1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 And my husband was kind of feeling like, oh, you know, maybe you should try to, you know, 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:06,860 try to do something with it. 3 00:00:06,860 --> 00:00:10,140 And I was like, sure, while I'm on unemployment, looking for the right position, like I'll 4 00:00:10,140 --> 00:00:12,900 try to move it forward and see what happens. 5 00:00:12,900 --> 00:00:15,300 And it just absolutely took off every time. 6 00:00:15,300 --> 00:00:19,940 I mean, in the first six months, every time that I would even think about like applying 7 00:00:19,940 --> 00:00:25,380 for a job, I'd have so many clients on a contract that I literally just couldn't, I couldn't 8 00:00:25,380 --> 00:00:26,380 take on a job. 9 00:00:26,380 --> 00:00:27,380 I had, they were my priority. 10 00:00:27,380 --> 00:00:30,740 So I was like, wow, okay, I guess I'm filling a need gap. 11 00:00:30,740 --> 00:00:32,740 So I'll just keep doing this. 12 00:00:32,740 --> 00:00:33,740 Right. 13 00:00:33,740 --> 00:00:34,740 Exactly. 14 00:00:34,740 --> 00:00:37,540 And so that was during the COVID season. 15 00:00:37,540 --> 00:00:38,540 Yeah. 16 00:00:38,540 --> 00:00:47,980 So in terms of grants and getting these entities funded, were you also diving into like the 17 00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:51,580 EIDL trend and all that stuff or strictly grants? 18 00:00:51,580 --> 00:00:52,580 How does that work? 19 00:00:52,580 --> 00:00:53,580 Yeah, just grants. 20 00:00:53,580 --> 00:00:58,660 And I only work with nonprofit organizations, so we really just did like we did some Paycheck 21 00:00:58,660 --> 00:01:03,180 Protection Act funding and things like that, some government funding that was being coming 22 00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:06,180 down and like grant under stages or some credit, right? 23 00:01:06,180 --> 00:01:13,100 They pivoted really quickly during the pandemic to move grant funding to nonprofits to support 24 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:14,700 people fairly quickly. 25 00:01:14,700 --> 00:01:16,820 Usually these things take a long time. 26 00:01:16,820 --> 00:01:18,380 It didn't really, it didn't. 27 00:01:18,380 --> 00:01:22,780 So I found myself in a position where I was helping nonprofits who were really suffering 28 00:01:22,780 --> 00:01:27,260 from the pandemic and the effects of it be able to get grant money very quickly and literally 29 00:01:27,260 --> 00:01:28,260 save themselves. 30 00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:29,260 Yeah. 31 00:01:29,260 --> 00:01:34,740 Yeah, that's a big thing I want to, I definitely want to dial in today and talk about, because 32 00:01:34,740 --> 00:01:38,900 I know a lot of the visionaries that we, one, we tend to attract an audience of visionaries 33 00:01:38,900 --> 00:01:41,540 who really care to give back. 34 00:01:41,540 --> 00:01:45,780 And so whether they're for profit or they're nonprofit, in fact, I think a lot of them 35 00:01:45,780 --> 00:01:49,740 have a question like, ooh, which am I? 36 00:01:49,740 --> 00:01:54,420 Which makes the best route for what we're trying to accomplish. 37 00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:58,700 I'm hoping we can kind of dive into some of that and explore that today too. 38 00:01:58,700 --> 00:02:04,860 Before we dive too deep into that topic though, you've been building your own vision, as you 39 00:02:04,860 --> 00:02:09,060 mentioned, at least since the 2016. 40 00:02:09,060 --> 00:02:13,180 And you know, you, I'm sure you had other hopes and dreams long before that too, that 41 00:02:13,180 --> 00:02:14,460 you were working on. 42 00:02:14,460 --> 00:02:20,060 So what are, what are three resources that have gotten you to where you are today? 43 00:02:20,060 --> 00:02:24,820 Three resources that have gotten me to where I am today. 44 00:02:24,820 --> 00:02:25,820 I would say- 45 00:02:25,820 --> 00:02:27,820 As a visionary, as a leader. 46 00:02:27,820 --> 00:02:28,820 Yeah. 47 00:02:28,820 --> 00:02:29,820 So education. 48 00:02:29,820 --> 00:02:32,820 So I'm like really motivated by accomplishment. 49 00:02:32,820 --> 00:02:37,420 I always think people are motivated by two things, money and accomplishment. 50 00:02:37,420 --> 00:02:39,140 Well, mine is accomplishment. 51 00:02:39,140 --> 00:02:44,780 So like being able to get an education and being able to continue to get an education 52 00:02:44,780 --> 00:02:49,580 after I had children and you know, had other things, some of them had to work full time 53 00:02:49,580 --> 00:02:53,420 was really great because it kept me moving forward. 54 00:02:53,420 --> 00:02:58,420 Like I always say, if I could just like not work and just pursue PhDs all day, I would. 55 00:02:58,420 --> 00:02:59,740 I love school. 56 00:02:59,740 --> 00:03:04,500 So education was really, really important and a big resource. 57 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:09,340 I would also say professional networking groups have been hugely helpful. 58 00:03:09,340 --> 00:03:13,260 And I say that, but I don't mean like Chambers of Commerce or things like that, like general 59 00:03:13,260 --> 00:03:14,260 network. 60 00:03:14,260 --> 00:03:20,140 I mean like niche, like grant writing networking groups or nonprofit networking groups because 61 00:03:20,140 --> 00:03:23,420 they opened the door for me to get involved. 62 00:03:23,420 --> 00:03:27,860 So I started sitting on boards, like being part of the board of directors for those groups 63 00:03:27,860 --> 00:03:30,260 really early on in my career, in my early 20s. 64 00:03:30,260 --> 00:03:34,700 And I was a board member, which really helped me understand how nonprofits are supposed 65 00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:35,700 to function. 66 00:03:35,700 --> 00:03:38,060 So it was a huge resource and it gave me lots of connections too. 67 00:03:38,060 --> 00:03:44,380 So when I launched my business, people knew me, they were excited and they were able to 68 00:03:44,380 --> 00:03:48,060 promote me and refer me and I had no issue getting clients because of that. 69 00:03:48,060 --> 00:03:49,060 So that's two. 70 00:03:49,060 --> 00:03:51,460 So education, professional networks. 71 00:03:51,460 --> 00:03:59,860 And the third, I had a really great mentor who was my boss and she was also a grant writer 72 00:03:59,860 --> 00:04:03,580 and she just never, she never let me quit. 73 00:04:03,580 --> 00:04:04,580 She never let me stop. 74 00:04:04,580 --> 00:04:07,580 She never, you know, she was like, you didn't win this one. 75 00:04:07,580 --> 00:04:08,580 It's okay. 76 00:04:08,580 --> 00:04:09,580 You got to keep going. 77 00:04:09,580 --> 00:04:13,620 And when I was learning everything, she was just so patient and wonderful at teaching. 78 00:04:13,620 --> 00:04:18,340 So I would say education, professional networks and finding a really good mentor. 79 00:04:18,340 --> 00:04:19,340 Wow. 80 00:04:19,340 --> 00:04:20,340 Those are awesome. 81 00:04:20,340 --> 00:04:22,740 I'm a big fan of each one. 82 00:04:22,740 --> 00:04:27,660 We've got some resources, visionaries that we'll put in the comments based on other recent 83 00:04:27,660 --> 00:04:31,300 visionary leaders who said, said very similar resources. 84 00:04:31,300 --> 00:04:36,700 And that's one of my favorite things is I don't typically read a book until like three 85 00:04:36,700 --> 00:04:41,740 or five of my industry peers or mentors or idols have recommended it. 86 00:04:41,740 --> 00:04:45,280 At that point, I'm like, okay, there's something about this that I need to dive into. 87 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:46,860 So this is, this is huge. 88 00:04:46,860 --> 00:04:49,660 I will add to the professional networking one. 89 00:04:49,660 --> 00:04:52,660 For those of you who are hearing that, like, oh my gosh, I'm going to dive right in. 90 00:04:52,660 --> 00:04:57,580 One of my favorite quotes is people don't care how much, oh wait, that's, that's another 91 00:04:57,580 --> 00:04:58,580 of my favorite quotes. 92 00:04:58,580 --> 00:05:03,300 The one that I really want to move towards is it's not what you know, it's who you know. 93 00:05:03,300 --> 00:05:05,300 But I would add to that. 94 00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:07,740 It's not what you know, it's who you know. 95 00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:09,460 And then it's what you know. 96 00:05:09,460 --> 00:05:11,500 So Jody didn't go in there blind. 97 00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:13,780 She went in with her expertise. 98 00:05:13,780 --> 00:05:21,020 She went in with her desires to be consistent and reliable and really, really provide probably 99 00:05:21,020 --> 00:05:23,060 value to that community. 