Holly Rustick (00:00.494)
All right, hello, hello, hello. It's Holly Rustick here with Grant Writing and Funding. I'm super excited to be talking to Theresa Fowler, who is in the Freelance Grant Writer Academy and has so much experience in writing grants. Really, really exciting to have you here. And you're also the founder of Grants Team Coaching and Consulting, heavily involved with GPA, which is a Grant Professional Association. You have your GPCI, the Grant Professionalist Certification Institute.

our certification, you have all of the things and my gosh, we're gonna have so much fun. Basin, Texas, but came from California. So we got a lot to talk about today. How are you doing, Teresa?

Theresa Fowler (00:40.829)
I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.

Holly Rustick (00:43.062)
Yes, of course. So I love this to get to know like you all more and like what your experiences in the Academy as people are we have the doors open right now people are considering joining. So I love just pulling some of you up and saying hey tell us about your experience so people can really hear what it's like for the people inside. So let's talk about you for a while. So you actually have a large grant portfolio. I was seeing on your bio like over a hundred and I think sixty seven million

and grants that you've secured over the years. You've been working with nonprofits for decades. Tell me about you and what made you go into consulting.

Theresa Fowler (01:23.886)
yeah, so I've been actually in the grant field for pretty much most of my career. So 24 plus years now, almost everything has been somehow related in grants. I've worked as a paid, you know, full-time staff employee, a grant management employee, a consultant volunteer, also done training and grant reviewer for, on the fed side. So I may have this wide range of grant experience.

And I knew like everything that I was doing obviously always mattered and I loved working as a full-time employee. But a couple years ago, my family, we decided to move from California to Texas to be closer to my in-laws who were in their late eighties to help take care of them. So as a result of that, I had to resign from my full-time position that I had in Southern California, which was managing grants for a county office across 18 different units.

So that like gave me a lot of experience of now that I can transfer that into the different clients that I'm working with. But yeah, one of the other reasons too for consulting is just flexibility. Like I said, helping take care of my in-laws. I'm only just taking the doctors and shopping and hair appointments and all that fun stuff. It is a lot. Yeah, yeah. And then just being around, know, my kids for the last few years of high school and then now our two youngest are in college. And then I mean, the other thing too, we're in a rural area. So,

Holly Rustick (02:37.152)
a lot. Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (02:51.058)
Myself and my entire family were all volunteer firefighters. So that's another thing of flexibility because when the call comes in, you know, we try to respond as much as we can. Yeah. So

Holly Rustick (02:59.182)
That's amazing. Yeah, that's really, really cool. Your whole family is like all doing that.

Theresa Fowler (03:05.362)
We are now. My husband started. He actually retired from law enforcement. So my husband started and kind of went to the dark side of jokingly. And he recruited me. And then when our two kids turned 18, actually they were in a junior program before, but once they turned 18, now they can go on calls. So, so yeah, so depending, you either get one or four of the family, depending on who's home and around responding to calls. So yeah, yeah. It's good family bonding.

Holly Rustick (03:30.082)
That's so, so cool. I love that so much. So yeah, and then you came over from California and even going like you're in a rural area, mentioned in Texas. So is also consulting a way to maybe have the pay that is this similar to what you were getting before into California? know, cause well, let's say, you know, they might not pay as much in those certain areas you might not be able to get. There's not those type of opportunities, right? That may exist too in rural areas. that, was that part of your decision too?

Theresa Fowler (04:00.082)
Yes. Yeah, it was to a lot of, I still work with a lot of clients in California, just cause I was there, you know, forever. And I worked with them and yeah, I could keep them. And a lot of them, it's just been, you know, word of mouth or they heard, you know, you're consulting now here. want, you know, we want to work with you. So that's, you know, that's been nice to be able to have, you know, clients in California. I am still like very familiar with that area, you know, work there forever, grew up there and everything else.

Holly Rustick (04:07.309)
So you could also keep them. Yeah, like.

Theresa Fowler (04:29.677)
but yeah, being a rural area, there is definitely a lot fewer resources, you know, for the, the different community and, the particular County we're in. It is relatively small, so to say, and not very high income. So I am trying to do what I can to help, you know, our County, definitely with our, like I said, our volunteer fire department, I've written a lot of grants.

