MicroMentor Success Story

Network for Mom Entrepreneurs Flourishes with Mentor's Guidance

Jill Salzman		Jim Mills

Entrepreneur: Jill Salzman

With a resume boasting three LLCs and a self-published, advertiser-funded fanzine, Jill's entrepreneurial experience was already substantial when she signed up with MicroMentor. Her newest business venture was experiencing some growing pains and she sought advice from someone with a different background. Jill's problem was simple: she hadn't actually intended to start a business at all.

"Founding Moms began as a get-together I organized so that women like me, business-owners who are also moms, could meet and network." says Jill, who lives in Oak Park, Illinois. "It was a one-time thing and I didn't expect more than four or five people to show up."

Fast-forward and the popularity of Jill's "get-togethers" had lead not only to regular monthly meet-ups, but she was also approached by women in other cities offering to host similar events and share resources. Jill was ready to grow, but wanted a little help with her plans. So she signed up with MicroMentor, where she met Jim.

Mentor: Jim Mills

"The idea of being 'matched-up' really appealed to me," says Jim of St. Louis, Missouri about his MicroMentor experience. "I liked the anonymity - that people could look at my experience, send me a message, and then I decide who to work with."

While he'd never run his own business, Jim's experience included twenty-six years of executive management and human resources work for companies such as RadioShack and CPI Corp. His background in sales proved influential to his seeking out opportunities to mentor: "One thing I like about retail is giving people the opportunity to do well, to excel based on their own initiative. I think mentoring is a lot like retail in that way." Jim signed up with MicroMentor in October of 2010. He let pitches from three different entrepreneurs pass in his first week. Then he got a message from Jill.

About Their Match

"I was just really captivated by her energy-level, her idea and her commitment," says Jim of his first contact with Jill through MicroMentor. "Our first conversation was an hour-long and we agreed that an hour-a-week would be a good time budget for our relationship." Six months later, Jim says, "That's still probably my favorite hour of the week."

Over those six months, Jim and Jill's weekly meetings addressed many aspects of Jill's new business and helped Founding Mothers grow from a networking activity with a few friends to an international organization with more than 2,200 members in over thirty cities. Specifically, Jim has helped Jill fine-tune her host evaluation process, utilizing his experience with expanding franchises to save Jill from having to reinvent the wheel as her business grew. Jim sees his role in these conversations as primarily Jill's sounding board. Before each meeting, Jill sends her ideas and questions to Jim, who takes some time to consider them beforehand. "I'm just always thinking, 'how can we relate your ideas this week back to our main goals?'" says Jim.

"Our backgrounds are so different," says Jill, "but his energy is very complementary to mine. I'm so grateful to MicroMentor for connecting us; I never want to give him up."

Jim agrees. "I love MicroMentor and I've recommended it to a number of my colleagues. Time is a priceless commodity and I feel like I'm investing my time in our economy by helping small businesses like Jill'

Network for Mom Entrepreneurs Flourishes with Mentor's Guidance

Jill's business: http://foundingmoms.com/
Watch Jill talk about why mom's make the best entrepreneurs!