100 00:05:23,060 --> 00:05:28,820 I say that because I see a lot of people going into niche networking experiences and they 101 00:05:28,820 --> 00:05:31,520 disappear within two to three months. 102 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:37,000 And then you end up creating more fear and uncertainty around who you are than you would 103 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,580 have and it creates an uphill battle for yourself. 104 00:05:39,580 --> 00:05:45,140 So make sure you're ready to show up and be consistent and reliable and be worthy of that 105 00:05:45,140 --> 00:05:50,620 role and title of board member or activist and also take care of the referrals people 106 00:05:50,620 --> 00:05:51,620 can send you. 107 00:05:51,620 --> 00:05:54,420 Otherwise, you'll end up hurting yourself more than helping yourself. 108 00:05:54,420 --> 00:05:55,420 Jody, way to do that right. 109 00:05:55,420 --> 00:05:56,420 That's awesome. 110 00:05:56,420 --> 00:06:00,620 Obviously, you wouldn't have the story you have if you didn't do that right. 111 00:06:00,620 --> 00:06:04,580 You would have just been like, oh, these networking groups don't really, it ain't the networking 112 00:06:04,580 --> 00:06:05,580 group. 113 00:06:05,580 --> 00:06:08,300 It's not as individuals showing up and doing our part. 114 00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:09,300 So I love that. 115 00:06:09,300 --> 00:06:10,300 We're going to come right back. 116 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:17,300 We're going to dive in to funding via grants, how to get grants, who gets grants, why you 117 00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:18,980 might consider nonprofits. 118 00:06:18,980 --> 00:06:23,740 Can you set up a nonprofit in association with your for-profit brand or not? 119 00:06:23,740 --> 00:06:26,820 Well, we'll be right back and dive in with Jody Riley. 120 00:06:26,820 --> 00:06:27,820 All right. 121 00:06:27,820 --> 00:06:30,020 Welcome in to Vision Pros Live. 122 00:06:30,020 --> 00:06:32,100 With Jackson Callum, I'm your show host. 123 00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:37,220 We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who are building fantastic 124 00:06:37,220 --> 00:06:40,020 visions out there. 125 00:06:40,020 --> 00:06:48,140 Hey, what's up, everybody? 126 00:06:48,140 --> 00:06:50,220 Welcome in to another episode of Vision Pros Live. 127 00:06:50,220 --> 00:06:54,380 I'm your show host, Jackson Callum, founder and CEO of First Class Business. 128 00:06:54,380 --> 00:06:57,260 I'm really excited to have Jody Riley on today. 129 00:06:57,260 --> 00:07:02,180 We're going to dive into a subject that is, I don't think there's enough experts out there 130 00:07:02,180 --> 00:07:06,380 related to this subject, and it's grant writing and funding. 131 00:07:06,380 --> 00:07:08,300 How do you move towards that? 132 00:07:08,300 --> 00:07:13,300 That's one of those things that a lot of you actually have superpowers. 133 00:07:13,300 --> 00:07:17,180 These are going to grant you the ability to use your superpowers at higher levels if you 134 00:07:17,180 --> 00:07:20,900 just lean in to the matter and get to know it and understand it. 135 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:24,460 We'll see if Jody's the right person to guide you through that today. 136 00:07:24,460 --> 00:07:30,220 I'll ask as many dumb questions as I can to expose what I do and don't know about grant 137 00:07:30,220 --> 00:07:34,140 writing and, again, whether all of us should be going towards it or not. 138 00:07:34,140 --> 00:07:38,140 Before I bring Jody back on stage and we talk about that, a couple of the other resources 139 00:07:38,140 --> 00:07:43,780 that I am certain about and really love to be involved in, let's start with Dave Marl 140 00:07:43,780 --> 00:07:48,060 of the Hard2Kill.org podcast. 141 00:07:48,060 --> 00:07:55,580 Dave's helping 100,000 veterans lose 2 million pounds collectively, and I'm super happy because 142 00:07:55,580 --> 00:07:59,300 I'm a civilian and he now lets me and others into that community as well. 143 00:07:59,300 --> 00:08:01,020 It starts with a free community. 144 00:08:01,020 --> 00:08:05,180 You'll notice there's an easy button to get into, the world's easiest workout plan. 145 00:08:05,180 --> 00:08:10,100 He's an award-winning podcast, great leader in the influencer space, especially amongst 146 00:08:10,100 --> 00:08:12,780 military veterans, and he's got a heart of gold. 147 00:08:12,780 --> 00:08:15,220 I absolutely love working with Dave. 148 00:08:15,220 --> 00:08:19,500 Come and join us and see how the heck he got me motivated to get into shape again after 149 00:08:19,500 --> 00:08:26,140 eight years of avoiding it and managing to be the skinny fat guy for far too long. 150 00:08:26,140 --> 00:08:27,140 He's got superpowers. 151 00:08:27,140 --> 00:08:28,900 Let's get in there with him. 152 00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:33,820 Also, if you know, if you've got friends that are military veterans, just introduce them 153 00:08:33,820 --> 00:08:34,820 to Dave. 154 00:08:34,820 --> 00:08:38,220 It's not going to hurt you, but it could possibly help them. 155 00:08:38,220 --> 00:08:43,140 A lot of our military veteran friends suffer with PTSD and they end up getting out of shape 156 00:08:43,140 --> 00:08:44,320 and it messes with their life. 157 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,620 We want to make sure that all of us are headed towards looking good, feeling good, and then 158 00:08:48,620 --> 00:08:49,620 going and doing good together. 159 00:08:49,620 --> 00:08:52,540 He does a great job of leading just that. 160 00:08:52,540 --> 00:08:54,420 There's a program called Opportunities. 161 00:08:54,420 --> 00:08:56,340 This is one of our homegrown opportunities. 162 00:08:56,340 --> 00:09:01,280 In fact, Jody and I are going to talk about opportunities live on the show today and whether 163 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:08,060 it makes sense for us to move towards a nonprofit organization and maybe finally file the 501C3PO's 164 00:09:08,060 --> 00:09:10,220 and all the things that are necessary for it. 165 00:09:10,220 --> 00:09:14,980 Obrir la Esa Trabajo para Latinos is where it started, Opportunities for Latinos. 166 00:09:14,980 --> 00:09:17,740 We've expanded to have opportunities for Filipinos. 167 00:09:17,740 --> 00:09:19,540 We've also got opportunities for Indians. 168 00:09:19,540 --> 00:09:24,300 What this is, is it's a virtual assistant training program and academy to help make 169 00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:29,580 sure that we're helping great people become great virtual assistants and then getting 170 00:09:29,580 --> 00:09:35,380 them connected to businesses where they can provide their services and create win-win-win 171 00:09:35,380 --> 00:09:36,980 abundance for everybody involved. 172 00:09:36,980 --> 00:09:38,300 I love running it. 173 00:09:38,300 --> 00:09:43,900 Cynthia, who helps me behind the scenes on this podcast, is the podcast host of the Opportunities 174 00:09:43,900 --> 00:09:44,900 podcast. 175 00:09:44,900 --> 00:09:49,020 They interview Latino visionaries and leaders out there. 176 00:09:49,020 --> 00:09:52,980 If you know of Latinos or you're Latino yourself and you want to come inspire the world, come 177 00:09:52,980 --> 00:09:56,740 and join us and help us bridge the economic gap between North America, South America, 178 00:09:56,740 --> 00:09:57,740 and rest of world. 179 00:09:57,740 --> 00:09:59,900 Then there's the Water Project. 180 00:09:59,900 --> 00:10:01,500 We do work with the Water Project. 181 00:10:01,500 --> 00:10:04,540 I just really love what they're up to. 182 00:10:04,540 --> 00:10:08,740 As soon as I learned about it, I decided, you know what, I don't want to forget about 183 00:10:08,740 --> 00:10:09,740 this. 184 00:10:09,740 --> 00:10:13,300 There's millions of people who do not have access to clean drinking water. 185 00:10:13,300 --> 00:10:15,660 I have taken that for granted most of my life. 186 00:10:15,660 --> 00:10:19,020 I've never been truly thirsty in my life. 187 00:10:19,020 --> 00:10:24,100 When I came across this and I saw that they transparently show you which communities need 188 00:10:24,100 --> 00:10:28,140 help and then you get to pick which community you want to give back to and learn about the 189 00:10:28,140 --> 00:10:32,060 projects and how they build their sand dams or their borehole wells. 190 00:10:32,060 --> 00:10:35,060 I was just blown away by the amount of transparency. 191 00:10:35,060 --> 00:10:40,860 Again, the reality that my goodness, what would it be like to not take water for granted? 