Growth Owl - Growth Strategies for Nonprofits

Running the Bases today with Lori Zoss Kraska the Founder at Growth Owl, LLC - a unique Ohio-based consultancy for Nonprofits.  Growth Owl specializes in creating revenue-generating strategies for nonprofits with a specific niche in sponsorship and funding from corporations and corporate philanthropies.

Growth Owl also works with for-profit businesses in creating new lines of revenue as well as assessing their existing lines of revenue for profitability and marketability.  A breadth of services range from analysis, strategy, research, training, direct representation to corporations (on behalf of nonprofits), recruitment of revenue-generating talent, coaching, remote management, and more.

Lori shares her thoughts on setbacks and opportunities - “If something doesn't work out, as you had thought, you can't see it as a setback, that is information for you to make your next move.”  “Just let it go and keep moving forward."

As a bonus, Lori talks about her recent children’s book “A Bed for Fred” available at Amazon.

Learn more about Growth Owl and strategies for nonprofits at https://thegrowthowl.com/

Get information on “A Bed for Fred” the book’s website: http://www.abedforfred.com/

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Transcript

Randy: 0:13

Running the Bases with Small Businesses. I'm Randy Rohde. And I have a passion to work with small businesses and I love baseball. So I thought, Hey, let's bring them together. So every episode, I sit down with local entrepreneurs, business builders, and small business owners to talk about their wins and wefts they're tools of the trade and to give actionable tips to other business managers will cover the basis with entrepreneurship, operations, sales, digital marketing innovation, plus a little fun baseball top. Thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your Cracker jacks and you know what they say? Yeah, there we go. The game has begun. Hey, I'm Randy Rohde and you are with running the basis with small businesses. All right. Thanks Gary. Take us out. Very good. Hey, our guest today focuses on revenue generating strategies. For nonprofits,, she has a vast background in experiences working in broadcast media sales. And she's also an author of a children's book. Yeah. Hey,, I think you're actually our first, like, fully. Published author, maybe,, we've had a few other guests who are like on their way with the book, but you may be the first,, certainly the first that like brought in., but I copy yes. A copy of your book. So anyway, so Lori Zoss Kraska from Growth Owl yes. Welcome to the show.

Lori: 1:56

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here and yes.

Randy: 1:58

Yes. And I'm excited because you're actually in our new studio. Yeah. Well, thank you. Um, and we just got our decal on the wall, which is kind of fun as well, so,, very fun. Hey, so before we get started on your agency, the Growth Owl, tell us about your children's book, a bed for Fred.

Lori: 2:18

Sure. Well, I wrote it about seven years ago and it's about my, my Basset hound, who I had adopted. Did from rescue. And I feel very passionate about rescue for those thinking of a dog. And my favorite breed of dog is a Basset hound. And I just, he just has this, this cute, this cuteness about him that I wanted to capture that I thought would be great for a kid's book. Plus, you know, Bassets are very low to the ground and he was just a magnet for kids with feed, walk them in the park or in the neighborhood. So I thought, wow, there's, there's a good kid's book here. And literally I woke up one morning and thought to myself, a bed for Fred. So I thought the title first, and then the story came about. So the story of Fred is he wakes up one morning. He has his breakfast, he gets dressed. He goes back to his room and his bed is gone. So it's his journey to find out what happened to his bed? Yes.

Randy: 3:09

That's very good. Yes. Yeah. So is Fred still with us?

Lori: 3:14

No. Fred passed away years ago. Yeah. But um, we have another Bassett now named Lucy who we adopted and I can't forget her brother ranger who found mix very fun.

Randy: 3:25

Yeah. Alright. Well I love baskets and so they are very fun. And we recently got a dog, uh, in January and I know they are like, become like their bed is very. Territorial that is it? Yes. Yeah. Well, welcome. Well, that's great. All right, so now let's get into, uh, the growth house. So give us a lowdown on the Growth Owl. What is it? What do you do, and why did you decide on this concept of a business? I guess? So give us, you know, how did you make the leap, all of this stuff?

