Julia Davis: Fundraising, Resilience, and Sustainable Leadership

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you today to Julia Davis, fundraising performance consultant and founder of Vitality Consulting. For more than 20 years, Julia has helped entrepreneurs, sales organizations, and nonprofit leaders build high performing teams, strengthen accountability, and create systems that drive measurable growth. Her work focuses on helping mission driven organizations improve fundraising performance, increase donor engagement, and turn strategy into real results. What makes Julia’s approach unique is the balance she brings between performance and people helping leaders hit ambitious goals while also prioritizing health, resilience and perspective along the way. From handling rejection and fundraising and sales to building cultures of accountability without burnout, Julia brings practical insights for leaders who want to grow sustainably and lead with intention. Julia, welcome to the show.

Julia Davis: Thanks so much for having me. I’m happy to be here.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited to have you on. And shout out to Kelly with the Know Women’s Organization for introducing us to each other. And we got to meet in person too, which is.

Julia Davis: The ultimate connector. Kelly. Wow. You know, I know she’s a gem of a human.

Trisha Stetzel: All right, Julia, tell us a little bit more about who you are.

Julia Davis: Yes. So I was a broke filmmaker or a film major out of Southern California, um, in 2006, and in my edit, one of my editing classes, the CEO of Fox came down to speak to us, which was incredible because you know, what an incredible opportunity. And he sat in front of us and said, if you’re not willing to step on the person to your right, to your left, in front of you, behind you, get out of the film industry. And I looked around and I thought, this is not what I want to do. Unfortunately for me, it was like last semester of my senior year.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh my God.

Julia Davis: So I was like, what am I going to do? I have all this, you know, media training. I like to lead people. I’ve been always the leader of group projects, you know, and I was good at getting things done. I had moved from the Midwest to California on my own when I was 17, you know, to go to college. So I knew I was like ambitious and driven and motivated, but I knew I needed to be in control of what I was doing in my income. So I got an opportunity at, um, a direct marketing company that taught sales and leadership and people development. And really that was just such the right fit for me personally. So I was like, okay, film major, sorry, you know, um, great training, but no, thank you. Uh, I’m going to start doing sales. So I’d never done sales in my life. Had to learn how to lead myself, figure out how to sell, figure out how to have conversations, how to handle rejection, do all the things, you know, failed so many times at it. And then once I figured out, you know, how to do it myself, then I started to develop and train other people and started to really get the recruiting piece and be able to build teams. And, um, I was good enough to convince ten people to move with me from Southern California to the middle of Wisconsin in February. That was my first sales test. Right? Can I get Southern California people to move across the country to probably one of the coldest states in the middle of winter? Um, and we did it and we were there and it was, you know, an adventure and we made so many mistakes and had so many trial and error situations, but we knew how to sell, and that really got us out of a lot of problems because you can have a huge learning curve as long as you can make money, right? So, um, I did that for three years and then I moved to Dallas, Texas because there was a big opportunity down here.

Julia Davis: Um, I told my husband at the time, you know, we had, he was from Wisconsin and he had been there his whole life. And I had been all over the place. And I’m like, well, we’re moving to Texas. And he was like, are we? I was like, yes. And you can come if you want or you can stay, but I’m gonna go. Um, and so he was like, okay, I guess we’re going to go to Texas. And we’ve been here ever since we’ve been in Dallas. We love it here. I’ve built, you know, a huge organization of business leaders and developed. And I’ve had a lot of great experiences, been 20 years in this industry that I’ve been in at this point, and I’ve seen all types of ebbs and flows and roller coaster type of scenarios because, you know, I was in a retail business when Covid happened that wiped that business totally out. Um, and had to restart it and figure it all out. So I’ve had a lot of really great business challenges that have, you know, equated to like unbelievable learning curve.

Trisha Stetzel: So you weren’t born in Texas, but you got here as fast as you can. I know you’ve heard that before.

Julia Davis: It took me about 20.

Julia Davis: 25 years to get here, but yes. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, and the fun thing is that you and I were at the same event in Dallas a few months back, and we didn’t know that each other was there. And we met later through Kelly.

Julia Davis: That’s right. Yeah. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: So one of the things that I did not mention when I was introducing you is that you are one of 50 women to know in Texas. So congratulations. That’s an amazing.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes. What an accolade for you.

