Latest / Real Estate for Real Life / Episode 18 • How Cause Marketing Builds Better Businesses (And Changes Lives) | with Arianna & Ryan Wilson, Alex's Team Foundation

Transcript

Episode 18 • How Cause Marketing Builds Better Businesses (And Changes Lives) | with Arianna & Ryan Wilson, Alex's Team Foundation · Real Estate for Real Life

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On Real Estate for Real Life podcasts, we sit down with
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standout business leaders to unpack what's actually working.
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How they scale, lead teams, win clients and build businesses
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that last. We're your hosts.
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I'm Courtney Gauchman. And I'm Ryan Wilson, thanks for
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tuning in. Welcome back to Real Estate for
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Real Life. I'm your host, Courtney
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Gauchman, and today we're doing things a little differently.
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And this one I'm especially excited about on this episode.
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It hits a little closer to home than usual.
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And while we normally talk about business and all the things
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involved in entrepreneurship, today we're going to talk more
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about cause marketing and an amazing foundation that hits
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incredibly close to home for Wilson Group.
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Our guest host or our guest is Ryan Wilson.
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And he is not only a leader in business, but he is also an
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amazing philanthropic leader for Alex's Team Foundation as the
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president. And he brought his lovely wife,
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Ariana Wilson with him today too, who's the Executive
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Director of Alex's Team Foundation.
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And her family is the one that founded and started Alex's Team.
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So we're going to get into the mission behind this incredible
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Causeway. And then we'll talk a lot about
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how you can incorporate a platform for business into
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getting more eyes and more of an audience on a 'cause that is so
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important to others. So thank you guys for have or
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for being on this podcast today. Yeah.
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Thanks so much for having us. Yeah.
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Appreciate it being a little different seat but I like.
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This right, look at you, you're in the hot seat.
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That's the it's the guest seat today.
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I don't know. Well, thank you so much, Ariana
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for for coming on. I know this is not your typical
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day in the life, right? But we would love to hear a
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little bit more about Alex's team foundation, the mission,
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the story, why your family started it.
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And then we'll kind of dive into some additional fun things that
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have to do with the foundation. Absolutely.
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Thanks for having me. So Alex's team foundation,
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actually the concept of Alex's team was started when my twin
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sister Alexandra was diagnosed with leukemia when we were 15
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years old. Something that maybe most people
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don't know is that Alex's team itself started before she died
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and before our official foundation started.
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And it was really our family and our friends and our community
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that were rallying around our family in this incredibly
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difficult time to support us, to support Alex and do anything
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that they could to make sure that us and our family could
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live relatively normal life while my sister was in the
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hospital. But also, you know, they were
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showing the love and and support of a family going through a hard
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time. My, the town of Andover is, even
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though it's kind of big, we're talking real estate.
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So you people know that it's an incredibly close community.
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And especially in the sports world, which me and my sister
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and my brother were really a part of, you know, you support
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your teammates, you come together for A cause.
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And at that time, Alexandra and our family were A cause, I guess
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to to support. So this concept started when my
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freshman year basketball coach or our freshman year basketball
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coach wanted to do something to keep Alexander involved in
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sports. So raising money for a video
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camera so that we could film basketball games and Alexander
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could watch while she was in her hospital room.
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Then as Alexander went more through treatment, it became
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apparent that she was going to need some more supports at home.
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She lost the use of her legs, so we were going to need a ramp at
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her house to, you know, have her be able to access with a
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wheelchair. So the community came together,
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raised funds. We did walks, we sold T-shirts.
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I think I still have my original Alex's Team T-shirt that I got
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when I was 15 years old. And as I'm, you know, now
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meeting with people or talking about with people with Alex's
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team, our high school friends will say, oh, I still wear my
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Alex's Team T-shirt that we got in high school.
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Unfortunately, after 10 months of Alexandra's battle that
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included a bone marrow transplant, brain biopsy, and,
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you know, countless other things that she went through as a
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childhood cancer patient, she died in March.
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And that community, our friends, our family or loved ones and
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people who had become involved and been following her, her
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journey, still had all this momentum behind us.
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And you know, I said this before, when someone is sick
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with cancer or, or any other, you know, terminal or difficult
4:43
illness, people come together and the the purpose is a cure.
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So everyone's goal was to cure Alexander of cancer, make sure
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she then lived her life to the fullest in our family, was
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supported along the way. When she died, that cause went
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away. And so everyone who was involved
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with now what became known as as Alex's team really wanted to
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find a way to continue that and support us and continue to have
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our community together. During the time that Alexander
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was in the hospital, we became super, super close to the
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doctors, the nurses, the care staff.
