive approach.

[00:09:06] And that's really why I think CPN is going to separate ourselves as a community from other CMMC organizations.

[00:09:13] We don't have those expectations.

[00:09:15] Don't have those.

[00:09:17] You're expecting to have all that already.

[00:09:19] Want to help you develop it.

[00:09:21] And partner those senior, the people within the CPN community that do have those skill sets, partner them, allow them to serve as mentors to help develop the community.

[00:09:32] And ultimately to close this out and answer your question, Bobby, directly.

[00:09:37] Are you familiar with Toastmasters?

[00:09:39] No.

[00:09:40] So Toastmasters is a fantastic organization, international organization that focuses on communication skills.

[00:09:48] So they have like the speech contest and things like that.

[00:09:53] So essentially like four or five years ago, I joined Toastmasters because I knew I wanted to develop it within my career leadership track.

[00:10:00] But I was terrified of public speaking.

[00:10:03] So I always feared wasn't comfortable doing it.

[00:10:06] My wife, she mentioned like, hey, I heard a Toastmasters.

[00:10:09] I heard it before, but didn't know much about it.

[00:10:12] So long story short, we went to a meeting together.

[00:10:14] They have chapters all over the West city.

[00:10:16] Went to a Toastmasters meeting.

[00:10:19] I love just how welcoming it was and inviting.

[00:10:21] It made everyone feel comfortable.

[00:10:23] And they was demonstrating, hey, this is how you can become a better speaker by doing speeches.

[00:10:27] And essentially, I plan on modeling a lot that I learned from Toastmasters within CPN as far as doing mock assessments and things like that.

[00:10:38] Where my long-term vision is we're going to have local chapters in every city where cybersecurity professionals can come together and do mock assessments and do policy development.

[00:10:47] And do the actually hands-on live in person and learn by doing versus making it more exclusive where, okay, you have to have certain certifications or you have to be at this level in your career reform.

[00:10:59] We can welcome you to our club.

[00:11:00] Yeah.

[00:11:02] That's my vision.

[00:11:03] Yeah, that's awesome.

[00:11:05] That's so great.

[00:11:06] When this is just, you know, a question that as you were talking, I was thinking about and I'm just curious on when you're consulting with a company so far, the people that you've seen recently, what is like the number one question that they have about CMMC going into it?

[00:11:28] Just as far as education, I'm just curious, like, is there, is there a common theme or a common first three questions or something that you always get asked by somebody?

[00:11:38] I'm just curious, you know, but maybe those people listening today also have those questions.

[00:11:43] So, you know, we can, we can maybe check out what those are.

[00:11:46] But the reason I was smiling is I'm sure as MSP axiom, you all get these same questions too.

[00:11:52] I'm curious if we do.

[00:11:53] I'm sure we do, right?

[00:11:55] First one's going to be how much is this going to cost?

[00:11:56] Also, the price, that's one of the common ones.

[00:12:00] Next one, how long is it going to take?

[00:12:02] And another one I get a lot is pretty much what is CMMC?

[00:12:08] Like they're not really understanding what CMMC is.

[00:12:12] Is it, is it, how does it pertain to them?

[00:12:15] We get a lot of questions around scoping, what would be in scope, different scenarios.

[00:12:19] But definitely cost is a big driver.

[00:12:23] And I would say those are the biggest ones from a, for, from an education standpoint.

[00:12:28] I got a really good question last week.

[00:12:30] I was talking to a defense contractor where he was asking about training out there.

[00:12:35] It was more so practical that his team could go through to help them as they implement the CMMC requirements.

[00:12:41] That's another thing.

[00:12:43] Yeah.

[00:12:44] Well, it seems like you've got a good group of people that want to give back that are being involved to participate in some very senior experience, CCAs that have been in there, you know, including yourself in that.

[00:12:59] Thank you.

[00:13:00] Appreciate that.

[00:13:01] And I definitely want to applaud you all as well, because that's, what's really exciting me about this community is of people that just really want to serve to get back no matter how busy their schedules are.

