The Next Step

Marco Tomat, Alpinumllp.com
 

What is a stack of business cards worth collected over 15 years of networking? Does it depend on the size of the stack? Or is it all about the relationships that have been built? Rhetorical questions, I know. But that is the point right? The message is contained within the question itself.

As I looked at that stack of cards on my desk, wondering if some of the older contacts would even remember me, it dawned on me. Business is the social fabric of our professional lives. Nearly every adult in America experiences it intimately at some level, and often times at great personal sacrifice. Our entire way of life is dependent upon the interwoven connection it has with our daily sustenance, education, entertainment, transportation, government, communication, health, beauty, life, and death. So saying "Its just business" can never be a moral escape clause. Your business, your job, your contribution, no matter how much effort you put in, is a part of who you are.

And yet as I stared at that pillar of cards, nearly 6 inches tall sitting in the middle of my desk, like a silo in the middle of a grain field, and I wondered if I did enough with some of them to earn their trust to believe in me, especially now that I am heading out on my own. Can I help them? Do I have what it takes? Is there a problem that I can solve for them? Would they trust me enough to help them? More importantly in business, would they pay me to help them?

That seems obviously enough, right? Business needs capital to operate. “Gotta” keep those lights on as the saying goes. Don’t you think for a moment the world that we built doesn’t depend on money. I learned after over a decade in sales and marketing and another decade in the non-profit world of foundations, charities, community social services agencies, and behavioral health facility management that the only difference between the for profit business / corporation and the N-F-P, is what is done with the net revenue vs. profit at the end of the year. At the basic level the only difference is, in the non-profit world, since federal and state corporate taxes are not paid, not for profits are mandated if they are to receive their tax exemption to be set up with an all volunteer board to govern the money and executive staff. However to further prove the point of very little differences between the two, many non profits even need to file tax forms yearly, even though they are not paying corporate taxes.

Size-wise, there are few differences also. Some of our countries not for profits are enormously successful. There are hundreds if not more local and national non-profit foundations, university/college, hospital systems, and social service agencies running billion dollar per year operations, with huge endowments, that operate with every bit of business suaveness as any wall street firm. In fact who do you think are sitting on the boards of all these not for profits? Yep, it’s those same successful business leaders that know how to turn a buck.

Thus every type of business in the country relies on making money (for profit), or getting others to give it to them (not for profit).

Now it seems I have run into problems with both. The 7th rule of starting a business, get a paying customer, seems to still elude me.

 I have never started my very own business before.

After years and years of helping others start and run programs and profit centers, expand revenue, decrease costs, raise money, turn a profit, create, strategize, executive, and develop plans that show results quickly, I have never done it for myself. So instead of me calling a colleague, and say, hey, this is Marco from Blah-Blah company, I will be now be saying hey this is Marco from, well, my own company. Gulp!

The methods I will use are the same that I have used over 20 years in business. They have shown to be successful time and time again. And 80 percent of my business should come from 20% of my clients. So this stack of cards presents unlimited potential no doubt. It’s a gold mine to the small business consultancy firm. This stack of business cards contains contact information of business leaders from bankers, insurance agents, foundation members, judges, philanthropic organizations, executive directors, to CEOs’, doctors, lawyers, business people, local and county government officials and employees from across 3 states and beyond.

Maybe fear makes me hesitate. I mean, what if I fail? What if my foray into business consultancy ends with a big fat goose egg? Don’t get me wrong. I want to help others. I built my career around it. I believe I have been part of teams that have literally helped thousands of children, families, and adults make the transition to success. The methodology to helping a struggling family caught in the midst of a family member with a mental health disorder or substance abuse issue, a child with a developmental or intellectual disability, or limited resources with no one to turn to, is the same, believe it or not, to helping turn around a struggling company, division, operation, agency, or location. It’s all about setting small obtainable goals, that once completed builds upon each other, to reach the larger goal, dream, vision, conclusion, result, graduation, promotion, production, or whatever you call it.

It’s just all about taking one positive step at a time.