Julia Davis: Yeah. It was unbelievable.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. For sure. So, um, how did you get into this nonprofit space? How did that come up for you?

Julia Davis: So we were working with nonprofits a long time ago. We were doing outside events for toys for tots, and we were doing stuff for, um, different nonprofit organizations where we would, you know, get the toy people would purchase it. The Marines would come and pick them up from pods, you know, at our, our location, we would also, um, and then we stopped working with charities for a long period of time because we needed to restructure the model and how we were doing it. Um, and now we started working again with charities doing outside style tabling events where we’ll spread community knowledge and all that kind of stuff, which was birthed out of Covid. Because during that time, I’m sure, you know, you know, food banks were having a major problem with supply and we were all furloughed, you know, we had nothing to do, but we all got the p p p loan. So we’re like, we’ve got all these people that are getting paid. So like, we may as well do something positive, you know? So we put all of our people on our payroll to go and fundraise for food banks and really charge them nothing for a period of time, but just tried to get the money funneling into the food bank so they could supply food to people who needed it. And that kind of recreated a business model where we were working with nonprofits again.

Trisha Stetzel: So how did over the years, as you got more involved with the nonprofit organizations and being a part of that, how did your sales skills show up as you started working with these nonprofit organizations?

Julia Davis: Great question. Something that I noticed in nonprofits specifically is they usually hired really good people, but a lot of their people were really mission driven based on what the charity wanted to get done, but they were not business people. So they had a lot of unbelievable staff that had a huge heart for the mission, but no training on how to get money into the nonprofit. So when I came in and started working with different nonprofits, I was like, okay, well, who’s trained you how to, you know, go business to business and ask for donations. And they’re like, we don’t even know how to do that. I’m like, okay, well, here we go. Grab your grab your backpack, let’s go, you know? So I would take them and just go business to business and show them how to have a conversation with a business owner that’s productive and positive and gather the information and do a follow up. Because I also noticed there was a huge lack of urgency on follow up. So people would get a lot of contacts and they would get a lot of documents. They were I mean, I’ve seen nonprofits be like the king and queen of documents, where it’s like, these are all the stats on every donor we’ve ever had. Right? And they would give me this huge book of all these. And I was like, okay, but who’s calling these people?

Julia Davis: And they’re like, well, nobody. I’m like, okay, well, here’s our issue, right? Like the connection of we’ve got the stack of donors, let’s get someone on the phone that’s greedy enough to pick up the phone and have a really amazing conversation and plant the seed of like, we’ve got this coming up. What’s going to motivate this person to donate? How are we going to do it? And really utilizing that sales experience to get that donor from like not even thinking about donating this year to writing a check for 25 grand, right?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and most, most are afraid of sales because they’re afraid of rejection. And I think that’s one of the things that I’m, I’d like to say you’ve mastered it. Maybe there’s something inside of you that says there’s a little more to learn, but because we all can learn more. But let’s talk about that rejection and why these nonprofits are so afraid to pick up the phone and ask for money.

Julia Davis: You know, what’s funny is usually when I meet with somebody, I do a personality profile on them of their birth order, right? Because typically first born children have a harder time with rejection than the youngest child.

Julia Davis: Which is very interesting, right? Because if you think about it, the firstborn is really the example. They’re highly perfection driven. They’re very organized. Typically, they are like the example. And so when they hear no, it’s like they’ve done something wrong, right?

Julia Davis: We’re like a middle child. Is kind of like the ultimate negotiator. Like, can’t really close strong, but like, they can kind of like work any angle. And then the youngest is usually very good at handling it because they’ve just heard no, their entire life and they’ve had to renegotiate over and over with siblings, parents, everybody. Right. So I figure out who I’m working with and I’m like, give me your youngest kid. Like, who is the youngest child in your organization? I need to work with them on sales because they’re naturally very, very good at it. And your oldest kid is like, reanalyzing every conversation they’ve ever had in their brain and they’re like, I’m a failure. I shouldn’t be making this phone call. What have I been doing with my life? Right? So every person has their own strength. You know, the negative with the youngest is they’re usually organizationally just a disaster.

Julia Davis: But they’re really good at sales.

