Latest / The Touch of a Mustang / What Nonprofits Get Wrong About Competition with Rob Harter | Episode 60

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What Nonprofits Get Wrong About Competition with Rob Harter | Episode 60 · The Touch of a Mustang

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Sometimes it is a bit of an ego thing, and there's times where
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we think we need to be the answer to the problem that we
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see out there. Whereas if we get shifted again
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and say it's not about us, it's really about the mission.
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And this is true, by the way. If you're leading a large
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nonprofit organization or if you're starting something from
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scratch, the key to really good, effective leadership is to
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quickly realize it's not about you, right?
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It's about the mission. And if that is your perspective,
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you're going to be successful anywhere you go because it's not
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going to be about you. It's not going to be about ego.
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It's going to really be about what's best for the horses.
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How can we best get the most resources to take care of the
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majority of horses in our community that really need help?
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And if that's your driving force, ironically, people are
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drawn to that even more, right? Sometimes, and even the best of
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us, you know, when we have a passion for whatever 'cause it
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is, sometimes our own ego can move in there, like you said.
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And sometimes people can pick up on that, that it's a little bit
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more about you getting things done rather than the mission
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itself. And that can't be a pitfall for
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people. And so I think you're right,
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continuing to remind yourself and have the mindset of it's
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about the mission. It's not about me.
1:06
So whatever role I can play to accomplish that mission, that's
1:10
success. There are healers on this planet
1:13
with the power to soften the suffering of mankind if they
1:16
have remained in the recesses of the world, abused, discarded and
1:20
labeled as trash. This is the touch of a Mustang.
1:24
I am your host, Shalise Clough, and I'm here to tell the story
1:28
of wild horses, Mustangs and the humans who are discovering and
1:32
sharing their gifts while working to protect their
1:35
well-being and preserve their spirit so this divine power
1:39
won't be lost. Join us on this quest with the
1:43
Wild Mustang. Rob, thanks so much for being
1:51
here on the Touch of a Mustang podcast.
1:53
You are a little bit of a different guest than the guests
1:56
I typically have not based in horses, but I but I wanted to
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have you on here to talk about how people who really want to do
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things to help horses and to help the humans that are
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interacting with them can effectively run their
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nonprofits. So maybe you can start by giving
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a little introduction of yourself and what you do, and
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then we can really dig into what makes a good, successful and
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effective. Yeah, no, great.
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Thanks for having me on the show today.
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Honored to be here. My background real quickly, I've
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been a little over 30 years now in nonprofit leadership, social
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impact leadership and absolutely loved it.
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I I'm very much a driven as a mission kind of driven person, a
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purpose driven person. And so the nonprofit world fits
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well with that because that's really what to me what separates
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nonprofits out are these organizations are very mission
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driven. There's something that people
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are passionate about. They see a problem in the world
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perhaps, or an issue that needs to be addressed.
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And so they form a nonprofit, right, to address those issues
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and try to accomplish great things, you know, in order to
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meet those needs. Yeah.
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So that's been my experience in the past.
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And so now I'm a coach and consultant.
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So I work with lots of different nonprofit organizations and
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individual leaders. So I do individual coaching, I
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do group coaching, but I also do consulting with organizations.
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Primary three areas, fundraising, strategic
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development, and then leadership development are the three areas.
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And then if people are listening, ironically, I've been
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doing more and more work with businesses and business leaders
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because I do think even though my experience certainly has been
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in the social impact and nonprofit sphere, leadership is
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leadership at the end of the day, right?
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When you lead people that there's a lot of commonalities
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that crossover to both sectors. And so I found that to be true
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and it's been really fun. Just really enjoyed it.
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I wanted to have you on because I think, you know, you are the
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type of person that a lot of my audiences where they have a
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mission, they have something they really want to accomplish.
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And they're, you know, heart and soul are really dedicated to
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these causes. And it's sometimes difficult to
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figure out how to do that. And especially I would say the
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money aspect can be a tricky one because I think a lot of us
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would be OK, like, we don't need money.
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Let's just all help the world be a better place.
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But that's not the reality we live in.
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Exactly. Let's let's talk some about that
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and what advice you would give nonprofits either who are
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struggling or starting up and let's maybe talk with the
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foundation. How does someone go from having
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this mission or this purpose, this feeling of calling that
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they want to do something to help the world?
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What are some of the best steps they can take to move from that
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into developing an organization that is truly moving into action
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and helping the areas that they want to I?
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You know, often answer that question by saying this and it's
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not ritual with me. Actually, I had a guest on my
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show. He had this phrase.
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I thought he was so right. Passion is not enough.
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And so in other words, just having passion for a project,
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passion for a need something in your community or in this case,
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you know, it's more so specifically the passion is
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great. You, you want the passion, no
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doubt about it. It's just that it's not enough
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by itself. So passion is a good place to
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start, but then you want to move towards a plan and then a
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process. So to me, start with the
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passion. If you don't have passion, it's
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going to be really hard to keep keep going.
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But once you have your passion, now you got to create a plan and
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then create a process to accomplish your plan.
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So those are the three PS if you will start with passion, then go
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to plan, then really a process of how you're going to
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accomplish it. So what do you do?
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Well, I think you start with three key areas.
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Come up and develop a clear mission.
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What is the mission you're trying to accomplish, right?
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And get that articulated. There's lots of resources out
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there. You can hire a coach if you want
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a consultant too, but or talk to people that are doing it.
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Lots of resources online, of course, but come up with a clear
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mission statement and then talk about a vision like if
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everything came out and the dream came true, what is this
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vision? What does this vision look like
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for you, you know, 13530 years down the road.
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And then create your values because your values will be
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actually your guardrails of what you decide to do and how you
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want to go about developing this nonprofit organization you're
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wanting to start. And then you start.
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That's your basis and then you start putting together your
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foundational documents, you start gathering people around
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you to help you shape this and make sure it's really clear
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what's in your mind is actually clear to other people.
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And so I think those are the first steps is getting that
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developed. And then of course, on the
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formal legal side, if you're going to start a nonprofit or a
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foundation even, there are some legal steps that you need to
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take, creating a 5O1C3 for example, getting your bylaws
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laid down. Again, lots of resources out
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there you can help get help with or again, you can call a coach
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or somebody to help you walk through all those steps.
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So those things are very doable. But I think the really that if
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people are listening and thinking, OK, what's my passion?
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OK, I've got the passion, what's my plan and then what's my
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process? Those at least start there and
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then all these other things will start, you know, rolling into
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place, so to speak. Now here's the one thing I would
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say going to your original question of what's going to keep
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this going? So it's not just an idea or a
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passion or or a desire, but actually turns into something.
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Really you have to in this world with nonprofits, unless you have
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a lot of money or independently wealthy, then it's different.
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But for most of us, you have to develop a plan where people can
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financially support what you're doing, right?
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That's really what holds back. I'd say most nonprofits, they
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have a great vision and they may even have a good plan, but if
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they don't have the financial support to get behind it, it
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doesn't last. And so that is a big piece.
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And a lot of people that's intimidating.
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It doesn't need to be, but I think that's intimidating for
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people. We can unpack a little bit more
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about that, but coming up with a good sustainable financial plan
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is to me, really important early on.