I’ll tell you a story if you let me. When I met Dewey, it was a juvenile court proceeding, he was 16 years old, and just kicked out of a group home for tearing it apart. Let me acknowledge that I understand that should not happen. Group homes are where kids get sent if they can’t make it in their home town due to behavioral issues, foster care can’t handle them, yet have not committed a major felony or severe enough behavior in order to be sent to a lock down facility. Don’t let that fool you though; Dewey could have been locked up if that judge wanted him that way. I was a young community counselor, working with at risk youth in rural Appalachia. Dewey was not just at risk, he was in-risk! When he was 13, his father committed murder, and was sent away for life. I won’t get into gruesome details; however, it was not pretty. Dewey was left the man of the house, with a very lenient mother, and a young sister. The family had their family house, mom worked in a local factory, leaving him, in his mind, and in reality, to take up his father’s role, and make ends meet. Dewey, learned fast, and like his father began to grow marijuana, and as he became successful from his back yard operation, starting paying bills...and buying pills to make a higher profit margin. Dewey was busted with marijuana on his possession on school property and put on probation. Three probation violations later for failed drug screens sent Dewey into a group home. He had never been away from his mom or his home before. Without pills and marijuana and his family, Dewey went ballistic in that group home, scared of what would end up happening to his sister and mother, and not being able to cope with the depression and anxiety that often comes with detox.

The judge looked over at me, and said… this is his last chance. I did not blink. I knew we could do this.

It was not easy.

Dewey had mountains to climb. An addiction to THC didn’t help much. But small steps were achieved. First by getting some much needed buy-in from his “source”, who was also his best friend and 1^st cousin. Dewey needed 6 months of clean drug screens to get off probation. I was much more informal with his cousin. “Dude, help me get him off probation first, and then you guys can smoke all the weed you want when you go out fishing.”, I pleaded, “But we have got to be a team here.”

Now granted this was not the best legal advice to give a kid, right? Just say no, haven’t you heard? Well… one of the few things I learned in grad school was there is a difference between theory and practical application. And this was no time to test theory. We needed help on this team, quickly. And we needed to set a realistic goal that we could achieve. Six months was going to be hard enough. “Never again”, was just too far away.

So we agreed, and set the goal…6 months, and to my surprise, his cousin became the best ally I had. And the drug use stopped. Easy, right? Ya, right. However it was now on to all the other stuff.

Getting Dewey to school wasn’t that hard; home by curfew, not that tough either. But getting him to stop trying to be the daddy in his house was a different story. That was the role he played for 3 years, and patterns had developed in that house that were destructive. However, slowly, interaction patterns began to change, mom starting learning new ways to not rely on the discretionary illicit income he was providing her, and to set stronger parameters and better mother / son boundaries.

And slowly…one goal at a time...

Dewey made it back to court with me standing next to him, in front of that same Judge 1 year later. After reading my, the schools, and his probation officers reports, (it took 1 year, not just the 6 months I had hoped for), the judge stood up, reached over the bench, and shook Dewey’s hand. I never saw that happen before. He said he was proud of him, and always believed he could do it. So did I.

I saw Dewey as I was getting a hamburger up his way several years later. Dewey had his own place, had a girlfriend, a job in road construction, and a baby on the way. Small goals; one step at a time; measuring your success by the goals you created. In business it’s called metrics. In life it’s called getting to work on time, going to church, paying your bills, building up your credit, buying a house, graduating from college, etc. In business it’s called making a profit. In a non-profit work it’s called building your endowment, growing your census, building revenue, expanding your geographic area, helping more people than ever before. In both, it’s called success.

Now back to this stack of cards that seem to loom over me like the Leaning Tower of Pisa; ever so close to falling over, but just not quite yet. I need to just take it 1 card at a time. Enter that card into my data base, just 1 card at a time. I need to keep thinking to myself, “small goals”, as I process to myself while I type in that name and contact info. What I will say to him or her when I call or email them? “Just checking in”, “Wondering how you are doing”,“letting you know I am immediately available to help you with any project you feel I can help you with”, what will I say?

More importantly, what will they say? I know this for sure…nothing, if I don’t make the call.

What are you doing today to focus on your future?