SHORTS 5 | Melanie Ulle, CEO/FOUNDER at Philanthropy Expert

Welcome to the Loco Shorts Podcast from Loco Think Tank. In this podcast series, Loco Business Developer Rory Shah will help unfold bite-sized business learnings through the crazy experiences the business owners face along their small business journey. Listen in and listen up because these short business stories may just have the secret ingredient to taking your business to its next level of success. Alright, let's get started. So I'm Rory Shah. I'm with Loco Think Tank and of course this is the Loco Shorts Podcast. Today I get to talk to Melanie Uli. She has been with the Land of Reexpert for 10 years and I had no idea with that long. So I'm really excited to unpack your business journey and hear a little bit about what you went through personally to get to where you are now. So Melanie, welcome and why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself. Thanks for hosting me Rory. So yeah, my company has been around for almost 10 years. I can talk to you in a bit about my sorted past but I've been working with nonprofits in political campaigns my entire career and philanthropy expert is really just the most recent iteration of that work. And I have a small team of six they're located in Denver. I am now located in Fort Collins, obviously. But our clients are all over the country and and I'm excited to tell you about what we do. Yeah, I'm excited to know more about like the nuances and the depths of your services. I like hearing your business name full philanthropy expert and makes me think of a lot of different things. But how do you show up to those that you serve and what do you do? So we we have a few different pieces of our business predominantly we are a nonprofit fundraising firm. And so we raise money for organizations, major gifts, foundation relations, events, galas, you know, anything you could imagine for nonprofit fundraising we basically do. And so we become often sort of the outsourced development department for a nonprofit organization. We do a little bit of political work so we work on a number of valid initiatives predominantly wide local mostly statewide just because those are bigger and need to raise more money. And then we do a little piece of our business is philanthropic advising to companies and to family offices. So we'll work with a, you know, a family or a business, sorry, those are my dogs, I also have dogs. Me too. Oh, hi. Do you mind if I shut this door really fast? Thank you. Where was I? Sorry. Oh, philanthropic advising. Okay. So we will work with a family that's had a recent liquidity event or have some reason that their circumstances have changed usually because they have come into a larger sum of wealth. And we help them to decide where they're going to give those dollars. How they're going to, you know, create a family mission and vision statement and how they're going to live that. We do the same for corporations. So we've worked with really big corporations. We've worked with tiny little corporations. A little LLCs kind of has run a lot of banks and just helping them to give back to the community in a really meaningful way. So that's the last piece of our business. Got it. And tell me more about like how do you find your clients or did they find you in that sense? So, and this is something that we always have. This is like the biggest frustration of the company is we have never proactively looked for business before. And so we're 100% referral based and so all of our referrals come from typically our our previous clients. So that is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we don't have to look for work occurs because we don't then look for work. So we probably should be, you know, saying these are the kind of companies I want to work with or these are the kind of nonprofits I want to work with and then proactively reaching out to them. We've just never done it. It's something that we talk about all the time like we need to be grownups who like look for business and then we just don't so. Absolutely. Well, it's always hard. I mean, when it's coming to you too and you're getting referrals, you're, you're, you're clients to somewhat full. So we stay really busy and that is that has been the issue and that's, you know, a lot of business owners issue is just. And then growth and sort of the chicken and egg of deciding if you want to, you know, scale up your team to meet the needs. Or to meet future needs or if you want to just sort of continue with the bandwidth that you have and and say no to work. Right. We've done thus far. It's okay. Yeah, it's, it's a fine line because sometimes if your team gets strained and there's projects that you want to grow into, but you need more personnel or like you said, you just, you just don't take on those projects. That's how it works thus far is that we, we just don't do it. And that is kind of nice because you can say no to the work that is the, the least appealing. Yeah, we've had the luxury of being really thoughtful about which ones we, we decide to work with. So that's been, that's been nice. I think it would be a distinct honor to be able to work with a family who went through a loss and they, they can turn that around and kind of turn it into something bigger and impactful and potentially beautiful. And you're there guiding them through that. So how do you perceive that and what does it like to work with families where you're then creating a mission statement for a family that that's tremendous and I think pretty unique. Yeah, you know, working with families is really challenging because typically when we work with a family, it's multi generational. So the needs and the desires and wants of a first generation, family member, you know, the person who let's say built the business versus the second generation and third generation, those are often, often very different. And so trying to sort of meld all of those. