I inspire small business owners, artists, musicians, and nonprofit leaders to achieve their goals.
Catch Rick In Action
Rick Swanson introduces his audience to the SPARC Partnership program, in which small business owners can expect to see business results of increased customer loyalty and employee satisfaction, and nonprofit leaders can find hidden resources to help their agencies fulfill their mission. Learn to build a culture of giving in your community.
About Rick
Rick Swanson (he/him) is a long-time educator, consultant, and small business owner who loves to see individuals flourish. He has taken tools from project management and applied them to the world of the small business owner and the nonprofit leader. Further, Rick has developed a model for forming partnerships that is perfectly matched to the small business person or solopreneur. Learn a new model of philanthropy that is accessible to all. Rick will show you that the bumps in the road to success don't have to be treated as failures... they can be turned into victories.
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Mission: Inspire creative people to achieve their goals.
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Core Values:
- Make humor a wellness activity
- Embrace a spirit of giving
- Emphasize human relationships in business
- Teach resilience
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Schedule a free 30-minute consultation... click here
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Speaking Topics
Resilience After Adversity: Rewriting a Narrative of Negative Self-Talk
In the struggle to achieve success, musicians, artists, small business owners, and nonprofit directors encounter all kinds of obstacles. These are inevitable, and maybe even unavoidable. However, they can be overcome. With the right attitude and mindset, you can work through the pain of defeat, and salvage a victory. In this keynote address Rick presents several such stories from his professional life in the fields of education, project management, chemical manufacturing, and franchise ownership. In each case, Rick shows how he found a silver lining behind each cloud, and re-wrote his inner narrative of negative self-talk. Even better, he gives his audience a set of tools they can use to create their own success stories. This makes a great keynote address for chambers of commerce, small business associations, nonprofit consortia, educators, creatives, or solopreneurs. Be inspired to find your own resilience after adversity.
Put a SPARC in your Partnerships and Bring Them to LIFE
Small business owners have a lot in common with nonprofit directors. They struggle to find the resources they need to grow their brand and build their organization's reputation in the community. Are you a small business owner with a desire to be recognized as a leader in your community? Are you a nonprofit director seeking to widen your base of support? Here are five principles - known as SPARC - that nonprofits and small businesses can put into place immediately to help them achieve their respective goals. The traditional partnership model of donor-recipient is out of reach for many small businesses that are short on spare cash. A new model of philanthropy is possible that is accessible to businesses and nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Learn the language of partnership and find community partners to help your organization grow. You can turn your organization into a media darling when you learn how to build sustainable partnerships in your community. This presentation can be given as a keynote to your small business association annual meeting, or adapted to be a workshop session to provide added value at your annual conference.
Build a Culture of Giving in Your Town
The staffing shortage that is affecting so many industries also has an impact on the nonprofit world. When your paid staff positions go unfilled, your remaining staff ends up working overtime, which leads to frustration and burnout. Add to that the reality of limited dollars to spend on wages and incentives and you have a recipe for trouble. Nonprofits know all too well that the pool of corporate donors is shrinking, and that there seems to be more organizations competing for the same donor funds. How can a small community nonprofit organization to compete in a challenging economic climate? This presentation provides true-to-life stories of small businesses who have learned to give within their means and grow their bases of loyal customers at the same time. You'll also hear of nonprofit agencies who learned to tell their stories from a position of strength, and have become a sought-after partner for businesses in their community. Philanthropy need not be the sole privilege of the wealthy... create a culture of giving in your community that engages businesses and individuals who have traditionally been excluded. Fulfill your MISSION, find your STRENGTH, reach your POTENTIAL.
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