The Difference Between “Poor” and “Broke”

On July 1, SchoolAdvancement.com celebrated its 20th anniversary as a Web site, and rebranded to ArchangelAdvancement.com.

It began as a blog in 2004 called “Marketing Matters,” and another blog was started on Development activities called “Development Development.” It was then suggested by the CFO of the Diocese I worked for at the time to combine those into a Website.

With a Master of Education degree in Technologies Enhanced Learning and Instructional Design who could write html code, putting them both into a Web site was easy. I secured the schooladvancement.com URL (and couldn’t believe no one had it at the time) and added more categories of articles before the official site launch on July 1, 2006.

Five years ago, I mentioned that I’ll be doing some additional web work which would change SchoolAdvancement.com a bit, since it’s an integral part of a project I call “The Machine,” since Systems Thinking is essential to a school’s success today.

One of the guiding principles of this project is, “Don’t think ‘plan,’ think ‘machine,” since plans can change – but if all the components of a machine are not in top working order, then something is going to suffer. Feel free to check out my site at https://MikeZiemskiMEd.com for a peek at how it’s all going to fit together while it’s under construction.

The Web site that will be the source for “Systems Thinking for School Sustainability Success” can be found at https://STAFFAdvancement.com. Think of it as the Advancement of Advancement, or MetaAdvancement, focusing on professional development for leadership, going beyond advancement to growth to sustainability, and the tools necessary to support practices, strategies and the systems thinking necessary for sustainability, especially in our post-pandemic and AI-infused society.

With all that in mind, today’s Marketing Matter is a combination of several ideas, and speaks to the need for change.

There’s a saying in business today: “If it ain’t broke, break it.” That’s because it takes more and more effort to achieve equal results from year to year utilizing the “tried and true” methodologies, let alone achieve improved results. In physics, this is called the “Law of Diminishing Returns.

Does this sound familiar: “Why do I have to change? We’ve always done it this way, and it works for me.”

Even though it “works” for that person, that doesn’t mean what that person is doing is going to achieve improved results. If you supervise a person like this, they may hear it at their evaluation, where they receive an excellent rating. In order to keep that rating, they continue to do what they’re doing, thinking they’ll get another excellent evaluation the following year.

Then they’re flabbergasted when they receive a lower performance rating, many times saying, “I don’t understand – I’m doing what I’ve always done.”

That might have been a fine attitude in the 1980’s or 1990’s, but with advances in technology, one needs to learn to use the new tools properly – and those tools and processes are changing faster than ever.

We have to change because there is SO much more to do today. Compliance issues abound; transparency is paramount; new rules – from Protecting God’s Children to Every Child Succeeds Act to Payment Card Industry (PCI) changes and Teacher Certification requirements, just to name a few – have dramatically impacted education in the last few years…not to mention the changes in technology during those few years.

We simply have to change (or at least “shift” our thinking and our mindsets) so we can have time to do the things we need to do, wear more hats, and avoid experiencing burnout and disillusionment. “It works for me” is a mindset of Generation X, and will not fly with the new generation of Millennials who are enrolling their children in the PK-12 educational experience.

Whatever “it” is must work for as many people as possible – and, sometimes, for everyone, where exceptions are necessary exceptions rather than expected exceptions. If the system isn’t functioning as it should, and can considered to be broken, then it needs to be fixed, and systems must be repaired systemically, not linearly.

Some time ago in Nashville, TN, I heard a presentation given to public school administrators by a retired public school Superintendent who was raised in the South in an economically disadvantaged community. “The interesting thing,” he said, “was we never thought of ourselves as poor, even though we didn’t have a lot of money. Daddy said we were broke.”

Read that quote again…it’s a revelation! It indicates a current mindset that must be changed in order to have our schools marketed more effectively, and make an impact on the audience you’re trying to attract to your school.

It can be argued that Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Indeed, as a faith-based school, we must have a preferential option for the poor. However, if everyone who thinks of themselves as “poor” will always be poor, then there may be little hope for their future. And with no hope for the future, then why, indeed, should a child be enrolled in your school, especially when you’re going to ask a parent to pay tuition?

The difference between “poor” and “broke” is that “poor” conveys a mindset of despair. “Broke,” on the other hand, represents a mindset of hopefulness, because if it’s “broke,” it can be fixed! It’s all about the mindset, and not all about the money.

So let’s address a money issue since you may be trying to fix something that’s broken. As you get ready to start a new fiscal year and start planning for the next one, consider adding 10% + $100 to your overall per child tuition AFTER financial aid has been awarded. 3% of the 10% goes to a cash or check payment incentive, 7% goes to a financial aid fund, and $100 goes to pay for a financial aid application, payment plan, and application and enrollment software fees. This is a better way to provide payment options to parents along with real-time reporting and family payment reminders and follow-up so that you can focus on other processes vital to the continued operation of your school.

If you’d like more details about how this works out in a scenario basis, consider visiting https://calendly.com/mikeziemski with a note that says you’d like to find out more about the “10% plus $100” strategy, and why it can’t simply be added to the tuition you set. That’s an easy solution. And, as H. L. Mencken has been quoted as saying, “There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”