The Freelance Factor: Business Growth Strategies: Recent Episodes
Rachel Stewart
Managing people in your business or nonprofit doesn‘t need to stress you out!
Developing systems and processes for managing teams automates much of running your operations and frees you up to focus on what you love. Integrating consultants, contractors, and freelancers into your organization is a secret weapon to success and we help you move toward a hybrid staff model..
Hiring and managing freelancers is crucial to creating a sustainable nonprofit. Start with an internal assessment of your team and organizational structure. We take you through every aspect of developing a framework for success in choosing and integrating freelancers into your business or nonprofit.
Come along and make this year your best ever.
When you're ready to scale your business it's helpful to know more than how much money you made last month or last year.
This very basic spreadsheet will get you started and help you evolve into a CEO.
I highly recommend Quickbooks for tracking your accounting, whether you make $50k or $500k. I've been using them for over ten years and love the different tiers they have to support businesses of any size.
My affiliate link will hook you up with a discount, so check them out. QuickBooks
This episode has a YouTube video since I reviewed my simple spreadsheet. Check out the YouTube video on my page.
You can also take a peek at some of my other favorite products.
You can find resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Find a mix of courses and coaching opportunities to scale your business and improve your marketing strategy. If you are preparing to integrate freelancers, schedule a call to learn best practices on hiring and utilizing outside contractors.
Summer Course Discount: 50% off any course with code: SUMMER21
valid through 9/6/21
Reels + TikTok Mini Course
Clubhouse for Business Course
Social Media Accelerator Course
Coaching packages: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/consulting-coaching
Find me on Clubhouse (see my weekly schedule below)
Find me on TikTok
Find me on Instagram
Show Sponsors
Amazon + Constant Contact: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/affiliate-partnerships#60cd1b35c5a45
Clubhouse Weekly Schedule
Mondays @4pm PT: Clubhouse Tips & Tricks
Tuesdays @ 10am PT: Various topics on growing your business
Thursdays @ 1015am PT: Business Strategies for Growth
Never struggle to find that one document again! I know you know what I'm talking about. We can't remember where we saved that file or how we labeled it. A systematic approach to something as simple as file labeling with save you time and improve efficiency for you and your team members.
You can find resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Find a mix of courses and coaching opportunities to scale your business and improve your marketing strategy. If you are preparing to integrate freelancers, schedule a call to learn best practices on hiring and utilizing outside contractors.
Reels + TikTok Mini Course
Clubhouse for Business Course
Social Media Accelerator Course
Coaching packages: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/consulting-coaching
Find me on Clubhouse
Find me on TikTok
Find me on Instagram
Show Sponsors
Amazon + Constant Contact: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/affiliate-partnerships#60cd1b35c5a45
TikTok has really put a lot of effort into developing tools for both creators and businesses. Accounts can now boost posts through what they call Spark Ads. I would love to work with you strategizing the optimal platform for your business growth, whether that is TikTok, Facebook, Clubhouse, LinkedIn, or another platform.
You can find resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Find a mix of courses and coaching opportunities to scale your business and improve your marketing strategy. If you are preparing to integrate freelancers, schedule a call to learn best practices on hiring and utilizing outside contractors.
Reels + TikTok Mini Course
Clubhouse for Business Course
Social Media Accelerator Course
Coaching packages: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/consulting-coaching
Find me on Clubhouse
Find me on TikTok
Find me on Instagram
Show Sponsors
Amazon + Constant Contact: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/affiliate-partnerships#60cd1b35c5a45
Adam Mosseri blasted us when he said Instagram is no longer just a square photo sharing app. So what does this mean for you and your social media strategy? Here are a few insights to help you understand the shift and how to make it work to continue growing your community.
You can find resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Find a mix of courses and coaching opportunities to scale your business and improve your marketing strategy. If you are preparing to integrate freelancers, schedule a call to learn best practices on hiring and utilizing outside contractors.
Reels + TikTok Mini Course
Clubhouse for Business Course
Social Media Accelerator Course
Coaching packages: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/consulting-coaching
Find me on Clubhouse
Find me on TikTok
Find me on Instagram
Show Sponsors
Amazon + Constant Contact: https://www.copperhiveconsulting.com/affiliate-partnerships#60cd1b35c5a45
Andrea Hubbert is a content strategist who joins me to chat about leading people to our core offers and products and tying your strategy to your overall goals.
Find Andrea on Instagram @andreasaidit
Access my social media accelerator course: https://copper-hive-consulting.newzenler.com/courses/social-media-accelerator
Find free marketing resources at Copper Hive
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Resources
The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt
Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to nonprofits and small businesses with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Episode Notes
Needs of nonprofits haven’t changed, but maintaining funding and engagement with donors has shifted over the last twelve months. Barbara brings our focus to two important elements:
- Relationship building is the core of any nonprofit (and business)
- Maintain hope and confidence in the chaos and face of the unknown
Nonprofits need to shift their prior methodology and embrace new ways to meet donors and volunteers where they are. Make it personal. After a year like we’ve had, individuals are craving real and authentic relationships.
We also talk about corporate partners and the future with that style of support.
Barbara’s Bio
Whether it was leading record-setting reunion classes, securing tens of millions of dollars from global corporations following some of the most devastating natural disasters around the world, or overseeing a team that grew donor engagement of major individual donors committed to historic preservation, Barbara O’Reilly, CFRE understands that fundraising is much more than just raising money. It’s about enabling donors to realize their philanthropic dreams for issues that are most important to them and to be part of the change they want to see in the world. Barbara brings to her clients twenty-five years of major gifts, annual fund, and campaign fundraising experience at major non-profit organizations including Harvard University, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Oxford University in England, and the American Red Cross.
Her consulting firm, Windmill Hill Consulting, helps non-profit organizations of all sizes cut
through the noise and develop a profitable fundraising strategy that focuses on the resources,
skills and tactics they need to build more effective donor relationships and catapult their
revenue.
Barbara became a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) in 2015 and an AFP Master Trainer
in 2018. She serves as immediate past president of the Association of Fundraising
Professionals (AFP) Washington DC Metro Chapter and as a former member of the Advisory Panel for Rogare, The Fundraising Think Tank in the U.K. She is a frequent guest presenter at
national conferences in the U.S. and on various webinars hosted by Network for Good,
DonorSearch, Bloomerang, Firespring, OneCause, Boardable, UST, and Qgiv.
Barbara received her BA in English from Barnard College/Columbia University and her ALM in Celtic Studies from Harvard University.
Find Barbara
Windmill Hill Consulting
Free Downloads
How to Write Landing Pages that Build Your Email List
21 Clubhouse Tips to Grow Your Business
Resources
The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt
Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
Credits
Intro song by Huma-Huma: Crimson Fly
Find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4nxkDXppI&list=PLKCo4y0JbV2Y41gOPI3pkn7nTyfUccd9n&index=4
We all want to get more done, but at what price? Avoid burnout so you can enjoy your success!
Grab these 3 tips and implement today!
Access my social media accelerator course: https://copper-hive-consulting.newzenler.com/courses/social-media-accelerator
Find free marketing resources at Copper Hive
This is really more about vertical videos in general. There's a LOT of opportunity with vertical video these days and I want to encourage you to embrace it.
Check out my Social Media Accelerator Course
Follow me:
TikTok - @rachelstewart2.0
Clubhouse
Follow Andrea on Instagram
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to nonprofits and small businesses with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Access The Social Media Accelerator Course and start growing your business online.
CONTEST:
Ends April 30th, 2021 at 11:59pm PDT
- Leave a review of The Freelance Factor on iTunes or your preferred listening platform. (Send a screenshot on IG to @rachelstewartcoaching)
- Follow Trevor on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevor-grimes-546906137/
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Robert Wachs, Lead Pastor of Newbreak Church in San Diego, CA caught up with me to talk about embezzlement, risk & liability, business strategy for nonprofits and small businesses and the opportunity to leave behind unnecessary things in 2020.
I worked for Robert as his Executive Director of Business Operations, so this was like a family reunion for us to have this conversation. His experience spans a variety of leadership positions in the marketplace as well as leading a church through the evolution of single site to multi-site, then a centralized model to de-centralized. Pre-COVID, Newbreak’s attendance across multiple locations averages 2200.
Takeaways from Robert
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Too many contractors who were disjointed and no one to manage them well. It led to embezzlement that he was able to find and stop. When leaders try to function outside their zone of genius, the business strategy suffers no matter how hard you try.
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Systems, procedures and policies to survive the test of time. Find a coach, an expert, and a cohort to walk alongside you.
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Rapid growth is beautiful and it’s also a challenge. If you don’t have a solid foundation, your business strategy for growth will be painful, so take the time now to establish your brand and your organization.
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Layoffs suck. When a company has a great season they get excited and start to hire for growth. Before you jump into the deep end of the pool, use percentages and ratios to scale smartly. Pay attention to the industry you’re in and be sure you compare apples to apples when looking for standards and baselines.
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Robert’s word of the year is optimism. Being optimistic is not just good for you, it’s a gift for those around you.
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When you are facing tough decisions, prolonging the difficult choices rarely makes it easier when you are finally faced with a deadline. Be proactive in a caring way for any business strategy or staffing decisions and save yourself grief in the long run.
