JT Foxx held his MegaBranding event in Chicago on April 3, 2019.  Until about a year ago, I had never heard of JT Foxx.  I attended one of his free events in Chicago last summer and got thrown into a whole new world. JT bills himself as The World’s #1 Wealth Coach.”  Though he comes across as cocky and harsh, he has proven very successful and continues to create new businesses with his tireless energy. 

I attended a 2^nd event in Chicago last fall and then attended the week long MegaSuccess program in Anaheim in November 2018.  That event really opened my eyes as to JT’s power.  Some of it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, but he sets his vision and does everything that is needed to make that a reality.

Though he can be harsh on some of the attendees that he coaches in front of the group, there can be no doubt about his desire to help people improve.   His work schedule is daunting, and you only have to look at his travel schedule to be impressed by how he is able to maintain that energy throughout.  

JT presents all around the world and hosts many of his events and training without charge.  Obviously, he sells some of his coaching services and online programs, but the value that he delivers is significant. 

Today’s session focused on branding.  JT is a huge proponent of celebrity branding and the power that you get by having photographs taken with celebrities.  This type of branding by association is something that many large corporations use to help brand their own products.

Another of JT’s ongoing mantras is the importance of coaching.  JT personally has 8 coaches and draws different value from each of them.  He talks about the importance of overcoming fear and that it typically takes each person five times of doing one task before they overcome that fear.

JT walked us through many of the elements which are important in the branding process.  Some of these learning nuggets included the types of branding

• Personal Branding
• Company Branding
• Results Branding
• Mission Branding
• Legacy Branding
• Exclusivity Branding
• Bonus based Branding

The other set of items that was particularly interesting was the way that JT spoke about the steps that are needed to establish stronger credibility:

• Speaking
• Media
• Testimonials
• Branding by Association

JT typically has Brent Turley open up his presentations and Brent does a terrific job setting the tone and telling the stories of his tennis playing children and their athletic scholarships.  Brent tells the stories of capitalizing on chances for his kids to hit with Jose Higeras, Roger Federer’s coach, and with Chris Evert.  But embedded in these tales are the concepts of perseverance, taking risks, moving quickly and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

JT put together a 30-day program to help people accelerate their branding strategies.  The point of the program is to go through one element each day, for 30 days. And then repeat it two more times for a total of 90 days.  Reinforcing the strategies in this way will allow you to truly embed the strategies in your daily consciousness.

At the end of the day, JT gave some very helpful insight about how you can gain additional credibility by writing a book.   JT’s process guides you through the steps in creating an E-book that can reach high levels on Amazon.  Certainly, having a bestseller” would add to your credibility and enhance your personal branding.

Having now attended my 4^th event of JT Foxx, there can also be no doubt that he has some tremendous ideas and helps many people improve their lives.  He does it in a very different way to Tony Robbins, but the impact is very real. 

One of the key elements to running a successful non-profit is the ability to raise funds.  But how do you do that in today’s competitive environment of fundraising?  Every donor is being reached multiple times per month seeking to get funds from them to support a myriad of worthy causes.

In speaking to many non-profits, we hear about these struggles, but we also hear some creative solutions and some interesting strategies.  So when we had the opportunity to participate in the Fundraisers Forum at the Spertus Museum in Chicago we jumped at the opportunity.

This third installment in the Fundraiser Forum series was led by Rae Ringel.  Rae has been a long-time trainer focusing on the best way to communicate with your organization’s donor base.   Rae provided some outstanding insight into how and why donors give.  While we cannot share her entire presentation with you, we would like to share some of the insights she gave us.

Rae took us through the process of how we ask for money, and why we tend to associate so many negative terms with fundraising, especially when we are doing great work to support terrific causes.

Among the many interesting facts she shared was the rapidly declining attention span in today’s world.  She pointed to the fact that 10 years ago, the average adult had an attention span of 12 minutes.  Now, that attention span has dwindled all the way down to 3 minutes.  So before you schedule a keynote speaker for a 30 minute time slot, beware!!

Each non-profit worker essentially serves three distinct roles:  1) Relationship builders/connectors; 2) Storytellers; and 3) Fundraisers.  She stressed that for every person, fundraising is a required part of the job description. 

