Systems to the Rescue + Time-Saving Hacks for Every Nonprofit Professional - Rachel Bearbower

5:41AM Dec 8, 2021

Speakers:

Julie Confer

Becky Endicott

Jonathan McCoy

Rachel Bearbower

Keywords:

people

organizations

community

nonprofit

rachel

executive director

zapier

strategies

hear

podcast

friends

create

shop

neon

small

space

life

bit

relationship

important

Hey, I'm John. And I'm Becky.

And this is the we are for good podcast.

Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more work, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

So let's get started. Hey, Becky, hey, welcome, everybody. Favorite friend alert on

we love when we get to talk to favorite friends on the podcast that are doing amazing things. And that is what today is we're talking to Rachel bear Bauer, she runs small shop strategy. She's the founder and CEO of it. And she set up shop to serve the very person that many of you find themselves in the role that you're in, of being a fundraiser, maybe you're leading a nonprofit, you're trying to do all the things, and it just feels completely overwhelming. Well, in her career, you know, she figured out the ways that you can save time, save energy, save space, so you can focus on the most important things. And now she's just basically dedicated her life to doing that and showing up. She has an incredible social content. She has an incredible exclusive cohort where she shepherds, executive directors and community which you know, we're all about just understanding and walking through challenges together. And we have some of our favorite friends in that class as well. So Rachel is here today to talk a little bit about those things that I just stripped, but also how we can we flip the narrative of not just talking about our organization, but really the benefit to our audience and the power in doing that. So I'm really already leaned in and geeked out. Rachel, thanks so much for being on the podcast today.

Oh, my gosh, I love that. I'm here. Very happy.

We're happy. You're here. Last time we talked. So Rachel lives on a farm, there are farmers, I can say,

Iowa and your first Iowa guest. Yay.

So soybeans that you're enjoying in your life in corn, it's probably from Rachel's farm. So think about that, too. Oh, it's

like a farmer. Absolutely.

Well, hey, would you kind of, you know, we've kind of shared a little bit of your story. And we have so many mutual friends. So we've heard different pieces of it. But I'd love for you just to walk us through your journey. What led you to really wanting to show up and start shop small?

Yeah, I mean, I will save it. I feel like I've lived several lives, saying I've, yeah, I have had so many jobs. I've been everything from a water ski instructor to working in finance in downtown Boston. And kind of everything in between, do you need a pair of skis, I could totally sell you a pair.

Maybe will or so. But that is so interesting.

You know, I come to this place with a lot of life experience, not only with my jobs, but just in how I have lived my life. And when I decided to leave finance and move. This is one of those stories that you don't always tell, but I quit in a meeting.

You're in a safe place.

I quit into meeting a very, very large financial institution. I walked downstairs, I was like, actually, I rode the elevator like 45 floors, and called my mom and I was like, I just quit my job. And she's like, well, what's your plan? And I think anyone who knows anything about me as I've got a plan, that's my thing. I do plan. I didn't have a plan, and a plan. So I packed up my life, I moved back home, which is terrifying. And I was like, you know, can't be that hard to start a nonprofit, Famous last words. And then I did one hurdle, roadblock, success, hurdle roadblock, crash, like a very beautiful Maths. But, you know, I think it goes back to teach what you know. And I want to teach everything that I know. And what I have built with small shop strategies is built completely because of what I needed as an executive director. You know, I needed I needed to know how to fundraise. I needed to know how to run a team, I needed to know how to build a budget I needed to have community that wasn't my board members or wasn't my staff. And so here's where we are.

I'm just so glad that you're in this space Rachel and I love that you took that leap of faith without the plan because that I have to tell you makes me heart like sweaty and my heart starts going at the thought of doing something like that. And I love your boldness though and, and I think we just have such a heart. We are for good for the little nonprofit. I mean, the chief everything officer who is having to wear all the hats particularly I think in this era, where we're there such massive dynamic shifts that are happening and the nonprofit's that sector and people are trying to get trained up and understand what is working and what's no longer working anymore. And when you're the chief everything officer, it can be so overwhelming. And that's why we really appreciate that he said this is that this is the group that I want to help. And I think that your classes in the way that you teach are just so accessible. And even just the Back to Basics. Pieces are the those are the pieces that people need. So we would love for you to just like, look at like, take a look in the rearview mirror in the last 19 months and think about our small shop organizations. I mean, it has been a crazy nearly two years. Can you talk about what you're seeing in terms of what executive directors or even so low? You know, staff member over at a nonprofit? What should they be doing right now? What are what are they facing through the pandemic? And today?

