The Birthday Blog

My husband buys the best gifts. I’m not even someone who needs or wants gifts, but he’s really good at it. I was reminded of this yesterday when we were in the drive-thru line to pick up some coffee and he glanced down at my ring and noticed there was one diamond missing…again.

I must be typing like Superman because there’s nothing else that I could have done to cause such ring disturbance. Anyway, I love this ring. I was longing to have it when he bought it for me for our first anniversary—the first time. It’s beautiful and I really do love it, but at the time we were thinking about building our first home. So, hesitantly, I asked him if he’d mind if we returned the ring and used the money as a down payment on our new home in Frisco, Texas. He agreed and we built our first home. I loved him for that!

Then, fast forward 8 years and we’re back home again in Indiana with new jobs and two kids in a different, but equally awesome, home for our growing family. That year he surprised me big-time with the very same ring that he’d bought me for our first anniversary. I couldn’t even believe he remembered it! No offense, but he’s a total dude, after all. I’m quite sure I hadn’t thought of that ring for years, so the surprise was real. So thoughtful, right!?

Now, here I am 20 years later, still happily wearing the ring, only today with one small diamond missing.  Don’t worry, he’s on it. He’ll have it fixed for me before the end of this week, I’m sure. He's really diligent about things like that.

That made me think about one year ago on September 5^th—my birthday.  Ironically, my birthday fell on Labor Day this year—maybe my mom took the Labor part of that holiday a bit too literal--it's probably a Virgo thing. So, last year, this husband of mine bought me www.dawnbrown.com. Seriously, that’s crazy! I have officially owned my own domain name for one solid year now!

Initially, I had no idea what I’d do with it. So, I learned a bit about building a website—the tech part still gives me headaches sometimes. I’ve been blogging for a year now. I even added in a Frideas page to get information and inspiration out to you each Friday.  And now, 41,274 website visits later, here we are—learning together. I’m so abundantly grateful…thank you for investing your time with me!

The completely ironic thing about this website-as-a-present thing is that I was absolutely busy with tons of things in my life at the time. I’m a CEO, a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, and a colleague—there were plenty of things to occupy my time. So, how on earth did I have the wherewithal to create a website, write 48 blogs, and share dozens of Frideas with you all? It’s not like I have 26-hours in my days, right?

This, this, is exactly what we need to talk about today. Because it’s all about the left and right brain.

Left Brain Marketing Methods: In the book The 4 Disciplines of Execution, authors McChesney, Covey, and Huling write about two things anyone can do to produce results: (1) develop your strategy and (2) execute your strategy. I’ve been saying this much less eloquently for decades: (1) plan your work and (2) work your plan. It’s the same with nonprofit marketing. You don’t need to be flying by the seat of your pants any longer. There is a better way and I’m writing about it today.

Right Brain Marketing Moxie:  In Big Magic, Gilbert has the audacity to say that she believes that the work loves her as much as she loves it.  She chooses to trust that inspiration is always nearby. And because of that, “Creativity wants to flip the mundane world upside down and turn it inside out”. Friend, that’s what we get to do—we get to turn what could be hugely boring and/or complex content about philanthropy into the pure joy that defines being charitable. And with the right mindset, we can love our work as much as it loves us, if we share it.

So, let’s get on with this birthday blog, learn a few things, and have fun doing it, shall we?

Left Brain Marketing Methods:  There is no doubt you were hired to do your job for a reason. There’s also no doubt that nonprofit employees work on shoestring budgets with skeleton crews. No wonder self-care gets pushed to the side. We’re walking a thin balance beam here. That’s why the problem we struggle with is twofold--you have to create the strategy and execute the strategy. Furthermore, in school they focused much more on creating the strategy! The hard part, the execution, is the part that no one taught us. Even if the strategy is clear, the execution is likely to fail—even for Fortune 500 companies. The amount of brilliant strategic plans living in a binder on a shelf, never to be executed is shameful. That’s because you need to change your behaviors first.

My team and I have been working this behavior-changing system for a few years now and it’s the only reason that I could receive www.dawnbrown.com as a birthday gift and have any time to make something of it. It does work! Are you ready to hear what’s getting in the way of changing your behaviors? It’s your day job! That’s your enemy of execution.

Your day job, your inbox, your phone, and your day-to-day operations are all preventing you from executing your Wildly Important Goals—what the authors of The 4 Disciplines of Execution lovingly call WIGs. This happens because the Whirlwind of activities that you find in every office everywhere are urgent. Whereas your Goals and Strategy are merely important. And when it comes to a dual between urgent and important, urgent is victorious every time. Therein lies the problem! The Whirlwind acts on you but you have to act on your Goals. So, the Whirlwind becomes a huge, noisy distraction that gets all the attention.

