680: Business Meets Politics - Fundraising Insights from the Pros

Brian Nichols  0:09  
Can we use the tools from b2b businesses and use them to win in the world of public policy? Yeah, let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, happy Monday there, Brian, from your honor, The Brian Nichols Show. Thank you for joining us. For another fun episode is always your homeboy hope you live far Stratus ip video, you're in lovely Eastern Indiana, don't let cyber attacks or outdated Business Technology, put your company at risk. Learn more at the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash Stratus ip. So yes, we talked about this all the time here on the show. We are using what we find successful and effective in the world of b2b sales and marketing. And we bring it here to the world of politics doing what you heard in the intro, meeting people where they're at on the issues they care about. So today, we're going to have someone who has been doing quite literally that but from a more public or private sector perspective, how can we use what he's doing in the private sector and bring it to the public sector? Joining us today, Fred Perry, welcome to The Brian Nichols Show.

Fred Cary  1:23  
Well, I'm happy to be here. Thanks. And that intro music had me dancing, you couldn't see it. But I was really going for it.

Brian Nichols  1:30  
Oh, rock and roll, you'd like to hear that. And what a way to start things off. Because not only are we trying to get people dancing in terms of, you know, learning a little bit of new things here in The Brian Nichols Show, but also dancing in terms of making a real positive change, not just in their own personal lives, which is important, but also in their communities. And we focus specifically local issues, and we focus on the issues, but also the solutions. And Fred, I would love to dig into the solutions today that you've been focusing on when you go and talk to entrepreneurs, business owners who are looking for advice. But first, do us a favor, introduce yourself to The Brian Nichols Show audience and your a passion for helping business owners.

Fred Cary  2:07  
Yeah, so I've been an entrepreneur almost my entire adult life. I've started 10 Different companies taking a couple of public. I've had m&a activity where people have bought my companies. And I've had a couple of private companies that have done really well. And they're still doing really well. I started an idea pros about four years ago, when I figured out that there's a formula no matter what it is you're trying to use. There's a formula that applies, whatever you're building, whatever you're selling, whatever service you have built a company around that formula. And we train and empower entrepreneurs to be the best they can to launch successful businesses, and to really know how to differentiate themselves from everybody else. They're competing again, against,

Brian Nichols  2:55  
and how important is that not just in the business world, but also in the world of public policy? Because and I hear this, I talked to elected officials here in the program many a time from state, but also you're more of national and federal office, right. And they hear consistently, that the door, Somebody's knocking, right trying to get their ear. So you see across the board, it's true in the public sector and in the private sector. So let's talk you know, when we're trying to build relationships, or trying to build successful coalition's on specific issues, or we're trying to build effective branding and messaging campaigns, there's so many different pieces that folks try to look to in order to be successful. So Fred, you've done this. So many times, you've talked to business owners across the board, what's the number one concern that you see right from the onset that business owners bring to you that you're like, here's the number one thing we can fix right at the onset to make things a little bit easier and more, maybe easy to see.

Fred Cary  3:56  
I'm going to use one word, and this applies in the private marketplace, but it also applies in the public market. And it's not used very authentically in the public market. And that's the word authenticity. The problem nowadays, is people have such access to information, they can tell what you're talking about, they can tell how authentic you are with your message. And if you can find a way to especially in the political world, you know, have your strong opinions, but have them in a way that are really authentic that you're not really playing to just little sound bites, but you're playing to emotional heartstrings. That's going to be the key differentiator, whether you win or lose an election, whether you win or lose a customer, whether your company grows outstandingly or just sits there with all the rest of them.

Brian Nichols  4:51  
Talk to us about authenticity. I think it sounds great, right? Like people are like yeah, I'm authentic. But what what does it mean to be authentic, how can you actually measure authenticity? Can you measure authenticity?

Fred Cary  5:05  
Well, are you saying to your customers what you would say to your kids, I think that's the best measure of authenticity. Are you true to your belief system, without having to use others outside of your belief system to support what it is that you you are doing, and you are believing that requires a lot of hard work that requires you to do do the more work the extra effort that it takes to be so confident in your position and what you feel and be so truthful in delivering that message, that that message doesn't have to be delivered to the detriment of others. And this applies in business. It applies in the political world, it applies if you have a cause. And I'm sitting, we could sit here and do a whole show of different companies, different causes, which ones are trying to play in your purse strings, which ones are being really authentic, you can feel them, you can smell them, and you're you're a lot more likely to donate to ones that you can resonate with.