Most importantly, blame it all on COVID. It’s the perfect time to pivot.
Great Resources
TO Consulting Group (Accounting & HR)
Matthew Nelson (videographer)
Russ Cantu (website developer)
Richard Hammar (Church law & tax)
Will Mancini - Future Church Co.
Jenni Catron - Get4Sight Group
Horst Schulze (book)
5 Steps to Improve Your Digital Marketing
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to nonprofits and small businesses with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Let’s talk about Clubhouse for a hot second. If you haven’t started using this app, I will share my love and explain how it works. It is like LinkedIn on steroids meets interactive radio. It is an all-audio platform that is currently only available on mobile iOS platforms. Inside the app are thousands of rooms topically based. You can find people to listen and learn from or you can get in on the conversation, meet new people and network to your heart’s content.
I host rooms daily on various topics, mostly related to growing and scaling businesses. If you are already on the app, come follow me at @rachelstewart1 to get notified of rooms I’m speaking in.
Google Analytics
Later this season we are going to talk about marketing in simple terms, but there are a few areas that need to be discussed as a precursor.
Whether you are running paid ads, boosting social media posts, or trying to optimize SEO alone, being able to look at your Google Analytics dashboard and gain something helpful will go a long way in increasing engagement and conversions. You probably have social media accounts on multiple platforms and some type of in-person interaction (totally disrupted by COVID, of course). While these interactions are invaluable, they might not be the preferred goal you have in mind.
Using Google Analytics from an ad perspective allows you to understand not only what people find interesting on yours website, but a lot of details about those people. AI has given us the ability to attach demographics, behaviors, interests, and more to users, but also dips into predictive behavior. Predictive behavior ties a person’s actions together and using millions of data points from other people will use algorithms to assume their next steps.
There is a fairly well known story of a young teenage girl who began receiving mail from Target about baby products. The father was furious and it turned into a big thing with Target. Turns out the daughter had been browsing baby products on Target’s website because she was pregnant and hadn’t yet told her parents.
That may be folklore at this point, but it’s a legit scenario and brings in the pros and cons of having a digital presence online. (Not what we are getting into today, so I won’t go down that path.)
Google Analytics for beginners still carries a ton of information. When I work with clients there are a few areas on the platform I look at first, so let’s go through those.
Bounce rate
Your bounce rate shows up at the top of your dashboard. A lower number is better. This number indicates how many people come to your website and leave without viewing more pages, clicking any buttons, or creating any interaction. So if your bounce rate is 90%, that means 90% of your site visitors are getting to your website and not finding enough value to stay or browse other pages.
That seems to be a fairly basic concept and there is a good chance you already knew what that meant. So what in the world do you do with that information? We are talking less about paid ads today and more about organic search traffic or people who are coming from your other platforms like Facebook or social media.
Here are just a few of many considerations when trying to reduce your bounce rate and ensure you are providing value to your visitors.
I’m making the assumption that you have the Google pixel installed on your website. If you don’t, it’s incredibly simple. Your web master can do it in two seconds or you can find a thousand youtube videos to walk you through the process.
Landing pages
Exit pages
Behavior flow
Goals
What do you want people to do on your website?
You spent a decent amount of money on your site, so let’s make sure you get your money’s worth of traffic and ROI
Final Google Analytics Takeaways
- You don’t need to be running Google ads to benefit from using Analytics.
- Utilize these simple steps and you can avoid paying an analyst to help you increase your online traffic and presence.
- It depends. Clients ask me for template advice on analyzing their data and aside from what I’ve given you today, it always depends. Your industry and your company are unique, so you have to contextualize your analysis.
I use data-driven analysis to help businesses and nonprofits grow, scale, and operate more efficiently. I would love to work with you, whether it is a single coaching session or a consulting deep dive. Email me at rachel@copperhiveconsulting.com or DM me on Instagram @copperhiveconsulting.
Free Downloads
How to Write Landing Pages that Build Your Email List
21 Clubhouse Tips to Grow Your Business
Resources
The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt
Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
Credits
Intro song by Huma-Huma: Crimson Fly
Find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4nxkDXppI&list=PLKCo4y0JbV2Y41gOPI3pkn7nTyfUccd9n&index=4
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to nonprofits and small businesses with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Tony Teravainen is the CEO of Support the Enlisted Project (STEP) in San Diego, CA. His time in the military inspired him to give back in supporting the challenges military individuals and families are facing every day.
An engineer by trade, his passion is solving problems, so when he was asked to lead STEP it was an easy decision.
Tony is sharing wisdom on the challenges facing businesses and nonprofits in 2021. Get his story, the ethos of STEP, then follow him and support the incredible work he is doing.
Find Tony
Support the Enlisted Project
Free Downloads
How to Write Landing Pages that Build Your Email List
21 Clubhouse Tips to Grow Your Business
Resources
The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt
Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
Credits
Intro song by Huma-Huma: Crimson Fly
Find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4nxkDXppI&list=PLKCo4y0JbV2Y41gOPI3pkn7nTyfUccd9n&index=4
There are a lot of developers building tools to enhance your experience on the platform.
My co-host, Andrea, and I recorded live on Clubhouse as we reviewed some of the new tech that has recently been released.
Enjoy the review and visit my Clubhouse App page for more details.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to nonprofits and small businesses with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Free Downloads
How to Write Landing Pages that Build Your Email List
21 Clubhouse Tips to Grow Your Business
Resources
The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt
Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
Credits
Intro song by Huma-Huma: Crimson Fly
Find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4nxkDXppI&list=PLKCo4y0JbV2Y41gOPI3pkn7nTyfUccd9n&index=4
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Stadia Church Planting is like a nonstop entrepreneur factory. They coach faith-based leaders to make an impact in their communities. In addition to leadership development they advocate for systems and processes to be implemented in order for organizations to become sustainable.
Chivo Hawkins joins me to dig into discovering your sweet spot. It’s crucial to find your zone of genius, operate there 80% of the time and in the 20% remaining find people to help and support you.
4 Ways Stadia helps leaders find their sweet spot:
- Self-discovery
- Culture index
- 4-day intensive training
- Church planting profile
One of the main focuses Stadia has this year is on Phygital - the combination of both a physical and digital presence. Just about every company is pivoting to some iteration of this. Read more about Phygital and how you can access Stadia’s resources.
Other Resources
MicroChurches by Brian Sanders
Find Your Zone of Genius
The Genius Zone
Win the Day by Mark Batterson
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Resources
The Culture Code by Dan Coyle
Unapologetically Ambitious by Shellye Archambeau
This wraps up season 1! Be sure to leave a review on iTunes or whatever platform you’re listening on. It’s been great to share these episodes and hear from you as you strengthen your organization. Season 1 had the intention of laying a foundation for some of the most common principles I use with my clients. I’ll be back February 24th with a new season. I’m bringing in guests from Stadia Church Planting, The Rock - one of the largest churches in San Diego, the CEO of Support the Enlisted Project, consultants with great advice for you, and more strategic development advice. It’s going to be a great season and I can’t wait to be back.
Before I head out to work on these topics and interviews it’s still early in the year and I wanted to talk about an important element in your organization that indicates how well you are on track to achieve your goals. If you set goals and leave them on the shelf or only refer back to them 2-3 times each year it will be so challenging to hit your target. This is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in to play.
If you have used SMART goals there is a similarity. Setting quality KPIs require objective and measurable results.
Saying that you want to improve employee productivity is NOT a KPI. This is a wish, a dream, and a vague dream at that. In order to convert your ambiguous dream of increased employee productivity you need to add quantifiable measures.
Depending on the size of your organization, your KPIs for employee productivity may be better defined by department. If you are a nonprofit with a large donor base, one way to refine this goal for productivity might be to set your KPI with this wording: “Each employee makes personalized contact with 50 donors each week via phone, email, or text.”
This KPI is measurable with a quantity and a timeline attached. If the KPI is not met, you also have a baseline to understand where you might need to improve your training or communication.
What if you are a church working to increase community engagement during these socially distanced months? Your KPI might be something along the lines of hosting a specific number of online small groups and recruiting a specific number of people to be in each group. KPIs like these give your team a clear picture of the goal and they understand when they are winning. How can you ever celebrate if you don’t know what deserves a celebration? You may be a workaholic, but as a leader you must remember that your team members are working from a different vantage point. It is healthy for them (and you) to pause and enjoy the wins whenever possible. KPIs give you more reasons to do this.
Have a performance report. This doesn’t have to be a formal process like an employee review. Your KPIs should not be extensive. Choose a few KPIs for each quarter or year and keep it simple.
Your performance report can be as simple as a Google doc that you fill out together in a meeting once a month. Doing it in a group setting also allows you to brainstorm what is going well and what could use improvement in a non-threatening way. Normalizing KPI discussion in a team environment will encourage peer accountability as everyone understands the ongoing goals and has the opportunity to participate in tweaking the process along the way.
Although it’s important to discuss the progress of KPIs together, I don’t recommend brainstorming sessions to create them. You can end up with fairly vague and yeah, even lame KPIs. Keep a list of consistent areas from year to year which can be compared such as leadership development, staff satisfaction with their job, staff survey (which is more about culture), performance management and community engagement or donor development.
