Born to connect: How Bobbie James built Jamsz Konnections from heart and purpose

Tasha: [00:00:00] Good morning. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Bobbie: Good morning, Tasha. My name is Bobbie James. My nonprofit is Jamsz Konnections. You know, if you asked me this, maybe even last week, my origin story might have been a little bit different because I told someone else the origin story here recently.

But as I realized about myself and my life, my origin story for Jamsz, connections, I think came at birth. That’s awesome. I love that. And the reason that I say that, one of my prior board members came up with connections. As part of our name, Jamsz is a play on my last name, James Plus I love music.

And any musician out there, they typically think about jam sessions, right?

Tasha: Yeah.

Bobbie: And so when we started Jamsz Connections, we really wanted to, manage events and bring people together for philanthropic purposes. But I thought, why do we have to limit it to music? [00:01:00] We can have conversations as jam sessions, right?

We can get together for fitness, for jam sessions. Right? But because I didn’t want it to be James and I wanted to have that feel of jam and connecting, right. My former board member says, why don’t we have connections as the next part of the name, but spell it with a k. But I was that kid who, if I saw someone looking lost, I wanted to make them feel welcome, wanted to connect with them at any job.

I was the person, Hey, you, I don’t recognize you. Or you knew I’m Bobbie, you know, blah, blah, blah. And so I’ve always been drawn to. Wanting to connect with people, bringing people together. And so thanks for the opportunity to tell a new story of the Origin of Jamsz. However, the previous story is such, uh, I had, a health, scare.[00:02:00]

And whenever we are reminded of our impermanence that we will not be here forever, it may lead us sometimes to. Why am I here? What is my purpose? You know, am I making any type of positive impact? And so I was diagnosed with breast cancer and on my 10 year cancer free anniversary, I thought, man, that’s worth celebrating.

Most times people are looking at a five year milestone of, remnants of it coming back. And I was like, we need to do something. And so. I decided I’m gonna put on a concert to celebrate this and find some local nonprofit to benefit from. And I truly feel that the universe delivered to me, that that’s my calling, that I am supposed to order, organize, and coordinate connecting people for a purpose.

So that planet deceive for Jamsz connections. But again, as I think about it, I’m like, hmm, I think I’m aligned with what I was born. Truly born to do.

Tasha: I’m [00:03:00] feeling so much synergy and stor similar story here, Bobbie. Right. Okay. Similarly, I think I’d always been doing the hive just without the intention, like that level of intentionality behind it.

Just in nonprofit. Yeah. And I was still recovering from. Cancer related surgery when I had this Wow. This idea where I was like, Ugh. So isolating. Right. It’s such an interesting, and I love your discussion of impermanence because I think that’s where community shines, right? It gives us something to hold onto.

I always say it’s like a soft landing place. Sometimes like to fall back into, oh, I love this. And Jamsz connections. Give us the like, quick overview. What all does Jamsz connection do out in the community?

Bobbie: Great, thank you. So Jamsz Connections is a nonprofit and our goal is to be an ally and advocate to other nonprofits.

However, we see the value in bridging the gap between for-profit and nonprofit organizations, creating [00:04:00] community awareness for growth organizations, connecting them to resources and education, and still coordinate events for philanthropic purposes.

Tasha: That’s amazing. Love it. This is fantastic. And favorite thing about this work and being in the nonprofit space.

Bobbie: The people. I simply said , I would often describe myself as a flower and people are my sunshine and rain. And some people might look at rain like crying or sad, but nature needs water, nature needs sun, it needs it all to, really prosper and become. You know what we are meant to be. And so whenever I get the opportunity to meet new people, and especially when they’re excited and passionate about what they’ve started, what they’re doing, it just warms my spirit.

Not just my heart, but my whole spirit and soul.

Tasha: Absolutely.

Bobbie: Oh my goodness.

Tasha: I feel like we just two people in two different [00:05:00] countries, the same heart behind it. Oh my goodness. Because I have very sim like that’s how I would describe it too, where I know for some people it’s overwhelming.

Meeting too many people. Someone would say to me that my calendar terrified them, and I was like. Oh, but look at all the cool humans I get to talk to this week. Like I don’t even know what’s gonna come outta this, but, you know, life affirming sometimes, right? To hear people’s stories and get that background.

Absolutely. People are my reason for sure. For this sector too. But challenges that you’ve seen, you’re kind of in a unique spot as both a nonprofit and a provider of services, right? What are you seeing some of the big challenges? For yourself personally and also for the sector.

