Revaluate & Pivot
“This project is going over budget.”
“People aren’t signing up for this program.”
“We’re not hitting our annual fund goal.”
“Students are not learning from this education session.”
“My staff feels overworked.”
“The deadlines are too tight.”
Do any of these sentiments resonate with you?
Busy museum and nonprofit professionals wear many hats and need to have expert-level knowledge in a variety of areas. With many projects going at once, it’s not easy to find the time to evaluate success and challenges.
I know this feeling all too well.
When I started MuseumTastic six months ago, I worked with colleagues in the field to see what they needed and wanted in a consultant. I drew on my own feelings. In my 15 years in the museum field, I often needed support for 5-10 hours - not a multi-year, grant-funded production. What I’ve sought to create is to be someone who can give objective advice and an extra set of hands when needed.
I’m glad to say that my client list is growing and I’m working on some great projects including staff training, program evaluation, meeting facilitation, and research. With this growth comes the opportunity for me to look at my business model and figure out a way to balance my time and talents while meeting the needs of clients.
Here are a few things I am doing at the six month mark to improve my business and balance my time:
Review my budget: Starting up a business with my personal savings is/was a scary venture. Not knowing if there will be ability to pay the bills is not a comfortable place to be. Every week, I’m working on a short, sweet financial health check-in.
Invest in technology: Technology is certainly a blessing and a curse and an expense and investment. For the first few months, it was about selecting what tools I could use to multi-task. For example, I can create amazing graphics in Canva AND use it to post to my social media channels. As my ability to invest has grown, I’ve pivoted to keeping Canva for graphics and adding Loomly to post to social and help me with measuring analytics. I just signed up for a SmartSheet subscription. Technology has been thinking about my time and how I can maximize it.
Ditch a program: I had the idea, based on NEMA’s brown bag sessions, to host a monthly lunch roundtable. The focus of this would be for one staff person to submit a challenge and have a group support the issue with their ideas and expertise. Month One had zero signups and traction. While I hope to bring this back at a later point, I’m also OK with letting it go for now so I can focus on my client work.
Have fun: Another thing I wanted to do was get out to more museums and learn about the work of nonprofits in my area by occasionally volunteering my time. I haven’t been able to connect with this goal and shifted from once a week to once a month. I feel like this is far more attainable.
By sharing a few of my changes, I’m hoping that you’ll also see that IT’S OK to revaluate and pivot. It’s OK to say that something isn’t working. It’s OK to change your plan. It’s OK to admit failure!
This is also what MuseumTastic is here for - we can help you with a social media audit, an inspiring staff training, or share some of our technology tips with you. Don’t hesitate to reach out and learn more!