Once your leadership team has defined some of the parameters you want to measure NOW it’s time to bring in other stakeholders for buy-in. As long as they develop quantifiable factors, you can let them brainstorm the actual wording and talk about frequency of evaluation and who should be on the monitoring or reporting team.
Ensure that your KPIs align with your mission and values. These run cyclically, meaning that you will evaluate them periodically and adjust if necessary. Remember the end of the first quarter in 2020? We were two solid weeks into the throes of COVID and EVERY KPI we set for the year was thrown out the window.
The primary nonprofit I was working with at the time had their leadership team devote the majority of their efforts to securing a PPP loan and keeping up to date on safety measures to implement among staff and throughout the community that was accustomed to a lot of direct interaction from the organization. KPIs were on hold, then as soon as funding was secured a totally new set of KPIs were implemented that revolved around pivoting to a much more digital platform, internally and externally.
Absolutely over-communicate. I can literally NEVER tell you too often that you should be communicating your goals (your KPIs), your vision, and your values ten times more than you think you should. Objective accountability and caring for your people must have equal priority. Holding staff accountable to KPIs is what they NEED from you as a leader who wants to develop leaders. Care is something they crave from you because they pour out so much of their life into the organization.
It’s okay that we are already into 2021. The best time to set your goals is yesterday; the next best time is today. I recently met with two successful business owners who also had a joint venture they are building. They had goals in mind, but they hadn’t been able to move closer to achieving those goals in the last 12 months. During our coaching session we discovered that KPIs were not clear and the way each of them were pursuing success was not synthesized. By the time we finished we had identified current internal roadblocks and worked through a few solutions to revise KPIs and take a different approach.
I love bringing an outside perspective to your organization and being able to ask questions that peel back layers you may not have seen yet.
Individual coaching sessions are discounted through the end of January, so you have a few days left to book for less than my normal rates. Head to copperhiveconsulting.com to book an individual session or to engage in a deep dive consultation and evaluate details of your organization’s operations in order to streamline, automate and get more out of your year.
Be sure to star me on itunes and leave a quick review. It helps the show more than you might realize and it’s just a cool way to pay forward a nice gesture.
That is our show for today and the end of the first season of The Freelance Factor. Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you soon!
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Resources
Your Next Five Moves: The Art of Successful Business Strategy
The Culture Code: Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
https://www.notredameonline.com/resources/nonprofit-leadership/six-challenges-facing-the-nonprofit-sector/
Welcome to 2021! I know it’s already been a few weeks, but maybe this is the first time you’re tuning in. I think we all have high hopes for this new year like never before. 2020 was a wild ride and fingers around the world are crossed that it will be more stable and predictable. Although I don’t know exactly what you have faced as an individual and as a leader, I’ve spoken to enough business and nonprofit leaders over the last three months to understand the challenges of last year and how that has influenced your strategy for this year.
I am thrilled to tell you about my newest team member! My zone of genius is really more on the consulting side - digging into your business or nonprofit, identifying operational weaknesses and help you devise and implement a strategy to hit your goals and increase your impact or revenue. I’m probably a little too much of a bossy pants personality to be a great coach, but I felt like this was a missing factor at Copper Hive.
So I’m introducing you to Doyle Dunn, our executive leadership coach. You can read all about his career and experience at copperhiveconsulting.com/services, but I will tell you that after 30 years as a Navy officer and chaplain, this guy is a powerhouse. He has coached me professionally and I’ve known him for quite a while. When he left his most recent fulltime position at Christian Union, an ivy league college ministry I snagged him and basically begged him to help serve my clients with leadership coaching. He is ready to meet with you and help you tear down any wrong beliefs about yourself and set you up for great success. You can connect with him at copperhiveconsulting.com/contact.
I ran across an article from the University of Notre Dame that presented six challenges for nonprofits, so I decided to tackle each one on today’s show. I really enjoy hearing from you so you can always DM me on Instagram @copperhiveconsulting with questions or comments on the show.
https://alford.com/category/blog/
The Alford Group is a consulting firm for nonprofits. Their founder, Jimmie Alford, said that nonprofit donations peaked in 2007 and would take ten years to return to that level. At that time he outlined 6 challenges that are still applicable to nonprofits in general, but perhaps more so just because of 2020.
- Fiscal challenges. While we previously may have dealt with pre-existing patterns, many of those patterns are being disrupted
- Competitive Standing.
- Effectiveness. (Next week’s episode explores KPIs…)
- Infrastructure. (utilize resources to buil a solid infrastructure)
- Legitimacy. (public skepticism, distinguish from the bad eggs)
- Growth. Continue to make a positive impact
I once heard of an elite runner who would only choose a single focus for each training season. Maybe it would be strength for the year. Perhaps he wanted to perfect his form to minimize exertion. Maybe he needed mental strength during the last ten percent. Whatever it was, that was the north star. He certainly didn’t forget everything else but that primary focus. However, developing that one characteristic kept him on target and allowed him to become really, really good at that thing.
What is the area that your organization needs to make the main thing this year? If you don’t already know, take these six categories to your leadership team and decide what is going to be your win for 2021.
My strength is in taking your marketing to the next level and strengthening your overall business strategy, so I would love to serve you in those areas and you can connect with me at rachel@copperhiveconsulting.com or on Instagram @copperhiveconsulting. If you have other areas of growth to work on, I have a network of other consultants and freelancers who can not only strategize with you, but support you through each stage of implementation.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Resources
Getting Things Done
Leading the Unleadable
Show Sponsor
HR Ministry Solutions
HR Ministry Solutions is a faith based 501c3 organization that was launched with the mission of helping churches be as passionate about protecting and providing for their staff as they are for the people they are reaching. Tiffany Henning is the founder and owner. I’ve known Tiffany for over a decade and we worked together for much of that time, so I can vouch for her expertise and the service she provides. I would never recommend a company that I haven’t used or would integrate into my own business. It’s important to me that you find resources that will offer solutions to your challenges, not complicate them further.
Since founding HR Ministry Solutions, Tiffany and her team of HR Pros have helped many ministries with HR compliance, labor law, and staff issues. They continue to expand their reach across the US with services and resources including workshops, conferences, webinars, and online learning modules for Church HR People and Ministry Managers.
You can find Tiffany at hrministrysolutions.com or pop into the show notes for an easy link. Please do not let yourself end up on the wrong side HR law and compliance.
Content
Most of what I have been covering in season 1 of this podcast is about foundations of processes and systems to help you become more efficient in your day-to-day operations as well as setting the tone for long-term strategy. Although I primarily work with nonprofits as a consultant and coach, these principles are applicable to every industry and I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to serve entrepreneurs as they scale and small businesses that are working to increase their efficiency.
Just a few episodes back I covered workflows, which is crucial to adding people to your team as employees or freelancers. I’ve also talked about project management basics and how to set up a few operational systems. You can go back and catch those. Most episodes this season are intentionally under 20 minutes because I try to be very direct and to the point about these topics. Plus, if I’m not interviewing someone like I do on my other podcast, Pieces of Grit-interviews with women about that topic, I don’t want you to have to listen to me drone on and on.
The episodes I just mentioned will help you get ready for what we are covering today. If you start hiring employees and freelancers without frameworks in place for systems and processes your communication with these hires will be incredibly challenged. So let’s talk about how to communicate with freelancers specifically.
Your Freelancer is an Expert
When you find a freelancer for a specific project or function, such as accounting, writing emails, managing your calendar, posting on social media, or whatever, keep in mind that they are experts at the thing they are offering to do for you. They are EFFICIENT and can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time versus you trying to do that thing and getting distracted by phone calls, emails, your spouse or kids running into the room, etc.
There are two approaches when you bring in a freelancer based on their expertise. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, be ready to deliver instructions, expected deadlines, any related resources such as login info, graphics, etc. They will ask you the questions they need, but with detailed guidance they will be able to get up and running easily and quickly with specific instructions. The other side of the coin is if you aren’t sure what you need and you are looking to your freelancer to offer guidance.
A great example is a client I had whose email list had more than 8000 names but they weren’t doing anything with this list on a consistent basis. There were names that had been inactive for over a year. When you have names clogging up an email list that are inactive it impacts your open rate and potentially the way email servers can view your emails as spam if you get a low open rate. So we definitely started with cleaning up obsolete emails.
Then we looked at the current segmentation and determined how to best categorize the contacts. And after we had done both of these, I helped devise a communication calendar involving consistent emails as well as special campaigns. This client needed a lot of help planning next steps so the communication was more dependent on me as the freelancer than her as the business owner.
Establish Preferences & Expectations
As soon as you commit to a contract with your freelancer, let them know how you prefer to communicate. I recommend using a platform such as Slack or another Work Management System such as Basecamp or Asana. Emails and texts can pile up and get confusing or lost in the shuffle. Using Slack or something similar keeps all communication in one place. If you are using a platform such as Upwork, there are native chat rooms that also have built in video and phone call options. These are great features that make not only finding a freelancer simple, but maintaining safe and secure communication.
Talk about your hours or response expectations. When working with someone who isn’t your employee they have other clients or jobs and have to juggle multiple channels of communication. Be up front with your requests to avoid frustration and confusion. You may not be in the same time zone, so consider when you will schedule meetings. Do you have specific hours you need your freelancer to be available? That should be communicated prior to committing to a contract to ensure you get what you need from the relationship.