192 00:10:40,860 --> 00:10:44,900 These kids celebrate water like my kids celebrate Christmas Day. 193 00:10:44,900 --> 00:10:49,860 My hope is that you will join me in this cause, whether you can give back or if you're in 194 00:10:49,860 --> 00:10:53,940 a financial position where you can't, bring it up over dinner with a friend. 195 00:10:53,940 --> 00:10:56,300 Tag somebody who might be able to help out. 196 00:10:56,300 --> 00:11:03,220 We never know how far the ripple effect of just a simple act of sharing can impact other 197 00:11:03,220 --> 00:11:04,220 people's lives. 198 00:11:04,220 --> 00:11:07,260 This is an impact that will affect people for generations. 199 00:11:07,260 --> 00:11:12,380 We're talking about kids that can spend more time in school and not have to leave for a 200 00:11:12,380 --> 00:11:16,860 three mile hike just to find a source of water or parents or grandparents who have to do 201 00:11:16,860 --> 00:11:20,820 that on a daily basis in the midst of trying to provide for their families. 202 00:11:20,820 --> 00:11:22,500 So hope you join me on that. 203 00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:26,020 If you have another cause, you'd love to see us talk about, well, there's 8 billion 204 00:11:26,020 --> 00:11:27,020 people to help in the world. 205 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:28,020 So it's not surprising. 206 00:11:28,020 --> 00:11:29,020 Drop it in the comments. 207 00:11:29,020 --> 00:11:30,020 Let us know. 208 00:11:30,020 --> 00:11:35,380 Let us be proactive in helping with more causes that are also near and dear to your hearts. 209 00:11:35,380 --> 00:11:39,540 So without further ado, Jody Riley, thank you for joining me on Vision Pros Life. 210 00:11:39,540 --> 00:11:40,540 Hi, Jackson. 211 00:11:40,540 --> 00:11:41,540 Thanks for having me. 212 00:11:41,540 --> 00:11:42,540 Absolutely. 213 00:11:42,540 --> 00:11:48,020 I have a feeling you know of a couple of entities or causes that we might want to bring up on 214 00:11:48,020 --> 00:11:52,020 this show and talk about and raise awareness for true or false. 215 00:11:52,020 --> 00:11:53,020 True. 216 00:11:53,020 --> 00:11:56,020 I was also very interested in your water project. 217 00:11:56,020 --> 00:12:00,020 So I'll be looking of that right after this call because I have some, I have a heart for 218 00:12:00,020 --> 00:12:03,020 Kenya and I know there's lots of projects in Kenya and some friends there. 219 00:12:03,020 --> 00:12:08,020 So I'm going to probably get involved with that as soon as we hang up. 220 00:12:08,020 --> 00:12:09,020 Yeah. 221 00:12:09,020 --> 00:12:10,020 Cool. 222 00:12:10,020 --> 00:12:11,020 Well, it's awesome. 223 00:12:11,020 --> 00:12:12,020 It's not even mine. 224 00:12:12,020 --> 00:12:14,740 That's the easiest one because I don't really get to help them build the water project. 225 00:12:14,740 --> 00:12:21,500 But we do want to, I want to go next year and go and like visit one in person with our 226 00:12:21,500 --> 00:12:25,140 videographer and take my oldest child and go do that. 227 00:12:25,140 --> 00:12:28,140 And they're like, no, like this, these projects are out in the boonies. 228 00:12:28,140 --> 00:12:30,620 And I was like, I understand what you're saying. 229 00:12:30,620 --> 00:12:33,680 It's risky, but that's kind of what I saw about. 230 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:36,960 So we're probably going to try to find a way to make it anyway. 231 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:42,640 With that said, Kenya, if you know somebody who would be interested in this, also working 232 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:46,860 with us on the opportunity side, we're always looking for local leaders who are able to 233 00:12:46,860 --> 00:12:51,460 jump in and help us with the process of training virtual assistants and seeing what's there 234 00:12:51,460 --> 00:12:53,860 and creating win-win-wins with that. 235 00:12:53,860 --> 00:12:56,060 So that's a side rail conversation. 236 00:12:56,060 --> 00:12:57,060 Yeah. 237 00:12:57,060 --> 00:12:58,060 A big discussion about that. 238 00:12:58,060 --> 00:12:59,060 Yeah, I do. 239 00:12:59,060 --> 00:13:02,060 I definitely do have a lot of contact there. 240 00:13:02,060 --> 00:13:03,060 That's awesome. 241 00:13:03,060 --> 00:13:09,660 Well, without further ado, you know, we kind of dove in hot and heavy. 242 00:13:09,660 --> 00:13:12,620 What is your vision, Jody, for the people that you serve? 243 00:13:12,620 --> 00:13:13,620 Okay. 244 00:13:13,620 --> 00:13:14,620 So I've narrowed this down. 245 00:13:14,620 --> 00:13:16,260 I know exactly what I want. 246 00:13:16,260 --> 00:13:21,420 My vision is to be a no wrong door for nonprofits. 247 00:13:21,420 --> 00:13:28,700 I love being the person that they can come to to get help no matter what, no matter the 248 00:13:28,700 --> 00:13:29,700 budget. 249 00:13:29,700 --> 00:13:31,500 I can give them something of value. 250 00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:33,740 And I'm working to make that even better every day. 251 00:13:33,740 --> 00:13:34,740 So that's my vision. 252 00:13:34,740 --> 00:13:38,500 Because vision is one of those far reaching things you may never get to it, but you're 253 00:13:38,500 --> 00:13:39,980 striving towards it all the time. 254 00:13:39,980 --> 00:13:41,580 That's my vision. 255 00:13:41,580 --> 00:13:42,580 I love that. 256 00:13:42,580 --> 00:13:46,140 I think there's a huge difference for those of you listening in who may have misheard 257 00:13:46,140 --> 00:13:47,140 what was stated. 258 00:13:47,140 --> 00:13:51,380 It's a big difference between wanting to make sure you always take care of individuals and 259 00:13:51,380 --> 00:13:56,820 put them on the right path and trying to be everything for everyone. 260 00:13:56,820 --> 00:14:00,780 And so let's play with that a little bit, because some people probably heard like, oh, 261 00:14:00,780 --> 00:14:06,060 you're just you're going to try to take over the world, you know, pinky in the brain style. 262 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:11,260 I'm looking at this and saying, wait, okay, you're I think you're saying that if somebody 263 00:14:11,260 --> 00:14:15,580 is in a position where you can't quite help them, instead of just sending them on their 264 00:14:15,580 --> 00:14:20,780 way and be like, oh, we don't help you more of a let's see what we can find. 265 00:14:20,780 --> 00:14:21,780 Yeah. 266 00:14:21,780 --> 00:14:22,780 Before we go around. 267 00:14:22,780 --> 00:14:23,780 What do you what do you think, though? 268 00:14:23,780 --> 00:14:24,780 I want your thoughts on it. 269 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:25,780 Yeah. 270 00:14:25,780 --> 00:14:29,500 Other research like giving them other resources or connecting like if they're like, we need 271 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:33,100 grant, especially in the I'm really speaking in the world of grants like that's what I 272 00:14:33,100 --> 00:14:34,100 do with grant writing. 273 00:14:34,100 --> 00:14:37,100 So if they're coming to me and they're like, look, I really need help with grant writing, 274 00:14:37,100 --> 00:14:38,980 but I have a zero dollar budget. 275 00:14:38,980 --> 00:14:41,020 We have blog posts that can help. 276 00:14:41,020 --> 00:14:44,420 We have our social media that where we put out grant opportunities. 277 00:14:44,420 --> 00:14:47,820 There are ways to get free in our newsletter is full of resources like there are ways to 278 00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:52,100 get free resources from us all the time without having to spend any money if you're like a 279 00:14:52,100 --> 00:14:54,420 brand new organization. 280 00:14:54,420 --> 00:14:55,580 So that's really what I mean. 281 00:14:55,580 --> 00:15:00,660 And if an organization comes to us, even without like the egg with a need that's not related 282 00:15:00,660 --> 00:15:04,500 to grant writing, we have built a great network of resources in the nonprofit community. 283 00:15:04,500 --> 00:15:08,820 So we can almost always interest, introduce them or connect them to someone who can help 284 00:15:08,820 --> 00:15:11,740 solve a problem or get them to the next level of growth. 285 00:15:11,740 --> 00:15:12,740 Huge. 286 00:15:12,740 --> 00:15:13,740 Awesome. 287 00:15:13,740 --> 00:15:14,740 I love it. 288 00:15:14,740 --> 00:15:17,660 And I think there's a lot of parallels between us with that regard. 289 00:15:17,660 --> 00:15:19,700 We love predominantly helping. 290 00:15:19,700 --> 00:15:21,940 We love helping everybody. 291 00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:25,620 Our ideal client has a pretty good cash reserve in place already. 292 00:15:25,620 --> 00:15:28,700 That's going to put them in a position for maximizing growth. 