We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristi Scott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kristi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I would have started my business sooner. I had dreamed of going out on my own for years – really since childhood I felt like starting a business. I did some freelance work in my late 20s but never felt like I could settle on a niche. So I kept going to jobs and industries I could fall back on. I was in the nonprofit space for over a decade but then in 2020 I got some opportunities to go into a new industry – tech sales to nonprofit customers. I thought for a moment I would do it forever but realized I wanted to become an independent nonprofit consultant. I got my MBA to gain more credibility (as if my years of experience weren’t enough!) and worked in sales for a bit longer. I planned to stick to sales jobs a little longer until I got pregnant with my now 15 month old son. The company I was at during that time turned out to be a trainwreck. So after taking a few months off, I started to plot my business. It wasn’t until my partner convinced me to just put myself out there as a consultant last August 2023, that made the jump. Giving birth was a huge catalyst – if I can grow an entire human and give birth to them, starting a business felt easier. I had a lot of fear still but I was ready because I knew it would be worth the hard work. I wish I had started in my early 30s but such is life. I’m grateful I didn’t start later. I’ll be celebrating 1 year officially in business on August 24.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started in the nonprofit industry in high school – my love of service started when I joined Key Club and did volunteer projects until my senior year. I became a camp counselor for a nonprofit overnight summer camp. I grew up going to the camp and I got into a leadership program there. I continued volunteering and working for nonprofits in college and throughout my 20s. Then I got into the fundraising part of nonprofit work and fell in love – especially the marketing piece of raising money. I worked for a shelter serving unhoused families and knew I wanted to keep doing meaningful work on the marketing side. In 2020, I took a turn into tech sales to nonprofits and learned a ton about customer service and how to approach business decisions.

I did so much to support my nonprofit customers when I did sales, I knew I wanted to continue that while being able to provide direct service to them after the sale. So I chose a niche – email marketing – and decided to offer my services on LinkedIn last year. I help social justice, environmental justice, and human services organizations with their email fundraising campaign strategy and copywriting. I mostly work with small team to help them simplify and create consistent email content. I also support other nonprofit consultants with their email marketing – not something I ever planned to do but when you network with other consultants, they ask for help.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Networking with other nonprofit consultants! Most of my large clients have come from the connections I’ve made with other business owners – online and in person at conferences. It’s also great for my morale because I get to “choose my coworkers” without the office politics. I joined a business coaching program less than two months after starting my business, so I gained a network pretty quickly from that. I now frequent three private online spaces for nonprofit consultants.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I love this question because many underresourced people can be intimidated when someone has a “successful” business story. But everyone has different paths to get started and sometimes you don’t have a choice but to side hustle first. I worked in tech sales for about two years and had a couple of large commission payouts that supported my family as I started my business. I also have a partner who works a full-time “traditional” job and has health insurance. So far, we don’t rely on my income and I can reinvest it in conferences and online networking. Some folks call what I did “bootstrapping” and I call it being financially lucky.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kristipscott.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristipscott/

Image Credits

Camryn Clair Photography took all the professional photos including my personal photo.