Unlearning Entrepreneurship with Megan Klein: Marketing to Nonprofits, Navigating Career Ceilings, Systematic Scalability, and Balancing Passion with Practicality

Transcript

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Hello everybody and welcome once again to the Unlearned Podcast.

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I'm your host, ruth Abigail, aka RA, and this is the podcast that is helping you gain the courage to change your mind so you can experience more freedom.

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And we are talking to entrepreneurs, and we have a very special one, near and dear to my heart, in the studio today.

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What's up, megan Klein?

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Hey there, ra?

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Yeah, okay, all right.

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So me and Megan have been friends for several years.

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Megan is one of those friends who makes me do things I don't want to do and makes me be around people more than I probably prefer to be, and makes me be around people more than I probably prefer to be, and that's how I'm.

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Yes, that characterizes a lot of our relationship.

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Look, if you are a treasure, you need to be shared.

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Ra, and I'm here to make sure that you are shared.

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That's it, look at you.

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I'm in a whole new circle of people Just because Because I've drug you, I've clawed you back.

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You will come be friends with my friends.

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Oh, it's been a good one, I love it.

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We have good people.

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So how you doing, mate?

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I'm good, I'm good, wonderful, wonderful.

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So you're an entrepreneur.

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That is what I've been told.

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Yes, you've been told.

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Yes, you've been told.

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You have not always been.

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I have not always been, but I have always been in a family of entrepreneurs, because my husband's been an entrepreneur for gosh 16 years that he's been running his business.

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So I observed the entrepreneurial life and then finally decided to do it myself, jump in With much prodding and encouragement and you know me and you know him, so you know how much it pains me to listen when he tells me to do something.

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It's not my favorite.

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And when he finally said for the umpteenth time, as I was in a role where I was like I feel pinched in this role, I feel like I don't have a place to go, I keep hitting the same ceiling he said when are you going to stop doing the same thing over and over and getting frustrated and just step out and do this for yourself?

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and over and getting frustrated and just step out and do this for yourself.

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It's like yeah.

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And then he made up for his sassiness in that moment by being super supportive when I did step out and buying me really great office tchotchkes.

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So he's good, so that's good for that.

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Good for you, Corey.

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Okay.

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So, um, how long before?

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How long between the time he said when are you going to do this?

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To when you actually did it?

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Mm?

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Um, I think so.

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Let's see, let's, let's give like the short run of of my career history right, I started in marketing agency work and I did that for six-ish years and then and in a public relations capacity, and then I went to the nonprofit side of things where in order to be in marketing and communications, you also have to be the development specialist, as, per my experience, not necessarily the rule, but then I spent a decade doing a little bit more, doing nonprofit work for three to four years and then going back into the agency life because for me, fundraising drains my soul and so I had to step out and take a break.

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So I did that a couple of times, and it was on the backside of one of these nonprofit roles where I had started to see the same pattern as the development communications person.

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In a nonprofit you work in lockstep with the executive director, and when that relationship is great, it is great, but it will always have some tension of where those roles are aligned and where there's.

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It just came down to a point of like either I would continue to do that type of work or I would be an executive director.

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That's where I was headed and I had to answer that question.

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Executive director, that's where I was headed and I had to answer that question do I want to be a an executive director if I'm going to keep living this nonprofit life?

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And and it wasn't for me in that season.

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And so there were, I think, at least two jobs that I took that I thoroughly enjoyed, where that thought of entrepreneurship was in the back of my head, like maybe there's something else for me.

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But I think I was of was am of a generation where we've been taught that having good benefits is really important, having good health insurance from your company is really important.

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Being able to lock those kind of benefits in was just as important as the salary and the work that you were going to be doing.

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And I had to flip the script or unlearn that I'm like.

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Actually, those things can be afforded on your own and maybe you can find freedom and scheduling flexibility and satisfaction in being the driver of your bottom line in a way that is much more fulfilling than trying to find that next right step within an organization where you are fitting yourself into a role.

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It is not for everyone.

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Started was five, five months.

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It was a short timeline.

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Okay, yeah, cause I don't you know, I don't once, I once I decide I don't have a lot of patience to wait for it.

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We're going, we're moving, yeah, yeah, so you make, I want to, I want to.

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Um, I want to talk about something you said.

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You said you got to a point in, uh, where you were kind of career wise, where it was like I'm either going to stay here, the only where I could go is basically to the top, right, I mean, that's there's.

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There's really no place else for me to go, um, and I just determined that it wasn't for me.

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Here's my question.

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Uh, there are a lot of people that want what, what?

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Let me see, I don't want to say what, what things about you or other people that find themselves in that position?

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Um, what care?

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What traits I guess character traits, work, ethic traits, whatever you want to say do you believe are common for people who find themselves in that tension of do I move up in an organization or do I move out to do something else?

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What's true about that for you?

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I think a lot of it comes down to your drive and ambitions.

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Are you the type of person an ambitious person, a person that ambition is part of their wiring always feels like they need to be moving towards something.