Bobbie: Thanks for that question because it’s a great question and as I speak, to continue to speak to nonprofit leaders, regardless of if they’re in the States or in another country, I find it’s similar, especially if they’re a small nonprofit. We are small nonprofit and we strive to helping those smaller nonprofits.

’cause those are the ones that usually are wearing all the [00:06:00] hats and don’t know where to find the resources or how to connect or how to get community awareness, right? So continuously, there’s lack of funds, there’s lack of people, there’s lack of resources, right? And we know, Tasha, that there’s so many resources out there, but if you don’t know that or you don’t know where to find them, or you’re a small team, how do you get to it all?

Right. And so what I find is most nonprofits, I think you’ll agree. We start out because we see a need in the world and we have a heart of service, and so we want to provide that our help. Oftentimes nonprofit leaders don’t see themselves that they’re starting a business.

Yeah.

They just want to help, and they misunderstand that you nonprofit as a business, can make money, you should make money. How do you keep your programs going if your doors close? Right? And [00:07:00] so how do you understand that if you don’t have some plan of some sort, whatever you call it. Whatever it looks like to you, whatever it means at the bottom line, you understand that yes, you deserve money in the bank and overflow of it, right?

And so I would say another challenge is the misunderstanding of our sector.

Yeah.

I should say that for the people in the back?

Tasha: Yeah. I was gonna say, that’s fantastic, right? I think there’s so much money. There’s a confusion around money in the sector. It’s so uncomfortable to ask for it sometimes to justify it, to justify yourself being paid for the amazing work that you’re doing. There’s a whole bunch, of, money therapy I’m sure needed in the sector. Right.

Bobbie: Yes, absolutely.

Tasha: And so for yourself, have you gotten beyond some of those things or do you have any insights? What does having a healthy attitude towards [00:08:00] nonprofit plus money look like?

Bobbie: One of the things I did, so I grew up poor and what our sustainability was, love and support and community.

So I grew up believing as long as I had enough or I had shelter, or I had, you know, clothes and food, to continue to live, I’m good. I never was taught at a young age how important it was to have savings and emergency funds and all these various things. So when I went into this industry, I’m all about education and that’s why education is key for Jamsz.

Connections is part of what we do. So I went and worked for a bank. I went and worked for, a security company as far as like, insurance securities. And so I went and did some research to change my attitude and my relationship with money, first, we have to understand our strengths and our weaknesses.

[00:09:00] We too often think that failure is a bad thing.

Tasha: Yeah.

Bobbie: Or think that if I don’t know it. People aren’t gonna trust me or wanna work with me. We cannot do it all. So that’s another issue, in any sector that’s small, entrepreneurship, there, a lot of people are solopreneurs, right?

And that’s on the for-profit side. That’s not the nonprofit sector. We are about community. So it’s not designed for you to do it alone. So that’s, when I talk about education, that’s part of what we wanna do is help people understand what it means to be a nonprofit leader in the sector and understand that you are not supposed to do it alone, right?

Especially if you came from the for-profit side and, you’re taking some of that philosophy into this sector. You can’t because you’ll always be behind. And so I think. It’s important to get education, [00:10:00] nonprofit education because there is a difference in running a nonprofit versus a for-profit.

It’s important for you to do self-development, right? Leadership and just self-development because if you are not secure in who you are and understand who you are and the value that you bring to the table, you are always going to be being of disservice to you, your organization and the community to which you serve.

Tasha: There’s a huge piece of professional development. And to be fair, I’ve always worked at small businesses and startups. So I haven’t actually felt like I’ve gotten a lot of professional development, even myself, right. Without my own decision to invest in it. But I think you can see it just being that much more apparent in the nonprofit sector, right? How little professional development really happens. Personal, professional, like the boat. And how we’re paying a cost for that, among both our leadership among the like rampant burnout in the [00:11:00] sector.

There really is something about this like concern of competition, which I honestly look at and I’m frequently like, what are we even talking about? Right. Why are we even looking at it this way? We shouldn’t be trying to do everything. If you’re an organization serving a local community.

A community’s needs are enormous. Why wouldn’t we be trying to partner and instead go like, here’s our zone of genius, here’s your zone of genius. How can we find ways to support each other?

Bobbie: Absolutely. And one of the concerns and the struggles is I feel that, and it’s not a, you know, disregarding the for-profit.

Sector.