Julia Davis: So you need the balance. I’m like, okay, oldest kid, you do all the spreadsheets and then give that list to the youngest kid and then follow up because they’re not going to take any notes, you know what I mean? They need like a scribe. So it’s just I try to figure that out first, to try to put people in their natural strength. Because a lot of times we’re trying to make somebody who’s just programed differently. That’s just so hard on themselves to get good at sales. It’s like, let’s get you on the spreadsheets. Let’s get you doing something you’re really good at, and let’s get somebody else that just loves to make phone calls and have conversations. That person, instead of trying to make somebody do something that they’re naturally just not great at.

Trisha Stetzel: So, Julia, are you the middle child?

Julia Davis: Youngest?

Trisha Stetzel: You’re the youngest, but you seem very organized.

Trisha Stetzel: So you’re the anomaly to that rule.

Julia Davis: I put on a good show for you, Trisha.

Julia Davis: But I am not organized. You can ask my husband. He’s like, we need like a lot of organization. I have, like, the skylight calendar. And I told my oldest daughter because I’m going to deputize him, right? So I’m like, I’m like, look, you gotta put in all these dates in the calendar. Here’s all the things we’ve got going on. You like to work the calendar, right? She’s like, I love to work the calendar. I’m like, great, right? And my youngest child is like, what? Calendar? I’m like, exactly. Like, let’s go outside. Right? This is just like, you know, putting people in their zone.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, I love that. That’s so much fun. So at the, at the highest level, anyone who’s listening knows that fundraising is so important to the health of a nonprofit organization. What really, besides having good salespeople or people who can go and get those donors or get sponsors to say, yes, tell me the biggest difference between those organizations that consistently hit their goals and are always doing really well and have a healthy organization compared to those that struggle, what’s missing?

Julia Davis: Yeah, it’s the same in business, right? So some businesses that hit their goals and don’t hit their goals, it’s exactly the same thing. And it’s vision casting like is everyone bought into the vision. Is the vision clear? Do we know what the goal is? You know, if your goal is to raise $150,000 by the end of June, is everybody on the same track on how you can do that, because once you cast that vision, why you need the money. What you’re trying to do, you know what that money is going to that everybody can formulate kind of a plan to get there. But the ones who struggle are the ones whose vision is kind of foggy, like they don’t really know what they want to do. They’re like, I think we need this or that or, you know, and it’s like, no one can follow that. So there’s no way to create a plan on a fuzzy vision. So you really have to have like a strong leader that’s good at casting vision on what needs to be done. And then the team will rise up. Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: So I have so many more questions for you, but I’m guessing that there are folks listening already who want to connect with you and learn more about the work that you’re doing. So what is the best way for people to connect with you? Julia.

Julia Davis: My Instagram handle is right under my name by my name. So you can find me on Instagram and message me on there. Um, I do have a link in my bio where you can click and set up a one on one where I can chat with you about what’s going on in your business free. You know, we can set up, you know, a time to chat. Or you can find me on LinkedIn under Julia Davis Vitality Consulting. It should pop up on there.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Thank you for that. So tell me a little bit more before we dig back into strictly this nonprofit area, because, you know, I’m really interested in that. Tell me about Vitality Consulting. Who is it that you serve?

Julia Davis: Really any small business in general? You know, I feel small businesses lack resources. So I really tried to serve, you know, a small business community of owner or co-owner or whatever that are maybe trying to just build up and don’t have the experience and don’t understand how to move the needle for what they’re doing. And I feel like I’m unique because I only want to be paid on performance. I don’t want to be paid a crazy or high amount of money just to to be there. I only want to win if you win, which I think is also unique because these small businesses don’t have a lot of resources. So I try to help people so that they can make money, and then in turn, that will benefit me. But any, you know, small business, any nonprofit that has a goal to hit, that’s like, we just don’t know how to hit this goal. We’ve got this big goal. We know we got to do it. Call me, I’ll figure out how we can hit that goal, what we can do. And, um, we can work that out. But that’s really who I, who I work with.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that I want to dive into the people side of these organizations. So we’ve talked about the functional side. We got to go out, we got to put money in the bank. We have to have a vision. Everyone needs to be marching to the same beat. We need to have a strong leader. But what about these organizations? As you know, many of them are all volunteer and they can get burned out really, really easy. So how do you balance the act of being a strong, sustainable nonprofit organization with your volunteers?