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So I have a hard time being satisfied in the moment or recognizing that what I'm doing is what I really love, because I feel this drive of I have internal pressure to do more, to take the next step, even if, like, the next step is not what I want, and that's what it came down to thinking about that executive director role.

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What I like to do is effective storytelling.

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I like to persuasively tell stories that bring people along, that engage and compel them to take an action.

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It's why journalism wasn't a great fit for me, because you aren't supposed to actually have an opinion.

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You're supposed to report the fact.

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It's like, oh, I have so many opinions.

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To actually have an opinion, you're supposed to report the fact.

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It's like, oh, I have so many opinions.

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I'm not great as a straight journalist, but if I want to be an effective storyteller, that's my passion and you have to have a mix of like boots on the ground to know what the stories are within an organization and eye on the leadership team's vision, for where are you going to know what stories will move the needle farther down that path?

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That's a whole lot of mixed metaphors, right, but what I realized about an executive director role is that that's a very small part of what they do.

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There's a lot of budget management, fundraising, operations management, personality and politics in managing a board.

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A lot me for things, and so it's.

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It was a decision of like that's actually not a good fit for this season of my life.

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And so how do I make more money that I want to make, which is tough, within a nonprofit too, right?

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Well, that's a whole nother podcast.

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How do I make the money I want to make, have the flexibility that I want to have that's right for my family in the season and for myself and my personal goals and do work that is meaningful and challenging, and so that's where that just kept kind of rolling through my head and it's like I think I have capacity to do the strategy and storytelling work that I love for more than one organization in a way that is affordable for organizations and yet helps me get to that income that I'm looking for.

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Yeah, and that's where I kind of built this how I want to build a business model and and it took shape in a way that it's like I think I can, I think I can bet on myself here and do that of maybe the reasons that you have, um, you've said is like I don't, I'm kind of out of the ceiling here, and then the next step here on this rung is not for me, or I am dissatisfied in what I'm doing, or I feel like I'm in a box.

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I don't know all this stuff.

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The concern I have and I see sometimes especially in younger people, like younger leaders, is this desire to build something without the discipline to do it.

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This is my concern.

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I mean, correct me if I'm wrong or disagree with me, but would you agree that some of that discipline is actually seen in the way you're working and whatever you're working in now?

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Now, if you're, is it?

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Is it fair to say if you struggle doing the things with a degree of excellence and discipline in your current situation, then you're going to struggle doing it on your own?

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Is that a fair statement?

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Oh gosh, yeah, cause it's um, it's not just doing the things that you love, it's having the discipline to do the things you don't love.

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Yeah, I spent an hour on the phone with my accountant today and she was showing me how to make journal entries in my QuickBooks.

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I thought I don't want to know this and also I'm just going to call you next month when I have to do this, because I'm not going to do enough of this to retain it.

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Right, you next month when I have to do this, because I'm not going to do enough of this to retain it.

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But it's the challenge of working in the business versus working on the business, and that is a real struggle.

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That's something that I have been dealing with, especially in this season this summer.

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In my business, summer tends to be a little bit slow because everybody goes on vacation, so projects don't move as quickly and that kind of thing.

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So I decided that I would dedicate my extra time this summer to building some systems within my business and documenting some things that are second nature to me but, as I scale, need to be able to be replicated by a team member that I bring on or just documented in a way that I can do it without thinking and make sure that I don't miss any steps, and so, having that documentation, it's a process called systemology, which my good friend, candice Obadina, brought up.

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She is an expert at this, and so she and I worked together.

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I engaged her for a couple of months to help me build official systems for my business, just to help me with that, to document the processes of what I do every day with clients and make sure that I have checklists and key milestones in place for onboarding clients, for communicating with clients on specific projects, for communicating with contractors and vendors who are coming in and working in those spaces.

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She helped me build that, and that was a tedious, detail-oriented process that I was like I hate this.

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I love her.

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Candice is amazing.

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I would not have been able to do that work without having Candice alongside, going wait, let's back up, because you jumped six steps and we need to back up and catch each one of those details.

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I'm like, but I just do it, and she's like, but somebody else won't.

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You have to get it out of your head and onto paper, and so, without having a partner like her to work with, it would have been impossible for me to have the discipline to work myself through it or to do it in a way that was truly effective, because I would have kept skimming what I consider second nature, having a second set of eyes on there to go.

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That's not second nature.

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Not everybody's brain works like that.

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It's like okay, that's something I had to figure out.

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So, working on the business, you can be passionate about doing a thing, but if you're not also able to apply discipline and structure that will make the thing a viable business, then you are better off doing the thing you love for somebody else who will provide that structure.

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I'm just going to do that.

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That's exactly so.

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That's good.

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I was going to, and I like for you to.

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Just for those who aren't familiar with that terminology like working in the business versus working on the business what's a simple way for somebody to understand the difference.

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Yeah, working in the business is doing the thing that gets you paid by other people, and working on the business is doing the structural organization work that an administrative team does at an.

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If you are within a company, it is figuring out your accounting, your payroll, your, your insurance, your processes and systems, your HR.

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It's all of those things that aren't what you love, but it's what you need to make your business legal, functional, scalable, viable in terms of like can you pay your bills, can you get paid, can you pay your taxes?

