Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 57 - Peaceful Growth as a Helping Biz
Synopsis:
What happens when a heart for service meets business strategy?
In this powerful Peaceful Profits case study, Suzanne Burns—founder of Foundation House Ministries and Be Charity Wise—shares how she’s used the Peaceful Profits system to expand her nonprofit’s reach, train ministry leaders, and build a sustainable trauma-informed enterprise.
From maternity homes to trauma training, Suzanne blends compassion with entrepreneurship, revealing how Mike Shreeve’s methods helped her create scalable, impactful change.
If you’re a purpose-driven entrepreneur or nonprofit leader, this episode is a must-listen.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review: Peaceful Growth as a Helping Biz
[00:00:00] Chanelle: Hello, Peaceful Profits Nation. Chanelle here with an exciting client spotlight for you today. Today, we're talking to our client, Suzanne Burns. So Suzanne is the founder and executive director of Foundation House Ministries, a maternity home program for mothers in crisis. Their mission is to rescue a generation of mothers who will be equipped to rescue their own children or whose children will never need rescuing in the first place.
[00:00:25] Chanelle: As I read that, I cannot help but feel that line, Suzanne. We're going to need to talk [00:00:30] about that. She also launched Be Charity Wise to equip other ministries to serve in their communities more effectively. Suzanne is also an implementation coach here at Peaceful Prophet. So Suzanne, welcome to this side of the broadcast.
[00:00:45] Chanelle: Hi, thank you. I'm glad to be here. Yeah, it's so nice to be here with you. So I just your work is stands out already with the amazing heart that you have for mothers. And like I said, I just [00:01:00] love that line. There's it just hits me as I read that. To rescue a generation of mothers who will be equipped to rescue their own children or whose children will never need rescuing in the first place.
[00:01:10] Chanelle: I just think that is so powerful. So I'd love to start off with hearing a little bit, how you got into this work and kind of the meaning behind it.
[00:01:20] Suzanne: Yeah, so I I experienced my own crisis pregnancy as I was a junior in college and it, it was really hard. I had a first marriage, [00:01:30] a first not great divorce before I knew it, in, in this dating relationship, I was, experimenting with illegal drugs and alcohol and, all the things that I had been raised against.
[00:01:42] Suzanne: And and then one day I wake up and I'm pregnant. And so it was several years of struggle and of challenge. And then met and married my second husband and we've been together now 21 years. And Had our second child and I began ready to give back ready to help other [00:02:00] women who were in a situation that I had once found myself in.
[00:02:04] Suzanne: And so I ended up volunteering for about seven years at one of our pregnancy help centers here locally. And over time we just began seeing more and more women coming through who needed a deeper level of support. They were, living in their cars. They were 23 and no GED and had never really worked before.
[00:02:22] Suzanne: They had gone from couch to couch or boyfriend to boyfriend. And until one day they wake up pregnant and they didn't have the [00:02:30] resources that I did when I was in their shoes. I had some college. I had good family support. And And they didn't have any of that. And and I had job skills.
[00:02:39] Suzanne: That's the third one. And so I just knew that we needed something more. And so over the course of time, a particular client came in and she was pushing her baby. He was about four months old in the stroller and she was really frustrated. She was looking for work. She was applying at all of these jobs and just really [00:03:00] feeling disappointed because she was getting an interview, but she wasn't getting a job.
[00:03:05] Suzanne: And so my fix it instincts started kicking in and I started asking questions, maybe she's applying for the wrong jobs. Maybe she's a poor interviewer. How can I fix the problem? And she eventually, she said, at some point in the interview, the baby gets fussy or he needs his diaper changed.
[00:03:22] Suzanne: And the interview is just over at that point. And of course my first thought was, Oh, I'm pretty sure the interview was over when they saw you pushing the baby. [00:03:30] But I had been there long enough by this point to know that's never the full picture. And so I began asking more questions and come to find out the real issue was.