Lori: 3:54

Oh yeah, sure. So. I had spent just under 10 years working in fundraising and corporate support in public broadcasting here in Northeast Ohio. But actually the efforts that I did actually was, was kind of nationwide with, with other stations as well. And I really, really enjoyed it. I had a team of people that I managed who are just superstars, love the people I worked with. Love the idea of putting sponsors together with. The great content that NPR and PBS have to offer. So again, I, I did that for just under 10 years and actually the two things that came about that maybe think about taking the leap first was for years, I had thought about starting my own business back in my twenties. I'm in my mid forties now. So you can see it's been a long journey. my in, in my personal life, my, my father-in-law had passed away suddenly. 14 months later, my mother-in-law then had passed away. So when you go through something like that, it makes you think about the concept of time. And, you know, I still know I have quite a career ahead of me, but there is something about going through that experience and talking to them. You know, they were going through through their experience. That just made me think about what am I waiting for. I don't want to be in that position and regret that I didn't try, or I didn't do it. So that was the first thing. And then the second thing was just more things were happening from a structural period,, within where I was working at that made me think about, you know, maybe now is the time to make that leap. So. I spent about almost a year prepping for my exit from traditional corporate. So I did that through mentorship, finding great mentors and coaches to work with, you know, being able to talk to other business owners who had made the leap. I think that's so important in getting their experiences and their advice. Uh, also I started to do some pro bono work. So on weekends or on evenings, because you could tell, I feel passionate about animals. I started to pick up some animal related nonprofits to work with on the side from a pro bono standpoint, to kind of prove to myself, I could do this on my own and, and be really successful at it. the end of that year was coming to fruition and, um, I decided to make the jump because things with my pro bono clients were going so, so well that I was able to take them on as a traditional client. I just like to say the right things happened at the right time. And I'm, I'm a true believer that if you really do follow your passion, right. And make the jump life will support you and provide the things that you need. And that just kind of happened. So I made the leap and the reason why I leapt into wanting to help organizations, uh, generate revenue is because that's something that I've been. Really good at, you know, I've done it for my employers, but now I wanted to do it for organizations. I really, really cared about. Not that I didn't care about my employment, but I think, you know what I mean? Right. So my thought was, if I could take the concept of what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis in kind of quote, unquote corporate America, could I do it? With other non-profit organizations I care about that I know could need the help. Plus my specialty is working with corporations with their cause marketing departments, traditional marketing, and their corporate philanthropies. That's an area that a lot of nonprofits either don't pay a lot of attention to, or they don't have as much access or they don't have as much. Knowledge on how to access those types of resources. So I also knew I had kind of a niche going in, so those are some of the reasons why I started growth owl, and I've been doing it now for just about two and a half years. And I'm so glad that I made the leap and I'm just so happy. And I just can't say enough about entrepreneurship. Yeah, it's the best thing they can't.

Randy: 7:59

I think you really gave just a great blueprint almost for our listeners who are thinking about doing something similar and, which is kinda this methodical plan to out success. Um, yeah. Because, you know, I loved, I was at hand teamed up I'd I've found some mentors to really kind of discuss. And then you started doing, I love this idea about doing some pro bono work to give you the experience and it gets, um, Referrals are some of what we would call kind of social proof. So you've got people that are able to give you a testimonial is a great way. That's what literally, I think you just gave a great blueprint for people to be able to step out. This is a great way to do it and give yourself a nice long runway to like, yes.

Lori: 8:47

Yeah, it really was because I still, I was balancing my existing career. But at the same time, starting to embrace what I've been passionate about for so long. And again, I just find when you start to, to really pay attention to that part of you, that really, really wants to do something instead of suppressing it. But they're like, Oh, I got to go to a meeting. I got to do this. Right. Things just work for you. I just I'm, I'm, I'm very much an optimist, if you can tell, I can't just say enough about the importance of just giving yourself the confidence to make the leap. And that's probably the hardest thing, I knew going in when I was going to submit my resignation and I had really kind of practiced in my head how it was going to go. And I tell you, Randy it's to this day, one of the top moments of my life, I mean, My, uh, w the, the person that I gave my resignation to you even said, I don't know if I should be really upset right now, or if I should shake your hand for seeing the best resignation I've ever seen, but that's because there was a lot of work that went up to that, but I was ready. I bet it was just, it was just freedom. It was just, it was great.