Brian Nichols  6:14  
Well, and you just segwayed right into another question I often get asked as well, Brian, a lot of this stuff sounds great. But it just costs a lot of money. And to be able to find that money sometimes is the challenge. So Fred, you have a lot of work world, like a real life world experience in both fundraising but also trying to help secure those funds for a startup businesses talk to us about that world, but also maybe in the world of fundraising.

Fred Cary  6:43  
Okay. I'm going to talk to you generally about the world of fundraising, here's what we do, the biggest mistake that we make, when we go out and try to raise capital, we talk about how revolutionary what we have invented is what we have is how we're breaking all the rules, how we're disrupting the marketplace. Those are all things that finance people don't want to hear. They don't want it back something that's not proven. They don't want to back Elon Musk to Mars, although he's an exception to the rule, right? They don't want to back you on an exploration to Mars. Here's what here's what investors love to hear. Look, there's a big, big problem in the world that didn't exist before. This used to happen. And now this is happening. Now there are three, three other companies that are doing a pretty good job of addressing that issue. And here's some returns of those companies. So you can see they're doing really, really well, we're not really any better than them, except we have a better solution. We have something that sits on top of what they're doing, we're delivering the one thing that all their customers are giving them one star reviews for we're throwing that layer on top of a model is already proven out. And therefore we think that we're going to be able to win this huge marketplace that's already growing. There has a captive audience that's looking for the solution that we've layered on top of what these guys are already out there doing. That's what an investor wants to hear. And what's in it for me, obviously, and we don't touch any of that. When we're doing our regular pitch decks to potential investors. It's the

Brian Nichols  8:29  
everybody's favorite radio station wi I fm What's In It For Me radio? It's true. It's true. Let's talk about when you were touching on this a little bit earlier there, Fred, when you're talking about the differentiators between the competition, and I think one of the main things that is a challenge in this is whether you're looking for seed funding, or you're looking for fundraising dollars, or in this case support, right, whether it's from the support of those in positions of political power, or from the support of the general public. And that is how do you not just only differentiate yourself, but how do you consistently stay top of mind to that target niche that you're reaching out to that will become your vocal advocates that will become your super fans? What are you finding? Or what would you recommend at least to be the way to to effectively do that?

Fred Cary  9:20  
You have to get them to believe in the problem before you can get them to believe in your company. Right? Because right now we start out again, talking about a company, look at the guys that we have running this show. They've had so many different things. We have this beautiful golden widget. It's better than any other widget in the world. If they don't care about widgets, right? They're not going to care about your company. So it's a very beginning. If you want to have people that you put it this way. You don't want to go out and get money. You want the money to come to you. And the only way the money comes to you is if you can start your dialogue with With this problem, winter is coming. There was a dramatic change in the way we do business. And I'm gonna do a little five minutes of what we do at Idea pros 20 years ago when you looked, and you are going out to play in your backyard, or 30 years ago afford 40 years ago, however it was, and you were thinking about rich people. You were thinking about the doctors and lawyers that lived next door, you were thinking about movie stars, you're thinking about sports stars, singers, songwriters, that's who you thought about. Winter's coming, that world has changed. Right now. 55% of people have tried to start their own business. And only 17% of them remain. The others are gone, they're gone and working for corporate. And there's one reason that's happening, we happen to have the solution to fix that. Now, do you believe any of that stuff, if you believe it, you're gonna listen to me next. If you don't believe it, then you know what we're really busy, we have a lot of things going on, we have a lot of appointments, a lot of people interested in this, and I thank you for your time. I'm out of here, that and that's what you got to do. And we don't do that. You know why? We need the money. And we're afraid. And so we come off as needy, we want validation, we can sign a contract today, if you wanted, you want last few more rights, you want to be five seats on the board, we're gonna give that to you. That's needy. And as soon as your investor here is needy, that's when they run, what your investor needs to hear is a big ass problem, a monumental change in the world, that you are fortunate enough, you're smarter than everybody else, you're fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. And here's come this problem that you have a solution for. This is a solution, this is going to fix this really big problem. This is how we're going to do it. This is what we're going to do over the next three years. This is why we need money now is what we're going to do with the money. And this is what it's going to mean for you. I have a limited number of seats available. You can have one of them. What do we need to do to work together? You know, when you're coming? Yeah, when you're coming across like that, that you don't need them. And you're presenting the proper opportunity in the proper way. You're going to close deals,