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's, it's, it's hard work, but it is very, very satisfying and I actually recommend that people regardless of their own capacity and wealth that they do this personally because it really gives you the power to dive into something that you really care about or some things that you really care about versus spreading yourself really thin. If you let's say you're only giving $100 a year away, because you're 25 or whatever, you know, you don't have the means to be a typical philanthropist, I guess, you really should be really thoughtful about where that $100 goes, because that's your entire budget for the year, right? So I encourage people to do that, regardless of the amounts that they're giving away. That brings up a good point, because when I think of a philanthropist, I think of like someone that's crazy rich and no one I know, they, they shape the community. But truly, you can give in any amount, even if you said it's $100 a year, or just a few dollars each month. So what do you tell people when you're talking about what you do and maybe even encouraging and educating them about what philanthropy means and how it's kind of activated in your in your eyes. I mean, the most, the biggest gift that was ever given to the Denver Art Museum in history came from a Denver Public Schools teacher. And so you just never, you never know and people come into dollars at different parts of their lives. And so being the kind of person who has discipline and in their giving will serve, serve you. When the time comes, when you can make a really big meaningful gift, and that big meaningful gift, you know, yes, maybe it's $100 now, and it's going to be $1,000 at the end of your life, maybe it's going to be a million dollars, maybe it's going to be $100 million at the end of your life. But I would rather be able to look back at my life and say I was able to do this versus I was a dilatant and I participated in a bunch of different things and none of it made much of an impact, you know, a lot of little stuff rather than like a big one. Yeah, but also, you know, a lot of times the biggest gifts come, you know, when you're dead. And so there are state gifts. And so again, not just discipline, but like having the focus and the passion for something. I don't know that just is so much more interesting to me than than the way that most people do philanthropy, which is frankly not very disciplined or focused. So I just try to encourage people to do that because I think that that leaves a more satisfying legacy. Yeah, it makes me think of a podcast I was listening to and an exercise that I'm sure a lot of people have done themselves, but imagine your life if you had $50 million and you didn't have to pay for X, Y, and Z and basically everything cost wise in your life was taken care of, then what would you do? And to me, it opened up in this I was I was walking my dog and I was able to access a different thought than I usually have when I go through I can start exercises like that. And it's like, yeah, just like it opened up a place where like I wanted to give back to the community and impact was a big word. And like you said, legacy is a big thing and it's sometimes hard to know how to approach that but thinking about like pointing your life in that direction and what you're saying is having this big culminating gift or life purpose that could be shared with someone else, even past your life is a really cool thing. It's really really interesting and awesome that you're in that space or it could just be volunteerism right like which isn't just that I'm just saying if you don't have the resources, you could choose volunteerism and have that be, you know, how people remember you and how you get joy and allowing that to be, I don't know, a part of your mission and your vision on this earth. Absolutely. Mal, tell me more about how you ended up specifically here with nonprofit expertise and philanthropy knowledge. So I started in political fundraising. I was like very interested in politics from a very young age. So I started volunteering when I was eight years old. And it was a passion of mine through my whole life continues to be not as much now more so when I was younger. But I think, you know, I was fortunate to have parents who were very engaged in their community. And I think that, you know, as a parent, it's something good to remember that your kids watch you and they, you know, the values that you hold often become the values that they hold. And so that civic engagement became a very important value to me. And now it is to my kids, which is really cool. I'm there 10 and 12 and watching them volunteer. It was like so deeply satisfying for me. So I started in politics. I lived on the east coast for a bit came back to Colorado. I grew up in Colorado. I was born here. And then I worked at the Denver Art Museum. And so I was the head of major gifts for the Frederick C Hamilton building. I was the head of the capital campaign. That was $120 million campaign that was capital and endowment for that gorgeous building that I'm sure you're aware of. And, and then after that, there was like a little, a little blip, like a gap. My husband and I had a show on the travel channel and we traveled around the world. And that was really fun and amazing. And just this bizarre little like moment in our lives. The rest of our lives. I can tell you more about that in a moment. But after that went back to the art museum and then went to the University of Colorado. And I worked as a senior development officer for the Colorado school public health. I was the head fundraiser for the school of public health. And then two divisions of the school of medicine. And this was on the Antutes medical campus. And so while I was there, I had sort of the, I guess, calling to start this company. And that's what, when you ask about like advice that you would give to entrepreneurs, it really is like listening to your higher self or your God or whatever you believe in. Because I quite literally like heard a voice in the morning, on a Sunday morning, and it was my own voice, I think, but I heard it kind of outside myself. And it basically just told me to start this