How are you navigating this moment? Are you fearful for your organization? Do you sense opportunities? Perhaps both... In today’s post, I’m offering you a pep talk based on data, long experience, and a couple of good stories. These days may feel bleak, but if you address your fear and engage your donors, you can raise a lot of money – … [Read more...]
Board members: What you can do right now
How are you doing? How is your organization doing? As we navigate the challenges of COVID-19, many nonprofits are taking tactical steps to serve and survive: implementing anti-infection measures, working from home, moving programming online, taking a hard look at their budgets, and so forth. In this new environment – which changes … [Read more...]
Mastering virtual meetings
How many online meetings have you attended recently? How many were engaging, satisfying, and effectively facilitated? As I write this in mid-March 2020, we are just beginning to feel the impacts of the coronavirus across North America. As you gather less often with colleagues, more of your work life is probably moving … [Read more...]
How to market your micro-business
This year, I celebrate my 25th anniversary of working for myself. After all these years, it’s a still a one-person business – by design. Yes, I use contractors for various tasks, like managing my websites. For bigger jobs, I team up with other consultants, which is productive, educational, and fun. Most of the time, however, it’s … [Read more...]
Board members: It’s not a life sentence
Once upon a time, I served with a skilled, committed, hard-working board president: a great strategic thinker and also attentive to detail. This is a rare combination. If I could clone this person for other boards, I would absolutely do it. Our president, however, was always dancing on the edge of burnout. Lacking an obvious … [Read more...]
When the client fires the consultant
Over the past year, I’ve been fired by clients … twice. Yes, it stings. On the other hand, this doesn’t happen often. In a typical year, I work with 40 to 50 organizations, so losing two isn’t a threat to my business. In both cases, I learned (or re-learned) important lessons, which I humbly share with you. Lesson 1: Don’t get … [Read more...]
New consultants and trainers: Five even-more tips for success
At least once a month, I’m asked the following question: How do I start my own business as a consultant, a facilitator, a trainer? As the gig economy expands, more of us are moving into self-employment. Perhaps you’re building your own full-time practice. Maybe you want to test the waters and generate a little extra income. These … [Read more...]
Training remotely – a facilitator’s guide
Once upon a time, we all gathered together – physically. Meetings, workshops, and classes required participants to be in the same room at the same time. Those days are over. In addition to the ubiquitous webinars, virtual meetings, Facebook Live events, and online classes, an interesting hybrid has emerged: the trainer or teacher in … [Read more...]
What’s your budget? (What, you don’t know?)
When interviewing potential clients, I always ask a basic question early in the conversation: “What’s your annual budget?” Sometimes I’m talking with staff, or it might be a board member or a volunteer. More often than not, there’s a long pause. I wait a moment, then ask again. “Last year, how much money did you raise and … [Read more...]
Training both sides of the brain
Take a look at these two photos. Which one looks like the more engaging learning experience? Given a choice between the two, where would you rather be? Your answer may depend on how your brain works. Your brain isn’t one thing In the 1960’s, psychobiologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry proposed that the brain’s left … [Read more...]