Brian Nichols  12:30  
one of my favorite lines for customers is like, Hey, listen, there's not a good timing, like, we're not going anywhere. Like we're not hurting for business. We'll be here when it's your time when you're ready to make the jump. And I did this in my day job. And you see this right now in the political world. I just think a lot of people just don't want to wait, right? They want to see the immediate gratification. It's the Tick Tock approach to politics where, you know, it's it's mine, and I want it now where's the instant return on gratification, please, I want the magic pill. And it just doesn't exist. And that same thing is true in sales. It's true in fundraising. And I guess when we're going out and we're positioning ourselves to a maybe questioning marketplace, one of the things I have found to be successful in the world of politics, especially when I was working on political campaigns directly back a few years ago was helping build coalitions, likewise with other like minded entities and organizations. So how would you recommend being able to do that from a more private perspective and bring that into the world of politics?

Fred Cary  13:33  
Yeah, again, and disclaimer here, I've never gone out and raise money for politics. Okay. So I may not be the best person to answer this question. But I know what works. And I know what, what people respond to. And so I think I have a pretty good idea that what I'm about to say, is something that applies no matter what you're trying to do. If you're trying to get affiliations in groups of people together to support your cause. They may all have individual things that are different from one another. But they there, there's also a commonality. And it's not just support the Republican Party support the Democratic Party. It's can't just be that obviously, that's the underlying reason they're there. But you have to find what is causing the purse strings to move. And if you're going to put a coalition together, you have to find a commonality between those groups and focus on that commonality. I know that you're this way and you are that way, but you guys share this one thing, and this is what I'm going to deliver. You have to find commonality between diverse groups in order to have a cozy cohesive bunch of people working together. As you saw in our recent House of Representatives. fiasco, there's no better word for it, just to get a speaker of the house, right? There's so many different factions out there doing different things having different beliefs within one party. And the reality is you can't just go kowtow to all the different elements, you have to find what's common amongst them, and how to be able to focus on that commonality. In order to get you what you need to do, either financing or votes to get to where you need to go. Man, it

Brian Nichols  15:28  
just feels like we're reiterating Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People from like, 100 years ago, but it still stays true, right, Fred? I mean, I mean, it's no secret. Like I have Dale Carnegie's little golden book here. I'm a big fan of Dale Carnegie. He's, you know, I think one of our unsung American heroes truly in how, how to win friends and influence people. And it's just by being to your point, authentically curious, being genuinely interested in others trying to show you care about their issues, and to, I guess, really build that natural trust, right. And it's just something that's so it's so ignored nowadays, because everything is so impersonal. I mean, everything's through a camera. It's ironic, because we're doing this over camera, but you look at everything just feels so just removed from the personal connection like it used to be. And I mean, I send notes to people who, you know, I do business with, and I've gotten so many people who are like, a handwritten note, like, I haven't gotten one of those not so long. And it's like, yeah, that's sad. I think I think handwritten notes are great, because it shows I took the time to actually sit down and do it. And then I see ads for like, people actually automating that. And it's just like, can we have some real connection, something that shows I care, and it's beyond, to your point earlier, wanting to make the sale, having commission breath doing whatever I need to do in order to get this over the finish line? It's like, No, we have to be truly in it for the customer. And it has to be actually solving the problem. It can't be the proverbial Eskimo being sold ice because the Eskimo doesn't need ice, right? You need to solve the solve an actual problem. And that requires the solution that you have to solve an actual problem. So I guess I say all that Fred, as we're going towards the more tail hat end of the episode here is, what would you say? Now, you're obviously kind of approaching things here from a more third party perspective. But what would you say is one of the biggest issues that you identify in politics right now that's holding us back from moving forward as a country?