Holly Rustick (04:51.329)
Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (04:57.569)
for our department to try to get equipment and training. So yeah, that's been helpful too. And that's something that I really wanna try to focus more on is helping some of those smaller departments because I know they don't have the resources. So I wanna take my knowledge and experience and help them to be able to get more funding, more equipment, because yeah, it's kind of crazy to show up on a call and hopefully you have the right equipment and hopefully it works.

Holly Rustick (05:06.017)
Yeah.

Holly Rustick (05:26.189)
Right, right. I love that so much. And also like you had mentioned you've worked with a lot of government organizations. Would you say those are your main clients right now as well? Do you work with a lot of government and municipality or do you work with nonprofits in general as well? Like who do you kind of work with?

Theresa Fowler (05:42.914)
Right now it's, I have three nonprofit clients and one school district. And then no municipality right now, but I may have in the past worked with them. I've done some city government, law enforcement. So, but right now, it's nonprofits mostly focused on youth development with college and career readiness, workforce development, and then.

Holly Rustick (05:50.262)
Okay.

Holly Rustick (06:09.389)
Nice. Love that. I love that. So you had all this experience and you're like, moving. I want to consult. I want to like kick that part of the, you know, up. you went, and then when did you find the academy and what was your thought of joining that? Because we have two tracks in there, learn how to write grants, learn how to start a business and run a business. So kind of like, what was your thoughts on that?

Theresa Fowler (06:11.969)
school district.

Theresa Fowler (06:34.797)
well, my thoughts, I mean, the, like you said, you have the two tracks. So, I mean, I decided to join because once I, you once we moved and I went, you full-time consulting and I mean, let me back up a little bit. So I did consult for about 10 years when my kids were younger, but it was real like part-time, like one client kind of here, just kind of some extra money. and then I went back to, I went back to work full-time. saw a job, a grant job and like, this sounds interesting. I'll apply for it.

I applied for it and I got it. was like, oh, I guess I'm going back to work full time. Like, hadn't really thought the whole thing out. But then I did that. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was good. It was with an organization that, you know, I worked for for seven years and I had worked with them through another organization, like writing grants and stuff. So I was somewhat familiar, you know, at the county office. So so I went, I worked for them for seven years, but then we decided to move.

Holly Rustick (07:07.117)
He's that's what happens. Do I want that? I guess. For your benefit. Okay.

Theresa Fowler (07:32.93)
you know, I had to resign because I couldn't work remotely. So that's where I was like, okay, then I'm kind of going back, I guess, to consulting, but I'm like, okay, now I really want to really launch my business more than just, you know, a client here or there. And like I said, people were hearing that I was going out and consulting and the people are like contacting me, you know, more than, you know, before when I was just kind of doing it, you know, one organization. So I heard about the Academy.

And then obviously I heard about like the grant, right? You know, how I learned grant writing and everything else. And I was like, you kind of like you said, like I have a lot of experience. I was like, well, you know, I have my GPC. I'm like, okay, I, know, sure I can join, you know, it's I'll get something out of it. But I was really more interested in the business side of it. Cause that's something that I never really had to do before. mean, like I said, when I consulted, you know, it was probably about 15 years ago, it was like one client, you know, like a year contract and you know, a couple thousand dollars.

per month and that's it type thing. But so that's what I was really interested in joining the Academy to really learn the business side and how to set up the business, how to do sales calls, really set up, you I had a contract but I mean using your template and like formalizing that and like sticking to the scope of work, you kind of like all the, I feel like I took all the things that I knew and I learned before as

Holly Rustick (08:30.177)
Yeah. Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (08:56.833)
I'll call it like a part-time consultant, because that's what I feel like I was before. And then a full-time employee and like the good and bad of that. And then now I'm taking that and building that into my business, what I want. And then also allowing me for more flexibility, because like I said, my commitments with my family and stuff I need to do too.

Holly Rustick (09:15.179)
Yeah, love that. And are you in a place now where you've been able to replicate your pay from California?

Theresa Fowler (09:24.605)
Yes, pretty close. I do miss the medical benefits. So, but I mean that, you know, but that's something that, you know, my husband and I were working on. You know, we put money aside every month and everything and for the taxes and everything else. So, but yeah, I'm pretty, I'm pretty close to what, you know, I was making, you know, as a full-time employee. So that's, you know, that's exciting. think this, this year, 26, I mean, hopefully things stay on the same trend and I can get more clients. It'll definitely be more than what I

Holly Rustick (09:26.453)
I love that. Yeah.