company. And so I did that day because it felt like very vocational, like I'm meant to do this. I have to do this is like a calling and and I have never looked back. It's been. Wow. The lifetime. It's been really, really wonderful for me. Have you prepared yourself or like put yourself in a creative space or more open receiving equipment or like anything like that before? Yeah, I think that that was, I was definitely like trying to figure out what was next for me. And really trying to like, you know, listen for signs and look for signs. I didn't think it would be like that direct. And it, it definitely made me believe in God, which is like a weird sidebar. I already, I'm not sure if I did, but I was like, oh my gosh, this is so weird and real. But I, I had consulted before so that wasn't, it wasn't so weird to me to do something like that. And I'm entrepreneurial by nature. But, this company, I've had a few companies, I've had, and I had a women's co-working space like I've had companies, but this company to me is like a living being like I, I love this company so much. I love what I have created and I love my team and I love our clients and I love like what we do so viscerally. It's just such a gift. I mean, entrepreneurialism is a gift. It just being able to create your own thing is magic. Absolutely. Okay, can we go into the travel story? Oh, yeah. My husband and I, we had like our really close friends were stopped by a casting director in Denver. And they were like, oh, hey, you know, you should try out for the show. We're looking for a couple to travel around the world. For the travel channel and, and our friends were like, sure, we'll go. And then they called us and said, why don't you guys come with us. So we went with them. To the tryout thing. It was at the hotel Teatro in Denver and, and then we just like kept making it through each round. They were choosing one couple and so it was like, you know, interviews and sending videos and then it was like going to LA and having, you know, having them record us walking down Hollywood Boulevard and then it was. Anyway, we just, we were selected. And so it was like the opportunity of a lifetime. We had a total blast. And I got pregnant and had a kid right after I got back. So it was like very well timed. And I don't know what else to say. It was just really, really cool. This is the show on Netflix or can we look it up and. Well, it's definitely on YouTube because people record it. And I don't know if every channel or travel channel has it on their YouTube channel, possibly. You can definitely see it on YouTube. I know you can order it. You used to be able to order on Amazon. I don't know if you still can. It's called a thousand places to see before you die. It's based on the book, which you probably have that book. Yeah. It's a good book. It is. And the author of that book is Patricia Schultz, who has become like a dear friend of ours. And she is just like. The coolest chick on the planet. She, she's just, she's been a travel writer like her whole career. Like who would get to do that. I mean, you have to be a passion, right? Yeah. Fantastic. That's a cool story. Yeah. So Mal from here, I want to know. So you're in your going on 10th year of running this business. So how. What is the last year for one 2020? What is the last year taught you and then also looking back the last decade. How are you stronger and better and smarter from all the crazy lessons you've learned as a business owner? Two questions. Well, this year was super challenging. We, you know, because it's an odd or sorry, it's an even year. So 2020. It's a presidential year. And so presidential years, 10 to be years where we have more political work. Because, you know, a lot of organizations will run their ballot initiatives those years because there's a higher voter turnout. And so in March, we had all of these ballot initiative campaigns lined up and they kind of vanished because at the time, there wasn't a lot of. And so that was really scary. And the first round of the PPP we did not get and that was really terrifying. And now, I mean, I mean, I can't believe I'm even saying it, but we like have had the best year we've ever had. And so I. Yeah, I mean, the PPP was a lifesaver. It was a lifesaver. I mean, I, and that is one lesson that I for sure have learned is like not to panic because I. I can be impulsive. I think a lot of entrepreneurs can be. And I could have just like laid off everybody, you know, I could have just. Not that I have a big team, I'm small team, but I could have just said I'm going to save myself and save like, you know, the people who've been with me the longest and we're just going to go bare bones. And we didn't do that. And I, I'm so glad that I had the patience to sort of say like, let's just write it out. Like, let's just see how this goes and it ended up being, you know, an amazing year for us. So, you know, when you do well when the economy does not do well, if you can, I mean, which makes sense because a lot of nonprofits will lay off their fundraising staff. And so we become that sort of extension of their team. It's a cheaper alternative because you don't have to pay our benefits or anything. I ended up being like a very, very good year for us, but also on the philanthropic advising side, like I am so surprised how much philanthropic advising work we have with families and companies, which way more than we had last year. So interesting. Yeah, it's great. It's great. I mean, part of it's just the market has stayed pretty consistent. And so people haven't lost a lot of their net worth. And the market has stayed really solid. So, I mean, rich people just are still rich. Yeah, poor people are in more shape than ever. So it's, it's just, you know, yeah, it's interesting because you can kind of see or like have impact on the whole that maybe both ends of the spectrum, like working with the rich and then also like seeing how nonprofits help and subsidize people who are poor. Yeah, well, and the nonprofits are working so much harder than ever, especially the ones who are doing direct services. Yeah, it's an interesting time. But I would just say that like I'm just, I have to constantly fight the urge to make quick decisions. How do you talk yourself off of that ledge? And recently I thought like an executive coach for probably four years and she's amazing. And she has helped me to identify like patterns that I have. And so when I see those patterns to sort of fight them and be like, okay, my, my reaction is always to take swift action. And that has served me well. So let me just say like there have been many times where I recognize that has been a huge blessing for our company and for me and for my clients, but, but they're also times when in action is an action. It's a meaningful action. So I'm happy for those moments of clarity this year. Are there other key things that you've been able to pick up on your own personal business ownership style or leadership style that maybe you didn't recognize yourself previously? I try to create a work environment that works well for me. And so we are results only work environment. So I don't care how many hours my team works. I don't care. I really don't care if they take unlimited, they have unlimited vacation time, they have unlimited sick leave, they haven't limited anything they can do whatever they want and they've always been able to do that. As long as they meet my criteria, which is, are your clients happy. And then number two are your clients happy because that's it. Like if your clients are happy, I don't care. I'm happy. And so I think the fact that I allow like complete flexibility to my people as long as they meet their objectives. I think that's created a really awesome work environment. And I think that's why my retention, my employee retention is really high, like my people tend not to leave. And so I, I guess that's probably what I'm most proud of. If honestly, when I think about the company is, it's not like the hundreds of millions of dollars we've raised that has like really hard. It's the fact that my employees stay with me and that we've created a culture that really works for them. They love, yeah. Yeah. That's a really cool thing. Yeah. It makes me really, really proud and it makes me really happy. Yeah. And you created that. You don't want to be a part of it. Yeah. I understand why employers don't do that. I mean, I understand if you have like a retail, like a bricks and brick and mortar space where you have to have people physically there. But I don't understand why everybody else doesn't do that. Like what? What do you gain from having people pretend to work? I just don't get it. Control. Yeah, control ego. I don't care about those. I mean, I'm sure I have a big ego, but I don't really care. I don't think I really care that much about things like that. So you are one of our local think tick members. I'm curious to know how your chapter experience has been with what's it like talking other business owners on a monthly basis about your business. So I love my group. I am my local think tank group is led by Pat Nicholson, who's just like an awesome human being. He is like, first of all, I respect him and I respect his professional background and his accomplishments. So I feel like when he's giving advice, it's lived advice and he's not just like making stuff up. He isn't going to, he's really thoughtful. And so he's not going to say something unless he means it or has direct experience with it. And so Pat is a gift. I mean, he really is. We're so lucky to have him. We're so lucky that he moved to Fort Collins from California, because he's just an asset to this community. My, my group is full of really different personalities. And I don't know. I mean, I just, you know, I've only lived here a year, a little over a year. And it's been so nice to have like a built in kind of friend group. It's not like I go have drinks with anyone. I mean, I can't see anyone anyway, right? It's COVID. I don't know if we would, but I just love that I get to see them once a month and spend time together and share our struggles and our wins. I think we're all really legitimately happy for one another when we have triumphs and legitimately concerned for one another when things are hard. So it's a really, it's a nice, it's a really nice group. I feel like I landed in exactly the right spot. That's fantastic. I think that's the fun part about for me to to witness and even participate in something tank groups. I'm a part of the catalyst chapter. So that's the key employee group. And to be able to have the same people in the same room at the same time each month, it's like that consistency for me is really nice. But also it was kind of eye opening. Like I'm like, I'm the communications person like I'm the feeler, I'm the thinker. And I thought like I could like share what I'm feeling pretty easily. But when like I had to be a vulnerable about the things I didn't know or about my like personal work weaknesses. Like this is hard. It's hard to tell that. But once you kind of get past that point, they become your people. Yeah, absolutely. And I was an EO entrepreneurs organization accelerator in Denver. And that was a really fantastic group as well. But this is a little more laid back, which I really appreciate. Like if I can't be in a meeting. I'm like, okay, I don't get kicked out. That's really nice because I think having those really harsh restrictions on entrepreneurs is is a little cruel almost because we have to run businesses and we have to do whatever it takes to provide for ourselves and our families. And so I feel like loco thing tank really does value that. It's a little flexibility, which I like. Yeah. Well, I agree. And I think that's that's our culture at loco HQ. And that's how we talk to people. And it's just nice to be a human and it kind of like let your hair down. Yeah. It's also being a business owner is like, yeah, it's messy and weird. So we celebrate that. Absolutely. Mel, what's some 2021 look like for you and how are you? What are the most successful ways that you plan and the next a cute. So we actually have our