 And welcome all of you who have joined us live or perhaps tuning in to the recording. We are so glad to have you here as we welcome today's guest, Jesse Story. Jesse is the director of marketing and membership at the University of North Texas Alumni Association. And today, Jesse, you are sharing with us about time and project management strategies. Welcome, and we are so glad to have you with us today. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Good. Well, I do think it's a topic that we all need to probably hone in on and spend a little bit of time. But before we dive into our conversation, we like to start every episode by saying thank you to our presenting sponsors. Each and every one of these companies are here in your community nationwide, worldwide, and they exist for one sole reason to help you do more good in your community. So please do find them online. They're not hard to find. Give them a like, a love, and get some follow. Again, they are here supporting you and the great works that you do for your community. So thank you to our presenting sponsors. And thank you to Julia Patrick for joining me today. So glad to have you here. Yesterday was lonely. Julia is the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I'm Jarrett Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group, self-professed non-profit nerd. So as I had shared a little bit earlier, today's guest is Jesse Story. Jesse, welcome and thanks again for joining us. Thanks again for having me. Jesse, we're really excited to hear what you have to say because we know that time management is really a big issue. And especially in the nonprofit sector, as things are rebounding, we're really being called to change or push through to certain things that we've maybe started and stopped during the pandemic or new paths. So let's get right into time management. Your first strategy that you wanna share with us today, schedule everything. Talk to us about that. Yeah, so now I do have to kind of start off with this disclaimer that I'm a very type A project manager, planner, organized kind of person. So for me, I probably go a little bit above and beyond. I've been called extra sometimes when it comes to scheduling everything. But the nice thing is that scheduling everything is something that can be done really easily and simply. And it's something that you can kind of start off small and work your way up. So for instance, I know that in the nonprofit world, we have to take phone calls all the time from donors and board members and leaders. Then it could be really hard to kind of manage our time when all these phone calls are coming in and people are popping into the office. We've got emails coming in and everything. And so one thing that I've had to get good at is scheduling some of those, scheduling blocks throughout the day to handle a lot of that. So for instance, with phone calls, I fortunately work in a position where I don't have to take a phone call right when it comes in. But I have realized that the mid-afternoon slump that you kind of get into a little bit after lunch and you just want to nap. And I've realized that that's like when I'm ready to go to sleep, that's the time that I need to be making phone calls because it gets me jazzed and it gets me, I just love talking to people. I'm a bit of a chatterbox. And so for me, I just kind of schedule that time during my day. So I make it really intentional that, hey, I need a little bit of a, pick me up in the middle of the afternoon. I love talking to people. So that's when I choose to return all of my phone calls and check those voicemails and everything. But the same principle, you can apply that to emails, to meetings. You can even block off your day. If you have meetings that are four hours worth of your day, you can block off the rest of your day to get some work done. And I do that all the time. My team is constantly telling me, like, oh, I love that you schedule working time. I'm like, yeah, but the nice thing is that it's also flexible. So if we really have to meet, they know that they can move stuff around on the calendar. So, but yeah, I'm very big on scheduling everything. My phone, my calendar, it's all my best friend when it comes to scheduling. So I'm a little special that way too, right? And I literally block out everything and I'll share personally, even when it comes to my co-parenting schedule, right? What time is drop off? What time is pickup? And really all of that so that I can show up as the best professional nonprofit nerd possible. And then also take care of myself personally. I've got in there first thing in the morning, you know, block, do not schedule, no meetings. I mean, it's like bright red exclamation point. That's my me time. Typically I like to go to the gym or I like to walk, but I schedule that because before Jesse, I never scheduled personal time. And guess what? I never had any. Yes, exactly. And I'm so glad that you mentioned that because, you know, and the thing is, is I think we all kind of get into this mindset of, well, it's my personal time. I don't have to schedule it because it's not a professional in ever. But if you don't schedule it, I mean, you're right. You're just, it's not gonna happen for you. So for me, I do enjoy going to the gym every so often. You