If You're Creating a Start-up: Find Your Three Words

On a recent plane ride I read an article (title of this blog post) by Elaine Wherry, co-founder, Meebo, acquired by Google in 2012, and published in the June 12^th, 2014 Edition of the Wall Street Journal.

The article is about how a start-up should act and stay focused.

She goes on to say that if you can get your founders to agree on three words that describe your company, your marketing staff will love you forever.

Everyone in our industry is talking about reinventing your chamber for the future.  What better way to start that process by taking the advice of Elaine Wherry and put it to work for your organization, community or industry sector.

What are your three words for your chamber?  Can you get your Board to agree on those three words?

She gave the two following examples and stated that these three words should allow you to answer "1) who you are; 2) what you do; and 3) how you do it."

• Facebook - "fast, bold, open"
• Google - "data, big, visionary"

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Institute for Organization Management program uses, "Learn, Grow, Connect."  We've been using those three words in our marketing materials for 10 plus years.

It's also the theme I use in my graduation remarks.

Learn - you just completed 96 ours of non-profit management, if you've not already done so, I challenge each of you to obtain your professional certification, CCE for the Chamber exec and the CAE for the association exec.  Institute has prepared you well.

Grow - go back to your communities and your industry sectors and raise the bar from what you've learned at Institute from your peers and the faculty.

Connect - stay connected to your classmates, and stay connected to Institute.  Consider coming back as a class advisor, faculty member of a Board of Regent.

As chamber leaders it's important to remember that you are professionals - you work in the profession of nonprofit management.

I'm sure you've heard the bricklayer story (it's not mine, but tells a story worth repeating):

A community leader happens upon a construction site and she asks each bricklayer the same question - may I ask what you are doing?

• The first says I'm laying a brick;
• The second says I'm building a wall; and
• The third states I'm creating a cathedral.

Again, as professionals, build those cathedrals in your communities and industry sectors and start by identifying your three words with your board!

What Blogs Do You Follow?

In the old days, I bet you read up to two papers a day, two magazines a week and a couple of books each month to keep up-to-date on current events and every day management issues.

Enter the technology age.

Now all you have to do is follow six blogs and you're covered.

And today's technology makes it simple!

You can follow the blogs you want through an RSS feed to your personal blog or feed it to your Twitter account.

Isn't technology great? It's also fun and for the most part, free.

Here's a list of blogs I follow and have delivered to me directly every time there's a new blog post by the author or organization:

• Content Marketing Institute
• Kivi's Nonprofit Communications
• Nonprofit Marketing Blog
• NTEN
• Beth's Blog
• Leadership Now

Not only will this save you time and money, but you can set it up that you get what you want and avoid all the white noise that can come with social media.

Only subscribe to what you're interest in and what will help you do your job better.

For a link to the top 150 nonprofit blogs go HERE.  For a great resource on how to grow your blog go HERE.

Nonprofit Governance

On a recent plane trip across the country I had the opportunity to read a lengthy article by John Carver and Miriam Carver, titled Carver’s Policy Governance Model in Nonprofit Organizations.

I wanted to share my take of the article and encourage you to read the original HERE.

A few key concepts that hit home for me and I'd like to share with you were:

• Trade associations are owned by their members - chamber’s that means your small business owners own the chamber, not you, not the community.
• The Board as a body speaks for the ownership, not individual board members.
• The Board has one employee, the CEO. The board only speaks to the CEO, not staff.
• Boards should not just approve committee reports but use these documents as a basis for the board to make decisions (i.e. policy) on behalf of the organization.
• Board meetings are not about going over the past. Board meetings should be about large decisions and the future of the organization.

Do yourself and your chamber a favor and take the time to read this article and make your own notes and observations for further discussion with your board.

Read the entire article HERE.

It’s a great read!

Nonprofit Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make a Profit

In today’s economic times, now more than ever, we need to run our chambers like a business.

That old myth “nonprofits can’t make a profit” needs to be put to rest.

Good financial management suggests that you should have at least 50% of your operating budget in reserves. 100% is even better!

How do you think chambers are able to put funds in their reserves? They run in the black, yes they make a profit!

I’ve written before on the importance of paying attention to the finances. If you’re not putting 10% of your operating budget a year to reserve, you should be asking why not?

Do you regularly review your programs to assess their value to the membership vs. their impact on your bottom line?

If we want to fight for our small business members, we need to be IN business. That means running your chamber like a business.

Let’s get to the business of doing business.

Until next time!