Holly Rustick (09:38.892)
Right.

Holly Rustick (09:45.005)
I love that.

Theresa Fowler (09:53.58)
would have made in less hours and more flexibility, not commuting, working from home, working, again, more flexibility and then just as a consultant and a business owner, not an employee. That was probably like the biggest shift when I went from employee to on my own. My husband was like, you just seem like less stressed now.

Holly Rustick (09:54.892)
Right. And but, as I was saying, yeah. Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (10:19.359)
And like, I didn't really realize it as much, but he was like, yeah, you know, before it was like this call and that call and you got to do this. And, you know, as an employee, you know, I would be the one submitting the grant, you know, getting the approval and submitting it. And, you know, I, I pulled some of those all nighters, not proud to say I did, but you know, it's one of those as an employee, that's your job. Like you, you got, you got to do it. So it's literally, you know, sometimes it, you know, 1130 at night, you're trying to go through grants.gov and submit it. And now I'm like, yeah, no, I don't.

Holly Rustick (10:19.447)
Yeah.

Holly Rustick (10:37.613)
I did too.

Theresa Fowler (10:48.819)
I don't submit, I will help you, but the organization needs to submit. They need to be the ones, you know, taking the lead and everything else. So.

Holly Rustick (10:57.975)
That's awesome. And did you learn some of just like creating those, those boundaries through policies throughout the academy, those types of things to even consider to create more of these healthy boundaries for you?

Theresa Fowler (11:08.595)
Yes, yeah, definitely. Yeah, through the academy. Also, like the coaching calls have been really helpful just to hear also to, you know, other people's perspectives and like what they've gone through or what they've learned, what they've tried, what's worked, what hasn't, other ideas. I mean, I did watch all the different videos. Well, maybe not all of them, the majority of them of the grant, you know, all the different grant stuff, because I still want to learn.

and still want to see, know, is there a better way? Just because I have this experience, like there's always, I feel like there's always a way to learn and maybe be more effective. So.

Holly Rustick (11:43.594)
Did you have any takeaway from that? I'm curious as somebody who has so much experience as a grant writer and then seeing how we kind of do like our template, like all of the things, was there any like key takeaway that you got? Because that's interesting to me that you'd even be like, you've won $167 million in grants. I'd be fine if you're like, I don't even look at that portion, Holly, I just joined because of the sales, but you did. Was there a takeaway from that?

Theresa Fowler (12:08.001)
Well, the master grant application is great. I mean, that's something that I like I've done. I feel like kind of like create throughout my career, but maybe not necessarily as comprehensive as yours is. And just a way to kind of lay it out and how to get the information from the different organizations. Because it's different, obviously, being a consultant in, OK, this is the information I need and kind of pulling it out.

Holly Rustick (12:11.083)
Okay. Yep.

Holly Rustick (12:22.221)
Mm.

Theresa Fowler (12:38.283)
from them, I'll say, compared to on an employee side where you're more, you know, more ingrained in the organization. And so I could do a lot more of the writing. so probably that, and I honestly, one of the other reasons to I joined the Academy was for the templates that you had. Cause I mean, I had different stuff, but it was like, well, I mean, I could pay during the Academy, you know, get all these different templates and save me that much time. And then when I joined actually last year within

like a month after someone reached out to me and was like, hey, can you help us write some templates and design some templates? So, you know, I was able to kind of look at what was in the academy, customize it for what they needed, you know, as a smaller, you know, nonprofit organization. So that was definitely helpful too.

Holly Rustick (13:20.449)
I love that. I love that. So how quick did you make your money back? Was it pretty quick or?

Theresa Fowler (13:25.217)
yeah, I mean, I would say probably within two months. Yeah. Yeah.

Holly Rustick (13:30.027)
I love that. I love that so much because yeah, you've been able to get, think around 150 you said in your business. So like that's amazing. And really, and what I love about what you're saying too is it's not only the financial, but it's the boundaries. Like we're creating that and having time for the life that you actually want it. You guys moved to Texas for a reason. So what's the point of working so much? You can't help with the reason you moved, right? Like to help with your family.

Theresa Fowler (13:51.286)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (13:56.064)
Right.

