8 Steps to Start Earning Money in Your Freelance Grant Writing Business

#1:  Get your Business Formerly Set Up

Should you open an LLC or Sole Proprietorship? 

The answer to this question really depends on your state and what your goals are. 

Other items you will want to do are consider getting your business bank account set up and identifying the name of your business.

There’s nothing sweeter than getting your first check written out to your business :). Plus, when you go to your accountant you can run your report from your business account and not your personal bank account. OMG, this saves SO much headache at the end of the year and keeps things clean.

We go over how to do all these steps in week one of the 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy! Plus, you will:

• Understand the differences between starting a Sole Proprietorship or LLC
• Create a customized success pathway
• Create values for easy decision-making in your business
• Get your bank account set up

#2: Identify Your Ideal Client & Service

Now that you have your business set up, you need to know who you are going to serve. If you don’t know who you will serve then it’s going to be tough to market and get clients.  

A big mistake I see most freelance grant writers make is to try and serve all nonprofits.

Unless you will serve all nonprofits with a specific service (such as doing Nonprofit Wellness Audits) then this could be a big no-no.

You can decide what type of nonprofit you want to serve based on the subject matter of a nonprofit (i.e. conservation, education, etc.), size (i.e. pup nonprofits), or geographic location.

For your services, you can decide if you want to specialize in a certain service or be a generalist. 

If you specialize you might only do grant research, write certain federal grants, etc. If you are more of a generalist, you might write grants, help nonprofits get set up, conduct nonprofit strategic planning, etc.

By being clear about who you serve and what you do, you will be able to create better services and market those services efficiently.

We go over how to do all these steps in week two of the 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy! Plus, you’ll:

• Map out your ideal client avatar
• Develop a nonprofit lead list 
• Identify Your Nonprofit Niche
• Figure out if you are a Generalist or Specialist

#3: Create Branding for Your Freelance Grant Writing Business

Your branding is how your business will resonate with nonprofit organizations. That does not mean you should randomly pick out colors and go for it! If you do that, you will be re-branding before you hit publish on your website.

But to really feel like you are confidently representing yourself and connecting with those ideal clients, it takes a little bit of time.

But this time saves you so much more time in the future. 

Be sure to create mission and vision statements for your business and run a SWOT analysis. This will help you define what that branding image looks like and that you actually love it!

We go over how to do all these steps in week three of the 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy! Plus you will:

• Get a Crash Course in Website Ideas
• Get Branding Templates 
• Create a mission and vision statement 
• Conduct a SWOT analysis 

#4: Create a Working Schedule

I know you opened your freelance grant writing business so you could work whenever you want and not report to “The Man”. Guess what? You are now the “The Woman” or “The Man.”

Having a schedule doesn’t mean it has to look the same as an 8-to-5 job. But most freelance grant writers actually start working way more than 40 hours a week and work creeps into weekends and vacations.

We need to nip that in the bum. Pronto. 

However you want to set up your schedule, you still need a schedule! 

This is one of the hardest steps I have seen freelance grant writers get used to. Let’s face it. Regular jobs don’t really depend on output as much as they do on you showing up and taking up space.

But your business requires output. So you need to make sure you schedule out your week in advance!

We go over how to do all these steps in week four of the 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy! Plus, you get:

• Holly’s Ideal Work Week Schedule
• Tips on when to hire (and who) to help out with your work
• A Client Time Tracker so you get paid for all your time!

#5: Develop a Pricing Model

Okay, it’s time to talk about money. You need to get paid as a freelance grant writer! 

These are all things to consider when developing your pricing model.

Don’t stress too much about this. You can always change it whenever you want to!

But do figure out how you will charge your customers.

I go over how to do all these steps in week five of the 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy! Plus, you:

• Get a Template on Having Conversations Around Pricing and Packaging
• Learn the art of developing proposals
• Get Sample Retainers  
• Receive a Post Discovery Call Template 
• Get a Checklist and Script of questions to ask in a Discovery Call

#6: Communicate Effectively

Now that you have your name set up, your branding, and know you want to serve, you also need to make sure when folks find you that they want to hire you!

Make sure you have a website and LinkedIn profile and that the copy on your website is clear and gets people to click a button to hire you! 

• Read over your sales copy on your website and on LinkedIn profile and make sure everything is optimized. 
• Then, have a few different people that work in nonprofits read it over. 

Are you showcasing their needs and solving their problems? 

Would they hire you if they didn’t know you?

Having effective sales copy is vital in developing the know, like, trust factor!

I go over how to do all these steps in week six of the 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy! Plus, you get: