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Advice for Nonprofits

Getting Along While Getting Stuff Done

I have some advice for nonprofits. I have been creating websites and assisting with marketing for nonprofits for most of my career. I have worked with large national organizations and small community groups. Some are official 501(c)(3) organizations, some aren’t. I have found no matter the size, they all have one thing in common.

Nonprofits have to work together, despite different backgrounds, personality types, education, geography and skills.

Sounds like a typical workplace environment, doesn’t it? We need to get along with our co-workers and customers/clients at work and elsewhere. And when we volunteer, we have to get along with the people we are teamed up with.

Getting along with others isn’t always easy

Occasionally, one of my nonprofit clients struggles with this. Some people have very strong personalities and can be overbearing. Trying to steer every decision to their way of thinking. Volunteers can get frustrated. Arguments start, bitter emails are sent, it gets out of hand. Sometimes good volunteers leave the organization to preserve their own mental health. Afterall, when you are volunteering, who needs the extra anxiety or toxic interactions? I don’t like conflict or confrontations. I try to stay calm in these situations and work through it. I always encourage open communication and honesty. Respect and taking personal responsibility.

My job is to make my clients happy

That’s my primary goal, happiness. Yes, I want to give my clients a nice, functional website or membership system they can manage moving forward. I want the experience with me to collaborative. I want my clients to know that no question is a bad one. I’m here to answer your phone calls and emails.

Everyone learns in different ways. That’s why I provide support with written documentation, videos, zoom sessions, phone calls and in-person training. I want every client to fully understand what I created for them and how it will help their organization today and into the future. So, how can I provide happiness? By proving the following tips for nonprofits.

What’s my advice?

Here we go, it’s pretty simple, really.

1. DEFINE WHO’S RESPONSIBLE NOW and MOVING FORWARD.

Before we start working together, I want to fully understand the dynamics of the people on the team. I ask questions to determine who will be managing the website after it’s launched. For my clients who use MembershipWorks, I want to be clear who will be keeping it updated in the future, following up with members who don’t renew or helping them complete their online profile for the Membership Directory.

Many times volunteers do this work. And that’s great. Many are eager to learn what needs to be done. Sometimes I continue to be the website administrator because clubs don’t have someone with WordPress skills to take on the website management. I have several clients who ask for MembershipWorks help just once a year for an annual event.

It’s important for everyone to know what roles they will play and what the expectations are for the future. It’s best to work with a small group or one liaison when creating a new website or installing MembershipWorks. When the teams get larger than 8-10 it’s much more difficult to come to a consensus, make decisions, and set up zoom meetings that have to fit into so many schedules.

Once everyone is clear on the role they will play during the project and after, then we proceed.

2. LISTEN.

My second piece of advice is to listen. Even if someone is younger, older or less experienced, they still provide value in regards to the experience you want for your members. Great ideas come from brainstorming when everyone feels they can contribute without being judged or shot down immediately. Everyone involved has value. Sometimes you get more ideas than we can implement! That’s when I start a list for “phase 2” improvements to consider after the initial project is complete. We don’t want good ideas to be lost just because the timing isn’t right at the moment.

3. BE A LEADER.

Some of my best experiences working with nonprofits are when they have a leader who really leads. Someone who empowers others and encourages participation and input. A leader checks in with the progress, knows what’s going on, and who might need some extra support to fulfill their responsibilities. Leaders are observant but don’t micro-manage the project. They keep the overall goals and timeline in mind. I love it when the leader uses tools to create an environment where the team can stay focused and get the project done on time. Happy leaders create happy teams.

Know Your Strengths

I’ve worked with all sorts of personality types and skill levels. In fact, I often have the StrengthsFinders strengths assessment in my mind when I start working with a new group. I like to understand how people are wired and what makes them good at what they do. You can learn more about my top five strengths by reading a post I wrote on the subject. Here’s a clue, my top strength is Activator. I love getting stuff done!

In the end, it’s about happiness. I want my clients to be happy.

Please let me know if you have any questions about how your nonprofit should proceed when starting a new project with me. I’m happily available and ready to help! 🙂

Michelle Aspelin
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services, LLC
Learn more about me and read the recommendations from my happy clients on LinkedIn.

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What’s New? What’s Next for You?

Hello from Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services!

I’d love to hear from you! Send me an email or give me a call and let me know what’s new for you, for your business, organization, or any endeavor. I’m a connecter and if there’s anything I can do for you, let me know. I can help spread the word using a variety of media like my At Home in Victoria monthly print newsletter, Facebook, email, LinkedIn, personal connections, etc. Let me know if you have something new I can promote, share, or encourage others to consider.

If I manage your website, let me know if you need any new content on your site. New blog posts, product or service offerings or if you just want to celebrate the success you are already experiencing! I miss connecting with people, so please, send me an update!

What’s New with me?

I am still loving my work at Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services. Primarily making WordPress websites and lately I have assisted another web designer to implement MembershipWorks (a membership management platform) for two organizations, the DDR German Shepherd Dog Club of America and the Great Pyrenees Club of America. Working for dog organizations sure makes me miss my own Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Oliver, but it’s great to see the photos of happy dogs and help them manage their membership.

I also launched a new website for my longtime client, Meg Adams at Divine Containers. Check out the beautiful flower containers she creates with her team! That was another site that brought me joy to watch it “blossom”. She has many photos of her seasonal container business based in Victoria, MN. And she does fresh floral arrangements too!

What’s Next?

I am looking for more projects and clients I can serve. Small businesses or nonprofit organizations. I can serve as an administrator as well as web designer or membership manager. I enjoy doing work remotely, I have clients outside of my local geographic area. You can find my profile on Indeed, LinkedIn or MembershipWorks.com.

But really, I want to hear from you! I feel like I have allowed the pandemic of the past couple of years to impact my work relationships and I have lost touch. Social media is fine, but I miss specific email updates, phone calls, and, especially, in person coffee/tea gatherings where we can really have some valuable “facetime”. If you are local and would like to meet up in person, let me know! I have a flexible schedule.

Cheers!
Michelle

Michelle Aspelin
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services LLC
GrowYourMindshare.com

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Freedom and Choice

What Does Freedom Mean to You? (written July 2021)

Happy Birthday America!

I love July! I love the warmth and sunshine. I was born in July. And we celebrate our freedom on July 4th!! Yay!

Freedom and Choice are two of my top values. I appreciate the opportunity to work with my marketing clients from my Victoria home office or remotely from anywhere in the US as a virtual assistant. We can choose a phone call, zoom meeting or, my favorite, in-person conversation.

I love brainstorming with my clients to find the right solutions to their problems. I love to research and learn new things. The more I can do for my clients, the more freedom and choice I give to them as well. I always tell my clients I will do as much or as little as they’d like me to do. I can work for you in-person or I work remotely.

I primarily work with solo entrepreneurs. They are business owners in a company of one, meaning they do ALL THE WORK themselves and often run out of time or energy to complete marketing related tasks. That’s where I come in! I help send out email campaigns, create and send newsletters to keep their followers informed, manage their advertising campaigns in print and online and fill in when then need me. I love the variety of work and my clients are thankful for my organization, efficiency, effectiveness and reliability. Plus, more freedom for them!

I also work with several nonprofit organizations. I have implemented a platform to help them manage their membership database, sell tickets for events, set up email marketing and run online campaigns for them to help raise funds for their mission.

Making and improving WordPress websites is my specialty. Clients give me an idea of what they want their website to include to meet their objectives and I get to work designing a new website or improving their existing site. There are so many tools that can connect to a WordPress website, the possibilities are endless. Again, giving my clients plenty of choice and freedom to design what they want. We keep it simple and easy to navigate and I always include search engine optimization to help get them found on the Internet.

If you are looking for some more freedom or would like to know your marketing choices, give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to meet you! Check out my services and how I work.

Michelle Aspelin
Cell: 952-484-6015
Email Me

Read what my past clients say about me on LinkedIn.

 

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Helping Nonprofits Get Organized

Rottweiler Health FoundationI’m so happy that the Rottweiler Health Foundation found me during their online search for a WordPress Website Designer. They were looking for someone to help update their website AND help them complete their nonprofit membership integration with MembershipWorks, a task they had been trying on their own for over a year.

I was able to create a whole new WordPress website for them and finish setting up their membership process in MembershipWorks to help manage their members, multiple donation campaigns, and sync it up with MailChimp (for email marketing) to keep their lists updated automatically. They were fantastic to work with. Their Board members are all over the country so we did everything over Zoom and it worked out great, see rottweilerhealth.org.