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That is part of that plan. And then really get in the
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process by which you actually accomplish your goals because
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that's just part of it. You know, unless you're selling
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something again, which again, nonprofits don't really sell
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much, it's usually, again, someone gets behind it
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financially to get it going. So I think that's a big piece.
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And so I think that's something we can talk about more.
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Yeah. And let's kind of dig into the
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fundraising finances aspect of it right now.
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Do you think that part of the struggle, you said it's one of
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the things that stops a lot of people from maybe pursuing their
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purpose? Is it that there aren't finances
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out there available for it? Or is it more that people aren't
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understanding how to get in to make it sustainable?
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That is such a good. I think it's a little bit of
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both. I think I would say there are
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people out there for sure, but I think you need to find them and
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you need to be able to articulate a mission and a
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vision that's compelling to the people that really have a heart
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to want us to get behind you. What I often find is when you
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have a passion or desire and you're really excited about
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something. And here maybe as an example,
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like you say, you run across a restaurant you just absolutely
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love and you just can't stop talking about it.
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You tell all your friends, you tell all your networks, you tell
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your community, you tell your neighborhood.
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I found this restaurant, you got to check it out.
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It's that kind of same passion that you're like, hey, I've got
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this idea. I really want to take care of
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horses and and you're really excited.
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You start telling everybody about it along the way.
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People are probably going to initially get behind you because
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they just like you and they're friends of yours.
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They love your passion. People are drawn to passion and
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this really idea. Now you have a purpose, but what
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I think differentiates people is really being able to articulate
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here again is my plan. Here's how I'm going to
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accomplish this. And then to take that to people
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that actually have means and the ability to support a 'cause
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people I found that have money and really like to give to
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nonprofit causes and give to mission organizations.
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They really want to see something where there's
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something laid out where their investment, if they will.
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By the way, I think that's how people see it.
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It's an investment in a mission. They want their investment to
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have a good result, right? Because they could give their
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money in a lot of places. And so I think the more you can
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come to them, doesn't have to be all 100% nailed down, really a
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clear plan and a process by which you're going to accomplish
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things, then you present that to people.
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And I, I think the confidence goes up and you're not going to
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just attract people that like you and kind of our friends of
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yours and excite you about your passion, but they're actually
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believing that you can get this done.
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So I think that's the difference of how you get people on board.
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They're really going to have confidence that when I invest in
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you, it's actually going to go somewhere and I'm going to see
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2-3 years down the road. Well, you've actually got this
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up and going and this is great. How else can I help?
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And guess what those people that initially supported you will
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come alongside and actually I think given another gift and now
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you've got ongoing sustainability because you've
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kind of proven yourself, if you will.
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So I think it people are out there, but I think it's how you
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approach them. So that's why I'd answer kind of
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both. It's having a good plan and
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being able to do that and articulate that well and then
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you'll attract the people that you need.
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What are some of the best ways to find those people in your
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opinion or from what you have seen in your work?
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Yeah, that's a great point. I would, I'd say the world
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you're talking about is a is a little bit new to me, but I'm
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guessing like every, you know, every niche organization or
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where there's a passion project of, of all types, right?
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There's from affordable housing to food insecurity to taking
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care of horses, right? There's all these great causes
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out there. Typically there is a community
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around that cause and that could be online through social media,
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that could be through websites that could be there's a
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gathering of people in your community once a month there.
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There's a lot of different ways, but I guarantee there's a
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community gather around that 'cause that to me is your first
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step is go to where these communities are gathering that
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again, it could be online or in person and begin to meet people
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and develop those relationships and can make those connections.
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Because then then once you start developing that community,
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understand. Because here's the other thing I
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found that I think is helpful is understand that you may have a
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passion. Do something.
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Maybe you start your own sanctuary.
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Find out what the need is by getting in the community because
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it could be there's something else in the community that has a
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bigger need than maybe what you initially thought because maybe
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someone else is doing boarding of the horses.
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But maybe you could do more education or training of people
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and how to take care of horses or whatever.
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So you may find there's a little bit more of a niche that you can
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meet versus just doing what you think.
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And maybe that when you do your research, if you will, by
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getting in these communities and really understanding what are
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what's already being done, then you determine what's not being
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done. Because that's another thing I
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think nonprofit that's maybe with their passion.
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Again, by not coming up with a clear plan of process.
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Part of that is understanding what is a need that's not being
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met yet that I think that I could probably meet with the
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resources I have and the passion of the purpose that I have.
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What is that area that no one else right now is meeting in my
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community? Maybe that's where you start.
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And so I think the best way is just to connect, do research,
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meet people, ask as many questions as possible.
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And then the second piece of that is, is you start asking
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people that have already done this successfully.
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Go call a bunch of people, set up meetings if they're in your
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area, you know, take them out to coffee or have lunch and say,
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tell me all about how you got this going.
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How did you sell it? How did you grow it?
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How have you made it sustainable?
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Become a learner and get as much information as you can that's
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going to help you avoid, you know, common mistakes.
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It'll help you avoid duplicating services, so I think that's the
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next step I would take as well. What are some of the mistakes
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that you see being made as far as funding and sustainability
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for nonprofits and things that people are maybe doing that are
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the barriers that are causing their nonprofits to fail because
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of the financial aspect of it? Yeah, that's a great question.
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I think probably a fall, there's a lot, but I think it falls into
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two categories. I think number one, kind of what
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I just building off what I just mentioned, they provide
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something that is maybe a duplication of services.
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So as much as you may have a lot of passion and maybe more
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passion than the person down the street, once donors get behind
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it, they may give you an initial amount of money.
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But then once they realize, oh wait, well, this group over here
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is doing the same thing you're doing.
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Did you not do your research is what they think.
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They may not tell you that. So I think do your research,
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make sure you know exactly why you are really called to do this
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and why you why should it be you at this moment in this community
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to provide this service. So once you've really wrestled
13:49
that down and have a clear answer, that really is going to
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help you not bump into that in the future.
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Because again, I've see a lot of people, there's so much
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excitement and passion, people just can get behind it because
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of that simple passion, but they won't stay behind it.
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They won't sustainably get behind it over time.
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And then secondly, I think what often people that have this
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passion, they're entrepreneurial and they, they want to get this
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nonprofit going. They don't think through long
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term coaching clients. I encourage people to think at
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least three years in advance, if not five years and sometimes
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more even. The reason being is it takes a a
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while. You have to realize it's not
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going to be a flip of the switch and you're going to get all
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these people coming out of the woodwork to support you.
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It's take a lot of work and the analogy often uses you think
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about a rocket and how much power it takes to get say, you
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know, a space rocket, if you will, off the launchpad.
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There's a tremendous amount of energy to get that just off the
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launchpad, right? Once it's in the air, there's
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actually less energy and you just kind of slightly, you have
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to adjust and you have to, you know, move it slightly, but it's
14:51
typically already built in. It's really the energy is
14:54
getting it off the launchpad. And so the analogy would be
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there is a tremendous amount of energy getting a nonprofit off
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the ground, but it's going to take longer than you think.
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So have at least a three-year plan.
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And then once you get this off up and going and you do have a
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sustainable plan, you'll find that you're like, wow, it's not
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as hard now that you've been in it three years as it was at the
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beginning. And so I think under estimating
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how difficult it is, is often where people fail and they just
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or they just give up. They're like, this is too hard
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or they didn't think through how they're going to sustain this.
