Mentorship results
How Jamie McDonald went from executive director to a launched consulting practice in less than three months
Jamie McDonald, J McDonald Strategies · Nonprofit leadership, operations and transitions
At a glance
- 24 yearsat one nonprofit
- 10 yearsas executive director
- Under 3 monthsto launch her practice
- 1st clientand first retainer signed
Ten years of carrying everything
Jamie spent 24 years at one nonprofit, the last 10 as its executive director. She knew how to lead an organization and keep a mission moving. She also knew the weight of it. “There just simply were not enough hours in the day to get everything that needed to be done,” she said, and she was “feeling guilty that I didn't have enough time.”
When she decided to put that experience to work as a consultant, she ran into a new problem.
Great at the work, new to the business
Leading an organization and running a consulting business take different skills. Jamie had never had to package her expertise, write a proposal for her own services, or decide what to charge. Those were exactly the things standing between her and her first client.
So she joined the Mentorship.
Learning to price herself
Jamie treated the business side like any other skill to learn, starting with proposals and pricing. “I've learned how to develop proposals and be able to monetize those proposals in a way that is fair for everybody, myself included,” she said, “how to price myself in the marketplace.”
She put herself out there from the start, too. “It is how much you put into it.” And for the first time in years, she wasn't carrying everything alone. “I feel so much less alone, even less alone than I did when I was an executive director.”
Less than three months later
Jamie officially launched her practice, with a website and a social presence, and began booking discovery calls with organizations interested in hiring her, “and this is just in less than three months.”
Then came the milestone every new consultant is waiting for: “I just landed my first client, AND first retainer!”
“Really worth it, worth every penny.”
Jamie McDonald
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