Answered: Why startup MMI + What did I do?
Answered: Why start-up MMI? + What did I do? || by: BenWashburn
The overview below of MENTORMEINC that became the basis of why I started MMI, what problems and solutions were followed and implemented around this timeframe and how the recovery period through the 2008/2009 financial meltdown and crisis that led to policy of Jumpstarting Our Business Startups (JOBS Act) of April 5, 2012.
This policy and everyone working towards valuable solutions at the time led to the deregulation of introducing online and Internet, world-wide-web portals to focus on regulations from the SEC for further investment opportunities in early-stage small businesses and startups alike to stimulate the economy further at that time.
Today, the under $50millionUSD benchmark(s) for small businesses & startups can be found here as a valuable resource tool at SEC Dotgov.
Below is the foundation of my business planning process completed on Friday, April 26, 2013. It has never been published and is still today the foundation of my vision, my goals, challenges/problems to address and my intellectual property foundation for long-term commitment to continue forging ahead throughout another depression/recession period with a U to V shaped recovery predicted for 2020 and beyond.
I am sharing this piece & post today in an effort to help others and to share more openly what was going on at the timeframe of some adversity in the market while start-up, start-down, start-now occurred throughout my career and the start-up period for MMI.
Friday, April 26, 2013
“Mentor Me Inc. (MMI) is a consulting & independent contracting company. Our primary focus is to provide entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses with valuable resources needed to succeed through a consultative deep network of referral-based connections that instill an actionable plan. No matter what stage you may be in, MMI provides you with ideas to create your own road map to success based on proven life experiences.
Our founding values are based on life experiences, economics, and passion. Mentorship is relationship driven. We have compiled over a Century of experienced relationships through mentoring & trusted opinions. Not only is our core consulting business built around mentoring, we require you to have your own “personal” mentor(s) to help shape your life’s mission and legacy. Our team thrives under pressure, solves problems, and delivers action items while respecting transparency, open communication, and trust.
MMI has a two-prong approach while respecting the three-legged stool:
Mentor Me Inc.’s two – prong approach:
Prong 1: We provide our consulting or contracting services to you for services rendered. We are project and fee based depending on the scale and scope of your vision and needs. We enact our first prong by providing you with mentorship based consulting. Initial consultations begin to determine client/consulting relationship.
Prong 2: Mentoring is a long-term relationship. We believe in cultivating contacts, referrals, resources, advisory services, and providing valuable insight to all stages of your companies life cycle and vision. Mentor Me Inc. has harnessed years of relationship building experience that touches every industry in commerce. We engage our deep network of contacts, our own mentors, and trusted advisors to analyze your mission and provide value-add and valuable feedback in the form of consultative mentorship.
The Three-Legged Stool we respect in the course of interactive commerce:
1.) Greed
2.) Arrogance
3.) Incompetence
We believe that if one of the three characteristics or traits is present in the deal, the team, the mentor, the entrepreneur, the advisory panel, or formal board that the probability for becoming part of the 80% of early stage companies that fail is higher.
In order to mitigate our risk, we simply may refer you on or refuse to consult. We do however understand and believe that people can change and respect difficult personalities, problems, challenges, and obstacles that arise through human nature. Typically, once the problem is identified in any challenge regardless of the three-legged stool, we can move to step two of the MODEL.
MODEL Addressed:
1.) Problem
2.) Solution
3.) Market Size
MMI has identified major PROBLEM’s in the breakdown of resources, access to capital, and execution model that are all critical aspects of launching your start-up venture. Whether you are trying to fund a beta test for proof of concept, execute a “re-start” into the marketplace, or increase your current revenue as a small business, MMI helps you through every step along the way utilizing its extensive network of experts.
MMI provides two SOLUTIONS’ to your stage of the company’s life cycle. First, we strategically implement a path to liquidity addressing the problem identified above in the marketplace for small businesses and early stage companies. Secondly, we connect you to the proper resources and provide referrals for you to create your own road map to successfully execute your vision into the marketplace, which in turn drives top-line revenue.
MMI has identified a vast MARKET SIZE in the space of early-stage, seed capital seeking ventures. The market seems to be getting flooded with entrepreneurs, startups and their vision to become change agents. We at MMI couldn’t be happier to consult. We believe in transparency, integrity, and at the end of the day keeping it simple. Through our consultative mentorship approach we also strive to provide education in our market space.
EDUCATION of TOPICS driving our PASSION with links providing a HISTORY:
Mentorship = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentorship
Mentorship is a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. However, true mentoring is more than just answering occasional questions or providing ad hoc help. It is about an ongoing relationship of learning, dialog, and challenge.
The person in receipt of mentorship may be referred to as a protégé (male), a protégée (female), an apprentice or, in recent years, a mentee.
"Mentoring" is a process that always involves communication and is relationship based, but its precise definition is elusive. One definition of the many that have been proposed, is
Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)".[1]
Consulting = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consultant
Contractor = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_contractor
JOBS ACT = Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act is a law intended to encourage funding of United States small businesses by easing various securities regulations. It passed with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 5, 2012.
Crowd-Funding = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding
Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.[1][2] Crowdfunding is used in support of a wide variety of activities, including disaster relief, citizen journalism, support of artists by fans, political campaigns, startup company funding,[3] motion picture promotion,[4] free software development, inventions development, scientific research,[5] and civic projects.
Crowdfunding can also refer to the funding of a company by selling small amounts of equity to many investors. This form of crowdfunding has recently received attention from policymakers in the United States with direct mention in the JOBS Act; legislation that allows for a wider pool of small investors with fewer restrictions.[2] While the JOBS Act awaits implementation, hybrid models, such as Mosaic Inc., are using existing securities laws to enable the public in approved states to invest directly in clean energy projects as part of a crowd.
Entrepreneur = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur
The term entrepreneur (i/??ntr?pr??n?r/) is a loanword from French, and is commonly used to describe an individual who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so. The term was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon as the person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise. The term first appeared in the French Dictionary "Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce" of Jacques des Bruslons published in 1723.
Over time, scholars have defined the term in different ways. Here are some prominent definitions.
1803: Jean-Baptiste Say: An entrepreneur is an economic agent who unites all means of production- land of one, the labour of another and the capital of yet another and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market he pays rent of land, wages to labour, interest on capital and what remains is his profit. He shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.
1934: Schumpeter: Entrepreneurs are innovators who use a process of shattering the status quo of the existing products and services, to set up new products, new services.
1961: David McClelland: An entrepreneur is a person with a high need for achievement [N-Ach]. He is energetic and a moderate risk taker.
1964: Peter Drucker: An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it and exploits opportunities. Innovation is a specific tool of an entrepreneur hence an effective entrepreneur converts a source into a resource.
1971: Kilby: Emphasizes the role of an imitator entrepreneur who does not innovate but imitates technologies innovated by others. Are very important in developing economies.
1975: Albert Shapero: Entrepreneurs take initiative, accept risk of failure and have an internal locus of control.
1975: Howard Stevenson: Entrepreneurship is "the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled."[1]
1983: G. Pinchot: Intrapreneur is an entrepreneur within an already established organization.[note 1]
1985: W.B. Gartner: Entrepreneur is a person who started a new business where there was none before.[2
Mentor Me Inc. d/b/a MMI is a privately held company.”
Ben Washburn
BenWashburn
Founder/CEO of MMI
Executive Director of the Board.
GreaterOmahaRegion