[00:13:13] And I think it was a couple of weeks ago, Kaylee had joined one of the weekly CMMC roundtables.

[00:13:18] She was engaging, interactive and okay, that can't hurt that.

[00:13:23] So I decided to message her and say, Hey, would you be one of our ambassadors for marketing where you can essentially just share marketing training?

[00:13:30] It's no time commitment whenever you have time.

[00:13:32] And I didn't have, I wasn't, I was optimistic, but I was thinking like, okay, Axiom, you all are very busy.

[00:13:40] I can imagine.

[00:13:40] So I think she's probably going to say she's too busy, but she immediately said, sure.

[00:13:44] I'd love to help.

[00:13:45] And yeah, just, just, you all just recently delivered a marketing session for us, which was very valuable.

[00:13:52] So it was just, I'm experiencing a lot of that.

[00:13:54] And that's what's really exciting.

[00:13:56] It was different from the entrepreneurial for-profit side.

[00:13:59] It's just a different, just dynamic and type of culture.

[00:14:04] So I agree.

[00:14:06] And I, you know, I love something that I saw that, you know, you've said on your LinkedIn before is like,

[00:14:13] you also don't want a company wasting like six to 12 months trying to figure this thing out on their own when they could use a resource that can help them benefit.

[00:14:27] It can benefit them and help them go a lot more, a lot, be a lot more efficient in their time and their efforts with CMMC and their compliance journey.

[00:14:38] And I, I'm curious with that perspective, which I feel like I've asked Bobby this before on here, but I'd love to get your take on this too.

[00:14:48] If you could go back to when you were starting in the CMMC world and you were just getting into this space,

[00:14:55] is there some things that you wish you could have known right away that maybe you learned later on that could like help some listeners or watchers today of this?

[00:15:07] Like what, what, if you could think of just a few things that you're like, man, yeah, it took me a while to learn.

[00:15:13] I wish I would have known that coming in.

[00:15:15] What would that, what would that be?

[00:15:17] Yeah, that's a really good question.

[00:15:19] I would say, um, definitely building those strategic partnerships and really trying to identify, not viewing your, your peers as competitors.

[00:15:31] Cause yeah, those can be a rich source of just guidance and mentorship by reaching out to them.

[00:15:40] Coffee, a virtual meeting or inviting them on podcast.

[00:15:43] That's something that's worked for me as well.

[00:15:44] But yeah, a lot of people are willing to share to tell you their, their lessons learned and try to help you avoid those pitfalls that they fell into.

[00:15:55] That's one thing that can learn that early enough as, as I feel just job connect, be strategic and intentional.

[00:16:04] Don't be afraid to reach up to relationships.

[00:16:07] Don't be afraid to hearing no.

[00:16:09] You're going to hear no a lot.

[00:16:10] You're going to experience a lot of rejection.

[00:16:12] A lot of people are willing to help you.

[00:16:15] So standing at it, standing at it, you don't have to do it alone.

[00:16:19] It's an entrepreneurship is a lonely journey.

[00:16:22] A lot of people think we're crazy, but yeah, you have to be willing to build community on entrepreneurship.

[00:16:30] Yeah, I, I, I totally agree.

[00:16:32] If you haven't checked it out and you're in the CMMC space and you are, you know, somebody like that, like us, it's an MSP or, you know, you're doing consulting for CMMC.

[00:16:41] And you just want more information or you want to get connected to individuals that might know different subjects better than you do or whatnot.

[00:16:49] Um, this is a great opportunity to do that and to sign up for, for something that can, that can really benefit you as far as training, rubbing elbows with people and, and whatnot.

[00:17:01] We've loved it so far.

[00:17:02] And, and we definitely encourage you guys to, to check it out if you haven't already.

[00:17:06] Um, I, I, I do want to ask you.

[00:17:10] I want to ask Derek, like you guys, when are y'all meeting?

[00:17:14] You're meeting weekly, right?

[00:17:16] You guys, is that, yeah.

[00:17:18] And that's, that's kind of rare.

