thank you [Music] hello hello this is Tamika Seton president and CEO
of grow your nonprofit where we help small startup and stagnant nonprofits grow through fundraising
strategy strategic planning and so much more guys today you are in forgery treat I have my special
guest Sandy Stillwell she's the owner and operator of steelwell Enterprises Chivas share all of her
secrets about how she became a senior entrepreneur and all things philanthropy right right so before
we get started I'd like to
thank the sponsors of my podcast Hodges University with a campus in
Fort Myers stay near go far they change lives for the better Trinity life Foundation Naples
helping at-risk youth in Collier County through their enrichment program Avid that stands for
the associations of Haitians living abroad they just open a great support center right here
in the beautiful Fort Myers where they help people with immigration utility rental assistance
and some much more last but not least vax truth they j
ust received a grant from the CDC where
they raise awareness about covid-19 and vaccine resources in the black and brown communities so
like I said without further Ado Sandy Stillwell thank you how are you doing Sandy doing well
thank you this interview was long overdue I I know I reconnected with you last year through
the Gulf Coast Business Bank event and I said you have to come on my desk and you said no wait
I'm really busy so I finally was able to get you here so thank you so much I re
ally appreciate it
because I know you have so many businesses you're also rebuilding because a lot of your businesses
sustained damage during Hurricane Ian but you took the time out of your business schedule to come
here and bless us with your presence so thank you so much oh you're welcome so you're Florida grown
right you graduated from Cypress Lake Cypress Lake High School right so tell me a little bit about
your journey because I know when we spoke when we met last year you mentioned th
at you've never
worked for anyone a day in your life and you've always been an entrepreneur so so so tell us
about that and we'll get into philanthropy okay well great well I I was raised here since the
time I was two would be oh wow from Chicago and um so in my grandparents uh were entrepreneurs
and my parents were entrepreneurs and so it kind of was in our blood so I did work for my uncle
when I was 10 years old Oh my he was uh he owned a little diner and was short-handed a dishwasher
an
d I can help you you know I just adored my uncle Cal and so I had a job working with him and
he always swore that I broke more dishes than I actually oh I bet you that's not true me a lot
but anyway but I did honestly see how hard they worked and I promised myself I would never be in
the restaurant business because that just took too much out of anyone's life sure enough here it is
that you know how many restaurants do you have a ton of them right now if it was not Bill six of
them yeah I'm
just just sold one okay and um so I and I love the restaurant business it's actually
service oriented and I think that's really my love is is in hospitality and uh and but the hotel
business the same way so it's been great I love it so if my first uh business that I own on my
own was when I was 17. wow and so it's never too you're never too young I always encourage young
people to you know fulfill your dreams so so tell us about your first business at 17 and how could
someone get started b
ecause I know oftentimes we are Our Own Worst Enemy we tell ourselves
what we can't do and it's really not true it that's that's absolutely right and what
happened was at church I met one of in a Bible study a couple and he was the president
of a bank oh and he was saying that um he had to fire his cleaning service because they caught
someone stealing something and um and I thought I think I could do oh wow so I started the cleaning
service and we I cleaned their bank it's right in the corn
er of colonial I mean College Parkway and
41. Okay Wells Fargo now oh wow and uh so then I had I hired a bunch of Youth from the youth group
at church wow and we started doing that and then it turned into a whole chain of First Federal
Savings associations that we did the cleaning for and then I did the airport control tower and
started into car dealerships and then I sold the business because ultimately that was not my yeah
goal is to own a cleaning service yeah but it got me to where I ne
eded to be wow and I really found
that I I liked that so I sold that business and then I went into the hotel business where I owned
my first little Inn wow and uh so I was 21 when I got into my first oh my gosh I sold a house at 19.
