I’m about a year into my entrepreneurship journey and it has been both the best and most challenging career choice I’ve ever made.

The first few months were a blur of trying to figure out what services I wanted to offer. I had so much I was interested in pursuing, and no idea what would be marketable. RFP Management is the bread and butter of my experience, but with it came so many transferrable skills that I was having trouble deciding what my “next” was. My corporate experience combined with my volunteer experience gives me a whole separate skillset, too. So, narrowing that down to a set of saleable services was wildly baffling.

Very early on it became clear to me that my focus was going to be grant and proposal management and related services. Every time someone asked me about what I do, I always defaulted to those as my answer. My first version of my elevator pitch was clearly RFP-centric.

My biggest issue was that almost nobody I spoke to had a clue what I was talking about! If you have ever watched “Friends” and seen Chandler try to describe his job, that’s how I felt. On top of a job nobody understood, I was trying to create a service in a previously unknown market.

More than once I either considered or was advised to work with larger companies. But anyone who has spoken with me about ReidWrite Consulting has heard me say that I have a passion for small business and non-profits. There are so many opportunities available that your local Board of Trade or business advisory centre can help point you toward, but the idea of responding to an RFP when you don’t even know what the acronym means can be beyond intimidating. With non-profits facing increasingly stretched budgets (more patrons, less money, fewer staff), grants are even more important as donor spending drops every year.

Even though I know I am facing an uphill battle (and maybe some ramen noodle meals), this is what I feel like I was meant to do at this stage of my life. My goal is to help you grow.