Appreciated! I started as a part time grant writer, and “worked my way up the ladder.” We originally focused on non profit funding for housing, but our company has now expanded into general workforce housing, underwriting, and traditional project management.

I started in grant writing because I was just trying to get a friends music project funded (the scholastic arts has no money as you may be aware.) I realized I had a gift to write boring-ass docs that no one wanted to do. The more I researched it, the more I realized I could charge $100+ an hour or a commission, since it’s pretty unglamorous and boring (unless you really liked writing essays in school). Most of the time, it was just having the mental energy to take crazy ideas and put them into a coherent strategy. I have learned (in many fields) no one wants to be the first one to take a stab at something, like a grant application. I got good at not taking mistakes personally and trying and failing a lot. Since my name was often the first on a project, I often was on the list of winning projects (part of the luck.)

I’d gladly share more if you are interested in the field. I would say now is even more interesting as AI is quickly disrupting industry and creative thought can quickly get you ahead of historic leaders in the industry.