oh my God yeah so but you know the building of the house at 19 also included my mom and dad loaning
me the money for the lot and then I paid them back but so I have to give credit to my parents yeah
yeah instilled hard work athletes look at me and uh and they ga
ve me that first loan you know which
is that's wonderful that's wonderful I I like that your first business was basically cleaning a bank
I like I like it with money I'd like that um so so what what was it was it I know you had the
support of your family I know you you come from a family of entrepreneurs but you still have to have
something in you to believe in yourself to not be afraid to take that leap of faith and do that what
what did you have and what was your secret sauce I just alway
s believed that if you treat people
the way that you want to be treated that it's going to go very well and you provide a service
that's needed oh I love that I love that then you meet that need and that's why in uh I have five
restaurants on Captiva each one is a different concept and there was no Mexican restaurant so
now I had a Mexican restaurant so I've kind of looked even my little stores that I would have
if somebody didn't sell books then I sold books so that way people didn't have
to leave the island
so that's been the method to my madness is is that and I never really wanted to create you know a
huge chain and take it nationwide or anything I always wanted to keep it just really then my
ability I am considering making one of mine a chain now but um that is yet to be seen how that
will work out I'm just putting that out there yeah I'm trying put it in the universe put it in the
universe because what I've what I've learned is um I I became an entrepreneur I guess a li
ttle
bit later in life I started off I had a career I'm originally from Los Angeles I've been in Southwest
Florida for 19 years I lived in Naples for 15 and the rest in Fort Myers and um you know I was
always taught like everyone else in this country go to college and get a good job so that's all
I was focused on in getting a good job and then I found myself um it was it was a challenge for
anyone to hire me because they would look at my resume and say I can't pay you enough or or could
yo
u really take orders for me because you you're used to being in executive leadership roles and
I said to me can maybe this is the time to take a leaping of Faith embed on yourself this time
because I I go into other people's businesses and uh um companies and turn it around make it
better raise more money and you know working long hours six hour days and I said this time
let me do it for myself so I've been I'm at an appointment in my life where I've been taking the
leap of faith even when
the money wasn't there and I I asked God for it and then the money just
shows up somehow so someone who is thinking about entrepreneurship even if they're working and maybe
they just start off as with a side hustle what advice can you give them to get started if they
don't have the money they don't have the support how should they get started well you know I think
you have to come up with a concept first of all what you want to do and then build a business
plan and there are so many tools o
ut there to help build a business plan and then pitch the idea
to some of your friends and see if it's something that they would think it's a good idea because
you know when you decide to give up a perfectly good paying job yeah and then launch yourself
out there you need to have some resources right available to you and and really a good backup plan
because you know not every business is successful right and there have been businesses that I have
started that I've shut down too so it's not
like it's I'm hitting home run every time okay okay
that you have to be prepared that it might not go exactly the way you want it to go but when
you when you really put the work into it and you do your homework ahead of time and you have your
resources that's that's really the key and a lot of people come to me for advice and I kind of help
them through some of that and I'm happy to do that because I'd rather see them seek advice yeah and
there are so many resources the Small Business Deve
lopment Center there's a lot of different
places and for funding it depends upon what but if there's a non-profit type there's actually
groups of people that help fund people to start a new business too it's really helpful in that way
good to know so as you um continue our as you were on this journey of Entrepreneurship at what point
did you take a look at or how did you get involved in philanthropy and for those of you philanthropy
philanthropy is basically giving back to whether it's a no
n-profit or just helping with some social
cause that impacts the lives positively of someone who's less fortunate well it was actually through
with my children I have my two sons and they were in school so so much of what I did was in my
business running my business and being Mom you know and then doing all the you know Church things
and little leagues and all the stuff with boys you would do and so I kind of gotten involved with
some of the fundraising things as a part of their school Etc
and then I got involved with Junior
League in Fort Myers and they really did train me a lot on um how would it be a good Committee
Member how to be really organized uh in the nonprofits and so one of our projects was to start
the Ronald McDonald House really so I hope to start the Ronald McDonald House was one of their
first presidents of the whole organization so but we as a Junior League we um sponsored the kitchen
and uh so we did that and that's we already just had I think it was our 25
th anniversary that was
like five years ago or so wow and we've already just um did the expansion to the Ronald McDonald
House so Jim Nathan who was the head of all of Lee Health yes asked me to co-chair with him and
waste the money by the time we had the party we already had the money raised of course of course
if Sandy's involved you're gonna always exceed your goal well thank you and Jim Nathan doesn't
yeah he's really good too yes he does yes when he calls you don't say no he's just bee
n a wonderful
friend over the years and um and so what I have found is that I really enjoy um also being in
my business I love but you know everybody that around me is pretty much working forward right
