Only one thing. You.
I was having coffee with a friend, a nonprofit executive director who felt stuck.
He came to me with a list of things that he wants to do—adding programs, adding locations, increasing the impact of the incredible work that he has been doing with youth in our valley.
I asked him what was the first thing he needed to do.
“I need to raise enough money to add some paid positions.”
I live near Aspen. It’s a fascinating combination of people who struggle with the insanely high cost of living, and a small number of people who have multigenerational wealth.
The small number of truly wealthy people support a lot of good causes.
My friend has one of those causes. People love him and the work that he does. But he has always had trouble raising enough money.
“I have some issues with money,” he confided.
Tell me more.
“There is so much money in this valley that I think, at a certain level, it’s vulgar.”
I looked at him.
“So you think money is vulgar. Do you wonder why you have trouble raising it?”
Oh. He laughed. And then I saw his eyes well up. This wasn’t about him. He was just the messenger for a bigger mission. And his beliefs—that he was an artist, that he should struggle, that the people who had money were bad and greedy and even vulgar—were getting in the way of him fulfilling that mission.
Hundreds of kids in our valley are counting on him to let go of all that.
What Would Be Fun?
There’s usually a way around your rules. A fun way to get to the same place.
“I’m not very good at asking people for money.”
“What if you didn’t have to?”
This week my friend is reaching out to parents whose kids have gone through his programs. He has worked with some of them for several years. I asked him to collect stories. To ask how his work with them has impacted both the child and the parents.
“You don’t think some of those people are going to ask how they can help you? Or offer to introduce you to other people who want to help you?”
His eyes welled up again. “That’s a conversation I would love to have.”
Do the thing you love doing. Everything flows from that.
The Cage You Have Built
Every person I have worked with has had at least one major “rule” that they thought was true but was really just made up. And when we identified it and let go of it, everything changed.
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