15:24
One other maybe example would be helpful.
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I was, I've been coaching, actually I'm coaching someone
15:28
right now, and he really had this passion for developing a
15:32
program to reach kids that are just stuck either in the foster
15:36
system or they just had a really difficult family of origin
15:38
experience. And that's impacting their
15:40
education there. It's impacting their behavior.
15:43
They've been in and out of juvie.
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So he's really focused on early elementary and junior high kids,
15:47
even into high school, but he was a teacher at the time.
15:49
So he just said, OK, I'm going to start this and see where it
15:52
goes. But he kept his day job, if you
15:55
will, and, and so that he reached out to me, he wanted a
15:57
coach to help get this going. And it was really good to walk
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through. How do we develop a plan where
16:02
you can keep growing this nonprofit, but stay where you
16:05
are, but keep finding the opportunities where you have
16:08
more freedom. And then you have to really look
16:11
at your time very carefully so that all the, in a sense, your
16:14
free time for a period of time, all your free time is going to
16:16
be focused on getting this nonprofit up and going.
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Because of going back to the analogy, it's going to take a
16:20
lot of energy to get this going. Well, we've been meeting for
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over three years now. He finally this past year, on
16:26
this past fall, he was able to go full time with his nonprofit
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and he's still now kind of help consult as a teacher.
16:33
But he made that transition and now it's starting to take off.
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And it's actually really exciting now because people are
16:39
seeing this, they're seeing more traction, they're seeing he has
16:42
a plan, he's stuck with it, you know, So there you go.
16:45
That's an example of, I think, being realistic and wise of how
16:50
long it's going to take and how much work it's going to take.
16:52
Yeah, that is great. That is a big leap to make it
16:54
from personally funding it to being able to make it into an
16:58
organization that's funding itself.
17:00
That's awesome. It seems like a lot of times
17:02
there would be a lot of energy and hype right when something
17:04
starts up and then that might fade and you get into the TDM of
17:08
the everyday work and challenges and struggles before it maybe
17:12
become something that is well known, widespread, more
17:15
sustainable. What advice do you have for the
17:17
people that maybe get into that space where it's after the
17:21
excitement's worn off, Maybe your friends aren't donating
17:24
anymore because they can't afford to donate every time, all
17:27
those types of things? What advice do you have to kind
17:30
of get through that patch where it's probably a bit of building
17:33
more than anything else? Yeah, that is it.
17:35
You know, that is a great question.
17:37
It does happen all the time. So I would say a couple of
17:39
things #1 surround yourself with a one or two people, maybe a
17:42
group even better of those who just believe in you regardless
17:46
and just to support you. So you need some support.
17:49
So get that support around you to encourage you when you just
17:51
don't even believe in yourself almost or you're really doubting
17:54
yourself having people around you to say, no, you can do this.
17:57
I remember that passion you had. Now, if you've done this for a
18:00
period of time. So I will say this, say you've
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been at it for five years and I'm thinking so longer than the
18:05
kind of the typical launch time and you still haven't moved the
18:08
needle, so to speak. And you've kind of asked all
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your friends, you've asked all those people that you had who
18:12
would maybe get behind it. There could be a time where you
18:15
have to re kind of analyze maybe what vision and passion that I
18:19
have. Maybe this is not the right
18:22
path, but you still have a passion and vision.
18:25
So it may be a time to recalibrate and reframe how can
18:28
I accomplish what I really want to do, But maybe it's not the
18:31
direction I thought initially I was going to to make the impact.
18:34
So in other words, maybe if your job does not, maybe to start
18:37
something from scratch where you're the CEO and executive
18:40
director, but maybe your job is to do more advocacy or get more
18:43
education and training. And maybe it's to join somebody
18:46
else who's already that's something going.
18:48
And so maybe that's part of it is that you can bring your
18:50
expertise. It's the same passion and the
18:53
end goal. If you're again, you're trying
18:54
to take care of horses and rehabilitate them or provide,
18:57
you know, equine therapy or whatever it is, maybe you
19:00
actually can even do better by joining somebody else who has
19:03
other skills or they already have an established foundation.
19:07
Because I have found that too. Sometimes people have the
19:10
passion, but maybe they don't have the either the training
19:12
experience or time. They just don't have the time or
19:15
potentially this, the gifting to really be that CEO, to get it
19:18
off the ground, that starter, that entrepreneur.
19:20
But they have a clear passion to do something.
19:23
But if they work with somebody else and actually maybe join
19:26
somebody else, they actually find that that is a better fit
19:29
and they just thrive. Here's one thing, it's not
19:31
exactly what you're getting to, but this is, I think it's
19:33
related. I've had a lot of people on my
19:34
show, the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast that are talking about
19:37
mergers of nonprofits. It happens in the business world
19:40
all the time, but for whatever reason in the nonprofit world, I
19:43
think there's a fear that if I merge or if I join somebody else
19:48
I failed or something or the organization I failed, it just
19:51
didn't quite work. I don't think that's the case.
19:53
I think sometimes it they're just you hit a reality check
19:57
where if you really want to accomplish your overall goal.
20:00
It just could be that having two people come together and sharing
20:02
resources is going to be more effective in the long run.
20:05
So that your goal is actually accomplished just means your
20:07
role may be different to accomplish that same goal.
20:11
And so being open to that, I think is something that could be
20:14
really helpful because certainly there's no shame in merging.
20:17
In fact, to do it all the time. And more and more nonprofits are
20:20
doing it ironically after COVID, when a lot of people just lost
20:24
their funding or people just couldn't fund like they used to.
20:27
And now, of course, this past year, we've seen a lot of
20:29
federal cuts with a lot of larger nonprofits, right?
20:33
And they've really struggled to manage, you know, basically the
20:35
the funding gap that they just couldn't make up.
20:38
And so people are considering merging all the time because at
20:41
the end of the day, right, that the goal and the mission typical
20:44
for people is big, bigger than just your role in it, right?
20:48
And I think overcoming, you know, maybe you don't have to be
20:50
at the center of it, but if your goal really is to take care of
20:53
horses, you can still accomplish that in a lot of different ways.
20:56
And so I think that may be another thing where you just, if
21:00
you have that sense, you've been at it for five years, you've
21:03
done everything you possibly could and it just hasn't worked
21:06
out, Don't give up all together and just get discouraged.
21:08
Again, if you're passionate about passionate about horses,
21:11
find another way to get involved and just maybe a different role.
21:15
Yeah, that's great. I think that's something we
21:16
don't necessarily talk about a lot.
21:18
Not everybody has to be the founder of a nonprofit and can
21:22
still be a leader within the community, helping to achieve
21:26
their purposes. So let's kind of talk, move over
21:29
to that. Let's talk a little bit about
21:31
mindset. I think the ego can kind of get
21:33
involved in me. And like you talked about, I do
21:36
this, I'm failing and we kind of are losing sight of the mission
21:41
that we started with, whatever that might be.
21:43
And instead, you know, kind of get in those headspaces of self
21:46
doubt and questioning ourselves and what we're doing.
21:49
And maybe we should just go back to our day job and forget about
21:52
this thing that we feel like is important.
