What Has the Coleman Center Meant to You?

Originally appeared on Coleman Center blog on 7.28.09

What has the Coleman Center meant to you?

This was the question posed in an exploratory meeting last evening with a group of Coleman Center advocates, (more to come on what that meeting was all about- stay tuned!) and I thought it was a great question to pose to all of you.  How has the Coleman Center changed/affected you, either personally or professionally?   Has the Center given you the confidence to launch your own venture?  Have our consulting services enabled you to grow strategically?  Has a staff member functioned as a mentor for you?  Anything is fair game… 

For me, the Coleman Center opened a door to a wider, more diverse network of business owners.  As a new grad, the larger my network, and the more decision making power the members of that network have, the greater my chances of meeting someone who can help me find a full-time marketing position.  And in this job market, introducing you to people who can say YES is a meaningful gift.  

Working for the Coleman Center has also helped me expand my skill set and improve my writing.  Before working here, I never had the courage to blog or provide small business owners with largely unsolicited marketing advice.  Now, I find myself blogging about everything, tweeting about my blogs, and sending them to potential employers as examples of my writing style.  Blogging, writing web and email copy and brainstorming campaigns with my colleagues has helped me improve as a writer and given me increased confidence as a marketer. 

My experience at the Coleman Center also enabled me to clearly define my career goals: I want to help entrepreneurs and small businesses build their brands.  (Now, I understand a lot goes into this statement, but in a nutshell, that’s what I want to do.  You’ll have to interview me in order to find out how I do it!)  Before joining the Coleman Center, I knew I wanted to “do marketing,” but I couldn’t clearly communicate what that meant given my past experience and uncertain future.  As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’ve never worked for a large corporation and I always thought that put me at a disadvantage as a brand builder, but now I know that my strengths lie in wearing many hats, doing a lot with a little and not being afraid to make mistakes.  These are traits that have hopefully proven valuable to the businesses I’ve worked with to date. 

I began working for the Coleman Center in August of 2008, so I’m coming up on a year with them.  I consider this past year time well spent and appreciate the positive effects this position and the people close to the Center have had on my personal and professional development.  Tell me how the Center has affected you by commenting below, posting a story on our Facebook page, or tweeting a short message about us (@colemancenter) and linking to your own blog.