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When you're in an inpatient hospital setting, you know, it
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becomes like your second family. And we know that we are just one
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story of hundreds and thousands that these doctors and nurses
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experience every single day. Like losing Alexander was the
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hardest part of our life. And we're just one patient on a
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floor of 44 patients that they go through this every single
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day. Nurses, doctors, care staff,
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everyone in the hospital puts their heart and soul into, you
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know, that same goal, that same cause, curing these kids that
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are diagnosed with cancer and might have a long road ahead of
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them. We wanted to then do something
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to give back to that community. Dr. Lauren Wilensky, who is one
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of Alexander's first doctors and someone who is near and dear to
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us and has been part of this journey all along the way, met
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with our family and or my mom, I guess, and said, you know, one
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of the things that someone did for me when I was in medical
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school, or maybe he was an undergrad is during the summer
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of my whatever year was a family said, hey, my child just died of
6:48
cancer. We want to do something.
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We want you as this like prominent upcoming person who's
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so passionate about your research, about, you know, this
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cause to do more. They gave him whatever it was,
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$5000. Go use this in whatever way you
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want to advance your studies, your research, your career.
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And he's now one of the most prominent pediatric oncology
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clinicians and researchers in the country.
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The reason that we think that that's really important to do
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that is to help people become part of the 'cause our community
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helped us, we want to help the people who are helping other
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families. I love hearing your story and
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every single time I hear it, I learned something new because
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obviously it's, it's been many years, what 25 years of you guys
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not only overcoming the, the tragic story and the loss of
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Alexandra, but then also the, the you guys are now giving
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back, right? Like, it's like, it's incredible
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that that's what you've done is you've turned her, her legacy
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into now a family and a team of people that are giving back to a
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community for other families to hopefully have more research,
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more support and more opportunities to be able to, to
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fight for their loved ones. So I, I, I love hearing the
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story. Obviously, This is why from our
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team's perspective, we love to collaborate with yours, with
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your foundation, because the more eyes and the more human
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beings that can hear this story and support and become a part of
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it, the the more that, that you can grow it right?
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And the, the better things will, will work out In terms of
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getting doctor, what was it again, Lauren Lenski getting him
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more funding, right? And then you do a lot for the
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nurses, nurses, right, that are still on the 6th floor of the
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oncology department at Boston Children's Hospital.
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It's like the more you can support the people who are
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supporting the families and fighting for for Cancer Research
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and being able to actually like come to a solution where they
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can cure more of these cases, right?
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Then you're just in a better position.
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And being in Boston, we're surrounded by the best hospitals
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in the entire world. I think that we are, we're in
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just such an amazing place where the more lives that we touch as
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a team, Wilson Group, right? The more human beings in this
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area that it's such a close to home 'cause which is what we
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talked about in the beginning. Why wouldn't you want to support
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and actually put time, energy and your money behind this, this
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foundation, right? Because it's actually a local
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opportunity to help something that you can physically see grow
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and physically see make changes in other people's lives.
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So that being said, you actually what a year ago became full
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time. You're the executive director
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now. I love to see that you're full
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time putting all your efforts into continuing 25 years of this
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incredible cause and making this even bigger.
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What are some of your goals? What's the mission now?
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Because I'm sure the emission has evolved over all the years,
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but you're working towards. Absolutely.
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So about a little over a year ago, Ryan and I made the
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decision together that I would move from my full time career in
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education to be the full time Executive Director of Alex's
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team. I had been in this role for
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years. I don't even know how many years
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to this point, but you know, starting working with the
10:18
foundation when I was a teenager to now, we had been continuing
10:24
that community that I talked about the community 'cause our
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family and friends were really the ones that were up keeping
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the foundation. Again, you know, giving back to
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the people that touched us in, in our journey and Alexandra's
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journey. You know, we can talk a little
10:41
bit more about the more things that the, the foundation does
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and, and how we kind of evolved the, the mission over those 25
10:50
years. But we really decided that, you
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know, this is a unique foundation.
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Like you said, our purpose is to give back to people, to make
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sure that people in our community and in all communities
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in the childhood cancer world are supported, but also to
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involve the people that we know in a 'cause that is really
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meaningful. Becoming the full time director.
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We said like we want to make more impact and we've been doing
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this for 25 years. We have lots of programs that
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have made impacts on, you know, nurses in the field, on
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research, on aspiring researchers and on patients and
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families. But we think we can do more.
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We have three kids, so having a full time job, a full time
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foundation and another full time job.
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Those of you in real estate, is it a full time job or is it
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multiple? It's a lot, right?
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We wanted to make sure that this became more than just a passion
11:53
project and became something that was really impactful in the
11:57
world and continue to expand beyond, you know, us doing as a
12:03
part time and having an extraordinary volunteer base.