As she transitioned into the substance of fundraising, she spoke about the importance of body language and posture and examined the reasons why we feel so uncomfortable asking people for money.  When Rae asked for the feelings associated with solicitation the responses consisted of:

• Anxiety
• Pressure
• Formal
• Transactional
• Phone
• Chutzpah
• Manipulation

Yet, when she asked for how the people felt about the cause they were raising money for, the results included:

• Pride
• Family
• Warmth
• Ethics
• Values
• Commitment

She helped the group transition the way they think and to consider themselves solicitors with the following traits:

• Relationship builder
• Enabler
• Advocate
• Educator
• Mission
• Connector
• Engagement
• Matchmaker
• Illuminary

Rae challenged us to take a new mindset around fundraising that consisted of: Leading, Empowering and Educating.  She recommended keeping these concepts in our minds as we went into a personal solicitation:

• I look forward to hearing what he/she cares about
• I am fortunate to have the opportunity to have this conversation with them
• I have the chance to make someone’s day
• I want to make them part of this success
• I can give other the opportunity to feel like they are a blessing to others

Before you get to the actual solicitation though, Rae emphasized that you have to know three things:  1) Yourself; 2) Your donor; and 3) Your product.

She recommended meeting in a donor’s space because you can learn so much about them from their home, office or other location in which they choose to host you.

Rae stressed the need to understand how credibility is established in relationships. She cited statistics that show that the factors which determine the credibility of another person are:

• 38% by voice tone and tempo
• 55% by body language
• 93% of building trust and credibility is communicated through the body and not through the words

Another interesting element of her presentation was the importance of asking open-ended questions like: What do you care about?” or What drives your giving?” or What’s Your Thing?”

She gave examples of how questions starting with Why” can sound more judgmental, as opposed to something along the lines of What compelled you to meet with me.”

Rae gave examples of how behind every complaint is an unarticulated request”.  This makes it even more important for the solicitor to ask the donor questions like What do you want?” or What do you need.”

She stressed that the most admired and respected leaders use conversations to enlist support and to get the people around them involved in creating a fundamentally new future.

She closed with the four elements of making a proper request:

1. What?saying exactly what you want
2. By When?Saying exactly when you want it
3. From Whom?Saying exactly from whom you want it
4. Conditions of Satisfaction?Saying exactly how you want it, stating your conditions of satisfaction.

Ultimately, the most important part of fundraising is to leave people in a good frame of mind.  Rae quoted Maya Angelou’s famous line I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

As you look around your fundraising strategies, we recommend having Rae present to your board or your stakeholders.  Her engaging presentations will provide them with great insight.  For more information about Rae, visit her website at www.ringelgroup.com

Super Bowl weeks are always a very hectic time.  If you are associated with the business of sports, there are more events than you could possibly have time to attend in that period of time.  As you read through this summary, you will see the links embedded to the coverage of the various events provided by the Sports Philanthropy Network.

This past week in Atlanta, I was fortunate to participate in a whole variety of events giving me the opportunity to interact with a wide array of individuals from all across the country.

The weekend prior to the game, I was able to attend the NFL Experience at the Georgia World Congress with Kayla Bradham, who is joining the Sports Philanthropy Network as the VP of Community Relations.  We had the opportunity to go through the exhibits and explore the venue in a much less crowded environment than you would see later in the week.  One of the highlights was getting the chance to meet some of the team from RISE, Stephen Ross’ initiative getting its acronym from Ross Initiative for Sports Equality.  As the owner of the Miami Dolphins, Ross has put his name on many things, including the University of Michigan Business School, but this is one that could make an every longer lasting impact.

The first couple days of the week are quieter as the schedule ramps up in anticipation of the crowds heading into the weekend.  It was comical as the City of Atlanta prepared itself for a winter storm.”  The whole city was on high alert mode on Monday as it prepared for horrific conditions on Tuesday.  The TV weather broadcasts warned everyone of impending doom.  Schools were cancelled by Monday afternoon.  The end result?  A day with temperatures in the high 30’s and low 40’s.  A sunny afternoon.  Even the health club I managed to use to squeeze in a few workouts was telling me the facility might close because the weather could change.”

One of the most interesting parts of the week was the ability to get press credentials which gave me access to many of the official NFL events and the various summits and educational seminars around time.  It gave me some great insight into how the media work and the access they receive to all parts of the Super Bowl compound.