When using communication channels such as Slack you should understand what an acceptable response time should be. If you are a last-minute person this could be a great opportunity to have your freelancer meet with you regularly to ask you questions and plan ahead, saving both of you pain as you try to get work done. Depending on the time of the day, do you expect a same-day response or are you okay with a 24-hour turnaround time?
None of these are bad, it’s just really helpful to communicate these expectations up front and create a great experience from day 1.
When Things Aren’t Going Well
Occasionally you may not feel that you and your freelancer are on the same page. Before jumping ship, here are a few things to try. With a freelancer you jump into the relationship and start going a hundred miles an hour right off the bat. I know you want to get your money’s worth and you want your freelancer to be a mind reader. We all wish that ALL the people we worked with were mind readers, right?
Here are a few steps I walk myself through when working with a freelancer and feeling like something is amiss.
- Review MY communication first. There is a really good chance I was crystal clear in my own mind, but that it actually came out like a jumbled up mess and they are doing what I said (not what I thought I said).
- Review parameters of the contract or initial agreement. It’s easy to stretch things a little and not be aligned with what the freelancer agreed to do for you. It doesn’t mean that it can’t be amended, but what if you are asking them to do something they can’t or don’t want to do that wasn’t there at the beginning.
- Also, review past communication. I have found that answers I’m looking for have already been given to me and in my typical 80% attention capacity it is my fault for overlooking it.
- Schedule a phone or video call asap. Text communication is great and I recommend having as much in writing as possible. But it’s also cumbersome and not always thorough. You know this - you’re a leader or you work with clients and you are fully aware of the mishaps coming from email only or the missed cues from a lack of intonation and other helpful communication elements. A five minute phone call can clarify what a dozen emails might only make worse.
- Stop assuming that your freelancer works the same way you do. If you don’t ask your freelancer for a daily update on progress, I promise they will not read your mind. If you want bullet points instead of three paragraphs, tell them. Or vice versa. If you prefer a graph summary instead of raw data from the results you’re expecting, clarify this.
A few other areas we weren’t able to get to today are filing systems - where do you keep assets you can share and where do you expect assets to be delivered. Payment type and frequency - unless you are using a platform like Upwork, have you communicated what you offer and what needs to appear on invoices you receive? A lot of this could be included in a simple contract so that you have it on a single document and don’t have to remember this with every freelancer you employ.
I’m a firm believer that contractors, consultants, coaches and freelancers are an asset to your organization and are one of the most financially responsible ways to operate small to medium nonprofits as well as startup businesses and entrepreneurs. You can have a great experience working with project-based freelancers when you walk into the relationship fully aware.
Through Copper Hive I work with nonprofits and small businesses to establish the framework and path to grow your community, scale your business and focus on what you are best at while letting experts support you.
I would love to meet with you this season and strengthen your operations. Visit copperhiveconsulting.com to explore packages and get in touch with me.
If you got anything helpful out of today’s show, would you take two seconds, screenshot this episode and share on social media? I love getting to share this information with you and help you build a stronger church or nonprofit! If you feel like saying thank you, you can do that by leaving a review. Just scroll down to the bottom of your app or screen and drop a few thoughts.
That’s our show for today! Be kind to the people around you and always let them know how much you appreciate them.
Find more resources at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Resources Great at Work
Getting Things Done
Show Sponsor
Did you know that there are free resources waiting for you at copperhiveconsulting.com? Free downloads such as fundraising email templates, how to get started hiring freelancers, and blogs on a variety of topics. You can also follow me on Instagram @copperhiveconsulting.
Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on your preferred app so that you don’t miss a single episode! I would love to know what kind of business or organization you lead and how this podcast has helped you, so while you’re subscribing, leave a review - I read them all!
https://constant-contact.ibfwsl.net/PooZY
Show Notes
Workflows are everywhere. You probably use them more frequently than you realize. Think about your morning routine. While you’re thinking through your personal morning workflow, here’s a glimpse into mine.
I love waking up early, although I do have to set my alarm to make it happen. I get up first so that I have a completely quiet house. There is something so calming to be still before the hustle and bustle begins. My workflow is typically to make a cup of coffee, check social media while my pour over is brewing, then find my spot on the couch to wake up a little more.
While I sit with my computer or phone I’m reading. Sometimes I have a book that is usually personal or professional development, but more often I’m reading my Bible, looking and listening for inspiration to get my day started.
Somewhat reluctantly I wrap up my couch time and move into the exercise phase. I like to mix things up, so I rotate between jogging, my indoor bike, yoga, and some days just walking. Whatever I choose I know that movement is crucial to success throughout the rest of my day. Maximizing efficiency is a core value, so I typically have an audio book or a business-related podcast playing in my ears while I exercise.
Once that’s over it’s straight up utilitarian for the next hour - I’m rushing through a shower, breakfast and trying to read or listen to a little news somewhere in there before I open my computer or jump on that first call.
Whew! It sounds a little exhausting but because it’s sort of on autopilot and an unwritten workflow, it just flows.
That is the benefit of creating business workflows.
Nonprofit leadership is very people-centric in most cases, but there are many repetitive tasks and components of your organizational strategy that CAN be clarified, documented, and improved. The key is identifying what already exists and which workflows need to be created.
Benefits of Workflows
Why do you need to define workflows within your nonprofit organization? So glad you asked! Here are a few things workflows will do for you and your team:
- Everyone gets to be on the same page. A documented workflow creates clarity and transparency. You know what other people on your team are doing and they know what to expect from you.
- Taking time to define a workflow will show you redundancies, wasted time, and allow you to automate pieces of a project or task that can be done much more efficiently by technology. (Canned email is a good example, Zapier is an even better example.)
- Bottlenecks. You know what it’s like to work really hard, then come to a screeching halt because you’re waiting on information or a decision from someone else. If you don’t think that happens very often it’s probably because you ARE the bottleneck. A workflow clarifies exactly who needs to be involved and often simplifies the required decisions.
- Workflows build a foundation for efficiency. Objective accountability is integrated into your organizational culture very simply when you create processes that everyone is aware of.
Simple is Better
Workflows do not need to be complicated and will be easier for everyone if you keep them as simple as possible. Let’s look at two common workflows that are part of nonprofit marketing.
- Podcast publishing workflows. The basics are to record, edit, create show notes, publish, and distribute. You don’t need to have an intricate diagram designed on a giant poster or anything close to that. But it can definitely be helpful to have a folder in a shared drive that houses different workflows. Inevitably you have staff turnover and it’s a good practice to go ahead and have documents that make these transitions easier. You may also have volunteers helping and this type of information will make integrating volunteers much easier for you and them.
- Social media management. The basics are to have a planning meeting, create a posting calendar, design graphics or choose photos, write the copy, tag people and partners, then post to the platform. If something is missing or not getting done, it’s easy to assess and analyze a workflow before casting blame on anyone or anything.
These might sound simple, but that’s the point. Getting organized doesn’t have to involve hours of meetings, powerpoint presentations, or the worry that you are getting too corporate.
Well-designed processes and systems that align with your goals and core values will only support a foundation that will lead to sustainability for your church or nonprofit.
When I consult with an organization we look through multiple points within your operations, dig beneath the surface, and find opportunities to build a stronger business plan. You are given written recommendations for the areas we cover and you can choose to implement strategies on your own or collaborate with me for complete optimization.
I would love to work with you this season. Visit copperhiveconsulting.com to explore packages and get in touch with me.
CRM is short for Client Relationship Management. So much more than a database software, these systems will streamline your ability to connect with your audience, understand them better and develop organizational strategy that gets responses.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Show Sponsor
Salsa Engage and Sales Force.
Today’s featured resources are two CRM systems. Salsa Engage was created specifically for nonprofits. In addition to basic CRM functions, they offer specific modules and tools for fundraising. This is a great function that not all companies offer. Salsa Engage also has a great blog that publishes articles on a variety of topics relevant to nonprofits.
Salesforce is like the mecca of CRM platforms. It is used by large companies and really does just about everything but make your morning coffee. It is very expensive for companies, but Salesforce created a segment specifically for nonprofits. Not only does it offer features for grants and fundraising, but they do have a free level of service and offer discounts once you get past the free tier.
If you are a startup or small nonprofit, I definitely recommend checking out Salesforce.
https://www.salesforce.org/nonprofit/
https://www.salsalabs.com
Content
Not all of you know me, so we’re going to go back in time for a minute. My corporate career started off in sales. While in college I worked for Enterprise Rent-a-car which is an organization known for their excellent training and for hiring college graduates with an appeal of promotion, advancement, and sales incentives.
Everyone in the office, from newbies to managers, would rotate going out on sales calls to existing and prospective clients. I’m aging myself, but this was 20 years ago and we nearly had DOS systems on our office computers, no web browsers at the time and certainly no CRM - Client Relationship Management system.
We collected paper business cards from businesses we visited, partly for accountability to our managers and partly because that’s how we updated our contact info and notes about that company. There’s a possibility that I used the incredible Palm Pilot I had received as a graduation present from my dad for notes, but we definitely had a Rolodex behind the front desk.