know, I go a few times a week and I've realized that I have to schedule it on my calendar and I have to treat it like a meeting that yeah, because otherwise we're gonna miss it. And I do the same thing with going to see my family or, you know, taking my dogs for a walk or going camping or something. Like I try to be very intentional with my time. And again, it's not to say that we have to be extravagant with the scheduling and every minute is planned for, but just making sure that somewhere in the back of my mind, I know that I'm going to be dedicating time, you know, to my professional life, but I'm also gonna be dedicating a lot of that time to my personal life. Right. I really appreciate that. I also think it's fascinating that you have looked within and determined what are the times of the day where you are going to be best suited to take on certain aspects. So I think that's fascinating, really smart, really, really smart. Okay, let's go to- Before we dive into that, so I wanna share, you know, maybe this is part of these helpful resources, but moving into knowing your style, your personality, Julia knows I am an early riser, early to get things done, come to a clock, that's when the slump hits for me, Jesse. And so those are the times when maybe I'm doing invoices or reimbursements or some emails that don't take a lot of my mental capacity. And you can schedule all of that on your calendar, even with recurring meetings, you could do it every day, every other day, every couple of weeks. And I found that, especially when leading teams, you know, if it's let's create a report, you know, you know this report is due on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Well, maybe the second Wednesday of every month, you're preparing that report. Yeah, yeah. Working to your strengths. Okay, talk about strategy number two, identifying helpful resources. Is this technology? Is this human paper? What is this? Yes, it is all of the above. And, you know, actually one of my favorite resources, I'm so glad that you mentioned the kind of looking within myself to figure out what times a day I work best. So I'm sort of one of these weird people where I'm not a night owl, but I'm not an early riser either. I just, I like it when the sun is up, but I love my sleep, you know? So it's, so I really had to be kind of intentional with my time. And so one of my favorite resources is a book. It's called Find Your Win. And I'll be honest, I didn't read the whole thing. I just read the parts that pertain to me, but it kind of helps you figure out your prototype and it helps you figure out whether you are kind of more of that early morning person, whether you are more of the afternoon, you know, kind of person who just loves it when the sun is up, are you more of a night owl? And it really is that also for me, it depends on what the task is. So I've noticed that I'm actually a much better writer. So obviously as a director of marketing, I do a lot of copywriting. And I've realized that I'm a much better writer around like 10 p.m. every night. Interesting. And I don't know why. I don't know if it's just the distractions are a little bit less. I'm just more honed in on what I'm writing. But for me, you know, sometimes I might flex. So if I know that I'm gonna have to write a blog article or put together some social media ads or something like that, I couldn't schedule it for the evening because I know that that's when I work best. And again, it's all about balance, right? So I don't do that every night because that would just be exhausting. You know, but I just try to be balanced with that. And so one of those resources, you know, like I said, is that book, Find Your Win. I also love, I have a ton of blogs that I like to read because the way that I describe it to people is the time and project management. It's not something you can just master and like, okay, I'm awesome at it, we're done. It's one of those things that you have to continuously get better at and continue learning and you have to continue trying to work and be really great at it. I mean, I still struggle with it sometimes. So I like to use a lot of really simple technical tools. So for instance, Trello is a really great project management tool. And they even have a free version because I know that in the nonprofit worlds, you know, we don't always have a lot of expendable income to use on things like that. So that's a really great one. I love LinkedIn Learning. They have a ton of awesome, you know, trainings that you can do. And you know, right there and, you know, in Phoenix, Arizona is the Fundrails Academy at Mirkova Community Colleges and they do a lot of professional development training for fundraisers as well. And they do focus a lot on time management and project management, especially since so many of us can learn so many different hats. So blogs, books, videos, you know, and honestly, actually one of my KPIs at the University of North Texas is once a quarter I have to take some kind of training. So sometimes for me, it's marketing related. It's more of the technical skills. But I also like to look at the soft skills, you know? I mean, we're here to be well-rounded individuals. It's not just about being great at marketing. It's also being great at communication and leadership and