275 words

A most enjoyable aspect of this new adventure is getting to do a variety of tasks--most of which I thoroughly enjoy!!

Last week, mom and I discussed the idea to put an article in a local magazine up in Bruce County, called Marketplace Magazine. Since an article is essentially an advertisement, those article's don't come cheap. Gottsta pay to get the word. Decision made, as mom pulls out an issue from 2 years ago that she still has kicking around the house. It's a magazine that hangs out, apparently.

The folks at the magazine said that either we can write it up ourselves, or they will get the details and write it. Handy Melissa suggests that I write it myself!! I think I did a pretty good job at it to....

"When psychic Mary Lynn Stevenson predicted 2007 to be a year of change and economic growth, little did she know how much that was going to impact her own life.

While earning her certification as a Power Coach from Coaching and Leadership International Inc., Lynn Stevenson presented her daughter Melissa with an idea. To create a business whose mission it is to assist people in personal and professional development; to assist people achieve their goals and find success.

M&L Ideas & Co. was born. Melissa and Lynn have joined together their unique pasts and experiences, and now promote upbeat, positive and creative thinking. Hosting a variety of workshops, based on the ideologies of Power Coaching, M&L Ideas & Co. has set forth to make an impact. Working with groups of all sizes, Lynn and Melissa are putting forth the message of how each individual person can make a difference in their own life by creative positive thought patterns and taking the physical steps to get there.

Along side the workshops and keynote speaking, is Fastrac Coaching and Leadership. Lynn’s brand of Power Coaching has been thoroughly and diligently learned – she graduated at the top of her class. Offering individual coaching sessions and personalized packages, coaching is an ongoing partnership that helps clients find fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives.

M&L Ideas & Co are available to host workshops in your area. If you are interested in having a workshop specifically designed for you, your community, friends or co-workers, contact Lynn and Melissa at 000-0000, or visit us online at www.ml-ideas.com. For coaching sessions with Fastrac Coaching and Leadership, you can contact Lynn at 000-0000."

Believe you me, it was hard to fit that within the 280 word limit. I got it in at 275. Let's just say there was a lot of editing, and a lot more information included. But all in all, I really liked writing it, and I am really looking forward to developing my writing skills to utilize with our business.

And by the way, the website is so close to being up and running!!!

A message from Mom

Hi, I’m Lynn, Melissa’s mom, her business partner.

Sometimes it is hard to realize my little girl is all grown up and is now a beautiful young woman. And one, I might add, that I am very proud of.

I have been self employed for over 20 years and this is the first time I have taken on a business partner. It seems odd having someone else to share the responsibilities with. It is not always easy to ‘hand things over’ and not be the one in total control. Delegating is not always one of my strong points.

I know I made the right choice when I approached Melissa with the idea of creating a business together. We each have our own unique strengths and abilities which compliment each other.

In business situations she refers to me as ‘Lynn’, it seems so strange. Again, a sign she is not that little kid anymore. I know I made the right decision when I approached Melissa about the two of us going into business together. I look forward to a long and successful partnership. I know we will have a few hurdles to overcome, but I also have the confidence to know we will be a success.

On Saturday, July 7th, we have our first workshop as a team and it is going to be great. It is at the Queen’s Inn in Stratford. Hope to see you there!

Workin' on the Workshop

It's really happening.

The first full weekend in July, we are hosting a workshop in Stratford on the Law of Attraction. This will be the first, official workshop as organized by M&L Ideas & Co. In other words, this will be the first workshop that I will have had a hand in the organization and promotion of it!!

I feel pretty grown up. Most of the time, I still feel like a kid who is just kickin' around, not too sure what I'm doing, where I'm going. But being responsible for organizing the venue and food, all of the advertising and such, I feel like I'm finally ahead of myself, that I'm doing things right! I feel like a professional!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! That's a bit scary and exciting all in one!!

I worked out some free advertising with local media, such as with CTV on their 'What's On Where' board that they post both on the internet and run as commercial clips on their local stations, and I've even gotten a short time slot for an interview with the local radio station!! Pretty cool!! And of course, flyers posted like crazy around town and the surrounding areas. Let's not forget the typical paid ads in the newspaper too!!

The venue where we are hosting the workshop is at The Queen's Inn. I picked it mainly because the family that owns it is friends with one of my close friends. (And not to mention, the pub attached to the Inn has the best wings in the world. For real.) Anyway, it's this fabulous old inn, (take a peek at their site and you will agree!) that has that great Victorian feel to it. They have a couple different rooms available for functions such as ours, we have picked the Edinburgh room.

