I live in Vancouver, WA. It doesn’t ever snow here.

Well, this week it did.

14 inches.

And of course, I just happen to be hosting the first ever “A Day For Charity” event, as part of the newly formed Impact Club Virtual, to involve those Impact Venture Capitalists where there is not yet a local Impact Club in their communtiy.

These were businesspeople who attended. They wanted to become better storytellers. To spread their message more effectively, they wanted to build better platforms. They wanted to be of greater service to their clients, customers, patients. Their community. They wanted to impose greater impact.

From Ralph Amitrano, who attended:

“Ryan, I just got back home in Long Island, I’m freaking exhausted (couldn’t sleep on the plane because my mind was racing, I felt like a kid all jacked up on sugar on Halloween) but I’ll tell you what—If you held another one of these tomorrow I would trek through the snow, endure the delays and diversions to New Mexico for fuel (unbelievable), I would deal with the almost 24 hours of travel time, and head back to the airport without any hesitation, no shit, I would actually turn around right now without even changing my clothes. What an amazing day of sharing and brainstorming, for me personally, it really helped me to refocus because, as you know, I was kind of all over the place wanting to just jump into everything head first. The highlight was holding that check up, knowing that we were actually able to make a huge impact by building a well for a village of people. Absolutely amazing! Thanks again and I can’t wait to continue this journey with the new information that was shared yesterday.”

With this event, do you know what that means?

In less than 60 days, with the rollout of the first two Impact Clubs: Northern VA and Temecula, and with “A Day For Charity,” we’ve now passed $100,000 in secured donations to be distributed to charities over the next 12-months.

That’s what I call a helluva start. You should all be proud.

I know I am…

WALT DISNEY

It’s a good book, Walt Disney: The Triumph of The American Imagination, by Neal gabler. The author in the introduction vividly describes the face of Elias Disney, Walt’s father, “His blue eyes and copper-colored hair offset by his stern visage – long and gaunt, sunken-cheeked and grim-mouth. It was a pioneer’s weathered face – a no nonsense face, the face of American Gothic. But it was also a faced etched with years of disappointment – disappointment that would shade and shade his famous son’s face, just as the Disney tenacity, drive, and pride.”

Said different, when you have the tenacity and drive to strive for greatness, be prepared for lots of disappointment along the way. There will be hurdles and hiccups. There will rejections and setbacks. And above all, there will be doubters and critics. All of which, Walt Disney have his fair share of.

And with all of it, comes the cost of money and time.

When I started building Impact Club, I anticipated it would be a 3-month project to get it designed and built. I also thought I could get it built for around $40K. I was wrong on both counts. I got news last night, that at our current rate, Impact Club, the first version, wouldn’t be compelte unitl July 20th.

“What the shit?!?!” That’s a three month delay.

I said a few other choice words too, complained, threw myself a pity party, etc. but all that disappointment, it’s expected.

As my project manager said to me, “The design we have chosen for this project is about as complex as we have ever done. It took over 25 hours to design it and 50 hours to develop the homepage, and that’s without edits. That’s with the most experienced slicer we have. With intriguing, cutting edge design comes intriguing cutting edge development that takes time.”

Thankfully, in this case, I can buy time with money. So, like Walt Disney did so many times, I doubled-down. Instead of one retainer payment, I’m now making two. Double the payments. Double the work. Double the speed. Which puts us back on track for a March/April completion date.

There will be more disappointment ahead. But that’s the ante, and it’s expected, when you sign up to play the game.

I just hope my face doesn’t end up looking as withered as Walt’s. God knows my beard is already more grey than not, and I’m only 35.

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME!

From author and speak Simon Sinke, I heard a great story:

The Navy Seals are perhaps the most elite warriors in the world. One of the Seals was asked… “Who makes it through the selection process, who is able to become a seal?” His response was: “I can’t tell you the kind of person who becomes a Seal, I can’t tell you the kind of person that makes it through BUDS. But, I can tell you, the kind of people who don’t become Seals!

The guys who show up with huge bulging muscles, covered in tattoos wanting to prove to the world how tough they are, none of them make it through. The forceful leaders, who like to delegate all of their responsibilities and never do anything themselves, none of them get through. The star college athletes, who’ve never really been tested to the core of their being, none of them make it through. Some of the guys that make it through are skinny, and scrawny. Some of the guys that make it through, you will see them shivering out of fear.

However, all of the guys that make it through… when they find themselves physically spent, and emotionally spent. When they have nothing left to give, physically or emotionally. Some how, some way, they are able to dig down deep inside themselves, to find the energy to help the guy next to them.

Those guys! They become Seals!

If you want to become an elite warrior, it’s not about how tough you are, it’s not about how smart you are, it’s not about how fast you are. If you want to become an elite warrior, you better be really, really good at helping the person to the left of you, and helping the person to the right of you. Because that’s how people advance in the world. The world is too dangerous, too difficult, and too big for anyone to think they can accomplish everything on their own.”

Well said.

Hence our creed, inside Impact Club: “You Can Count On Me!”

WE FILL THE GAP

Impact Venture Capitalists operate very different than traditional donors. We believe small donations are the role of the traditional donor. Not the Impact Venture Capitalist. Impact Club makes the greatest Impact, by coming together to write the biggest checks.

We understand the importance of our role. We fill the gap in the charitable market that the traditional donor can’t fill. Beyond the obvious size of our checks, the purpose of Impact Club is to build a portfolio of charitable “Story Engines.” Because a charity without an effective story, like a business without an effective story, is in constant need of more money and more funding.

Charities with a story, on the other hand, like a business with a powerful story, has created for itself a “Story Engine.” Which in turn, causes more and more money to flow to it to be self-sustaining, to fund its own growth and future Impact initiatives. This is how, long term, you Impact communities.

The graph above displays the visual need for an Impact Club in every local community, throughout the world.

TEMECULA IMPACT CLUB

T-minus 13 days.

We currently sit at 115 members.

Seeing how quickly passed the 100 founding member mark, the quest now, prior to January 26th, will be to get to 200 founding members. Which, no doubt, will require us all to pull together. If we can get there, though, that would likely be a first event record that is not likely to be broken anytime soon.

In the meantime, deadline to nominate charities is: January 18th.

So please – Nominate now:
https://form.jotform.com/63603199399166

KEEP INSPIRING OTHERS!

-Ryan Fletcher

Co-Founder, Impact Club – forever Grateful.

PS: Encourage everyone you know to learn the language of story. If they do, life, business, fundraising, relationships, the attraction of opportunity, clients, money, love, etc. will be much easier for them.