Tasha: Yeah.

Bobbie: It’s understanding. If you come from that and you bring some of that work ethic or belief to the nonprofit, then you have this competition. Or again, part of the education is people talk about there’s limited resources there, this and that. There’s so much [00:12:00] resources out there, and so one’s mindset, do you have that of lack or of ample?

Right? So if you don’t think there’s enough, then you are hoarding and you think there’s competition. But if you believe there’s enough, then you are willing to collaborate. You’re willing to share. People have asked me, what do you do or what? Don’t tell. Don’t tell your plan. I’m like, here, I’ll give you the blueprint.

You know why? Because the more people serving the community, the better. ’cause that’s why we’re in the sector.

Tasha: Yeah.

Bobbie: I can’t do it all by myself.

Tasha: You just can’t. You just can’t. And that shared blueprint, man, we talk so much in the sector about learning from each we should be learning from each other’s mistakes and things like that.

You have to be willing to say you made a mistake and share it in order to learn from somebody else. Right? It’s funny, in close to where I live in Toronto, they actually have this. Evening, startup thing where you’re literally supposed to come and talk about your mess ups, except for they don’t use the word mess.

I won’t put that out there, but, it’s [00:13:00] so critical, right? What was the thing that you did that afterwards? I think that does happen more frequently in the startup space where people go, well, this was epically ridiculous and everything. And they’re more willing to share what it looks like along the journey.

I’m sure just as many large legacy nonprofits have things that they could share that haven’t worked that could save a whole bunch of other orgs, a whole bunch of headaches, but absolutely, we’re too nervous to talk about those things.

Bobbie: Yeah. When I first had the vision to start Jamsz connections, I did reach out to leaders in the community that have been, that I’ve seen be successful, asking them to be mentors and that they weren’t willing.

And so I never want Jamsz connections to be that, but Have you ever heard of the book, the Power of No. I think it’s the name of it.

Tasha: I have heard of the book. I haven’t read all the, it’s one of those ones where it keeps getting referenced and I see the excerpts and everything, but Yeah, I’ve heard

Bobbie: and so basically if, do you know, the concept about it?

Tasha: I think so. But throw it out there

Bobbie: so basically the goal is to get a lot of nos. Okay. And so [00:14:00] this guy that wrote the book, his organization was around sales, and so they got an award for the most nos, but it translated into the most cells.

It’s true. Right? And it’s an opportunity to learn from those failures, those setbacks. What do I need to tweak? You get to do it better and continue to improve, right? And so again, that’s mindset. Understanding yourself, not being afraid to fail when you know why you’re doing it, when you fail, it means you’re only improving it for the people you’re doing it for.

Tasha: Love that. That’s fantastic. We have to, right? I feel like we covered a whole minor discussion on nonprofit there, Bobbie. I love it. So peer support and like you just noted, you got a lot of people who were like, no thanks, don’t wanna be mentoring here, but how do you think peer support is really important in this sector?

And have you had, those experiences of [00:15:00] peer support?

Bobbie: Peer support is crucial and important. I would say part of Jamsz Connections model is I’m so quick to share what went well and what didn’t. I always tell people I don’t know it all.

Tasha: Yeah,

Bobbie: I don’t claim to. I don’t strive to, but what I do know, I’m willing to share.

And if it resonates and serves you, take it. If it does not let it go. I mean, it’s all about finding the resource that connects with you to do better. Right? And so finding people in the industry that have been there and willing to share. And the challenge becomes, especially since again, we work with small nonprofits, there’s a lot of consultants out there. Willing to

share their knowledge, but there’s a fee. And these small nonprofits who just like any nonprofit, need those services. [00:16:00] So I would highly encourage and recommend that anyone listening to this, if you guys choose to do this clip or you pay part of this clip. That folks who have been blessed with the knowledge and are financially able, never expecting anyone to go beyond their own means to put themselves in a deficit.

But if you are overflowing. Yeah, share, right? Because one of the things that Jamsz Connectors wants to create is a resource of, we have all sorts, similar to what you’re doing, Tasha, with the nonprofit Hive. You have all sorts of resources. Maybe, there’s people in there that do pro bono work, maybe they don’t.

And if you don’t have that component, you have sponsors all the time, so I anticipate that you do, right? But it’s that type of community. That’s what I. Feel peer-to-peer is about, is creating that community of people who are [00:17:00] service minded, social good minded, and that they know that by giving back, it’s making the world a better place.