“Our non-profit was looking to move our membership management to MembershipWorks. However, we had issues with several other things and had stalled out. I found Michelle on a google search and contacted her to see if she could help.
After speaking with the people involved, she presented a proposal and got to work!!
Michelle helped to work through our issues. She was right there, guiding us were we needed it, and letting us get comfortable with MembershipWorks. She also was able to fully integrate our WordPress system, and helped us get all of our other issues taken care of, including updating our website.
The Rottweiler Health Foundation is now moving along smoothly with our system. We are hearing good things from our Board and our members. All of the issues were done on schedule and on budget too.
As Membership Chair, I am thrilled with how easy it was to work with Michelle. And I know if I run in to any questions in the future, she will be right there to help.” Pat Carkoski, Membership Chairperson

If you know of a group or nonprofit who is struggling to manage their membership, volunteer or donor databases, have them reach out to me! I will see if my strengths and experience match their needs so we can find solutions for them.

You can view other completed websites to see the clients I have helped, view their websites and read their story.

Connect with me to learn more about how MembershipWorks can help your nonprofit membership management. Read more review on my MembershipWorks profile.

Michelle Aspelin
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services LLC

MembershipWorks Developer

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StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Using Your Talents

Have you taken the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment yet? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it! I originally took the assessment in October 2007. See my update below when I took it again in June 2018. I republished this post December 2019.

The book StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Jim Rath is a #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 BusinessWeek bestseller that introduced the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment with features that include a personalized Strengths Insight Report, an Action-Planning Guide, and a web-based Strengths Community. The Gallup organization recently re-branded the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment to CliftonStrengths. The CliftonStrengths assessment is the same one featured in StrengthsFinder 2.0 and their other bestselling books.

The online assessment will bring your top 5 strengths, they call talents, to the surface. Knowing these strengths is powerful because it can help you stay focused in your job, business, organization and your personal life. It helps you understand what you like, how you work with others, and what makes you happy!

Learn How I Work as well as about my strengths!

My Top 5 are Activator, Communication, Ideation, Focus and Futuristic …

So, what does that mean?

The book (and now their online reports) explain all of the talents in great detail and what careers or roles you will be good at naturally. It suggests people to partner with who have opposite strengths to help you meet your goals. Knowing your strengths helps you focus on your job, business, team, or organization. Its fun to ask others what their talents are too to help create stronger relationships and improve teamwork.

If you fully understand what my Strengths are, then that will give you a clue as to the type of service I offer my clients.

1 Activator

“When can we start?” This is a recurring theme in my life. I thrive on action. Action makes things happen and leads to performance. Action is the best device for learning. I enjoy start-up or turnaround projects. I can transform innovative ideas into immediate action. I work with creative and innovative clients to help move their ideas forward. I can easily energize the plans my clients have already created or develop a plan from scratch. I have the ability to create motion and momentum in others.

2 Communication

I like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. I energize events and ideas to make them exciting and vivid. I believe most people have a short attention span, they are bombarded with information and very little survives. I want information I create with my clients – whether an idea, print material, website, a product’s features and benefits, a discovery – to survive. I love blogs, newsletters, podcasts and online communication tools.

3 Ideation

I am fascinated by ideas and concepts. I am always looking for connections, I am energized by connecting people and fulfilling their needs for one another. I get a jolt of energy when I get a new idea for a workshop, a group, a blog post. I love start-ups who have lots of questions and need lots of ideas to get their business started. I like working with clients who need a makeover too, new ideas to infuse their business with fire! I love to read and learn more about marketing, business and finance. I love to create a list of ideas and let my clients pick the ones that resonate with them, then focus in on those and make them a reality.

4 Focus

I often ask, “What’s the plan?” I like to know where I’m headed, I need a clear destination. I set goals that serve as my compass, helping me determine priorities and make the necessary correction to stay on track. My Focus is powerful because it forces me to filter; I instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help my client move towards their goal. Those that don’t, we ignore. Having a Focus strength helps me be efficient naturally. During meetings and sessions, I am the one who brings the group back to focus on the task at hand. I have the discipline to balance my work and home life, business and family, community and travel. I enjoy roles where my clients give me independence. I build their trust so when they have an idea or a project to be completed, they can comfortably say, “Can you just take care of it?” They don’t need to hold my hand and constantly check-in on my progress. They know I provide results, and do it efficiently. Having focus as a talent helps lead me to solid and long-lasting success.

5 Futuristic

This talent surprised me at first, but after I fully understood its meaning, I get it. Being Futuristic means asking the question, “Wouldn’t it be great if…” I do love to peer over the horizon and am fascinated with what the future holds. What can be developed or invented by my clients? I am a dreamer and I love to learn about the vision my clients have for their business or organization. Visions energize me and, with my other skills, I can energize others too! Again, this is why I like new ideas, new products, start-ups and makeovers. I like to get the ball rolling. I love brainstorming about ideas to make them better, I inspire others with my ideas and images of the future. Some say I make a great coach and teacher. I love helping clients move forward.

