“When did you get into fund raising in the music space?”

“Four years ago, 2022”

Conversation with a friend of a friend, visiting Boston from elsewhere.

“Wow. Early pandemic. How did that happen?”

“I have an undergraduate degree in music and a Master’s Degree in Music Education. While I was teaching,  I raised money for several groups and events. When I decided to leave teaching (I was a high school band director), it seemed like a good fit.”

“What prompted you to leave teaching. Seems like that was your love.”

“When the pandemic hit, my school closed for a while. No band. When the school re-opened, the administration decided that we could resume band if the kids wore masks….but the kids had to cut slits in their masks so they could play their instruments.”

“So, you’d have 60 or 80 kids blowing whatever virus they were incubating through their horns, fogging you and the players in front of them.”

“RIGHT! Trumpets were the worst, not to mention emptying spit valves. I pressed the administration to adopt all of the ‘safe band’ protocols that researchers suggested – masks for players, surgical filters over the ends of instruments (trumpets especially), space between players, room ventilation – we were in an old building in a small band room and the ventilation was terrible.”

“No sale on that one I’m guessing.”

“No sale. There was a lot of controversy and, in the end, the administration’s view was, ‘Kids are resilient, you’ll be fine, lead the band.’ Fairly soon after that, I contracted Covid. While I was recovering, I concluded that I wasn’t going to be able to sell the administration on protocols I felt were needed and that my health was more important. So, in 2021, I resigned.”

“And now you raise money.”

“Yes, and now I raise money.”

Nick Miller and Clarity train banks and bankers to attract and develop deeper relationships with small businesses. Many more Sales Thoughts like this and a host of other articles and resources at https://clarityadvantage.com/knowledge-center/ .