Yeah, well, I've done a couple of things. So I'm big on surveying my audience. And I did that a couple of months ago. And it was very interesting, because I wanted to make sure that I was really providing small shops exactly what they needed. So of course, I did my survey, and I'm looking at it. And there was no need to really analyze this data, because the only word that was in this survey, and I had hundreds was time, time, time, time, time, time, everywhere, that is what people are looking for. So I will say that time was number one. And number two was community. So many of the organizations that I have worked with. And I've worked with over 100 organizations in the last 20 months. And wow, each one of them has said things like I have felt so isolated. I didn't know where to turn, I have no idea if I'm doing this, right. I just feel like a fraud. Those are the things that I heard over and over and over again. And yet there was the sense of resiliency of like, but I'm you know, I'm trying, I'm really trying to figure this out. I'm here to stick it out. So you know, I think that there's that lack of time, that need for community. And that's what I am seeing.

I love that because your lived experience has given you such laser focus, you know exactly how to show up and serve. And so I think that's why your program has been so popular. And so the people that we've met to just are effusive and so happy and I see that what the community does, we believe in that, obviously, we talk about it all the time on this podcast. So I would love to transition and talk a little bit about just some of those basics. And I kind of want to dig in on the time, because I think that that's a really huge thing. Yeah, what are some fundamentals for? How do you help people create time? How do you help them create space through systems? Or what are your favorite hacks?

Yeah, so I'm, I'm very much a hacks person. But I want to speak a little bit higher level, because I think the context is important. So this idea of time, so many of the organizations are learning new things, they're duplicating efforts, they are recreating the wheel. And so that takes up a lot of time. Okay, so then you have, if you if you kind of break this into two groups, you have relationships and you have systems, your systems can be automated, your relationships cannot, they take two different types of Time, time to build on both sides. But one you build once, and one you build over and over and over. And so that lack of time really has to start with figuring out how much time you have for the relationship building and how much time you have for system building. And then there's a part two to this, which is small shop organizations. Actually, every nonprofit I think I've ever met ever on the planet Earth is doing too much.

Yeah. Doing feeling like they need to be doing all the things and be in all the places, okay, yes, keep going and give everyone permission to not do so much please

you. You just can't. You can't, it doesn't work, and you're going to burn yourself out. I have a great podcast on my burnout story. I know that you have talked very openly and deeply about burnout. That's the end result. So don't We don't want you to get there. And that's why we have these conversations don't want that end result. But back down to your to your original question.

No, I love that context. The I mean, we're big on frameworks. And I feel like understanding that actually cuts through because there's so many automations on the relationship side with CRMs these days. And so I think it's important to say, yeah, you can automate some of that, but it's not going to be a substitute for relationships, actual cultivation of relationships ever. Yeah,

because a relationship takes time. So what you can automate needs to be a priority and so that you can focus on those bigger relationships because that's how you're going to grow But coming up with those strategies that really focus on that time are going to make all the difference. So number one, I totally wrote notes here, because I felt like do it. We love lists, really, really important. But getting superduper clear on what you do really, really well, and then shed the rest. Because you again, going back to if you're doing all the things, you're not going to do anything very well, I feel like being in a small shop is like juggling, you know, but you have to be intentional about what ball is going to drop, because one is going to Yeah, so if you can get really clear, though, on what specifically that you do really, really well, then you can be more intentional about which ball you're going to drop instead of them all, you know, really holding that same point. Number two, though, is getting very, very clear on what you can accomplish. What is actually realistic. Are you a one person Ed with a volunteer board and you are a new mom, you are going to have a very different set of hours in a day, then someone who is in their second career and hangs out with their grandkids. And so for just to be really, really practical for the small shops, I recommend setting them to three goals per quarter, which terrifies people. They're like, but I have so many things to do. And I go I know. How's that working for you?

Do you feel Rachel that you're like, you're like the first one giving them permission to do that? You know, I mean, when you speak that into these people that are so passionate, they want to do it all because they care so deeply. Like it's got to be like this, inhale, exhale, whatever. That Oh, okay. I don't have to do it all today, or this month or this quarter?