Randy: 9:53

Wow. For you. Yeah. Good for you. That is terrific., so let me change gears. So now you, you you've been in business and you've been working with a variety of nonprofits and I want to get into like some of the different, industries and clients maybe that you work with. given in today's environment, we're in the midst of this pandemic and we've been shut down and people are kind of hunkered down and, and. It's just a lot of uncertainty, right? I mean, how is, I'll say the health, if you would, but how is the, the nonprofit world, I mean, are, are nonprofits struggling? Are they surviving? Are they flourishing? What is it like?

Lori: 10:30

You know, it's actually very similar to what the for-profit world is. Like. It really depends what your focus is. So if you are a nonprofit that is in the arts community, you are having a hard time because you don't even know when you're going to be able to perform. If you could ever tour again with your musicians, you know, when you could have a poetry reading in public. I mean, that is something that arts organizations are really struggling with. So I think arts have been hit. Big time in terms of, of this pandemic, because the whole arts, the mentality of arts is getting the community together to enjoy it together. So the arts organizations that I see that are, are trying to make a go out of it is, you know, those that, um, are looking at online ways to maybe deliver their content. Or alternative ways, alternative types of venues, but it's still going to be a long road and these organizations, and then even going beyond just arts, what size of organization do they have? You know, you have nonprofits that have. Good endowments. And you know, maybe they can keep things going with their existing employees for, 12 months, a couple of years, but then you have smaller nonprofits that maybe the CEO is doing this on the side, for very little money or no money that. Are just are fading away. And fortunately, I actually had a conversation with a nonprofit I'm talking to in Washington DC, and he actually sh his organization was a recipient of a grant. And he was telling me that the, the organization giving the grants initially had 300 applications of those 300 nonprofits by the end of, uh, our, I think by June 15th, 200 of them no longer exist. So that just tells you that it is tough for nonprofits. However, on the other side, if you're a nonprofit that deals within healthcare, Education, broadband right now. I mean, if any, you know, you're seeing the school systems trying to struggle with how are we going to sustain learning? How are we going to bring our kids back into the classroom? I don't think it's a coincidence that you're starting to see more school systems twos. As an online format, at least for the beginning of the semester. Right. But that means they have to purchase infrastructure. They need consultation and infrastructure. If they've never done online learning, there are some great nonprofits that work in that space. So they're flourishing right now. And I also tell any nonprofits, uh, in education or in health that have really good content. It can be monetized there's there's corporations that have an interest in that. And I think the biggest misconception right now is that corporations are not spending money on sponsorship. That's not true. You just have to be more strategic and you have to be very specific as to what you're asking for and make sure that the goals of your organization are aligning with the goals of that corporations organization. So that's, that's kind of how things stand right now. It just really depends in what area. Your nonprofit plays in for lack of a better term.

Randy: 13:38

you know, it's, it's interesting that you say that it's similar to the for-profit world because, you know, in some past guests we've talked about pivot and, you know, the importance of pivot and, as for-profit businesses, that's so critical, especially as COVID really kind of pushed them into like, listen, we have to, re-examine today's current environment and. Examine our own either process of operation, the efficiencies, our services, or products that we're delivering even, and then pivot, you know, we have to adapt in today's world and it's similar. It's interesting. I think you're absolutely right. Probably around non-profits having to do that same kind of pivot.

Lori: 14:19

Right? Absolutely. Even in my own business, I had to pivot when this all happened. So before March 15th, Had a phenomenal first quarter calendar, first quarter working with my non-profits finding corporate sponsorship of their various programs, right. It was going very well. Then March 15, hit. And my work with them changed now. I'm very fortunate that because of my background in management and managing people, I was able to pivot. Going from corporate sponsorship to actually helping them with manage people remotely. How do you do that crisis communications to sponsors? Will you still be able to contribute, even though we're in this pandemic? also I had some, both for profit and nonprofits. Talk to me about kind of strategizing what their departments look like at this time and what could they look like six months down the road. So talk about a pivot, but. I like the challenge, you know, I'm a type of person that likes a lot of different things going on. I never see myself doing the same thing over and over. I like to do different types of things with my clients. So it worked for me,, and it worked with my clients. So I'm, I'm very fortunate compared to maybe some other small businesses, but it also makes me a stronger executive and a stronger business owner to be able to add that to my. Portfolio of services. Hey, besides finding corporate sponsorship and training you on how to do that, here's some other things I can do for you, right? So that just all kind of happened and you just have to go with it. You can't think about it, you know, that's the other big thing, you know, when you come on an idea or you see an opportunity, you can't wait. You just have to go. And I find that clients, no matter what their personality type is, they are looking for some sort of help or direction, even if they're not directly asking for it. That's where having a good client relationship really helps where you can just kind of intuitively know. Yeah., you might want to think about this and you position it in a way that, you know, will work for them. So I've also been very good in, in finding those types of opportunities, as well as finding those opportunities for my clients. When trying to find new sponsors for some of the things that they have going on around COVID-19 and pandemic. Right.