Thank goodness technology has evolved to where it is today! Today I’m sure your church or nonprofit organization uses a database at a minimum. How on earth would we keep up with all the various ways of communication and care without digital assistance?
I’ve used a few databases created for churches and researched a handful more as my last church was searching for a new database. As I shifted into marketing and consulting I began working with CRM systems, both for myself and with clients.
Databases and CRMs might sound like similar software, so I want to clarify the difference and help you choose the type of software that will best fit your organizational goals and needs.
Databases
- Hold information - donations, participation, contact info, forms,
- In the past - analyze data that has already happened
- Check on program completion
- Background checks
- Past notes or communication
- Run great reports
- Manually convert into emails, phone calls, or other communication
- Everything you do with a database is data drive
CRM
- More integrated communication options - some have email marketing features in addition to contacting individuals directsly
- They are able to assist with future and predictive behavior. What that means is that if someone in your database expresses interest in one type of event, cause, or perhaps responds to a call to action, they can be funneled into another step of engagement automatically.
- A good database provides a more robust way to understand your members and donors and to connect with them in ways that provide value to them.
- What you do with a CRM is process driven - what is a next step someone could take?
- Move to the next donor level
- Volunteer again or in a new way
You're most likely a church leader or nonprofit executive, but no matter what you do, you want to serve people in some way. CRM systems used to largely be associated with corporate culture, but the benefits they offer expand well beyond the marketplace. To serve people, you need to understand them (and you use data to do that), then you need to connect them with opportunities to grow, to serve, to find resources, and to develop as people. Organizational strategy depends in part on data from the people who are supporting the mission.
If you have a database you just adore I have no problem simply adding CRM and better email marketing if that’s the best option, but it makes me think of the movie, Hidden Figures. When NASA got their first computer in the movie, it was so big they had to cut a larger hole around the door in order to get the equipment inside. That’s really inefficient and sooo cumbersome.
This is what a database without CRM functions feels like to me. It’s clunky, antiquated and I have to wonder why you would choose an old IBM that fills an entire room when there are much more advanced laptops and palm-sized computers that do more and do it better.
A CRM will provide you with workflows to help keep members engaged, and automatically move them into new funnels based on their activity. It can provide deeper insights into behavior and predictions allowing you to not only understand particular individuals, but how you might need to adjust care and communication overall to serve everyone better.
As I mentioned previously, if you don’t have a CRM in place already, there is no need to panic. There are easy ways to integrate a simple CRM system with your existing database. (Thank goodness for Zapier!)
If you are shopping for a new CRM, there are tons of videos on YouTube reviewing various aspects of pretty much every platform. Every company also has great salespeople who will set up a call with you at no charge to review your needs and explain how their product can serve you.
Work with Me as a Consultant This is one of the ways I coach and consult with nonprofits at Copper Hive. You can schedule individual coaching sessions to review specific areas such as this. We also offer consulting packages to do a more in-depth discovery of what is happening in your organization and what your goals are. After spending time going into great detail we provide a written analysis and recommendation that you can implement on your own or enlist one of our coaches to walk you through implementation. Head to copperhive.com/contact to start a conversation about how I can help you streamline your operations and simplify managing your teams and projects.
My husband, Brooks, is a General Contractor, so I’ve lived in a world of bidding and estimates for a long time. When a homeowner decides to renovate or add on to their home they’ve usually already gone through a season of preparation whether it was financial, mental, or trying to agree with their spouse on a design (not that I would understand that one!). Once they get to the point of engaging with a Contractor they may face trepidation, confusion, and certainly shock over the estimates they get. Construction is a different world and trying to guess the price that someone will quote you is not in any manuals or books.
If you have hired any freelancers, coaches or consultants for your organization you may have felt some hesitation over engaging with them at the package price or hourly rate they quoted you. How in the WORLD do you know if it’s a good price, if it’s competitive, or if it will provide the value for your organization you need?
Whether you are exploring the idea of outsourcing or you’ve already started engaging with outside experts, these are great questions and really important to ask yourself and your team as you step into a whole new world. No one can give you a black and white answer on who to hire and how much to pay because value and expectations are highly subjective. What I can do is give you a few things to consider and be aware of.
Three Bid System
For everything I contract I get three bids and that is what I have required from people I worked with. Property insurance, document disposal services, window washing, or accounting services - it gives you context. You’re able to learn from each conversation, understand the small differences in product or service, and gauge the type of connection you’ll have with a company or individual.
Geography
The concept of freelancers and consultants, at least in this post-2020 era into which we are moving, is largely virtual. Even organizations who were previously opposed to remote workdays and felt the need for daily face time have made great strides in opening their minds to more flexible work environments.
For the projects or functions you are planning to outsource, does it matter if people live near you? Will they honestly ever need to set foot in your office? Do they even need to live in America? I have worked with great creatives and data specialists who are outside the U.S. offering budget-friendly pricing and supporting myself and clients for years.
If your organization is in New England, does it matter that your contractor is in Florida or Seattle? We live in such a digitally connected world that while these geographic gaps may have carried a great impact in previous decades, I find that there are few nuances to your location that can’t be easily communicated to a freelancer. They are used to dealing with a wide variety of clients, so they are usually able to adapt quickly and read your organization’s culture very quickly, otherwise they wouldn’t be in business very long.
Geography CAN determine pricing, even within the U.S. The liveable salary in a small Ohio town is obviously less than New York City. Location doesn’t necessarily determine someone’s skill level, but be aware that if you connect with a graphic designer in NYC, you’ll probably pay more than the equally qualified designer in Ohio.
Style, Software, and Platforms
Evaluate the style of each company or individual you are considering. You will find people who have a very specific style and who won’t necessarily be able to work outside of their defined zone and you will find people who are able to hear your vision and objectives and develop a very customized approach to the solution.
An accountant might prefer to just be a bookkeeper and that’s all they offer. You may also find an accountant who is able to assist with financing needs and strategy, offer CFO-type observations and assistance, and perhaps be able to subcontract an auditor so that you continue to have a single point of contact.
If you use someone the latter accountant only for bookkeeping you may pay more because their capabilities are so broad.
If you are looking for someone to help you choose, set up, and optimize a new CRM system, you could find someone who has a 6-point system they use to walk a client through a new CRM integration and they only work with a few specific systems. Alternatively you could find a coach who can learn any system quickly, so they will work with you on any software platform and they will listen to your needs and design the implementation plan along the way to your unique customizations.
You will have to choose the style you prefer and choose what that is worth to you.
Experience Level
This might seem a little obvious, but when you decide you have a project or position you want to outsource, exactly how much expertise should your freelancer have? This is actually one area that may depend on you slightly more than the freelancer.
If you decide it’s time to bring in someone to write a series of emails and design graphics that will work with these emails and double for social media, you may not need an expert in each area. If you don’t mind editing and offering feedback and advice you can choose a beginner and pay a lot less.
One nonprofit I worked with was in a college town - lots of colleges - so they usually had interns handling a lot of content creation. Sort of similar to using freelancers because these interns won’t all turn into employees and they are usually with you for a short time.
I’m not good at graphic design - I can’t pull an abstract concept out of my brain if my life depended on it, but when a designer gives me a draft, I know if I like it or not; I know if it fits branding standards and communicates what I need it to communicate. Once I have a rough draft I can suggest edits and as long as I know this is what I have planned for I can wait on a few revisions.
The same goes for writing - I can glance through and make a few edits, either sending them back to the writer or just making the edits myself.
If you are able to manage projects like these, then you can get away with a cheaper freelancer. If you do not have the confidence or the time to offer feedback then you’ll probably want to choose someone more experienced and be okay with paying a higher rate.
Side note: Part of how I’ve designed Copper Hive is to help you navigate through decisions like these. While we do offer consulting packages to go deeper into solidifying your organization’s foundation, we also provide individual coaching sessions to listen to your challenges and opportunities, then guide you through solutions that align with your budget, culture, and goals.
Benefits & Liability
Although there are other areas to consider when determining appropriate pricing for the consultants and freelancers you choose, I’ll leave you with this final thought.
Maybe minimum wage in your city is $11 or $13 or on its way to $15 like it is here in San Diego. You try to pay your staff a little above out of a caring attitude. When you consider hiring a freelancer you do not have to pay for any benefits, they are not added to your workers comp policy as individuals, they are not using electricity or any other facility-related expenses, and you do not have any long-term commitment to this person, so it is not an even trade.
You will likely pay a slightly higher rate for a freelancer, but the time-limited commitment will save you money in the long run vs. having someone on staff you are paying every week.
Especially project-based freelancers can provide an enormous amount of financial and legal freedom. As I mention legal freedom I’ll remind you to always pay attention to state and federal laws on 1099 workers for your organization, but if you are using them legally, you can save a lot of money in the long run.
Determining a fair or market rate for a freelancer is a little like the saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. You have a budget you have to stick with, but you also get to decide what provides value to you and what you are willing to pay for.
If you got anything helpful out of today’s show, share this episode with one person. We appreciate you stopping by today and hanging out for a bit. The most amazing way to say thank you is by leaving a review. Just scroll down to the bottom of your app or screen, give us 5 stars and drop a few thoughts. If you made it this far into the episode they can’t all be bad thoughts!
