I’m going to do something incredibly indulgent for this blog post and tell you about something nerdy that has been bringing me a lot of joy.

As y’all know, I’ve been looking for work. In the meantime, I’ve been contracting on three main fronts:

1. Security hardening, including implementation work (know what needs doing but don’t have capacity to get it done? I will get it over the finish line)
2. Tool implementation and training (think a tool would help your business but not sure how to set it up? I will get it set up based on your specifications and then train you)
3. Organizational theory and scaling guidance (nerd out about which practices make sense, when)

So far, I’ve helped a network org transfer fully out of the Google ecosystem to Proton, Tresorit, and AirTable. I’ve gotten a technophobic ED of a different org onto a password manager, ending an existential threat to the funding organization. I’ve helped a lawyer automate a lot of her data entry with Clio so she can focus on clients. I’ve nerded out with the ED of another nonprofit about how to scale his organization as he moves from his most recent successful phase into 10x growth of participation. Next up I’m helping implement a retention & deletion policy for two different orgs. Plus a bunch of other stuff! Fun!

But how am I doing, financially, with all these moving pieces? I created two pieces to help me track things: a projection of contracting load, and a projection of overall expenses and financial sources.

• For the contracting load, I used AirTable because of how much cross referencing and automation it allowed me to do. This is where I keep track of clients, contracts, expenses, and income. It even has how I’m doing against goals, and has projections for income out into the future. It’s fabulous and I’ll show a templatized version to you if you ask.
• for the overall financial health, I used Google Sheets because I want to use formulas in some cells until I adjust them for actuals. I estimated monthly spend based on known shared account contributions and historical numbers for each month based on how I tend to live life. I then listed out sources of money — unemployment when I don’t have contract work, contract work, savings of various sorts. I then anticipate burndown rate on each source of money based on projected expenses, and when I’ll start pulling from a different source as needed.

These were SO MUCH FUN to build, AND it gives me a sense of predictability and stability in uncertain times. I now have more confidence that I can keep myself and my family afloat, and have more ease in having a good time on occasion because I know where I’m at with the numbers.