Day 10: Run As A Business

Tom Suddes | January 27, 2010

B2A FOR IMPACT TRAINING

I hope this comes across properly (in Gaelic!). I think you should take the lead from your wonderful partner at BUSINESS TO ARTS and really think hard about how you can run your organization as a more effective BUSINESS.

Here’s where I’m going:

All of you should be FOR IMPACT ORGANIZATIONS.
Some of you should be For Impact Organizations… who actually make money (Euros).
None of you should be leading organizations who don’t make enough money to pay either your salary or appropriate salary/compensation for your team.

Here’s the kicker. Almost all of you have ‘REVENUE’! ‘Box Office’, Merchandise, Other Sales, Sponsors and Advertisers, etc.

As a great ‘Business’, you need to be focused on your REVENUE. (In the States, that’s called your TOP LINE.)

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about since I left. I would recommend that you think about all of your Income as a REVENUE STREAMS. One revenue stream is ticket sales. One revenue stream is merchandise. Etc.

One great idea for many of you to significantly increase one of your REVENUE STREAMS is to re-think, re-design and re-imagine your relationship with SPONSORS!

WHAT IF…

You took your absolutely best sponsors and immediately turned them into PARTNERS? (What would you do differently?)
You went to your lead SPONSOR this week and talked about your plans for Growth and your Impact and your new Message? (I’m guessing they would be excited and actually offer more support.)
You made your ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT pitch to your community’s largest employers and asked for their help?

Remember, the 3 words from Stephen Covey (American author of The 7 Habits):

“NO MONEY. NO MISSION.”

REVENUE, FUNDING, MONEY, EUROS is what allows you to have your IMPACT!

Small Note: But, please don’t forget the Suddes corollary:

“NO MISSION. NO MONEY.”

Email This Nugget | Comment |