21:55
So talk more about that, about the mindset, about how we can
21:58
really find our place in the nonprofit world and make sure
22:02
that our mind is helping us instead of hindering us.
22:05
Oh, that's a good question. And I think, yeah, you said it
22:07
well. I think sometimes it is a bit of
22:09
an ego thing and and we all, I can fall prey to it for sure.
22:13
I think there's times where we think we need to be the answer
22:16
to the problem that we see out there.
22:18
And in this case, we're taking care of horses.
22:20
Whereas if we get shifted again and say it's not about us, it's
22:23
really about the mission. And this is true, by the way, if
22:26
you're leading a large nonprofit organization or if you're
22:29
starting something from scratch, I think a key to really good,
22:32
effective leadership is to quickly realize it's not about
22:35
you, right? It's about the mission.
22:37
And if that is your perspective, you're going to be successful
22:41
anywhere you go because you're going to really, it's not going
22:43
to be about you. So it's not going to be about
22:45
ego. It's going to really about
22:46
what's best for the horses in this case, right?
22:48
How can we best get the most resources to take care of the
22:51
majority of horses in our community that really need help?
22:54
And if that's your driving force onically, people are drawn to
22:57
that even more, right? Sometimes, and even the best of
23:00
us, you know, when we have a passion for whatever 'cause it
23:03
is, sometimes our own ego can wait and move in there, like you
23:07
said, and sometimes can. Maybe people can pick up on
23:09
that, that it's a little bit more about you getting things
23:12
done rather than the mission itself.
23:14
And that can be a pitfall for people.
23:16
And so I think you're right, continuing to remind yourself
23:18
and have the mindset of it's about the mission.
23:21
It's not about me. So whatever role I can play to
23:24
accomplish that mission, that's success.
23:27
And if it happens to be you're the founder and CEO, great.
23:29
If it happens to be you're, no, you're the support role or
23:31
marketing person, you're the program director, great.
23:34
Because at the end of the day, it's the mission that gets
23:37
accomplished, whatever role you may play.
23:39
Yeah. Do you have any advice for
23:41
people to try and establish what may be their best role would be
23:46
within a nonprofit or whatever passion that they might have?
23:49
Yeah, that's a great yes. Two ways I would say that is,
23:52
you've probably heard this phrase before.
23:54
The best predictor of future success is past success.
23:58
So look back. What have you done up to this
24:00
point? And not that, you know,
24:01
nonprofit for profit, but like, what skill sets have you been
24:04
really good at? This could go all the way back
24:06
when you're in high school and college even.
24:07
Like, what were you always good at?
24:09
What was something that brought you success?
24:10
What came easily to you? You often figure out your
24:13
strengths pretty quickly based on that.
24:15
And my guess is you have a record, even if it's applied to
24:19
different jobs or different settings, you'll have a skill
24:22
set and, and something that's would be considered a strength
24:26
that carries through your whole life.
24:27
So build on that. How can you apply that now to
24:30
this mission of taking care of horses?
24:33
What are those strengths and skill sets that you've done in
24:35
the past that have been really successful and people tend to
24:38
respond to? Well, then keep doing more of
24:40
that. So that's number one.
24:41
Look at the past. And then #2 I think you start
24:44
looking at, I do this with my coaching clients all the time.
24:47
And you can look, think of it like 4 quadrants and it's split
24:50
into what are your strengths and where do you get energized?
24:54
So in other words, and if you think of a quadrant, top right
24:57
quadrant would be things you're both good at and really give you
25:00
energy. And then the bottom left
25:02
quadrant would be what are those things you're not very good at
25:04
and really de energize you, but you end up doing it anyway,
25:08
right? Or what are those things you're
25:09
good at but it de energizes you. Or maybe there's things that are
25:13
actually you're not so good at, but you're energized by them.
25:16
So you still kind of doing that, but you're maybe not the most
25:18
effective to do it. So I think finding where are you
25:22
in those four quadrants? I found helping you find what
25:25
that role is you need to have. I typically tell my clients
25:28
again, over 50% of your time should be in that top right
25:30
quadrant where you're good at something and you get energized
25:34
by it. That goes back to sustainability
25:36
too. If you're constantly drained by
25:38
something and you're pushed into a situation where you just walk
25:42
away and you're just worn out and people pick up on that
25:46
after, you know, over time. But we're at the flip side.
25:49
If you keep doing something and other people are like, I don't
25:51
know how you keep doing that. I don't know how you still have
25:54
passion and excitement. Will you get energized by it?
25:56
And by the way, you're really good at it.
25:58
That combination is tough to beat.
26:00
People follow that. People are attracted to that.
26:02
And then that will give you some clues as to where you should
26:05
land in a position of a nonprofit organization or
26:09
wherever you actually could be for any position you're in is
26:11
think about your strengths and your passion and sorry, your
26:14
strengths and your energy. Where do you get energized?
26:16
Because that over time is where I see people preventing burnout.
26:20
Really leaning to that top right quadrant.
26:22
Have you ever had clients or do you have advice for people who
26:24
maybe can't see their own strengths?
26:28
Yeah. Oh yeah, that's true very much.
26:29
I would say that's where you ask people close around you.
26:33
If you're on a, you know, a team now, ask your supervisor, ask
26:37
your team for honest feedback and advice, like, tell me, where
26:40
do you see my strengths? So I think by being really open
26:43
to other people, hopefully people that trust you and love
26:46
you and will give you good advice, but honest advice too,
26:48
or honest feedback, that is so important.
26:51
Yeah. Because we can always be blind
26:53
sometimes to both our weaknesses, but also our
26:55
strengths and not even see our strengths.
26:58
And it's funny you say that because I, I found that where
27:00
sometimes something comes so easily to you, you don't even
27:04
see it as a strength. Isn't everybody like this?
27:06
They're like, no, this is a strength of yours because you
27:09
don't even think about it. You just do it.
27:11
And that's often a sign that's a strength of yours is when it's
27:14
just automatic almost right. But sometimes people need to be
27:17
able to tell that to you and, and reflect that back to you and
27:19
say you're really good at this because I would never figure
27:23
this out. Like you just seem to be born to
27:25
do this or you just seem to be so natural at this.
27:28
When you hear those kinds of comments, that's often a signal
27:31
that that is one of your strengths.
27:33
So getting people's feedback and advice to me is the best way.
27:36
Awesome. Yeah, that is good advice
27:38
because I think you're right, a lot of us don't realize the
27:41
things that come easy to us. So that's great advice.
27:44
Have you seen? This is something that I have
27:47
seen in the horse world where there is conflict amongst
27:51
nonprofits almost, and I think it could probably go back to the
27:55
ego. Yeah, we're nonprofits.
27:57
They're not helping each other. They're maybe competing more
28:00
than helping. And what advice do you have in
28:03
that situation for how a leader could handle something like
28:07
that? It's so true.
28:08
It does happen a lot. Sadly, it there is a lot of
28:10
competition, sometimes more than you realize.
28:12
It's sad. It totally is because I, I'm a
28:15
big abundance mentality person where I do think there's more
28:18
than people think. But at the same time, I think
28:20
there's also wisdom and not duplicating services, right?
28:24
And certainly when it comes to competition.