Yeah. And, you know, because you're not going to like you can set your lofty goals, go for it. But I'm guessing that it's not working, it's not happening. And then are you prioritizing the things that are taking up a lot of time and not focused on that relationship building probably. But so setting those 123 goals, and at the end of the year, setting two goals, one fundraising goal, one program goal, that's it, which also tears, the pie terrifies people, if you're trying to do too much, or again, you're not going to do anything very well. Then my third one, because I like to work in threes for three strategies is to get really clear on your language and your messaging. I feel like so many organizations spend so much time just trying to tell people what they do to build awareness to friend rays. And if you just had a clear message to start with, you could cut all that crap and get straight to what you need to do.

I got to piggyback on that one just a little bit, because I love that clear communication. And I would say that if you're confused about what your key message is, or what your why is right now, in this moment, it's okay. And I actually think that's good, because the why of our organizations had changed probably drastically most of us our mission hasn't changed. But how we're delivering our mission is definitely changed since the pandemic. So if part of your narrative is, hey, this is the impact of COVID-19. On our organization, here are the ways that we succeeded here the ways it's pulling us back a little our vision moving forward is x. And this is where we need you allows a script like that, to help set your new narrative of what what you need to be telling your people moving forward. And I think just to your point of which was an excellent having a very consistent clear message, that that is the same script, whether you're talking to a staff member, a volunteer, a board member, a donor, I mean, let's speak with one voice. So everyone understands the path that we're on and their role to play in that that was really great, Rachel, thank you.

And my my practical tip with that is to create five core messages that you repeat over and over again, because we've we've heard that, you know, people need to hear things multiple times, no matter what it is, they need to hear things multiple times in order to take action. So you need to constantly be communicating what the big problem is that you are trying to solve. You have to constantly be communicating that you know what a donors impact is going to make. And then you have all those other things that you are trying to get across. But if you pick five, and you repeat those over and over and over again, when you were totally sick of talking about them and saying them, somebody is going to be like, Oh, I heard about that.

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I love that you've teased just a little bit about like just having these basic setting these goals and and, and moving toward things simply and I think just going toward the simple is going to make the overwhelm fill of the everything kind of get tamp back a little. So I would love for you to just talk a little bit about like building strong foundations at the organizations to take us back to basics, which you've teased just a little bit. Walk us through some key strategies that that our nonprofit professionals can employ to build these strong foundations in our organizations. Yeah, so

I don't know how many times as an executive director, I typed into Google, how to be an executive director. Oh, yeah. I never like found that article.

So you wrote it? No, I'm kidding. Because it's not there. It really depends. Yes,

it depends. But I, I have tried within the community that I have built that too, to make that like this is how, but it is going to be different for everyone. And so you know, going back to those strategies of overwhelm, you know, that is something that I have had so many executive directors come in. And that's what they're like I am I am underwater, I am overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. And now I'm going to give some strategies, and you're probably not going to like any of them. But this is what you need to do. Number one, pause, take a deep breath, just try to see the picture. Because so often, you're so deep into the woods, that everything becomes a priority. And that's simply just not the case. And if you can't get yourself out of that space to think that that's another strategies, give yourself space to think because your brain is holding so much in your head. And if that's my plug for a project management system, please get things out of your head. But give yourself a place to pause and the space to think because then when you come back to it, it's not going to feel so big. And then the last one, which I think I learned accidentally, even though probably inherently I knew was that you've got my community, every single executive director that has like, you know, they've come into my program, they're like, oh, my gosh, I am still overwhelmed. And like come to the coaching calls, because you are going to see that other people are going through this or have been through this. And they can help show you the way out like you are not in this long, dark tunnel that is never going to end. If you find community, you are going to find that light at the end of the tunnel. And not only find that light, but find your way out.

I love both of those because I think for leaders especially I mean, I think everybody needs to find space and calm but I think especially leaders that you have to spend time to create that pause or you never stop you know, because there's always more than there's time to do so you have to like create that pause for reflection. Okay, but your your discussion on community. This was like one of the core Reasons why we wanted to build life coaching into pro, because I just really believe we all have something to learn from everybody. And I think showing your vulnerability that maybe you don't know one thing that you're asking, but you have so much other things that you can offer. So as we show our humility enough to ask, it's gonna give an opportunity that you can follow up and share when you do know something that someone else is asking. And it's just this really beautiful reciprocity kind of thing that happens. And I've just loved that more and more leaning into that, and that you're a champion of that in your group, because we get to witness it whenever you're teaching a website class to your cohort, and it's just like, it's such good vibes, you know, when there's place where people, just people ever like, it's just so good, wholesome.