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We have been really lucky to make this foundation continue
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for for 25 years. We always hear these stats,
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specially in our early years as a foundation like, hey, you
12:18
know, it's OK, these family foundations like don't usually
12:22
last for more than five years, but it's really great what you
12:24
guys are doing now and like this will definitely make an impact
12:27
on people experiencing it it now.
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So, you know, we pride ourselves in the fact that we have been
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able to sustain this and that's really due to the support of of
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our community and our expanded community over time.
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It built from Andover to, you know, our work and our college.
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Your sphere? Yeah, your sphere.
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And, and now we are hoping to deepen our relationships to
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expand our network to impact more children with cancer, more
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caretakers, more caregivers, and really the whole sphere of, of
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childhood cancer. The mission that really came out
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of all of the work that we've done with Alex's team is that we
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want to support the entire ecosystem because patients and
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families feel that impact. If your caregivers or nurses or
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doctors aren't supported, if the funding isn't there for
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research, children can't be cured.
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Yeah. And it impacts, like you said,
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their, their families entire well-being while they're going
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through the treatments, right? Like, like you said, the, the
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more the nurses are supported, the more they're able to give
13:39
that care. You said there were 44 children
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on the oncology department. 44 beds.
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Yeah, 44 beds. Yeah, that's a lot of nonstop
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giving from the care providers. And I love that you guys do so
13:51
much for the nurses there, from nurses week to all the different
13:56
things throughout the year that you're providing them with.
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And that's just, it's a huge piece of the puzzle that makes
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what families are going through a little bit easier, right?
14:06
It softens it a small amount to be able to then say like, well,
14:10
at least I had this support team.
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I had this incredible group of care providers that if they're
14:14
being treated phenomenally well and they're also so getting all
14:17
the tools they need to be able to do their job to the best of
14:20
their ability, they're going to provide the best level of
14:23
service, right? So I love that you guys have
14:25
taken that foundation and you've really thought through what does
14:28
it take to give this amazing team to other kids, right?
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Alex had an amazing team of people that stemmed from Andover
14:34
and the the nurses and, and all of the care providers.
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But now you're trying to give that team to all the other kids
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that are also going through the same thing.
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And I think that that's incredible.
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Yeah. And one, one thing that was, you
14:45
know, always so impactful for me was that you're, you're
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spending, you're, you're investing in people.
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And obviously research is incredibly important and always
14:53
will be. And that's one thing that we, we
14:54
certainly support. But investing in people and
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those nurses that we invest in that are taking care of some of
15:00
the sickest, most brave people in the entire world, these
15:03
children, we want to be able to take care of the nurses so then
15:06
they can take care of the children to the best of their
15:08
ability. Because, you know, statistically
15:11
around the country, the burnout rate for a pediatric oncology
15:14
nurse is very, very short. It is very, very hard for one of
15:18
those nurses, in my opinion one of the most difficult jobs in
15:20
the entire world to take care of these sick children and see
15:23
these tragic stories literally every single day.
15:26
And the way we look at it is if we can invest in them and
15:30
improve their work, their quality of life, anything we can
15:34
do to better their life while they're doing this incredibly
15:37
difficult job, and we can keep them in that role for a little
15:40
bit longer. And we are proud to say that we
15:44
have the longest tenure, tenure of nurses in the country at at
15:47
Boston Children's Hospital, like these nurses stay there the
15:49
longest. Well, if they stay there the
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longest, they're getting better at their job, they're able to
15:54
treat these people better, right?
15:56
These children better. And that's something that's so,
15:58
so important to us. And we hear the stories from the
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nurses because we've become close to them as well.
16:03
And it's really, really wonderful how appreciative they
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are and how much of a difference they say it makes.
16:09
And when the person that you're providing these funds to, when
16:12
you're working so hard to raise money for, when you see that it
16:15
makes an actual impact, it's really, really rewarding.
16:19
It makes you want to do even more.
16:20
It makes you want to even raise more money for these amazing
16:22
people. And same thing when we got to
16:24
meet when Doctor Lauren Wilensky, when these brilliant
16:28
people from Harvard Medical School, while they're while
16:31
they're in their schooling and they go work under the guidance
16:34
of Doctor Lauren Malinsky or another brilliant physician to
16:37
do that summer work. And they make a big impact.
16:40
And they help, you know, a drug come to life that they've been
16:44
working on for years. It's really, really impactful.
16:47
And they say, hey, Alex's team, you were the reason why I got to
16:50
go work in that lab this summer. And by me being able to work in
16:53
the labs this summer, we were able to do XY and Z and we made
16:56
a real impact. And that's like really, really
16:59
important. And the way I look at it is if
17:00
we can get the best and the brightest at Harvard Medical
17:02
School to when they're going through their schooling to
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choose, I want to work in pediatric oncology instead of
17:08
going to be some other type of physician, then that's great.
17:11
We did our job. We got one more brilliant mind
17:13
in the field to try to help find a cure.