AND!!!!

We have arranged for a feature guest speaker too!! One of my mom's associates, Anny Tenbult, who have been a Certified Power Coach for nearly a decade has agreed to come down and host the portion on the BrainWalk!! The BrainWalk is a power coaching tool that can be used with a coach or by yourself, it's pretty cool. It will be interesting for both my mom and I to see how someone else presents a workshop on the BrainWalk~variety is the spice of life!!

Well...I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this is going to be a mad success next Saturday!! If you know where Stratford is, and you have got some time on July 7...come down to The Queen's Inn to find out how the Universal Laws affect your life and what you can do with them to make it better!! Just email me with any questions freshideasco at hotmail.com (you know the drill, I just don't want spammers!!)

the ducks are lining up

We've got most of the content written for our website!! Just have to put some finishing touches on it this weekend.

Meeting with the graphic designer next weekend to get it all going!!

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's in a name?

After settling on a name for our business, sketching out logos and such, we find out we are unable to use the name we had wanted. Turns out there is another business registered in Ontario with the same name.


Hmmmm......so we put our heads together to come up with a new one. We put it forth, had it checked it, found availability and have claimed it as our own.


Welcome to M&L Ideas & Co.


My roommate is a graphic designer, and I had asked her a while ago if she would be interested in creating a logo for us. Mom and I sketched it out, but putting in on a computer...beyond me! Busy gal that she is, she didn't have time to do it.


Ironically enough, the day that we registered our name, Erin asked me about the logo. I told her the new name, and she whipped one right up!! It's like it was meant to be, the way it worked out like that.

www.something.com

As we progress through the development of our business, we are looking at getting ourselves a website. After all, these days, how can a business function without a website??

We've been in touch we a couple graphic design firms, looking for quotes and such. We hammered out what kind of format we want and what kinds of pages we would require. We've also designed our logo~which I am very excited about!~and want to get that on an electronic file.
The designer whom we have decided upon (I think), his name is Justin. He has presented us with some nifty ideas. We want to have regular access to our site to post event updates, and talk about our feature speakers and stuff like that, and he has suggested that we have a blog-like site, where it will be easy as pie for us to manage it. Hmmm...I think I can handle that!!! LOL!!

But now we are faced with the content of the site. Meaning, we have to write it up and hand it over. I sat at my laptop the other night, drawing blanks of what I wanted to say about our company!! I couldn't believe it!

Let's think about this. We need to write up a page about who we are, what we offer, and why. This is where I keep getting stuck. I can't decided if we should have the home page list this info right away, or if there should be a link on "about us"...and then additionally, what should be separated from the "about us" to the home page?? Does that follow very well, or have I confused you as much as I am confusing myself?

Ironically, I think I need to work out all this website stuff on paper, not on my laptop. I think technology is not going to help me get organized for this. Eek!

Here's keeping my fingers crossed that I can get this sorted asap so we can move forward and get this up and running. Thank heavens I don't need to worry about the technical stuff, just the words...

Not just another number

This past week, mom and I travelled north to spend some time in Bourget, a quaint town just outside of Ottawa. Our purpose was to get some work done, decisions made, and of course, to relax. We stayed at The Domaine Bourget Inn & Spa, a wonderful inn set in the country. The family who runs it are warm and friendly, and the ladies who work in the spa are just as nice. It was a random choice to stay there, but I'm glad we picked it....I suspect we will be returning there soon!!





We were able to spend time working on the Law of Attraction workshops, and creating great matches of what we could pair with it. We have established the kinds of people we would like to be working with us, as well as different venue types. Legal decisions were agreed upon, and roles were agreed upon (I tried to say that I should be CEE--Cheif of Everything Else, but then we decided it was not formal enough!! LOL!!). We've got some great marketing tools available, and most of it will be free! Just need to work on my savvy, and we're set!



Outside of business, we were also able to spend some time relaxing, and do the typical tourist thing--some shopping and sightseeing. We were able to go to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, where mom has not ever been. It was pretty cool to share that experience with her!

We also took a day and went Montreal, where I had not ever been. Mom had been there when she was a teenager. So that was pretty neat. We had good intentions of full sightseeing, however, the Eaton Centre was just too huge, and time went too fast! Haha! Oh well, it just means we will have to go back to see more.

Our business trip finished up back at mom's house on Sunday afternoon. Her lawyer came over and went over some of the finer details with us. Again, a few more decisions were made. We are officially registered as a business, complete with a numbered Canada Inc. name. While it's true, we are a numbered company, we are more than just another number.

We have fresh ideas to sell!