Association Hustle

 

 

Top business advice and exit strategy for new business owners.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here are a few things I learned from the acquisition of The Moery Company:

* Grow your business.

80% of your time early on should be on business development and sales. You need to have a few things in place to make that happen:

* Good data.

* If you don't know who to contact, who to call, who to send a solicitation marketing piece to, you are nowhere.

* Communication and content bent towards thought leadership.

* We produce a podcast and videos multiple times a week that helps expand our brand awareness.

* Contact prospects directly.

* "Hey, I thought you might be interested in this podcast I just did on membership development. Here's a link to it." You always want to be present and always around.

This way, it's not always about you selling; you'll have good data, you'll be connecting with people, communicating regularly, providing value, and you'll be continuing to send direct messages to those individuals. This is how you grow a business.

* Don't hire your first employees until it's physically painful and you can't go any further.

* You're going to be responsible for them. You'll feel the responsibility of feeding them. Most of the time, you have another gear left, and you can go ahead and go to the next level regarding your work and activity.

* You must build infrastructure as you hire. It isn't easy to extricate those processes or shut those things down. So realize as you're growing and expanding, you're building more capacity, but you're also going to be responsible for more infrastructure, which takes brainpower and work. Frankly, a lot of that's going to come back on you.

* Increase your pricing by about 25%.

* I guarantee you, the services that you offer are underpriced. Many times, you'll be afraid early that you're not going to get the job, but you'll get the work.   Later you're going to be scared of going broke while you're doing the work. So go ahead and increase your pricing by about 25%. See what happens.

* I didn't do it that way, and then I had legacy clients that weren't paying enough for the services we provided. And it wasn't easy to bring them up. So think about where your floor will be and then increase 25%.

* Staffing and personnel relationships are two-way streets.

* It's all about the staff. The staff has leverage with their presence, and you have leverage with their salary. It's fair to be that way.

 

Let's talk about the exit strategy.

* Think about it early on because you got to be ready when the opportunity comes. When my exit strategy came up,

 

 

4 trends you should look out for as you head into a year of growth and success.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here are four or five items that I expect to be trends as you head into a year of growth and success.

 

Member dues escalation and implementing cost of living increases will be more prevalent in 22.

From all the client activity that I'm seeing right now, membership dues escalation and implementing cost of living will continue to become the norm. Another part of that is that associations are looking at new and adjacent membership groups or demographics they may not have served before. Once that starts to happen, we have more influence, more grassroots networks, and more capacity to reach folks that our benefits and services can serve. Eventually, they'll want to attend meetings and events.

 

Continued growth of micro-credentialing from associations.

You're going to see these little areas of emphasis, expertise, small training classes, little micro-credentialing, and certifications. I think it's going to become the norm for not only this being offered by associations, but by all sorts of educational groups.

 

Increasing surge volunteerism.

One of the things that we're starting to see from our younger demographics is they necessarily don't want to stay around for 20 years to be on our committee. They want to get involved in something that they're passionate or interested in, and then they want to move on. This is specifically going to be designed to connect younger members with our organization.  

 

We will continue to see soft event participation from a live event perspective.

Some organizations will see a surge in activity and high attendance rates, but I think we'll see soft attendance by large. Probably off maybe 10% of our previous 2019 levels. Membership development is an ongoing process, and that will be one of the themes of this year.

 

There's one thing that we know, membership segments, membership development, recruitment, retention, and engagement is going to become much more ingrained in association DNA.

 

Those are some of the items I look forward to seeing in 2022. I look forward to being with you on the journey. Talk soon.

 

 

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page. 

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

 

 

8 things CEOs should consider going into 2022.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here are some goals that I think leaders could consider for 2022.

* Call every single customer.

I learned this tactic from my mentor, Red Cavaney, who was the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. He had a set of 3x5 notecards that had the name and phone number of every single member of the organization. He would call them and then put them at the bottom of the deck.  Then he would call the next one and put them at the bottom of the deck. Whenever he had 10-15 minutes worth of time, he would work through that deck every single year. The value here is staying connected.

* C players.

In terms of personnel, you have C players or mediocrity in every organization. If you give them one quarter to adapt, and change, but they don’t improve, it’s time they need to move on.