• WEDNESDAY: From my end, the week got kick started with a Women’s Empowerment Summit hosted by GladiatHers. Terrific messages from many powerful women. Well over 100 women attended and there were a surprising number of men also supporting the vision of GladiatHers.
• WEDNESDAY: From there, it was a quick run over to the Crucial Catch event held at the American Cancer Society HQ. A strong turnout of NFL representatives, team mascots, cheerleaders and former players led the way as the stations were set up to caution about various cancer risk factors and provide prevention suggestions.
• WEDNESDAY: The GladiatHers evening panel had some very frank conversations from leading women in the Atlanta sports community.
• THURSDAY: The Most Valuable Philanthropist event hosted by Champions for Philanthropy at the amazing venue called The Estate.” Honoring some terrific players who have made a great impact in their community, this event really set a strong standard for other philanthropic events to follow.
• THURSDAY: RISE held their Town Hall Meeting at the King Center with a star-studded and impressive lineup taking the stage to push for social justice and significant reforms in the criminal justice system.
• THURSDAY: Very impressive event at the Porsche Experience, sponsored by AWIS (Atlanta Women in Sports). A terrific turnout and many great women leaders took the stage to accept their awards and talk about their motivations and the impact they desired to make.
• FRIDAY: The NFL Man of the Year Community event was held at the Boys and Girls Club. Attended by almost all of the Man of the Year nominees, this event featured Roger Goodell working the shovel and wheelbarrow and setting the lead example of hard work.
• FRIDAY: George Washington University’s Sports Philanthropy program hosted a networking Happy Hour for the many professionals in town for the Super Bowl and received a strong turnout of people making their career in the sports philanthropy space.
• FRIDAY: A special treat was an invitation to dinner by NFL Hall of Fame LB Rickey Jackson and getting the opportunity speak to him and Eric Dickerson during a late dinner.
• SATURDAY: Leigh Steinberg, Nicole Fisher and the Brain Treatment Foundation hosted a Brain Health Summit as a prelude to Leigh Steinberg’s annual party. The Summit had an insightful panel discussion that examined the difficulties of addressing the concussion problems on a practical level.
• SATURDAY: Leigh Steinberg’s party hosted over 2000 people crammed into the venue and the highlight was Patrick Mahomes taking home some of the awards and showing off his strong presence and command of the audience. Later that night, he took home the Player of the Year.

Unfortunately, I did not get to stay for the game.  Aside from the ticket prices running well over $2,000, it was time to get back home after the two week trip for the Senior Bowl and the Super Bowl.

One thing that struck me as I walked around the streets of Atlanta during the week, was the dichotomy exhibited by homeless individuals asking for food or money, while literally a few yards away, party goers are entering into parties that whose tickets ranged in price from $200 to $1000+.   I haven’t seen any reports on the total amount spent on parties during the week, but you can bet it is a large number.

As a business professional who has worked in the areas of law, sports, real estate, finance and entrepreneurship, communication is the lifeblood of everything that I do.  Keeping clients up to date, keeping business associates and partners connected to the deal and making sure that vendors perform their services on time all require extensive communication.  Networking to find more business and reaching out to prospects require coordinated communication.

People spend much of their day on email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media.  When they are not on social media, they are busy talking on their phone or sending text messages.

So you would think with all of this experience and all of this practice that we would be good communicators.  Unfortunately, especially for those of us that like to communicate, this is not true.  Most people are very poor communicators, or at minimum, they are reluctant communicators.

When I leave someone a voicemail, send an email or send a text message, I do expect a response.  I am not talking about cold calls or sales calls.  I am talking about calls and messages to friends, business colleagues, vendors and even to businesses from whom I am trying to purchase products/services.

It continually shocks me that I can send an email inquiry to a business about a product or service that I need and not receive a response.  I am not talking about an autoresponder.  I am talking about a legitimate response.  Some companies have enough systems in place that their autoresponders can basically deal with the inquiry, but in the last several months I have seen small businesses not even bother to answer an email inquiry for two weeks.  REALLY?  Fourteen days?  I don’t think that these businesses are so flooded with inquiries or work that they don’t need to bother.

Yet the business side probably bothers me less than the personal side.  If you don’t respond to clients, customers and employees, sooner or later (and probably sooner), your business is going to struggle.

But when a friend contacts me, I may not always respond immediately, but I always respond.  I cannot imagine not responding.  I do my very best to respond to all of it within 24 hours.  I don’t always live up to that ideal, but it is extremely rare for an email or text to go unanswered beyond that time. Phone calls sometimes can take longer to coordinate or schedule or fit in between other things.  But I know that if I am not going to be able to phone, that I should at minimum, get a text message or email to let the person know that they haven’t been forgotten. 

So what is the solution? I honestly don’t know.  I am not looking to cut off all relationships from the communication slackers.  But it does give me a pause for concern about engaging in any business with these people and on the personal side it definitely impacts how close I feel to someone.  If you can’t even be bother to return a call, email or text, then how badly do you really want me in your life?  The answer? Not much at all.

So I have made a decision to focus more of my time and effort on those who respond.  I am tired of chasing people (work and personal).

Just remember, I am here for you and I will still be your friend.  But I am done chasing.