It’s often worthwhile to think about doing things differently. For most PIs, that would be making many small bets instead of putting all their effort behind one or two bigger ones. We all know the saying, Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. But what does that actually mean for your career -- especially if you’re seeking funding for research?

Produce smaller, more frequent units of effort and communication and see what sticks. With this approach, you don’t have to expend much effort trying to figure out what idea will fit where. You post; distribute; reach out; and then see what your audience bites on. Sometimes it won’t be the idea you expected. That’s fine; it’s information you can and should use.

Let’s elaborate on a few of these.

1) Share more posts—but smaller ones and earlier

Many PIs post online only around a big accomplishment or event. That’s great—definitely post the big things. But there’s a second approach: post more frequently about smaller moments. When you arrive at a conference, post that you’re there, what you’re looking forward to, and the topics or themes you’re excited to learn about—or what you might be contributing. This can trigger a “Let’s meet up—I’m here, too” message before the conference ends. If you post only afterwards, that real-time opportunity is lost.

And you never know which of your posts will be seen by more people—timing, algorithms and chance all play a role here. High-quality content sometimes gets relatively few views. If you post more often, it’s likely that some of your posts will have that wider reach you’re hoping for. And you can experiment with content themes and formats. Try a few words on what you’re working on in the lab, new instrumentation, a method you’re developing, or a slice of daily experience. And, something about who is sponsoring your participation. See which kinds of text-based posts or videos people are most interested in, and double down on those.

2) Create a Research Menu, instead of just one “perfect” idea

Traditionally, the way to approach a potential funder is to study the announcement, think through everything you’ve been doing, make an educated choice on which idea fits best, and then polish that into a multi-page white paper. Alternative: create a Research Menu, a 1-2-page document outlining 3-5 ideas, each in a brief paragraph. Share that and ask: “Would any of these be a fit for your program?” You never know what they’ll pick up on, and it might not be the one you expected. In that case, you’ll be happy you didn’t choose just one and try to do their thinking for them. Show them the options. This is also less work than fully fleshing out one long document that may miss the mark.

3) Increase the number of your weekly outreaches

Move from trying to find the exactly right person to email to contacting more people, more often. If you reach out to ten targets instead of one, most likely a few will reply. You go from there.

Something like this happened to me recently. I wanted to talk to a small-business advisor. I found an organization that looked promising and identified someone there who seemed right, so I sent a LinkedIn message. A week or two passed—no response. Then I realized I needed to contact more people. I emailed someone else in my network and asked for a referral. I was told about the organization’s office hours and how to sign up for a slot. The point: contacting one person was not enough. Even though I was referred back around to the same organization I had originally reached out to, I needed to double my outreach to get to the right information.

In sum: you must test the waters. You’re casting lines to see who bites – on what, and why. Then place your attention there. This is critical because of workload -- you don’t have time to invest heavily in opportunities that could be recognized as dead ends through a few small initial steps.

Try this for the next two weeks:

• Post one small update each week before or during an event;

• Send one Research Menu to five people; and

• Do five brief outreaches (a mix of new contacts and follow-ups).

When you sense traction from one or more of these, that’s when you make the bigger investment.

Happy Fall. 🍂

Keeping moving in research in uncertain times

With yet another potential government shutdown looming, I thought it was a good time to reshare this video from earlier this year. Things may have felt a bit more stable over the last couple months, but moving into a new fiscal year, shutdown or not, will bring a new set of challenges.

When you are ready, here’s how we can help

Need to get your research funded, this year? Check out our 12-week program to get you there.

Check out our storefront where you can access our free Unlocking DOD Funding for University Researchers course and other resources, including for faculty applicants.

Ready to book a call to discuss how our program can support faculty at your institution? Let’s chat!