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Those types of things that are functions of operating a business.

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Yeah, and, and nobody gets in entrepreneurship to work on the business.

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No, that's not why people do it.

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Nobody wants to do that.

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You want to do the thing that you want to do, like you want to make the product, give the service you know, do the thing, create whatever, like that's what you do.

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So, as somebody who is not a fan of certain elements of working on the business, how do you keep yourself motivated to do it?

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Um, the cold hard truth is it's the dollars and cents.

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Right it's.

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I either am going to learn how to do it or I better be ready to pay someone to do it.

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And as an entrepreneur, you get a real strong appreciation for the value of somebody's time and skills, because you want to be respected for the skills and services you're offering and so you don't want to treat anybody else with anything less than what you would want in that situation.

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And so it's finding that balance of what am I capable of doing, what is cost effective for me to do, versus paying somebody else to do, and vice versa, what is it not worth my time to do?

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What should I just bite the bullet and pay somebody to do so that it gets done and I can focus on the work that is going to bring income and revenue into my business?

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Yeah, that's um.

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So how long have you been entrepreneur?

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18 months, 18 months.

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Yeah and change you said what I said.

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Yeah and change.

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Yeah, Okay.

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So in those 18 months.

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Get, give me in this moment the thing that you have unlearned the most.

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Hmm, oh, let's see that instinct is enough.

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Hmm, all right.

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Say more.

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So I, I, you, you do a thing that you are good at.

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Right.

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We love doing things that we are good at.

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We love doing things that we are good at, and so we're inclined to pursue work that we excel in naturally.

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So in my business, I'm a very strategic thinker and I'm an excellent storyteller.

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Those things are critical to being able to deliver for my clients.

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However, if I don't do the steady day-to-day checklist work of have I done this thing for this client, have I gone through my list every day?

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Of just doing day-to-day execution work, I'm not going to have happy clients.

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So I can't just dwell in this upper level of strategy and things I love to do.

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You have to do that daily.

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And I think building these systems, while it was a painful process for me, was really important, because I can't just.

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You know, thankfully, I've had a good initial run and so I've got good clients who trust me and they're investing in their businesses by bringing me on board to help and provide my services.

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But I can't deliver on what I'm promising just by doing the next thing that I think is right doing that system of things that we need to do, key things that we need to learn steps that we need to take in their process to be able to deliver the best product possible.

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Because I've had clients where the way that I like to work is an initial kind of get to know you project, where we build out their strategy and we know how we want to tell their stories.

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Sometimes a client comes in like we just need this project, we need this story, and we skip that process at the beginning and every single time we get down the road and I'm like this is a mess.

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If we just had that process at the beginning, rather than trusting that I'd be able to figure it out along the way.

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I can, I'm able to do it, but the emotional toil and toll that it takes is not worth it long term.

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No, it's like we have to work the process and not just trust in our ability to knock it out.

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Yeah, that's fine, it's okay to have fire drills sometimes and to get them done successfully, but really it's better to have a process that you follow, where you do it every single time and that way you consistently have the knowledge and resources and background that you need to deliver an excellent service or product for your client.

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So I'm trying to remember the phrase.

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I'm pretty sure I'm going to mess it up, but a while back I just I kind of began to say this phrase of like, uh man, what is the phrase?

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Uh, let's see, Wait a minute, If you're okay.

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I think this is it.

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If your process will produce a product, then you're a professional.

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Okay.

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Right, okay, if your process produces a product, product, you're a professional and that product could also.

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Yeah, but that process piece is important because you have to be able to repeat it and otherwise you're just uh it, it could come across as just you, you're lucky, right, I mean.

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I think the other interesting part about that is it's scalable.

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Like you, it doesn't your.

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When you create the processes and, like you were saying, with your systems, your business can then live beyond you and also can be replicated in somebody else's work.

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Now, it's not just Megan that's on the team, it's Megan plus, but we both do the same process because this is what produces the best product.

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But if you don't have that into that instinct thing, that's really interesting.

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Like, uh, we just finished doing recruitment at angel street.

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Um, we had a whole, we have a whole thing and we have a process of recruitment.

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Like it's very, it's very specific and strategic.

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There are steps that have to happen, um, that when you do them at first it seems so tedious, and I was telling the team.

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I was like I know, because they were like, why don't we just, I know this doesn't I know, I get it, and I've had to kind of, I've had to unlearn that as well, especially with a team.

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Because what I can do, I can do recruitment in my sleep, I can do it and I can, I could.

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Just I can do, I can do it, and then I can fix the things that I did wrong, like, like, like it's nothing for me to do that.

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But, first of all, I'm not I'm not the one that's doing it and also they, they can't do that.

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The I'm not the one that's doing it and also they, they can't do that.

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So, to your point, if you, if you, if you skip some steps, it's going to be so hard on the backend and it's like you know I'm, I'm on them, like hey, we got to make sure to do this.

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Make this call, don't, they can't audition without the parent knowing, because if they do, the parent's going to end up saying they can't do it.

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Then they're going to be disappointed.

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They need to come to parent night.

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Have you called?