all of these other skills. And so that's actually something that I kind of put together just for myself. It's like, okay, once a quarter I'm gonna sit down and I'm really gonna dedicate some time to getting better at this skill. I love it. So I do too. And for those of you that might not have caught that acronym, KPI Key Performance Indicator and I love that you have put that into you. I am huge on personal and professional development. And so having opportunities and scheduling time to make sure that that happens, holding myself accountable, right? I think that's really important. And I am curious, again, one of these pop-up questions. They just come out of dialogue here in conversation. How have you seen your time management strategies and initiatives maybe take shape or get off course over the last 18 months? How have some of your best practices when it comes to this topic today of time management, how have you seen that, again, shift or take shape over the last 18 months? Yeah, that is an excellent question. And it's funny that you say that because I was just talking with a colleague and I was like, did you know that they don't make manuals for how to live in a COVID world? Like it's just something like that. And so, I mean, I'll be honest with you in the world of marketing. And of course, every role is gonna be different but I think we've faced similar challenges. They're just gonna look a little different. But in the world of marketing, I was doing a lot of events and I thought, well, when COVID hit, I was like, oh my gosh, like, what am I gonna do? I'm probably gonna be out of a job because I don't have events to do anymore. But actually my schedule got way, way, way busier. Yeah, and I'll be completely honest. I actually experienced burnout for the first time in my life during the pandemic. And that's when I kind of took a step back and I was like, okay, whoa, like bring it back in. I mean, I know things are crazy right now but that doesn't mean that we have to do everything all the time, perfectly, all that kind of stuff. So I tell people that a lot of times there are a few things that can really inhibit your time management skills. So one of those things is being people pleasers, which I am, a perfectionist, which again, I am and a procrastinator. Those three things can really inhibit your time management skills. And so I took a look at it and I thought, okay, what are some things that I can do to maybe delegate certain tasks? Or can I schedule some really intentional vacation time? Because I think that's one thing we all got into is why do I need to go on vacation if we're always working from home but you still need a vacation. You need a break, we all need a break. Great, exactly. And so before we move on to strategy two, I wanna jump in here. We have one of our viewers, right? Love seeing Jessie. She has a 411 on so many great tools. Fundraising Academy and National University are big fans. That's a great endorsement. Oh yeah, they're wonderful over there at National University. Yeah, amazing. Okay, let's talk about moving forward then to strategy number three. Because I think this is something that I'm really interested in talking to you about and learning about because this involves understanding the project lifecycle and share with us what that actually means. Yes, so here's the thing with project management. Is I remember, so my last role, I was actually a marketing project manager and I remember when I applied for that role, I was like, I'm not a project manager. I don't have a PMP certificate. But as it turns out, one thing that I've learned through project management is that at the end of the day, we are all project managers. Our projects just might look different and our certifications and our education might look different from one another. So for me, and I'll be honest, if you go Google project management, you're gonna fall down a really deep rabbit hole of all project management theory and things that you really might not need to know. So I've kind of honed you down to four steps that I think are really helpful for understanding the project lifecycle. And it's not something that you have to remember day in and day out, but it just kind of helps guide you for each project that you're doing, whether it's a donor solicitation or a video or an event. To me, it's all projects and it all happens the same way. So the first step is the planning phase. So that's where you get the team together. You're deciding what the scope of the project is, what the timeline of the project is gonna be, who your team members are, who's actually gonna help you out with this project, you brainstorm on what exactly you wanna do, what the goals are. It's really just kind of sitting down and getting all that brainstorming done. And fun fact, if the brainstorming sessions ever get a little bit stale, have everybody stand up and change feet. And that kind of gets everything flowing again. A new perspective, yes. Yes, exactly. So once you're done with the planning part, you move to the implementation part. So just for the sake of an example, we'll talk about an event. Maybe you're hosting a pretty big fundraising gala. And so once you kind of plan what you wanna do, the implementation part is where you're gonna be creating the communications