FocusME: Game Changing Support for Women Entrepreneurs (11:00am start)

The Women’s Business Center at CEI and the Portland SCORE Chapter are collaborating to host FocusME, a series peer groups for female entrepreneurs.  

Is FocusME right for you? We are looking for women entrepreneurs who are committed to business and personal growth to join this group. In order to participate, you must have business revenue, and an active website.

How does it work? A group of smart, savvy, female entrepreneurs meet every two weeks for facilitated sessions focusing on business and personal growth.  These sessions continue with a check-in every three months for the first year, and a yearly celebration for all FocusME participants.

You lean on each other, give advice, share connections and experiences and do business with each other if/when appropriate.  Each session will include a focus on personal development, as well as an opportunity to share business challenges and brainstorm solutions. The peer group will be source of support, referrals and networking: the focus is on personal development that will impact your business growth.

Specific areas of focus will include: goal setting, pitching your business, prioritizing, and time management. Each session will consist of a facilitated group discussion around one of these topics, as well as “my seat” time which allows entrepreneurs to share something you’re working on and look to the group for input and accountability. You will be introduced to local resources that will help build your business, and connected to a broader network of services and fellow entrepreneurs.

Who facilitates?

The sessions will be facilitated by Leigh Tillman. Leigh works with groups facilitating decision-making, group processes, and training. Her work focuses on:

• Helping people hear one another to find common ground so that groups can make realistic, tangible, innovative, and informed decisions
• Supporting organizations in the ever-unfolding element of team engagement and collaboration
• Offering facilitative trainings from Telling Impactful Stories to Conflict Transformation in the Workplace

As a female entrepreneur herself, Leigh is excited to team up with The Women’s Business Center at CEI and SCORE to offer what we expect will prove to be a unique, rewarding, and candidly helpful series for all participants. You can learn more about her at leightillmanfacilitation.wordpress.com

When?

The six initial sessions take place on Tuesdays in 2016. These dates include:   April 12, April 26, May 10, May 24, June 7 and June 21.

The four follow-up sessions will take place in early August, early October, early December, early February.

We have not yet scheduled the yearly celebration for all FocusME groups. Stay tuned for details!

Upon registering, you are expected to attend each of the sessions.

Where?

Space for these groups has been very generously donated by Coffee by Design at 1 Diamond Street in Portland.

What does it cost?

The cost to participate in FocusME is $199. This includes the six initial sessions, three follow-up sessions from February to August, and an invitation to the annual FocusME celebration where women from previous FocusME cohorts can connect. That’s a year of programming and continuity.

Note: we can offer a payment plan.  If you would like to register and prefer to pay in 2  payments, please contact Kate Curran at In order to participate in FocusME, you must have business revenue, and an active website. We are looking for women entrepreneurs who are committed to business and personal growth tothe join this group.  Once you register, we may contact you to learn more about your business, in order to ensure that we fill these sessions with businesses that are non-competitive among each group.

Also, please note that we are simultaneously running two sessions of these groups. They run on the same dates, one session from 8:30 to 10:30 and one session from 11:00 to 1:00. These offer the same programming: please choose the group that works best for your schedule.

If you have additional questions, please contact Kate Curran at kate.curran@ceimaine.org or at (207) 535-2492.

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