Holly Rustick (13:57.526)
So I think people get kind of caught up in that sometimes they're like, I'm gonna create, I'm gonna be a consultant. And the reason why is they want more freedom, they want more, you know, in their calendar, they want more of this, but then they're so used to being an employee that they bring those same habits into their business and they start treating their clients like their bosses. And I'm like, no.

Theresa Fowler (14:17.545)
Yes, no, absolutely. then, mean, there are, I mean, there has been, you know, time and, you know, conversations of, like you said, like those boundaries and the communication. And it's like, you know, no, I'm not, you responding after normal business hours. Like I'll get back to you within 24 day, 24 hours, not 24 days, 24 hours. The other thing too, that I just thought of that has also been really helpful from the Academy is the Canva templates. So the, like the grant writing, like the proposal template. So.

Holly Rustick (14:37.399)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rustick (14:43.691)
Mmm.

Theresa Fowler (14:47.681)
you know, taking that and being able to customize that based on like my services and, you know, prices and for the organization. So be able to take that. Like I've already used that for a couple of different, different organizations, you know, to have, to have that, you know, kind of as the outline, as the base and be able to customize it. That's been helpful and a lot of time saving. So.

Holly Rustick (15:11.221)
Yeah. Yeah. And that's just the proposal because they will all ask you for one. They all want to pay per trade. You know, obviously like, you know, they want to see like what's the scope of services, what's all of that. And to take the time. And that's the reason I created that for y'all because I used to take so long and then procrastinate on getting back to people like all the things. Cause it does, it's just time consuming. And then you're like, this layout good. And then it gets glitchy and all of the things.

Theresa Fowler (15:15.725)
yeah.

Theresa Fowler (15:32.191)
Right.

Holly Rustick (15:37.067)
So I'm so glad that's useful for you because yeah, you can update your branding for it. You can put all your own scope of services in there. You can even get those reviewed by our team. Have you used some of the review processes as well?

Theresa Fowler (15:50.912)
I have. yeah, used, the first grant that I had reviewed was, it was actually a federal grant, the assistant firefighters grant that I put in there. Cause I applied the last like two years for our department, we didn't get funded, but it's also super competitive. So, but I was like, well, you know, I'll, get someone else's feedback on it. Maybe, you know, I'm missing something, you know, haven't done this one, haven't necessarily gotten this one funded before. So that, that was definitely super helpful that

Holly Rustick (16:05.687)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Theresa Fowler (16:19.967)
the feedback I got from that. And then I've also done like the business plan and I'm trying to think some of the other, you know, little things here and there I've put in for review. But yeah, it's always like super helpful. The feedback that you get from the coaches and then just. I like a lot of it I've had it from like different coaches and they have different perspectives, you know. You know, so I mean, you know that they have they have different perspectives and different experience. So like I said, I always like just hearing, you know.

Holly Rustick (16:40.481)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.

Holly Rustick (16:49.345)
Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (16:49.441)
how can I improve or what did I miss? Like I said, that particular one, the AFG one, was, some of the feedback was, focus more like, yes, you're providing fire services, but focus more like what is the impact of your community? Like what will this equipment actually do? So yeah, so super, we haven't heard back from one, which I don't think we got, but we didn't hear back from the one to get the engine, but we did get $34,000 for equipment. So that was like super exciting. So yeah.

Holly Rustick (17:16.621)
Amazing. I mean, who knows if a little bit of this feedback just helped you tweak it a tiny bit. who knows being a federal grant reviewer, right? It can be the littlest things. It can come down just to a certain number of points, right? A point or something. Yeah. I love that even though you're like, I don't really want to join the Academy because I don't need grant writing, but you've actually used the grant writing in the unlimited grant reviews.

Theresa Fowler (17:25.088)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (17:34.881)
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. One or two points. Definitely.

Holly Rustick (17:45.941)
It's actually been helpful for me. I didn't know that.

Theresa Fowler (17:46.686)
I have, have, yes. Yeah, no, I mean, it's definitely a nice added bonus, an asset. I mean, the other thing too is just the being able to connect with other consultants, that community. Like I said, I am like really involved with GPA, which is great as far as like, you know, the two different chapters I'm in, but it's not necessarily just consultants. Like there is a consultant kind of subgroup, but

Holly Rustick (17:54.85)
Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (18:15.713)
I feel like the academy is different because we're all kind of going through it, maybe at like a similar process or at least a similar, you know, curriculum, you know what I mean? Like curriculum, like framework, rather than just kind of coming from everywhere. So that's been, that's been really helpful too. And then just kind of see how other people are like growing. And like I the challenges, like the mind shifts, you know, all of that of, yeah, I'm not, personally, I don't even like to tell people I'm a grant writer. Well, now I've switched everything to grant strategist.

