The Unicorn Living Podcast

Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:00 Transition from burnt out teacher 04:00 Overcoming the fear of being without paychecks 05:52 Finding grant writing as a good fit leaving a career as an educator 08:47 Surpassing goals as a new grant writer 11:42 Winning a competitive grant 14:10 How long before you saw success as a grant writer? 16:56 What it's like to subcontract 18:02 The Global Grant Writers Collective has helped me 18:18 Rapid fire get to know you questions 21:53 How is The Collective helping you get to the next level of hiring a virtual assistant

You might not know yourself as well as you think you do. Here are five tips to lean into what makes you, you:Look at your clothes

If you have the fear of failure (we all do!), start recognizing if you're needing something to succeed and therefore squeezing the life out of it.

Meredith found clarity about her role on social media through taking concrete action! That's the punchline: clarity requires action. ✨How can you apply that concept in your life? What action can you take to get clarity on something that you have been ruminating on? Resources and links:

Meredith reflects on 7 major lessons in building a business to $1M in revenue. As a whole team, we're dedicated to staying humble and remaining wildly committed to our members. (Psst: that's never going to change).  Resources and links:

Meredith shares how 2022 went for her, including some business details and a lot of personal details. TMI? Maybe. But, we like to keep it real around here. We're sure you had a big year too. Let us know. How was your year? Did 2022 end differently than it started for you?Resources and links:

In this podcast episode, Meredith explains how you can come up with a single question in lieu of a resolution. This single question emphasizes your big priority for the year and serves as your decision making framework. Resources and links:

For Rose, traveling after college was been a transformative experience. She packed her life into a 40L backpack and she started traveling with her husband which turned into 5 years of travel. 

Alex's mini-sabbatical was amazing, and it turns out, much needed. In this podcast episode, she talks about her top 5 takeaways.  Curious how you could get into grant writing and build a career in it? Here is a free training on how to do that without volunteering or having prior experience: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing 

For Rose, traveling after college was been a transformative experience. She packed her life into a 40L backpack and she started traveling with her husband which turned into 5 years of travel. 

A month after graduating with her English degree and six months after joining the Collective, Abby received an email from an engineering firm asking if she wanted to interview for a job. She landed it!Curious how you could get into grant writing and build a career in it? Here is a free training on how to do that without volunteering or having prior experience: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writingTwo major parts of Abby's story include her second baby being born with heart defects requiring four open heart surgeries in one year and moving her family across the country to be near family for support while her husband recovered from a major car accident. For those considering whether or not to pursue a dream, Abby's advice is to go for it. The worst thing that could happen is a door closes. Take action. 

Making dreams a reality is no small feat! Luckily, we learned our lessons the hard way so you can skip ahead to the good part.Lesson #1: Fail FastPreparing to launch the Alaska Movement was a year-long process. Two and a half months in, she realized there wasn't a succinct problem that needed to be solved. She called it quits which was hard to do because: ego. 

The Ch'eghwetsen Method is a habit building system Meredith built to encourage healthy habits without being self-critical. Renee Warren, founder of We Wild Women, is to thank for getting this system out in the world.  ✋For Meredith, she noticed that hunger and drive to always be doing her absolute best were in conflict with each other while training for a long distance mountain bike race. There was a lot of hurtful self talk and never feeling good enough while preparing. In an “aha!” moment, Meredith realized that all days are meant to be equal. She built a system to stop beating herself up. The Ch'eghwetsen Point System is a habit building system that is gentle. It's not meant to be self-critical. Instead, it builds sustaining behaviors that make you feel healthy and happy.  

A gas leak explosion in a tiny house derailed the original schedule to get this podcast episode posted, but it's finally here! 

Meredith Noble, co-founder of Learn Grant Writing, shares what happened when she was in a tiny house that had a gas leak explosion. In this podcast episode, Meredith covers:

Dr. Christie Edwards, Alex's mom, is living and breathing the Unicorn Lifestyle.

