Hello, and welcome to Grant Writing Today.
I'm your host, Rodney Walker.
And I'm happy to have you one more
time for a show that's dedicated 100% to
talking about all things grants and grant writing.
It's a show for new as well as seasoned grant
professionals to keep your hand on the pulse of what's
happening in the grant writing community and different things that
you just need to be aware of.
We want to make sure that you're informed
that you are in the know and that
you are continuously growing as a grant professional.
In fact, on today's show, I'm going to
be sharing with you some information on why
every grant professional must... yes, I said must
change and grow in these changing times.
I want to make sure that you're becoming
better, and we're going to be looking at
some ways to make that happen.
As always, I like to share information with you
about what's happening in the grant writing world.
And I just looked up and saw that
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife... now,
just in case you didn't know.
Yes, they receive grants as well.
And I like to share some of these because it's
important to kind of know what's happening in the landscape
of grant writing and in the grant community.
One thing that's important today, that California
Department of Fish and Wildlife, they released
its cannabis restoration grant program.
Did you know they had a grant program for that? They do.
Well, they have one for 2022, and they
have a draft public land cleanup and remediation
solicitation, as well as the 2022 draft watershed
enhancement solicitation for public review and input.
And it's really interesting.
They talk about what you need to do in order to
leave a comment and then leave a website for it.
That deadline is going to be, by the
way, April 26, 2022, at 04:00 p.m..
Now, what's interesting about this, just in case you
may not be aware, sometimes grants will have these
public reviews, which allows the public to have input
into the grants that are going to be released.
Why is this important?
Well, it's important that you understand that these
government grants, especially these federal as well as
these local state grants, these grants are oftentimes
coming from the federal government, which means that
this money that's being spent are tax dollars.
Yes, your tax dollars.
My tax dollars are what fund these government grants.
And so that's why there's a review that
allows the public to have some input on
where these funds are being directed.
I just wanted to share that insight with you just
in case you didn't know some of that was happening.
I think it's important to just know how all this
kind of works as it relates to grants and some
of the interesting things that are going on out there.
But let's move on and talk about something.
I think that's going to
be important for you personally.
As a grand professional.
Now, I believe that every grant
professional must change and must grow,
especially with things changing so quickly.
A.I. is here. With artificial intelligence,
things are changing in that direction.
We have right now, many grant professionals working
remote at an all time high, especially as
a result of what happened with COVID.
So why should you grow?
Why should you be grown as a grant
professional during these times as a grant writer?
First, if you don't grow, you become like the dinosaur.
Yes, you will grow extinct.
And I don't want you growing extinct around here.
We want you around for a long time because you're
doing good and we need more of what you're doing
in our communities to make our communities stronger and better.
Also, your clients.
Secondly, your clients are worth it.
They deserve for you to have your fingers on the
pulse and for you to be changing and getting better.
In fact, the third reason is
really because you're worth it.
Yes, you as a grant professional are worth it.
And what you do in terms of taking these
goals and these visions and these ideas that people
have and putting them down on paper and helping
them to get funded, you're worth changing.
So what I want to encourage you to do is
think about your change and growth as a grant professional.
So here are three things that you can do right
now that I believe will help you in that endeavor.
First, I'm going to encourage you to get better.
Number one, as a writer, since you're writing a
lot, sometimes there is this tendency to think that,
hey, I don't have to improve in my writing.
I think the opposite is actually true.
You should be getting better as a writer
and you can take a variety of classes.
The classes do not have to
center solely on grant writing.
Maybe, say, right now I've taken all the
grant writing classes I ever want to take.
I understand, my friend.
Are there some other writing classes?
Are there some storytelling classes?
Are there some other classes that may
stretch you to help you to grow?
Just something to think about.
I'm just saying maybe something worth thinking about.
Secondly, you also may want to get
a chance to understand funders better.
I think you should get
a better understanding of funders.
There are classes and their trainings.
There's meetups.
There are times where you get a chance
to meet the funder, those type of things
you should be taking advantage of.
Check out and look at some of the trainings that
may be going on in your local community that will
allow you to have greater connections with funders.
Also, you might just simply want
to go and interview something yourself.
They don't have a meet up group to meet for that.
Create something yourself.
Create an opportunity to be able to do that.
Third, you should be growing with better relationships.
We're in the relationship business.
I'm not sure if you know this, but grant
writing, even though it's writing, you're still in the
relationship business because people give to people and you
should be improving in those relationships.
That's another way that I really want to encourage you.
And third, let's get to the personal
growing as a person and professional.
Now here's what I want you to do.
I want to encourage you, my friend, to take 30 minutes.
Yes, at least 30 minutes to write
down a growth plan for yourself.
If you don't have 30 minutes, at least take 20 minutes.
But I want you to write down a growth
plan for yourself, how you can grow maybe in
these areas in the up and coming days.
Second, I want you to share that
with a friend or another professional, somebody
that can hold you accountable.
Maybe if you've done this, just let me know.
Rodney, I've done it.
That may be your simple act of accountability. Rodney,
I heard what you said.
I did that growth development plan.
Third, I want you to review your
growth development plan daily, at least weekly. Okay.
I want you to do this because I want
you to make sure that you are growing. Okay.
I'm almost out of time already.
Now, I want you to remember this.
This year, I, my friend, am helping
at least ten grant professionals to scale
their businesses up to six figures.
You may be one of them, I don't know.
But I want you to know that you can grow
your business and you don't have to stay stuck.
You can grow. You can get better.
And then I want to also make sure that,
you know, my friend, that we have another... yes,
we have other podcasts that can help you.
These are designed to help spark ideals, to help you
stay energized as a grant professional and to know that,
hey, there are better ways to do it and for
you to know what those better ways are so that
you can continue to grow and develop.
Now let me tell you about a few of those shows.
One, we have the Get Funded With Rodney show.
If you haven't dialed into that high
energy show, go over to GrantCentralusa.com.
Look for our podcast link and you'll see all of
these shows that I'm talking about right here as well.
Also, we have the Schools Winning Grants show.
Go to schoolswinninggrants.com if you're an
educator, are seeking educational grants.
And then thirdly, trying to grow that business.
Remember, we have the Grant Business show at grantbusinessshow.com designed
to help you to grow that business.
Remember, while you're over at each of these
to subscribe, I believe they'll help you.
They'll help you get better.
They'll inspire you.
They'll give you new, fresh insight
to keep you on the move.
And remember, we are on Google Podcasts, Apple
Podcasts, iheartradio, Spotify, and many, many more.
I'm excited about you.
I hope that you are excited
about being a grant professional.
And remember if there's any way that I
can help you, please let me know.
Reach out to me and if we have not already connected
on LinkedIn that's one of the places I hang out quite
a bit on some of our other social medias. Hit me up.
Let me know. Rodney,
Hey, I'm listening to the show.
I'd love to know about you.
And remember, if you have an inside
of LinkedIn, we have a group for
grant professionals and this group is dedicated.
There are over 15,000 close to 16,000
now that are in that group.
I want to invite you to come and hang out with us.
That group is Grant Central
USA's Grant Writers Association.
Just go over or just type
in the group's Grant Writers Association. Come find us.
Come hang out.
I look forward to seeing you.
And until we meet again, my friend, be brave.
I want you to be Bold.
I want you to be brilliant.
And remember to always take charge.