This is not to say that the Whirlwind is the enemy. The authors say, “If you ignore the urgent, it can kill you today. It’s also true, however, that if you ignore the important, that it can kill you tomorrow.” Living in the midst of the Whirlwind prevents you from achieving your Goals. And, if status quo is your best friend, that might not be bad. But, if you really want to see progress, you must figure out how to control the Whirlwind before it controls you.

I love the example they used in the book. They said, it’s not like a huge dragon swooping down on you, it’s like a bunch of gnats, just quietly distracting you. Then, before you know it, your strategies die a slow death, almost unnoticeable it’s so slow. But, like I said, you’re better than that!  You can address the urgent and still get important things done…just like I did with my blog. Here’s how: Focus on your Wildly Important Goals before anything else!

There are a million good ideas and it’s difficult to know when to say no. But when you identify your WIGs and have a laser-like focus them, it gives you both power and freedom. The kicker is, you focus on less, so you can achieve more. Identifying what your WIGs are, 2 or 3 only please, and being vocal, or even visible, with them will make all other achievements seem unimportant, maybe even inconsequential. That’s Discipline #1. And that’s how this website and my blog were born—I made it a personal WIG.

Plans are great. I highly encourage them and have even taught hundreds, maybe thousands by now, of people how to develop tight communication plans. But plans shouldn’t go into a binder to die. Plans should be executed. And if you have 2-3 WIGs, this is possible. I did it, and I believe you can do it, too. So, your new plan is to plan your work and then work your plan with all your heart.

Right Brain Marketing Moxie: Plans and strategy don’t normally come infused with right brain moxie. In fact, most of the time they’re as dry as my brother’s sense of humor. That’s why your organization has you. You, my friend, get to take that dry-as-the-Sahara strategy and bring it to life. In fact, dare I say it, if you don’t bring it to life, no one will ever read a thing you send them. Why would they? People want to be inspired! They want to sense emotion! They want to be the hero of your story! And none of that’s written into the strategy. Creativity, enter stage left.

Oh, how I love the creative part of my life! Sitting down each week at my computer, I never know exactly what I’ll write. I just start typing—apparently faster than a speeding bullet. I made writing weekly a WIG and I just sit down and do it. It was a practice for a while, then it turned into a hobby, and now it’s a full-fledged business with clients that hire me to write marketing content for them. It’s been a remarkable year!

And throughout this year, I’ve learned one major lesson that Gilbert also talks about in her book Big Magic, “It ain’t your baby”. It’s a good concept for you to learn early on, too. The idea here is that when you get into your right brain, it gets personal. It’s art. It’s something that was only a thought yesterday and then tomorrow it becomes real in the form of a blog or a website or a card or a newspaper feature. That mere idea didn’t even exist three days ago and the next thing you know it’s alive and well and in front of eyes everywhere. And that’s wonderful and glorious and nerve-wracking and angst-inducing all at the same time.

That’s exactly why your creations cannot be your baby. You’ll write a masterpiece and someone will point out the typo. You’ll mail about 200 letters and someone will say the letter was too long. You’ll give your boss ad copy and she’ll say you need to cut it drastically. Literally, one year, my Development Manager went over to the Chamber of Commerce to borrow their giant, new business, ribbon-cutting scissors to show me how much I needed to cut from the Annual Report copy that I had poured my soul into. We laughed! I think we even took a picture to commemorate this day…because she was right. It was good, but when I cut it, it was better.

If it was my baby, I certainly couldn’t have cut it to pieces, it would have hurt my heart too much. That’s why it can’t be your baby. Often artists and creators need check their pride at the door. And that’s ok. Nothing will ever be perfect. But keep up your creative efforts and it gets more perfect every time.

Sadly, Leonardo da Vinci completed very few paintings because he never considered anything to be perfect or finished. Too bad da Vinci didn’t live in the same era as Seth Godin who wrote in his book, The Practice, that you need to find the courage to both make and share your creative work. He believes that being consistent is key and that imposter syndrome is human. But more importantly, he believes that what you create, your art, needs to be shared and shipped. After all, you're bringing the strategy to life.

Yes, that’s how this blog was born. I write imperfectly each week, teach about methods and moxie that I’ve found to bolster my career as a nonprofit fundraiser and marketer, and often find the typo after it’s been sent out. Then, I repeat that same sequence week after week—and you should, too.

Creativity is a gift. Just like my diamond ring and my domain name were. And when you’re presented with a gift, the best thing you can do to show your gratitude is to open it and use it. And then tomorrow, repeat. 

All My Best,

Dawn
[email protected]
dawn brown creative, llc.