pieces that you're gonna be sending out to everyone. That's where you're going to decide on the linens and the food and the vendors and the audio visual and all of that kind of stuff. That's really your implementation phase. After that is the execution phase. So we plan the event, we start making it happen, and then we execute it. And so the execution phase is sometimes really short, especially if it's an event, it may only be an hour, maybe a couple months depending on whatever kind of project you're working on. But the execution phase is really where you make it happen. So that's where you put all of your planning and all of your implementation things together, and you've got this event. Now with projects, a lot of people think that you know, okay, the project is done, the campaign is done, we're done, we did it. But yeah, it was beyond that. I always tell people an event is basically never over because especially with an event, it's a really great way to connect with those donors and you want those relationships to keep going even after the event. So the final step is the recap. And so I always tell people, this is a really great time to figure out what your follow-up strategy is going to be for after the event. Are we going to send thank you emails? Are we going to send thank you letters and that kind of thing? Are we going to make an ask of some kind? That's also a great way to look at your qualitative and your quantitative data. So get the stories, get kind of that gut feeling feedback on how your project went, but also take a look at your expenses, your revenue, your return on investment, figure out if you made money, if you lost money, if your brand awareness was out there, just kind of figure out your ROI in terms of that. And actually one of my favorite things and my last job, which I've actually taken over into my role at UNT as well, is I love the recap phase because it's also a great time to sit down with your project team. So I have what we call our plus delta meetings. And so we sit down and we talk about what went well. So the pluses. And we talk about what are some opportunities for change in the future, our deltas. So that's kind of understanding the whole project lifecycle. And again, that's very, it's a simple version, but I think it's the kind of version that we all, it's very realistic, it's the kind of version that we all find ourselves in all the time. So like I said, you're welcome to do some more research on it and you're going to see a lot of other steps, 10 steps, 20 steps with the project lifecycle, but these four steps are really good for just kind of helping you stay on track with all the different projects you've got. I love those four. And we could absolutely have you back to talk specifically on those four. I think I have a question of, do you reverse engineer this timeline? That's typically what I do, Jesse. If I know there's an event, here's the event. So what do I need to do six months ahead of that? Eight, six weeks, eight weeks. Sometimes it is six months ahead of that, right? Depending on the event. So is that one of the tools that you recommend that we use and implement? Oh, absolutely. And especially since a lot of my projects are marketing-based, so they're very communications-based. So for sending out direct mailers, it's really important to think of, okay, when do I want it to drop? So in that case, when do I need to put it in the mail? So then in that case, when do I need to have it printed? So then when do I need to have it designed? And give yourself plenty of time. Marketing is no joke. Give yourself tons of time to get these projects in place. So one of these pieces that really makes me want to explore is your strategy number four, and that's asking for help. Because I know that when you're used to doing so many things yourself or just becoming frustrated because somebody else on the team isn't working and so you're like, I'll just take care of it myself. You know, that's a classic, classic trap to fall into. How do you determine when it is time to ask for help and then managing that request? That is a fantastic question. And honestly, I'll be completely honest with you. Strategy number four has been the hardest thing for me to learn. I mean, according to my family, I don't know what they're talking about, but according to my family, I am terrible at asking for help. I'm just the worst. I don't want to bother people. Again, it's that people-pleasing, right? So it's a big time-waster. So one thing that I've really had to do is I've had to remember, somebody explained it to me very, very well once, that whenever I ask for help, it's giving me the opportunity to grow in that particular realm, but it's also giving other people the opportunity to grow their skill set. And so I had somebody tell me once, quit taking away people's opportunity to learn. And obviously we want to be kind, right? Like I don't want to just put everything on my team and say, okay, you guys do it and delegate literally everything. So it's being really intentional. And so one other thing that's helped me is, obviously, you know, we all work in nonprofits, we're very mission-driven and that mission is something that really helps me figure out, okay, if I want to do X, Y and Z, if X, Y and Z needs to be done, is