We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alicia Stachura. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alicia below.
Hi Alicia, thanks for joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Qualified Staff (Paid & Unpaid) Turnover and recruiting are always a challenge. Non-profit positions typically aren’t the highest paying, but they are rewarding in other ways. “Other ways’ unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills. So, you can have this incredible person working for you that loves the population that you serve, but eventually leaves for financial reasons or for better insurance benefits that they may receive in a corporate setting. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s hard for someone to volunteer consistently for a long period of time. Profitability starts to take a toll if you are constantly training new recruits, you never really get ahead. You need a LARGE, trained volunteer base to keep things rolling forward without a hitch.
Along with meeting the needs of the community. The pressure to perform is just as high in a nonprofit organization as in a for-profit one. All eyes are on you because donors want to make sure that their money is being used efficiently.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Lots of “Life” happened for everyone in 2020. In late 2019, my family had plans to relocate to a different city, I felt a strong calling to go back to school to get my master’s degree in marketing, which was crazy since I had just finished my undergrad as a non-traditional student. Marketing was never a dream or a desire, more so something that happened abruptly. I obediently listened to the instinct of what I refer to today as God’s plan. A tornado in March of 2020 completely wiped out my husband’s office that would require them to rebuild from the ground up. And then there was covid. So that halted our family’s moving plans. I finished my Integrated Marketing Communications master’s degree in 3 semesters. I realized that my purpose was to help smaller non-profits share their story who couldn’t afford large marketing agencies. Today, I have counseled and helped countless non-profits figure out the best way to spend their time wisely. Nonprofit marketing includes a wide range of activities. I communicate with potential donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders to increase donations, engagement, and participation in the organization.
Then there is the marketing side, where I create content, produce collaterals, look for community partners to establish cause/relationship marketing, run advertising campaigns, all things social media, viral marketing, email marketing, ..etc. I am so blessed that I get to work with amazing non-profits. It’s humbling and rewarding to know that I am making a difference in the lives of others. I always feel good when someone says “I heard about this organization from XYZ or I saw an ad” and it’s something that I did.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
Just because it’s God’s plan doesn’t make it easy. We’ve seen the bank account get desperately low, but God always sends an unexpected donation. Our Founder and Executive director once made an announcement to local businesses on social media that said. “Dear Local Business, If you have next month’s budget covered, you’re boring. Living by faith, Liberty’s Station.” It costs $10,000 a week to operate our job training center for people with disabilities. The café is only open for lunch Thursday – Saturday 11am-2pm. We would need to sell 875 sandwiches in that time frame just to break even. We try to rent out our space and commercial kitchen when we aren’t using it to generate other revenue streams. Our job skills training program is free so we count on donations and the financial support of our community in order to keep our doors open and our training program going. We are a volunteer-run organization. Our Stars (interns in the training program) are the only ones who receive hourly wages, with the exception of a few essential employees.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media in the non-profit world is so important. It’s how you tell your story for FREE! It’s how you connect with your audience. You can share data, but it’s the stories that people are going to remember. I could say “John is a host at our restaurant and just had his work anniversary,” and you would think well that’s nice & keep scrolling but if I said “John has been an incredible part of our team this year. He has brought immense talent and dedication to the table, but his unique perspective and unwavering commitment have enriched our work environment in countless ways.” Now you want to know more about John. One piece of advice I’d give to people just starting out is to use social media as if you were telling a friend about the product or service that you provide. Publishing posts at optimal times or adding relevant hashtags won’t be as effective if no one knows what you do. The more people engage with your post, the higher it’ll be ranked in the algorithm world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://libertysstationtn.org/
- Instagram: libertysstationtn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibertysStationTN
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciastachura/
Image Credits
Gale Stoner Images Photo Titled: Alicia , Jody, Mila is by Local Juice Creative