28:26
And so my advice, in fact, I did this to the most recent
28:29
nonprofit organization I LED before I, you know, moved into
28:32
being a consultant and coach. I just made a decision in a
28:35
particular area where there's like over 200 nonprofits in a
28:39
pretty small area of population. There is a lot of money though
28:43
in this community where there's a lot of people that want to
28:46
give. So there was certainly resources
28:48
there. But again, there there was, I
28:51
would say there was potential. You could certainly see it
28:54
through a competition lens and say, well, I'm not going to help
28:56
them or I'm not going to what if they support, you know, this
28:59
organization, they may not support our organization, they
29:01
support this person. And anyway, easily you could go
29:05
kind of get into competition if you really were wired that way.
29:09
And so I just decided to say, let's work together.
29:12
I made a point to reach out to every executive director when I
29:15
first moved into the community and just the number one to build
29:17
a friendship and say, how can I support you?
29:20
And then how can we support each other?
29:21
And also just understand what do you do?
29:23
So I think breaking down the barriers, being the first to
29:25
initiate and reach out to people in your community, particularly
29:29
those who are doing maybe similar work with horse work,
29:32
is, is just extend a hand of friendship.
29:35
That right there will bring down some of the barriers or
29:37
potential, even if you don't have an even an idea of or
29:40
desire to be competitive, they may think that.
29:43
And so by reaching out and being friendly, I think that'll help.
29:45
And #2 by offering to help, like legitimately saying, hey, is
29:49
there anything we could do together?
29:50
How can we collaborate? And so it goes back to what you
29:54
said earlier. Yeah, it's about the ego thing
29:56
of if you come to another, say someone who leads another horse
30:00
orientated nonprofit organization, maybe a horse
30:02
sanctuary or whatever, and say, hey, you know my goal.
30:05
I think our goals are very similar and we may go about it
30:08
differently, but how could we have even a bigger impact and
30:12
reach more people that want to take care of horses if we were
30:15
to collaborate together? And I'm not talking to merger
30:17
now, that could be too, but I'm just saying collaboration is
30:20
big. It could be a joint fundraising
30:22
event, it could be a joint community event, could be a
30:25
joint education event. That to me will just dispel some
30:29
of that. If there was a competition or a
30:32
competitive spirit or this even antagonistic worse, that's the
30:35
worst case. Of course, you're at least
30:37
trying to overcome that by setting the example yourself and
30:40
just choose you on your own to reach out and build those
30:43
friendships, build that community.
30:45
So I think that's the best you can do.
30:47
And if it's not responsive, like people don't take you up on the
30:49
offer to have lunch or coffee or whatever, or if they don't want
30:52
to collaborate and you can't force it, right?
30:54
But I think you can at least have that spirit in that mindset
30:57
if, hey, I'm going to collaborate as much as I can
30:59
with anybody who wants to. I'm in.
31:00
How can we do that? How can we really support each
31:02
other? And I found when you do that,
31:05
for the most part, that comes back to you.
31:07
In other words, people most of the time respond to it and the
31:12
give that whole mission of taking care of horses.
31:14
Actually, it's like everyone starts coming together and you
31:18
by doing that, you actually, I've seen it anyway, where
31:21
people kind of get, yeah, this is better, let's do this
31:24
together. We're reaching more people.
31:25
I think over time by just proving it by your own example,
31:29
it does pay off. That is great advice.
31:31
It is really good just to open that conversation.
31:34
Sometimes can realize there's a human on the other side who just
31:37
has the same so. But like you said, doesn't
31:40
always happen. That shouldn't necessarily
31:42
change the way you approach it. I love that.
31:44
Exactly, Yeah. So we've talked a little bit
31:46
about fundraising. Money is obviously kind of a
31:50
foundation of a successful nonprofit.
31:51
We've talked a little bit about community.
31:53
Are there other foundational things that should be in place
31:57
or you need to have in place to have a successful nonprofit?
32:01
Yeah, I think, yes, I think all those things are good on top of
32:04
the maybe what we haven't chatted about too much.
32:06
And I do think it's important. I think sometimes it's over ever
32:09
played, but but it is very important.
32:11
So I at least want to say it. We live in a digital world.
32:13
We live in a world where people they don't knock on your front
32:16
door, literally like a business writer off this case.
32:18
They go online 1st to see that's your front door essentially to
32:22
people, right. So I think you have to have at
32:24
least the basics of a good presence online of whatever
32:28
cause whatever nonprofit you have.
32:30
Also with social media, it's just a great, I'd see it as a
32:33
place where people can engage with you before they ever see
32:36
you in person or go to an event or potential actually, you know,
32:39
write a check or or you know, get the credit card out and
32:42
support you. So develop at least a basic, a
32:45
good website that is up to date. You can keep it simple.
32:48
There's so many great resources out there.
32:49
Again, now it's not super expensive to have at least a
32:52
decent site. And then with social media, I
32:55
typically encourage people have a plan.
32:57
So come up with a plan that's realistic.
32:59
So in other words, you maybe you start and you're just brand new
33:02
and you're getting all these things going, you're getting
33:04
your bylaws going, you're getting your 5O1C3 approved by
33:07
the state, all these things you need to get done.
33:09
Maybe you just say, I'm going to post once a week, That's your
33:12
plan, Great, stick with that. So don't stress yourself out too
33:15
much, but have a plan and stick to it.
33:18
I found that with websites, number one, one of the worst
33:20
killers is if it's totally out of date, if you have something
33:23
that happened six months ago that just says sends the message
33:27
you're not someone's not minding the store here, you know, So in
33:30
particular, the younger generations and Gen.
33:32
Z coming up, if you want to get them involved, that is their
33:36
world. And so you, in fact, that's what
33:38
I might recommend if you're starting something and that's
33:41
not your strength, get somebody else who's a younger generation,
33:44
they can just do it for you because they love it.
33:46
It's second nature to them and they'll keep it up and they'll
33:49
make sure it's up to date and fresh and, you know, positive.
33:52
So, yeah, so that's what I would say is make sure you have
33:54
something that's at least out there, it's updated, come up
33:57
with a plan, it's doable for you.
33:58
And then the last piece of that, every nonprofit needs to tell
34:01
good stories, right? That's I think one of the basis
34:04
of drawing people to your nonprofit, drawing people to
34:07
give to you. You tell the good stories, you
34:09
learn about that. And I know people that are
34:10
passionate about this world, taking care of horses.
34:12
I guarantee everyone has multiple stories, so just come
34:16
up with a way. And nowadays I think the nice
34:18
thing about social media and websites and through video, you
34:21
can do it pretty casually. Like I found more and more like
34:24
I'm amazed it used to be even like, I'd say 10 years ago, 15
34:28
years ago, certainly it felt like you have these professional
34:31
videos. They had to be really well done
34:32
and super polished. But I think with social media
34:35
now, literally people are in their car and just doing a quick
34:37
video, right? Or they're walking outside and
34:39
they're doing a video as they're walking.
34:41
Yeah, exactly. It's much more like, I think
34:44
people value authenticity and being real over being a polished
34:48
video that looks amazing, right? Almost.
34:51
That is drawing more people to your website when they're
34:54
authentic videos. And certainly it's just someone
34:56
talking to them. You're going to get more views.