[00:03:40] Suzanne: That her boyfriend that they lived with the baby's father was a violent drug dealer and she did not feel safe leaving their son home alone with him even long enough for her to go and get a job. And I went home that day, that was June of 2011. I went home that day and [00:04:00] told my husband, We've got to do something.
[00:04:02] Suzanne: And three short years later, we opened in 2014 and we have now served over 120 moms through housing and over 500 through our non residential support services. We now have two two locations in two separate counties. We're the only home of our kind in 150 miles. So we're actively working to expand into some of the other counties that we serve now also.
[00:04:28] Chanelle: That is so [00:04:30] amazing. So tell us a little bit about what kind of services you provide for women.
[00:04:37] Suzanne: Everything. So our goal is to bring these women to a place of sustainable stability. So we do whatever it is she needs us to do everything from parenting to transportation to housing. Virtually all of our moms have a high degree of trauma history.
[00:04:54] Suzanne: And everything we do is trauma informed and that's, Really the root of our side business be charity wise [00:05:00] is teaching that to other ministries. We also provide coping skills, parenting skills. We help with GED prep when they need it. We have a complete job training program. We have a couple of thrift shops as well as a manufacturing line of lotions and soaps and candles and things like that.
[00:05:17] Suzanne: So we're really looking to expand these women's horizons so that they can earn. a living wage so that they can actually achieve that sustainable stability. We also do a lot of like court [00:05:30] advocacy, helping them get custody, restorative of older children, the whole nine yards.
[00:05:34] Chanelle: Yeah, that is amazing work.
[00:05:37] Chanelle: I love it. And I'm very, I'm sure. Now I'm really curious on the business end, how this all works. So obviously what you're doing takes money. It takes funding. So talk to me about how that all works because it seems like it can't be coming from these women. They're probably not in a place to pay for any help.
[00:05:59] Suzanne: [00:06:00] Exactly. Yeah. And that's the, really the challenge. And that's why my my entrepreneurial spirit has always been what kept us going. And that was the root of the job training program, which turns out that's not necessarily the best way to fund a ministry. But but Be Charity Wise has.
[00:06:17] Suzanne: be taken on that piece of helping to finance some of our expansive expansion. Our goal is to serve the community. These women and in the nonprofit world. [00:06:30] We really have developed for ourselves a very unsustainable structure Of asking for money continuously of seeking grants whether they're federal or local or foundations It is exhausting to try and fund raise for the work that we do And we, because we're a 24 seven residential ministry, we are extremely expensive for how few women that we are able to serve [00:07:00] over the course of a given year because we work so deeply, especially post pandemic, we have girls living with us that have been with us for 18 months.
[00:07:09] Suzanne: But what are we supposed to do? We can't kick her out. How is that helping her move forward? And that also presents challenges and applying for federal grants, because then they want to dictate certain things. And one of our one of our residents is she's doing very well.
[00:07:25] Suzanne: She came to us. This is now twice she placed her children, both she's doing very well. [00:07:30] both of them for adoption with the same family. She has cognitive delays. She has significant mental health diagnoses. She also has a a storied past of of both trauma as well as meth addiction. And at whatever point she leaves our program, she is almost guaranteed to go right back into addiction almost immediately.
[00:07:54] Suzanne: If we were to have these large federal grants, which, would be nice to be receiving guaranteed [00:08:00] money they would not allow us to continue to house her because she no longer fits our true client. But she's thriving. So what else do we do? We just take, we just keep her, we just keep her and we keep pouring until she will until she's ready to move forward.
[00:08:17] Suzanne: And she may not ever be fully ready. So we just keep doing what we do.
[00:08:22] Chanelle: Yeah, that's amazing. So I heard a little piece in there and I want to, if I would love for you to expand on this a bit. [00:08:30] So it sounds like your work at Be Charity Wise is helping to fund your foundation house ministries. That's correct.
[00:08:38] Chanelle: Okay. So talk to me a little bit more about the business side of Be Charity Wise and how that brings in money.
[00:08:46] Suzanne: Yeah. So that our mission through Be Charity Wise is to equip other compassionate kingdom ministries and churches, nonprofits to understand and apply trauma informed practices into [00:09:00] their own ministries.