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Send a text, send it today, send it the day of.

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Do all these things.

00:22:42.472 --> 00:22:46.801
I know it feels like a lot, but you will be grateful for it.

00:22:46.801 --> 00:22:53.037
On the first rehearsal it's going to be way smoother, right, and it took some trial and error to figure that out.

00:22:53.037 --> 00:22:56.922
So it's, but it and it can be tedious.

00:22:56.922 --> 00:22:59.425
And I don't like processes, I'm with you.

00:22:59.425 --> 00:23:02.838
No, I prefer, way prefer to be instinctive.

00:23:02.838 --> 00:23:06.375
Instinctive Like oh yeah, let's go, let's just feel it out.

00:23:06.375 --> 00:23:08.154
You know it's way more fun that way.

00:23:08.154 --> 00:23:13.454
But you can't sustain something like that, you know no no, it comes down to that.

00:23:14.017 --> 00:23:14.680
What's the proverb?

00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:18.010
If no, it comes down to that.

00:23:18.010 --> 00:23:18.412
What's the proverb?

00:23:18.412 --> 00:23:19.073
If you want to go fast, go alone.

00:23:19.073 --> 00:23:19.755
If you want to go far, go together.

00:23:19.755 --> 00:23:30.257
It's you and I can spin the plates quickly for a small number of plates, but the more plates that start stacking up, which is what you want to do, right, you want to grow your business to where there are more plates spinning.

00:23:30.257 --> 00:23:37.070
If you don't have somebody else that knows how to spin the plates and keep them going, you're always going to be limited.

00:23:37.070 --> 00:23:42.682
So I think it's critical and it also like how many cliches can we throw in?

00:23:42.682 --> 00:23:44.834
It's that hard work beats talent.

00:23:44.834 --> 00:24:04.683
When talent doesn't work hard and this is the hard work is that daily grind, that repetitive process, because talent is great, instincts are great, especially on the fly, your spontaneity but it's not going to allow you to grow because it's a consistent grind.

00:24:05.170 --> 00:24:06.231
Yes, that's right.

00:24:06.231 --> 00:24:15.326
And you know, adding talent versus skill, right, I mean that's it's two different things, because your talent doesn't mean your skills.

00:24:15.326 --> 00:24:40.384
Skill is a learned behavior and I think that talent I mean sadly enough, I'm sitting next to my keyboard that has quite literally collected dust because I haven't played in so long and I have a talent for playing, I can play it, it's in my family, I do it, but my skill right now is low because I know it right on a regular basis.

00:24:40.384 --> 00:24:47.753
And so I think to your point, like it's important to practice and repeat, practice and repeat, practice and repeat Got to be a process.

00:24:47.753 --> 00:24:49.459
It doesn't just come because you're good at it.

00:24:50.289 --> 00:24:55.679
Yeah, and and I, and again going back to because somebody asked me today, why did you choose this series?

00:24:55.679 --> 00:25:14.204
And I was like I chose it because a lot of people come up to me saying they want to star stuff, and I tell them no, you don't, you don't want to do that, partly because there is a delusion that talent equals skill.

00:25:14.204 --> 00:25:19.371
You have not practiced this stuff well enough to not be held accountable for it.

00:25:19.371 --> 00:25:20.933
And it continues, right?

00:25:20.933 --> 00:25:43.218
Yeah, I mean when you, when you're on your own and you start something, you're building something If you haven't practiced the skill of discipline and you know um, sustain, sustainability and communication and all this stuff, or just just acquired the skill of uh, what's the word I'm looking for?

00:25:43.337 --> 00:25:51.342
Of, of doing stuff you don't want to do, right, yeah, yeah, if you haven't done that, in whatever you're you, it's not just going to be magically.

00:25:51.342 --> 00:25:56.881
So I discourage a lot of people because they're're disillusioned.

00:25:56.881 --> 00:26:01.454
You don't come to work on time, bro time.

00:26:01.454 --> 00:26:11.212
So, yeah, I think that you're going to deliver services on time in a way that's going to continue to bring business back.

00:26:11.212 --> 00:26:12.154
You know, I'm saying like's.

00:26:12.154 --> 00:26:13.917
It's little stuff like that.

00:26:13.917 --> 00:26:19.868
Maybe I'm oh, I feel old right now talking I feel like I'm, I'm in my 60s, I sound like I'm in my 60s.

00:26:20.009 --> 00:26:22.855
I know You're such a wise elder millennial.

00:26:22.855 --> 00:26:25.059
No, you're just a millennial, you're just.

00:26:25.059 --> 00:26:26.923
I'm the elder millennial in this situation.

00:26:26.923 --> 00:26:35.141
I'm well, well aged, well seasoned.

00:26:35.141 --> 00:26:37.624
But I think that's so true and it's.

00:26:38.085 --> 00:26:39.893
It is like you said, it's the discipline.

00:26:39.893 --> 00:26:44.442
You don't get to just do what you love when you're on your own.

00:26:44.442 --> 00:26:46.773
You are responsible for all of it.

