Author Topic: Grants, writing, editing, and teaching into a more profitable side-hustle?  (Read 1696 times)

RollingGreen

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Hi. I'll keep it simple, though I know many answers could be, "Well, it's up to you - just get out there, and do it better than others." I'm just looking for some quick "What would you do?" advice.

I have skills in grant writing, editing, and public relations, as that's what I do for my full-time job. I also teach online college courses in business communication, which is agonizingly dependent on their availability at the colleges where I work.

What resources or suggestions would you have to grow these skills into an entrepreneurial endeavor, even a scale-able business in the long-run?

Thanks for anything you can offer. I've been reading Mister Money Mustache for a few months now, but I'm just getting around to reading this sub-forum tonight - and it's already really interesting and helpful!

RollingGreen

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Re: Grants, writing, editing, and teaching into a more profitable side-hustle?
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2018, 12:28:04 PM »
Just looking to see if anyone else happens to be in the same industry and would have any advice or suggestions.

CatamaranSailor

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Re: Grants, writing, editing, and teaching into a more profitable side-hustle?
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2018, 07:36:01 AM »
Not me...my wife...she was very successful as a grant writer for a lot of years after she stayed home with our baby. I showed her your post and she said (I'm paraphrasing) the following:

If you are already working as a grant writer (and you are successfully landing grants) then you already know how vital it is to study the RFP under a microscope and meet every single requirement, make sure all your data is accurate, complete and up to date, never "work for a percentage of the grant if it's successful" (although acting as the grant evaluator is perfectly legal) and for the love of God (her words) don't have any misspellings or typos.

That all being said...your real question was leveraging your skills into a profitable side hustle.

The most obvious answer is to write grants as a professional grant writer (fee based) for multiple clients. My wife said that was always somewhat profitable but also extremely time consuming and frustrating. Where she made most of her money was acting as the grant evaluator. Most clients were thrilled to not have to worry about meeting the reporting requirements and were happy to have her act in that capacity.

Just doing this should generate a decent income.

However, my wife also did "pop up" 2 day workshops on grant writing. These were usually pretty popular and she always made a profit, even on smaller events. The trick is to plan well, obviously. She's also a great presenter and participants left having completed an actual grant application they brought to the event.

With changes in technology, an online course is obviously another way to leverage your skills. The trick is to develop a high quality course that people are willing to pay for.

My wife stopped grant writing not because she ever failed to make a good income (she landed a number of very high $$$ grants) but because she woke up one morning and decided she hated it! :)

That being said, it's a perfect niche for what you want to do.

Good luck!



« Last Edit: November 18, 2018, 07:37:48 AM by CatamaranSailor »

msbutterbean

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I used to work on a freelance basis in a similar domain, but was hired by a client for a full-time position. While I do not have much time or interest right now to add freelance work to the schedule, I don't want to lose that network and do accept the occasional project if the fit is right and it's a good investment in the relationship. My approach is fairly casual, but once or twice a year I scan through my list of contacts for people who have the potential to hire for the work you could take on. Then I keep in touch with a short, but specific, note, something like, "Hey, hope the new year is treating you well, things are going great here and I'm enjoying the job, etc., but I have a little time to take on some freelance work in X,Y, or Z. Let me know if there's anything in your pipeline that we might work on together."

I have always found it easier to get freelance work through former contacts than through cold channels where I'm responding to an open-ended request.

And if no one in your immediate network is in need, you can have a similar conversation but ask for introductions to people in their network who hire freelancers.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!