I’m working on a committee trying to pass a bond issue in the November election. Someone recommended that we treat this as a political campaign and hire a professional consultant to assist in our work.
Aside from the fact that we would have to raise that much more money to do so, this isn’t a political campaign. Politicians have a much longer runway in which to create an infrastructure and garner support. I’m sure there are people today cultivating funds and influencers for the 2026 elections and beyond. Candidates come with a built-in network and resources affiliated with their political party, and sometimes even professional staff whose job it is to promote their platform.
The bond campaign is a scrappy, volunteer committee with 20 weeks to do it all: recruit the people, create the messaging, raise all the money, and execute the plans. We’re the creators, activators, and implementers — all while juggling our paying jobs. We started from scratch on June 12 and will wrap up on November 4. Just onboarding a consultant would take more time than we have, and in our last attempt, we learned that their suggestions and methods are more sophisticated than our fledgling operation can effectively support.
For every project, outside assistance is available, whether it be people, software, products, or new ways of accomplishing your task. It all sounds wonderful and like the magic answer to any problem you have, but the more complex the method, the greater the learning curve to implement it.
Assess whether your project is akin to a political campaign with a longer timeframe and existing support, or whether it’s more like a short-term volunteer gig, then rightsize the external opportunities with the internal realities. Sometimes simplicity is the most effective path to achieve your goal.