00:26:46.773 --> 00:27:12.837
So either figure out how to do enough of that well that you can still do what you love, because what's going to end up happening is, if you scale, you will start to do less and less of what you love because you're going to be pulled into more of the running the business and you will be hiring people to do what you used to love.

00:27:12.837 --> 00:27:26.413
So it's a little like figure out how you want to grow and you're going to have to reach a certain point of success, like, unless you're independently wealthy, in which case why are you starting a business anyway?

00:27:26.413 --> 00:27:29.701
Like, just go live on a boat and be happy.

00:27:29.701 --> 00:27:45.163
But for those of us who are not independently wealthy who are trying to start a business, for those of us who are not independently wealthy who are trying to start a business, you are going to need capital or people who trust you with whatever it is that you're selling that will say I'm willing to step out on this with you.

00:27:45.369 --> 00:27:53.545
I started my business with a contract from my prior employer for a six-month runway yeah, that's good.

00:27:53.545 --> 00:28:02.236
So the day that I left that employer, I had a signed contract that they were going to retain my services for six months.

00:28:02.236 --> 00:28:14.760
So I knew I had six months to do that work and also hustle to get other clients, because I was now responsible for my income.

00:28:14.760 --> 00:28:18.546
And that is you have to be able to live in that tension.

00:28:18.546 --> 00:28:33.712
There are days where I'm looking at cashflow and it's like, ooh, I need to adjust some things and also take a few more networking coffee meetings, because that is and that's also the pressure right Of.

00:28:33.712 --> 00:28:43.691
If you get busy doing what you're doing and it's great you stop working on the business and the sales and the funnel that's going to feed you long-term.

00:28:43.691 --> 00:28:51.675
So you always have to have an eye on what's coming, not just what I have to get done for my current book of business.

00:28:51.675 --> 00:28:57.151
Yeah, and and that's part of it too Like, if you don't love sales, then entrepreneurship is not for you.

00:28:57.471 --> 00:29:01.057
Full stop, man, full stop, if that ain't true.

00:29:01.057 --> 00:29:14.577
And what's crazy is, I think, talk about sales a little bit, and I say that whenever people hear that word, I used to feel like grimy is what I mind.

00:29:14.577 --> 00:29:17.282
It's just like no, no, god, sales, no, no, no, no, no.

00:29:17.282 --> 00:29:26.410
But going back to the recruitment, right, you, you have to be, uh, very aware of the new customer.

00:29:26.410 --> 00:29:28.878
The new customer is what keeps you in business.

00:29:28.878 --> 00:29:33.433
You don't, you can't, you can't build business just off of the people who have been there forever.

00:29:33.433 --> 00:29:36.662
You got to keep that door has to keep revolving.

00:29:36.662 --> 00:29:46.804
You better have new people on a regular basis and so, understanding that, then you really have to put that kind of energy into.

00:29:46.804 --> 00:29:57.965
And this is why I'm grateful for working in youth ministry, because you have to in order to do well, uh, in youth and youth work, you have to.

00:29:57.965 --> 00:30:09.239
You've got to not take yourself seriously 90% of the time, to be willing to make a fool of yourself and their attention and and what sounds crazy.

00:30:09.278 --> 00:30:11.063
And people are like, what Cause you do?

00:30:11.063 --> 00:30:33.140
And but that's part it's helped me, even in this role of like being a salesperson on some level, right, it's like I, I can't care what you see or think of me, my goal is to get you in the door, like that's and um, if I've done that, how I did it, don't care.

00:30:33.140 --> 00:30:43.042
You got to have that mentality and so talk about what sales can look like for people in any entrepreneurial space.

00:30:43.042 --> 00:30:47.040
Like it doesn't just have to be you're going, you know you're in pharmaceuticals, right?

00:30:47.040 --> 00:30:50.361
Like that's not the only lane where sales is appropriate?

00:30:51.069 --> 00:30:52.276
No, no, no, it's not.

00:30:52.276 --> 00:30:54.999
And the thing is it is the daily grind.

00:30:54.999 --> 00:31:02.096
You have to be doing sales actions every single day and that is it's a couple fold.

00:31:02.096 --> 00:31:03.715
Right, it is the cold calling.

00:31:03.715 --> 00:31:06.094
It is figuring out who you're.

00:31:06.094 --> 00:31:08.519
Gosh, let me stop, hold on.

00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:09.462
I got to get on my box.

00:31:09.462 --> 00:31:15.730
So here's the thing is that people don't realize you are not for everyone.

00:31:15.730 --> 00:31:16.961
Your business, your product, your service are not for everyone.

00:31:16.961 --> 00:31:21.057
Your business, your product, your service are not for everyone, and if you try to be, you will win no one.

00:31:21.057 --> 00:31:24.478
So let's not do that.

00:31:24.478 --> 00:31:25.099
That's good.

00:31:25.230 --> 00:31:32.558
The best thing that you can do is figure out what your unique offering is and who wants it, and go find them.

00:31:32.558 --> 00:31:35.017
Yeah, you need to win them.

00:31:35.017 --> 00:31:36.876
You don't need to win the masses.

00:31:36.876 --> 00:31:39.317
You don't need to have a million viral views.