Randy: 16:36

Right. So w we talked about this in the pivot and even what it's done for you or what it's kind of, I'll say forced, but it was an opportunity, I think, to kind of re-examine your own business, what I'm sure that there are other. Commonalities between the non-profit and the for-profit world in, as you're talking with various clients. what are maybe some of those crossover strategies or tactics beyond the pivot that we just kind of covered, but anything else that kind of comes to mind?

Lori: 17:05

Sure. So I think you'll find if you talk to executives that have been in nonprofit, I'd say at least for 10 years or more, they will tell you that there's much more of a focus now on the bottom line. And there are people that struggle with that because they're really good people, right? They're mission-based people, they don't want to have to think about the bottom line. They want to think about helping whoever it is, their audiences. Right. But the fact is the way our society has evolved and the way business has evolved, you have to look at the bottom line. So that's something we're non-profit and for-profit are actually mirroring each other. Now it's like, For-profit I'm sorry. Nonprofit has kind of caught up to really talking about where are we from a revenue perspective? What are some other ways we can bring money into the organization? Now the jargon might be a little bit different, but really looking at the bottom line of how much you're spending in your organization versus how much is coming in has been, is being looked at now more than ever. And that's a trend that's been happening, I'd say, especially in the past 10 years and then just promotion and branding that's is still very important for nonprofits. There's a lot of nonprofits out there. there's probably more. Business acumen and business type strategic decision-making that is going on that maybe you might not think about with nonprofits. So because of all of that, they are a little bit more even in the playing field when it comes to how I look at them for strategy. The biggest difference though, is if I'm looking at a. For-profit institution, uh, maybe we're talking about assessing their initial sales strategy or doing true sales type of trading, where with a nonprofit, I'm looking to find the right corporate sponsor match for the programs that they have available. Right. So it's all about money coming in. It's just, how has it been? Yeah.

, Randy: 18:56

So in thinking about for you specifically now,, working with nonprofits, what has been your biggest challenge in working with nonprofits and kind of on the chin verse of that? The biggest rewards that you've experienced?

Lori: 19:10

Well, I'll start with the rewards. So when I started, growth owl on the side, I specifically chose, as I said earlier, kind of animal related causes. And I chose causes that were in Marine mammals, zoology, small companion animal. Cause those are the areas that I feel very passionate about. So I get to talk to people that are Marine biologists and scientists. And,, people that run animal shelters, these are people I didn't really get to talk to in my previous life in corporate, but I just have an interest in, and I'm such a student of new things that I just kind of have a sponge for wanting to learn. New and kind of take me through the process. So I think that's been the greatest joy for me is being able to kind of tap in to my curiosity, to be able to speak to someone that, has a PhD, doctorate in zoology and learn more about the animals that I love and just helping these organizations, because a lot of these folks, and they'll tell you, I'm not telling tales out of school here. They'll tell you they're not the best business people., they, they do it for the science. They do it for the love of the species. And I love that. So if I can come in and kind of give them a little coaching as to, okay, I totally get what you're coming from, but, you still need to sustain, you need money to sustain. Here's what you need to do. And I just, I love that. I love doing that. Some of the hardest parts about working with nonprofits is for instance, if, if something doesn't go right. When you're trying to bring a corporate sponsor to the table, that it's kind of a double hardship for me, because first, either something didn't go, right? So you feel bad. And then I feel bad because it's a nonprofit we've taken a lot of the time and I can, I can kind of walk you through a challenge that happened. I was working with a, a client. And we had a very significant corporate sponsor that was very interested. They actually had even contacted me about getting involved with this client. And this was a good three month period of meeting board members of,, going on site, everything looks great. And then when it comes to sign the contract, they disappeared. Never heard from them again. And,, followed up several times,, phone calls, email, uh, I even stopped by once, you know, Hey, and that was tough. And I gotta say,, I've. I've worked with my team in the past, in public media,, how do you get over someone basically ghosting you? I think it's the term. Yeah, but I'll be honest. That never happened to me before. I think first of all, It's usually not about you. And it's usually that the sponsor had something else happen and they're either embarrassed or they just can't deal with having to say we can't do it. Right. Even though I'd rather hear no. And just tell me why, there is something on their end. That's just. Preventing them. So that was a tough situation. Yeah. But, it was good for me because that was, that was a challenge. I personally, hadn't been through before again, I've coached my staff with it in previous lives and management, but going through it and then working with my client, not to get discouraged, you know, that was another big thing, don't let this example. Kind of dampen your feelings about corporate sponsorship. So, and luckily it didn't, it took some time, but it didn't. So that's one, that was a big challenge, in terms of bringing it corporate sponsors to the team.