it for the betterment of our organization? Or am I just, you know, being a little too proud or I don't want to share something or just frustrated, I'll just do it myself, you know, and that kind of thing. So those are the two things that have really helped me. And honestly, there are times when I sit at my desk and I literally tell myself, don't take away their opportunity to learn. Is this helping the organization? And sometimes you really have to get, you know, at that base level, especially if you're not great at asking for help. But I've noticed that ever since I started doing those two things, it's really been easier for me to help. And I just trust that my team will tell me, like, Jesse, I'm sorry, I can't help you with that or heck yeah, of course I can. So I just trust that we're all adults and we'll all communicate with each other and we'll just be honest when we can or can extend that help. I love that. One of the things I always talk about, and especially when I work with my clients and I coach them in a team setting, I'm doing the reverse engineer and I literally have this huge piece of paper on the board and sticky notes all over. I mean, I love the ideation, mapping things out stage. That's probably one of my favorite areas. But really identifying what is your zone of genius, right? And so Jesse, if your title is fill in the blank and your job is fill in the blank, it doesn't mean that someone else on your team and again, you can put your name in there, not Jesse, but I'm picking on her right now. That I could just say, okay, I'm really good at this thing and I know that this is on your plate and I know that this is your responsibility, but if it's okay, I would love to play a part or a role in that and to be, I think not only to ask for help, but to be willing to offer, provide help, especially in a space that you are so great at because that really could be the win, win, the true piece of the recipe for the successful event. And I just think that's a great opportunity is to identify based off of everyone's to-do list, where do you really shine and where might you be able to be of service to your team? Yeah, and honestly, I'm a big, I mean, I'm sure as everyone can see here, I'm very, I love to talk and I love people and I get really energized by being around others. And so I care a lot about team building and I love Strength Finder and Myers-Briggs and I really love understanding kind of what people's strengths are. And when you have a good understanding of what strengths are available on your team, again, you're giving everybody the opportunity to grow and enhance their skills, but you're also making it for your organization is that much more efficient and effective because you're using everybody to their full potential, which is really fantastic. Yeah, you're moving the organization forward in other projects that might not reveal themselves immediately. And then you get to reap those benefits as you're moving forward in a way you might not ever really understand, but all of a sudden something just clicks or something's a lot easier to achieve. And that brings me to our last strategy and it's hard to believe that we've blown through our time together this morning, but setting yourself up for success, what does that look like to you? Yeah, and we've kind of already touched on it a little bit, but to me, setting yourself up for success kind of has two pathways to that. So first, burnout is real. I said that, you know, and honestly, it was always one of those things for me that I was like, oh, burnout's real, yeah, yeah, yeah. Until I experienced it, it is real. It slows you down, it makes you feel lethargic, you don't get as much done. And even people on my team, when I experienced it, they told me, they said, Jesse, you know, things seem a little bit different with you. And so I ended up taking some vacation time to kind of reset my brain and get back into the swing of things. And one reason that I experienced that was because I did not set myself up for success properly. So setting yourself up for success means that you are dedicating time to your life. I know that we all work in nonprofits, we all care so much about our mission, which is great, but it can also be a detriment because sometimes we care, we experience that compassion fatigue, right? So it's important to take that time, turn off your phone, turn off your laptop, go spend some time with your dogs, go spend some time with your kids, go spend some time kayaking, or getting outside or going on walks or painting or whatever it is that brings you joy, make sure you do that because your professional world is super important. But remember that your professional world has a lot of other support and a lot of other people who can help and your personal life is more important in my opinion. And it's all about creating a well-rounded individual. So taking that time to yourself and to really give yourself time and give yourself breaks, mental, physical, everything breaks. And then the other part of that is living, kind of day to day setting yourself up for success. So I mentioned that I enjoy going to the gym and I know that that's not really, not everyone loves that and that's okay, but just staying active in some way, whether it's going on a walk with your dogs