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The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising Journey!
- September 14, 2010
- Posted by: Mazarine
- Category: Book Conflict Cultivating donors Events Finding a job Fundraising 101 Grants Leadership Lean Development Marketing Netraising
So on Friday, September 10th, I got my book, The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, printed on the Espresso Book Machine! There’s a reason I look so happy in that picture! This proof represents three years of work.
The Beginning:
I read Tim Ferriss’s “The 4 Hour Workweek” in 2007, and I thought, “How can I take what I know, and help people with it?”
And more importantly, “How can I scale my impact, so that people I never meet will get the benefit of my experience?”
So I decided to write a book. I started calling it “The CD Project,” because originally I wanted it to be a CD series that people could listen to while they were driving, or doing something else.
I started talking about it with my friend Jacob, and he agreed to hold me accountable. We would have weekly calls where I would tell him how the book was coming, and what I was writing.
I would write like a woman possessed. I needed to get all of this information out of my head and onto the page. I took everything I had learned in my development career and started researching to flesh out the project even more.
Then I got a new, stressful job and let the book fall by the wayside.
The Middle:
For a year and a half, I was working at this job where all I could do was work. I wanted to prove myself. And I wanted to succeed at this job. Then I realized that I was spending 80 hours a week at work, and that I had no life.
So I decided that I would get a life. I started teaching encaustic art from my apartment.
That was fun, but it didn’t keep me from staying late at work. So I got on the internet, and started going on dates 3 or 4 nights a week.
I met a lot of diverse kinds of people, and that was fun, but I needed something more. So I joined a band. And a board.
That was fun, but now I realized that I didn’t have time to do the work I said I was going to do for the board, or time to really practice for the band, and eat well, and take care of my house.
So I dropped the board, and I dropped the band. The stress at work never seemed to let up, and there were some personality issues at play there, so I started looking for a new job more actively.
And I started thinking about leaving the city I was living in. Because it just seemed like it was time. I loved my friends, and loved my green, rainy city, but the economy there was downright terrible. Time for a shift.
The End:
I left my job in May, 2009, and biked to freedom. I looked for a job for months, but no interview panned out. I started sitting down and seriously considering what I wanted to do with my life. I moved into an old victorian house with friends. I started drawing illustrations for the book. I started thinking about other ways to make money. In short, I became an entrepreneur.
And the new beginning! Next post tomorrow!
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Hey Mazarine! Yours is a story of extreme intelligence riding on the shoulders of bravery and an undeniable zest for living life in the now! Can’t wait to read the book and follow you in your journey. Your fellow fundraiser and entrepreneur! Ken
Ken, Thank you so much for your kind words!
I would love to get you a copy of the book ASAP! That’s in the works, and should be available by mid-October.
Hope we can work together someday on Games!
You have a great spirit, and I love what you’re doing too!
Mazarine