[00:09:01] Suzanne: So through that, we through the Peaceful Profits method, we developed the wisdom method, which is a trauma informed approach. To holistic client transformation. And we've been selling, trauma informed trainings, understanding the poverty mindset for several years, but it was really through the Peaceful Profits systems that, that We really started seeing some momentum beginning to take place.
[00:09:28] Suzanne: And and that's what really excites [00:09:30] me because there's fewer than 400 maternity homes nationwide. And one of my visions is to increase not only foundation houses reach but all of our reaches, helping start up homes to get established. But there are so many other types of ministries that are wanting to do good, wanting to serve.
[00:09:50] Suzanne: They simply lack the knowledge. And so people are, on the helping side, they're getting frustrated, they're getting burnt out. They're getting exhausted because of the survival [00:10:00] mechanisms in the people that they serve. So it's ignorance on the side of the helpers and how to help correctly, how to help appropriately.
[00:10:09] Suzanne: And so the more we can teach and the more we can equip, the more grace and mercy can be offered. And the more actual help gets to the
[00:10:19] Chanelle: people who need
[00:10:19] Suzanne: it
[00:10:19] Chanelle: the most. Yeah, that is amazing. Now, as you're talking about the helpers getting exhausted and trying to do all these things, I can't help but think about you [00:10:30] with you're in, you have so many things that you're doing, right?
[00:10:34] Chanelle: So many things. And it's amazing how many irons you have in the fire. I know one thing that has kept you being able to do what you've done is as your business has grown, you've had your staff take over some of the day to day. So I'd love for you to talk about what that looks like and how that process has been for you, allowing you to do all these things and [00:11:00] do them very well.
[00:11:01] Suzanne: Yeah, and it was so unexpected. I have so I have a wonderful staff. In fact, Two of our graduates are now on permanent staff with us. And it was really, as we were doing some early local trainings that that I pulled them in to give a that broader perspective because I don't live on site.
[00:11:23] Suzanne: And so I'm not there 24 seven doing a lot of the client, the direct client support, [00:11:30] my focus is really on the brain science and talking to the people, outside the community about science. I'm more outwardly focused. So my team was able to bring in the kind of the internal focus and the escalation strategies and, different things like that how we really work in the household.
[00:11:50] Suzanne: And so as we were developing the wisdom method over the summer I had brought it to my director of client services for her input in what I had developed. [00:12:00] And and she and her assistant who is one of our graduates came along and really started expanding on things and adding things in and it was very exciting and a lot of fun.
[00:12:11] Suzanne: And as we got our first beta testers and which was all you know that I do all the money part I do all of the selling and all of that they just talk. But so I got it all started. And they were just like, Yeah, I think we're good. This is going to work just fine. And I was like, Oh, okay.
[00:12:26] Suzanne: But then the amazing thing was that the day after [00:12:30] we launched our beta group, my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And a week and a half later, he had passed. So had I tried to hold on to that or had I even needed to hold on to that, I would have been unable to, to fulfill on our obligations.
[00:12:48] Suzanne: But they absolutely ran with it and they absolutely shown. And now they just the two of them just got back from training in Ohio. And it's amazing because they're both blossoming. [00:13:00] And I've pictured myself as like a potted plant being moved into a larger pot, having more more opportunity for growth and expansion with the vision that now leaves my previous pot available.
[00:13:13] Suzanne: And as I move up, everyone else under me is being able to move up. Also, and it's so exciting to watch them take ownership in it, in what like was my idea. And at first I was Hey, I hate to bother you. Would you mind helping me? And now they're just running with [00:13:30] it. And so they're getting a salary through through our ministry for their work there, but then they're also getting Some of the revenue sharing through be charity wise as well.
[00:13:39] Suzanne: And they're also learning skills. They didn't know they had their learning self confidence. They didn't realize they could accomplish.
[00:13:46] Chanelle: Yeah. That's beautiful to see. I love that analogy of the pot. I think we can see that of that growth. And I think for a lot of entrepreneurs, we want that.