Holly Rustick (18:25.781)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Theresa Fowler (18:45.129)
or I do training or grant management. Yeah, because I don't know about you, Holly, but like if I say I'm a grant writer, they're like, yeah, I got this idea. I want to start like a yogurt shop. can you, and I'm like, yeah, no, like, sorry, you know? So.

Holly Rustick (18:56.801)
Yeah, no. As soon as I start going there, I'm like, book a pick my brain call. Go pay for it right now because I can't. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, you know, I love that perspective too, as far as like, you can be in other places, like, you know, and that's even like my coach, I remember, and I was like, but I already have this other coach. And she's like, Holly, you can have more than one.

Theresa Fowler (19:07.199)
Yeah.

Holly Rustick (19:18.605)
coach, you know, and I kind look at this whole mix too is like, I'm already in GPA. Do I need to be in the Academy or already have my GPCI? So I like that. Like you're gonna, you know, if you feel like you want to get these additional, benefits and features and support, like there are, you can be in multiple things. There's nothing wrong with that either to give you more support. Yeah. So that's really good. So if you kind of pick, two things in the Academy that you love the most that have really helped driven your business forward.

Theresa Fowler (19:19.541)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (19:37.791)
Right, right, absolutely. Yeah.

Holly Rustick (19:48.557)
What would they be, think? Any kind of feature, support, anything.

Theresa Fowler (19:58.69)
Probably the weekly coaching calls, even though I will be the first to say like I haven't shown up on that many of them, but I do listen to them after the fact. Yeah, so that's been good. Like I said, just to kind of hear from other people, kind of what they're going through and then some of the feedback. And then, I mean, along with that, the freedom circle you have, which is nice when, you know, it's a smaller group because we've made a little bit more in our business and have more clients.

Holly Rustick (20:08.105)
Yes,

Theresa Fowler (20:28.037)
a little farther along than some of the other people that on the coaching calls are asking like, what's a logic model or something like that. So the calls have been really helpful. And then like I said, probably the other aspect is the templates, just the templates and all the resources from the Canva resource.

Holly Rustick (20:35.381)
Right. Yeah. We do have a place for that. Yeah.

Holly Rustick (20:50.465)
Yeah, that's even coach when she's like, I joined because of the templates and that like, got my money back right away just because of all the templates. Like, yeah.

Theresa Fowler (20:58.289)
Right. Yeah. It's such a time-saver. And like I said, like, like that Canva, like the kind of the, proposal template, you know, the contract template, you know, things like that where it's like, okay, I have it. And then now for a new client, it's super easy to change and update it rather than, like you said, you're like spinning, you know, of, you know, spending hours on something. Like I just did a wellness audit. So I just finished like that Canva template and I'm just like, okay, I'm super excited to just like.

Holly Rustick (21:14.357)
Yeah. Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (21:24.223)
sell this to someone else so that I could just obviously modify it for that organization. But at least I have a template because it does, it takes a while.

Holly Rustick (21:29.867)
I love that. Yeah, it does. It does. just developing those things like, my gosh, right? So to have those all done for you and to basically have turnkey things that you can sell that are already developed. That's amazing. Yeah. Love that so much. Okay. So, where are you headed in 2026? Are you changing anything in your business? Are you adding any services, modifying anything? Like, let's hear what's going on in your business in 2020.

Theresa Fowler (21:40.832)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (21:57.09)
So, I mean, one of the things I do really want to focus on is volunteer fire departments. Like I said, either volunteer fire departments or even the paid career fire departments to really, you know, help the smaller ones gain and get funding. So I'm going to try to focus on that and come up with some packages of something that's not too expensive that, you know, they still can afford because obviously the budgets are, you know, small, but help show them that, you know, with the grants they can get, you know, equipment because

Holly Rustick (22:03.115)
Love it.

