Challenges, challenges, challenges. Sofia Crisp shared a few of her challenges in Part 1 last week. When the NC housing organization leader realized that all her challenges wouldn’t fit in a single post, she wanted to share a few more. Those will be featured in this post. In this Series, My Non-profit Journey: What I Wish I Knew When I Started, leadership wishes shared by Crisp with Your Outcomes Well will be explored.
- Crisp is the Executive Director/Founder of Housing Consultants Group (HCG). On this blog, she told us why I started my nonprofit a few weeks ago.
- This is Part 2 of the Challenges I’ve Faced post published last week.
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Sofia S Crisp:
Show me the money. Let’s talk about the cost of starting my non-profit in 2004. Frankly, I was blessed to have a successful Real Estate career. I made enough money, selling real estate, to help me start and partially fund the housing organization in it’s early years. For any start-up, money can be an early challenge to overcome. However, in the non-profit world, money (or the lack thereof) can Make or Break you! I chose to, during that stage, lend the young organization money at times to stay afloat.
As I mentioned in the last post (Part 1), I had to learn to admit when I didn’t know things. While I did my research, and familiarized myself with what I needed to do, I still recognized early on that I needed additional professional help. With that being said, let’s talk about family, friends and free help. At the risk of being grammatically incorrect, I can’t make my point otherwise, let me say this: “Everything good ain’t cheap, and everything cheap ain’t good.” What do I mean? Friends and family were happy to help, but the real guidance and resources I needed weren’t free. From the CPA that filed the 501(c)3 documents to the person who wrote start-up grants for the organization. None of them were free. Guess what? These professionals were worth every penny!
In order to be successful, sometimes, you have to spend money. Investments and financial sacrifices, early on, allowed the organization to reap payoffs later. To put it simply: Seeking the help of qualified professionals is essential. If your passion is obvious, when you’re seeking help, it’s contagious – just like laughter. And while it may not always be free, passionate people in the non-profit world can get discounted rates. Why? Because they make other people feel good and they are doing good.
For example, just last year my housing organization decided to make a name change. The change was to reflect the changing focus and breadth of our growing organization. Through some networked associations, I was introduced to the Director of Marketing at a major employer in my home city (Greensboro NC). Upon his initial agreement to meet me, he agreed to participate in a face-to-face meeting. He offered me no upfront promises. During that first meeting, while sharing my Vision and our organization’s Mission, I demonstrated my passion! He quickly recognized my passion, saw the many lives impacted, and fully ‘bought’ into the Mission. That meeting was just the beginning.
- What followed was the Marketing Pro’s successful facilitation of several Focus Group and Board Group meetings. There were a total of seven meetings held before he presented us with a new name. The old name (Guilford County Homeownership Center) was to be replaced by a new name: Housing Consultants Group. The new organization name met my and his professional judgment for a new name and brand to move forward.
- What did he charge me? His charge was absolutely nothing. This is what happens when someone catches on to your vision.
LEARN
1. Crisp learned to seek help from qualified people. Lesson: Don’t make decisions based just on what you think you can afford.
2. When you seek assistance from others, don’t simply tell them. Make them feel what you do by ‘painting a picture’. Share vividly how you make people feel and the many lives transformed by your organization. This lesson has allowed Crisp’s non-profit, HCG, to reap many mission-advancing benefits.
3. Sacrifice and investments, of time and money, will pay dividends down the road. They did for Crisp; they can for you too.
GROW
1. Sofia Crisp’s story reminds us of one clear and evident truth which lies in an acclaimed sales book, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger. One of the main points in the book, applicable to non-profits and for profit firms alike: “ I firmly believe that enthusiasm is the single most important factor in selling.” Even though many hate to admit that author Daniel Pink had it right, when he titled his book To Sell is Human. Everybody sells – whether it is your mission or a product. It is still sales, and it’s critical for all thriving organizations, whether one likes it or not.
2. Ever been to Disney World? The park, the parades, Epcot. People that come to work at Disney are not simply sold on getting a job, they are sold on the dream and the vision that Walt Disney had created some 50+ years ago – when he opened the park. Bottom line – it’s not just a job, it’s an experience for patrons. It’s played out by the employees that perpetuate the vision that Walt Disney crafted, down to the minutest of details. The cleanliness, the characters, the all-inclusive vacation experience, and, most of all, the fantasy for children, brought to you only by Disney itself. For the non-profit organization, the Mission is the Vision. The impact: Stories of people’s lives transformed, because of the services a non-profit has successfully provided.
Challenges I’ve Faced
- What challenges have you faced on your journey as a non-profit leader?
What Sofia S Crisp has learned from overcoming those challenges, and how you can grow from her story, was explored in this two-part Challenge post. In spite of the often unwelcome challenges non-profit leaders face along the way, they will have many great successes too.
- Successes I’ve Had will be the topic of the next post in this Series. The journey of one non-profit leader, Sofia Crisp, continues.
(to be continued)
Photo Credit: Shane Gorski/flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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