Randy: 22:47

Yeah. Well, you know, that's a great lesson and a good reminder, I think for, Business owners and people, especially that are doing direct sales. And what have you and said sometimes when that ghosting, I think that is the term when that does happen too often, we want to own it and like,, put it on our child, you know, and whether it's the right. Little bit of lack of confidence or the ego gets in the way, but you think, what did I do? You know why? And often I think you nailed it. It's not necessarily always you and there's so many other circumstances or potential causes that could have tripped in why they're doing what they're doing. That it's completely.

Lori: 23:24

Yeah. And it's funny how life works because now this has happened. A while ago. Right. as where I am now, I could see that that could have been a problematic relationship in retrospect, now that I know what I know now. Right. you just have to just let it go and keep moving forward.

Randy: 23:43

Yep. Uh, good words. so let's see. Do you know what time it is, Laurie? Is it the 17th? Here we go. Seventh inning stretch. Yes. So Lori, as you know, this is where we, um, Get a chance to talk a little bit about baseball. All right. So I do have, my research team has gone through and, uh, pulled together, um, you know, some, some questions or maybe just some conversation anyway, around non-profits and with. M L B. Okay. So in M I'll be, you know, they're very highly involved in doing a lot of different kinds of charitable work. Um, and it literally hundreds of different foundations and they have their tentacles in so many different ways. between. The the, the major organization, MLB every team has a number of organizations. They support players then have their own foundations and support a number of different organizations. So it really is amazing. I will ask you, And this will be a question. So back in 1997, MLB took on a major partnership. They continue still with, uh, the boys and girls club organization. So here's a, a dollar kind of question. So since 1997, how much money do you think MLB. Has either donated directly or have raised on behalf of boys, girls clubs.

Lori: 25:18

So that's since 97 and it's absolutely team is involved, major league baseball.

Randy: 25:22

This is MLB directly the parent organization. The, I don't know, I couldn't find, or the team couldn't find I dug into it as well. Like individual teams maybe participating, but,, that. Was not there.

Lori: 25:37

So now there's a bunch of other questions I'd ask, but in this is just a very general, broad, yeah. I'm going to say it's North of 25 million.

Randy: 25:46

Okay. Okay. Well, yes, very North about, uh, over a hundred million. Yes, yes, yes. and I'm sure you probably have seen or have heard of these 50, 50 raffles as well, right? Yes. So all I have to for various different causes now, do you like to go to a baseball game? Every bend. Okay. All right. So, and this happened, I don't know, probably a good five, eight years ago, somewhere around in there. They started doing 50, 50 raffles at stadiums as well. so here's your, here's a two-part question. So, on average, what do you think the dollar amount that they sell? So the top line, not the split ad on average at a baseball game.

Lori: 26:26

Oh boy. So now that this, this requires more questions, like, is it, is it like that the Indians are playing the red Sox? Yeah, that's a cool house. Just on average. Yeah. Oh my ha 25,000.

Randy: 26:38

Pretty close, actually. So 38,000 is kind of the average sale. All right. So the Indians this year in 2020, did something different because baseball season is just crazy right now. No fans. So they're not doing a 50 50 in the stands in the stadiums. So what the Indians did is that they are doing it. All online. All right. And they just did the drain well about a month ago for their first drawing, 50, 50 drawing online, uh, where anybody can go online and buy and participate in the 50 15. So not just in the stadium. What do you think the total dollar amount raised in this first 20, 20 Indians? Online? 50 50,

Lori: 27:19

I'll say closer to a hundred thousand.