[00:13:59] Chanelle: We want to [00:14:00] move to that pot, but sometimes we just Cling to the old pot. We feel like, oh, but this is my baby and I need to stay here and I don't know if I want anyone else in this pot. So what do you think? Obviously there have been benefits and things that you didn't know of reasons why it needed to happen that way, but what allowed you to be able to take that leap and to let other people handle it?
[00:14:27] Suzanne: I think it's twofold. One is my [00:14:30] faith for sure. And the confidence that I have that I am on the right path. And then the other is that, I'm a natural delegator. I'm perfectly content with saying, Hey, I need you to go do this. And then just expecting it to happen. So that has definitely come in handy.
[00:14:48] Chanelle: Yeah, that's great. That's fantastic. I really feel that can be challenging, but we can see the benefits like you've talked about allowing them to grow, allowing you to grow and allowing [00:15:00] all these things to happen while you're dealing with personal challenges is a, such a huge benefit. Any other unexpected benefits as you have handed over some of the day to your staff.
[00:15:13] Suzanne: I think one of the neat things is watching our graduates step into their roles. And there, there's always this this grayness as they shift from client to staff, but it's really fun watching them blossom into [00:15:30] their own roles. One of, one of the girls we have graduates is in the client services.
[00:15:35] Suzanne: She brings with her like the street smarts. She didn't get her GED until she was 28. She has a tremendous testimony. But now she's now our assistant director of client services over the case managers and over really almost all of the ministry the day to day operations. And then our other graduate she came up to me after the banquet last year and said, I really want to help you with this whole money thing.
[00:15:59] Suzanne: [00:16:00] And I was like yes, I will let you. And and so she's taken on building relationships with local churches and researching local foundations and really learning skill sets that she didn't know existed. And I think for me, that's the fun part as I'm watching them blossom in areas that, that they could never have fathomed and honestly I couldn't either until they were given opportunities and I, I think of those hydrangea bushes that, if you put different [00:16:30] things into the soil the flowers bloom, different colors.
[00:16:33] Suzanne: And and that's what I think of my girls that, if we just give them a little bit of of iron over here or a little bit of this over here, eggshells, I think is another one. And one of my staff knows all of them and what they, what colors they produce. I don't but it's so amazing how they blossom in such unusual and unexpected ways.
[00:16:54] Chanelle: Yeah, that is so awesome. And it's so easy to see that this is such a labor of love and [00:17:00] purpose for you. Both of those come through very clearly. Now you mentioned with be charity wise, that one of the reasons that it's really thriving is because of the peaceful profit system. And I'd love for you to talk to us a little bit about what pieces from the peaceful profit system have really.
[00:17:19] Chanelle: Shifted things for you with the charity wise. What have you implemented that has helped that to be successful?
[00:17:26] Suzanne: Yeah, I think the best piece [00:17:30] of of wisdom that Mike gave was the tightening down your niche. And I work with such a broad range of people that that it was always really hard for me to communicate.
[00:17:42] Suzanne: All that we do. And I'm learning to speak more directly when I'm speaking to certain people, cause I still do all the things. I just don't have to tell you all the things, I just don't have to overwhelm and then his systems for I'm the author of seven books. And [00:18:00] so his system for leading with a book as your, your entry point in people's lives.
[00:18:05] Suzanne: Really spoke to me and I had been doing that. I had been trying that I have free lead magnets on my website, but but the system behind the one book millions method, I think is just absolutely ingenious. And it's allowed me to to see these businesses expand, but also it's teaching me tools that I can use not only through my work as an implementation coach [00:18:30] in the Peaceful Profits family.
[00:18:32] Suzanne: but also to my graduates as they are looking to expand their entrepreneurial skills. I'm able to start teaching some of this to them and really seeing them build careers for themselves. 21st century careers that don't have anything to do with working fast food anymore.
[00:18:51] Chanelle: Yeah, that's amazing. It's amazing because what we really learn and teach in the peaceful profit system, our [00:19:00] principles, foundational principles that then have so many different applications with, the women you work with our businesses, with so many different things.