[00:17:20] Like most organizations only do it like once a month.

[00:17:22] So your fast cadence is, that's a huge help for someone who needs to get leveled up quickly.

[00:17:28] They can get a lot of totally, you know, mat time wrestling this situation if you're doing it on a weekly cadence versus a monthly.

[00:17:37] So when, when do you guys meet?

[00:17:39] Yes.

[00:17:39] So we meet every Monday at 12 PM Eastern.

[00:17:43] Okay.

[00:17:44] And then how would they just connect to you on LinkedIn and then find that because it's, you guys meet through Riverside, you just click on a link and then join in, right?

[00:17:52] Yes.

[00:17:53] So the group is primarily LinkedIn based, but we said we schedule an event through LinkedIn and then essentially training live through my page.

[00:18:02] And that brings up a good point in terms of that cadence because, um, like, so we got started at the end of October.

[00:18:08] I was smart enough to identify a leadership team.

[00:18:11] So smart people that could help me out, identify a leadership team of five people.

[00:18:17] And immediately said, okay, let's do weekly meetings.

[00:18:19] So have that consistent cadence.

[00:18:21] And the first two weeks I was extremely busy because I was traveling and the leadership team was having conflicts.

[00:18:27] So we had to make the decision like, okay, should we move to a monthly or should we kind of like just prerecord it to be more convenient?

[00:18:34] And I was tempted to do that.

[00:18:36] Like, oh, that'd be the easy way.

[00:18:37] But then I realized like, I ultimately, I want to build community.

[00:18:41] The best way I felt it could be a community is showing up every week at the same time.

[00:18:46] Right.

[00:18:46] And just having that live type of atmosphere.

[00:18:49] You just can't replace that.

[00:18:51] That's a big deal.

[00:18:52] Yeah.

[00:18:52] Yeah.

[00:18:53] So, and I know you've mentioned when you first connected with me about the college course.

[00:18:57] So ultimately it was the CMMC bootcamp.

[00:18:59] Yeah.

[00:19:00] Touch on that for you.

[00:19:01] Yeah.

[00:19:02] So, so essentially one of Aspire's cyber clients is Cirrus and they're through Iowa State University and they support defense contractors and manufacturers in Iowa.

[00:19:14] And we were, and essentially how I first connected with them is I reached out to them and providing free webinars for CMMC.

[00:19:23] And my, my contact there, Melissa Barant, she's a program manager.

[00:19:27] We did that for about a year.

[00:19:29] Then we started developing out more content and resources.

[00:19:32] And also when we landed on, okay, there's not a lot of bootcamps for targeted towards defense contractors, teaching them the CMMC requirements.

[00:19:42] And so essentially that's what we did.

[00:19:44] We developed the, the first we did a four week CMMC level one bootcamp for defense contractors, walking them through real high level, the CMMC level one requirements.

[00:19:54] Was that web-based like a webinar that you guys did or did you have to show up to a course?

[00:19:59] It was, it was live, but it was, it was virtual.

[00:20:02] So within a teams and essentially providing them high level guidance on the requirements from the perspective of questions that the manufacturers would have.

[00:20:13] Examples of how to satisfy the CMMC level one requirements that was successful.

[00:20:17] And then we did a, followed that up with a CMMC level two bootcamp.

[00:20:22] And that was for eight weeks, two hours every week.

[00:20:25] One of the things that's really challenging about CMMC to me, at least this is just where I'm coming from, is as I came in as a managed service provider, I think solutions.

[00:20:36] I think technologies.

[00:20:38] I think, you know, give me a problem.

[00:20:40] Let me figure out how to solve it.

[00:20:42] But when you look at the, all of the domains and the compliance, they, they have filtered it so perfectly.

[00:20:48] They say a lot of stuff without not exactly saying technology.

[00:20:52] So you're like, what is that?

[00:20:54] Is that Active Directory?

[00:20:55] Is it, you know, is that Azure Active Directory?

[00:20:58] Is it Okta?

[00:20:59] You know, what are we talking here?

[00:21:00] Like what?

