Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Mad Props to the Mentors!

Mad Props to the Mentors!

Struggling with some ad copy for a one-sheet, I reached out to the Mentor Program from Make Mine a $Million Business, www.makemineamillion,org, and Count Me In, www.countmein.org. Mega Mentor Margery Miller http://francine-glick-cmi.blogspot.com/ hooked me up with Paige Dawson, http://www.arkonas.com/About%20Us/paigedawson.html, a marketing specialist in Dallas.

Because I'd done so much writing about mediation, I'd just gotten too close to it to be able to do a good job, and I really wanted to make a good impression with this piece.

Margery hooked me up with Paige Dawson at MPD Ventures in Dallas (www.mpdventures.com) and Paige took the time to review my proposed copy, interview me on the phone, and then she sent me completely revised text along with some guidance for the graphic designer......she really came through for me. She went above and beyond what I'd even asked for, and I could not be more pleased. She was a huge, huge help.

The One Sheet, http://www.provisors.com/members/1sheets/Mercer-Diana.pdf was designed by Commercial Artisan, a design firm in Indianapolis, IN (my hometown), www.commercialartisan.com.

I sent Paige some Apple's Bakery http://www.applesbakery.com/ cookies to thank her, but I wanted to let the world know how terrific she was and how much the mentor connection via Make Mine a $Million Business helped me.

I've got to tell you, it's so nice not to be alone anymore in growing this business. Having a place to turn, and a cohort of 20 plus $Millionaires, to ask advice, talk about ideas, and to turn to when things get scary is really, really nice.

THANK YOU!

Here’s a link to the one sheet draft is attached in case you're curious! http://www.provisors.com/members/1sheets/Mercer-Diana.pdf
and, to read on: www.peace-talks.com or www.premaritalmediation.com

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Best and Worst Since Winning the Make Mine a $Million Business Award

The Best Things:
• Support and friendship www.limerickinc.com, www.activeport.com
• Cisco Award http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2006/prod_073106.html
• Coaching, mentoring www.coachconnection.com
• TV Pilot cast & shooting http://www.pilgrim-films.com/
• Miscellaneous people reaching out and making contact http://www.peace-talks.com/divorcemediation/index.php
• New found energy for the business, knowing I’m not alone http://www.premaritalmediation.com/blog/

The very best thing that has happened is that I now have a network of fellow women business owners who are also experiencing the growing pains of transitioning from entrepreneurship to mature business. Knowing that I can reach out to my fellow awardees, Count Me In, www.countmein.org, the mentors, and to my coach is a tremendous benefit to this program, and it feels like a safety net underneath me when I’m taking a risk.

Better yet, these women business owners are quickly becoming friends even though we live in different cities and parts of the country. They understand what it’s like to work late and miss vacations because you’re trying to build a business. They share my passion, and my experience, even though we’re in different industries. The bond has formed quickly---for example, when 2005 winners Julie Tucker and Jennifer Elias (SmartsCo), www.smartsco.com, organized a meeting for the awardees in San Francisco, a dozen awardees drove and flew in to participate in the workshop led by Count Me in Mentor Marci Rinkoff. http://mbrcoaching.com/whois.html

The connections have been invaluable. For example, as part of Make Mine a $Million I met a fellow awardee, Julie Fogg. www.activeport.com. I’d lost my enthusiasm for my NAWBO membership, www.nawbola.org, but Julie convinced me to renew and urged me to apply for their scholarship program for the UCLA Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program. http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x663.xmlThanks to Julie’s encouragement, this fall I will attend this world-class program on full scholarship! www.nawbo-la.org.

When I reach out to Count Me In, American Express, or anyone connected with the Make Mine a $Million Business program, someone reaches back in a meaningful way. The courage it takes to reach out is met with assistance and support.

A close second, of course, is winning the technology upgrade from Cisco Systems. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2006/prod_073106.html The VoIP telephones and networking capabilities will revolutionize the way we do business, and move us into the next level of client service. The technology infrastructure Cisco will provide will allow us to mediate via videoconferencing, hold online meetings, provide responsive telephone service, and facilitate group work with shared files and real-time responsiveness. These are upgrades we’ve needed for a long time, but which we haven’t been able to afford, and winning the Cisco package will make a huge difference in our productivity and client service.