Karisa Coe, member of The Grant Writing Unicorn Collective, conducts an informational interview with Meredith. The timing is divine as The Collective is in the midst of an informational interview challenge. Karisa is a recent college graduate from Texas A&M University who is working towards becoming a freelance grant writing consultant. She reached out to Meredith for an informational interview to learn more about the why and how behind entrepreneurship. Curious how you could get into grant writing and build a career in it? Here is a free training on how to do that without volunteering or having prior experience: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writingMeredith is known for saying, “My forte is turning ideas into reality”. How does she not get overloaded and lost? In the ideation phase of anything, Meredith recommends not limiting yourself to thinking within boundaries and not thinking too technically about cost and timeline. Creating an environment for creative brainstorming is key. Then, ask: “Who am I serving?” Project management comes into play here to break your vision down into actionable steps.Alex is an integrator while Meredith is a visionary and they feel that there is an opportunity for people that identify strongly with operations and project management to become integrators. Meredith and Alex are in the process of examining whether integrators can be trained up from scratch or not. They're conducting several informational interviews with female CEOs.For Meredith and Learn Grant Writing, the values of the business are the values of herself. These values include taking responsibility, leadership, and working hard, but recognizing that today is all we have. Since Alex has become part of the business, celebrating wins has replaced working hard. Values are what you fall back on when you're reflecting on how to handle a situation. A question can be used as a decision making framework and then the values help nudge that to the finish line. For those just starting a career, Meredith strongly suggests doing informational interviews. These interviews provide insights, little bits of wisdom, and connection. Informational interviews allow you to authentically and genuinely build your network with people you want in it. Several qualities are helpful to become a successful entrepreneur. These include problem-solving, failing fast, having a growth mindset, and staying focused. With Karisa's final question, Meredith reveals her dream of owning a property in Spokane, Washington. Two books that have been helpful for her in developing and sharing her ideas are “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick. Resources referenced:Meyers Briggs Type Indicator“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill“The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea when Everyone is Lying to You” by Rob Fitzpatrick Like audiobooks and podcasts? Listen to Meredith's book, “How to Write a Grant: Become a Grant Writing Unicorn” for free here: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/free-audiobook Timestamps:00:00 Karisa Coe Interview00:28 Intro01:25 Meet Karisa02:00 How to pay a grant writer?04:06 How do you not get lost and overloaded when turning ideas into reality? 07:54 What are some of the questions you're planning to ask other women CEOs? 09:00 Meyers Briggs Type Inventory: are there massive trends with grant writers? 11:20 How do your personal core values influence your business values?15:30 What advice would you give to a recent college graduate just starting their career? 18:11 What's the most important quality you look for in someone who wants to be an entrepreneur?21:00 What's the third ball you want to kick?