00:31:39.317 --> 00:31:43.721
You don't need to have a huge social media presence and audience.

00:31:43.721 --> 00:31:44.909
That doesn't do you any good.

00:31:44.909 --> 00:31:47.555
You need an invested view.

00:31:47.555 --> 00:31:54.337
Unless you are in widget sales and you have to sell a million widgets, then Amazon has already beaten you to it.

00:31:54.337 --> 00:31:59.712
Sell a million widgets, then Amazon's already beaten you to it.

00:31:59.732 --> 00:32:06.612
But you need to find who it is that wants your service and trust you for that service and go to them first and that is a process of.

00:32:06.612 --> 00:32:10.041
That is what I work with a lot of folks on is like what is your target audience?

00:32:10.041 --> 00:32:15.675
Get really crystal clear on who they are, where they are and what they need from you.

00:32:15.675 --> 00:32:17.818
Really crystal clear on who they are, where they are and what they need from you.

00:32:17.818 --> 00:32:18.720
And then talk to them.

00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.063
Don't tell them what you want from them.

00:32:21.063 --> 00:32:34.260
Talk to them about how what you offer fits what they need, because lots of times you end up talking about the things that are important to you, what it is you love about your business, like own.

00:32:34.260 --> 00:32:38.631
That only works if what you love is also the thing that they want you for.

00:32:38.631 --> 00:32:42.357
So it's less about talking that.

00:32:42.438 --> 00:32:44.522
This is like pitching an anniversary story.

00:32:44.522 --> 00:32:46.611
We've been in business for 35 years.

00:32:46.611 --> 00:32:48.771
Stop it, Stop it.

00:32:48.771 --> 00:32:52.013
Throw a party for your employees Celebrate in the building.

00:32:52.013 --> 00:32:53.474
Employees celebrate in the building.

00:32:53.474 --> 00:32:56.477
No one else cares, no one cares.

00:32:56.477 --> 00:32:57.837
No one cares.

00:32:57.837 --> 00:32:59.680
Please, please, don't do that.

00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:01.820
It is your culture cares.

00:33:01.820 --> 00:33:03.922
Your internal team cares, yes.

00:33:03.922 --> 00:33:06.064
Your social media doesn't, yes.

00:33:06.064 --> 00:33:09.346
So your marketing, your customers don't, unless you're offering them a deal.

00:33:09.346 --> 00:33:14.421
35 years of business, 35% off Great, do that.

00:33:16.352 --> 00:33:17.257
But right, this is it.

00:33:17.257 --> 00:33:17.397
It.

00:33:17.397 --> 00:33:20.471
I had a funny okay, so just funny, funny example on that.

00:33:20.471 --> 00:33:23.176
I messed this up today, right.

00:33:23.176 --> 00:33:30.218
So I made an announcement um, so, megan, um, I think by the time, by the time y'all hear this, this, this event will have passed.

00:33:30.218 --> 00:33:36.117
So, uh, but megan is on, uh, helping with our fundraising event and uh.

00:33:36.117 --> 00:33:38.943
So I told the kids no, it was yesterday.

00:33:38.943 --> 00:33:40.114
I told them the day at first rehearsal.

00:33:40.114 --> 00:33:43.288
I was like, hey, you know we're doing this event, you know it's going to be a lot of fun.

00:33:43.288 --> 00:33:43.730
Blah, blah, blah.

00:33:43.730 --> 00:33:45.058
We went through the slate of people.

00:33:45.058 --> 00:33:55.016
I realized on the second person, I said I, this, I kept going and I and I, I was like this is not.

00:33:55.016 --> 00:33:57.357
I was and this is, this is what cued me.

00:33:57.357 --> 00:34:04.203
I was like I have messed up, um, because they don't know these people and don't care, and it's for them.

00:34:04.564 --> 00:34:11.117
I mean they are and it's for them, as far as like, just for us to continue to do what we do, but this event isn't for them.

00:34:11.117 --> 00:34:24.797
This is, this is for adults 40 and up, Like this is no, this is for adults 40 and up, like this is not for children said um, uh, uh, you know, is beyonce gonna be there?

00:34:24.797 --> 00:34:29.284
Who else did they say um, uh, uh, uh, rihanna?

00:34:29.284 --> 00:34:34.237
No, I was like, yeah, this is going nowhere to your.

00:34:34.237 --> 00:34:39.465
I spent so much time trying to hype up an event to an audience that did not care.

00:34:40.230 --> 00:34:41.032
They didn't care.

00:34:41.032 --> 00:34:43.295
No, bless them.

00:34:43.295 --> 00:34:44.217
That's not it.

00:34:44.217 --> 00:34:51.114
So that's the key of selling right who is it that cares and is going to buy your product?

00:34:51.114 --> 00:35:09.456
Talk to them, find them and do actionable things every day that will help you open doors, whether that is figuring out who they are on LinkedIn and sending not a spammy message, but reaching out and connecting, love, what you're doing with this.

00:35:09.456 --> 00:35:15.436
If this is something that you deal with, then maybe I could help, but that's just one part.