[00:21:00] And the answer a lot of times would be yes to all of the above.

[00:21:03] Like, but it, like you don't quite know, like, what does that really mean in like feet on the ground actually doing it?

[00:21:11] And that, because NIST doesn't want to endorse or highly direct or focus people into certain types of paths.

[00:21:17] There, you know, we were so fortunate to have Ron Ross come on here and talk a lot about how they, how he created with his team, you know, the 800-171 framework.

[00:21:27] And it's a huge challenge to try to figure out how to, to have something that can apply to so much.

[00:21:33] And you have to be very careful about the level of height of specificity, as he says, that you provide.

[00:21:41] And so for me, that created a unique challenge of now I need to be specific and what does that look like?

[00:21:48] And I think that can be just such a challenge for someone starting into the industry to try to figure out how do I do all 320 assessment objectives and, and still do my job, you know, as that organization.

[00:22:02] Right.

[00:22:03] Yeah.

[00:22:03] What does that look like?

[00:22:04] Challenge.

[00:22:04] Yeah.

[00:22:05] And that's one of the big, the big gaps with the certification path for CMMC.

[00:22:09] So you have the CCP, CCA, RP, and I teach, I'm an instructor for CCP and CCA courses, and it's not practical.

[00:22:19] There's no practical guidance.

[00:22:21] It's just, okay, these are requirements.

[00:22:23] And, all right, there it goes.

[00:22:25] There you go.

[00:22:25] So you graduate, you have your, your CCA, but you don't necessarily know how to do assessment or a gap assessment or certification assessment.

[00:22:32] You don't understand, okay, what questions should you ask during the scoping assessment?

[00:22:37] You don't get none of that practical training and guidance.

[00:22:40] So that, that is a huge gap.

[00:22:42] Well, and, and what is really painfully obvious and is in, when I, I sat the CCP when the test didn't even come out.

[00:22:51] So this was like, like two years ago.

[00:22:54] So the CCP material was based on CMMC 1.0 when I took it and 2.0 had just came out.

[00:23:02] And so they hadn't even changed the material that we were studying on yet to have three levels versus five.

[00:23:09] For those of you who may not know what I'm talking about there, CMMC went through some evolutions before, you know, the 32 CFR rule dropped.

[00:23:16] Uh, and so, man, that was a real challenge.

[00:23:19] Um, and, and they were more open.

[00:23:22] They be in the training organization to providing more insight about the reality.

[00:23:27] But now with the rule of 32 CFR about the fact that they're speaking about not doing consulting, they are definitely afraid of providing consulting while they're doing the training.

[00:23:37] So they've had to back off even more about what you're talking about, uh, out of fear of the way that rule was written.

[00:23:44] And, uh, it was noticeable when I took my CCA a few weeks ago, how different it was to CCP.

[00:23:51] Um, and actually made that in a comment.

[00:23:54] Um, and it's not a knock against who we took our course from.

[00:23:58] They absolutely have people that I've learned a ton from and deeply respect.

[00:24:03] They are very seasoned and they have the perfect capability of doing that, but they just can't.

[00:24:07] Yeah.

[00:24:08] And I just think that's kind of, yeah, it's kind of broken.

[00:24:10] I really hate that aspect because I think when you go into some of those training courses, there's such great instructors.

[00:24:16] They could just really pour into you a lot more.

[00:24:19] And yeah, I think, I mean, that, that goes to show you why groups like this are so critical.

[00:24:25] Absolutely.

[00:24:25] It's, it's just, it's so needed in this community to be able to fully dive into the implementation of all the aspects of CMMC and your business and consulting.

[00:24:36] And I, I, I do want to ask one more question, Derek, to you.

[00:24:41] Um, specifically Bobby actually made me think of this when he was saying, you know, looking at it as a perspective of an MSP.

[00:24:48] Now you shared this at the beginning that, um, you served in the United States army, right?

[00:24:54] And, um, thank you for your service, by the way.

[00:24:56] And, um, I would love to get your perspective from coming out of the army and going into, like you were saying, your risk assessments for businesses and stepping into the CMMC space.