17:15
So, I mean, there's so many things, but investing in the
17:17
people is one thing that really, really is impactful for me.
17:20
I love hearing that too, because I think there's so many
17:23
incredibly, you know, well known foundations out there, right?
17:28
And you always hear about them. You you donate to them quite
17:31
often and you don't always 100% know exactly like where do the
17:35
funds go, right? How are they allocated and what
17:37
are they really helping? And you know that they're
17:39
helping something. So it always just feels good to
17:41
do something good, right and give back and donate.
17:44
But with this, because it is, is such a unique local 'cause we
17:49
really do get to see where those funds are going.
17:52
And then you actually get to to witness the, the growth of that
17:56
too, right? I think over the many years that
17:59
I've been able to go to some of your events, being able to see
18:01
the nurses from the oncology department at these events,
18:04
being able to see the doctors, like it's just such an amazing
18:08
impact that you have that you physically can see the impact
18:11
that you're doing and actually get to kind of, I think get
18:16
motivated to take it even further, right.
18:19
So the fact that you said the, the longevity of these
18:21
foundations is usually about five years and you guys are on
18:24
25 years, I'm not surprised, right?
18:27
Between the two of you ANYWAYS, being incredibly brilliant and
18:31
driven people, not surprised that you guys are able to take
18:33
it to this level. But also on top of it, it's
18:36
you're actually putting money towards things that you can
18:40
physically see continue to evolve and grow.
18:43
And I think that that's something that will continue to
18:45
motivate you to just be like, let's take this next step.
18:47
Let's go full time with this foundation and make sure that
18:50
you can actually continue to have a legacy for Alexandra, but
18:53
also continue to help all of these amazing people.
18:56
So that being said, you kind of touched on you're putting money
18:58
behind people. Obviously that's something from
19:01
a business standpoint we do quite often, right?
19:03
Everything we do in our business is putting money behind people,
19:06
putting money behind our clients, putting money into our,
19:09
our team, right? Because we know that the human
19:12
touch, the human element of things is what's actually going
19:15
to take any business to the next level or any foundation to the
19:18
next level. As the president of Alex's team
19:22
foundation, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you
19:24
got involved? Obviously we know you're married
19:26
to to the brains behind the operation, right?
19:29
I know that's factual. Like you got involved before you
19:32
and Ariana or even together. So tell us a little bit about
19:34
kind of how that story took. Yeah.
19:37
So I've been involved for probably 2324 years, so from.
19:40
So when you were zero years old, Yeah.
19:42
Yeah, exactly. Just a young boy, yeah.
19:47
So I went to college with Ariana's brother and I was able
19:52
to get involved shortly after Alexander's passing.
19:55
And I would go to those, go to those charity events, March
19:58
Madness events or the golf tournaments, and I would support
20:01
it in right away. It was a 'cause that was.
20:04
Really, really meaningful. I mean, it was, it was getting
20:08
behind sick children and supporting that, that fight for
20:11
childhood cancer. I don't think there's anyone in
20:13
the world that wouldn't want to support that cause in the way
20:15
that they do it, in the way that they support the people behind
20:18
it. And it's not just this, you
20:20
know, big conglomerate was really, really interesting to
20:23
me. And obviously I had the personal
20:25
connections as well, which clearly meant a ton.
20:28
So I got involved very early when I was in college and just
20:31
continue to get more involved with the foundation as we as we
20:34
grew and then or as it went on. And then as Ariana and I started
20:38
dating and I wanted to get really more involved in the
20:43
foundation and the family and always run it with some very,
20:45
very close friends. So then I got, you know, on the
20:47
board and then was on the board for a handful of years and was
20:50
fortunate enough to become president, whatever it was 12
20:54
years ago or so. And I really wanted to grow the
20:57
foundation. It meant a lot to me.
21:00
And obviously Ariana and I, I saw the good that it did.
21:04
And to me that was so impactful. And then when I was in a
21:08
position with work and I was, you know, maybe reluctant to tie
21:13
the 2 worlds together at all. And in merge things, I, I really
21:18
thought it would be best to do so because we touch families
21:21
every single day and being able to get a family into a house
21:25
that has children and they, they bring this, you know, they raise
21:29
their family in these, these homes and to see how that kind
21:33
of collides. And I felt that, OK, I'm super
21:37
passionate. I'm going to be super passionate
21:39
about this, this foundation no matter what.
21:41
But could I merge the world's a little bit to make a bigger
21:44
impact on the foundation and maybe get some clients to come
21:48
to the events and maybe get them interested in the foundation?
21:52
And I felt that that could be a way to help the foundation grow.
21:55
And a lot of my business partners, whether it be
21:57
attorneys or loan officers or insurance providers, whatever
21:59
the case may be. And obviously Wilson Group as a
22:01
team has been incredibly impactful on the foundation,
22:04
especially over the last handful of years.