Holly Rustick (22:22.125)
Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (22:26.817)
In the fire service, any equipment is ridiculously expensive. I mean, it's like, feel like they either it's red or they say fire and they like quadruple the price. So that's one of things for the, you know, focus on fire service. And then also to just really look at what I've been doing in my clients and are they a good fit? So, cause like I said, when I first started, you know, it was kind of like whoever was reaching out. And so I'm doing a lot of...

Holly Rustick (22:48.289)
Hmm.

Theresa Fowler (22:55.871)
different type of projects, but I would really like to get a little more streamlined, put some more systems into place so I can just be more effective. And then the other thing I'm pushing myself to do more is more trainings. So I've done a few trainings for GPA, so just do more trainings and get out there more on social media and that kind of stuff, which I'm not really, I don't really do that much of, so.

Holly Rustick (23:10.784)
Okay.

Holly Rustick (23:20.437)
Yeah, that's okay though. I can see this as like even your fire department, your volunteer fire department thing, like, because they have those in like every community basically, right? Yeah, so a lot of them, right? So even if you took something like that, that's super hyper-focused and you're like, okay, I'm going to create some templates, I'm going to create, or even a community, right? Like, or I'm going to create a training specifically for that.

Theresa Fowler (23:32.797)
A majority, yeah.

Theresa Fowler (23:46.55)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rustick (23:49.45)
And then you could think about if you wanted to do some sponsorship or going to like conferences, I would be looking at those type of things, right? Because you're probably the only grant writer in the room there. You're gonna really popular, right? And if you have something very hyper-focused for that cause area and that you already know some of the grants to apply for, you already know, you know what I mean? Cause they're that specific. So you could be like,

Theresa Fowler (23:58.977)
Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (24:13.29)
Right.

Holly Rustick (24:15.849)
a list even as a template, know, so you could really make it affordable because you could do a lot of templates and then maybe do like even a group membership for them. Like that could be interesting idea for you. Yeah. I love that because yeah, you want to give and to your point and that's why, you know, it's this interesting thing. I've been talking about this more in 2025.

Theresa Fowler (24:18.539)
Mm-hmm.

Theresa Fowler (24:27.039)
Right. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a great idea. Yeah.

Holly Rustick (24:40.877)
But I think a lot of people come in and yes, a lot of people are undercharging and I understand we do need to raise prices, but I feel like sometimes they undercharge. So then they overcharge they come from I've been undercharging for so long and burned out and bitter. So it's almost like you got to know your who and I'm not saying like why undercharge to give it away for free. I'm not saying that at all, but it's like creating knowing what the market can bear is very important, but knowing

Theresa Fowler (24:54.057)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (24:57.953)
You

Theresa Fowler (25:01.526)
Right.

Holly Rustick (25:10.679)
how you can manage that and can you create more systems or templates or things that you're not taking your time then as much, but that can get results, right? That's the magic formula. And then you can come up with a price that's fair for you, for them, and you can scale. So it has a scalability factor, right? So I think looking at things like that is really important. So I would recommend go back in the program and create a change statement for that and we can review it. Yeah. Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (25:13.792)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (25:29.632)
Right.

Theresa Fowler (25:37.503)
Okay. Okay. Yeah, definitely.

Holly Rustick (25:40.716)
Love that. So fun. Okay. If we do some coaching on that call. I'll come talk about being in Academy anytime. get some coaching. That was so good. But yeah, I would definitely recommend moving forward with that. Yeah. We can brainstorm more on coaching calls on that. Cause I think that would, that just sounds like low hanging fruit to me. And that's something you're packing, like you lit up when you were talking about it and your whole family's fire, fire. I just love it. Okay. So, okay. So,

Theresa Fowler (25:42.143)
Okay. I know, yeah, great.

Theresa Fowler (25:49.889)
Yeah!

Theresa Fowler (26:01.151)
Right, yeah.

Holly Rustick (26:09.229)
Any last words before we close out today and where can people find you?

Theresa Fowler (26:15.357)
yeah. So I mean, like I said, I'm, my passion is really helping organizations improve, you know, not only their grant success, but also, their systems and their capacity. cause I really, the organizations I like to work with, I like to come alongside them and help them. You know, grow and put systems in the place rather than just, I mean, I have done it where like, you know, write a grant and then, you know, that's it.

And I know some other people like doing that, but I really like working with organizations and helping them grow and improve their capacity and their ability to, you know, get grants and then have, you know, honestly, larger impacts within their community. So that's what I'm excited about. That's, know, that's one of my focuses for 26 is just to, you know, like I said, get my systems into place, you know, finalize those and, know, get those a little. I don't know, I guess working a little bit better and then,

Yeah, continue to grow and continue to help people.

