Jennifer E Goldman, Nonprofit Consultant

I spent five years as Executive Director for a small nonprofit organization in Northern Virginia and I constantly felt like I was running behind the 8-ball…and never catching up. It felt as if I could do that job 24/7 and never have any less to do. I was the proverbial chicken running around with its head cut off. And then I started my own company. Foolishly thinking I’d be a better boss than my board. Turns out that 8-ball scenario was all my own doing and that damn thing kept on rolling ahead of me, always just beyond reach. So I stopped running. After a year in business, working seven days a week, at all hours, I sat down (though I have no idea where I found the time) and thought to myself, “I did NOT start a business to run myself into the ground!” And the changes began. It was time to slow my roll. Let someone younger and faster go chasing magic balls. I’ma sit right here and figure out a better way. At that point, a winery was one of my clients and they needed a ton of ...

  Another new year is staring me right in the face. It’s like a blank canvas just waiting to be colored in. Only, I’m no artist. I’m an entrepreneur. My brushes and paints are ideas, strategies, methods and actions. It’s a whole year to accomplish all the exciting things I’ve been mulling over in my mind the past two months. It’s time to scale this ship! I launched my company in 2015, on April Fools’ Day. Foolish? Maybe, but it’s been a fabulous adventure. As my experience expanded my business evolved from community relations to management consulting to nonprofit management consulting. I’ve cultivated a niche for myself that’s fun and comfortable, fairly unique but in good company with other professionals who are passionate about advancing nonprofit organizations. I love everything about my business. I love the quiet moments alone in my home office; blogging, creating videos, publishing content and resources of value for nonprofit leaders. I love the business networking oppor...

We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how about you? Do you remember that from high school sports games? We may have rolled our eyes at the simplicity of the cheerleader chant but add a couple of decades and some of us are running around with this mantra in our heads. We're the ones with entrepreneurial spirit. We don't call ourselves business owners - although most of us are, in fact, business owners - we call ourselves entrepreneurs. And we've got spirit. How can you tell an entrepreneur from a regular business owner? How do you know if you are one? There are too many differences to count but I'm going to give you 13 of them. Why 13 and not a nice even 10 or a round 15? Well, that's #1 on the list: 1. We don't pay attention to societal norms and expectations. You say 13 is a cursed number. You won't even allow it to be a number on an elevator button. Entrepreneurs laugh and make 13 their new lucky number. We're ok with going against th...