Julia Davis: I think you’ve got to have a good reward system that has benchmarks. So I think as a team, you sit down and say, okay, what’s going to really motivate us to get to this? You know, these benchmarks, okay, our goal is, let’s say $1 million for every $100,000 we raise, what are we going to do as a team? What fun activity can we do together? How can we make this? And it doesn’t have to be a lot of money. Maybe it’s just going to someone’s house and hanging out at their pool or, you know, whatever it might be. But I think like the benchmark reward system really kind of like reinvigorates the whole team because a lot of times it’s like work, work, work, work, work with nothing until the very, very end. But if you can set like mini goals along the way that everyone’s motivated about, then it’s just it’s easier to get people recharged, you know, as their batteries kind of depleting because it’s so much easier to recharge at 80% than it is at one. Right. So you want to kind of like they’re at 80%, let’s get them back to 100. They’re at 80%. Let’s get them back to 100 versus like, okay, everyone’s just totally wiped out because we’ve just worked everyone to the bone and no one’s getting paid.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Let’s talk a little bit about the leaders of the organizations, whether they’re paid or not paid. Oftentimes, we’ll see an executive director of these nonprofits that do get a salary and some of the staff. And then we see other nonprofits where no one’s getting paid at all. So let’s talk about the leaders, specifically the ones running the organization, paid or not paid. How do they prioritize health for themselves? Because that is really where the passion lies and why this whole thing started in the first place. So how do they prioritize health for themselves?

Julia Davis: I think, you know, you got to set yourself up to win. Like physically, I think you have to make sure that, you know, you’re eating great food, you’re, you know, drinking a lot of water, you have healthy snacks available. You know, it’s just, it’s the stuff that like, probably our mom taught us when we were little that we maybe just don’t listen to because it’s easier to drive through McDonald’s and grab a Big Mac, you know, but, you know, if you can set yourself up to function at a very high level where you’re taking great vitamins and, you know, I can’t express like how beneficial like water is to your day and people just do not drink enough water. But if you have everything in you ready to accomplish the goal, then it’s much harder to deplete yourself versus if you’re already in an uphill battle because your immune system is on overdrive, because you’re not doing any of that stuff. You know, like take a walk outside and get some sunshine for 20 minutes a day. I know it seems like, can I fit that in my calendar? Yes. And leave your cell phone on your desk. Like don’t take it with you. Just walk around the block and be outside and get some sun and then, you know, do the next thing.

Julia Davis: But it’s, I think a lot of times we’re, we’re already coming in at 50% because our diet is bad, our exercise routine is bad. And I’m not saying go to the gym for an hour a day. I’m just saying like, like I have a treadmill that’s under my desk. So it’s like when I’m on conference calls, I’ll just tilt my camera up and just be walking for, you know, 40 minutes just to get some steps in just to get my energy back up because I know I’ve got to be able to sustain for a 12 hour day, you know. So it’s just about and I do think because it seems overwhelming at first, I would say just do one tiny change every 3 to 6 months and just make it a habit until you can build on the next one. Maybe it’s like cut out soda and just do that for three months to six months. And then the next thing is like, okay, now I’m going to walk for 20 minutes a day and then do that for another six months and then keep stacking it. And then over time, you’re going to see that that becomes like a much healthier lifestyle than trying to change 80 things. Day one unrealistic. You’re not going to stick to it.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. For sure. Even just stepping away from your desk to have a lunch, stop eating at your desk. That’s my advice today. Just stop it.

Julia Davis: I will never tell anyone to not drink coffee because I’m like, that was a sacrifice. I would never be willing to give up myself. But, you know, going outside and walking for 20 minutes a day has been like, so therapeutic for me because actually you get so many great ideas in the silence, and you never let your brain become silent, so the ideas just flow to you. But it’s like, if you can get out there and just be quiet for 20 minutes, all of a sudden all the answers to the questions you’ve been wondering start to come in.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So leaders need to prioritize, prioritize their health. And they’re also wondering right now, should they go check to see how many like first, second, third children there are out there to put on their sales team?

Speaker 5: I would say it’s a good strategy.

Julia Davis: It really is. You know, like when I’m interviewing, you know, different people to do different tasks, I’m like, do you have any brothers and sisters? Are they above or below where you’re at? Like, where are you at? Right. Because I really need to know, like, if I’m my, my like personal assistant who helps me organize, I’m like, where are you? And she’s like, yes. I’m like, okay, great. You’re good. Because I know she’s like, and I love spreadsheets. I’m like, of course you do. Like, I like who loves spreadsheets? But I’m like, you do. Clearly it’s great, but I need her to love spreadsheets because I don’t. Right? So I’m like, can you make me a spreadsheet for this? And she’s like, I would love to. I’m like, great.

