Women in Business: Erika Farester

By Taylor Jones

Each month, we strive to inspire you with our blog posts. Specifically, we want to lift up other female-run businesses to celebrate their accomplishments as well as share their advice. Meet this month’s Women in Business feature: Erika Farester. who owns Farester Consulting, LLC, based out of Homer City, PA, with her husband Brian. Erika went to Mercyhurst University for both her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Master of Science in Administration of Justice. After working in the Federal courts system for a few years, she decided to come to Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to earn her Ph.D. in Administration and Leadership Studies, which is also where she met Brian.

It was great sitting down with Erika to learn more about her journey and her passion for grant writing. It’s not often that you meet someone who follows an organic path in front of them and enjoys it as much as Erika does. The greatest part about her passion is that she is helping nonprofits help those in need in our community and the greater Pittsburgh area, with the potential of helping nonprofits anywhere through the use of technology. Erika and Brian work hard to ensure positivity is effectively spread throughout the world. Read more below to see how Erika’s business grew and how she and Brian manage their humanitarian ways while also being parents.

Planful: Tell us about yourself, your background.

Erika: Yeah! I run Farester Consulting with my husband. We work with nonprofits, public agencies. The main thing is we want to make those organizations more effective and more efficient. We do a lot of grant writing and grant reporting. We also really like the organizational side, coming in and helping the organization do a strategic plan or board trainings and development. If you have an active board, you’re going to have a better non-profit.

My husband is certified now through Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO), and he can be a consultant for someone who wants to get their accreditation for their Standards of Excellence program. So we can help making sure the right policies are in place.

P: You’re passionate about nonprofit work and helping them succeed. What made you get into this business?

E: I worked for the Federal Court system for five or six years. While I was doing my Master’s, I started working at the Civic Institute at Mercyhurst University. They did a lot of grant writing and consultation and evaluation for the non-profits, the court systems, and different places in Erie. And it was the only job I’ve ever had that I loved going to every day. I never was upset that I had to go to work. Once I left the courts, I decided to pursue my PhD at IUP. One of my classmates had recommended my first client to me, since she knew I wanted to get into grant writing. So that’s what started it! As we gained more clients, [my husband and I] decided to turn this work into a business.

P: It seems like your business grew organically, but what were your biggest challenges when starting Farester Consulting? Now?

E: One of the challenges is finding nonprofits that need our help, and also convincing nonprofits that there is so much more that we can do than just write grants. That organizational side is important, having a strong board is key to being an effective nonprofit. Our clients have [referred us to] other clients.

We do try to be reasonable [in pricing] with our nonprofits. I think one of the concerns nonprofits have is that consultants sometimes don’t do what they say they are going to do. They’ll pay this large amount of money – which for nonprofits is hard to do – and get nothing in return. That’s the one thing we love to tell our nonprofits: we do what we say we are going to do. We want to see them successful.

P: What motivates you?

E: It’s been an organic thing. For some reason I love to sit in the background and see the changes occur. Like with our first client – the changes they’ve had, the growth they have had. They’re working on obtaining their own building now for their programming. And they’re serving a lot of kids. It’s nice to be able to give back [to that] with the skills that I have. Let me sit in the background and write the grant, do the study that you need, or whatever you need to do to show people what that nonprofit is doing. That’s one of the things we have been talking about recently: storytelling. We want to tell people the story of these nonprofits so their board can be stronger and so that people want to give them money for their mission(s).

For my husband, on his side, he’s a retired major from the Army Reserves, and he had served in Iraq. While he was in Iraq, he just knew, if he got back he wanted to do something good, something to counter what he had seen there. He wants to put something positive back into the community.

P: What would you like people to know about your business?

E: Definitely more about the organizational services we provide. I think a lot of times people think of us as grant writers. But, that planning and board training is key to bringing money into a nonprofit. I think what happens is people get put on boards and no one ever tells them what they should be doing. So people show up to board meetings, and they leave. Helping people tweak that with their board, and giving them a Board 101 Training so that their board members are more active is also a part of what we do.

Strategic planning, too, is important, even before grant funding. Funders often want to know what is expected to happen this year or next year, so having those thoughts of where your nonprofit is going is helpful. And a lot of nonprofits are started out of passion, not necessarily with the business side in mind. So, getting more into that planning side can really help a nonprofit see where they are going and help them grow.

Even the evaluation piece is important. What can you track to prove to people that you are doing what you say you are doing? Can you report back on your numbers? How many people are you serving? Because these are other things funders are looking for.

P: What are your best time management tips?

E: I’m probably the worst person to ask about time management tips [smiles]. I’m a procrastinator by nature. Although [this nature] helps, because often you’re finishing up grants the day before they are due. No matter when we start, we’re still finishing it the day before it’s due. Which is fine, I think it’s kind of a blessing that I work well last-minute without being too stressed.

The one thing I have found to be really effective to manage the mom stuff and the appointments and the grant work is just my to-do list that I use every week. I have a list of items that have to be done and I have items that would be nice if I got to them. It just helps me feel like I have control [laughs]. Plus it gets down anything I have rolling around my head, that’s probably the best thing.

P: Is it challenging finding a work/life balance?

E: I don’t even know if a balance exists, I’m not entirely sure that is possible [laughs]. We do have a daughter, she just turned four, who is home with me most of the time. So I work from home, but also have to be a mom. It’s getting easier as she gets older, which is making it easier to slowly grow the business. We also needed to finish school first.

P: Best advice you’ve ever heard?

E: I think that idea of being present in what you are doing. It’s something I always struggle with, especially being a mom and trying to enjoy everything and keeping grounded and paying attention to what is happening while not worrying about things that have happened. I have a success partner that I work with, and she really pushes me to do this, to be present and to stay focused on what I am really doing.

P: What are your best selling services?

E: We kind of do a mixture. For certain clients we’re just doing the grant writing and evaluations. For some we’re doing more board training and surveys for their board members or clients, so it’s more of that research and evaluation side. Now that Brian has the PANO certification, we’ll probably be helping some clients go through their Standards of Excellence program.

P: Any advice for other young female business owners or any business for that matter?

E: It can be tricky, but I think surrounding yourself with other women in business. I’m part of the Indiana Women in Networking group and its been great learning from each of them what’s working and what’s not working and their struggles. It’s so helpful having that positive group of people to go to.

The other thing is that, if you want to do something, go find someone who has done it well! And see how they got it done. How did that happen for them? And just kind of replicate the steps that they took. There are so many good books, too, to help with this.

We’re glad we got some time to chat with Erika candidly about passionate work, what it’s like to balance school, work, and motherhood, and helping nonprofits make a difference. For more information about Erika and Brian’s work, check out their website here.