293 00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:33,060 However, I had a client a couple of years ago and her lovely story was that she was 294 00:15:33,060 --> 00:15:36,620 on holiday in the Dominican Republic doing the life coaching thing. 295 00:15:36,620 --> 00:15:38,800 Yeah, that was what she told everybody. 296 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,500 She literally got stuck in the Dominican Republic and couldn't leave because she was homeless 297 00:15:43,500 --> 00:15:45,580 and the Dominican Republic. 298 00:15:45,580 --> 00:15:48,460 So the nomad lifestyle, look at me. 299 00:15:48,460 --> 00:15:49,460 Everything's awesome. 300 00:15:49,460 --> 00:15:52,200 Well, she was a great coach. 301 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,180 She had a very, very strong vision and a lot of inspiration. 302 00:15:55,180 --> 00:15:59,140 Can you imagine being stuck in a foreign country and not being able to do anything? 303 00:15:59,140 --> 00:16:05,260 And, you know, so we, but again, her vision, I heard the same fluffy vision she told everybody 304 00:16:05,260 --> 00:16:11,940 else and I was like, this is powerful and I was able to get under the surface, right, 305 00:16:11,940 --> 00:16:14,380 to this reality of what was going on. 306 00:16:14,380 --> 00:16:17,420 Within 24 hours, she raised $21,000 for herself. 307 00:16:17,420 --> 00:16:18,780 Oh my goodness. 308 00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:21,300 Within 24 hours, she raised 21,000. 309 00:16:21,300 --> 00:16:22,300 How? 310 00:16:22,300 --> 00:16:26,780 I met her two weeks later to find out, because I was curious how she used what I taught her 311 00:16:26,780 --> 00:16:32,860 and some guy in a foreign country wired her $21,000 to move her brand forward. 312 00:16:32,860 --> 00:16:37,840 And so a lot of attraction combined with the right types of training, combined with the 313 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:42,340 mindset of, hey, I'm really going to help and bless people's lives can be powerful. 314 00:16:42,340 --> 00:16:44,580 It's not financial advice for people. 315 00:16:44,580 --> 00:16:46,980 That's not going to happen for all of you listening in most likely. 316 00:16:46,980 --> 00:16:51,780 Like there's a lot of stars that have to align for that story to come to fruition. 317 00:16:51,780 --> 00:16:58,180 But that's again, going back to you, Jody, there's a lot of people who simply aren't 318 00:16:58,180 --> 00:17:02,660 aware of these superpowers that you have access to and what's possible. 319 00:17:02,660 --> 00:17:10,220 I'm one of those who still has limiting knowledge in relation to, well, again, how do we maximize 320 00:17:10,220 --> 00:17:11,220 this? 321 00:17:11,220 --> 00:17:16,020 So let's go towards first, I've got for-profit companies. 322 00:17:16,020 --> 00:17:20,700 I've got no nonprofit companies, but I love the help and opportunities. 323 00:17:20,700 --> 00:17:23,140 Could it be a nonprofit maybe? 324 00:17:23,140 --> 00:17:24,220 Am I wrong? 325 00:17:24,220 --> 00:17:25,220 Am I right? 326 00:17:25,220 --> 00:17:30,020 Where do we even begin looking at that reality? 327 00:17:30,020 --> 00:17:37,140 So I think the first question you have to ask is if you have a passion for one mission 328 00:17:37,140 --> 00:17:39,300 and it can't just be broad. 329 00:17:39,300 --> 00:17:42,620 It can't be like, I want to help people or I want to help the homeless or like I want 330 00:17:42,620 --> 00:17:44,220 to mentor kids. 331 00:17:44,220 --> 00:17:48,500 You have to have a very specific mission that fills a need gap. 332 00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:53,100 So there has to be a space where something needs to be done to help people. 333 00:17:53,100 --> 00:17:56,580 You have an idea or a way to do it or to help animals or whatever you're helping. 334 00:17:56,580 --> 00:18:02,660 I mean, like millions and millions of Latinos who have never heard of LinkedIn and have 335 00:18:02,660 --> 00:18:06,980 never heard of Canva and never heard of Fiverr or Upwork before. 336 00:18:06,980 --> 00:18:09,980 And if they do, okay, go ahead. 337 00:18:09,980 --> 00:18:10,980 Yeah. 338 00:18:10,980 --> 00:18:13,740 So it would be like a workforce development program for other countries. 339 00:18:13,740 --> 00:18:16,300 So that type of a mission. 340 00:18:16,300 --> 00:18:20,420 And then you also have an important thing, I think, for business owners to remember about 341 00:18:20,420 --> 00:18:22,220 nonprofits is that you do not own it. 342 00:18:22,220 --> 00:18:27,220 So it's different for us as business owners than what we're used to. 343 00:18:27,220 --> 00:18:32,260 And you're also not, you're the boss kind of, but you're not really the boss because 344 00:18:32,260 --> 00:18:36,820 you'll have a board of directors and they really get to drive the decision making in 345 00:18:36,820 --> 00:18:37,820 the organization. 346 00:18:37,820 --> 00:18:43,620 So here's what's fun for both of our perspective, all the people listening in, the moment that 347 00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:47,700 you act like a business owner who owns it is the moment you're never going to win in 348 00:18:47,700 --> 00:18:48,700 business anyway. 349 00:18:48,700 --> 00:18:50,420 So let me just share that. 350 00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:55,820 All you business owners out there, you're all on the path to 96% losing within 10 years. 351 00:18:55,820 --> 00:18:57,540 So let go of the ego. 352 00:18:57,540 --> 00:18:58,540 You're right. 353 00:18:58,540 --> 00:18:59,540 We do not own it. 354 00:18:59,540 --> 00:19:05,020 So I shift businesses all the time to this mentality of trying to create more of a democracy 355 00:19:05,020 --> 00:19:06,020 with their business. 356 00:19:06,020 --> 00:19:09,740 But I love to hear more details about, well, Jackson's settled down, right? 357 00:19:09,740 --> 00:19:14,700 On the NPO side, what all does that entail or mean? 358 00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:16,900 Or I guess we're going to have surface level first. 359 00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:17,900 Yeah. 360 00:19:17,900 --> 00:19:18,900 So it's a separate entity. 361 00:19:18,900 --> 00:19:22,940 It gets a separate IRS classification. 362 00:19:22,940 --> 00:19:26,340 There's rules about opening a nonprofit, operating a nonprofit. 363 00:19:26,340 --> 00:19:28,580 Every state's a little bit different. 364 00:19:28,580 --> 00:19:30,060 And then it's maintenance, right? 365 00:19:30,060 --> 00:19:32,380 So you have to have board meetings. 366 00:19:32,380 --> 00:19:35,580 There's that specific amount every year that varies by state. 367 00:19:35,580 --> 00:19:37,860 Here in Florida it's three. 368 00:19:37,860 --> 00:19:41,420 But most organizations are having a meeting monthly. 369 00:19:41,420 --> 00:19:46,860 There's a lot to consider and raising money is never easy. 370 00:19:46,860 --> 00:19:53,540 So like selling products or selling services, as we know, most of us know that our in business 371 00:19:53,540 --> 00:19:58,700 is challenging enough, but actually getting people to give you money for social impact, 372 00:19:58,700 --> 00:20:03,660 which they can't touch or feel, or sometimes doesn't even impact them directly, is a whole 373 00:20:03,660 --> 00:20:05,780 new level of challenging. 374 00:20:05,780 --> 00:20:06,780 And that's where growing comes in. 375 00:20:06,780 --> 00:20:11,260 Let's get those ones though, because those ones we're actually quite good at. 376 00:20:11,260 --> 00:20:13,780 But are there other challenges? 377 00:20:13,780 --> 00:20:17,660 So let's say you have somebody that is just a nut job, great at raising money for some 378 00:20:17,660 --> 00:20:18,660 reason. 379 00:20:18,660 --> 00:20:21,540 Are there other things they need to be aware of in terms of raising? 380 00:20:21,540 --> 00:20:26,740 Like, oh no, you can't take that $10,000 check because of X, Y, or Z. Is there red tape to 381 00:20:26,740 --> 00:20:27,740 be aware of? 382 00:20:27,740 --> 00:20:29,180 Yeah, yeah, big time. 383 00:20:29,180 --> 00:20:34,020 So there are lots of rules about political activities and lobbying versus not lobbying 384 00:20:34,020 --> 00:20:38,220 and what's considered political in the nonprofit states. 385 00:20:38,220 --> 00:20:42,900 Nonprofits for the most part are nonpartisan and have to stay that way. 386 00:20:42,900 --> 00:20:48,300 So your own political views cannot play a part in your nonprofit's operation. 387 00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:54,780 Besides that, there are considerations for who you take money from and then how you use 388 00:20:54,780 --> 00:20:55,780 that money. 