[00:19:08] Chanelle: So I love that. Now, one thing that you see said is that people are excited to see you coming. And I think that really speaks to what you were just talking about. You have been able to niche down so that they know that you're speaking to them. So as you've worked on that messaging and that niching down, what do you think has been the [00:19:30] difference that has made you stand out to the people that you serve?
[00:19:34] Suzanne: No one else is talking to the maternity home world period. So that one was an easy one, but in the church world, no one is really talking about trauma unless we're talking about church hurt, which is not fun for me. That's not a topic I'm interested in dealing with. So we really already had a very unique position.
[00:19:58] Suzanne: And the [00:20:00] Peaceful Profits assistance with language has really helped me to articulate that in a way that people recognize themselves very quickly so that I can come in and explain to them exactly how I can help you. I can help you, your church expand a benevolent benevolence program that is going to accomplish the purposes that you want.
[00:20:23] Suzanne: I can help your maternity home start strong or I can equip your existing home [00:20:30] with the trauma informed practices that you need in order to bring about holistic client transformation, I can, I've learned how to speak to the person that I'm talking with. In their language, and and that was really freeing for me because I don't, I like doing a lot of different things this is how it was built, so I would be really bored if I only had one project I was working on so I don't have to give anything up, I just have to figure out how to talk how to speak appropriately [00:21:00] to that particular person.
[00:21:02] Chanelle: Yeah, I love that. It's really powerful the way that you are crafting a message specifically. And I think just like how we were just talking about that expands meaning that's a principle. Speak to who you're speaking to in their language. And that's a principle that then expands into all the areas of your business.
[00:21:25] Chanelle: So we're now at my favorite part of the client spotlight episode. So you're [00:21:30] currently both a client and a coach of ours. And you've mentioned that you are working on all of the things in the peaceful profit system. Can you tell our audience, what's the number one piece of advice you'd like to share to others who are working through that process too?
[00:21:46] Suzanne: Yeah, I think the most important piece is to just keep going forward. So often my clients get bogged down somewhere and I did it myself. I got super bogged down in LinkedIn. I've [00:22:00] never used LinkedIn maternity home. I'm not going to find maternity homes on there. So I finally had, I finally accepted that was not my world and was able to bypass it.
[00:22:09] Suzanne: And I think we, we have a tendency to just try to go very linear through it. And so we get held up at a certain point when if we would just push through Our breakthrough is going to be found in that next video Mike has so much wisdom Throughout the series that if you just keep moving [00:22:30] forward you will Make the progress that you desire and then the other piece would be You know, when you find yourself stuck when you're really struggling to just keep going back through stage one, and really going back to that high ticket offer, refining it and honing it and sometimes you have to listen to those videos three and four times to really understand exactly who you are.
[00:22:55] Suzanne: And exactly what unique thing you produce in this [00:23:00] world. There is a market for what you want to sell. You just have to find your confidence to, to go boldly forward.
[00:23:08] Chanelle: Suzanne, that is beautiful. That is fantastic advice. And just in such a heart centered way, which is obviously how you do everything that you do.
[00:23:19] Chanelle: So I appreciate that so much. Where can people find out more about you and see your work?
[00:23:27] Suzanne: Yeah. So be charity wise. [00:23:30] com is the It is the trauma training side foundation house ministries. org is the nonprofit side and you can also go to trauma informed church. com and download one of my free ebooks, The Accidental Social Worker.
[00:23:46] Suzanne: And I also have a podcast. A podcast of the same name. So there are a lot of ways you can find me.
[00:23:51] Chanelle: Perfect. All right. Definitely go and check that out. We will link to that in the show notes. We have been just uplifted and [00:24:00] edified and taught so many wonderful things from you today. Thank you, Suzanne, for being here.
[00:24:04] Suzanne: Thanks, Chanelle. I appreciate it.
[00:24:06] Chanelle: Yes. And thank you everyone for being here and for being part of Peaceful Profits nation.