22:07
That would be a way to help the foundation grow and help the
22:12
foundation make a bigger impact. And by doing so and getting more
22:16
people involved, we're able to help more nurses, help more
22:20
physicians, ultimately help more families and you know, in the
22:24
biggest goal out of them all, help more children.
22:26
And so for me, it's always been, I've been super passionate about
22:30
it, you know, since I was in college and it's just grown,
22:33
especially as I learned more about it and did over the years.
22:36
So that's how I got started. And I'm really excited about
22:40
where we're at. And obviously with Ariana taking
22:44
the, the main role as executive director, it's, it's pretty
22:47
impressive. And obviously anyone that was at
22:49
Spirit Ball last year, they saw the difference.
22:53
You know, you got involved and all of a sudden there's hundreds
22:55
more people there. We're raising more money.
22:57
And it's just, it's, it's pretty amazing what you've been able to
22:59
do in such a short amount of time.
23:00
And we're very excited about the future.
23:03
It's incredible what you guys were able to do when you weren't
23:06
full time. So I can only imagine how things
23:09
are going to continue to grow and evolve now that Ariana is
23:12
fully immersed in Alex's Team Foundation.
23:16
I love everything that you said in terms of how you got
23:17
involved. And also I want to definitely
23:20
dive deeper into what you've done with a collaboration
23:23
between Wilson Group and Alex's Team Foundation.
23:26
But you brought up a couple of good things about, you know,
23:29
kind of all those events, right? That's how you originally got
23:32
that itch to want to become more invested in Alex's team
23:35
foundation before you and Ariana even started dating.
23:39
So I want to hear from Ariana. Tell me about the events because
23:42
I do think that that's something that they're so magnetic.
23:45
They're so they have such an incredible energy to all of the
23:49
events, whether it's the summer ones or and the spirit ball.
23:53
That is hands down my favorite event of the entire year.
23:56
Right. But tell us about the events and
23:57
how other people can get involved because I do think that
24:00
making an impact, especially in a world right now that feels
24:03
like your connection is only on the Internet or it's just so far
24:08
removed from reality. This is a 'cause that you can
24:11
physically get involved in and actually have a connection
24:15
that's person that like a human related, right.
24:19
So tell us a little bit more about those opportunities and
24:21
how any listener can can potentially get involved like
24:23
us. Yeah.
24:24
So as you mentioned, we have our signature gala, the Spirit Ball,
24:28
which this year is November 21st.
24:30
We're going back to the House of Blues where we have been, what,
24:34
five years ago, Yeah, at least, which was always one of our
24:38
favorite venues. It really comes back to the
24:43
community. We have other events throughout
24:45
the year. We have our summer social, which
24:48
last year was at Park City and Southie, and this year we have a
24:52
new event, the World Cup watch party.
24:54
So the World Cup is here this year and we're big soccer
24:57
people. Jordy and Ryan were on the same
24:59
soccer team in college. That's how they met.
25:01
So bringing it back to our our roots and with people who care
25:05
about the sport to have kind of a lower point of entry, but
25:10
still a fun event to participate in and raise money for childhood
25:15
cancer. But with all of our events, like
25:18
you said, it's about the people, it's about the fun, it's about
25:22
engaging with the human connection and learning about a
25:26
'cause that is really meaningful up close and personal.
25:31
Nurses come to our event, families who have children with
25:34
cancer or who have been through cancer come to our event.
25:38
And then all of our supporters who have been there since day
25:42
one this year. This past year, we had 500
25:45
people in the room for our Spirit ball and more than half
25:51
of them have probably been to 10 spirit balls.
25:55
And I really give credit to my parents for when they started
26:00
Alex's team and keeping our community who had such a
26:04
momentum to come together for this cause.
26:07
Like we were just one family in Andover who had a need and we
26:12
saw this amazing human connection and human reaction of
26:17
people coming together to support that and finding a way
26:21
to further that and give back to the people who were meaningful
26:27
to Alex in the hospital, who were meaningful to us and who we
26:30
knew really needed it. My dad's rugby team has he's an
26:36
attorney, his attorney, friends, people who are part of his
26:40
professional sphere and now people who are part of our
26:45
professional spheres. You know, many people in the
26:47
room are connections with Wilson Group.
26:50
We're so lucky that we've been able to sustain Alex's team for
26:54
25 years because of the people who started with us on day one
26:59
and everyone who has joined along the way.
27:02
And Spirit Ball is a super fun event.
27:06
We promote it as like, you're going to have fun.
27:09
My dad always says like it's the best party.