00:35:16.150 --> 00:35:28.858
You also need to tend your current customers, because that customer loyalty base is going to be huge because loyal customers can be moved into becoming voracious advocates for you.

00:35:28.858 --> 00:35:32.751
They will tell, like people who love something, talk about it.

00:35:32.751 --> 00:35:34.597
Talk to any CrossFitter.

00:35:34.597 --> 00:35:38.056
They're going to talk about what they love and what they're passionate about.

00:35:38.056 --> 00:35:51.815
So if you can move your product service widget into that realm of something they love by delivering an incredible customer experience, then they will start to sell to their friends and like-minded people.

00:35:51.815 --> 00:35:57.405
So creating existing advocates out of your loyal customer base is huge.

00:35:57.405 --> 00:36:10.076
So customer loyalty programs and keeping them like, offering them behind the scenes and giving them that kind of intimate access of you trust me and I trust you and this is why we work and letting them in.

00:36:10.317 --> 00:36:22.298
It's why Taylor Swift works so well, because everybody that loves Taylor Swift feels like they know her very intimately, because they can spot every Easter egg and she drops this stuff for Swifties.

00:36:22.298 --> 00:36:24.097
She is constantly treating them.

00:36:24.097 --> 00:36:32.219
She's created a masterclass in building a culture and a brand, and so it is not about appealing to the masses.

00:36:32.219 --> 00:36:40.135
It's about building your crew of customers and then feeding them constantly so that that becomes a machine.

00:36:40.135 --> 00:36:44.934
And that takes serious work, it takes diligence, it takes faithful.

00:36:44.954 --> 00:36:46.581
You can't go quiet, you can't ghost.

00:36:46.581 --> 00:36:49.251
You've got to constantly be feeding that machine.

00:36:49.251 --> 00:37:06.820
And you have to get used to disappointment and you need to figure out, like, what your disappointment rate is going to look like and what is realistic, right, like is it going to be for every four pitches outreaches, I get one like slightly warm nugget, or is it for every 40?

00:37:06.820 --> 00:37:17.690
And like, figuring that out and being resilient enough to go like I'm going to keep doing the work is really, really important, and it's one of those things.

00:37:17.690 --> 00:37:24.117
Like you're going to spend a significant amount of your time doing that as an entrepreneur, so get ready, you know, buckle up buttercup.

00:37:24.117 --> 00:37:24.880
That's part of it.

00:37:26.070 --> 00:37:39.951
I want you to um, going back to my young leaders in the nonprofit space particularly yeah, um, I just want to help people, I just want to help, I want to help people.

00:37:39.951 --> 00:37:44.728
This is what people, this is what I want to help people, yeah, okay.

00:37:44.728 --> 00:37:50.744
So how do you go from I want to help people to this is who I'm helping and how?

00:37:51.465 --> 00:37:52.186
how do you, how do?

00:37:52.226 --> 00:38:01.012
you figure that out, um, when your heart just says I want to help folks right Like I just want to be better.

00:38:01.012 --> 00:38:06.349
How would you help somebody figure that out?

00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:09.563
Specifically in the nonprofit space.

00:38:09.563 --> 00:38:14.134
Yes, yeah, well, good news they're in the right city.

00:38:14.134 --> 00:38:20.929
We have about a million nonprofits, so find one that is doing excellent work.

00:38:20.929 --> 00:38:21.791
Please don't start one.

00:38:21.791 --> 00:38:22.552
Please don't.

00:38:22.552 --> 00:38:24.041
There are plenty.

00:38:24.041 --> 00:38:26.467
There are plenty of nonprofits.

00:38:26.628 --> 00:38:27.869
First of all, it's hard.

00:38:27.869 --> 00:38:32.190
Second of all, you can't accept donations until you've existed for three years, so let's not.

00:38:32.190 --> 00:38:43.344
Third, you're going to have to have a board and a governance plan and all of this legal work that's going to go into it, and a governance plan and all of this legal work that's going to go into it.

00:38:43.344 --> 00:38:50.925
And there is probably a nonprofit that already exists, that has a program, that is doing what you want to do, and I bet they need to hire someone for it.

00:38:50.925 --> 00:39:21.351
So find somebody that is doing the work that you want, that has a mission that you believe in and that you can go and learn from in that space and contribute your passions to that cause, and stop trying to build something new, because we need more collaboration among our existing nonprofits and effective people doing great work, and we certainly don't need a bunch of nonprofits doing the same thing.

00:39:22.112 --> 00:39:25.123
The pandemic honestly, this is man.

00:39:25.123 --> 00:39:53.838
This may not be the right podcast for it, but the pandemic is going to do us a bit of a favor, because all of the pandemic funding that sustained many nonprofits and is now going away is revealing who was living off of pandemic funding and who was doing good work and has a plan to be able to continue doing good work.

00:39:53.838 --> 00:40:01.804
And there are many nonprofits that are going to cease to exist because they did not have a strategy to carry them.

00:40:01.804 --> 00:40:08.204
They did not have a business plan, they did not have the work on the business aspect of what they were doing.

00:40:08.204 --> 00:40:13.061
They wanted to only be in the business and even as a nonprofit you can't do it.