* Do you really understand the business model of your organization?

What services, NOW - not five years ago, are generating the most revenue?  What clients are bringing the most to the table? Not because of the money, but because it is what is most valued by the market. The market doesn't care about you, and the things that are resonating in the market are the items that you should be replicating and scaling.

* Establish a goal of doubling down on your content generation.

This is the golden age of thought leadership.  We probably have 12-24 months before we start seeing a decline, just like we saw on email open rates, the fax machine, etc.  It's your time to capture mindshare this year. This doesn't mean marketing, this means advice, counsel, thoughts, and observations. As a leader, people want to see this from you. The leaders that are skipping this part of their portfolio are making a big mistake. Go generate revenue on your own projects. CEOs and leaders should be involved in sales and business development because you’ll learn about the things that resonate. If you're listening, the market will telling you what they value the most from your company or your association.

* Develop a “not to do list”.

There are people clients and activities that are time suck and more than likely you know it. As a leader you can give this to someone else or eliminate the activity. Be self-aware.

* Pursue a merger or acquisition.

There are a lot of chips on the table right now. Long term, you may want to take some off or you may want to put some on.  There's lots of liquidity going on right now, people are looking for deals.  Part of it is they recognize that they can't accomplish their mission or goals without dynamic change.

* Hire someone better than you are in a particular area.

Hire somebody to take on some of your responsibilities, but make sure that they are better than you are. Go into some new areas that will invigorate and keep you sharp.

* Give back.

Endorse someone on LinkedIn, write a thank you letter to someone that's helped you out, etc. It will make you grateful and make you happy. If you're grateful, happy, having a good time, you're going to be a better CEO than you were last year.

I hope this was helpful to you. I really appreciate all your support. Talk next week on the Association Hustle.

 

 

Insights from a previous staff member, association manager and entrepreneurial leader on what your boss really wants but might not say.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

1. As an individual team member, own your career.

Ask yourself these questions from a professional development perspective.  Are you training yourself? Are you learning? Are you engaged? Are you participating in professional development opportunities?  You own your career, you own the professional development and learning aspect of it.

2. Show up.

“Showing up” now with remote work is a bit more nuanced. Get there early, stay late, be engaged and be totally present. I guarantee you it's going to resonate with your leadership.

3. Meet the deadline.

I don't expect perfection, it's never going to be perfect.  When it's late and not perfect, now we're really jammed up.  Meet the deadlines, discuss them and be clear about them. Your leaders and your team members are depending on you to deliver at a certain time. This also is something that bosses need to recognize. Don't be late in giving feedback to your team because it's going to jam them up.

4. Come to me with a problem and a solution.

I realize that everything is not silver spoons, but also come to me with something that can be done to fix it and your role in fixing that issue.

5. I want feedback.

We want feedback just like you do.  Clarity is the goal, but let's discuss how it is delivered. Weekly one on ones or weekly reports are a great opportunity to batch your feedback and batch your progress on certain items.

6. Transparency.

I believe people primarily first quit the boss, then the job. Most research says that pay is not the main reason why people are dissatisfied, and I think that's the biggest myth in the association space.  Compensation leaks into every career discussion. Be confident that if you deserve compensation adjustments to bring that to the boss, but also be prepared if the answer is no.

7. Self-awareness and corporate awareness.

Your number one priority should be your career, but I also want you to recognize I have to manage 12 to 15 desires, their career trajectory, and make the best call for everybody. The number one way to wear out your welcome is to be a high profile, me, me me attitude.

8. Can-do attitude and a smile.

The best thing I can see from members of my team, what the boss really wants from you is a can-do attitude and a smile.  Just a great attitude and a smile. I'm not looking for perfection. I'm not looking for people to hit home runs every day, but effort, positivity and candor are going to take you far.

I hope they're helpful for you as you continue to grow, improve and excel. Can't wait till next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page. 

Subscribe to our

 

 

Here are multiple ways to assess the state of the association industry for 2022.  

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

A prelude to the state of the industry.

 

First, attention to association work is going to increase over the next several years. 

 

There is a lot of attention on the stories of organizations, what they do, and how they lead people, but sometimes we only get half the story. There's a lot of coverage of stories with members leaving trade associations. The attention is always on the folks that don't renew or quit.