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Other Resources Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy The Art of Strategy
Every few years, like a visit to the doctor I like to set up a few appointments with my therapist. I’m not good at reflection, I don’t like to look backwards because there is so much up ahead and I want to keep moving forward. The reason I schedule these appointments on my calendar and pay good money to have a therapist intervene in my life is because I know it will force me to slow down, at least momentarily.
My therapist will help me understand how everything I’ve been doing and thinking over the last season is truly impacting me. He will ask questions that peel back layers revealing insights (good and bad) that I either missed or chose to ignore. Therapists have the training and the experience to understand patterns of behavior and thinking, then offer resources to redirect areas that have room for improvement.
Going to a therapist is a lot of work! I have to carve out time before each session to get quiet and prepare for more than a casual coffee conversation with a peer. I am determined to get my money’s worth, so I’m going to make my therapist work! I dig for the most challenging issues I can think of and I prep myself to be more open to inner examination. Ughhhh!!! Even thinking about this inner work stuff makes me cringe, but if you have never done it, it is sooo worth it!
When I allow an expert to peek into my inner life and offer guidance and observations I ALWAYS walk away with clarity on how I ended up where I am and a plan to move forward. The speed of forward progress has no guarantee and it’s entirely up to me how much work I want to invest to move ahead and see change in my life.
If it’s been a while since you’ve let someone from the outside look into your nonprofit organization, there’s a good chance you have some blind spots. You’ve probably heard of the johari window where there are things you know about yourself that others know, some they don’t, and things other people know about you that you don’t know about yourself. Sometimes, I think those might be things we know a little, but don’t want to admit.
Although I’m an advocate of working in areas that are your strengths, it’s also important to understand where the weaknesses lie.
Consultants are like specialized therapists for your nonprofit organization. A consultant can step into your organization and within a relatively short amount of time understand a great deal about what is going on, then help you understand how you got there and devise a strategy to move you forward whether you are scaling your organization, growing, or trying to streamline various aspects.
Like a therapist, a consultant has seen just about every version of what you are currently dealing with and has a vast library of resource to help you and your nonprofit heal if that’s what you need, to evolve into the next phase, to restructure, to clarify mission, vision and values and to strengthen specific areas of your nonprofit organization.
A lot of nonprofits and churches use leadership consultants and that’s great. Here at Copper Hive we are focused on the systems and structures that support daily operations. So let’s use HR as an example. If you do not currently have a dedicated Human Resources professional on staff or outsource this to an agency a consultant will walk you through several steps such as :
- Reviewing employee files to ensure proper paperwork
- Assessing current employee handbooks, policies and procedures
- Depending on your state, they may review your timekeeping process
- It’s simple, but they may check to see if you have appropriate posters and other required information posted in a central location
- They will talk about your hiring and firing processes
There is a lot more a consultant will do, but most importantly they will catch BLIND SPOTS you may have developed that open you up to unnecessary liabilities.
Once they identify all of these opportunities for improvement they will supply you with a legal and business strategy to protect you as an individual and the organization. I can’t stress enough that leaders of nonprofits need to understand they can still be held liable for negligence on the part of the organization. Investing in professional assistance is worth every penny you’ll save in the event you get sued or something bad happens within the company. No matter how great your insurance is, just don’t put yourself in that position.
Similar to a therapist, you may want to engage a consultant for a short period of time, perhaps 3-6 months depending on what you’re working on. You may also see a benefit in maintaining periodic check-ins with that consultant even after the initial project is done. You have to gauge where you are in your organizational health and goals.
Part of what we do at Copper Hive is connect you with consultants who can meet your needs and get you over the current hurdle. There are a few ways we do this:
- You can schedule a 45-minute assessment call to help us match you with the consultant we believe is right for you OR
- You can simply share what you’re looking for and we pass along the information to our network of coaches, freelancers, and consultants allowing them to contact you and explain how they can help you.
Schedule a Consultant Matching Call
Submit a Freelancer Request
There are links to both of these in the show notes. We are here to mobilize YOU to simplify managing your church or nonprofit so you can focus on doing what you love.
If you got anything helpful out of today’s show, would you share the episode with one person? We appreciate you stopping by today and all the support we get for this show. The most amazing way to say thank you is by leaving a review. Just scroll down to the bottom of your app or screen and drop a few thoughts. If you made it this far into the episode they can’t all be bad thoughts.
That’s our show for today! Be kind to your staff and always let them know how much you appreciate them.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your church job opportunities with the freelance network.
Show Sponsors
Society for Church Consulting
Mark is the Executive Director and I’ve known him for a while. I wouldn’t recommend a company, consultant or resource on this show that I wouldn’t use myself. Read more about their services at https://churchconsulting.org
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Show Sponsor
The Marriage Refuge | https://marriagerefuge.com
Micro Retreat Center in Southern California
Mark and Karent Stevens own and run the retreat and also provide pre-marital counseling.
About The Marriage Refuge:
We’ve all experienced it; miscommunication, incompatibility, anger, separation, and ultimately divorce in marriages. We want to offer a way to break the cycle by offering a retreat center, a place of refuge for couples to come and be restored in their marriage.
Show Notes
Usually you hear about scaling a business and before you think this episode is going too far down a corporate path, slow down and catch the core of this concept.
There IS a difference between growing your organization and scaling your organization. When you grow a business or organization, there is a stark expansion of departments, services, staff, and other resources. Scaling an organization is the ability to handle an increase of sales, services, or output in a reasonable way.
Successfully scaling your organization will largely depend on a healthy infrastructure of culture, systems, and processes. We are going to explore some of the nuances in a nonprofit that will allow you to scale your ministry with minimal shock impact to your teams and those you serve.
Risk Reduction
I’ve worked with organizations who experienced a little bit of growth, whether it was weekend attendance for a church or a period of increased fundraising, then made mistakes that you can now learn from and avoid in your own quest for sustainability.
Hiring extra staff: When team members are added reactively there is a good chance their position is not entirely aligned with both your vision AND values. It is easy to get swept up in the excitement of a great season. It is equally as heartbreaking when the tide turns and those same people have to be let go. Been there, done that.
Objective accountability is a phrase I learned from one of the leaders I have had the privilege of learning from. Mark Stevens, from The Rock Church in San Diego, created a system specifically for the mega church he served for over a decade. His system allowed staff to stay aware of expectations, know how to meet those expectations, and provide a clearly defined win.
When your existing staff not only knows their objective goals, but has a consistent culture of accountability AND the tools to be effective, you can scale elements of your organization with almost zero risk. The days in which we live are full of technology to help us streamline all the care we provide to the people we serve. Have you ever heard the phrase, “There’s an app for that”? There is. Pretty much anything.
Aside from technology to help you scale, this is where freelancers and consultants are incredibly valuable. A coach or consultant can usually step in quickly and identify opportunities to simplify what you’re doing and allow you to stay lean while still maintaining programs and services that are important. Freelancers can support you behind the frontlines either strengthening areas of operations or freeing up staff to pivot temporarily or permanently.
Come Back to the Main Thing
In periods of sustained growth you may reach a point where you truly need to add team members.
Review your mission, vision, and values. Ensure that programs and services you are adding are consistent with those and your 1 and 5-year plans.
Let’s say you’re a nonprofit focused on family-centric training to support kids pursuing education to eradicate generational poverty. We know education isn’t just about students and teachers, but healthy family units. You make a connection with a new school just outside the geographic area you’re already serving and decide to expand your program.
You know that there will be a diverse array of new requirements including fundraising, increased donor development, marketing/PR, and expanded communication/organization systems.
The main thing (your organization’s sweet spot) is bringing this training and mentoring to families and seeing kids’ lives changed. ALL the requirements to make this expansion happen are the periphery. Don’t get distracted and try to expand your organization in ways that cause you to veer off track.
Back to the difference in scaling versus growing, this is the time to scale. With good systems in place, like your CRM for donor communication, tracking for new schools and new families, workflows for adding new schools, and a process for recruiting and training new volunteer or paid coaches you can scale without panicking and hiring five new staff who aren’t really necessary.
During scaling periods you may need to outsource repetitive tasks such as weekly emails, social media posting, data entry for expense tracking or other simple elements like these. It is LOW commitment and will allow you the space and time to clearly think through the exact positions you need to add, if at all.
We aren’t going to get into the hiring phase that may come up here, but I will definitely say that the exercise required is detailing the exact position you need and not looking at a person first. For the sake of the organization, stay on track with an objective analysis of the skills and experience you need.
This has been a brief overview of how to scale your organization in a healthy and well thought through manner. If you can avoid knee-jerk reactions in moments of excitement then I have done my job. I want to see you increase your effectiveness in serving people, build a sustainable organization, and manage your people and resources well.
Look around and notice who is in your life today. Be kind to those you lead and let them know how much you appreciate them.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Sponsor:
TO Consulting Group | www.tocspace.com
Human Resources and Finance services available for nonprofits of all sizes.
Today’s Episode
Most of what I put out through this podcast is to challenge your paradigm, but I really want you to reconsider today’s area of staffing. Don’t worry about what you’ve always done in the past, what other nonprofits are doing, or what is comfortable for you. It doesn’t help to have a huge vision if you don’t create a sustainable organization. Every episode I produce is to help you take one more step toward sustainability.
