I’m joining the “re-upping in 2024” crew here too! It’s been great to see many of you in office hours this month, and I hope to attend as many of them as possible this go-around.

You’re also all inspiring me to revisit the modules + workbook. Similar to Rachel above, I’m toying with the longer-term goal of creating courses (and shorter-term goal of creating workshops), and also an offshoot product ladder in terms of keynote speeches, and I am sure my thinking about ALL of it will be helped by revisiting the modules and workbook, and also continuing to connect with all of you!

I’m also realizing how much all of this requires building a strong community/audience so I’ve been trying to be more consistent on LinkedIn as well as up my email newsletter subscribers – the latter one has been a bit of an uphill battle so far.

Anyway, excited to be here and with all of you!

Thank you for these links!! I have been struggling with the exact same thing, look forward to watching the videos and trying something along the lines of what you are describing.

Yay, I’m hoping to join tomorrow too!

Thanks so much, Rebecca!

I love hearing about everyone’s victories, congrats!!

Here to share one victory + one continuing struggle (no surprise – pricing!)

I have found the concept of “formalizing your offer” SO helpful. It led me to quickly hone in on the type of project I most love which is community health improvement action planning.

After this course started, I (for the first time ever – I haven’t even revised my website yet!) got a random message via my website asking about my interest in submitting an RFP to a project, and I said I’d be interested. They sent me the RFP and it was actually exactly in line with the kind of action planning I want to do. I put the proposal together in less than a day – thanks to all I’m learning here, I remembered to articulate BENEFITS vs features (a trap I often slip into) and also articulated the step-by-step process I used in prior similar projects.

I got an email last week that they’d like to collaborate – contract not in place yet, but it sounds very promising and if all works out, it will be the first time I have ever won a proposal with a place at which I did not have a prior personal connection. More importantly, I am so excited to use this as a test case for formalizing this offer, seeing how much my templates/processes/etc from my prior work carries over, etc.

Also icing on the cake – this came through just weeks after I turned down another project for the price being too low for the scope (this course definitely helped me build the courage/confidence to stand my ground there) – also was easier to turn down because it wasn’t my core offer that I want to focus on moving forward.

For this new project, the budget is about 30% higher than what I charged for this work on my most recent prior project, so definitely a step in the right direction on pricing. However, based on the pricing module, I’m pretty sure it’s still well below what I ought to be charging. So – still room for improvement, but in the meantime, trying to take a moment to celebrate! 🙂

Fairfax, VA, right outside of DC. Hello to my fellow Virginian, Veronica (I grew up outside of Richmond, VA and went to college in Charlottesville, and love the Blue Ridge Parkway :)).

And also curious where in Maine you are, Anne! My husband went to UMaine in Orono and lived in Portland for several years. We visit every year (well, pre-covid, we did!) and he would move back in a heartbeat but we have so much family in Virginia, it’s hard for me to imagine doing so at least while our kids are still little.

Anyway, great to hear where everyone’s from!

Hi y’all!

So happy to meet everyone via this thread – I’m already seeing many kindred spirits (bonus points to anyone who knows the original reference for that term, or at least the one that I think of as the original reference :)).

Just a few of the many comments from above that resonate deeply:

• Lori’s comment re: “existing in that space that is somewhere between an academic and a recovering academic” – describes me quite accurately too!
• Rebecca’s note re: waiting until the last minute to enroll and not being sure why – ditto, ditto.
• Susanne and Denali’s convo re: the little ones – I have a five year old and almost two year old, and love the idea of coining “yoghurt-tantrum” to mean “when you go nuts about something that is an actual real problem for you but seems trivial to the other person” (I can think of quite a few work situations where this term could have been aptly applied)

Anyway, to rewind and introduce myself: My name’s Vinu, and I’m a public health enthusiast through and through (more of my public health musings here and here)

My consulting practice, PoP Health, is focused on supporting/strengthening multisector community health improvement efforts via community collaboration (convenings, focus groups, interviews, surveys, etc. to get community input/co-design public health plans with community members), research/evaluation, and communication services (report writing, presentations, speaking services, etc.).

As is probably evident already, I need to do some niching down and/or more cohesive framing of my services, and will share some questions about that soon.

Some history: I started consulting in 2017, on a part-time basis and entirely for my former employer; a few years ago, I officially established the LLC and began expanding out to working with multiple clients. I’ve had some up and downs, but since last quarter, am quite happy with the set of projects/clients I’m working with. However, I feel like I’m running ragged trying to keep up, working more hours than I want to, and for less compensation than I think is warranted. I would really like to use this course and being in community with all of you to take some time to get more strategic, especially around my offer, pricing, and building out a team.

Excited to make more connections as we move forward!