How to Get Clients as Grant Writing Consultant
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2024
- Hey there! Today, we are talking about how to get clients as a grant writing consultant or freelancer!
We know because we've been there... getting clients can feel like a daunting process. These 8 tips will help you to grow your business and become the ultimate grant writing consultant. 🦄
1️⃣ Define Your Niche -- whatever you are passionate about, focus and build your grant writing business around it. Whatever it is that fires you up - renewable energy, social justice, infrastructure, animal rights - focus on finding those clients.
2️⃣Do Informational Interviews -- Create a list of 15-20 organizations that you would love to serve or has as a client. Reach out with a warm email and once you set up that meeting, prepare a list of questions to ask that organization. Questions like "How does your organization find grants? How much are you looking to fundraise this year? What works well in your organization when it comes to grant writing? What doesn't work well?"
Here is the info interview template we mention: docs.google.com/document/d/1r...
🌟Check out our free training in how to become a freelance grant writer 👉www.learngrantwriting.org/web...
After all of your interviews, you'll have a much better understanding of the common pain points. This will help you offer solutions to the problems your potential clients are having.
3️⃣ Develop Rockstar Expertise for 1-2 Grant Programs -- I used to work at a firm that specialized in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants. (They had a 97% win rate!) If you can become an expert on 1-2 grant programs it will allow you to approach potential clients with awesome opportunities.
4️⃣ Set Up a Professional Email -- It will help people perceive you as the professional you are. You can also set up your grant writing business as a google business. It's common for people to search "grant writers near me" and by setting yourself up as a google business, google will then direct people to you.
5️⃣ Seek Repeat Clients -- When you work with a client, ask yourself if you would like to work with them for 5 years. If you do, awesome! If not, then that client may not be worth your time. If there is a possibility of an annual contract with a client you love serving, go for it. While RFPs or RFQs can be time-intense, when you get that $50,000 contract to work on for the year, it's totally worth it!
6️⃣ Value your time -- Let's say your working time is valued at $100/hr. If you are going to a marketing luncheon and it's going to take you three hours all together (commuting, following up with leads, attending the lunch, etc.) you've spent at least $300. Do you think you will recoup that cost at that price? The answer is it depends. How many leads or connections resulted from that luncheon? When you value your time, you stop wasting time on business development activities that don't get you the clients you want.
7️⃣Grow Your Business by Growing Your Team -- As soon as you can afford to get help, get help! For example, our students will go in together on a graphic designer or serve as each other's quality review or proofreader. You can strengthen your ability to win projects when you work as a team.
8️⃣ Use a Funding Strategy to Open the Door -- A funding strategy is a roadmap of grant opportunities for an organization to pursue. This unique element of our course teaches you how to help organizations figure out which grants to pursue and when. This can be a great first project for you and your client.
Wondering if grant writing is a good career for you? Take our personality quiz to find out
👉 www.learngrantwriting.org/suc...
What questions do you have? We'd love to hear how you've landed clients in the past!
🧡The team at Learn Grant Writing
Good points.
Thanks!
Good framework for success
Thanks! Are you writing grants?
Wow! What valuable information!! Thank you so much, Meredith.
Yahoo! I'm glad that you found the information valuable. It's a skillset everybody should have in their back pocket. What's caught your eye about grant writing?
@@LearnGrantWriting I worked as a lawyer for 25+ years. I have the skillset needed to do grant writing and these particular skills were ones I loved using.
Yessss! It's a comfortable feeling when the skillset you have (and love using) aligns with the prospective field you want to get into! So what is your next move? Are you looking at training to foster your skills and grow a business?
Thank you Meredith….super awesome info. I’m geeked!
LOL! You're very welcome Judith! It truly is such as fun career path.
Love the tip about time value.
Thank you! Excited to see where you take this work in your future. You have a TON of value to deliver.
This was awesome thank you!!!
Yay! You're welcome! Where are you at in your journey towards this career change?
Thank you Meredith, this session allowed me to understand how to form my project idea into a grant writing plan.
Happy to help!
Great stuff!
Thanks! If you find that helpful, check this video training out: www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing
Great information !
Thanks for watching!
Great information session!
Hey Alisa!!! We are glad you found it helpful. Happy learning!
Don't laugh, I mean this nicely. Keep the raccoon eyes in all your videos. It looks good, maintains eye contact, and shows your active. I'm going to use this in my stuff.