And they’re not giving for the expectation of return. The return is the good that they’re doing and the change they’re making in the world. But some people need that financial change. And if that’s where you are, that’s fine. Right. But we just need more people that are in the position that are willing to be in this philanthropic space to helping small nonprofits.

’cause oftentimes in the industry, and you’ve probably seen this, Tasha, of you’re just starting, you need funding, but you can’t get it because you just started, you don’t have data to say, your value. Well, my value is I’m identifying a group of people that need our services. How do you help me fulfill that if I gotta already have it?

Tasha: It’s a chicken or the egg in the

Bobbie: [00:18:00] right. Right. And so we need people who have the financial means to say. I believe in social good. I believe in the nonprofit sector, we have, startup funds, we have whatever, we have funds that are not, limited to just programs, and I see it getting better.

We just need more of that. And I consider all that about peer. Peer-to-peer. That’s fantastic.

Tasha: Yeah. The peer-to-peer piece, it’s not discussed. It’s almost like for some reason we think in this sector we don’t need to talk to each other very often. And partly how the nonprofit I came into being where I’m like, how do you wonderful humans not know each other?

Come on. Let’s start gathering. But you can learn so much from another person who, not that they’ve necessarily had more nonprofit experience than you. I think these informal. Peer mentorships. And actually be more valuable because the power is not imbalanced in the same way.

And people can have more honest conversations.

Bobbie: [00:19:00] Absolutely. And really thank you for this opportunity for me to share. Thank you for creating the nonprofit hive. . It’s very needed. You are the example, in my opinion, of what community is and how it should look when and when it’s about people.

Volunteering to be a part of it and offering their time and learn in anything that we do. There are gonna be some people not that have come across the nonprofit hive, but you know, there is the risk that there might be some people with ill intent. We can’t operate on those people. We gotta operate on the good that’s intended for what we want to do and the positive change we wanna make.

Tasha: Totally, well, this kind of leads perfectly in, ’cause my wrap up question is always, you know, you’ve been a member for quite some time, appreciate you deeply. You’re one of our biggest cheerleaders out there on LinkedIn. Just totally adore it and so thankful. And what have you gotten out of being a member of this community?

Bobbie: What I’ve gotten out of being part of the nonprofit hive, I would say is first and foremost [00:20:00] community. There’s nothing wrong with having differences of opinion, because that’s how we stretch or grow. But it is also helpful when you’re in a room.. Where there are like-minded people who are striving for the good and wanting to make change for the good.

Right? It connects to my spirit, it connects to my soul, and I just relate so much with what you’re building. And I feel like I’m at home.

Tasha: I like that so much. Well, and I keep thinking as you were talking about this cool location where you’re at today and everything , one of my hopes for the future for the nonprofit Hive is making it more possible for members to go, Hey, I’d love to have something.

In Austin. Right. And get, ’cause that in-person piece is like that next level. And you get to even get more and everything. But I also never wanted it to be limited by geography because, there is so many cool humans out there and they bring different lived experiences into our world.

And I think nonprofit [00:21:00] needs. That, wraparound view to look at itself and go, what could we do differently and what’s realistic? . I’m just so thankful that you joined us because it just has been so lovely. And, I always like to make sure too, how can people get in touch with you?

How can they follow up? How can they learn more about Jamsz Konnections and services and how you run as a nonprofit?

Bobbie: Perfect. Tasha, again, thank you for the opportunity to have this conversation and to share about myself and Jamsz connections and like I said, to share a new perspective of the origin story.

I love that. So Jamsz Konnections, we have a website. We are on social media, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook , Jamsz is spelled differently. J-A-M-S-Z and connections, K-O-N-N-E-C-T-I-O-N-S. So that’s dot org for Jamsz Connections website. And then at the bottom we have all the icons where you can just click on and start following us, which we’d love that you would do.

One last [00:22:00] plug. I said earlier education’s important, so we would love those of you that are in the nonprofit sector or love the nonprofit sector, we are conducting a survey, on education. And so reach out to me, Bobbie B-O-B-B-I-E, at Jamsz connections.org. J-A-M-S-Z-K-O-N-N-E-C-T-I-O-N s.org.

Tasha: I will make sure all of those links end up in this when it gets posted as well, because those are fantastic.

Thank you so much again for doing this with me. Really just deeply appreciate you and love the work you’re doing at the world.

Bobbie: Great. Thanks so much, Tasha. Love what you’re doing.