27:12
We want to celebrate Alex's team, celebrate the impact that
27:16
we're having on the childhood cancer community and get more
27:19
people to learn about it at the same time so they can be
27:22
involved. One of our sponsors last year, I
27:26
think I told the story yesterday at Spirit Ball this year, he
27:30
said he's been a sponsor for many years, Chompanosian, he
27:35
said. I bring different people every
27:37
year because it's something that I think people should experience
27:42
and I want to, you know, give other people the opportunity to
27:45
see the impact. But the best thing about it is
27:48
that everyone I've ever brought is in this room today.
27:52
And that's how we see our impact Sustain.
27:55
That's how we see our foundation Sustain is when our connections
28:00
are people that have been investing in Alex's team.
28:04
Introduce us to the next person who's going to find meaning
28:08
behind this 'cause who's going to find that personal
28:10
connection. And then at the events, we get
28:13
to have fun, we get to celebrate it.
28:15
We get to have connection with those people that, you know, we
28:19
see on social media everyday but might not have the chance to
28:23
think in person, might not have the chance to tell our story in
28:27
person. And so we used to have like a
28:32
million events. People in the nonprofit world
28:35
know that event can take a lot out of people.
28:38
But we thought that it was really important to continue
28:41
that human connection and continue that celebration so
28:44
that we can continue to have an impact on the patients and
28:47
families and caregivers that it really matters to.
28:50
It's incredible. You've done a phenomenal job of
28:53
making it the best party that you'll ever go to, right?
28:56
I couldn't agree more with your father that that is absolutely
29:01
something you guys are nailing every single year, right?
29:03
Spirit Ball is by far one of the best nights of the year for
29:06
everyone. And I, I also really couldn't
29:09
agree more with Trampanosian, right?
29:10
He's a brilliant, brilliant businessman and what he's doing
29:14
by bringing new people every single year is something our
29:17
team is also really striving to do as well too.
29:19
I, I say to our team constantly, if we can get new people to come
29:24
to these events and feel that energy of that celebration for
29:28
such an incredible 'cause that impact and see the impact that a
29:32
local foundation is making a local family that went through
29:36
the exact thing that you're supporting, right?
29:38
Had to struggle with a childhood, with a child going
29:42
through cancer, right? It's, it's one of those things
29:45
that there's just no way you wouldn't want to be a part of
29:47
this world, right? So you come to one event and
29:49
you're absolutely going to follow them on social media.
29:51
You're going to make sure that you're able to donate if you
29:54
can, right? Because this is something that
29:57
it's, it has such a local impact and it is such a, I think just
30:04
like in a world, like I said, where it's, it's the, there's so
30:08
much lacking in personal connection.
30:10
This is something where there is actually a real connection here.
30:13
When you go to Spirit Ball and you actually get to meet those
30:16
nurses that are supporting these kids through such an incredible
30:19
time, right at an incredibly tough time.
30:22
But that being said, let's tap into other ways, right?
30:25
So you can attend these events, right?
30:28
You have sponsorships. So our team obviously
30:31
collaborates with Alex's team as often as possible.
30:34
We want to spread the word. We want everyone to get to
30:36
experience, whether it's your summer social or your gala.
30:40
We want everyone to experience this because we do feel like if
30:43
you go to one event, you will be hooked.
30:45
Like you will absolutely be a supporter of Alex's team
30:47
foundation without a doubt going forward.
30:50
But from other corporate sponsors, right?
30:54
There's so many opportunities here for corporate companies in
30:58
our area or even outside of our area to support this foundation
31:01
and be a part of it and do similar cause marketing to what
31:05
Wilson Group is doing right For us, the cause marketing is so
31:08
impactful because it is personal.
31:10
Ryan's the president, you know, you are his wife, and you guys
31:14
are actually at home talking about this foundation, talking
31:16
about the growth, talking about the impact.
31:18
But there are other companies out there that can do the same
31:21
thing, that can absolutely collaborate with you, that can
31:25
brand with you, that can support your your events, maybe host
31:28
events themselves as well too, and help raise money to a
31:31
foundation that isn't such a huge global or nationwide name,
31:38
right? And they can actually have a
31:39
bigger impact because they'll actually be the ones behind
31:43
supporting A cause like yours and a foundation like yours to
31:45
actually grow and get to the next level.
31:47
So are there any opportunities? What would be the way that a
31:50
company that's looking to get into any form of cause marketing
31:55
or just wants to get behind a different charity and get their
31:58
brand aligned with something this wonderful?
32:00
How would they be able to reach out to you and get involved?
32:03
Yeah, absolutely. So like you said, we have our
32:05
event sponsorship, so advertising opportunities
32:07
throughout the events and to our attendees and everything.