Are you ready to deep dive into a core area of your ministry?
Do any of your bookkeepers or accountants interface with members of your community? I mean, on a high level or with strong leadership. If you didn’t answer that question with a resounding yes, it’s time to explore outsourcing accounting. I NEVER advocate removing someone from your team just to save a buck, but if you find yourself in a position of restructuring or growth, it’s perfect timing.
I’ve heard dozens of stories of church embezzlement and while we’d all like to assume people would never do that to a church, it continues to happen. There are many safety measures and checks and balances you can implement, especially spreading out duties related to money.
Consider this scenario: You’re a small organization with an even smaller staff budget. The person who answers your phone, uploads your latest sermon podcast and schedules Kids Ministry volunteers knew how to balance their own checkbook so you decided to have them oversee your church’s Quickbooks account.
You just know this person is so honest and trustworthy, so they oversee counting checks and cash that comes in, handling the deposit, plus they are the primary check signer because you are focused on daily ministry demands.
Unfortunately, this is a recipe for disaster in many situations.
At the very least you need multiple people with visibility into each step of your accounting processes.
Bringing in someone from the outside will give you the expertise and proficiency to navigate nuances of being a 501c3 organization. The IRS is not an entity you want to mess with.
An expert will be knowledgeable AND responsible for adhering to all legal guidelines. And they can do it much faster than the sweet person who has to google or youtube every transaction in quickbooks. That factor alone typically saves you money and allows your team members to stay focused on areas that are more their sweet spot.
Accountants can analyze data in ways that uncover trends or patterns in your ministry. It can be income, expenses, or forecasting. They can compile and prepare intricate reports to help you answer questions of all types about season giving or fluctuations that you can tie to various events within the organization.
You owe your donors an accurate reporting of the funds THEY gave you. You are also on the hook to be a great steward of money for which they worked hard and chose to give you. Creating systems of accountability and stewardship will go a long way in building trust with people who are generous with your mission and believe in what you are doing.
Numbers don’t lie and you might believe your nonprofit is doing well (or maybe not so well), but good reporting will bring clarity and help you strategize for the future.
Outsourcing your accounting, like most freelance positions, is a la carte. You have the choice to let an outside accountant do 100% or you may even have them perform a monthly check and simply prepare quarterly board reports or something similar.
Scaling is one of my favorite benefits of using contractors. You can ramp up services or pull back in times of economic challenge.
There can also be disagreements in use of funds if you have an internal accountant. They are typically very conservative and although they support your church they might not be on board with ministry expenses, creating friction for the leadership. Every ministry needs people who will question stewardship of funds, but that can easily come from people who are on the frontlines of ministry.
If you don’t have periodic financial audits performed, a good accountant can examine the health of your processes, security and position. It’s like going to the doctor for a wellness check. You may discover that everything is fine, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
As with all freelancers, you still need someone to oversee a contract accountant. They may not be completely proficient in finance and accounting, but they should understand running a business, be able to be the bridge between internal stakeholders and the accountant, and be quick to learn an overview of the accounting system and language you need to understand your ministry.
Please consider the exposure of your organization if you do not currently have a well-thought through structure for your accounting. Reach out to me or to one of many nonprofit-focused companies who provide services like this to help you analyze and meet your needs. I would love to help you assess your current processes and ensure that you are protecting yourself and your assets.
Today’s show notes will connect you to tools that will allow you to further assess your finance and accounting management.
That’s our show for today. Be kind to your staff and let them know how much you appreciate them.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Today’s Show Notes
S1: E4 Why Your Board Will Appreciate Contractors
When we lead a nonprofit we don’t just answer to our leadership team, staff, donors and volunteers. We are responsible to our board for managing and stewarding all of your resources and leading the organization.
As part of our church’s executive team I sat in board meetings for years observing the discussions around budgets, staffing concerns, and future growth plans. You likely have savvy business leaders on your board as well as spiritually sensitive advisors who are all evaluating the core points of your ministry. These women and men are in place to care for you as a leader as well as the organization at large.
A good board is concerned about your health and sanity as a leader as well as the health of the organization from every perspective. Depending on how you have established (or inherited) your board, this group of leaders often has a 30,000 foot view and may not get into the weeds of management specifics.
However, there are ripple effects tied to management decisions you make in which they WILL be interested. In episode 1 I covered areas that you should consider outsourcing - they are all internal support positions. Members of your board who are in business will understand the pains of downsizing in rough economic times. Avoiding financial and relationship damage when these decisions are required is a delicate topic.
During my time in church leadership when faced with layoff decisions there were leaders who had to be considered and as we processed ramifications of these decisions we always had to consider how many other people would be impacted as a result of that one person who had to be laid off. It is one of the worst and most sickening conversations to have when you are inflicting pain into someone’s life. I absolutely hate it.
Your board is concerned with macro issues, but when you can make small management decisions that lead to healthier movement for the organization, they will, or at least should, appreciate your forethought. Outsourcing for nonprofits is still a little new, so you have an opportunity to lead change and take a different approach to nonprofit management.
Outsourcing your finance and accounting, at least in part, is one of the healthiest steps you can take in leading your church or nonprofit. My last church had several issues with staff working with money. Fortunately there were excellent systems in place and violations rose to the surface before the situations went too far.
Multiple layers of security are implemented when you use a contractor or another organization to oversee accounting. You need someone internal to the organization who also has access and an understanding of finances, but this is one of the best ways to eliminate fraud or embezzlement. Creating duplicity through multiple layers and steps in your accounting processes increases the chances of accurate reporting and minimizes liability for all involved.
I’ve seen many churches who tasked someone with bookkeeping and accounting with zero background in this area. It’s not just a poor business practice, but opens you up for increased legal liability. Faith-based nonprofits face a lot of scrutiny and many organizations and individuals are waiting to pounce on any opportunity to criticize churches as a whole. Don’t give them that opportunity. Your board wants to see you leave a long legacy. Embezzlement and fraud don’t usually lend themselves to becoming a trusted leader.
The expense of hiring a knowledgeable account can save you thousands in legal fees if something went wrong. In the worst cases it could save your church. In case you are not aware, you could also be penalized as an individual if you are the pastor, tied to managing the finances or even a board member, depending on your state and how your bylaws are written.
It is never worth it, so cross your t’s and dot your i’s from the beginning. Don’t open yourself up to unnecessary liability.
Human Resources
This is another position I strongly recommend outsourcing to a professional. Personnel laws are constantly changing, discrimination is sensitive and ongoing training for staff is crucial. An internal admin-type person can provide support for tasks such as weekly timecards, dispersing informational updates, and being the point of contact for staff. You may also have someone internal who is the first layer for concerns from staff, as long as they have been properly trained in HR guidelines.
Your board will appreciate the professionalism you instill in your organization with a trained HR pro. Once again, it reduces your liability, which is always a potential concern for nonprofits. Medical benefits can get complicated and your staff will appreciate having a knowledgeable person they can go to.
If there are issues within the organization such as abuse or discrimination, levels of confidentiality are greater if your staff have an outside person with whom they can speak.
Communications
Board members are typically not shy when they notice areas for improvement. Communication is the face of your ministry and if you have a subpar comm. Director or marketing team it’s the constant first impression. It can impact your front door and your back door.
Your board wants to see you create an appealing first impression and sometimes that means you need to bring in someone with a proven track record to update your website, design more attractive templates for social media and all your print and service assets. Outsourcing these areas allow you to bring in a high level of expertise without the high price tag that is usually connected to successful creatives.
Whatever challenges you are facing as you move into the next few months and next season of your ministry these areas we discussed today are sure to be hot buttons with your board. Compare the costs and weigh the benefits. Figure out the staffing mix that works for you, balancing between permanent staff and project-based freelancers or short-term contract positions. I highly encourage committing to no more than 6 months at a time with a contractor.
Show notes are always here for you to share and use for reference. I like to include resources I know have worked for myself and for clients and I’m happy to pass them along to you.
That is our entire show for today. Look around and notice who is in your life today. Be kind to your staff and let them know how much you appreciate them.
Resources for Building and Managing Boards The Little Book of Boards The Nonprofit Board Answer Book Nonprofit Leadership
***Amazon purchases may result in commissions being awarded to Rachel Stewart.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Show Sponsors
Zapier
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There are freelancers who specialize in Zapier, so let’s talk and I can connect you with someone who can help you quickly and effectively
Today’s Topic
There are basic steps to great nonprofit project management. Think of it as a continuous cycle that just keeps repeating. Project management fits into every scenario - Yes, even into nonprofit and church management.
Occasionally with consulting I run into the myth that because the nonprofit sector is highly relational it can’t or shouldn’t be managed like a business. I then challenge leaders’ perception of what it means to run a business.
When running a nonprofit, there may be elements that feel too “corporate” to integrate into your operations. Just because you create structure and processes doesn’t mean you have to relinquish relationships or warmth in your leadership style. There are so many principles of running a business that can take your ministry to the next level.
Establish healthy project management systems before you begin integrating contract staff. Freelancers and contractors work well with deadlines and systems. The clearer you can communicate expectations and establish accountability, the greater impact a freelancer can make for your organizaion.