So, if you are looking for a marketing person with talents like mine, I’d love to hear from you! AND…I’d love to know what your Top 5 Strengths are too so we can maximize our time together.

Learn more about the CliftonStrengths Assessment and the Gallup Organization.

Update: December 3, 2019 – New Assessment Results

A good friend of mine is certified in CliftonStrengths and she coaches people and organizations on the subject. In June of 2018, I retook the assessment to see if my priorities, and how I view myself, changed as I got older and moved into a new stage in my life. My top 5 Strengths did indeed shuffle a bit, and I also paid an additional fee to open up my full 34 talents in order to see what happened to the ones that dropped out of my Top 5 and where the new ones ranked last time. It’s taken me a while to embrace my new Top 5. It’s like finding out you aren’t who you thought you were and it’s taken some getting used to. I know my original Top 5 off the top of my head, still learning to recite my new Top 5 but they do make sense given what I focus my time on these days.

1 Maximizer (previously #7)

I focus on strengths as a way to stimulate excellence in my clients and their organizations. I seek to transform something strong into something superb, like revamping a website! I routinely use my insights into people’s strengths to energize and inspire them to do what needs to be done, like teaching my clients how to keep their website updated. I honor the special and rare qualities in people and I try to position them to attain ever higher levels of excellence. I invest time thinking about people’s good points rather than agonizing over their shortcomings. By nature, I have an ability to talk with people. I savor conversations in which ideas or feelings are freely exchanged. I am always excited to learn about my client’s needs.

2 Learner (previously #10)

I have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than outcome, excites me. I long to know more so I can remain on the cutting edge in my field and areas of interest, I research a lot! I like it when my clients ask “Can you make my website do x?” My inventive mind usually generates more possibilities than I can handle sometimes. Nevertheless, I am committed to acquiring knowledge and skills. I enjoy a quiet room to do my thinking and my research so I can focus. I regard education as an ongoing activity.

3 Activator (previously #1, see above)

4 Futuristic (previously #4, see above)

5 Relator (previously #11)

I enjoy close relationships with others and I find a deep satisfaction in working hard with friends and clients to achieve a goal. I do my best work when I can bring my expertise to my client or a group. I am often referred to as a counselor, people keep coming back to me for words of wisdom, opinions and advice, I’m approachable. I enjoy learning what others want to accomplish and often find myself digging into their subject by reading books or blogs to learn more. I feel fulfilled when I am performing tasks to further my client’s goals.

Communication moved to #8, Ideation to #15 and Focus to #19. I still lead with Influencing CliftonStrengths themes, they help me to take charge, speak up, and make sure others are heard. I enjoyed learning my new Top 5 Strengths. Do you know what yours are? It’s so insightful to learn your own because you can start to determine what strengths your teammates have when you work together and it creates stronger relationships and respect for others.

Michelle Aspelin, Entrepreneur and Professional Implementer
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services, LLC

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Feb 29 FREE Consult

FREE 30 Minute LEAP DAY Consultation

Feb 29 Consult PromoLEAP into your next project or idea with a FREE 30 minute Consultation only offered on LEAP DAY, February 29, 2016. Sign up for a 30 Minute Communication Consultation by completing the form on my website that tells me what you need right now for your business. At the end of the form, it will ask you for a couple of times that work for you and let’s get it scheduled. We can meet in person at my Victoria office or via phone. Leap Day consultations are available from 9am to 5pm only on Feb 29, 2016. Booked already is 10-11am.

I will meet with as many people as I can fit into my schedule.

We can use the time to brainstorm on a problem you are facing, an opportunity you’d like to pursue, review your marketing plan, get tips and ideas for social media marketing and paid ads, talk about your LinkedIn strategies, whatever you need, just let me know. The faster you sign up, the more time I have to prepare for your FREE 30 minute consultation.

To get started, visit my Communication Consultation page and fill out the form!

I can’t wait to see who wants to take advantage of this special Leap Day Consultation.

If you aren’t available Feb 29, consider scheduling a regular consultation for another time. The FREE session is only offered for Feb 29.

Michelle Aspelin

My office is in the Clocktower Building in downtown Victoria MN
1750 Tower Blvd. Suite 200 Victoria MN
Phone: 952-484-6015

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