The coaching and mentoring services have also been key. Being able to reach out, asking for help, and having my needs met has been a real boost for me not only business-wise, but emotionally and creatively. Knowing that I can dream and have support to reality test my ideas and plans makes me more self-assured, and I’m bringing that newfound confidence into work with me every day. A mentor helped me write an advertising piece that is truly outstanding, and my coach has helped me to find a comfortable niche in networking. Thanks to the mentoring and coaching provided by the Make Mine a $Million Program, I have moved from not knowing the next step to having a solid plan for the next phase of my marketing. www.coachconnection.com and http://www.coachwilla.com/.

And, as good things started happening, Pilgrim Films and Television, http://www.pilgrim-films.com/, the production company producing Divorce Story, called with a shoot date for the pilot. Court TV continues to announce that Divorce Story is in development, even though the company has changed hands and faced layoffs. Pilgrim and Court TV believe in this program, and so do I. Based on the pilot shoot on August 24, 2006, I believe that this program will not only be on-air as planned, but that it will be a hit. As I walked onto the set, I held my Count Me In bracelet tight and channeled all my $Millionaire friends.

I’ve had many interesting e-mails and telephone calls from some top notch people who have read the Make Mine a $Million web site and my blog, from authors to fellow business owners. People have been reaching out and making contact, just because they’re interested in the award and the program, and this shows me that Make Mine a $Million is truly an idea whose time has come. www.makemineamillion.org

The sum of all of this is that I have new found energy for the business, knowing I’m not alone. It’s okay to be worried about the future----everyone else in my shoes is, too. Everyone worries about making payroll, or about launching a new product or service. None of us is alone in this. And now there’s a group of people coming together who believe in each other, who aren’t afraid to move forward even when they’re terrified, because we also believe in ourselves. So thank you to Count Me In and Make Mine a $Million for the confidence to soar.

The Worst Things: The worst thing that happened after winning the Make Mine a $Million Business Award was that business dropped off almost immediately. Suddenly, I was a Future $Millionaire without any income. One day I actually called the office myself to make sure the telephone was working.

Then the TV production company called and said that if we wouldn’t provide clients to be filmed for the TV show that they’d simply re-cast the show with mediators who were more cooperative. My educated guess said they were trying to snow me, so I told them to go ahead and re-cast, because the integrity of my practice was more important than compromising client service for television. Still, the idea of being re-cast after working on this project nearly 8 months wasn’t pleasant.

Rational Diana said that it wasn’t any one thing that had happened, and that business income is cyclical, even if this downturn wasn’t following a typical cyclical pattern. Run your business as you think it should be run morally, financially and ethically, keep an eye on the numbers, don’t be afraid to change plans or switch gears, and keep it real. No burying your head in the sand when things get tough. Slow and steady wins the race, and if you’re not busy, then you can use the time to market, work on an important longer term project, or even take a day off. One day, one week, or one month’s business doesn’t predict your long term success.

Histrionic Diana said that I’d obviously failed in some way, and that thinking I could build a business with a model that relied exclusively on 2 people who hate each other for business was a mistake, and that perhaps it was time to get a real job. I was a failure, and a fraud. $Millionaire, indeed.

I decided to side with Rational Diana. I hung in there, knowing that now at least I wasn’t alone in building this business and that I have a support network to whom I can turn. I came clean—I posted my sudden downturn on my Make Mine a $Million blog. After all, if you can’t face it yourself, you can’t fix it. And if I’m going to be poor, I may as well stay real.

So once I faced it, I got busy. I reached out to Count Me In, and asked for a mentor to help with an advertisement, and Count Me In fixed me up with Paige Dawson, who was a tremendous help with the project. I signed up for the Coach Connection program, and started working with my coach on what I might be missing in my marketing plan. I re-read First Things First by Stephen Covey, and made my goals and priorities lists and added them to my Palm Pilot.

And wouldn’t you know, business picked up. Rational Diana was onto something.

The funniest thing that’s happened: As the press came out for the Make Mine a $Million Awards, a cold call slipped by my assistant and I found myself talking to a salesman who was unable to explain why he was calling or what he sells. Mystified, I asked him to clarify twice, but he couldn’t. I told him I didn’t think we were interested, and hung up the phone.

Moments later, a flame e-mail appeared in my in box from Mr. Salesman, exclaiming that it was very rude of me to have hung up on him and, “I hope those Make Mine a $Million people teach you some manners!”

Like my blog? Then you'll love my premarital mediation blog: http://www.premaritalmediation.com/blog/ or maybe my divorce mediation blog: http://www.peace-talks.com/divorcemediation/index.php, or, of course, the main Peace Talks Web site, http://www.peace-talks.com.

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