A president working in a technology firm being considered to become a shareholder with two partners. She joined WeMentor to sort out: 1. the dynamics between the two partners, 2. decide if she wanted to buy into the company, and 3. help with the strategic direction of the company. During the 18-months of strategic mentoring sessions, it became clear that the two partners were not getting along and were driving the company deep into trauma and drama. The President was able to maintain her professionalism while being truthful with both partners in providing options for them to work out this partnership. The partners chose not to clean up the chaos and dysfunction. As a result, with Nancy's mentoring, the President helped stabilize the staff while she secured a healthier executive role with another company in the same field. Her husband was much happier, too!

Always an entreprenuer, this owner has had two other successful ventures prior to his current one. He vowed not to bring in any partners, since it negatively impacted him and the growth of his past companies. In the media arena, he has experienced growth through sales and acquistions of other small ventures. He came to WeMentor for a focused WeMentor E.L.M. LAB experience where he could plan, practice leading differently, troubleshoot, and brainstorm with peers. He was open to being challenged to grow into becoming a more effective leader. He had a learning difficulty and was unable to write. As a result, he developed an amazing mind and elephant like memory. Where he needed mentoring was with getting his thoughts on paper, organizational and time management training, and in learning how to stop procrastination on resolving people conflicts. His technical expertise provided a training ground for those in his media production education programs, where he was extremely influential in mentoring others. Within two years, we helped him stabilize his business while he gained focus, purpose, and aligned his resources to support a more meaningful mission. During this time we also helped him after his divorce to reinvent himself, attract a new life partner, and improve his relationship with his two children.

A management level executive at General Mills left to purchase a convenience store and gas station franchise. With his wife, he ran the store for a couple of years. Their two teenage sons and daughter also pitched in to help out. As the store grew in sales, his wife went back to her nursing career and he hired help to fill her position. The owner joined a WeMentor E.L.M. LAB to break the isolation he was experiencing, gain focus, get feedback from his peers, and tryout new ways of leading. After running his store for another two years, we continued working with him as he clarified his vision to build a new convenience store and gas station with the same franchisor. We connected him with a resource to find a location and new development to purchase. He also gave up his dictator-type leadership style. New processes and systems were implemented to run both stores. A position of general manager was created and an accountability system implemented. Net profitability since working with WeMentor, the owner has told us has increased to over 55%. His two sons now run the franchises.

An advertising executive left her position to purchase a recruiting firm with her husband. Her husband offered human resource expertise in the background. The owner sought our mentoring services to learn how to run a business and handle the financial pressure to meet payroll. During our three-year business mentoring relationship, we worked with her on every aspect of developing her values and nurturing the culture to exemplify those values. The business was not doing as well as what showed on paper when they purchased the business. She learned how to hire and fire staff and mentor them and learned the recruiting industry which was a new field for her. She became financially astute in the process. After experiencing success at turning the venture around, her noncompete with her prior company ran out so she started a recruit ad agency with another partner. All of her personal and professional relationships shifted as her lifestyle, values, and life purpose were aligned more succinctly. She eventually sold both businesses to her employees.

A marketing director and artist by trade decided to leave a large firm to start his own venture. He struggled six years before making the decision to get professional mentoring help. His inadequate feelings as a financially astute business owner, manager, and mentor of his employees were bogging him down and skewering his view of life. Over the next three years we worked with him as he evolved into an internally strong, clear-headed, impactful leader. We put together a detailed strategic mentoring plan for his staff and an achievable sales plan with many needed variables. Through the planning process this owner made his mistakes on paper and was able to pull in his 15-year vision to merge with another company into making it happen during the time we worked with him. His thorough business plan made his venture more credible which in turn, put him into an excellent negotiating spot to sell the company for more and gain him a higher percentage of the stock ownership in the venture he merged with. He has since then moved on to another venture opportunity.

A manufacturer and designer of women's dresses, gowns, and band and dance costumes had been a seamstress and entrepreneur all her career. After 17 years of running her business experiencing incremental growth, she desired to grow differently and needed guidance in shifting her perspective. Over the next five years with us she refined her line of clothing, expanded her space, let go of some long time employees that hadn't been a fit and needed to go, she gained control over her finances. Managing and mentoring others has never been her forte. Her relaxed work environment and brash communication style demoralized people in the work environment. Over time she has tapered her communications as her vision and values were crystallized. It has taken several years to feel the positive financial impact of the expansion of her manufacturing space and increased national exposure. Effective marketing strategies and selling items over the internet have opened an unexpected avenue for another revenue stream. They are still in business.

An entrepreneur who founded a public relations firm five years prior to joining a WeMentor E.L.M. LAB, was making good progress in her field and business. Over the next five years of working together, she facilitated a LAB, continued being in her own group, and worked one-on-one to complete a thorough business plan, implementing and refining her plan as we went along. We brought her vision to be a Minnesota State Legislature forward by convincing her she could sell her business instead of just closing it. Until then, she had not heard of a public relations firm being sold before. She sold her business, and won her first and second-term seat in the Legislature. In addition, she was appointed to serve as the trainer of the 14-member freshmen Republican House legislative class. Her zeal and clear vision opened other opportunities for her to redesign her life as she reinvented her next best self.