34:59
And so everyone can do that. That's the beauty of that, I
35:01
think is everyone can pretty much do that.
35:04
So think about but be intentional.
35:06
What is the story you're trying to tell and be authentic about
35:08
it. And then thoroughly again, just
35:10
get somebody who's really good at to help you.
35:12
And I'd say typically younger generation member is of your
35:15
staff or your volunteer group, whatever they're going to help
35:18
you do that. Great asset.
35:19
Yeah, for sure. What advice do you have for
35:21
someone who has maybe started a nonprofit and gotten in over
35:25
their head? Maybe they went too fast, too
35:28
quickly. They have more expenses than
35:30
they have funds for. What advice do you have for that
35:33
person? Oh yeah, that's it.
35:35
And that's obviously a really difficult scenario.
35:38
So number one, I think the key is, is transparency.
35:42
Just be totally honest and open. It's super difficult and you
35:46
have to eat humble pie, as they say.
35:48
But it's so much better just to say I tried, I'm behind, you
35:52
know, I ran out of money. I think people are much more
35:54
quick to forgive you and come alongside you and even support
35:58
you if you're honest and transparent.
36:00
I think the worst thing you can do is try to hide and say, OK,
36:03
I'll wait till I raise more money or I'll wait till I get
36:05
things figured out and then all of a sudden you never do.
36:08
And then people realize you're aware of this for a long time
36:11
and you didn't tell us. I think most people just think,
36:13
tell us, just be honest, you know, be totally transparent and
36:16
honest about where you are. That is the best policy.
36:20
And I think you'll be surprised people can't be forgiving, but I
36:23
think they'll be less forgiving if you try to hide it, cover it
36:26
up. Or certainly if you're, if
36:28
you're really intentionally covering it up and then lying to
36:30
people like that's the worst case, of course, then it's
36:33
really, really difficult to build trust back.
36:35
But I think if you're honest and just save this what happened and
36:38
you'll actually probably people will be, you know, question a
36:42
little bit like your strategy and you know, they'll question
36:45
why did you do this, but they probably won't question your
36:47
character. If you're honest, you ask for
36:49
forgiveness, you you're sorry and say this is I need help.
36:52
That's the other thing to say. I need help.
36:53
Is there anybody can help me out?
36:55
You know, reach out to people for sure.
36:57
But transparency, honesty is the best policy, so to speak.
36:59
And I think in this case, you potentially can get people that
37:02
will support you still, even if you have gotten in over your
37:05
head. So there you go.
37:06
That'd be my my advice for. Folks, I think that's scary to
37:09
do, but like you say, it's a better scenario than trying to
37:13
figure out yourself. And if you never can, that's
37:15
that's a hard one to face. It is.
37:17
Let's talk a little bit more about leadership.
37:21
What makes a good leader in the nonprofit sector and just
37:25
overall in whatever you might be doing, what are some of those
37:28
important skills to have as a leader that you've seen?
37:31
Yeah, OK. Good leadership skills.
37:34
We've kind of talked about a few of them.
37:35
I think honesty, by the way, Japanese and transparency is one
37:38
of the best. Just always being that way as a
37:40
leader, I think that's how you lead passion we've talked about.
37:43
I think having passion as a leader is really important.
37:46
People are drawn again to passion.
37:48
I think a couple of pieces maybe we haven't talked about as much
37:50
is communication. That's so important #1
37:53
communicating as much as you can about who you are, your story,
37:57
your passion, your mission. Why do you do this?
37:59
And then being clear with your communication and getting maybe
38:03
even in some training that doesn't come naturally to you.
38:05
I think communicating to your supporters, to your team, to the
38:09
volunteers you have. Boy, you just need to get good
38:12
at communication because that is really important.
38:15
People I've found leaders often think, oh, they'll know what's
38:19
going on. Or I already told him that a
38:20
month ago, or I just said that in one of my emails.
38:23
Like never assume people get everything you say the first
38:27
time you say it. So I, you know, vision leaks
38:29
often. You've heard that phrase maybe.
38:31
And so in other words, it's almost like an empty bucket
38:33
where you got to always be filling it up.
38:34
And I do think with communication, you're
38:36
constantly, you know, speaking and communicating your mission
38:39
and vision right at the time you're probably getting tired of
38:41
saying the mission and vision about what you're about.
38:44
That's just about the time some people were like or finally get
38:47
it. I see what you're doing.
38:49
You know, I found it to be true. And so because you're in it all
38:52
the time, you're living in, it's like you're a fish in this
38:54
fishbowl and you're swimming it all the time.
38:56
Well, people are just jumping in for the first time and finally
38:59
getting what you're all about. So never stop communicating
39:02
anything. That's a big piece.
39:04
And then I think as a leader, again, it goes back to
39:07
transparency and authenticity. I think one of your keys is
39:10
going to be building trust. And how do you build trust?
39:13
You're honest, you're you're open, you're communicating to
39:15
them. You you're always open to
39:17
feedback. I think that's a good thing if
39:19
if people know that you're open to feedback, not that you do
39:21
everything people tell you. It's just that you're open to
39:23
their feedback and you do the best you can to apply their
39:26
feedback to you, particularly if it's negative feedback, how you
39:29
can improve things. That to me overtime builds
39:32
trust. And then the last piece would be
39:34
there's more, but I just for a time sake relational
39:37
intelligence, I found that as one of the demarkers that really
39:41
separate good leaders from average leaders are those who
39:44
really develop that relational intelligence, connecting with
39:47
people, listening, really understand what are people
39:50
saying to you? How are you communicating back
39:52
to others? And so really learning that.
39:54
And there's now that may not come naturally to some.
39:56
So there's there's books out there, there's resources you can
39:58
get a coach, there's other things you can do to help
40:01
improve your relational intelligence.
40:03
But I've articularly found in the nonprofit world, because so
40:06
much of it is communicating a mission right, getting people
40:08
excited about something, raising money for that.
40:11
Those all take skills where you need to understand how you're
40:14
relating to people, right? And so I think that relational
40:18
intelligence is so important for a leader.
40:20
If you really want to grow, build a team, lead that team,
40:23
sustain that team, and sustain that mission.
40:25
Relational intelligence is one of those key pieces, I think.
40:27
Do you have any advice for if the passion seems to run up?
40:31
You were passionate about it and now it's gone.
40:34
OK, yeah. Passions.
40:36
Yes. Oh, that's, yeah, that does
40:38
happen, by the way. Yeah.
40:39
And I think there's a high burnout potential for all
40:42
nonprofit leaders. I've definitely been burned out
40:43
in the past. You get this thing called
40:45
compassion fatigue in that term, and certainly with if you're in
40:49
the humanitarian world and you're serving people
40:51
constantly, but it really is nonprofits have a tendency to
40:55
have people that are really passionate and they give and
40:57
give and give and give and then they just have nothing left,
40:59
right? So that is a real thing.
41:00
So I would go back to that quadrant.
41:02
Where are your strengths and where do you get energized?
41:05
And as much as you can start eliminating or delegating or
41:09
hiring out those things that de energize you or that you're not
41:13
good at, that's going to be one of your best ways is to #1 be
41:16
aware that you could burn out and be aware that you will
41:20
probably lose energy and passion and steam over time.
