Difference Maker!

Difference Maker!

This week I would like to talk about a difference maker for me personally, and whether people realize it or not, all of Youngstown, Ohio. She is a local woman with a tremendous impact. Her name… Suzanne Barbati, the former Executive Director of OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center in downtown Youngstown.
 
Suzanne Barbati has been with OH WOW! since its fruition. It was only a few months after the job posting that Suzanne took the bull by the horn and began steering the ship known as OH WOW! There are a million other idioms I could use to describe what she has accomplished.
 
Since its founding in 2011, OH WOW! has become a staple in our community, an anchor of economic development, and has brought stem education well beyond the downtown market. Suzanne would never claim to have done all the above on her own, making her a true leader.
 
I met Suzanne a few years back when I wanted to help raise money for OH WOW! by combining the museum biggest fundraiser, Science of Brewing, with a podcast I had started, Homes and Hops.  Homes and Hops was created to connect local businesses, specifically brewers, with area hometowns. My goal was for Homes and Hops to bring additional dollars by organizing a 5k with the breweries leading up to the event. Suzanne loved the idea and welcomed me with opens arms. I didn’t know it then, but she has been a phenomenal force, mentor, and cheerleader for me ever since that day.
 
And that’s what she does… she helps build you to what you need to be, she gets you to pause when needed, that push when you want to stop, and most importantly, she is your biggest advocate as a woman in the world. How lucky are we!? How lucky am I?!
 
Suzanne Barbati is a difference maker! She even helped pick her predecessor at the museum and has the upmost faith and confidence in all they can accomplish. Of course, she still has her hands in the community.  She’s still at the museum helping it grow in a new way. I mean if someone like her wants to still give, you take it, and appreciate it!
 
Suzanne, I love you and thank you!

Evergreen and Everlasting!

Evergreen and Everlasting!

Warning, this week’s evergreen and everlasting might be a little dry.

Business Plans, I hate writing business plans! In fact, I might be writing this newsletter to avoid revamping and finishing my business plan for yet another day in a row. Because let’s face it there is always plenty of things we must get done. So, I can tell myself I’m diligently checking things off my to-do list.  Meanwhile, I’m casually ignoring the business plan that is looming over my head.


Why do we even need them? I would love to blame it on my mentor just giving me busy work.  But I know business plans are very important. Especially if I want my business to be successful. This will never change. As Ben Franklin once said, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
 
And it’s true. Business plans give you the framework to organize your thoughts and ideas into one document. Especially as an entrepreneur, having a plan in place helps set short term and long-term goals. It also spotlights concerns you may have missed. Honestly, if you’re a 1099 employee or in a commission-based line of work under another employer’s name, having a business plan will be ideal for you too.
 
There are many other reasons to write a plan:
 

  1. Raise money for your business.
  2. Keep you on track.
  3. Identify what’s working and not.
  4. Communicate more clearly with people.
  5. Reflection back on purpose.
  6. Understand your competition.
  7. Know your customer and market.
  8. Reduce risk.
  9. Attract interest.

 
Most importantly though, it’s key to strategize your plan for growth.  A business plan will help you assess financial standings and needs.  The ladder for me is the worst and best part. Outlining the numbers is scary, as costs easily rack up. As painful as the “cost” column can be, it is a necessary evil to properly scale your growth. This is where I left off on my plan. Unfortunately, I know that if I don’t finish this portion, my funding will fall short and I will not grow my business.  
 
If you don’t already know, there are four major components to a business plan: executive summary, marketing plan, key roles, and the financial plan.
 
Each of the four sections includes a ton of details which do not need to be need outlined here. There are great templates available for free. For instance, Score.org is a great resource.
 
Many people suggest starting your plan in the middle, then completing the executive summary and then hit up the financial plan.  This is interesting advice.  I start at the top and work my way down.  Then I work from the bottom up again. Sure, it takes me more time, but I feel like I am more thorough.
 