389 00:20:55,780 --> 00:21:03,380 So let's say we're working in a program in a school and Budweiser decides to send us 390 00:21:03,380 --> 00:21:04,380 a check. 391 00:21:04,380 --> 00:21:08,620 That may be a check we don't keep because we're running a children's program. 392 00:21:08,620 --> 00:21:14,060 If that makes sense. 393 00:21:14,060 --> 00:21:19,780 Speaking of, I was so upset when the Dr. Seuss, I'm still mad about it, Cat in the Hat, right? 394 00:21:19,780 --> 00:21:23,500 They made a big old plug for beer with Alec Baldwin. 395 00:21:23,500 --> 00:21:25,460 I was like, what the heck, man? 396 00:21:25,460 --> 00:21:27,020 I'm like, why would you? 397 00:21:27,020 --> 00:21:29,020 Or Mike Myers, I don't remember who it was. 398 00:21:29,020 --> 00:21:30,900 I was like, oh, Lisa Children's movie. 399 00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:32,020 What are they doing? 400 00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:34,500 So I'm grateful for regulations like that. 401 00:21:34,500 --> 00:21:35,500 Okay. 402 00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:36,500 Yeah. 403 00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:41,180 So I think they're the biggest challenge because it's different when you own or operate. 404 00:21:41,180 --> 00:21:44,260 You talked about how you use it, right? 405 00:21:44,260 --> 00:21:50,020 So let's say, I don't know, Bill Gates or Bill Jones decides he wants to invest $10,000 406 00:21:50,020 --> 00:21:52,940 in a program. 407 00:21:52,940 --> 00:21:55,020 How do you use the 10,000? 408 00:21:55,020 --> 00:22:00,780 Does that get a regulation on it from others or is that between me and Bill? 409 00:22:00,780 --> 00:22:03,700 Board and Bill, right? 410 00:22:03,700 --> 00:22:04,700 Sorry. 411 00:22:04,700 --> 00:22:07,820 It's between the organization and Bill, right? 412 00:22:07,820 --> 00:22:12,940 So if Bill sends you a check and says, okay, here's a $10,000 check, but you can only spend 413 00:22:12,940 --> 00:22:15,900 this on calculators for a student. 414 00:22:15,900 --> 00:22:16,900 Bill says that? 415 00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:17,900 Yeah, Bill can say that. 416 00:22:17,900 --> 00:22:18,900 Good. 417 00:22:18,900 --> 00:22:19,900 And then you can... 418 00:22:19,900 --> 00:22:24,860 But what if Bill's not an idiot and he's like, hey, you guys run this organization better 419 00:22:24,860 --> 00:22:25,860 than I ever could. 420 00:22:25,860 --> 00:22:28,620 Why don't you all put this to good use? 421 00:22:28,620 --> 00:22:30,620 Are there still regulations? 422 00:22:30,620 --> 00:22:31,620 No. 423 00:22:31,620 --> 00:22:32,620 Well, there are. 424 00:22:32,620 --> 00:22:33,620 You have to use... 425 00:22:33,620 --> 00:22:34,620 There are common sense regulations. 426 00:22:34,620 --> 00:22:35,620 You have to use it for the good of the organization. 427 00:22:35,620 --> 00:22:36,620 You have to use it for the mission. 428 00:22:36,620 --> 00:22:41,180 You have to do what's right, duty of obedience for it. 429 00:22:41,180 --> 00:22:43,420 You have to do what's right with that money. 430 00:22:43,420 --> 00:22:47,220 But at that point, that's what we would call unrestricted funding. 431 00:22:47,220 --> 00:22:52,300 So you can spend it as you see fit as long as it makes sense to move the mission forward 432 00:22:52,300 --> 00:22:54,220 for the organization. 433 00:22:54,220 --> 00:22:57,500 So guys, the reason why this is so important to figure out... 434 00:22:57,500 --> 00:23:00,180 Two, one, it's like get unrestricted funding. 435 00:23:00,180 --> 00:23:01,180 Right? 436 00:23:01,180 --> 00:23:06,460 And if you can't dive in heavily to understand how to do that, it would be my first observation. 437 00:23:06,460 --> 00:23:09,340 Two, be careful with funding. 438 00:23:09,340 --> 00:23:14,060 If you're new to it, you don't have the financial strength and backbone to understand just how 439 00:23:14,060 --> 00:23:18,220 fast you can burn through money and not achieve something important. 440 00:23:18,220 --> 00:23:21,380 Setting these healthy boundaries are something we cannot take for granted. 441 00:23:21,380 --> 00:23:26,220 I'm a big fan of this book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. 442 00:23:26,220 --> 00:23:31,460 And he set up these girl schools throughout, if I remember correctly, Afghanistan and Pakistan. 443 00:23:31,460 --> 00:23:35,220 And it was really controversial because it was in the middle of the Iraq war and all 444 00:23:35,220 --> 00:23:37,300 that too while he was doing all this stuff. 445 00:23:37,300 --> 00:23:39,660 And so his story was very heroic. 446 00:23:39,660 --> 00:23:46,500 And then he had a board member come out and write a book, a counter book or counter document 447 00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:49,300 called Three Cups of Deceit. 448 00:23:49,300 --> 00:23:53,020 And my heart shattered for him and for the organization. 449 00:23:53,020 --> 00:23:56,660 And granted, I wasn't behind the scenes on it. 450 00:23:56,660 --> 00:24:02,180 This thought it was a really, really trashy way to try to whatever. 451 00:24:02,180 --> 00:24:06,460 If you're upset about the unrestricted funding and all of that, these are realities that 452 00:24:06,460 --> 00:24:12,940 can occur and stall out or hurt and crush the nonprofit entities that you launch. 453 00:24:12,940 --> 00:24:18,140 So having somebody like Jodi and Jodi, thank you, your passion has hit me. 454 00:24:18,140 --> 00:24:22,980 Oh man, she's going after all these different angles and things that, no, I probably would 455 00:24:22,980 --> 00:24:29,020 not look at as responsibly if I don't work with a leader who understands to protect me 456 00:24:29,020 --> 00:24:31,260 from these types of scenarios. 457 00:24:31,260 --> 00:24:34,920 And you can't always protect yourself from all of them. 458 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:41,780 Every major nonprofit in the world that I've seen, you look up their name and the word 459 00:24:41,780 --> 00:24:49,620 scam, you're going to find all sorts of dirt associated with everybody from Jesus to Gandhi. 460 00:24:49,620 --> 00:24:50,940 We can tear anything down. 461 00:24:50,940 --> 00:24:52,540 It's not hard to do. 462 00:24:52,540 --> 00:24:57,500 But that doesn't take away from the value of the programs that we may be creating. 463 00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:01,900 So I hope that if you are on this path, man, this is really good info, but that's kind 464 00:25:01,900 --> 00:25:02,900 of scary. 465 00:25:02,900 --> 00:25:07,980 Like I'm going to Christian you to death, carry your cross, do it anyway. 466 00:25:07,980 --> 00:25:08,980 Go for it. 467 00:25:08,980 --> 00:25:13,780 Or realize that again, you don't have to be Christian to go after it. 468 00:25:13,780 --> 00:25:16,340 Believe in what you're doing enough to make it happen. 469 00:25:16,340 --> 00:25:20,980 Bring it to fruition and work with people who can protect you in the process. 470 00:25:20,980 --> 00:25:26,860 So Jodi, let's go towards a new subject. 471 00:25:26,860 --> 00:25:31,540 Nonprofits and grant funding more directly. 472 00:25:31,540 --> 00:25:34,540 Where do we begin? 473 00:25:34,540 --> 00:25:37,420 Well, there's a lot to it. 474 00:25:37,420 --> 00:25:43,140 So if you can imagine, it's my full time job and I have six employees. 475 00:25:43,140 --> 00:25:46,580 So there's seven of us, that's our full time job. 476 00:25:46,580 --> 00:25:49,340 It's a lot of work to understand the grant process. 477 00:25:49,340 --> 00:25:50,340 Every funder is different. 478 00:25:50,340 --> 00:25:54,780 We talked about the illustration of like, if someone gives you a $10,000 check, how you 479 00:25:54,780 --> 00:25:56,660 spend it, the rules and all that. 480 00:25:56,660 --> 00:25:59,420 And that's great when you just have a private donor that does that. 481 00:25:59,420 --> 00:26:02,940 And you can usually negotiate things fairly easily with that individual because they understand 482 00:26:02,940 --> 00:26:04,420 your program and they're passionate about it. 483 00:26:04,420 --> 00:26:06,220 Otherwise, they wouldn't have written you a check. 484 00:26:06,220 --> 00:26:10,140 Grant funders, they don't know you as well, right? 485 00:26:10,140 --> 00:26:14,900 And their rules are set in place before they write you a check or give you a grant. 486 00:26:14,900 --> 00:26:22,820 So the management of that money is very different and can be a burden to organizations that 487 00:26:22,820 --> 00:26:25,340 are prepared to manage funding. 488 00:26:25,340 --> 00:26:29,220 So what I would say like the first step is to ensure that you're, what I call it, grant 489 00:26:29,220 --> 00:26:30,220 ready. 