Randy: 27:21

Yeah. Oh, okay. Well,. Over 256,000. Isn't that crazy? How would you like to have had the winning ticket on that one? Right? That would be great. Yes. So anyway, all right. We'll see. 17 names charter. It wasn't so bad. Was it? Yeah. All right. Well, there we go. Let's get back into it., all right. So you kind of mentioned, a little bit earlier. So on your side, the growth owl.com, um, you do have several nonprofit clients that are animal focused animal base. So is that by design or is it,

Lori: 27:54

this is kind of where I started,, the foundation, my business, and I just, I just love them. They remind me why I do, why, what I do. how you could really make an impact. I mean, you just never realize how much of an impact you can make with a person or an organization where,, you and I marketing and sales that's right. We could talk about that for hours, for someone that is an executive director of a Marine mammal institution, and they're struggling with finding money to buy,, 250 pounds of fish that they're, they're sea lions eat a day. Oh, they don't think about sales and marketing. So it just, again, it just, it keeps me, it keeps me grounded and why I do what I do. So when I have some of these larger nonprofits that I work with, it's just a nice balance. And I know I had no matter what I do, I think I'll always have some sort of commitment to animal-based none.

Randy: 28:44

Oh, that's great., so you've been in business staff for about two and a half years or so. I'm sure you've had some wins. You've had some grand slams that have been like, wow, this is great. I'm sure you've had some disappointments along the way as well. what is the mindset needed to kind of keep moving forward?

Lori: 29:00

No, perseverance. You have to let go and move on. I said that earlier, but that is so important, it's, I think people that are successful in owning businesses as well, have that same mentality. You have to see. I don't even want to call it failure, but if something doesn't work out, as you had thought, you can't see it as a setback, that is information for you to make your next move. It's a part of being on that chess board., entrepreneurship is a game of chess. It's not a game of checkers. There's lots of strategy behind it. And I can honestly say that in, in any move that I made that I didn't think would come out like it should, I can honestly say number one. I'm glad in retrospect, it turned out that way. And number two, it was meant to turn out that way. Because it either turned into something better, a better door opened up, or,, a better partner came into the picture so that, uh, that perseverance and staying positive and just being able to move on,, when I'm working with, because I do talk to some other younger people that are looking to start their own businesses. And I think the toughest thing for them is the mentality of moving on from loss or moving on from something that didn't work from them. That is imperative for all of us. If you can't do that, you're going to struggle more in owning your own business.

Randy: 30:16

Yeah. we had a previous guest on, we were talking about kinda this, a little bit of the same thing, right. About failures., I think that particular guest said, you know, I expect to fail,, and I expect to have a lot of failures. Yeah. I just don't want to have the same failure twice and yes, and it's like, just keep moving just you, you're going to fail, but just keep moving forward. And that's the perseverance that,, don't let it get you. And I, that is great advice. how about, can you share maybe some of the challenges that you had to overcome? How did you do it?

Lori: 30:50

Well, like I said, I've been thinking about entrepreneurship for a long time and I've had some people ask, wow, are, do you regret not pulling the trigger earlier? And actually, no, because every move I made got me to where I am and prepared me for what I'm able to offer. Uh, non-profits and businesses and philanthropists right now. So that that's an answer. I, I really do believe, but like I said, I, I, I took a good year of talking to people, doing research, journaling. I love to journal. I love to write. Not only children's books and things, but I also liked her just really write about thoughts, what I'm thinking, and that kind of turns into like a strategic plan for yourself. So preparation is key, but at some point you've got to jump. And for me, that jumping point was that moment. I mentioned earlier where I resigned that was it. And I also have to give kudos to my husband. Who's amazingly supportive and he has a hundred percent, support. In what I do. And that, that definitely helps having a support system, whether it's a spouse, whether it's friends, whether it's somebody online, it's really important to have the right people behind you that are cheering for you. That was essential for me. I couldn't have done it without his support. So those I think are the key things. And when you, when that moment comes to jump. Kind of do it and just trust it's going to work out. Cause as I said before, I really believe that once you make that jump, everything else will align for you.

Randy: 32:25

Right? what are you planning for your own growth?. Hey, so what's the path look like for you over the next three years? Right?