Here are 5 basic steps of PM you probably already do, but we are going to break it down today:
- Ideation - brainstorming sessions, deadlines for ideas, seasonal pushes, random ideas from a dream
- Define and plan - a lot of the why’s and how’s and who’s. Evaluate brand and missional alignment as well as resources available, including people power. Determine what a win looks like.
- Do it! - Assign roles, set deadlines, beta phases
- Feedback and control - Who offers feedback? When and how does this happen? Refer back to step 3 of defining and planning. Are we are track to achieve our win or have we learned something that shifts the end goal?
- The end - Continue cycling through steps 1-4 until the program launches or the new product is made available to the masses.
Let’s use a real life scenario.
One example could be that you want to create an exclusive community for monthly donors.
- (Ideation) Great idea! Let’s start a club to entice people to funnel into a sustainable method of donating. Dreaming, vision-boarding...
- (Define & plan) What should we call it? How do we brand the group? Who will manage the community? Where do we get exclusive content? What does a win mean? The list goes on.
- (Do it!) Get it done! I am a huge fan of going live at 95%. Honestly you’ll never get everything EXACTLY the way you want it. Done is better than perfect. Set your launch date and go for it.
- (Feedback & control) Team meetings, feedback from the community, marketing analytics because numbers don’t lie! Determine ahead of time how you will review the level of success. If you didn’t set your win at the beginning, you won’t know if you achieved anything.
- It’s the end of this particular cycle, but the process repeats itself with whatever you learned from this go around.
Kanban is a visual way to move projects from one phase to another. This may or may not be helpful, at least during team meetings. I’ve talked a little more about kanban board in Episode 2, so you can listen to that for a little more information on setting up systems.
I strongly encourage utilizing work management systems to keep track of all of this. Within each phase you will probably have multiple people working on smaller tasks and there will be tons of little conversations over every aspect. Asana, Trello, and Basecamp are just a few of the dozens of available software. I’ll have links to all of these in the show notes as well.
Get in the habit of better and clearer project management so that everyone on your church or nonprofit team understands the process and where they are in this process at any time.
Check out some of my recommended work management systems and kanban boards in the show notes.
Resource Links
Kanban Options
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban
Kanban Tool
Asana Kanban
SmartSheet Kanban
Work Management Systems
Trello
Basecamp
Asana
Airtable
***Amazon products purchased may result in affiliate commissions for Rachel Stewart.
Reduce redundancy and repetition by setting up systems that allow you to have visibility to everything going on while staying hands off and letting your team do their job.
Today's Show Notes
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Show Sponsors
Slack
Streamline your communication and keep your email inbox free of the chatter clutter. Slack offers free plans as well as pricing options for any size team.
Today’s Topic
- First of all, do you even have systems in place?
- Analyze the level of health in your current functionality
- We are always a legend in our own minds and convinced we have superb systems
- Put away your ego for a minute and look through your church with fresh eyes. Better yet, get someone else to do this with you or for you
- ***(Create a free download with this assessment)
- You probably have very impressive leaders all around you who lead at high levels in their company or industry.
- Today we are going to focus on these three systems:
- Decision-making (and approvals)
- Feedback and accountability
- Project workflows
- There are other areas to dig into, but you’ve got to take baby steps. We have a link in the show notes to a longer assessment you can do with your leadership team and use it as a blueprint to get feedback from business leaders in your circle.
Decision making and approvals
- Traffic light system - red, yellow, green
- How much control do you need?
- Have you defined your 3, 6 and 12-month goals?
- When your team thoroughly understands where they are headed it will help them filter ideas and opportunities
- How much of a micro manager are you? You have to get feedback from the people who work FOR you.
- How do you feel about mistakes?
- Kanban and workflow systems - BASIC
- What are the checkpoints where ideas, projects are reviewed?
- Who or what are potential bottlenecks?
Accountability & Feedback
- What kind of feedback culture do you have?
- Periodic assessments and that’s where the truth comes out?
- Weekly team or individual meetings with truthful feedback
- Are your managers able to hold people accountable
- Are there any repercussions for unmet deadlines or off-target branding and missional alignment
- I don’t mean punishment - I am talking about a conversation. About an honest check in and a clarification of expectations.
- Share the story of client who saw me ask for feedback instead of taking charge.
- Managers need to be able to stay organized and have the tough conversations. (They aren’t tough when you do them with respect and grace, but with clear expectations.)
Project Workflows
- I have an idea… tell a story of how to engage top tier donors. I prepared a proposal - spent two weeks on it. I turned it in and never heard another word. No feedback telling me it was a horrible idea or presentation. Just nothing. Ever.
- How motivated do you think your team is when that is the pattern?
- How do they know what the next step is?
- Some of what you do in your ministry doesn’t follow a set workflow that can be described in a diagram or on a kanban board.
- BUT much of it does. Let’s use a fundraising campaign for a church.
- All church campaign for a multisite church
- Copywriting and graphics chosen.
- Comm or marketing director approval with a deadline
- Campus pastors (key stakeholders) approval because they know how their community will respond
- Edits are suggested.
- Edits made with a deadline
- Final draft shared with all staff so they know comm before the masses
- Schedule and send
- These don’t need to be written out, but they are helpful to establish consistency AND to be able to assess and make changes to workflows.
You definitely need to involve other people in determining the efficacy of your current systems.
Prior to integrating freelancers into your culture you must understand how the flow will work. They can’t set that up for you and both of you will end up frustrated.
Utilize the free download we have provided to help you analyze your systems. Once you get this in place your project-based contractors are going to thrive with the instruction and framework you set up.
Resource Links
Blog: 10 Steps to Effective Systems
Book: Measure What Matters
***Amazon products purchased may result in affiliate commissions for Rachel Stewart.
What areas can and should you outsource? Here are some of the top areas that can be successfully delegated to freelancers.
You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.
Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.
Show Sponsors
Constant Contact
If you are not already using a CRM system, you are probably seeing donors and community members slip out the back door. If you are using a database that doesn’t integrate with an email marketing platform, it’s time to catch up and start communicating with people more effectively. Constant Contact is one of my go-to CRMs with their versatile options in managing contacts and tiers of service that will fit any budget and any sized organization.
Today’s Topic
“But I need a face to face relationship with everyone on my team!”
Do you, though?
- Pre-covid work culture vs. during and now post-covid
- When you hire great people you don’t need them to be under your nose all the time, so start there
- Two lists:
- Who do you already have on your team
- What positions do you still need?
- Think like a business owner or manager for a minute and less like a pastor or friend.
- List #1 Who You Have
- Write their name and what they do
- Are they leaders of people(internal or external)?
- Are they front-facing, meaning necessary for the frontlines?
- (You might also want to make a note of how effective they are)
- If people are interactive with your community you can’t outsource that
- You’ll find that primarily support services are the positions that can be set up as project-based freelancers
- You will also need to think like a business owner or manager for a minute and less like a pastor or friend.
- List #2
- You might differentiate between positions you NEED vs. positions you WANT
- Use the same criteria as the first list - are they internal support position, highly relational front-facing, etc.
- challenge yourself to view as many of these roles as possible as freelancers
- ***You will always need a very organized person to oversee freelancers, so create margin for a few of your high capacity leaders to manage this
- When you choose to outsource a position remember that you are going to choose someone who is an expert in that area. They will be quick, efficient, knowledgeable and probably move faster than you ever could in this area. (Contrast well-meaning generalists…)
-
You can be creative as it pertains to your organization, but a few areas that can be handed off to a freelancer are
- Administration
- There are incredible people who can manage calendars, emails, simple tasks much faster than you or the person you dump this on otherwise
- Finance/Accounting
- Removing your in-house accounting provides better checks and balances, transparency for you and all involved
- Communication Strategy
- Creative Elements
- Research
- Writing/Editing
- Coaching/Consulting/Training
- Administration
-
Are there patterns of tension? You may have had ongoing conflict with different departments, even through staff changes. These are great areas to consider outsourcing.
- What elements of your ministry need an expert? Perhaps you are proud of the generalists you hire who are jacks and jills of all trades and can handle anything. That’s great and I applaud your hiring ability. Sometimes, we need to choose someone with very targeted experience who can take your organization to the next level.
- If you get feedback from a few people outside your organization about weak areas in your systems, structure, or ministry, those are areas to consider outsourcing, too.
- Do you know your website is a plug and play template when all your competitors have custom features and targeted branding alignment?
- How clear is your budget and the latest quarter’s financials?
- Don’t be murky in places you need to be sharp and clear.
Ultimately it’s up to you what to outsource, but you will have to challenge yourself to look through a new lens and shake things up a bit.
Sustainable impact is a core value for every church and nonprofit I’ve worked with. Make sure this is your legacy too. Shift your mindset and embrace a new staffing approach.
Resource Links
Nonprofit Management 101
Managing to Change the World
***Amazon products purchased may result in affiliate commissions for Rachel Stewart.
Introducing conversations centered around streamlining and automating much of your people management through improved systems and processes.
Managing people doesn't have to be painful. Through organized accountability you can develop a culture of peer accountability and see your internal operations thrive like never before.
We can't wait to bring you this new series focused on church and nonprofit management!