Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to let people know their participation matters.
Speaker 1: When people know they count, they are more motivated to
Speaker 1: be involved. When I was launching my book Tranquility by
Speaker 1: Tuesday a few weeks ago, I encouraged podcast listeners and
Speaker 1: blog readers to pre order their copies. Lots of pre
Speaker 1: orders for a book signals to the publisher and retailers
Speaker 1: that there's high demand, so more copies are printed and
Speaker 1: ordered and the book ultimately reaches more people. For any
Speaker 1: folks who wondered why they should bother, I mentioned this,
Speaker 1: most books don't sell that many copies. We are talking thousands,
Speaker 1: not millions. One extra preorder really does help. Likewise, with
Speaker 1: podcast ratings and reviews, Before Breakfast has about ratings and
Speaker 1: reviews on Apple podcasts last time I checked, over three
Speaker 1: and a half years. That is about three d fifty
Speaker 1: a year, or just one a day. One more person
Speaker 1: out of the thousands listening to this deciding to click
Speaker 1: on the stars or write a review each day, or
Speaker 1: I guess deciding not to do that would change that
Speaker 1: total number. Significantly. People want to have an impact. In
Speaker 1: many cases, individual contributions really do matter, So let people
Speaker 1: know that. And correspondingly, you should probably assume that when
Speaker 1: you who is to do something that you don't have to,
Speaker 1: that choice really does matter too. You count. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: if you are involved in fundraising for a nonprofit or school,
Speaker 1: consider letting donors know how much their gifts matter. Do
Speaker 1: your top donors know that they are your top donors?
Speaker 1: If not, you should tell them. They will be more
Speaker 1: motivated to maintain or increase their gifts because they know
Speaker 1: you are counting on them. And let all your donors
Speaker 1: know exactly what their gifts enable. What can your organization
Speaker 1: do with an extra one dollars if it is something
Speaker 1: interesting that might motivate people to chip in an extra hundred.
Speaker 1: The same goes for communicating the impact of volunteers. How
Speaker 1: many people get fed thanks to one person's three hours
Speaker 1: shift at a community kitchen. If a volunteer didn't play
Speaker 1: with those cats during her weekly visit to the Humane Society,
Speaker 1: would the cats have other opportunities for human interaction that week?
Speaker 1: How many units of blood will be needed after a
Speaker 1: natural disaster near you, and how many lives might your
Speaker 1: one time blood donation save Showing up for people makes
Speaker 1: a difference to how often have you heard bereaved family
Speaker 1: members recounting gratefully how full the church felt at a
Speaker 1: relative's funeral. Sometimes we assume that the number of participants
Speaker 1: or the dollar amounts involved are both so large that
Speaker 1: our involvement isn't discernible. And sometimes that might be true,
Speaker 1: but for a great many things it probably isn't. Don't
Speaker 1: assume that there will be a ton of people at
Speaker 1: a funeral, or at a birthday party, or at an
Speaker 1: opening night for a friend's restaurant, or anything else like that.
Speaker 1: Many people don't go to things. Local elections are often
Speaker 1: decided by a few hundred votes or less. A store
Speaker 1: opening is a success if it looks like there are
Speaker 1: several folks there, which your presence makes more likely. A
Speaker 1: great many years ago, I went to a protest that
Speaker 1: got written up significantly in the local media with about
Speaker 1: half a dozen of us there. One person really does
Speaker 1: matter in those scenarios you count, So when you want
Speaker 1: to motivate others to get involved, let them know that
Speaker 1: their participation counts. And when you are weighing whether to
Speaker 1: get in all, consider that most likely your present or
Speaker 1: absence will matter. When we know we everybody I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear it feels good. You can send me or
Speaker 1: do our part, your questions or anything else in the meantime.
Speaker 1: Does connect with me on Twitter. This is a Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram. Thanks for looking for breakfast and here's to
Speaker 1: making me the number four of our time than breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.