Lori: 32:31

I actually am taking some of the advice that I'm giving my clients and that would be looking at other revenue generating opportunities. So during quarantine, I watched an interview with the actor, Matthew McConaughey, and he was talking about. This thing called mailbox money. Have you ever heard this term before? I mind, I love this. Basically. He talked about, I would like it though. Great. It's about movies he's done in the past specifically, he was talking about a movie. He did,, how to lose a guy in 10 days with Kate Hudson, raw romantic comedy, early two thousands. And he talked about something about that movie made such an. Impact that people keep watching it on Netflix. HBO keeps renewing that anytime somebody watches that movie, he's getting mailbox money, he's getting checks in the mail royalty, right. Royalty, right. That he doesn't do have to do anything to get it. And I thought, wow. That's. I love that. So, you know, , looking at investment opportunities, looking at, things like that, taking growth out to a new level in terms of just being a service provider for nonprofits, but also looking at strategic partnerships and,, being able to still have the integrity of the brand, what it's all about, but maybe Lee utilizing different ways and how to get my message out and, Help those who, who need help. So really I'm looking in the next couple of years against strategic partnerships, looking for those chances for that mailbox money that Mr. McConaughey talks about and, you know, just trying some new things and, and honestly, I think the whole concept of strategic planning has totally changed after COVID right. You know, you have to be willing to put the plan together, but also be willing to throw it away if you have to. And are you, do you have the DNA, the makeup to be able to throw it away, let it go and just jump in and swim. And a lot of this is just jumping in and swimming. So I'm actually looking forward to happens. It would happen to the next couple of years as well. I just don't know.

Randy: 34:28

Well, and as soon as you do play it out and have a great strategy, and then all of a sudden, Hey, guess what? You're under coring team, nobody planned for that to happen., all right, so this is good. I'll tell you, this is flowing so great, but it is the bottom of the ninth. Alrighty. Yes. If you can believe this. So,, what advice do you have for rookies in the game, you know, for these folks that are just. Starting out in their small business or they're fresh into it as well., or thinking about it., what is some of the advice and guidance that you might give?

Lori: 35:03

I think the first thing is be selective on the opinion of others. There are people that will support you, but there are also people even with, they have their best intentions in mind. There could be people that are just worried about you taking a leap like this. You have to kind of set them aside because this is not their journey. And that's the other thing. I think sometimes people get analysis paralysis in doing too much research and saying, well, you know, Steven did it this way, but Laurie did this way. I just, just don't know what way I'm going to go. So I'm just going to stop here. That's the worst thing you could do. You have to pave your own way. What might be successful for me might not be successful for someone else and that's okay. Right. really just watching the opinion of others surrounding yourself with very encouraging people. And I was just like to say, if it feels right to you, then that's your gut saying, move forward. If it doesn't feel right, then don't move forward. Right. I think it's really, I don't like to over-complicate things. I really think it's that

Randy: 36:03

those are good. I think those are a couple of good advice tips to give. Absolutely., and I love that about, uh, you know, it's your journey. It's nobody else's journey.

Lori: 36:12

It's your journey. Yeah. You just, you see people and I've read, I love to read, I love to read success stories and how people do things, but. That's their journey. Right. And you know, you're not living your family's journey. You're not living your friend's journey. You have to live your own journey and embrace it. And because we only have so much time on this earth, right?

Randy: 36:33

Yes. And, or doing business sometimes. All right. Well, listen, Laurie, thank you so much for joining us today. That is the ballgame, as we say. So I want to tell people so they can find you over at thegrowthowl.com. Right? And I'm assuming you're all over media., social.

Lori: 36:52

Find me on LinkedIn. Just look my name, Lori. XOs cresca. You could also type in growth owl at Facebook. I have a Facebook page for growth, Val, just type in growth file. Honestly, if you just type growth owl. Into Google you'll find you'll find him.

Randy: 37:05

All right. Very nice., thanks for joining us in the new studio or appreciate it. Yes. Thank you very much. All right., everyone else also thank you for joining us today. And if you like our show, please tell your friends subscribe. And of course we, we would love your review. And as we like to say, we'll see around the ballpark. Running the bases with small businesses is brought to you by 38 digital market. A digital marketing agency committed to client growth with lead generation higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today at 38digitalmarket.com.