 

If a large company chooses to leave, it's news. It's a reflection on the association's CEO's leadership and the direction of the association, but my point is, where is the reflection on the corporate CEOs leadership and the company's direction? They're the ones choosing to leave that great organization.

 

Let's keep our eye on the ball on who we should be asking the questions. Not only the association but more so on the company that's leaving.

 

Next, entrenched issues are now being addressed, that can't be avoided or ignored any longer. 

 

Unprecedented adjustment in our governance models, to diversify our leadership, to address the market realities of better company representation, but most importantly finding the skills that our associations need within the executives to lead the board and manage the governance of that association. Too many times we are focused on the company and the executives within the company, and not the skills that we need to take the organization forward.

 

Membership growth and proactive membership development programs are being assessed by CEOs. Languishing membership programs drag down supplier relationships and partnerships, which is important to our top-line revenue, and our event and program attendance because we don't have engaged members.

 

Workforce. I see this oddly in our motor racing sponsorships that I'm working on. These companies are using the sport to engage employees, recruit new ones, be a part of the team, and showcase that company for people that may want to work for it. They're doing it at the track, they're doing it through social media, and they're even taking the car and the driver to plants to engage with employees.

 

Finally, a new leadership paradigm is emerging.

 

CEOs are going to be assessed in a lot of different ways. Do they have diversification on their staff? Do they have diversified views on that team? It’s the end of looking over your shoulder leadership, in place we have remote teams. How are remote teams managed and led? The more flexible you can be, the more likely you’re going to keep your best people.

 

Overall associations have been slow to change, but we have been through so much unprecedented change our staff and members don’t seem like it’s a big deal. They're going to apply that to their association relationship. Adapt, be self-aware and watch the market. It's your choice, you can decide whether to do that or continue to operate the way you used to.

 

 

Don’t get caught going into 2022 flat footed.  Here are 3 tactics to lead you to success.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

The first quarter is absolutely foundational to a good year.  How do you close out? How do you tee yourself up? I've got some ideas.

First, close up your existing pipeline.

* Deals need to go up, they need to go out, and they need to get off your plate.  I want as few outstanding deals leaking into next year, because they take up time and they take up energy.

Second, I want to buckle down on prospecting through January 1st.

* Prospecting Stages: keep in mind that every sale needs to go through several stages.

* Awareness: do they know who you are?

* Familiarity: are they familiar with what you do? What are the services and benefits that you provide?

* Consideration: are they considering working with you based on their awareness, the familiarity with what you have to offer?

* Offer: then they move into the offer? Are they going to look at an offer from this company

* Action/Decision: yes or no?

Third, I want to mention planning. 

* Put together key portions of your 2022 plan.  Scheduled it. Where, when, what the key themes are, etc.  You want to be executing on January 4, not fixing to get ready.

Prospect, plan, and close out the pipeline.  These are the best ways to succeed for next year, which are very much dependent on how you end this year.

I wish you the very best. Thank you for listening. I can't wait to chat with you again next week on the Association Hustle.

 

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page. 

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

 

 

The most popular podcast episodes, clicked on stories, reposted blogs, and engaged content were about failure, not the things we did right. 

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Posting failure content came across as vulnerable and authentic, but it wasn't just that. I wanted to give the people what they wanted. I wanted to fall on my sword, and share the trials and tribulations that I went through.

But today I want to tell you about what I did right, I want to pass those along too.  Here are 10 things that were successful.

First, I started a flexible workspace for my staff more than a decade ago, before it was in vogue or before we were forced into it.  Work was what you did, not where you were.

Two, a healthy sales mentality where we were obligated to let the prospects know about the opportunity, and then we sorted people out that were not interested. That was healthy and was successful. We didn't get all wrapped around the axle about when we were told no, or when we received objections.  We're just sorting people out.

Three, we developed a sales and business development platform that charged a retainer. Lots of people in the space will sell for free, and frankly, that is a cop out. It's easy for the salesperson to ignore if the value proposition is bad, they just won't sell it anymore.  It doesn't encourage the client to collaborate or invest in the relationship because they have no skin in the game. So, we had a different model, we're going to charge you a retainer for the work, plus commission.  I think that gave both people an obligation and commitment to the relationship.