and and there are subcontractors and different people and I kind of like to be able to have that
other side of my life and that can help other make up make other people do very well make impacts in
their lives um I kind of really just don't want my only going life to make money right but it's
to make change and right be a positive impact and hopefully I'll be remembered for more than just
owning some restaurants right but the restaurants have has allowed me though you know whether the
soup kitchen needed food for their super kitchen event I could bring food and many times we would
do events and I rather than just keep on going back to the same people they just ask them for
like a hundred pieces of one hors d'oeuvre okay if you had enough different restaurants we can
share the
wealth you know as far as you don't need I like that I like that and then so yes and you
put their sign this restaurant did whatever and they can put out an event with a lot of things
that are don't cost a lot right because that's very hard when you're putting on an event right
the overhead of that event for non-profit and so um so make enough connections and don't really
ask them too often you know two so what is too often and what is not too often to ask a
business when you're looking for
whether it's an auction item or food or anything well you know
especially since uh well when covet came everybody was devastated so a lot of things shut down at
that point and then since the hurricane you know we've postponed a lot of our events that we were
doing in a number of Charities I'm involved with just because we wanted to be sensitive to the
business owners you know we've all been impacted by this hurricane in various different degrees and
you just don't want to over ask but at t
he same time some businesses are live well and thriving
right and they want to get their word out so so we our approach is a very soft one you know and that
helps a lot but I would say you know whether it be I've gotten involved with PACE Center for Girls
been a huge supporter that I was the chairman of their board and I'm on their national board of
directors now so we're really trying to take that name Nationwide we're in Georgia now in South
Carolina and we're working our way throughout a
nd we're looking for corporate investors that
are big corporations that will help us take this model that's so successful in Florida and take
it nationwide so that approach would be something more than going to like a local restaurant yes now
for our local events yes we need sponsorships and Banks and so on so I think it's identifying the
people and uh and find their focus for me I've had my greatest success in just getting to know
people finding out what their passions are and and then hel
ping them filter to something that is
the same passion yes yes so much is important in that way but for me if I have somebody coming
to me and they want me to sponsor an event and let's say it's a cash sponsorship let's say
it's a five thousand dollar sponsorship to sponsored their ball or whatever and well I
want to look at it as a business person right what kind of marketing value am I going to get
back so you need to come up with a good package of course and then um but then thank afterw
ards
yes don't keep just don't stop thinking develop and nurture that relationship with that donor
because if all you do is collect the money you put their logo out there you've said your thank
yous and it's over with that I don't think is good enough and I really think that you need to
have a presence on their website for maybe a whole year when you're starting to pre-announce the next
year's ball okay continue with the previous years this was the previous year oh I like that I've
never s
een that before it's not done very often and then this is the previous year and we would
love to have your name local logo here and then then at some point you do drop off the ones
that were there this year but you start right so you have like a whole year of thank yous and
then in your um on your website in some of your newsletters it's just you just can never say
thank you right right what what are what's one unique thing a non-profit has done to thank you
for whether it was a in-kind or
cash donation that really wowed you do you know I've had many that
were just really great but um sometimes I've had it where during the time of covet or if there
was some after Hurricane Charley for instance they threw me in as a sponsor and I didn't even
give cash I went ahead and said thank you for your past years here here you know thank you for
that and then you know what they had me again they they hooked me in and I had them you know really
high on the list very good that was it reall
y and but verbally at the event is always a great thing
having posters at the event just wherever you can get their name out there because that's what their
their job is is to get their product right and you know I always wonder um do do the businesses
actually see a return on their investment think that I I you know there's really no
way of really knowing 100 knowing if you had a unique click through on a website that
you had you could track it that way and the people that marketing they k
now how to exactly
to do all that and and I've used that tool but that wouldn't be the only thing that you could
gauge it on I think you get your name out there when I go and buy jewelry where I go for jewelry
is people that have been good to the community interesting I want to go out to eat to a privately
owned restaurant I really do think who is good to the community and who do I want to support I do
believe that people that they come out to Captiva to my restaurants and a lot of them the
y're
my non-profit friends you know well okay well they're ants in town or whatever let's drive out
to the island I'll show them around a little bit and uh and it's nice it does it does pay off but
it's getting your name out there hmm interesting very interesting so so what would people and I'm
so happy you're here today because oftentimes I invite non-profits to interview them but from
a donor perspective what would non-profits be surprised to know about donors from your
perspective that
maybe they don't consider well you know I don't know that they haven't considered
it or not but but I really when I'm thinking about one organization over another the one that has