00:40:13.061 --> 00:40:13.661
Nope.

00:40:14.242 --> 00:40:14.762
Can't do it.

00:40:14.762 --> 00:40:15.925
You can't do it.

00:40:15.925 --> 00:40:21.554
I mean, if there's anybody who has can't do it, I mean if there's anybody who has, you know, experienced that, it's your girl.

00:40:21.554 --> 00:40:31.943
I mean, you know I love doing work with Yumpy.

00:40:31.943 --> 00:40:33.873
You know I love doing it and I recognize that I can't do that majority of the time anymore.

00:40:33.873 --> 00:40:34.737
It is that's just what it is.

00:40:34.818 --> 00:40:58.643
I was at, I was at a training for a foundation training, a foundation, uh, foundation training and was actually ended up sitting next to one of our um, our supporters, and didn't know her and met her for the first time and I was like oh yeah, well, when we started talking and she was like you know, I tell, she said I tell nonprofit leaders all the time you can't lead with your heart, you gotta lead, you gotta lead with your head.

00:40:58.643 --> 00:41:01.088
Like you can't, you lead with your heart, you'll go broke.

00:41:01.088 --> 00:41:07.007
That's just what, um, and that entrepreneurial spirit within.

00:41:07.007 --> 00:41:08.010
I don't know.

00:41:08.010 --> 00:41:23.063
I don't know that a lot of nonprofit leaders consider themselves to be entrepreneurs, I know, but they should, but they should, right, they should, yeah, because you have to run it like a business because if you don't, you will go out of business.

00:41:23.664 --> 00:41:26.971
I think there is a challenge right now.

00:41:26.971 --> 00:41:30.606
Well, I know there is, and the fundraising landscape in Memphis is really tough.

00:41:30.606 --> 00:41:46.704
It's really tough right now and if you are not being accountable for the funds that you've raised from donors, providing actual, legitimate measurement and impact for the work that you're doing and it doesn't have to be broad, that's the thing I think there's a misconception of.

00:41:46.704 --> 00:41:51.806
I have to get thousands of people through my doors in order for this to be meaningful.

00:41:51.806 --> 00:41:53.329
It goes back to you.

00:41:53.329 --> 00:41:54.351
Don't need thousands.

00:41:54.351 --> 00:42:06.992
You need to go deep with the ones that you're helping, show how you move the needle for them, how their lives, benchmarked, without you, would have been different, and then that's how you show meaningful change.

00:42:06.992 --> 00:42:17.007
People are willing to invest in meaningful change because we're so tired of pouring money into things that continue to just perpetuate a cycle.

00:42:17.007 --> 00:42:22.228
Honestly, nonprofits should be doing work that tries to put themselves out of business.

00:42:22.228 --> 00:42:24.623
So, but that's.

00:42:24.623 --> 00:42:35.867
You know it's hard to do that because there's huge, huge issues you could talk about poverty, and poverty is never going to go away, no, but also, poverty doesn't have to exist at the same or increasing level as it has in Memphis for 50 years.

00:42:35.867 --> 00:42:45.266
So we have to change how nonprofits do business and how philanthropists invest in nonprofits and there's some good work happening out there.

00:42:45.286 --> 00:42:54.903
Slingshot's doing some incredible work around that in terms of evaluating what is a really effective way of addressing these issues that are creating roadblocks for people.

00:42:55.344 --> 00:43:04.231
How do we have best practices so that when you invest in a literacy organization, you know that the work that they're doing is actually teaching people how to read?

00:43:05.161 --> 00:43:19.074
Or, if you invest in a food resources organization, are they actually legitimately providing necessary food for families on a scale and with frequency that is meaningful and helping people avoid hunger?

00:43:19.074 --> 00:43:24.164
That is meaningful and helping people avoid hunger.

00:43:24.164 --> 00:43:58.831
It's like look at the scorecards for these organizations, because there's good research that's being done, there's meaningful evaluations being done that are helping these organizations improve and adopt better practices and be more efficient and effective, and also kind of weeding out who's adopting and changing like having better practices, becoming more effective, and who's just so consistently doing this thing that they love to do that they'll be in business forever because it's it's a simple thing they love to do, but they aren't really concerned with what they're actually accomplishing Right, and it's not malicious.

00:43:58.831 --> 00:44:11.751
People are passionate about doing a thing they love, but they need to be aware as to whether what they love is effectively creating the change that they set out to make.

00:44:12.353 --> 00:44:59.119
Well, and if what they love needs to be a business, I mean, I think that doesn't always have to be true Like you can work in another business structure and do what you love and it doesn't take away from what you love, like we have in Memphis, specifically, but it exists other places, but it is saturated here, right, where you look up, every where you see, and there are people that are working their passion and it's like I want to do that and I, I really, you know honestly, it's like I don't, you don't need to do that, you don't need to turn passion into a business.

00:44:59.119 --> 00:45:02.586

Unlearning Entrepreneurship with Megan Klein: Marketing to Nonprofits, Navigating Career Ceilings, Systematic Scalability, and Balancing Passion with Practicality

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