Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mindy Bess. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mindy, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I believe that everyone has a God-given purpose in life, and in my experience, most often times it’s events in a person’s life that help reveal what that purpose is. For me, some of those events were watching my dad battle terminal brain cancer for close to five years, and experiencing the death of my dad several hours after my Granny’s funeral. Another event that shaped my purpose was suffering a traumatic brain injury from being hit by a car while riding my bicycle when I was thirteen and the ensuing twenty-six-year battle with an undiagnosed case of post-concussion syndrome (PCS) because of that accident.
By experiencing the difficult event of watching my dad battle brain cancer, my compassion for people who are battling a terminal illness was developed, as well as realizing the need for hope and joy in their lives while they are fighting that battle. It was because of that experience that I founded the James Bess Foundation – an organization that grants wishes to adults battling a terminal illness. At the same time, by experiencing and battling the effects of PCS for twenty-six years and then finally experiencing full healing, I have a huge desire to share my story with others so they don’t have to experience what I did.
It is through those difficult events, and the many others I faced, in my life, that I have discovered that my purpose in life is to transform the lives of others through my many testimonies, and my deep love of people.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am the CEO and Founder of the James Bess Foundation – a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, Tennessee, that grants wishes to adults battling a terminal illness. I was born and raised in Orlando, Florida, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida. After graduating I moved to Portland, Oregon, and spent the next eight years developing and growing my faith and maturity and unpacking a lot of traumatic baggage. I finally ended up in my Promise Land of Nashville, Tennessee in August of 2015.
I founded the James Bess Foundation in 2016 and granted our first wish in August 2017. As of August 2023, we have granted a total of thirty-four wishes nationwide. The focus of the foundation right now is growth, pure and simple. Growth in the way of finance, and the amount of lives we can transform through our services.
The main goal of the James Bess Foundation is to bless and transform the lives of those who partake of our services. Most of the people whose lives are blessed and transformed through the foundation are our terminally ill clients but in the course of coordinating fundraisers, we have the distinct pleasure of working with and blessing military veterans and active duty, as well as first responders all across Middle Tennessee. It is the belief of the James Bess Foundation that people who serve(d) in the military, and those who serve as first responders (no matter the agency) deserve to be treated with the respect and honor they are due. It is such a privilege to work with first responders, military personnel, and veterans in our area.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three most important qualities that have been the most impactful and needed in my journey of building a successful national nonprofit are 1. Passion
2. Tenacity
3. Courage and the ability to Dream
For those people who are early in their journey, I would say the biggest quality in building a successful business, whether nonprofit or for-profit, is passion. Passion for what you are building is what keeps you moving when all you want to do is throw in the towel. I can’t tell you how many times throughout the course of the last six years of building my business that I wanted to throw in the towel because of how difficult things were, but because of my passion I decided to push past the difficulties and ended up reaping amazing benefits. My advice, know what your passion is for what you are building and keep that at the forefront of your mind, so that when difficult times come – and trust me they undoubtedly will – you will be able to push through no matter how much you want to give up.
In addition to passion, one must possess tenacity if they want to build a successful business. Owning a business is not for the faint of heart, it takes a ton of hard work, in addition to a lot of rejection. The question is are you strong enough and determined enough to push through the hard work and rejection or will you succumb to it? This is why knowing your passion, and having a spirit of tenacity is so important, it gives you a reason and the ability to keep fighting when being bombarded by a lot of negative things all at once. My favorite quote says, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Lastly, in building a successful business, one must possess courage and the ability to dream. One of my biggest mottos in life is if your dreams aren’t big enough to scare you to death then they are too small. If your dreams are big enough to scare you, then you must have the courage to face those fears head-on, knowing your dream is more important. Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best when he said, “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the judgment that something is more important than fear.”
In founding and operating such a unique niche organization I am constantly faced with a fear of the unknown. How does one run a fast-moving world-changing nonprofit when my day job is barely enough to keep me above water? How does one seek after potential clients who are dying and you want to be sensitive to their situation? How does one raise the money necessary to fulfill a wish that costs up to $5000? How does a small nonprofit compete for funding in a town that is chocked full of nonprofits? There are a million other questions just like those aforementioned that I face on a regular basis, but in each of those situations, I stand with courage knowing that my dream, and the people I get to bless, are more important than the fear I face.
In summary, in order to have a successful business, one must possess passion, tenacity, courage, and the ability to dream. If you can find the recipe that best suits your business model, using the above-mentioned qualities as ingredients, then you are well on your way to having a successful business.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
I would say in the last twelve months that the biggest area of growth for the foundation has been exposure. This came as a result of the fulfillment of wish number 33, Suzanne Durham.
Suzanne is a reformed drug and alcohol addict who turned her life around and became a house manager for a rehab and halfway house for women. Throughout her career, Suzanne ministered to and transformed the lives of many people, mostly women, so when she was diagnosed with cancer and given only five months to live, her wish was not for her alone. Her wish was to not only meet Jelly Roll, but to have him do a private concert for her, her family, and those recovering addicts she worked with.
As with any celebrity wish, we had Suzanne send us a short video of her request and within twenty-four hours of posting it on our TikTok page the video had gone viral. On top of that, Jelly Roll himself saw the video and immediately reached out to grant Suzanne’s wish! One week later we had about forty people, mostly recovering addicts, seated in a local church cafe being encouraged by the sounds of Jelly Roll. Several days later the wish fulfillment video was also posted on TikTok, and even though it hasn’t gone viral, it was picked up by several big named media platforms, including CMT and Billboard. Because of our press coverage, we have received calls and emails from Hospice agencies, individuals, and Cancer Center social workers all over the county inquiring about our services.
Contact Info:
- Website:JamesBess.org
- Instagram: @jamesbessfoundation
- Facebook: @james.bess.foundation
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/mindy-bess-60922751
- Other: TikTok – @jamesbessfoundation