490 00:26:30,220 --> 00:26:35,860 You're ready to apply for the grants, ready to manage the grants, ready to ensure that 491 00:26:35,860 --> 00:26:41,220 you've got the logistics in place to do what you said you were going to do in that grant 492 00:26:41,220 --> 00:26:43,220 application because grants are not free money. 493 00:26:43,220 --> 00:26:45,180 And I think that's a common misconception. 494 00:26:45,180 --> 00:26:47,660 People say like, oh, just get a grant, just get a grant. 495 00:26:47,660 --> 00:26:48,660 We just need grant money. 496 00:26:48,660 --> 00:26:49,660 Well, that's great. 497 00:26:49,660 --> 00:26:54,860 But grants are like loans that you have to pay back with social impact. 498 00:26:54,860 --> 00:26:59,500 Like you are repaying that money with social impact. 499 00:26:59,500 --> 00:27:00,500 That's cool. 500 00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:02,540 I like the way you put that. 501 00:27:02,540 --> 00:27:03,540 Keep going. 502 00:27:03,540 --> 00:27:04,540 Okay. 503 00:27:04,540 --> 00:27:05,540 All right. 504 00:27:05,540 --> 00:27:09,100 So you get your grant money, you're paying it back with social impact. 505 00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:10,740 Hopefully you're doing a really, really good job of that. 506 00:27:10,740 --> 00:27:13,340 And then what happens is funders build trust in you. 507 00:27:13,340 --> 00:27:17,660 So again, like let's use our loan kind of vision. 508 00:27:17,660 --> 00:27:20,260 You get the loan, you pay it back with social impact. 509 00:27:20,260 --> 00:27:24,380 Suddenly other lenders, other funders are seeing you're doing a good job and you're 510 00:27:24,380 --> 00:27:26,380 literally building credit with that. 511 00:27:26,380 --> 00:27:27,380 You're building credit. 512 00:27:27,380 --> 00:27:29,060 Then you can apply for bigger loans. 513 00:27:29,060 --> 00:27:32,540 So it's just like when we start out when we're young and we're 18, we get that first credit 514 00:27:32,540 --> 00:27:33,540 card. 515 00:27:33,540 --> 00:27:34,540 It's like you get that first thousand dollar grant. 516 00:27:34,540 --> 00:27:35,540 You do what you're supposed to do with it. 517 00:27:35,540 --> 00:27:41,940 You do a good job of telling your story on social media or podcasts, wherever you can. 518 00:27:41,940 --> 00:27:44,820 And then you ask other funders to support your organization. 519 00:27:44,820 --> 00:27:51,420 And since you've built credit and you're now credible, you can ask for more money, get 520 00:27:51,420 --> 00:27:57,980 more money, build your impact, grow your program, build capacity, change lives, da da da da 521 00:27:57,980 --> 00:27:58,980 da da. 522 00:27:58,980 --> 00:27:59,980 And it keeps going from there. 523 00:27:59,980 --> 00:28:02,980 So grants can be a fantastic tool for growth of nonprofits. 524 00:28:02,980 --> 00:28:09,060 I would say there's like a three legged stool of funding that nonprofits need to sustain. 525 00:28:09,060 --> 00:28:10,340 One is private donations. 526 00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:11,460 That's the first thing we covered. 527 00:28:11,460 --> 00:28:12,460 Two would be grants. 528 00:28:12,460 --> 00:28:17,420 And the third would be what I call a social enterprise or some kind of fee for service 529 00:28:17,420 --> 00:28:19,700 model, something like that. 530 00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:24,140 So grants are super, super important part of it, but they take time. 531 00:28:24,140 --> 00:28:30,780 It takes time to build to the point where you're ready to take on grant writing, grant 532 00:28:30,780 --> 00:28:33,180 management, all the things that come along with it. 533 00:28:33,180 --> 00:28:34,180 And that's where we come in. 534 00:28:34,180 --> 00:28:35,180 Like my company. 535 00:28:35,180 --> 00:28:42,980 So it either takes time or we come to an entity like you. 536 00:28:42,980 --> 00:28:43,980 Is that well said though? 537 00:28:43,980 --> 00:28:46,220 I mean, I know there's, I know it kind of pushes towards ego. 538 00:28:46,220 --> 00:28:50,820 I'm not trying to do that, but is that really like if I'm in a position to where I already 539 00:28:50,820 --> 00:28:52,460 have the private funding, right? 540 00:28:52,460 --> 00:28:57,140 I'm ready to kind of move things along and I want to do this the right way. 541 00:28:57,140 --> 00:28:59,380 Are y'all kind of the one stop shop to help with that? 542 00:28:59,380 --> 00:29:04,740 If I'm able to foot the bill, you know, or is that, do you still need us to put more 543 00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:06,940 things into place before that happens? 544 00:29:06,940 --> 00:29:11,460 So you still have some responsibility and what we commonly do with clients is we start 545 00:29:11,460 --> 00:29:13,820 to gauge their grunt readiness right from the very beginning. 546 00:29:13,820 --> 00:29:17,340 So we'll have a call and usually we talk about like, all right, let me pause. 547 00:29:17,340 --> 00:29:18,340 We still have responsibility. 548 00:29:18,340 --> 00:29:21,900 I don't even want to say some, I'm going to say we still have responsibility. 549 00:29:21,900 --> 00:29:23,420 Like we need, we need to do our part. 550 00:29:23,420 --> 00:29:26,220 We still need to build, but I just want to make sure. 551 00:29:26,220 --> 00:29:27,220 Am I clear? 552 00:29:27,220 --> 00:29:33,300 Is that kind of like the dream client position to where it's like, if I'm at that stage, 553 00:29:33,300 --> 00:29:34,300 we're good to go? 554 00:29:34,300 --> 00:29:40,620 Or do you typically wait to work with the entities before they're already 501 C3 and 555 00:29:40,620 --> 00:29:44,220 they're already off to the races and they've already had five years or they're like the 556 00:29:44,220 --> 00:29:49,180 water project might be a better client for you, for instance, than my rink-a-dink opportunities 557 00:29:49,180 --> 00:29:50,180 thing. 558 00:29:50,180 --> 00:29:54,940 So the best clients, the ideal clients for any, to bring on any kind of consultant, I 559 00:29:54,940 --> 00:29:55,940 wouldn't need to say the grant. 560 00:29:55,940 --> 00:29:59,860 Any consultant is a nonprofit that's probably at least two years old. 561 00:29:59,860 --> 00:30:04,700 And I say that because in my world, grant funders are going to look for the perfect 562 00:30:04,700 --> 00:30:05,700 example. 563 00:30:05,700 --> 00:30:06,700 This is past financials. 564 00:30:06,700 --> 00:30:10,220 They're going to ask for, most likely going to ask for two years of past financials. 565 00:30:10,220 --> 00:30:15,340 And if you don't have that because you are new, you're just not going to, you're not 566 00:30:15,340 --> 00:30:18,740 going to make it to the second round of that grant opportunity. 567 00:30:18,740 --> 00:30:22,580 So there's not a whole lot of point in engaging services with us if you're not about two years 568 00:30:22,580 --> 00:30:27,460 old and with some impact under your belt, because they're also going to ask for metrics. 569 00:30:27,460 --> 00:30:29,780 They're going to say, how many people did you serve last year? 570 00:30:29,780 --> 00:30:31,500 How many animals did you favor? 571 00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:33,860 How many acres of land did you protect? 572 00:30:33,860 --> 00:30:37,340 And if you don't have the metrics for that, you can't tell a story to those funders. 573 00:30:37,340 --> 00:30:38,340 You're unlikely to get funded. 574 00:30:38,340 --> 00:30:41,340 So could we come in from the very beginning and help? 575 00:30:41,340 --> 00:30:42,340 Sure. 576 00:30:42,340 --> 00:30:46,780 But from more of a grant readiness strategy building capacity and not necessarily grant 577 00:30:46,780 --> 00:30:47,780 writing. 578 00:30:47,780 --> 00:30:53,820 We would start to maybe look at that around the 18 month mark of operations if your nonprofit 579 00:30:53,820 --> 00:30:54,820 is doing well. 580 00:30:54,820 --> 00:30:55,820 Yeah. 581 00:30:55,820 --> 00:30:56,820 So yeah, okay. 582 00:30:56,820 --> 00:30:57,820 I got it. 583 00:30:57,820 --> 00:31:03,220 And so in that case, you're like, guys, suck it up and go get private funding. 584 00:31:03,220 --> 00:31:07,100 Go do your job and go show people that you're actually going to do this. 585 00:31:07,100 --> 00:31:09,020 And it's not a pipe dream. 586 00:31:09,020 --> 00:31:13,860 And then as you guys do that, we can help you build all the other infrastructure stuff. 587 00:31:13,860 --> 00:31:17,380 The word everybody avoids with vision. 588 00:31:17,380 --> 00:31:18,380 But it's so important. 589 00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:19,380 Okay. 590 00:31:19,380 --> 00:31:20,380 This is really helpful. 591 00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:23,100 And I love like you're talking about having a grant credit score. 592 00:31:23,100 --> 00:31:26,500 Basically, we talked about, you know, we go out and we're 18. 