32:12
Everyone that's involved in Alex S team, you can be a sponsor of
32:15
Spirit Ball, you can be a sponsor of the World Cup watch
32:17
party. Now we're going to introduce
32:21
people being sponsors of Summer Social, but one thing that we
32:25
just launched was our annual sponsorships and that is a way
32:29
for companies to get involved on a year round basis to support
32:33
what we're doing. Obviously our events happen at
32:35
different times of the year. If you can go to an event, if
32:38
that's something that you're into, if that's something that
32:41
aligns with kind of your goals and your mission, that's great.
32:45
We wanted to provide opportunities for people to
32:49
partner with us and get their their brands out there and align
32:53
with us in a different way. And so that's through social
32:57
media, through advertising, through emails.
33:00
You know, we have a big audience.
33:03
We've been around for 25 years. So our contact list has has
33:06
grown and grown. And that is supporting our
33:11
pillars of nursing and research and education and awareness and
33:16
patient and family support. And it's really a way to engage
33:21
year round with Alex's team and have a sort of sustainable
33:26
impact throughout the year. Those opportunities are
33:30
available on our websites and we can really customize it to the
33:34
need and the goals of the organization.
33:36
But it's giving people a kind of different levels of opportunity
33:41
to support the cause and get their own brand out there to be
33:47
in front of people. And also, you know, let people
33:49
know that there are aligning with a charitable 'cause that
33:52
means something to them. I love that.
33:54
So let's tap into a little bit of cause marketing, right?
33:58
Obviously we've mentioned right, Alex's team foundation there is
34:01
there was no other choice for Wilson Group.
34:03
We knew that we wanted to support this foundation through
34:05
and through. It's near and dear to your
34:07
heart. And it's also just such a local
34:10
amazing foundation that we get to, like we said, we get to
34:13
physically go drop off things to the nurses at Boston Children's
34:16
Hospital. We get to actually meet them at
34:18
Spira Ball. We get to physically be around
34:20
it and experience all of the amazing opportunities that your
34:24
foundation offers. But I think the other part that
34:27
we love about it and why we collaborate and why 'cause
34:30
marketing is such a massive impact for businesses is we've
34:34
been working incredibly hard. Ryan, you've had Wilson Group
34:37
for 1415 years, right? But you've been in the business
34:42
for 2020 years. OK, Yeah.
34:45
But so like you mentioned earlier, the amount of human
34:48
beings that we touch. So any industry where you have a
34:51
massive client base, right, you're touching so many lives
34:56
day in and day out. Our team does that.
34:58
Hundreds of people a year, right?
35:00
And we stay in touch with them because we are not transactional
35:03
like that. After we help people get into a
35:06
home, we remain in touch. We want to talk to them about
35:08
their house. We want to help them maintain
35:10
their home. We want to talk to them about
35:12
how we can, you know, like work with them on the equity that
35:15
they've built in their home, if they're going to upsize,
35:17
downsize. And then we also just stay in
35:19
touch on things that have nothing to do with real estate,
35:21
right? Just life in general.
35:23
The community, right? And you've mentioned so many
35:26
times about Alex's team foundation and the actual
35:30
foundation of how you guys built it was through community.
35:33
It was from Andover and the incredible community that you
35:35
had while you were growing up. And for us, this just made
35:40
perfect sense, that why wouldn't we get Wilson Group's community
35:44
of people, right? These people and lives that
35:46
we've gotten to touch, that we've gotten to be a part of and
35:49
introduce them to another fantastic community that they
35:52
could get involved in if they'd like to, right?
35:55
So from a company standpoint, strictly speaking selfishly,
35:59
right, we get to also leverage these events as an amazing time
36:04
to invite our clients, see them in person, get face to FaceTime
36:08
with them. That doesn't involve them
36:10
inviting us over to their house, right?
36:12
We get to say, hey, come out, get dressed up, go to the best
36:15
party you're going to go to all year.
36:17
And it's drinks, dancing, amazing food, one of the best
36:22
venues in Boston. And you also get to participate
36:25
in, you know, helping a foundation that's going to
36:28
actually help locally, right? So I think that that's an
36:31
amazing piece right there from the company standpoint that
36:34
gives us a little bit of this selfish opportunity to say, hey,
36:37
like, let's get our clients to come to this.
36:39
Like let's make this a party for us too and get more and more
36:42
people to come to it. We also get to throw
36:44
unbelievable giveaways right on our social media.
36:47
So we get to promote Spirit Ball or Alex's Team Foundation and
36:52
different opportunities by saying we're going to give away
36:54
tickets, right? There's nothing more fun than
36:56
doing giveaways on social media. We have a huge platform, a big
36:59
social media following. And for us, we get to get
37:02
involved in that sense, right? And I think the other piece that
37:05
a lot of companies don't realize is it's an opportunity to create
37:09
an incredible company culture. So for us, our company, we've
37:13
had multiple hires that came to our team.
