SuddesGroup

March 19, 2010 | Tom Suddes

Today Is My Birthday

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY… nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. As many of you know, I make a pretty big deal of BIRTHDATES and BIRTHDAYS. When my own 5 kids were growing up, we would do special Birthday Breakfasts… where we would write down goals, best friends, favorite stuff, etc. I still have all of that in the ‘Green Book’. It’s always great to look back at ‘goals‘ from a 5 or 10 or 17 years old.

Savannah, my oldest grandchild, was born on St. Patrick’s Day. We all celebrated her birthday the night before last. I’m taking her with me this May to Ireland to really ‘celebrate’ her birthday!

This year is not necessarily a ‘big one’ for me (61) in terms of the number… but at my age they’re all BIG!

Today I will ride my Harley to my favorite coffee shop. Review the last year and look forward to the next year. Write up all my notes from an amazing 3 hours with Nick and Christopher Celeste (my friend and life coach). Get a workout in at Sullivan’s Boxing Gym and then have a fun dinner with the family.

Special Note: I just got a great email from Meghan, a bright young superstar at the YMCA of Greater Seattle. She was thanking me for introducing her to the idea CELEBRATING your BIRTHDATE. (She and I were both born on the 19th.) She said she’s been “celebrating her birthdate for the last six months”, and thanked me for the great idea. She said it allowed her to “collect, rejuvenate and rejoice”.

I’ve been trying to encourage everyone I’ve been around the last 10 years to CELEBRATE their own BIRTHDATE. I’ve challenged thousands of individuals at speaking engagements and training to do the same.

I encourage you to make your BIRTHDATE a special day for YOU!!! Do something solo. (Visit a coffee shop with a journal or book. Motorcycle or bike ride. A yoga class. Whatever.) Do something special with those you love.

I also take that BIRTHDATE once a month to review goals, do some serious journal writing, etc.

Many people laugh (really hard) when I tell them to take their birthdate off!

My response is pretty simple. If we can’t set aside even one day a month for ourselves… then things are pretty screwed up! (It’s the whole EQUINOX/BALANCE thing.)

Final Thought: Since we are all literally terminally ill… we should try to CELEBRATE EVERY DAY… and be GRATEFUL for everything that we have.

 Email This Nugget | Comments

March 18, 2010 | Tom Suddes

Seek Balance… Like the Equinox

March 21st or there abouts is the SPRING EQUINOX… one of two days during the year when day and night are in PERFECT BALANCE!!! (In Columbus, Ohio, that day was actually yesterday, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. The sun rose at 7:40 a.m. and set at 7:40 p.m.)

This whole EQUINOX/BALANCE thing seems like a great opportunity to ask ourselves about this whole idea of BALANCE in our LIVES.

I’m trying to finish up a ‘book’/collection of thoughts around 25 WISHES. It’s kind of my REFLECTIONS ON LIFE… many of which apply to Business, Entrepreneurism and the For Impact World.

I’d encourage you to take a moment during these days of BALANCE/EQUINOX to MAKE A LIFE, NOT A LIVING. (READ MORE.)

WISH #1 is SEEK BALANCE.

 Email This Nugget | Comments

March 16, 2010 | Tom Suddes

Plant Closings & Revenue

Yesterday’s thoughts on REDUCING reminds me of the story about John DeLorean when he was working with General Motors. All the ‘bean counters’ talked about how much money they’d save if they closed certain factories/plants.

DeLorean purportedly screamed, “LET’S JUST CLOSE ALL THE BLANKING PLANTS. THEN WE’D SAVE A TON OF MONEY.” (Of course, you couldn’t produce any cars.)

I can’t remember where I saw this, but just read that Congress is taking a hard look at some of the ‘BIG CHARITIES’ before they give them millions and millions more dollars.

The politicians are “upset” that the CEO’s are taking million dollar salaries… spending millions of dollars on travel and conferences… and CLOSING clubs and local organizations where they deliver their service (impact kids’ lives). As my beautiful, little sweetheart granddaughter Tatum (3 years old) just started saying, “DUH?”

This, to me, is exactly like closing all of the plants if you’re in the car business.

What really ticks me off about these LARGE BUREAUCRACIES (and that’s what they are) is that there is no ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING going on whatsoever. But, that’s probably another rant.

 Email This Nugget | Comments

March 16, 2010 | Tom Suddes

Numerator/Denominator

A follow-up thought on REDUCE, REDUCE, REDUCE… as the ANSWER to the ‘economy’, ‘recession’, ‘depression’. (It IS a depression because it makes me really, really depressed).

Think of this metaphor:

NUMERATOR
DENOMINATOR

In order to make your NUMBER BIGGER… you can either:

1. INCREASE THE NUMERATOR, or

2. DECREASE THE DENOMINATOR

Based on the chart I shared with you yesterday, the obvious, preferred response of most ‘charities’ is REDUCE, REDUCE, REDUCE .

If you are an entrepreneur or think like an entrepreneur… you know the real ANSWER is to:

• INCREASE THE NUMERATOR

• INCREASE YOUR REVENUE

• INCREASE ‘SALES’

Special Note: I’m actually okay with eliminating redundant positions, reducing ‘middle management’, re-thinking why, how and where you spend your money…

As long as you INCREASE your SALES TEAM, your SALES PERFORMANCE and your SALES RESULTS.