By the way, the unfinished portion of my business plan is the section most often left incomplete… the financial planning. I have the same lame excuse as everyone else… the financial portion is intimidating and it’s difficult to write – especially when numbers are not your forte.
 
I’m confident now that I’ve announced my shortcoming to everyone that it will be done by the week’s end.  AND sent to my mentor for review.  

Edible Fact!

Edible Fact!

I have noticed a plethora of social media memes and posts created to sum people up in a single concise, pithy sentence. To some point, these bits often have merit. In fact, recently I had an incident meeting a person for the first time. Her manner of speaking was definitely off putting; it was the literal words she was saying and the tone in which she expressed them. She did not want me around. She made herself inexplicably clear: I was not welcome.
 
As much as I would love to judge this and assume this is her demeanor all the time, I can’t. Maybe there is something about me that made her pass premature judgement on me. Maybe it was a very stressful day, and my presence unearthed her. Maybe she doesn’t like people with long straight hair. Who knows?
 
All I know is that there are some people out there who think the world of her. So based on that, I will give her grace. This is where those blanketed posts come uncovered.
 
Pay attention to how people talk about others, and how they treat people around them. Do they say please and thank you? Do they speak about their friends with a glow in their eyes? Or a true sadness when things are not going well? Are their smiles genuine? Are they friendly when interacting with others?
 
If the answers above aren’t so good, ask yourself why? There are those who are inherently not the most pleasant people. People who are insecure show their insecurities through egotism or shyness.
 
I suggest keeping an open mind and extending grace as much as possible. People grow and change. One moment, one interaction, one situation should not sum up their entire existence.
 
Of course, this does not mean you should be a doormat. It does, however, mean to dive a little deeper to find some understanding. You can still move on from the relationship.  But if questionable personality arrives at your doorway again, your kindness today will make it easier and more fulfilling to give a little grace tomorrow. You’ll just be more eyes wide open with them.

Sun or Shade?

Sun or Shade?

Let’s talk about the significance of friendship. This is not to replicate last’s week topic but to build onto it.
 
Every morning I wake up to The New York Times sitting in my inbox, and I typically just read the headlines. Though there are times that an article will spark my interest. Today was one of those days. It was about how lower-income children can climb the economic ladder.
 
I have always been an advocate of comingling in almost everything we do to help positively influence and elevate our levels of potential. I truly believe if you have a small group of C students with a large group of A students, the C students will perform better. If you mix the right brains with the left brains, each will take away new applicable thoughts in life. If you have people with no fear mixed with the extremely cautious, they balance each other out.
 
Please bear in mind, I am not an expert in social psychology or socioeconomics.  I have just a few sociology courses under my belt and observations within of my own personal life.
 
For instance, my son is an avid supporter of a local animal human society. For over two years, he has helped the animals at the rescue. He has even started his own business to raise money for the charity. I’m biased but he’s absolutely amazing.

In fact, our neighborhood is filled with amazing kids.  Once word spread about my son’s charitable endeavors, many of the neighborhood kids either started their own fundraising endeavors or joined my son by helping at the animal rescue on weekends.
 
There is one child in the neighborhood who is afraid of dogs and allergic to cats. Typically, he doesn’t go to the rescue. But this past weekend he mustered up the courage to join his friends.
 
It’s all about influence… and peer influence is the best kind.
 
This is the whole idea behind Montessori schools, right?
 
Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist said it best: “Growing up in a community connected across lines improves kids’ outcome and gives them a better shot at rising out of poverty.”
 
I think about my high school. We had a blend of a socio-economic status, as well as racial diversity. I’m not ignorant to deny an underlining divide, but there was more of an opportunity to transcend our differences because we were always together. We got to see each other for who we were as people.
 
I feel Dr. Chetty’s findings are the scientific studies to back what we’ve always instinctively known.
Article referenced above was published by The New York Times, Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships Between Rich and Poor by Claire Cain Miller, Josh Katz, Francesca Paris and Aatish Bhatia, Aug. 1, 2022. (Fair warning, it most likely will ask you to subscribe to read.)