Speaker 6: I would love to. You just know. You just know.

Trisha Stetzel: I love this. So I’m thinking about, so what about only children? Because I happen to be one various.

Julia Davis: Only children are like a hyper firstborn, right? So they’re like a firstborn, elevated. So they’re like ultra critical because they’ve only measured up to adults. Think about it like they’ve only compared themselves to adults their entire life. So they are so hard on themselves. They are incredibly perfectionist oriented. They’re like way more mature than anybody in their circle. Right? They feel like an old spirit, usually like they’ve already accomplished so much. So they’re unbelievable leaders. Only children are like fantastic leadership people. The problem is, is that those voices in their head are far louder than any other ranking because they and they listen to them because it’s like the voices of all their adults, they never saw their little sibling trip over themselves or mess something up or whatever. They’ve only they’ve been held to such a high standard of expectation that they have a really hard time failing really hard.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. I was feeling a little vulnerable for a minute there, and I thought, surely she’s not going to say that only children are selfish. I used to hear that growing up all the time.

Julia Davis: I mean, so yeah, maybe. But like that, that’s not the characteristic in leadership. You know, like they’re, they’re unbelievable leaders. It’s just that they they’re the voice in their head is so loud and critical that they have to figure out how to silence that in order to move forward, because their delay is long. So usually they before they make a decision, they have to go through this whole mental checklist of if it’s going to actually work or not, instead of just jumping in and like building the parachute after you jump off the cliff. You know.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s very, very interesting and like describes me to a tee. And I’m a little selfish because I like to put my name on things. So okay, maybe just a little.

Julia Davis: There’s a difference between selfish and self-interest, right?

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, okay. Well that’s true.

Julia Davis: Yeah. So self-interest is good. That’s like, that’s helpful because people need to know who you are. Selfish means you do things to hurt, you know, to like take away from somebody else. But self-interest is excellent. That’s how you should be.

Trisha Stetzel: See? You guys see why I brought Julia on the show? Just to make me feel better today? Yeah. I’m just kidding. This has been such a great conversation. So, um, if if there’s a leader out there that feels really overwhelmed right now trying to grow an organization, lead a team, run with all of these volunteers, keep themselves healthy, what’s just one simple shift they can make this week that’s really going to create some momentum for adding for them without adding more stress.

Julia Davis: You know, this is something that we got for all that I got from Christina Langdon, you know, who spoke at the the no women And what she told me I thought was just so good. Um, and I’ve been telling everybody this week, this comment that she made, um, was sometimes it’s not what you need to do next, it’s who you need to network with or find who’s been where you want to be, right? So instead of thinking about, okay, what are all the things I need to do? It’s like, well, let’s try to figure out who’s where you want to be and who has been where you are. And as soon as you find that person, talk to them, network with them, go visit them, figure out, okay, this is, you know, this is the person that I need to surround myself with. That’s where I want to be. But is where or was where I am now. And that really is such a freeing thought because it’s not like another 15 to do list. So my challenge is find that person who is the person that you can network with that’s on the other side of your problem.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow, I love that. That’s amazing. Thank you for bringing that to our conversation today. Julia. This has been so, so much fun. So much fun. Thank you. Uh, tell us one more time how to get in touch with you.

Julia Davis: Yeah. So two ways you can find me on LinkedIn under Vitality Consulting, Julia Davis. Um, I’m a growth and grit podcast two is on there linked and then, um, julia.biz stories on Instagram. You can find me there. If you click the link in the bio, you can set up a time to have a one on one meeting with me. Happy to do it.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. And we didn’t even talk about your podcast, which means you have to come back so that we can talk all about your podcast.

Speaker 7: I’ll put you on my podcast and then we can just cross over, you know, okay.

Trisha Stetzel: All right, that sounds good. We’ll just cross pollinate. That sounds fantastic. There’s been so much fun. And I really do want to dig into this whole sales conversation because not only is it hard in nonprofit organizations, it’s hard in business and especially these entrepreneurs and solopreneurs who are trying to do every thing in their business. If you guys want to have a chat with Julia, you know how to find her. Please reach out. And you may even just tell her that you heard the conversation that we had on the show today. Thank you again. This has been so much fun. All right, you guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business, your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.