Asking for money is probably one of the most uncomfortable things anybody can go through. It takes a lot of practice.

People are giving up their hard-earned dollars and they’re not getting tax breaks – they’re betting on you. They’re betting on the idea of you becoming an elected official. Those resources are extremely important, and it’s very important how you spend those dollars. You want to make sure you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck, in other words.

Not only with resources, but with time-management too. Your time as a candidate is one of the most important things that you have. Being a good steward of your time, managing your time effectively, making sure that you’re communicating with the most people in each different event. Having somebody there to help you manage your time may help. Many candidates run into the problem of trying to have too much control over their campaign and not using their time wisely.

Candidates and consultants may bump heads over control. As a candidate, you may want to do things a certain way. But if you’re paying a consultant to do those things for you, you should let her do her job. Let a consultant manage those things for you and take those things off your plate so you can go out and handle other things such as meeting people. You can introduce yourself, express your ideas and articulate why you’re running for office. This will allow you to continue building a brand for yourself. Time is a finite resource. Managing it properly is important. Your time has to be managed properly and most people have a difficult time doing so.

Deciding if you need a team and what that team might look like depends on the amount of resources the candidate has. You can have a full-blown team that includes communications, field, policy, a campaign manager, senior advisors, consultants, and a general consultant.

If a candidate doesn’t have the resources to have a team of that size, most of those positions could get wrapped into a single campaign manager.

It is important to have a good understanding of the amount of financial resources a candidate has when going in. It’s a really serious question. It’s hard to gauge. Having a hard look at what your finances are or who in your family and friends circle is willing to chip in to get you off the ground will in large part dictate your viability and what you will have in terms of staff.

There are two different ways in which you could get involved in campaigns.

One is organically, where maybe you started at a young age or developed an interest in civics, like being involved in a local organization such as a school’s PTA. This may include any organization that you hold some type of office that you’re elected to.

There’s so much more than national level office positions. It’s not just a State House race or a State Senate race or the US Congress. There are so many ways that you can hold an office position, particularly at a local level. Try getting involved organically. Start the process to see what position would fit you best.

Maybe something happened in your personal life that triggered your interest in running for local office. There are many examples of people that turned a personal life event into a career in politics.

In addition to that, family is extremely important. When you run, your family runs. They need to be well aware of that. You need to allow them to enter the campaign and allow them to be a support system for you – as opposed to something that you’re constantly butting up against because they didn’t expect it to be this way. There will be things you’re not going to expect.

 

Photo Credit: tradingacademy.com

Once you do take that leap in making the decision to run, and this is something that you really want to put your time and your energy into, you have to look at the scope of what it’s going to take to get there. This may include surveying your family and the people that are the closest to you and understanding what that’s going to do to them and their life, because you’re going to be putting yourself out there in front of your community.

Figuring out what level of office you want to run for is important. This level should coincide with your goals. Whether it be city issues, like trash pickup, speed humps and drainage ditches. Or it may be something that’s happening at the state level, or something in between, or even something at the school board level.

Once you figure out what level best suits the goals you’d like to accomplish, you can start putting together your database of who you know. What does your grassroots community look like? Who is likely to support you? Use friends and family as a networking opportunity. They can spread your message. This takes you to the next level of the campaign.

 

 

Photo credit: tradingacademy.com