Yeah, shout out to my productivity members. But you know, the answer is always in the room. answers always in the room, you just have to figure out which room to be in.

Well, that's an awesome little pro tip right there. I mean, I, I think the thing that we just keep going back to is like, how are we meeting this moment? You know, after 200 Plus episodes on our podcast, we understand the feeling of how easy it is to be overwhelmed. So how do you keep up like, what do you advise to your to small shops on how to keep up on new strategies, new technology, I mean, it's a very fast paced world, and we still need to be meeting fundraising goals. So if you can share any tips with our listeners about how to meet the moment today, working smarter, not harder with three automations, or technology, we would love to hear those two, Rachel.

So one thing that I do in my coaching is I tell it like it is, I don't have a lot of tolerance for organizations that haven't that are like, well, we don't really do tech, or we don't really do that, I think that everybody has a different level of what they can afford, and what they can what they are capable of. But we are absolutely in a place where technology can make your life significantly easier. And for the small organizations, I think you really have to understand that there is going to be work on the front end, there will absolutely be an investment in your time to create a system to create to set up a project management system to create a welcome series to learn how to use Zapier, there will be that time investment. But if you're not willing to try, then you're not going to be able to really move forward in this time and space. That being said, I will go back to my favorites, having a really solid email communication tool, you as a human art your organization's greatest asset. But next to that, it's your emails, it's knowing how to communicate with your people. You know, that being said, you have to integration that is done. That's the word that I want to underline here, your systems have to integrate with each other. So, you know, yes, you may want this email service provider. But does it work with your donor management system? Or does it so you really have to kind of think about those different angles.

I agree. It's almost like if you put the donor manager system or your CRM in the center, it's like all the spokes, go to Zapier and type it in. And if it is not in Zapier, which we can explain that, you know, don't use that tool, because it's gonna cause a lot of pain down the road if you can't automate stuff. So I completely love that advice. Once you get

into automation, it's really fun. You're like, oh, I can do this. And I could do this. And for small organizations, I love the airtable. It's a really, really smart place. So if you are a small organization, and you have got, you're working off of, you know, Excel spreadsheets and word documents, like go check out air

table. Well, you've kind of alluded to this. So I want to go a little bit deeper. If you think about the executive director that's in the hustle, they have all these things on their plate, all these lunches that they need to be at all these meetings that they need to attend, and then you've you're managing a team. So you've got all those aspects. What advice do you give busy leaders around? How do you know what's the right next step? You know,

I think the very first part of that is you have to know it deep inside of you, you have to have that confidence that you can do it. If you are not yet there. Then you know, it's the inhale confidence, exhale, doubt. If you weren't inhaling the confidence yet, then whatever your next step is, is is not going to be the right next step. And maybe I put too much faith into like my intuition. But I really believe that what is important is going to rise to the top you are going to see it you are going to believe it and then you are going to know it and if it's not easy then it's probably not the right time. But if it's easy, if it makes sense, if it works, it's usually the right time for the people who don't love the intuition or maybe are still getting to know their intuition. You know, I think that, again, it goes back to having that community. And having that circle of circle of friends, circle of allies, people who are going to help you look a 360 view of what it is that you are going to do, and be able to talk through what are the things that might come up what are not. And in the nonprofit industry, I feel like our organizations and our leaders have have been these gatekeepers, who are not sharing a lot of information. And I think that we all need to share what we know, we need to teach what we know, because a rising tide lifts all boats. If we are all working together to create a better world, then magical things are going to happen. But that's only going to happen if we release information if we help each other see different sides of the equation and be able to really absorb information and lived experience from other people.

Yeah, and and I just think that that goes back to the what is the core component of we're for good ethos, and something you've already said twice, which is why community is everything. Because if you can go in a space of community share what you know, glean more from like minded friends, we're all going to be able to run so much faster, we're going to be able to run further. And we don't have to get in the weeds of things. Because I mean, even just, I mean, you talking here about this simple tool with air air table. Or if you're in Zapier, these things save time. And it's back to this concept of what you're talking about in structures. And if you don't have enough time, we've got to find things that are shortcuts and we want you to thrive. And we want you to be spending more of your time in that relationship space and out of that system and space. So I am drinking the Kool Aid of which you are serving. This is wonderful. And I small nonprofits, I hope you feel seen and feel like you have an understanding and a community and resources where you can go whether that's in Rachel's community, or this community, find your people and gather around and then lift up what's working, I think that's a great call to action. And Rachel, I just feel like you have access to all these really incredible missions who are small but mighty. And I want to know if there's a story of philanthropy that you have heard about or been a part of that has really stuck with you over the years that you might share with us.

