Biggest Challenges Faced By A Founder And Program Director At Treats
Alison's biggest challenge as Founder and Program Director at Treats stems from a career pivot into the nonprofit/business space, feeling like "a fish out of water" due to a lack of prior business experience. This necessitated a steep learning curve, including mastering new professional networking tools and business strategies, but this discomfort is viewed as a worthwhile investment in building a strong and sustainable organization.
Overcoming Challenges, Entrepreneurship, Nonprofit Management, Business Acumen, Adaptability
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Alison Griffin
Founder and Program Director
Treats.
University of Southern California, 2012
N/A
Film, Media Arts, Visual Arts
Food, Beverages & Alcohol
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. The biggest challenge for Alison was transitioning from a creative production background to the business and non-profit world. This involved learning a new professional landscape and skillset.
2. She highlights the importance of networking and utilizing platforms like LinkedIn, which were not previously part of her professional experience.
3. Alison emphasizes that embracing discomfort and continuous learning are crucial for navigating new challenges and building a successful venture. This includes actively seeking out mentorship and educational resources such as business books to expand her knowledge base.
Transcript
What is the most challenging part of your job?
The most challenging part of my job, hopefully, won't feel as challenging because I'm learning so many new things in real-time. It's just kind of not knowing the landscape. Anytime you pivot from one industry to a new one you're less familiar with, it can be scary, and you can feel like a fish out of water.
My mission is to heal people from burnout with creativity and to do that in community. I feel comfortable leading that and helping people understand why it's important. However, the practical aspects of being an entrepreneur, program director, or anyone in a new nonprofit or business space can be daunting if you don't have a background in those areas. It's like everyone is speaking a different language.
What's challenging is getting acclimated. For me, coming from production and entertainment, we don't use LinkedIn like IMDb or personal connections. I hadn't logged into my LinkedIn since college. So, it's been a mind shift, realizing, "Okay, we're doing something different now."
That has been a challenge, but it's not insurmountable. I'm making strides by filling out applications, becoming legit, getting connected, and doing the work. I've also joined a business accelerator, which is just getting started. One of the mentors, whom I met before applying, gave me books to read, like "Blue Ocean Strategy," and other business books.
As a creative production person, this is all very new. I'm reading these things, and it's interesting. My science brain gets activated. Pivoting and being in a new environment, knowing that learning these things will help my business or organization be better and more structured in a legitimate way, makes it worthwhile.
If I can learn these things and be uncomfortable for a few months, I know it will be set up in a way that I won't have to worry about it long-term. A little bit of discomfort is okay. You just have to tolerate it for a bit, and learning new things can be really fun. So, I'm just thinking of it that way.