37:15
That said, I saw your charitable giving page and the fact that
37:19
Ryan is the president of Alex's team foundation, the fact that
37:22
you guys actually give back to the community, to our local
37:26
community by, you know, helping childhood cancer, that has
37:31
helped us get some of the best tires.
37:33
Taylor being one of them. She said that that was a huge
37:36
reason why she wanted to join the team was the charitable
37:38
giving Andy, who's also on our team, who's been with us for
37:41
four years now, he heads up the entire collaborative piece of
37:46
our cause marketing, right? He does bimonthly or you know,
37:51
I'm not even sure how often you guys are meeting, but he does
37:53
all these meetings to make sure that we're Co branding as often
37:56
as we possibly can and never missing an opportunity.
37:59
So I think any entrepreneur out there that's listening, right,
38:01
because that is what this podcast is all about is helping
38:04
entrepreneurs build and grow their business.
38:07
If you're looking for another way to take your community and
38:12
take the foundation that you've built with your business and add
38:16
another layer on to that and also give back, right, This
38:20
would be an amazing cause to do that with, right?
38:22
So they can reach out to you, they can get involved.
38:26
You could even sit down with Andy on our team and learn all
38:28
the insurance and outs about how to really truly grow your cause
38:32
and make sure that you're collaborating with an incredible
38:34
foundation like this. We won't be jealous if you steal
38:37
Alex's team foundation from us. You can.
38:40
There's plenty for everyone, right?
38:41
There's more children out there that need help, and we want to
38:44
be able to see that through and like, help Alex's Team
38:46
foundation grow. But I think that that's
38:48
something that businesses really need to find time.
38:52
If you're using AI to get rid of all these tasks and all these
38:55
different things off your plate, then make sure that you're
38:57
filling that time with something else.
38:59
And something else could be cause marketing, aligning with a
39:03
foundation, Alex's Team Foundation.
39:05
And it's really a winner that you're supporting.
39:07
Yeah, supporting something bigger.
39:09
Yeah, I was thinking about this as we are preparing for the
39:13
podcast, that being an entrepreneur is really similar
39:18
to being in a nonprofit professional.
39:20
Like entrepreneurs are really passionate about what you do.
39:24
You work with people. It's about building community,
39:26
like you're saying. It's about doing things that are
39:28
going to make sense for your business efficiently,
39:32
effectively, but really from a human perspective.
39:36
And so that's why I think that Alex's team in Wilson Group was
39:39
such a natural fit. Obviously we're married, so we
39:42
get to collaborate on the stuff probably more than most, but
39:46
bringing more partnerships into the mix.
39:49
Now that I have more time as the executive director, it's been
39:52
one of my favorite things to just meet with more people,
39:55
learn about their goals, learn about their businesses.
39:58
We're in the business of helping people.
40:00
So helping people with their business and with their goals
40:03
and bringing people into a charitable culture that's going
40:07
to ultimately have an impact on more children and nurses and
40:12
doctors and the whole childhood cancer sphere is.
40:17
Really meaningful and, and it's just like Ryan said, it's a win
40:20
win. Absolutely.
40:22
So in the show notes, we're going to have all of the ways
40:24
that people can connect with Alex's team Foundation from the
40:27
events that you can attend to Ariana's contact info.
40:31
If you want to get involved as a sponsor, as a, you know,
40:35
collaboration, if you want to actually start to learn how to
40:38
do cause marketing for your company.
40:41
Even if you're a solo entrepreneur, there's so many
40:43
people out there that you have a good reach, you have an amazing
40:46
platform. There are so many ways that you
40:48
can leverage your social media, your database, whatever it might
40:51
be to help get more eyes on this foundation, but also to to help
40:55
elevate your brand, right. So as you mentioned, you have so
40:58
many amazing opportunities for sponsors and anyone who aligns
41:02
with your company to get in front of your database as well.
41:04
So it is a win win. And it's something that would be
41:08
an amazingly impactful opportunity for a business owner
41:13
or entrepreneur to to align with you.
41:15
So we'll put that in the show notes.
41:17
Thank you so much for joining us.
41:18
Thank you. Ryan for having me.
41:20
Thanks for being a guest. I mean, this was, this was
41:22
great. Yeah, a quieter side of you.
41:25
It was great. Just kidding.
41:28
But honestly, Ariana, it was wonderful to actually get to
41:30
hear your story a little bit more in depth and to now be able
41:33
to show that to our our audience as well too.
41:35
Because that's another way for us to connect with all of the
41:38
people that we've brought to the events and show them a lot more
41:41
about the foundation that you don't always get to see at the
41:43
parties. Thanks a lot.
41:44
I really appreciate it. Excited to do more things like
41:47
this and, you know, continue to see what the impact can be.
41:50
Me too. Thanks.
41:51
Thank you.