In preparing for this. I really, I really, this was the hardest question to answer. And the story that I kept coming back to was the stripe couch. And the story of the striped couch is when I was 768. I don't I don't actually know, we had a striped couch. And I'm a product of divorce, don't worry, lots of therapy and great, like love parents all of it. But I do know that like that striped couch was really important to my mom, like it was one of those big purchases that she made as a single one. And then she was doing okay. And I remember that there was a woman who had experienced some domestic violence, and it was communicated to me a little bit differently. And my mom was like, we're gonna give our couch to her. And in my mind, as you know, a young child, I was like, so we're never gonna have a couch again, I don't get it like, you know, but what I took away from that was my mom knew that this person needed a couch probably to sleep on for a little while. And she allowed me to be part of that. You have to give you have to give to your community. It's the right thing to do. But it's the right thing to do. Because we're humans. And we're all connected. And we've all been maybe in a tougher place. And we're going to be in a tough place again. But if you can do something for someone else, and just make it a little bit better. That's pretty cool.

Yeah, I mean, what a beautiful story. And I just I love how many times our stories come back to moments that happen when we're kids. Because we're big proponents of just how does this become generational changes when we involve our kids and philanthropy in it isn't always writing a check. It's often not writing a check. You know, it's all the other ways that we engage. So thank you for sharing that. Okay, we call it our one good thing. It's the you know, the question we ask all of our guests. What's something you can leave with our community today?

I have to I'm sorry, I know. It's just one. The first one comes from my dad on the first day of kindergarten, and he told me Rachel, if I can just instill one thing for you write all your letters the same size. But it is something I think about every single time I write, every time, the power of words are aware, this is really what I want to leave with your community. So I told you, I lived a lot of lives. One of the lives I also lived was I went and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. I did 800 miles. And it was incredible. But I received a piece of advice, as I was leaving from a very, very dear friends. So shout out to mark, and he told me, what you think about gets bigger. So if you are hiking up a mountain, and it is really hard, and you think about every single step of that, hike up that mountain to be really, really hard, then that journey is going to be hard. And it is going to get harder with every single step, because that's all you are thinking about. So using the power of view of your brain of what your thoughts, if you are in that place where things are hard, I want you to try to find that, that good thing, that positive thing, that light that you can think about and that can get bigger.

That was a great one. Good thing, Rachel. Thank you. So now that you've given us all these great tips, and all of our small nonprofits feel very seen, how can they connect with you give us all the details on your website and where people can find you online podcast? Yeah,

I do have a podcast. It's called a productive Executive Director. It's a solo podcast. So I jump on and I give a couple of tips. And, you know, you get to hear a lot of barking dogs. And, you know, this is life life. It's very real life. But um, but it's fun. So I do have a podcast, it's on all the all the things that I hang out mostly on Instagram I'm at at small shop strategies, so definitely come and hang out with me. And then of course, you know, I've got a website of battle, I've got the things like you type in Rachel or you type in small shop strategies. Hopefully Google will find me. One of my favorite free resources that I have to offer is a thank you note template. It was sketched in my notebook as an executive director, four years of just you know, sometimes writing thank you notes, when you are the one in charge gets really hard. And you start like, look, what do I say? Did I say that already? Did I just repeat that sentence. So this is just a template to help, you know, save you some time. And total bonus points. If you take that template and you put it into your Gmail templates so that you can just pop it up. Anytime that donation comes in, and bam, it goes out there. And it's beautiful. So you can you can find that on my website at Smile shop strategies.com forward Slash Free. Thank you.

And I love that your header for it says never write a lame thank you note again.

We love being cheeky and honest. And I also love that you brought this whole conversation full circle by giving people time back with this little hack you can these are the things that you just keep evangelizing over and over is that there are little ways to create margin in your life to make you feel less stress that I think this is applicable for everyone. So thank you, Rachel, I enjoyed this conversation so much and just adore the person you are. They appreciate you.

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