41:22
So that's one thing practically the thing you can do.
41:25
And then the second proactive thing you can do is what is your
41:28
schedule somehow, And I would say it's at least every six
41:31
months, if not certainly every year is pull back a little bit.
41:35
Some people do like day retreats or, or they even, you know, on
41:37
their vacation or just take some time away from the busyness of
41:40
whatever nonprofit you're leading and just spend time
41:43
reflecting again, why are you in this?
41:46
And ask the tough question, like, what got you into this?
41:48
What's first got you passionate about this project of taking
41:52
care of horses? And sometimes just by stopping,
41:55
getting away from the craziness of fighting fires all the time
41:57
and, and always running things all the time, pulling back and
42:00
reflecting and thinking about that question can maybe
42:04
reconnect you with the original purpose.
42:06
And that really got you going in the 1st place, right?
42:09
So maybe it was you had a situation where you had a horse
42:12
growing up as a kid and something happened that horse
42:15
and you couldn't take care of it or whatever.
42:16
I don't know what be the cause for you to get excited about why
42:20
you started this nonprofit in the 1st place, but try to get
42:23
connected again with that and do everything you can to pat, you
42:27
know, fan that passion back into, you know, a full blown
42:30
excitement again. And so I think if you're
42:32
managing your energy and you're managing those areas that are
42:36
taking sucking the life out of you.
42:38
And if you're reminding yourself of what got you into it the
42:40
first place and continuing to put yourself in a position that
42:44
gets you fired up, that's going to help.
42:46
And then the last thing would be it goes back to that whole thing
42:49
of connecting with other people that do this.
42:51
Not only do you want to collaborate with them and you
42:53
know, make sure you're there as a support, but being in a
42:56
community of other people that are passionate, that can help
42:59
because there may be times where you are running low on your
43:01
passion, but someone else is running high and they're so
43:03
excited and they're so fired up about what they're doing and
43:06
they're so excited to see what they're accomplishing.
43:08
And maybe it's an even a different state or different
43:11
region of where you're doing your nonprofit, but just being
43:13
around somebody can reignite that passion again for you.
43:17
And then you and you know, by being a community, you may be in
43:20
a place where you're really passionate and there's somebody
43:22
else in your community that needs your passion and your
43:25
support. So by doing that, you're getting
43:27
people around you to support you.
43:28
So I think those three things would probably at least help.
43:31
But you're right, that's a real thing.
43:33
Just know that's a hazard of being in the nonprofit world is
43:36
Burnett is real and you can lose your passion.
43:38
Any other advice to avoid the burnout?
43:41
Things you can do along the way so that you don't reach that
43:44
point where it maybe is that a crisis.
43:46
Yeah, I I think I find that you are typically, particularly
43:50
you're starting something, you end up taking on too much.
43:53
You your expectations for yourself are too high and you
43:56
just take on everything and that's a real mistake.
44:00
So it does go back to that quadrants again, you take on
44:02
things that really aren't best for you to take on and you do
44:06
things that really just sort of second your lifeout of you.
44:09
And if you do that too long, that's when you start really
44:11
getting a burnout. O how do you how do you get
44:13
around that? By building that team around you
44:15
specifically and being willing to delegate?
44:18
I have found two, like some people that are starters and
44:21
founders and and executive directors, they have such a
44:24
passion and they often have a really high standard of what
44:27
they're trying to accomplish. They don't trust other people to
44:30
have that same standard or they don't trust people are going to
44:33
work as hard as they're going to work.
44:35
And so they don't delegate, they don't give other things to them.
44:37
And what I found is even if you say you're at 100% and you think
44:41
everybody else is at 75%, but you delegating something to a
44:45
person who's even a 75% is better than you holding on to
44:49
everything at 100% in your mind and then burning out.
44:53
And then it goes to 0. Like there is no more nonprofit.
44:55
Like the whole thing implodes because you implode.
44:58
It's better. Even if in your mind you're
44:59
like, well, we're not quite at 100%, that's OK Eligate.
45:02
And then you shift gears to say, how can I train that person who
45:06
maybe is at a 75% quality or excellence level and help them
45:10
get to a 90 percent, 95 or even 100%, right?
45:14
That's your job is, is to delegate and train, not doing
45:17
everything on your own. Because that's the thing, if you
45:19
really want to scale an organization and grow it, you
45:22
can't do everything on the own. Number one, you're not a good at
45:24
everything and #2 it's just not possible.
45:27
You only have so much energy right and time in the day so the
45:30
quicker you realize I need a team to do this with me, the
45:33
better. You're going to have a chance of
45:35
not burning out because you realize I got AI.
45:38
Need a team to lean on for this. Have you seen that mentality as
45:41
a common problem in the non profit world?
45:43
The idea that everything has to be 100%, that it needs to be
45:48
just perfect before you move forward.
45:50
Yeah. Oh, definitely.
45:51
And I think this often you call it founder syndrome, right?
45:54
Pick if you're a founder, if you have a passion for something
45:57
that's very personal and it's very, it's it's very emotional,
46:00
right, in many ways. So it's hard to separate out
46:04
your personal attachment to this mission from the mission itself,
46:09
right? And I think that's where we do
46:10
run into trouble is nonprofits are often driven by that
46:13
passion, which is great on the one hand.
46:15
But if it's so part of you as a person and you're not able to
46:19
get beyond you and realize this is well bigger than you, this
46:23
issue and mission is well bigger than is much bigger than you.
46:27
That's where people do have a hard time.
46:29
And I think because the nonprofit world attracts people
46:32
and even rewards people that are super passionate about a cause,
46:35
but that also becomes your downfall because you realize
46:37
like, hey, no one has that passion that the same level as I
46:40
do. Now, you may never say that, but
46:42
you think that. So.
46:44
Right. And so you're like, they're
46:46
never going to do it quite as well as I'm just going to keep
46:48
doing it. So that is so short sighted
46:49
though, because number one, you put a lid on the on your
46:52
organization because again, you could only do so much.
46:55
Very few people, even the business world, right, very few
46:58
people can do anything up to a certain level.
47:00
If you're going to really scale this and impact as many horses
47:03
as you want or impact the community the way you want, it
47:06
can't just be about about you. It can't just be you because you
47:09
can only do so much again. So just reminding yourself it's
47:12
not about you, it's about the mission that will help.
47:14
Because yes, I think that's a hazard for nonprofits for sure.
47:18
What are some strategies that nonprofits could implement today
47:22
that maybe you see a lot of nonprofits aren't doing?
47:24
If you did these things, that would really benefit your
47:26
organization. Yeah, that's a good question.
47:29
So I think, yeah, right away. OK, it depends where you are.
47:33
So maybe I'll answer first. Like entrepreneurs, if you're
47:35
really wanting to start something, launch something to
47:37
really get your nonprofit off the ground again, get some help,
47:41
reach out to some people, even just one or two people
47:43
potentially if you have the money, again, I think hiring a
47:45
consultant or coach really is worth the investment.
47:47
I use this analogy often. Think about like all of us are
47:51
into professional, you know, sports or a lot of people like
47:54
professional sports, but almost everybody really watched the
47:57
Olympics and enjoyed watching the Olympics, right?