593 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:30,860 Jodi, I think you and I were very blessed and lucky to go out at 18 and get credit cards. 594 00:31:30,860 --> 00:31:33,460 I had a sister who trained me up on how to do that. 595 00:31:33,460 --> 00:31:35,540 And she taught me all the right things. 596 00:31:35,540 --> 00:31:40,500 I followed all the things I needed suited to be irresponsible enough with credit cards 597 00:31:40,500 --> 00:31:42,740 to get them. 598 00:31:42,740 --> 00:31:47,660 So with grant, we grant credit scores, if you will. 599 00:31:47,660 --> 00:31:48,660 Have you coined that? 600 00:31:48,660 --> 00:31:54,620 No, but I use it as it's such a good illustration to explain to people when they ask about grants, 601 00:31:54,620 --> 00:31:55,620 like how it works. 602 00:31:55,620 --> 00:31:58,660 And especially when people come to me and they're like, oh, I need a grant. 603 00:31:58,660 --> 00:32:00,060 I need a grant just to get going. 604 00:32:00,060 --> 00:32:05,700 And I'm like, no, that's not how it works. 605 00:32:05,700 --> 00:32:06,940 Yes, I know. 606 00:32:06,940 --> 00:32:07,940 It's so helpful. 607 00:32:07,940 --> 00:32:08,940 I love it. 608 00:32:08,940 --> 00:32:14,180 Whether you adopt it or not, I might be using that more and more often now myself because 609 00:32:14,180 --> 00:32:21,100 it's such a great way to illustrate what needs to happen in order for us to get funding with 610 00:32:21,100 --> 00:32:22,100 grants. 611 00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:23,100 It's like, no, duh. 612 00:32:23,100 --> 00:32:26,500 Now, OK, so I'm going to play devil's advocate on this a little bit further now. 613 00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:34,020 So one of the things that drives me crazy is that oftentimes the expectations of the 614 00:32:34,020 --> 00:32:40,340 world or the desires of what the world wants to see are different from what actually needs 615 00:32:40,340 --> 00:32:44,820 to happen for goodness to occur. 616 00:32:44,820 --> 00:32:46,660 What do I mean by that? 617 00:32:46,660 --> 00:32:53,300 I don't want to pick on anything political, but sometimes, you know what? 618 00:32:53,300 --> 00:32:54,300 Remember the Titans. 619 00:32:54,300 --> 00:32:55,460 I found a safe one. 620 00:32:55,460 --> 00:32:59,140 When the football coach remember the Titans, right, he's having a killer season. 621 00:32:59,140 --> 00:33:00,140 They're doing awesome. 622 00:33:00,140 --> 00:33:04,860 He's got all of these he's got mixed races playing ball together and like the school 623 00:33:04,860 --> 00:33:06,420 is starting to change. 624 00:33:06,420 --> 00:33:11,140 And if they lose one game, he loses his job. 625 00:33:11,140 --> 00:33:12,740 That's what it's all boiling down to. 626 00:33:12,740 --> 00:33:18,420 It's just that one vanity metric of like if he lose and the refs are trying to cheat and 627 00:33:18,420 --> 00:33:19,420 get him fired. 628 00:33:19,420 --> 00:33:23,580 So the other guy gets back in and it's a really tense, dramatic reality. 629 00:33:23,580 --> 00:33:29,500 Well, we don't face the same social pressures in today's world in some parts of the country 630 00:33:29,500 --> 00:33:37,500 and in some realities, but it is it's harder to play the game of knowing what expectations 631 00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:44,820 the world has or the grant programs have compared to what we feel we need to do to move forward 632 00:33:44,820 --> 00:33:49,180 the mission of a company or a nonprofit. 633 00:33:49,180 --> 00:33:51,300 How do you balance that? 634 00:33:51,300 --> 00:33:57,580 And how do you do what's right while still trying to impress the people who are potentially 635 00:33:57,580 --> 00:33:58,580 funding it? 636 00:33:58,580 --> 00:34:03,180 Yeah, so I think one of the most important things you can do is build your grant readiness 637 00:34:03,180 --> 00:34:08,540 portfolio and as a part of that, do some visioning and build a strategic plan. 638 00:34:08,540 --> 00:34:13,980 And I there's this magic tool called a logic model that everyone hates except grant writers. 639 00:34:13,980 --> 00:34:14,980 It's amazing. 640 00:34:14,980 --> 00:34:18,500 It walks you through the lot of tools that people hate. 641 00:34:18,500 --> 00:34:22,500 You say on logic, logic model is awesome. 642 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:27,220 And so you're you use tools like that to build out your program and say, OK, this is the 643 00:34:27,220 --> 00:34:29,180 thing that we want to do, start with the end in mind. 644 00:34:29,180 --> 00:34:31,060 This is the change that we want to see. 645 00:34:31,060 --> 00:34:35,220 How do we get going back through all the little tiny steps that we have to do resources, activities, 646 00:34:35,220 --> 00:34:38,660 things like that to get to that major step. 647 00:34:38,660 --> 00:34:44,140 And if you've done all that and it is a well thought out evidence based program, then at 648 00:34:44,140 --> 00:34:48,300 that point, what I recommend is approach the funder and start to build a relationship and 649 00:34:48,300 --> 00:34:51,860 say, hey, I read through your grant application and I get it. 650 00:34:51,860 --> 00:34:53,580 You know, I get what you're looking for. 651 00:34:53,580 --> 00:34:55,020 But hear me out. 652 00:34:55,020 --> 00:34:56,580 I work with these people every day. 653 00:34:56,580 --> 00:34:57,580 This is what I'm seeing. 654 00:34:57,580 --> 00:35:00,860 The need is this is our innovative way of addressing it. 655 00:35:00,860 --> 00:35:02,860 Would you be open to funding something like this? 656 00:35:02,860 --> 00:35:04,500 And this is why. 657 00:35:04,500 --> 00:35:08,660 And I would say eight times out of 10, the funders are going to listen to you. 658 00:35:08,660 --> 00:35:11,620 They're going to one, appreciate that you involve them in the conversation because they 659 00:35:11,620 --> 00:35:13,340 don't want to just write you a check. 660 00:35:13,340 --> 00:35:15,540 They want to be a part of your organization. 661 00:35:15,540 --> 00:35:17,340 They care about what you're doing. 662 00:35:17,340 --> 00:35:20,140 Otherwise, they wouldn't be funding it. 663 00:35:20,140 --> 00:35:24,940 And two, it really just creates an environment of goodwill where you asked first, you didn't 664 00:35:24,940 --> 00:35:28,140 just send an application and like, oh, they'll get it or they'll figure it out or if they 665 00:35:28,140 --> 00:35:29,620 don't figure it out, you know, they're idiots. 666 00:35:29,620 --> 00:35:33,580 They really appreciate that beginning conversation thing like, hey, what about this? 667 00:35:33,580 --> 00:35:34,580 What if we build this together? 668 00:35:34,580 --> 00:35:36,780 It's innovative, it's new, it's different. 669 00:35:36,780 --> 00:35:38,580 Would you be willing to do this with me? 670 00:35:38,580 --> 00:35:40,780 And I think funders really appreciate that. 671 00:35:40,780 --> 00:35:45,700 And then that I mean, building relationships and having conversations with funders is so 672 00:35:45,700 --> 00:35:46,700 key to grant writing. 673 00:35:46,700 --> 00:35:49,540 It's a huge part of the strategy part that I talked about. 674 00:35:49,540 --> 00:35:50,540 Really, really important. 675 00:35:50,540 --> 00:35:54,500 So I think that's a that's a great conversation to have. 676 00:35:54,500 --> 00:35:58,340 You are an absolute rock star. 677 00:35:58,340 --> 00:36:05,300 Like seriously, the passion that you speak with, it it oozes, you know, it inspires, 678 00:36:05,300 --> 00:36:07,900 it lightens, it brightens this subject. 679 00:36:07,900 --> 00:36:13,300 And it's the type of energy that is contagious in a good way. 680 00:36:13,300 --> 00:36:14,300 Right. 681 00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:15,920 Something that's like, OK, awesome. 682 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:17,420 So this was visionaries. 683 00:36:17,420 --> 00:36:22,380 This is more of like a a live in person interview. 684 00:36:22,380 --> 00:36:27,740 Like for hey, I'm looking for somebody like Jodi, you know, without like I didn't realize 685 00:36:27,740 --> 00:36:30,180 Jodi was the one that we're kind of looking for. 686 00:36:30,180 --> 00:36:35,420 But she's now, you know, top of our list in terms of like, OK, you know, cool, let's explore 687 00:36:35,420 --> 00:36:36,420 this. 688 00:36:36,420 --> 00:36:40,620 Let's see what we can do with this, because we've got a number of different very passionate 689 00:36:40,620 --> 00:36:43,440 individuals who could use help like this. 690 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:49,220 But I don't I don't touch subjects and I don't explore doing things that are outside of my 691 00:36:49,220 --> 00:36:50,580 expertise. 