 |
|
|
 Nancy
Sherman Soleimani, the force behind The Initiative,
has been a part of the business world since 1976 – putting
herself through her undergraduate program by typing other student’s
term papers. Taking a year off after her BA degree, she worked
as a teacher for HeadStart, getting young kids ready for the
world outside. She then went back to school, completing her
Master’s in Counseling and working on her Doctorate in
Sociology. By this time, her business was thriving (with 5
offices around southern Michigan). Getting married, she moved
to the Washington, DC area and opened her doors here in 1987.
A part of many networking groups from early
on in her business career, Ms. Soleimani recently saw the need
for a different type
of organization to help people grow their businesses – and
that is a way to share ideas, knowledge, and concerns with peers
in a confidential, safe environment where everyone can gain from
each others experiences. And putting her educational background
into play, Nancy also felt that incorporating an educational
discussion/training segment into the mix was important as well.
On a hunch that others might feel the same,
Ms. Soleimani used her own educational training to conduct a
survey of 1000 local
business leaders. Asking them what they thought a perfect business
development organization looked like, an idea started to take
shape, and has resulted in The Work Place Initiative, now operational
since July, 2003.
Purpose
and Mission: To provide effective business growth strategies
for small and medium sized businesses through the provision of
learning solutions that produce measurable results: networking,
educational forums and peer support.
Niche: The focus for this group is CEOs and managers of businesses
that have been in business for at least 5 years and have reached
a level of growth where they need help getting to the next
level, but are familiar in general with most start-up issues.
- Mastermind Organization
A group of no more than 8 people who meet on a monthly
basis to discuss issues of pertinence to
their businesses. This is a serious group and will follow
the principles
of the
mastermind
model. (See procedures on enclosed
documentation)
- Monthly Networking
There will be a monthly networking mixer
in the evening; held at the George Washington University
Club - as an affiliate
member
of WPI. Here people will be able to relax,
network, and unwind from their busy day. It is a chance to
meet
and greet
and get
to know each other on a social basis.
- Monthly Educational Seminars (Executive
Forums)
Each month there will be a speaker's bureau on a topic of
interest to the group and others outside of the group.
Members and non-members
will be able to come to these meetings.
There will also be a second speaker monthly that will focus on
issues of concern to specific groups within the membership,
i.e., how to get under $25,000 govt contracts without going
through the RFP process; now that I'm making money, what can
I do to shelter some of it for retirement; and so forth.
|
Sep 7, 2008
|