Fred Cary  17:37  
There's two, I would say two things. Number one, number one, number one, nobody trusts anybody, like even the people that you back. It's hard because it's really hard to be authentic, because people speak in sound bites. And number two, we've become so polarized as a nation, that we are not doing the things that historically. And by the way, we used to have screaming bitch fights, if I can say that all the time. But the two sides, the two main parties would get together, find compromises, try to work out resolutions, Reagan years, and, and before, then, you know, there were, they're always trying to find a solution. And we don't do that. Because our cause constituents don't want us to do that. We have to find a way to really start becoming authentic, and say in being true to our word. And by the way, sometimes that hurts. And by the way, it could end up making you lose an election unless you do it the right way, is hard work. It is hard work. It's a lot harder work. But if you can get into the psychology of the people who support you, and even more importantly, into the psychology of the ones that don't, in find a way to you can so you can understand why don't these people like me? What is it that I'm saying? What am I doing? What are they afraid of? Because you got to get more people than just your core group of people in order to win. And not only just to win, to help us all as a country to be a better place. So authenticity works in the corporate world. If you look right now in the corporate world, companies who tried to be authentic to try to be green to try to give back right now, their average profits are 25% greater customer retention is 50%. Greater introduction of new products go into the green way faster. Why? Because people are starting to dig through and look for ones who are really authentic and those companies, if you can try to do that yourself and stay true to your belief system, then you have a much better chance of gathering a much wider audience that's going to be cohesive, comprehensive and allow you to win it what you want to win at.

Brian Nichols  19:56  
Well, Fred, we are already hard pressed for time, which means We have to go towards the part of the show, which we call final thoughts. And I'll kick things off. I'll say this, my final thought carries on what you just touched on in your last part here. And that is, it requires work, right? You have to put in the work. And it's so tempting in 2023, with all the tools in the AI fun stuff that we can go and take advantage of to automate things and make things easier. But what that's going to do, and we're going to see this, you know, I've given it not even a couple months, where the AI just, it's going to be so much, right, everything is going to be aI written, and it's gonna feel so just like monotone, gray, just one note. And if you take the extra effort, and you show you're going above and beyond, you're trying to build that real relationship and show that you're putting in the extra effort, it will stand out. That's my final thought. Fred, what do you have for us today?

Fred Cary  21:01  
I have over 500,000 followers on Instagram at official, Fred Carey, and I got a DM yesterday. That said, out of all the influencers that talk about entrepreneurship, personal development, positive mindset, you're the only one that I watch every single day. Granted, it's only a minute of the day, we're on twice a day, you're the only one I watch every single day, because when you speak to me, I feel like you're telling me the truth. I don't always agree. But you're telling me what you really believe and what the truth is. And in a sense, that's harder. But in another sense, it's easier. It's harder, because you're tempted to say what you want, what you think other people want to hear. And same thing when you're making a sale, you're tempted to say what you think other people want to hear. But if you listen and learn about people, then you can be true to your word, and still give them a message that they will resonate with. And we'll have them come over to your side.

Brian Nichols  22:08  
Well, there you go. I think that's a great way to end today's episode. So with that being said, Folks, if you enjoyed the episode, do me a favor, go ahead and give it a share. When you do tag it yours truly at being nickels liberty and go ahead and give her friend a tag there on Instagram be 501 follower and please go ahead and tag him as well. And please also, if you enjoyed the episode, give us a review over on Apple iTunes, wherever it is that you want. Go ahead and get your podcasts from five stars would be appreciated. And by the way, we have almost 700 episodes here, The Brian Nichols Show. So if you've missed any of those, head over to the Brian Nichols show.com, where you can find today's episode, plus nearly the other 700 episodes. But also you're going to find the transcription for today's episode, all of the Affer mentioned links. And by the way, we have a video version of the show. So you go ahead and find our video version of the show. I know over on YouTube on Odyssey on rumble How about that? Oh, by the way, do me a favor, hit the subscribe button and little notification bell so you miss a single time we go live Fred any final words here for the before we wrap things up?

Fred Cary  23:08  
Yeah, that's 500,000 not not 500 Okay, I

Brian Nichols  23:11  
was gonna say, I thought that might be a little low for you.

Fred Cary  23:15  
And you can also learn more about us at idea proz.com We have tons of free content on there, as well as different packages where you we can train you how to be a better presenter, and a better entrepreneur, better politician, whatever it is you're trying to become.

Brian Nichols  23:31  
There you go folks being new follower 500,001, not 501. We'll make sure we give you those extra followers. Fred, thank you for joining us and folks again if you enjoy the episode, please give it a share. But with that being said Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for Fred carry. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai