I’d like you to celebrate with me. This very blog that you are reading right now is my 150th! One hundred and fifty different weekly blogs. When I started about three years ago, I would never have believed that I would have had the perseverance to sit down just about every week and come up with a new thought, suggestion, perspective or rant to share with the world about volunteers and volunteerism.
Over those years, more and more people started reading them, connecting with me on social media and even reaching out to have one on one chats (I love when that happens!) The comments I’ve received, and the likes and shares they’ve gotten on social media are the reason I’ve been able to keep going. I want to thank you all for your support!
I was going to keep writing about that but chances are you don’t want to hear me patting myself on the back for a whole article! So I thought I’d talk instead about perseverance.
I’ve talked with a lot of people who have told me that they tried a new technique for recruiting, or a new way of showing appreciation for volunteers, or to raise awareness about their program, but “it didn’t work out that well”. Digging a bit deeper, I usually find that they tried the new method for a month or two then gave up.
It can be hard to keep pushing, especially if you have people telling you it’s a waste of time.
It took me over a year and a half before my consulting business started making money. My husband, though usually very supportive, was hinting often that I should find a regular job. It took a lot of courage and faith to keep plowing forward. And then everything turned around in less than three months.
Stay strong. Things don’t necessarily happen all at once. There is often a cumulative effect to our actions. It may seem like you’re throwing information into a black hole, but that information may actually be slowly building up. Eventually it will hit critical mass, and all of a sudden you will start to see results. How long that will take depends on what your goal is, the environment you’re in, and what exactly you’re doing to reach your goal.
Don’t work in a vacuum, though.
I was able to keep writing week after week because I had people (like you!) tell me they enjoyed and learned from my blogs. I was able to stick with my consulting because I had experienced people whom I respect tell me that I was doing things right and my services mattered. You need that same support.
Let’s say you’ve been implementing a new recruitment strategy for a while and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Before you scrap it, ask a few people who’ve been around a while what they think. You’ll get one of three answers: “It looks good. Be patient.”, “It’s okay, but these specific areas might need work.” or “The strategy is fundamentally flawed because of X.” If you belong to a community of practice, the other members can be great for checking with. Or you can ask people in an online volunteer management forum. There are some on Facebook and LinkedIn and probably others.
Try to get at least three opinions, preferably from people you know will be honest with you. If they all have different opinions, keep asking until you get a definitive answer.
So long as the opinions are positive, persevere.
It can be surprising how quickly things turn around once you reach that critical mass. You may go for weeks without a single applicant, and then one week there will be three, and the following week five or more. The standard marketing rule is that a person needs to see a message seven times before they act. Note, they need to see it seven times, not you need to send it out seven times. At best someone is only likely to see your post every second or third time you send it. Less if it’s on social media, as the algorithms may screen most of them out. This blog has a few ideas on where to post recruitment calls other than on socials: Five Free Recruitment Tactics
Perseverance leads to success.
Sticking to my writing and my business has brought me to a wonderful place. When I was in high school, my English teacher told me that genius was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. He felt that while I just might have had the 1%, I was sadly lacking in the rest! I think he’d be proud of me today.
Although I must admit, after 150 blogs, my inspiration is running pretty thin. If anyone has ideas for what I should write about next week, let me know!
And thank you all, so much, for all your support and encouragement!
