Grant Writing for Non-Profits

When you’re working a traditional 9-5 job, your boundaries are pretty much set for you. You know the communication protocols, the contact hours, and it’s easier to stay within the scope of work. 🙂 In the freelance space, you’re forced to set those boundaries for yourself, and things don’t always start out as clearly. If you’re not diligent about setting boundaries, you run the risk of crashing and burning. 😬 Curious how you could get into grant writing and build a career in it? Here is a free training on how to do that without volunteering or having prior experience: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing ✨ Your time is *everything* as a freelancer. Here are four key boundaries we encourage you to consider exploring: 1️⃣ Contact/Work Hours Set work hours and stick to them. Let your clients know upfront what those hours are. 2️⃣ Response Time You’re not required to drop all of your responsibilities to address an email immediately. It’s up to you to set that boundary and let your clients know. If you’re busy with work, you can’t respond at the moment, and it’s not an emergency (because it rarely is), 24 hours to respond to an email is the standard. 3️⃣ Your Method Of Contact Clients should not be able to call or text you on your personal phone (unless you prefer it), or DM you on snapchat or TikTok. Be crystal clear on how they can contact you and stick to those methods. 4️⃣ Feedback You can estimate the project timeline (accounting for your overall workload) and offer a time limit. Without clear guidelines around feedback expectations, clients tend to take their sweet time with feedback and then expect rushed results on the revisions from you. We’re not here to play that game. When clients don’t adhere to your boundaries, it might be time to evaluate whether you want to keep them as a client. 🤔 Tough conversations are part of the journey. They can seem scary at first, but with time, experience, and reframing, it does get easier. What boundaries do you have in your consulting business? Resources and links: 🔸 How To Put Together A Services And Pricing Guide To Market Your Grant Writing Consulting Business: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc9NGy5dgck&t=72s Still have questions about the Global Grant Writers Collective? Check out this elaborate FAQ page: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/faq Or, email us at info@senworks.org. 🧡 The Team at Learn Grant Writing Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:01 Your Time Is Everything As A Freelancer 01:31 Boundary #1: Contact/Work Hours 04:34 Boundary #2: Response Time 05:31 Boundary #3: Your Method Of Contact 06:06 Boundary #4: Feedback 07:03 When Clients Don’t Adhere To Your Boundaries 09:34 Setting Boundaries As A Freelancer Is A Non-negotiable