692 00:36:50,580 --> 00:36:57,140 I just say, I know once like we're going to need to find that person at some point. 693 00:36:57,140 --> 00:37:02,060 And then we start engaging with the conversation if they like what we're up to, then awesome. 694 00:37:02,060 --> 00:37:03,060 We create the win win. 695 00:37:03,060 --> 00:37:08,500 Very similar to how you talked about these these grant that the funders want to potentially 696 00:37:08,500 --> 00:37:16,180 be involved in and work on projects and understanding the value of the story itself. 697 00:37:16,180 --> 00:37:19,700 And there's so much overlap, too, for the rest of all the other entrepreneurs out there. 698 00:37:19,700 --> 00:37:21,300 You're not nonprofits. 699 00:37:21,300 --> 00:37:23,700 You're looking for a profitable business. 700 00:37:23,700 --> 00:37:30,260 Honestly, like this conversation mirrors exactly what I wish all of my business conversations 701 00:37:30,260 --> 00:37:34,660 felt like and we're focused on whether you're for profit or not. 702 00:37:34,660 --> 00:37:39,940 The essence of success was all throughout this particular interview. 703 00:37:39,940 --> 00:37:43,020 So I'm going to ask one final question before we wrap up. 704 00:37:43,020 --> 00:37:46,880 And that is my favorite question on the show. 705 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,900 If this is the last opportunity you had to share with the world, what powerful lesson 706 00:37:51,900 --> 00:37:55,460 can other visionaries learn from your experience? 707 00:37:55,460 --> 00:38:09,460 OK, what powerful lesson from my experience, I would say that would definitely be to believe 708 00:38:09,460 --> 00:38:13,460 that you can do it and just know your place and to know that you're feeling like when 709 00:38:13,460 --> 00:38:17,540 I started this and I saw that I was filling a gap, I stopped. 710 00:38:17,540 --> 00:38:20,780 I stopped doing other things and I said, OK, this is where I'm meant to be. 711 00:38:20,780 --> 00:38:22,380 Like, this is what I should be doing. 712 00:38:22,380 --> 00:38:26,900 Obviously, I'm needed here in the space and I leaned into it with everything I had and 713 00:38:26,900 --> 00:38:29,820 brought others with me that I felt could be a part of my vision. 714 00:38:29,820 --> 00:38:31,740 They're still on my team today. 715 00:38:31,740 --> 00:38:34,460 And we support so many nonprofits. 716 00:38:34,460 --> 00:38:36,420 And I came from a nonprofit world. 717 00:38:36,420 --> 00:38:41,620 It was a hard transition to back out from like in-person services where I was like doing 718 00:38:41,620 --> 00:38:45,820 the work on the front line to like being the person behind the scenes that's supporting 719 00:38:45,820 --> 00:38:50,260 the executive directors and the leadership of nonprofits by writing grants. 720 00:38:50,260 --> 00:38:51,260 I'm still making an impact. 721 00:38:51,260 --> 00:38:54,340 I have to rationalize that with myself all the time. 722 00:38:54,340 --> 00:38:56,340 But I'm filling a huge need. 723 00:38:56,340 --> 00:38:58,260 I'm supporting their work and I'm helping them. 724 00:38:58,260 --> 00:39:02,860 And I had to really change my mindset on that and say like, this is where I'm needed. 725 00:39:02,860 --> 00:39:07,500 And maybe it's not the, you know, what I thought I was going to be doing my whole life, but 726 00:39:07,500 --> 00:39:09,420 it is perfect for me. 727 00:39:09,420 --> 00:39:11,980 And as you can see, I'm very passionate about it. 728 00:39:11,980 --> 00:39:12,980 I love what I do. 729 00:39:12,980 --> 00:39:15,860 It took a while to get there though. 730 00:39:15,860 --> 00:39:16,860 That's what I saw. 731 00:39:16,860 --> 00:39:23,140 Like even had you not had the right thing to say, I would have just doubled down like 732 00:39:23,140 --> 00:39:26,020 Jody's emulating everything that we look for. 733 00:39:26,020 --> 00:39:27,300 Oh, I'm right in the leaders. 734 00:39:27,300 --> 00:39:31,540 And it is that it's the passion combined with the expertise combined with the need. 735 00:39:31,540 --> 00:39:36,580 I mean, you've done so much work to refine what you're focused on. 736 00:39:36,580 --> 00:39:44,340 And now that expertise, you know, can bless lives in a way that others who aren't quite 737 00:39:44,340 --> 00:39:45,980 connected to it just can't. 738 00:39:45,980 --> 00:39:51,540 You know, it's very hard to find people who are, when you're starting out on the road 739 00:39:51,540 --> 00:39:56,660 to success, it's very hard to find people who light up the way you do, you know, in 740 00:39:56,660 --> 00:40:00,220 relation to what it is they want to accomplish. 741 00:40:00,220 --> 00:40:06,340 And yet it's finding those types of leaders that allows us to get to the next level and 742 00:40:06,340 --> 00:40:12,020 that are willing to and like willing to carry us forward when we fall short and that appreciate 743 00:40:12,020 --> 00:40:15,340 us at our best when we show up and do our best. 744 00:40:15,340 --> 00:40:17,940 So yeah, it's like it's a win-win opportunity. 745 00:40:17,940 --> 00:40:22,380 So those of you listening in, we're going to have down below the show some action steps 746 00:40:22,380 --> 00:40:27,940 that you can take in order to get in touch with Jody and see what she's doing over at, 747 00:40:27,940 --> 00:40:31,540 excuse me, my voice is going to InnoVentGrants.com. 748 00:40:31,540 --> 00:40:32,540 That's InnoVentGrants.com. 749 00:40:32,540 --> 00:40:36,300 She's got clients, she's got services on there. 750 00:40:36,300 --> 00:40:40,740 The best thing you can usually do visionaries is just reach out to the human being behind 751 00:40:40,740 --> 00:40:43,180 it all or the team members. 752 00:40:43,180 --> 00:40:45,580 And I like to assess two things. 753 00:40:45,580 --> 00:40:48,860 How do the team members reflect the process? 754 00:40:48,860 --> 00:40:53,380 Do they carry the same type of energy and abundance or do they feel controlled? 755 00:40:53,380 --> 00:40:59,300 You know, do they come across as like not as bought in and then two, how does this leader 756 00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:00,300 treat everybody? 757 00:41:00,300 --> 00:41:06,260 Do they only want to cozy up with the best of the best or do they make room for the abundance? 758 00:41:06,260 --> 00:41:09,220 So appreciating everybody involved in the process. 759 00:41:09,220 --> 00:41:14,340 And that's one of the things I'm really excited about with Jody is Jody did that with Peyton. 760 00:41:14,340 --> 00:41:17,460 She's now done that with me on the show as well. 761 00:41:17,460 --> 00:41:21,060 And she's made time to dive in deep on some of my personal projects. 762 00:41:21,060 --> 00:41:27,060 So let this be a ray of light into your own discoveries if you're looking at grant writing. 763 00:41:27,060 --> 00:41:31,820 Also we will add down below that the other resources we talked about, some more information 764 00:41:31,820 --> 00:41:39,100 on pursuing your education, professional networking and the art of finding the right mentor. 765 00:41:39,100 --> 00:41:42,580 We have a fantastic guide related to that as well that we'll put in there. 766 00:41:42,580 --> 00:41:46,120 Lastly, our last call to action, top right corner says be our guest. 767 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:50,240 If you've got a vision, if you've got something you want to bring to life, it can be a nonprofit. 768 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:51,740 It can be for profit. 769 00:41:51,740 --> 00:41:54,500 If it's designed to help others, we would love to have you on the show. 770 00:41:54,500 --> 00:41:58,080 We'd love to hear about your vision and we will see you guys all on the next episode 771 00:41:58,080 --> 00:41:59,080 of Vision Pros Live. 772 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:00,080 Jody, thank you so much. 773 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:01,080 This was amazing. 774 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:02,080 Thank you for having me. 775 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:03,080 So nice to meet you. 776 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:04,080 Thank you for being here today. 777 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:06,020 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 778 00:42:06,020 --> 00:42:10,780 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 779 00:42:10,780 --> 00:42:12,460 This is going to get more and more fun. 780 00:42:12,460 --> 00:42:14,460 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 781 00:42:14,460 --> 00:42:18,220 We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time 782 00:42:18,220 --> 00:42:19,220 and attention. 783 00:42:19,220 --> 00:42:31,660 I hope you have an excellent time building out your vision.