Community & Leadership
The past four weeks have been incredible and stressful all at the same time. I decided to delay the next article in the series Your Spouse Becomes Your Co-Worker and instead share a story about serving the community. My leadership philosophy is based around five Cs: Communication, Courage, Connections, Care (self), and Community. Today, we’ll talk about community.
On April 13th, I was trying to figure out a way that I could help others during the shelter-in-place situation in which we live. Since I left corporate America, I have more flexibility in my schedule than in the past. I had been donating my time sewing masks for a local mask-making initiative when a few friends asked if I would make masks for them and how much would they cost? I started thinking that I could turn my mask-making skills into a fundraising event. What a great idea! Mike (my husband) and I have supported the Rockford Rescue Mission for many years and I was reminded recently that homelessness doesn’t stop even though the world is slowing down. That’s it! I’ll launch a fundraising event for the Rockford Rescue Mission. On April 15th, I launched the Need a Mask? campaign. I had no idea how the community would respond. One of the local TV stations picked up the story and that was it – IT EXPLODED!
The stress began to build as orders came pouring in. [read fast to illustrate the stress I was under] I enlisted my daughter from Minneapolis to handle all of the customer service correspondence and provide me input on fabric design. My mom became in charge of manufacturing and helped me sew masks. My husband was (is) responsible for procurement especially elastic [reference my YouTube video Elastic is the new Toilet Paper]. I was responsible for sewing, final assembly, finance, and inventory control. We established a small manufacturing operation overnight. Serving the community in a social distancing environment was uplifting and motivating.
Until [cue suspenseful music] the first Saturday, April 18th, my sewing machine seized up. I took it apart and removed the bobbin case. Cleaned it and tried again. No luck. The motor would race but the needle wouldn’t move. Devastated, I carried it upstairs almost in tears and put it on the counter. It was 8:00 in the morning and I had so many masks to make. Mike, a mechanical engineer, got his tools and started to disassemble the machine. It was over 20 years old and I had never oiled it. (is that a problem? Who oils their sewing machine?) At about 9:00, he brought it downstairs to my make-shift workshop. It was working but was touch-and-go. I made one mask and it seized again. It would work as long as no fabric was under the needle. Well...that’s a problem! I was super distressed, to say the least. I spent the day cutting fabric and organizing orders but I lost an entire day of production. I tried to use my mom's machine which was a good temporary fix until Monday when I was hopeful the sewing center would be open for me to buy a new machine. Was a sewing center considered an “essential” business?
On Monday, April 20th, I drove to Rockford to the sewing center only to find out they were only open by appointment. I wish their voice mail message would have told me that. No worries, we live close to Wisconsin. I’ll drive to Beloit and see if Casey’s Sewing Center was open. Thank goodness they considered themselves an “essential” business. In my case, they were. I was making masks. I bought a new sewing machine and was back in business! [insert applause and cheers].
My procurement officer (Mike) had forecasted the elastic demand and placed four orders from four different suppliers in mid-April. Unfortunately, one of the orders was the wrong type of elastic. It couldn’t be used unless it was wrapped in fabric. [cue the dun-dun-dun music] The other three orders weren’t scheduled until early May. I was out of elastic and had over 150 masks on order. My product design manager (Mike) found every shoestring in the house and had bought spring-loaded fasteners for the shoestrings. We were back in business for those who wanted adjustable ties. I used ribbons, shoestrings, and paracord. I tried jump rope and ponytail holders, as well. My customer service director (my daughter) jumped into action and contacted the customers to see if they would wait for the elastic or if they would accept an adjustable tie option. Most wanted to wait for the elastic. I was freaking out with stress and anxiety for over a week. We sewed the masks and put them in their order bags to stage them for the impending elastic arrival. Another challenge was that we were unable to track the packages. They were shipped by USPS with a tracking number but USPS used FED-EX to ship them from NY and California. The USPS tracking number was not connected to the FED EX tracking system so we couldn't see the shipment status until they were back into the USPS system. Frustrating! We had an estimated arrival date but didn't know when the elastic would arrive and then to my surprise, one order arrived on the afternoon of Monday, May 4th. BACK IN BUSINESS! For the next four and a half days, we've been sewing, communicating, shipping, and fulfilling orders like crazy. With all of the craziness, I began to call this mask-making-mania Maskapalooza. Lots of masks, lots of stress, lots of fun and we met lots of new friends. Check out my videos on my YouTube Channel or on the MX3 Business Solutions Facebook page.
If you made it through the entire story, you may be wondering why I promoted the fundraising event through my business and not through my personal Facebook page. After all, what does masks or fundraising have to do with leadership development and consulting? It has everything to do with it. Caring for the community is one of the cornerstones of my business and who I am at my core. We are all in business to serve others with either a product or a service. It’s true that we are in business to make a profit but we’re also in business to make an impact. A close friend and mentor told me many times that life is a series of choices. I choose to use my power for good and I choose to support my community and to give back. The Rockford Rescue Mission is one of the missions I support and one of the missions of MX3 Business Solutions.
Through this fundraising event, we served our community and provided light in a dark and lonely time. It allowed our community to support a local organization and get a cool mask in return. The community rallied around this fundraising event –
WE RAISED $1,500.00 IN 15 DAYS! [yes, I’m shouting in capital letters].
So, what does a fundraising event have to do with business? Everything!
Remember that life is a series of choices and we should be intentional about serving our community. What’s your choice? How will you make an impact through your business and serve the community?
Please share the organizations you support and how you serve the community within your business. You can reach me at mccormick.m.melissa@gmail.com, LinkedIn, or MX3 Business Solutions Facebook page.