47:59
Think about every single Olympic athlete or every professional
48:02
athlete you see, they don't normally just even just have one
48:05
coach. They have more than one coach
48:07
typically depends because as you get bigger and better, I should
48:10
say, and more accomplished, you have more people investing in
48:14
you realizing you need a lot of different coaches, right?
48:17
And like, I always think of football as a perfect analogy
48:19
where it's not just the coach. You have a head coach, you have
48:22
a defensive coordinator, you have an offensive coordinator,
48:23
you have a quarterbacks coach, even receivers coach.
48:25
Like, you have so many coaches, right?
48:28
So why, if that is so important and people do enjoy watching
48:31
sports or watching the Olympics, why don't we need coaching?
48:34
You know, in the nonprofit world, we're actually business
48:36
world. Of course, they get this
48:37
already. A lot of businesses do hire
48:40
coaches all the time, right? But for some reason, the
48:42
nonprofit world, we almost see it as a luxury or something
48:44
like, well, I don't know if I really need that.
48:46
Maybe I'll just wait till I really get this going.
48:48
I feel like, no, if you really want to get good, everyone needs
48:51
a coach at some level. I mean, I'm really a big
48:52
believer in that. Obviously I'm a little biased
48:54
because that's what I do, but but I, I do, I've just seen the
48:56
benefit of it. And so that may be the next
48:59
step. In particular, if you're
49:00
listening to this podcast and you're feeling like you're
49:02
stuck, you just feel like I, I know I've, I've, I've been doing
49:05
everything Rob's telling me, but I just feel stuck a little bit.
49:08
Reach out and get some help. I think that may be the most
49:10
practical thing you can do. So that'd be #1 and #2 I think a
49:14
practical step you can start doing, if you're not doing is
49:18
getting as much research as you can about what you're doing.
49:21
I found that when you go through the process of really
49:24
understanding what you're trying to accomplish, learning from
49:27
other people, it could be learning about the whole, you
49:30
know, nonprofits that reach used horses or, or a part of horse
49:33
sanctuaries or whatever. There's lots of information out
49:36
there. It just may be through the
49:37
process of learning, some light bulbs may turn on for you.
49:41
You're like, oh, you know what, of course that's what I should
49:43
do or oh, I didn't know that some people are doing that.
49:45
Oh, that may be another thing I can do.
49:47
So just by that, exposing yourself to that learning and
49:50
hearing more about the industry as a whole may just open up some
49:53
doors for you and may get you in stock too.
49:56
So I think it learning, educating yourself.
49:58
I'm a big believer in that we all as leaders, going back to
50:01
leaders, what's a good quality of a leader is someone who's
50:03
always learning. Yeah.
50:05
I think that's one of the best traits of a leader is you stop
50:08
learning, you stop leading. But if you want to keep leading,
50:11
then keep learning. You know, keep learning from
50:13
other people, learn from other different sectors, learn from
50:15
different people have done this well, I think that'll help you.
50:18
Yeah, beautiful. Any big ideas that we've missed
50:21
that would really help nonprofits?
50:23
Maybe the only other thing would be when it comes to having the
50:26
particular, I think you started with, how do we get these
50:29
launched and how do we make sure we have the sustainable plan to
50:31
keep these moving forward. I think one of the key things
50:35
would be again, is being clear on your purpose, being clear
50:39
with your vision and mission and being clear with your values.
50:43
I think that's where probably if you're just for say, the one
50:46
thing I see the the biggest mistake is you don't establish
50:49
that really clearly. And I think you need all three.
50:52
You need a mission to vision and values because you may have a
50:55
vision and but if you don't have a clear mission of how you
50:58
accomplish it and values to guide you along the way, you're
51:00
going to get off track. Maybe you have some values of
51:03
what you're really about but don't have a clear mission.
51:06
Well, people don't understand what you're about and they won't
51:08
get excited about it and they won't be able to support you
51:10
because you can't articulate what is the mission you're,
51:13
you're trying to accomplish. So I think that if you were to
51:16
just do one thing today and you get one thing out of this
51:18
podcast, come up with a very clear mission vision and value
51:21
statement and then get the nice thing is there's lots of
51:24
resources online. You can get help with that of
51:26
how you can develop that. And, and I even know a lot, a
51:28
lot of people are using AI and ChatGPT and whatever AI special
51:32
you're using, sure. You know, I, I'm a big believer,
51:35
come up with something on your own and, but you know, throw it
51:37
in there and they may be able to articulate a wordsmith for you,
51:40
a vision value statement or something.
51:42
If that's something new and you don't know how to do that, AI
51:45
can be a help to you. Don't rely on AI to create it
51:48
for you, but you, it can sharpen it and it can make it better and
51:51
it can actually make it maybe more expansive than you
51:53
initially thought. So that may be just something
51:55
that we haven't really touched on that could be a good thing.
51:57
Yeah. Any other advice besides maybe
51:59
getting feedback, whether that's AI or other people on how to
52:02
develop that clarity? Maybe you have a vision of what
52:05
you see that it could be, but you're not really sure how to
52:08
get there or how to articulate that or what actually you are
52:12
trying to accomplish, even though maybe you can see that
52:14
vision. Yeah, I think again, just
52:16
reaching out and getting talking to people who've done it well,
52:19
reach out to them as much as you can, right?
52:21
Talk to them, ask them, go online again, learn from what
52:24
these great and you can actually go into businesses too.
52:27
There's great studies on how great businesses really got off
52:30
the ground and took off Apple. There's lots of studies on
52:33
Apple. Of course there's, you think
52:34
about your favorite company potentially, but in the
52:37
nonprofit world, there's lots out there.
52:39
Listen to podcasts, right? You know, we're also on a
52:41
podcast. There's lots of good podcasts
52:43
out there that actually talk about this very thing, how to
52:45
develop this, how to frame your vision and mission.
52:48
Well, listen to people who do this.
52:50
Well, that's what's beautiful. I think about the world we live
52:53
in now. There is so much information out
52:55
there and now can be information overload, but there is
52:58
information out there. So if you're looking for
53:00
something specific, type it in into AI or type it into Google,
53:03
and you'll probably find a video, a podcast, a website
53:07
that'll help you walk through that.
53:09
I don't think there's any shortage of resources now that
53:12
can at least help guide your direction.
53:14
Thank you so much for being here for sharing something that will
53:16
be super helpful to the people that are listening to it, that
53:20
really have that passion and want to become involved in some
53:23
way. And you had a lot of great
53:24
practical tips, which I love that people can really take
53:28
today and, and go do it. Go go find your passion and get
53:31
started on it and see where it leads.
53:33
So thanks for being here. Absolutely, thanks for having
53:35
me. You can find Rob at his podcast,
53:37
The Nonprofit Leadership Podcast, or check out his
53:41
services, including coaching at robharder.com or e-mail him at
53:45
rob@robharder.com. So if you want to get in touch
53:48
with him, get some more of his wisdom on the nonprofit world,
53:52
those are great places to find him.
53:54
Thank you for joining us and learning about Horses that Heal
53:57
and the humans who help them. We hope you'll continue with us
54:00
on this journey. We'd love for you to subscribe
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Please share with your friends anyone who loves horses or
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54:16
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54:23
As we say goodbye, always remember that the horse is
54:26
always there to help you heal.