[00:25:10] What do you feel like the perspective that, that gave you, um, stepping into this space that you feel like might be a little bit different to maybe somebody else's perspective?

[00:25:20] Cause I know, you know, Bobby's coming at it with an MSP.

[00:25:24] You've got a problem.

[00:25:25] Let me solve it.

[00:25:26] Kind of perspective.

[00:25:26] Is there sort of this other perspective that you noticed that you've had that might be a little bit different stepping into it?

[00:25:34] Yeah.

[00:25:34] I would say, um, as I mentioned, once I got out of the army, I did, I was a defense contractor.

[00:25:42] And so I guess the, the having that experience as being in the military, understanding the significance of what contractors provide to the military and understanding, really putting it in context and understanding what's at stake.

[00:25:57] And it is a matter of national security.

[00:26:00] Yeah.

[00:26:00] I would say overall, that's probably the biggest unique perspective it gives me as I'm supporting the DIP.

[00:26:06] CMMC readiness is if they don't already realize this is serious.

[00:26:11] This is not fun and games.

[00:26:14] This is potential lives on the end of that product or services you're delivering.

[00:26:18] So it is important to keep it secure from our adversaries.

[00:26:21] I think overall just gives me a greater appreciation of what we're doing.

[00:26:25] And it's a greater just kind of sense of pride.

[00:26:29] I feel it is like continuation of my service.

[00:26:32] And now I'm no longer reckoning the military, but okay, now I get to indirectly support the military.

[00:26:38] Yeah.

[00:26:38] Help secure the DIP.

[00:26:40] I love that.

[00:26:40] Yeah.

[00:26:41] That's so good.

[00:26:42] Well, um, Derek, is there anything that you'd like to share?

[00:26:46] Um, any other things that you can think of that you wanted to share with this community before hopping off, especially go ahead and share where they can find you.

[00:26:55] And connect with you too.

[00:26:57] If you haven't already said that.

[00:26:59] Yeah, certainly.

[00:27:00] Well, Bobby and Kaylee really appreciate you inviting me on.

[00:27:03] First came across your podcast four or five months ago.

[00:27:07] I was really impressed by what all you're doing.

[00:27:09] Appreciate what you're doing.

[00:27:10] As far as contacting me, I have a podcast, the CMMC Proof Podcast.

[00:27:14] Can't wait to have you all online.

[00:27:16] Find that on the YouTube Aspire Cyber channel.

[00:27:21] Looking for CMMC rating support.

[00:27:23] Cyber can help you with everything CMMC related.

[00:27:28] And then also with the CPN community, if you're trying to accelerate your pathways, people to join our, what I call the movement.

[00:27:38] So we can pretty much shift the paradigm and change the way things have traditionally been done.

[00:27:44] CMMC is fairly new, but just the shifting of the guard.

[00:27:49] Really invite people on, make it a broad tent.

[00:27:52] More people welcome and not feeling intimidated.

[00:27:55] It's about the deep waters of CMMC.

[00:27:58] Thank you, Darich.

[00:27:59] Thank you so much for spending the time with us today to be able to further educate others on here.

[00:28:06] Learning about how they can better become, become better educated in this community and learn more from others and where they can find that information.

[00:28:15] So this is so beneficial to them.

[00:28:17] We hope you guys enjoyed this podcast episode and learning more about this community with Darich and with Bobby and I.

[00:28:24] We hope you guys enjoyed and make sure to tune in next Thursday for the next episode.

[00:28:30] But until then, guys, keep on climbing.

[00:28:33] See ya.

[00:28:33] Bye.

[00:28:37] Bye.

[00:28:38] That was awesome.

[00:28:40] Soy on demand.

[00:28:42] You gotta love her.

[00:28:43] That angel.

[00:28:45] Adorable.

[00:28:47] Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube to stay up to date on the latest CMMC news.

[00:28:52] We hope you guys enjoyed today's episode and listen out for the next one.

[00:28:56] But until then, keep on climbing.