In this episode, we sit with Meredith, Alex, Jared (Alex's husband), and Tobias. We celebrate the work wedding of Meredith and Alex as Alex legally becomes part owner of Learn Grant Writing. The four gather at an AirBnB for a weekend away to honor the occasion. As is tradition for Meredith and Alex, tarot cards are drawn for each of the four individuals. The cards pulled by each person pertain to their personal lives and inspire thoughtful reflection. “Anything that manifests in your business is tied to your personal life.”Jared reflects on his skepticism of Alex joining the business. While originally cautious, Jared has since gladly been proven wrong. Back when Alex first joined, the primary focus of the business was grant writing consulting.Curious how you could get into grant writing and build a career in it? Here is a free training on how to do that without volunteering or having prior experience: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writingThe team transitions to reading Promises inspired by the following prompt: “What Does Our Truest & Greatest Business Partnership Look Like?”. Alex and Meredith aim to uphold a business partnership that is vibrant, safe, and balanced. They promise honesty and clear communication as they continue to challenge one another to be their best selves.The promises inspire another major question: should Alex and Meredith get matching tattoos? DM us on Instagram if you think so: https://www.instagram.com/learngrantwriting/Meredith and Alex explain the paperwork to be signed that legally mark Alex as part owner of the Limited Liability Company (LLC). The pair are Amending and Restating the Operating Agreement now that Alex is part owner. Meredith serves as Chairwoman, President of the Board, and Treasurer under this updated agreement while Alex serves as Vice President and Secretary. Finally, Meredith and Alex reflect on the weekend away. Alex and Meredith both appreciate how they were able to be comfortable and allow everyone to love them for them. All in all, it wasn't as sparkly as anticipated, but it was exactly what was needed.As Meredith and Alex consciously make the decision to be in this business together, they resolve to continue following their intuition closely. There will be a vibrant celebration with cake and food with everyone they love. To be determined on when that happens, but the celebration of Alex sharing ownership of the business is certainly coming. Cheers to “forever in business, forever”!Resources referenced:BossBabe Podcast“Slicing Pie: Funding Your Company Without Funds” by Mike MoyerWant to learn more about the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective? DM us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/learngrantwriting/ Timestamps00:00 Learn Grant Writing's Work Wedding 00:40 Welcome to the Learn Grant Writing Work Wedding00:55 Background Story: What is a Work Wedding?02:50 How Alex Joined the Learn Grant Writing Team 06:08 What Does Equity Mean in a Business?07:10 Slicing Pie (Method by Mike Moyer) 12:00 Toast to the DIY Career Path14:00 Drawing Tarot Cards30:05 Jared's Perspective of Alex Joining the Learn Grant Writing Team38:35 Reading Promises: “What Does Our Truest & Greatest Business Partnership Look Like?”47:00 Should Alex & Meredith Get Matching Tattoos?48:00 Signing Paperwork: Amending & Restating business Operating Agreement54:00 Work Wedding Reflection59:00 Cheers to being business partners!

The Mission Makers belongs to Kim and Bob, unicorns extraordinaire.  They created this business to fill the void of programs they are passionate about not receiving the proper funding. Kim is also very involved with the YMCA and currently working as a developmental specialist dealing directly with the grant writing for a large city campaign project.  Truly a team in everything they do from serving on boards together, exercising, and being business partners. They play on each other's strengths and also know when it's time to call it a day!The Mission Makers is growing, already having 15 clients, and some of the challenges they face include keeping tabs on every project. They overcome this challenge by implementing many of the time management tools taught in Learn Grant Writing and believe that if you implement these tools from the start, you are able to keep your focus on the most important tasks.  Curious how you could get into grant writing and build a career in it? Here is a free training on how to do that without volunteering or having prior experience: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writingCreating and developing partnerships  has been the proudest accomplishment of starting The Mission Makers. Kim and Bob's work with nonprofits in the past allowed them to understand the trials that a nonprofit goes through. However, working with an overview perspective has allowed them to connect nonprofits  all over the country with similar goals in order to create a bigger impact. Kim and Bob appreciate Learn Grant Writing's commitment to current grant writing needs. The course content, feedback, and bonus trainings evolve as the grant writing world continues to grow. The funding strategy, prospectus, coaching calls, and community have been an absolute game-changer for their business!Want to learn more about the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective? DM us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/learngrantwriting/0:29 - Welcome to Kim and Bob Yarnall2:12- How did you get involved with Grant Writing?4:03 - Why did you choose to from Mission Makers?6:32- What makes Grant Writing not feel like "work"?9:29 - Kim explains her new role with the YMCA11:59 - What is it like to work as a husband/wife duo?15:37 - Mission Makers biggest challenge 18:57 - Mission Makers proudest accomplishment23:43 - Discussing pricing and funding at a beginning level 25:00 - Key Takeaways from being a part of the collective 29:59 - If you're considering taking the course advice! 

We unicorns

Join us for January's 21-Day Informational Interview Challenge!

HighlightsWhy Meredith dyed her hair purple and drove across the country.Why we won't be talking about grant writing very often.What is the Unicorn lifestyle? Our morning practices for consistently showing up.Meredith and Alex origin story - it's divine! LinksBuild a Career in Grant Writing Free Grant Writing Class FollowInstagram: @learngrantwritingWebsite: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/