mary f. collier's blog

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After a long struggle, on February 4, 2011, the federal government Small Business Administration (SBA) opened the doors on a program to allow contracting officers to set aside certain federal contracts for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) in 83 industries. The government has a goal of 5% of contracts to be awarded to WOSBs and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs)… read more

I watched this TED video by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, today and highly recommend you take the 15 minutes to do the same. Sheryl discusses the disturbing issue of why there are few women in top positions in any industry.  It seems that in many ways we as women entrepreneurs and professionals are hindered by our own limiting beliefs.

Sheryl pointed out a number of issues, but several that really struck me are:

1) Men contribute their success to themselves and women contribute it to external factors

2) Women underestimate their abilities

3) Success &amp… read more

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We finally have some above-freezing weather and I figured it was time to tackle shoveling the huge snow drift that had formed on my front walk-way in the big blizzard last week.  I live on Main Street USA, complete with tall shade trees and old victorian houses, and my front walk is traveled a foot by many people in town.  I had put off shoveling… read more

Recently a friend commented regarding a young man that had something wonderful happen in his life, “There’s no place for him to go from here but downhill”.  He was referring to the fact that this kid had, from the get-go, achieved something that most people will never achieve.

My response was that he had set his baseline and there was no where to go but up from there!

I’ve thought about this comment for the last few days and I think it’s really relevant to the barrier many… read more

Motivation-we’ve all heard the pros and cons of the “carrot” and “stick” methods, but there may be more to the story than what we were taught to believe.

If you are an entrepreneur you most likely have some kind of a team, even if it is a virtual team.  One of the key aspects of developing a strong team, and for yourself, is motivation.

I have known a number of photographers since high school, and something I observed in most of them over the years was the change… read more

Looking for a more targeted channel to connect with other entrepreneurs?

Sprouter.com is a new social network designed for entrepreneurs and start ups from around the world to meet and collaborate.  It’s a great way to connect with other like-minded individuals to share ideas, get feedback and network for joint ventures.

With all the noise on Twitter and other social networks, this is an excellent platform to filter out the masses and develop a channel directly with other entrepreneurs.

Sprouter works on a similar concept… read more

An important component in Attraction Marketing is connection with those you want to attract.

Often, we want to project only our best characteristics and conceal our weaknesses.  But this rarely works.  Those around us are much more conscious of our short comings than we are.  Maybe because we have spent so much time trying to hide our flaws, that over the years we have erased them from our conscious belief of who we really are.

To become the leader we want to be, we need to recognize our… read more

As entrepreneurs we all want to achieve success.

But have you ever noticed the difference between “successful” people. Some seem to have it all–money, social standing, family, beautiful homes–everything any one could ask for; yet they end up with drug and alcohol problems, unhappy, self-destructive or worse.  And then there are those with all of the same visible signs of success, yet they are able to sustain it over the long haul.   These are usually the charismatic leaders of our society and present themselves as warm, compassionate and sincere… read more

While the elevator speech was first promoted as a tool for an entrepreneur to pitch his idea to a venture capitalist or other investor, I have found the elevator speech to be of great value as a positioning statement.  This is a laser focused, concise, no frills statement of your target market, offering, benefits, competitors and unique sales proposition (USP).  Nothing will be of more value in presenting your marketing message.

We talked about the importance of your positioning statement, or “elevator speech”, in an effective communication plan (… read more

As an entrepreneur you know the value is all in your list.  The first goal is to generate leads and create a list. The second is nurturing your list.  Your goal is to build a relationship with your list and to maintain a lifelong relationship with your list, so that you can monetize it.

So how do you do that? It’s all about coming from your Core and being authentic, but let’s look at how to accomplish what’s called a Communication Plan:

1.  Introduce yourself.  Let people know… read more