Four, we were willing to give away all the best tips through social media, webinars, speeches, and our entire thought leadership platform, because we had an abundance mindset.  If someone wants to take the idea and run with it, well good for them.

Five, I recognized that people knew what they should do, but most often they won't.  We were pretty intensive about execution and did what many people thought was a good idea in the first place. That's how we were different.

Six, accept that business is very personal.  That doesn't mean I don't have a healthy relationship with objection, I do. This keeps the word “no” from being crushing to you. But I also recognize that being successful in an entrepreneurial endeavor takes everything that you have, and that means your full being which is very personal.

Seven, burn the boats. Over the last couple decades, I've run into great people who would be fantastic entrepreneurs, but they were not willing to commit 100%.  As a result, they had these little projects that were just a series of side hustle after side hustle. Eventually the main job became a side hustle, too.  As a result, they weren't really excellent at anything. Burn the boats, 100% commitment makes you much more focused. In healthy way it also makes you kind of desperate, realizing that if this doesn't work out, you don't have another option.

Eight, transparency around the numbers of the business. I always showed our team the profit/loss every month, that way they would have had more understanding about the decision-making process, and they knew more about the business. Now, they didn't always agree with the decisions that I was going to make around the business,

 

 

Listen to this podcast to discover what the 2 key factors are to any successful consulting project.

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

When The Moery Company started up 10 plus years ago, almost 100% of our work was in business development and sales, but coming out of that, we start to get a lot of consulting projects.

Questions we asked ourselves when The Moery Company started taking on consulting projects: is the value proposition right for our organization? Do we have the right dues structure? Does it need to be modernized? Does our governance fit with the organization needs for the future? Does our org chart have the right people in the right seats? That type of thing started to evolve and come out of the revenue development operation.

I faced several decisions to make in consulting,

* I was worried that I wouldn't get enough projects. That was absolutely not the case. I had this bias that if I just had projects, and I had work, everything was going to be okay.

* I made the mistake of not being very thoughtful about my pricing structure that was fundamentally wrong. You can work your ass off and not make any money. I only negotiated downwards. I knew the floor, but I never tested the ceiling. My guess is you're unaware of the ceiling and you know the floor. Think about how you can move your pricing up and how you can escalate the service and deliver more and charge more because my guess is you have more altitude than you think.

Now once we got the project, what did it look like?

The more consulting I did, the more important I found a good process was imperative to having a successful project.  My colleague, Joe Bates, really helped me with this, he followed a couple of different items that I want to pass on to you now.

* We had a set agenda and a launch meeting that addressed all the different scope areas of the project.

* After that launch meeting, we established a timeline that we sent to the client, and they agreed to.

* We had biweekly meetings. Some projects require weekly meetings, but most of them are biweekly 30 minute recurring meetings, where we review the project, we review the timeline, and we address any gaps that might exist. I also like to drop in a little Friday written update very helpful.

The projects that are least successful are those where there's a lack of communication between the client and the consulting firm.

I want to address a couple of things regarding the end game and the end of the project.

* Be clear in the agreement that there's one final presentation of the work and have a final date for when that program is finished. A project can leak into more work scope, creep additional appearances, and that really takes a lot of time and time is money. Additional presentations need to be extra.

* In the early days, I was very nervous about telling that client about other projects that we could do for them that we discovered during the initial consulting project. Now I'm not concerned about that. Believe me, if you have good project, the client wants to keep working with you. Give them that opportunity.

I hope this content was helpful for you today. I'm certainly pulling for you. And I can't wait to speak next week on the association hustle.

 

 

Founder, JP Moery, talks about false metrics, or questions we ask of businesses that aren't relevant to their optimal performance and success.

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I went through this during my incredible journey of growing a business and how people would assess us. I’ve pulled together false metrics that we had asked us.

1st False Metric: how many employees do you have? 

What an antiquated system of evaluation. First, we're hiring fewer employees, we have more consultants and 1099 in all our organizations than ever before. There seems to be a risk involved with dealing with a small operation. We’ve lost some business because we were not as big as some of the competition, but I can guarantee you small and nimble can be much more effective and less bureaucratic. I can guarantee you that some of the smallest single entrepreneurs or solo entrepreneurs do the best work in the business.