 Email This Nugget | Comments

March 15, 2010 | Tom Suddes

The ‘One Action” They Did Not Take…

I saw this chart in Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Responding to the Recession:
Actions Charities Took

Reduced Spending: 87%
Examined programs for consolidation or elimination: 58%
Reduced personnel: 54%
Delayed capital projects: 49%
Postponed IT expenditures: 35%
Implemented other benefit reductions/increase in co-pays: 7%
Reduced salaries: 24%
Increased liquidity: 23%
Secured/drew down on lines of credit: 19%
Reduced or eliminated contributions to 403(b) and 401(k) plans: 15%
Outsourced to reduce costs: 12%
Reduced level of alternative investments: 11%
Eliminated spending of underwater endowments: 10%
Established furloughs: 10%

*Note: Nonprofit leaders were able to select more than one answer.
Source: Grant Thornton

Reduce spending. Consolidate or eliminate. Reduce personnel. Reduce salaries. Reduce this. Reduce that.

How about the ‘ONE ACTION’ that these “CHARITIES” did not take:

INCREASE REVENUE!!!

RE-DUCE… instead of RE-THINKING, RE-DESIGNING, RE-ALLOCATING, RE-IMAGINING, RE-ANY OTHER WORD… how to INCREASE their RE-VENUE.

The above makes me sick.

 Email This Nugget | One Comment

March 15, 2010 | Nick Fellers

Boot Camp Alumni Org Rate for June 22-23 Boot Camp

We’re opening a new category of registration for this year’s boot camp that gives special pricing to alumni organizations — allowing you (alumni) to send others from your organization. This is way for organizations to build on the training year-over-year. More info.

Early bird pricing for non-alumni organization attendees is $845 (normal registration $895). Alumni organization attendee rate is $795.

Note about alumni rate pricing: This only applies to organizations that have sent attendees in previous years. We’re offering this pricing as a way for new hires and other team members to get caught up on the For Impact Point of View and Sales Process.

 Email This Nugget | Comments

March 9, 2010 | Nick Fellers

The Grass is Always Greener… eh?

I hear the following:

From colleges: It’s a hard case, we charge $35K annually and we have an endowment. People think we have all the money we need.

From everyone else: It’s not like we’re a college with years of alumni relations.

From the ‘biggies’ (who shall go nameless): We need more brand awareness. That’s how Susan Kohmen does it.

From everyone else: It’s not like we’re [insert biggie name].

From the small, nimble start-up: We’re not the big guy, we don’t have all the big guns on our board.

From the big guys: We can’t go talk to XYZ. That’s [insert red tape reason].

From everyone that doesn’t deal with kids: Kids are sexy and sell, we don’t have that. How are we supposed to compete?

From the kids orgs: Putting a cute kid on a poster is not enough, people really get after us about our measurement… how are we supposed to compute all the numbers? We’re not transactional, we deal more with emotion and subtle things that change lives.

 Email This Nugget | 3 Comments

March 3, 2010 | Nick Fellers

The Goal of the Visit

Having the visit is not the goal.

Visiting with a potential prospect is not a goal unto itself; it’s the means to an end.

What’s the end? What are your goals? It’s so important to have clearly defined goals – especially if two or more from your organization are going on the visit together. The goal determines what you say.

I just got off the phone with a coaching client. When I asked about the goal the client said, “Well, I guess our goal would be to share the message.”

Again, sharing the message is an activity – not the goal.

In her case, we established three goals for this initial visit. May help you…

1. Qualify the prospect. (Financial capacity and interest).

2. Have her help to identify the correct players in the city to get on board.
3. Get her help in getting to some or all of those identified in number two.

 Email This Nugget | Comments

March 2, 2010 | Nick Fellers

Seminar ON MESSAGE – Wednesday at 1:00 ET

We’re looking to have a good virtual turnout for tomorrow’s teleseminar: How to Simplify your Message.

Wednesday, March 3 @ 1:00 ET / 10:00 PT

This is a twist on an old seminar – with new information and examples. I’m thinking of this one as a toolbox in which I’ll be sharing many messaging tools and also some presentation tool examples.

You should sign up for this one if:

• You want to know what to say on a visit.
• You want creative ideas to help you package the ask.
• You are a fan of books like ‘Made to Stick‘, ‘Words that Work‘ and ‘A Whole New Mind‘. Teaser: Or, if you want to know why Walt Disney was the BEST. SALESMAN. EVER!

Info and Registration

 Email This Nugget | Comments

February 25, 2010 | Nick Fellers

The Gen Y Social Entrepreneur Wave: Part III

Part I was about the next generation of ‘change leaders’
Part II was an unsolicited attempt to tell you how Gen Y sees the world.
Part III is about the economy, culture and the future Gen Y could provide.

Our work has taken us to just about every corner of the planet – either directly or indirectly – in helping an NGO that works on the ground in India, China, Bolivia… you name it. I’ve been having a lot of discussions about the ‘entrepreneurial culture’ or lack thereof in other countries. Have also been talking a lot about how that will be an enduring strength for us as we work through a new economy – one in which the economic norm of the past 50 years is not what we will have in the next 20+.

Spending time in other countries provides the enough contrast to highlight that ‘American entrepreneurial spirit’ and particularly just how rooted it is in our culture and systems. For example:

• Other parts of the world are really down about the global economy. I mean really down… Despite the headlines in US newspapers we still have a widespread assumption that ‘we’ll get through this’. It’s not that way everywhere else.

• Our government is designed to help entrepreneurs. I know, that sounds laughable. Travel to India though – it’s billed as an enterprising and rapidly developing place. Has a lot of entrepreneurs, etc. The government and its systems are total chaos. Two of my former business partners tried to start businesses there and gave up because it was such a joke to do anything – even something as simple as incorporate.

I point to both of these examples because they’re cultural and systemic. These attitudes and systems didn’t just happen and they’re not going to change in 10 years.

So this creates a simple premise, we will continue to have one of the most entrepreneurial culture systems on the planet and we’re about to add a[nother] generation of humanity-driven individuals full of the entrepreneurial spirit.

At just the right time.

 Email This Nugget | 2 Comments