Diane Michel, the founder of Nashville-based company Lady Like Leaders, Michael Dermer, the founder of New York-based 501c3, The Lonely Entrepreneur, and Professional Development Educator, Tracy Davison have partnered to create the Tennessee Entrepreneur Initiative (TEI) to empower 10,000 current and future entrepreneurs with the knowledge, tools, and support they need to succeed while helping Tennessee’s corporate and philanthropic community to enhance their brands and meet their community, diversity, and social responsibility goals.
Of the nearly 500,000 entrepreneurs in Tennessee, 364,000 of those are “solopreneurs” and are highly susceptible to failure. As successful entrepreneurs themselves, Diane, Michael, and Tracy understand the unique struggle for small business owners, each having turned major setbacks into success.
Through this initiative, Tennessee’s corporate and philanthropic community will “sponsor” 10,000 entrepreneurs to receive free access to The Lonely Entrepreneur Learning Community – an online platform that is a one-stop shop for the knowledge, tools and support individuals need to be successful entrepreneurs. The Learning Community, featured in national media outlets such as MSNBC and Forbes, and throughout the world, provides multiple ways for entrepreneurs to get answers to the business and personal challenges they face via a mix of knowledge (online, digestible, and organized teaching vignettes), tools (100s of templates) and support (via interactive weekly coaching and an online community). The Learning Community drastically reduces the learning curve for Tennessee entrepreneurs and enables them to more easily overcome the numerous barriers to success and scale faster.
“We speak “entrepreneur” and understand the challenges of building a company on limited resources, the overwhelm in having to wear all of the hats, and the sense of isolation.” said Diane Michel. “This effort enables entrepreneurs to have a much better chance of success and for organizations to contribute to the success of our great state of Tennessee.”
“TEI helps entrepreneurs through all stages of the process, whether they're in the dreaming, building, or growing phase. It's more than an initiative, it’s a give-back movement.” said Tray Davison. “How often does someone accomplish something great all alone? Everyone needs a champion. With TEI, more entrepreneurs will cross the finish line.”
“Everyone understands the importance of the entrepreneur to the success of Tennessee and our nation.” said Michael Dermer. With TEI, everyone wins. Entrepreneurs have a better chance of success. Companies and philanthropies can give back and meet their community and social responsibility goals. Most of all, Tennessee wins. What better way to positively impact Tennessee than by investing in entrepreneurs?”
A special TEI event will be held on January 28, 2020, to inform and educate organizations on how they can empower entrepreneurial groups, including women, minority groups, musicians, youth, veterans, local communities, immigrants, formerly incarcerated, underprivileged, rural communities, and more. For details, visit: lonelyentrepreneur.com/tei
About Diane Michel and Lady Like Leaders:
Diane is a Keynote Speaker and the founder of Lady Like Leaders, which focuses on equipping women business owners with the perspectives and mindsets required to be successful entrepreneurs. She serves on the Mayor’s Minority Business Advisory Council in Nashville, representing the Nashville Board of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Diane teaches entrepreneurial curriculum as a part of the B.E.S.T. program in the Tennessee Maximum Security Prison for Women. As a young single mom and without a college degree, Diane was recruited from a dental management position and learned consulting as an apprentice of the Vice President of a major consulting firm. Against the odds and in spite of numerous setbacks, she excelled as a Medical Management Consultant for 15 years, guiding hundreds of practices to success while building her own medical staffing and consulting firm. She later built an upscale touring production with a focus on Nashville’s professional songwriters, which evolved into a syndicated national and international television show. She then built a new consulting firm, teaching women business owners to launch and scale. Diane speaks to women’s organizations and holds her own symposiums, via her company Lady Like Leaders, helping women overcome the unique struggles they encounter in business. Diane is currently a candidate for Tennessee State Senate.
About The Lonely Entrepreneur:
The Lonely Entrepreneur is an entrepreneur support service whose mission is to unlock the potential of entrepreneurs worldwide by turning their passion into success. Founded in 2015 by Michael Dermer, The Lonely Entrepreneur has been featured in over 100 domestic and international media outlets including MSNBC, Fast Company, Forbes, CBS, ABC, Forbes, Entrepreneur and Huffington Post and in over 100 keynotes and events throughout the world.
About Michael Dermer:
Michael Dermer is an entrepreneur, speaker, lawyer and founder/author of The Lonely Entrepreneur. Michael is considered the founder of not only a company but an industry – rewarding individuals for healthy behavior. Michael left a promising law career to start IncentOne, the first company to provide rewards for healthy behavior. At the time, rewards in healthcare were not only non-existent – they were offensive. He was told over and over “we will never reward people for things they should be doing to be healthy.” After bootstrapping for a decade, his company received a large private equity investment on October 15, 2008. They had arrived. It should have been a time for celebration. Then the financial crisis hit. Ten years were gone in ten days. Bankrupt customers. Investment gone. Credit dead. Family dollars at risk. Angry investors. Family relationships on the brink. It would take two years of working 24 hours a day to save what took ten years to build. The perfect storm. It was doomed. Or was it? Today, health rewards are everywhere, he sold IncentOne to industry innovator Welltok and his company is credited with creating the health rewards industry. What resulted was not only business success but the discovery of a unique method on how to thrive under the pressure, chaos, and burden of being the entrepreneur. The Lonely Entrepreneur was born.
About Tracy Davison:
Tracy's youngest brother was a smart kid who struggled with settling into the social dynamics of high school. In 10th grade, the principal nonchalantly suggested to her parents that he just drop out...which is what he did. Seeing the impact this decision had on his life, gave her a deep-rooted mission to prevent other kids from slipping through the educational cracks. A torch was lit in Tracy to champion the underdog. Tracy rose in the educational ranks, beginning as a Spanish Teacher-turned Principal-turned Superintendent of Schools. Now, as a Professional and Personal Development Educator, she helps organizations and people reach their potential and push past limits that are holding them back. She has had to also push through her own limiting beliefs and personal struggles to branch out on her own, leaving behind the security of remaining in the school system, and opening her own business. Tracy believes that in order for companies to grow and thrive, a healthy culture is foundational. This must begin with the owner or leader having a firm grip on who they are, seeing the importance of developing their unique leadership style, as well as having an advanced understanding of how to best lead the individual team members in their care. Tracy holds a Master of Science degree in Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from the State University of New York. She earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in School Administration and Supervision at St. Lawrence University, and was selected as one of 10 school leaders in upstate NY to study at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. She is a certified John Maxwell Leadership Coach, a qualified facilitator of the DISC Personality Assessment, with advanced study into the 5 Behaviors of Cohesive Teams.