Holly Rustick (27:15.345)
it. love it. And you are found at your own LinkedIn. Yeah. Where people can find you.

Theresa Fowler (27:18.879)
Yes, yeah. Yep, I am on LinkedIn. And then my email, it's grantsteamcc at gmail.com. So, yeah.

Holly Rustick (27:29.581)
Perfect. And we'll have your show, you'll have the links to in the show notes, but if you guys are listening to this or watching this, I want to just check her out real quick there. You can go there. And yeah, any last words for people who might be considering joining the Academy right now, the doors are open and they may have the similar background to you. A lot of grant writing experience, but want to make a full-time consultancy that doesn't suck all their time. And you know, they're able to have more flexibility.

Theresa Fowler (27:53.122)
Yeah, I would say definitely do it. I mean, the price tag, you know, can be a little sticker shock at times, but there are, well, at least there were, I think there's still different ways to pay. Okay. So, I mean, that's something, you know, definitely I would encourage that if you can't do the, you know, the one time, but you get so much through the Academy, like I said, like the community with the other consultants and business owners.

Holly Rustick (28:04.855)
Payment plans, yeah.

Theresa Fowler (28:20.097)
except for me, the whole business side of it and learning all of that, the templates, the reviews. The other thing too that, I mean, will say that was like super fun and exciting as I met up with Coach Gwen and then some of the other people in the Academy at Grant Summit this last year. So that was really cool to see someone, know, see them and get to interact with them more than just, you know, online or, you know, through video. So, yeah.

Holly Rustick (28:46.049)
Yeah. Yeah. That's exciting. I know she was really excited and she was mentioning it was like all the people, had a little happy hour there. So I didn't go last year, but I'm going to go, I'm planning on going this year and doing more of a place where we can come together and have more structured time together. So I think that's really going to be fun. And we're looking at doing more of those types of things in the future. So, cause just online is convenient. Like let's face it, super convenient.

Theresa Fowler (28:49.377)
That was exciting. That was fun.

Holly Rustick (29:13.291)
Yeah, like having that as the base, but meeting up in person, it just develops different relationships and like stronger relationships. And it's just more fun.

Theresa Fowler (29:20.248)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it is. And you get to know people a little bit more. mean, like, you know, because we had the happy hour and then a couple of us went out to dinner and you could actually like talk a little bit more of like, you know, what it, you know, kind of what's your business model, like what's working, what's not, you know, background, different areas. And then that's the other nice thing too within the academy is, you know, I had someone like reach out to me and they're like, you know, brand, brand new. And I'm like, I don't.

Holly Rustick (29:24.864)
Yeah.

Theresa Fowler (29:43.638)
really work with the brand new ones all that much or I haven't. mean, not to say I can't, but I was like, hey, is someone else interested or someone else have this? This is what they do. So, I mean, that's nice to have that network of people to be able to share that with other people too that have that area of expertise or certain cause area. So.

Holly Rustick (29:50.892)
Yeah.

Holly Rustick (30:02.091)
Yeah, yeah, I know there's a lot of referrals. People get work from people just in the academy just by because they're like, I don't serve this type. Does someone else take this? Right. And people are like, yeah, that's my background. So I love that.

Theresa Fowler (30:07.008)
Mm-hmm.

Theresa Fowler (30:11.753)
Right. Yeah. Or certain things that take a lot of time. Like personally, like I don't like prospecting and researching. you know, yeah, I was like, yeah, exactly. Because I would rather just pay someone or what it's going to take me to do it and everything else. So, you know, that's a nice thing too, to have, you know, kind of that connection of people to be able to refer things to.

Holly Rustick (30:17.685)
Right. Can I hire someone?

Holly Rustick (30:26.263)
Mm-hmm, 100%.

Holly Rustick (30:31.659)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Love it so much. So, all right, we'll see you back inside the Academy. Thank you so much for taking your time today with me and talking about the Academy and your business, which is amazing. So congratulations to everything you're doing, Teresa.

Theresa Fowler (30:46.027)
Thanks so much for having me. Okay, see you soon.

Holly Rustick (30:47.757)
All right, I'll see you back inside the Academy.