Video Version: https://youtu.be/3ikH0TMq98s

In this episode, host Bo Kemp sits down with Ricky O’Neal and Mirion Green, the mother-son leadership team behind GWO, Inc., a family-owned business that has undergone a powerful strategic transformation.

Founded in 2013 as a trucking and hauling company serving Chicago and Northwest Indiana GWO has evolved far beyond its original scope. As a certified minority and women-owned business, the company made a deliberate pivot into the government contracting arena — positioning itself within the 8(a) ecosystem and pursuing federal, state, and local opportunities through SAM registration.

But this shift didn’t happen by accident.

In 2022, Ricky and Mirion joined the Southland Development Authority’s Acquisition Accelerator cohort — a program specifically designed to equip entrepreneurs with the tools, frameworks, and confidence to buy companies and scale through acquisition. What started as education quickly became strategy. The experience reshaped how they think about growth, competitive advantage, and long-term positioning.

Now, GWO is no longer simply operating as a trucking company — it is strategically building itself as an 8(a) government contracting platform, with plans to acquire complementary businesses in construction and infrastructure services to expand capacity, certifications, and contract eligibility. In this conversation, Bo and the GWO team unpack what it means to transition from owner-operator trucking to structured government contracting, how acquisition education changed their lens on scale and sustainability, why certifications alone are not enough — and how infrastructure and systems matter, the realities of competing in a shifting federal procurement landscape, and their current focus on acquiring businesses that strengthen their position in the public sector.

This episode is about evolution — from blue-collar hustle to strategic platform building. It’s about family leadership, disciplined reinvention, and using acquisition as a lever to move from surviving to scaling.

Because the first million is rarely made the same way the second is — and sometimes growth requires buying the future you want to build.