meeting about this tomorrow. The president of my company and I so I don't know yet. I think I'll find out tomorrow. And we'll all we talk for an hour and a half. I mean. So much of 2020 has been like being really introspective for me and having like the time a little bit to be introspective because I'm not commuting to Denver. I'm not like traveling. I'm not flying anywhere to meet with clients. Like I have a lot more time at my desk and by myself to be more reflective. And so I've spent a lot of the past several months thinking about like I guess see and what do you like. What's my purpose and what do I. What do I want to do for the next, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years of my life. And so I think it'll be continuing that conversation and and exploring that conversation for my staff because I want to. It's less about the business and more about us like it's like making sure that we are on course to accomplish everything that we personally and professionally want to accomplish in our lives. So I think it's less about the business for me looking at 2021. It's more about like who we are as people and how we can make sure that this company is letting us be our best selves. Any tactical actionable suggestion that you would give our listeners and that you apply to yourself and kind of making that stuff come to life. I mean, I sound so who who right now and I apologize for that it might just be my frame of mind right now, but like I think that you manifest that shit. You know, like I wanted to live in for Collins like why because I like that there are lakes everywhere and I thought this might be like an easier lifestyle. And then it was like I feel like we like snapped our fingers and we were here and we were having this great life and we were having it during COVID when. If I had still stayed behind in Denver, I would have been like on top of my neighbors and like it would have been a much tougher ride and so I just think like putting the personal and vision stuff first and then backing it up with action. And you know what I mean, like instead of the other way around because we can do planning all day long, but planning for the sake of planning is done. So planning sake of like putting together an exceptional life, like that's interesting to me. That's where the stuff comes out. Definitely. Now that is it for me today or with all of my questions anything that I may have not touched on or any keeping so you don't want to share with our audience before you go. You know, this is something that I was talking to my husband about a couple days ago, but one of the things I think we don't really talk about enough as entrepreneurs is like so much of your success is because of the people around you. Like it's such a like entrepreneurs often love murdering themselves and being like oh it was so hard and I did all this work myself and it was like up. You know pulled myself up by my bootstraps and like spare me like yes we've all worked hard and that's what being an entrepreneur is like you knew that when you decided to do it. But like not giving enough gratitude or recognition to all the other people that make us successful like I think that's something that we as entrepreneurs need to do more of I guess I would just leave on that note that like the supporting you know cast here like your spouse your kids like the reason you do this shit right like. Your family your friends like the people who keep you buoy that's your like supporting cast and part of what I would like to see myself and other entrepreneurs doing more is really like celebrating those people and our clients like celebrating those people who made us successful because we didn't do it on our own. And I'm like a little tired of that that like storytelling that were like so gritty like no we're not okay yeah. Mostly like we get through it because we're awesome clients and awesome support system and communities that care about us you know what I mean. Yeah it doesn't happen in a vacuum and so I guess that was just I don't know why I wanted to add that I just I was saying to my husband the other day I'm like I think that like if anything made me successful it was being your wife like having a partner who like so believes in me and makes me like I am unstoppable and like. I hope everyone can find a partner who does that for them you know so anyway sorry I know no I'm such a much that's very encouraging no there are no rules to this and I think that that's important and an important thing to consider like being an entrepreneur like it's dynamic and it's not you're not so low and so to talk about and celebrate and highlight the things and people who have gotten you through the they're really weird awful shitty times like. That's a part of the journey and that's what we want to unpack so yeah thank you for sharing all of that I really appreciate that thanks for reaching out I appreciate it totally well now I'll let you enjoy the rest of your day thank you all right have a good one bye. Thank you for listening to today's episode of the local experience podcast this is Kurt bear founder of the local think tank and host of the local experience and I'm here with Rory Shar. Local business developer and host of the local shorts episodes we hope you heard some new ideas and business perspectives in this episode our mission and all that we do including this podcast is to share collaborative business ideas and solutions that uplift the business community. Subscribing follow us where you listen to podcasts to get new episodes as they are released curious about local you can learn more about us at local think tank dot com where you'll find more information about our chapters business resources and events for business owners and key leaders. If you're looking for perspective accountability and encouragement along your business journey why not apply for a chapter near you today why not why not why not we'll catch a next time on in that's local experience podcast with me Kurt and with me Rory for bite size business lessons in the local experience podcast. Bye.