What I’m Doing

My projects and interests are diverse. But they can generally be grouped together in one way: I help great people and organizations get money to bring their positive purposes to life.

Most people think money is the root of all evil. I believe it is the root of all good.

On one hand, these contrasting interpretations of money is philosophical. It goes back to the divide between Plato and Aristotle. In Meno, Plato interprets money as an end that conflicts with virtue. In contrast, in the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains that money is a middle term that allows us to compare different things against each other, facilitating the principle of reciprocity and justice.

A fuller, more explicit defense of the morality of money comes from Ayn Rand in Francisco D’Anconia’s “Money Speech.”

On another hand, these contrasting interpretations are practical. Because they influence the way we engage with money as individuals and organizations. If money is evil, it is something to avoid. But if money is good, it is something to accumulate and utilize to its positive ends. That’s why I respect the articulation of money as energy. It represents value that has been created, stored, and is available to be given to others in exchange for more value. Lynne Twist in The Soul of Money, Miki Agrawal in DisruptHer, and many others have articulated this well.

When we give money to others, we are using it productive. We are giving them energy to do something. When we buy a product at a store, we’re giving them energy in exchange for the energy they have already put into providing the product to us. When we sign a contract, it’s a promise to exchange energy for energy in the future. 

In contrast, money that’s not used is unproductive. I was at a foundation strategy meeting wher ethe Chair opened the meeting by explaining this point clearly: The foundation has money available, i.e. captured energy. So long as it holds that money, it is unproductive. The goal of the foundation is to convert that money into a productive resource, to use it to create something new. 

Here’s the other thing about money, as a concept. It is the one thing that is completely fungible. Meaning, every dollar is exactly the same as another dollar. What’s more, it can be converted into other things. 

I began learning about this when I sold popcorn for the Boy Scouts at 6 years old. It continued when I sold vacuums door to door the summer after my freshman year. Then when I started my first nonprofit organization in college. And continued on as I built up Students For Liberty and Conscious Capitalism, while advising many other for-profits and nonprofits. 

So, how do I want to help great people get the energy they need to build important projects? In three ways:

1. For Profit Sales - Creating a valuable product or service isn’t enough to succeed. Businesses need the right sales process to let ideal clients know about it, understand the value they would get, and purchase it.

2. Nonprofit Fundraising - A strong mission and the ability to deliver on it isn’t enough for nonprofits. Too many great nonprofits fail to take off because they don’t know how to convey their work to donors or actively prospect enough. 

3. For Profit Investing - Entrepreneurs need energy to get going. 

How am I doing this? 

1. Building a Better Revenue Operations System - I believe most leaders, salespeople, and fundraisers misunderstand what it takes to generate revenue. They look for silver bullets; the one thing that will change it all. But it’s so much more than that. At Leap, we’re helping great organizations develop the right mindset, implement the right processes, and adopting the habits that lead to revenue. We are building a new Revenue Operation System to do this that includes 3 components:

1. Mindset - GO - Want people to give you more? The best thing you can do is Give first and be Other Oriented, have a GO Mindset.

2. Process - LEAP - Revenue is about establishing the right processes, the LEAP process, to generate more Leads, Engage them, make the Ask, and then get them to Proselytize for you.

3. Habit - US - Revenue is a habit. You don’t get results overnight. Perhaps you can get a win one time, but it’s not sustainable. You keep doing the right things over and over, getting better and better, and in time, you’ll see the results. For organizations, it requires Unity around purpose to achieve Scale. It’s about the organization’s teamwork, thinking about “US”.

2. Building a Movement of Revenue Professionals - We need a movement of professional sales and fundraising professionals who understand how driving revenue is about driving value creation for everyone. You don’t get to stop learning. You have to keep getting better. You have to keep training. 

3. Investing in Great Entrepreneurs - Liberty Ventures is building an ecosystem of purpose-driven investors and entrepreneurs aligned on advancing a free and prosperous future. We provide the funding to early-stage entrepreneurs who share our values and are building incredible businesses. While it’s starting as an Angel Network, we have grand plans to expand this into much more including a VC Fund, Accelerator, and nonprofit organization facilitating the growth of this community.

So, what does this mean for you? If you’re aligned on advancing a free and prosperous future and want help generating more money for your project(s), reach out and let me know. I’d love to see if I can help.