the greatest impact you know and uh the best value for your dollar and it has to kind of go in line
with what I'm interested in doing things because you know I can't I can't support everything I know
right sometimes you know when the United Way used to come and ask me for donations I'm thinking
ah I am kind of lik
e my own United Way I'm just yeah giving gift certificates out to everybody
yeah and then I decided you know no I'm gonna I'm gonna Focus just a little bit more you know
I support the foundation for Lee County Public Schools through their Golden Apple program and I
do things I try to focus and try to stay Within they're affordable and focused areas on my part
but what I do look for is is you know how Frugal they are is organization and and the results
for instance pay center for girls you k
now the percentages are in the high 90s that these girls
do not get in trouble again once they've been in that program and get them back on track and yeah
some people used to think that it was just all Juvenile Justice Girls yeah that's not the case
sometimes the girls just get a little off track maybe they need to get away from boys for just a
little yeah yeah and then Focus get their grades back on and get a little counseling component
which is a huge part so that's really helpful um I've
greatly part of the Habitat for Humanity
I love that is it are we and we're getting close to time okay because it went by so yeah I I it's
amazing I'm like oh my gosh I didn't I use I'm usually monitoring it but I'm just learning so
much from you so yeah but I can continue on about habitat if you want me to but I think we're if
we're yeah we'll do five more minutes because then yeah okay but I greatly support Habitat for
Humanity because of how it changes not only the life of the person li
ving in that home but it's
their future Generations because once you impact a family of home ownership they don't have to worry
about paying rent anymore and um which I just was at a women's build event and um and and I've
worked and I've helped physically build houses I I sponsor houses every year oh wow I'm sponsored now
I think it's been four houses that are sponsored but to hammer Nails side by side and most of them
are women single women that are moving into these homes now I'm we're n
ot um saying that that
men don't qualify it's just that oftentimes the greatest need is in the single women and
it's really remarkable because they maybe came out of a of a substandard you know yeah apartment
paying two thousand dollars a month 15. oh my gosh and half of their pay is going yes yes and how
did they pay the bills how do they stay on top of things when it's like that and so this
really gets um it's definitely it jerks at my heart yeah this is all I can say that's
something th
at I'll I'll always be a part of as a donor and maybe not always on their
board but then I'm actually sponsoring along with Elizabeth benequist over oh wow a women's
build team together wow and it's going to be Tim benequisto young quiz oh I say that three
times that is amazing so before we wrap up um I noticed that you your your eyes
just light up when you talk about getting involved and engaging and actually doing some
physical work with the non-profit not just a thank you letter or if an
y of them do like
a thank you video or personal phone call so it sounds like getting that donor if they're
interested they have to be interested involved in that organization from a volunteer perspective
it seems as though that really resonates with you it really does it so helps it really and it
brings you closer to the mission because you could see the impact that your investment in that
organization is actually doing right it's not just an annual report or their their newsletter you're
actually seeing it tasting it and smelling it and maybe even in some cases you you get to interact
with some of the program participants as well it's so true and then I love to see collaborations
when they're not so thinking about themselves because they can work together with other people
I like that it really is great because then you're not doing duplication of services you're usually
integrating everything together I like that and the United Way I've become very involved with
now becaus
e I realize that I am not really my own United Way and yes you are Sandy but they but
they really do such a great job so I've become a supporter of them too because they are they really
vet out the organizations make sure that money is going to be spent well follow up to be sure it
was spent well that's that's important they do that very well because when I was the executive
director of a particular organization we were one of the recipients of United Way dollars and once
a year I call it t
he dog and pony show um I would have to give this presentation and they had a
list of questions to address in your presentation and they had they tour the facility and I'm I'm
telling you it was a lot but it it it it actually kept me organized and and made me realize like
wow wow they they really do their due diligence so you're right so before we wrap up I know we say
we're going to wrap up that you know we'll have to do another podcast but can you tell our audience
how they can reach you
if they're interested in patronizing one of your restaurants one of your
businesses not just for money just so whatever whatever information you liked are you comfortable
with giving out maybe a website or yes you can get a hold of me it's Stillwell Enterprises llc.com
is just my corporate name Stilwell has 1l and middle two at the end but otherwise through
the Captiva Island Inn website is another way to get a hold of me and I will I will answer your
email I promise yes she does she really
does when I first met her I see this beautiful woman and
I reached out to her and she actually responds it to me so let's get to know that you are
very personable you're down to earth and you're reachable so thank you so guys you hear it you
heard it here first today we we kind of stepped outside the box we brought in a philanthropist and
a Serial entrepreneur right here in the community who who cares about the community who's from
the community I hope there was something that you could ta
ke away from this interview so
stay tuned for more of our episodes [Music] thank you foreign
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