2nd False Metric: where's your office?

Many people in the association business have this infatuation with K Street or Washington DC. I watch associations all the time, I've worked with great ones, and I've worked with not so hot ones. Where they're located or what their addresses are has nothing to do with the value they bring to the organizations that they serve.

3rd False Metric: how much sales activity did you have?  

I was a big fan of a lot of activity for a long time in terms of sales, but I changed my mind when I started looking at the data. If you don't hustle and stay engaged enough with prospects, you will lose them. That is a major problem and challenge for most companies and associations, they don't have enough activity. It's quality engagement, quality hustle, it's good reps that are most important, not how many actions you had this day or that week.  

4th False Metric: how much money did you raise? 

In the entrepreneurial world, it's a big quote, “we raise X amount of money in our series” or whatever it is. What people realize is that you've just given away a portion of your business, when you raise money or when you get funding. In fact, you're working for those people, you're working for them. Isn't that why you got into the entrepreneurial game in the first place, so you could work for yourself? So, if you want to work for someone else, don't become an entrepreneur, don't take funding. I'm a huge fan of bootstrap.

Again, how much money did you make? Not a relevant question because it doesn't reflect your culture, the joy you get from working and collaborating with the teams and the clients. It's a less relevant measurement and metric than ever before. And believe me, I've been through both sides of that. It had nothing to do with the happiness and the joy I had on the job.

The final thing I want to mention to you is to be thoughtful about what you want to measure, your core goals, your core values, etc.  The way you set up your team and what they think the measurements should be our most important. Then you have to see if that matches up to the marketplace.

I hope this content was helpful to you. I love bringing it to you. I can't wait to chat with you next week on the association hustle.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media?

 

 

Let's start a business together! I want to talk about some of the things that I went through as I started to launch The Moery Company.

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

1. Job Descriptions

I wrote job descriptions for every single role in the company three years ahead. I projected three years down the road, what jobs were going to be needed in The Moery Company.  That was helpful because when I wrote out the jobs and the primary responsibilities, I signed my name to them.  I realized, in the very beginning, I was going to be responsible for all those functions, because it was just me.

2. Establish a strong sales operation

Three steps that you should consider as you develop the sales operation.

* First, you have to have great data.

I'm starting a new racing sponsorship effort right now, and it's still about who's the right person? What's the contact information? Is it an audience that makes sense for my business? If you don't have that critical information in place, you have nothing.

* Second, how are you going to track your sales and marketing information?

I’ve used Salesforce in the past, and in fact I just bought a brand new Salesforce subscription today for myself.  I've got to keep track of who I'm talking to, and where is this deal in the sales process?  What stage might it be in? If I don't know those things, I'll lose track very quickly.

* Third, what is the script in the narrative?

You built this infrastructure, so you have the right people to talk to. Now what if they decide to talk to you? How are you going to explain your value? I have talking points on the value proposition that I'm offering. It includes things like, why do other companies buy, or why do other companies join my association? What are specific examples that I have of their success when they did join?

3. Getting started and maximizing your value

We're trying to eliminate fear and mistakes from the buyer. So many sales don't occur because we didn't eliminate enough risk.  We've got to do that in our pitch, then you're ready to go to market.

4. Hiring Process

If you want to hire someone, here are some tips on hiring the first, second or third salesperson in your organization.

* I love to hire underdogs. Somebody that's got something to prove, a chip on their shoulder. Giving somebody a chance is a noble thing, and you start by giving them a substantial emotional deposit when you do hire them.

* If you're bootstrapping your business, it's going to be hard to compete or land the blue chippers. Sometimes you get value from folks that have been outcast by other organizations or just need a helping hand.   The people that have hit a rough spot is possibly because the average business didn't train, coach, or pay enough attention to them.  They didn't build a culture that you're going to build in your organization. So often, it's the company's fault, not the person.

* As you grow, you're going to learn that this hiring process is essential to your business. You're going to spend more time on personnel matters on HR. In fact, probably 75% of my time was spent on people matters. Making sure the culture was good, giving feedback, encouragement, etc.  You're going to be spending so much time with and on people,