or just taking a walk around the park or playing with your kids, something that just kind of gets you moving, gets the blood flowing, gets you active a little bit, staying hydrated, especially in Arizona is very important or in my case, in North Texas, same thing, stay hydrated, eating foods that are really good for you and nourishing. And I know that this kind of sounds like she's just lecturing me on how to live my life. And that's not the case. It really does make a whole, it makes a world of difference. I can feel the difference when I eat, Taco Bell, I love Taco Bell. I can feel the difference between eating Taco Bell versus eating chicken and cauliflower and that kind of thing. And sleep is so important. Don't ever underestimate the value of a great night's sleep. So make sure that you have a great bed, you've got a good sleep routine and everything and all these things, I know that they don't seem important for time and project management, but they really are because if you feel lethargic, you're not gonna give it your best. They play a critical, they play a critical role. They really do. And while, when most people maybe looked at the first slide, the visual representation here of, things to do to be successful, you might have thought that there was gonna be another professional task conference seminar to attend. And it's really sometimes just looking back at yourself, what are you doing to take care of yourself as well as your team, reminding your team the same, to take care of yourself so we can continue to show up and be of service to other people. That's been a really challenging lesson for me, especially as an entrepreneur, as a single parent, I've got a lot on my plate and I too am a, I don't need help. I can do it kind of person, I can do this. And it really does go to show that like so much of these little day-to-day choices that we have, do I drink coffee all day or do I drink water all day? Although this is actually water in my coffee cup. Today it is, but I too can tell the difference. And I too love Taco Bell, although they took one of my favorite things off the menu. But really looking at, okay, how am I fulfilling myself, my body, my nutrition, my sleep? We had a guest on Mika Whitlock with a mindful techie and wow, did he blow my mind. One of the things he taught, and I have put into practice is know your Zoom number. And as he said, it's kind of like the sleep bed, you know, like you really need to know your number. Mine is three, like no more than three Zoom meetings during one given day. Now that doesn't mean that I'm done, I'm stopping work, but it might mean that we take a phone call, an old school phone call, or we schedule for another day in which I don't have more than three Zoom meetings. And so that also helps me build up, you know, ways to be successful in my everyday life. So, so grateful to have you on, Jesse. Everything you shared has just been really fabulous. Jesse's story joined us today all the way from North Texas. Jesse is the director of marketing and membership at the University of North Texas. So glad to have you. And I really would like to get you back to talk about those four phases, because I think that would be really helpful and beneficial to all of us. You touched on each of those four phases, but maybe if we could break it down a little further, I think would be wonderful. Absolutely, I would love to. Great. Hey, everybody, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I've been joined today by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. We wanna make sure that we thank our presenting sponsors without you, we would not be here having this amazing discussion with Jesse's story. One of many discussions that we have every day, it's different. It really, we work really hard to find people that can talk about things going on in the nonprofit sector and our sponsors help us achieve that. So we wanna thank them. Don't forget, we've launched a new program called Fundraising Events TV, hosted by Jason Champion. It's an in-depth look at the actual practice and I would say specialty of operating fundraising events. We like to say from golf to galleys, from ballrooms to barns, we get you covered. So check us out at Fundraising Events TV. Okay, I got a lot to do today, Jared, and I'm thinking I'm gonna be able to do it better because I have some great ideas. Good, you could ask for help as well. And I know I am guilty. That is a really hard thing for many of us to do. You know that about me. Well, I think it's about all of us, but Jesse, I like the way you reframed it is, is this giving that individual an opportunity to learn and grow, as well as I've heard it too when someone asks for help, when we say no, we're basically shutting them down from doing something that they want to do. They want to help. And so I've also reframed it that way, which has been extremely helpful. So I know we all have a lot to do, but I hope that today's episode with Jesse really helped you. And I hope that you'll join us here back tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday as I double check. So join us tomorrow for Ask and Answered. We are off on Monday celebrating the holiday, but until then, we ask you to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you all back here tomorrow.