About Nancy
Nancy Michaels is CEO and Founder of GrowYourBusinessNetwork, Inc., a company devoted to empowering business owners around the world with the strategies to live a financially secure life of their dreams. More recently, she partnered with 7-Figure Strategist Monaica Ledell (www.SheBuildsEmpires.com) to launch a revolutionary program that’s sweeping the globe – www.TheBusinesSkinny.com.
adventures in entrepreneurship…
Nancy ’s entrance into entrepreneurship occurred early in her career — after job hopping in public relations and television in Boston (she was Matt Lauer’s publicist – current co-host of The Today Show – when he was hosting a Boston talk show, called Talk of the Town on WHDH-TV, and was associate producer of Tom Bergeron’s, current co-host of Dancing With the Stars, 60-second informational spots on WBZ-TV in Boston). She found herself frustrated after being laid off – along with Matt Lauer – and felt she was unemployable due to her strong desire to go out on her own. After leaving her final job in television in 1990, she chose the opportunity of owning her own business.
doing what it takes…
Not quite sure what to expect, and without a mentor or role model, Nancy took it upon herself to learn what it takes to be successful. She read everything she could about the sales and marketing processes and systems that others wrote about. She listened to self-help and how-to audio programs on sales, marketing and the Law of Attraction. She was especially excited about creative and distinctive marketing ideas that entrepreneurs were using in their business because of the low cost, memorable impact it had on their targeted prospects and clients, and was easy accessibility for everyone to implement.
After buying a Tandy (I know she’s dating herself) Computer from her graduate professor who wanted to upgrade his computer, and working from a walk-in closet in her Boston apartment – we’re not kidding here – she began to start documenting all of the crazy and off the wall ways people market themselves and their businesses. She then, met up with Debbi Karpowicz Kickham who also had a love for the off beat, and the two of them teamed up to write Off the Wall Marketing Ideas (Adams Media 2000).
She instantly became known as the “Princess of Off the Wall Marketing,” but Nancy claims to have been too young to be a Queen at the time. From there, she started to apply these off the wall ideas with her ideal prospects of Fortune 500 companies and low and behold, she landed clients such as Staples, The Home Depot, UPS, Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Office Depot, among numerous others.
gaining speed…
When business owners began asking Nancy for off the wall marketing advice in order to land their dream clients, she seized the opportunity to quickly start coaching and consulting with business owners on how to do what she had done – implement off the wall marketing that makes you memorable and stand out amongst your ideal prospects of Fortune 500 companies. She then began speaking all over the country to business organizations on the topic of Perfecting Your Pitch, which became a book that was published by Career Press in 2005. Both Off the Wall Marketing Ideas and Perfecting Your Pitch remain best sellers today. From that moment on, she became the go-to resource for business owners wanting to identify, and pitch themselves to their ideal client base of Fortune 500 companies.
From there Nancy began sharing her complete on- and off-line business development and sales and marketing systems via products, coaching programs, and her own seminars, which combined have grown into the hugely successful company that Nancy runs today. Her e-zine, “Grow Your Business,” has more than 32,000 subscribers around the world. Her marketing and success training products have helped thousands of them use distinctive and creative marketing techniques and strategies to leverage their expertise, gain a more targeted and focused reach to their ideal prospects and clients, and dramatically increase their incomes.
Nancy is most at home showcasing her message “virtually” through web casts and tele-classes as well as at special in-person events. She as spoken along with brilliant marketing and motivational giants such as Jay Abraham, Jay Conrad Levinson, Michael Gerber, Jane Applegate, Susan Solovic and numerous others regarding business development and growth issues. In addition, she’s a sought after host and speaker for Fortune 500 Companies targeting the small business marketplace including Office Depot, UPS, The Home Depot, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T and many more.
becoming America’s most sought-after Fortune 500 consultant…
Her expert opinion is sought after and has been profiled by Inc.com where she is the solo-preneur expert, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Marketing Expert, Success Magazine, Fortune Small Business, and The New York Post. In addition, her sales and marketing advice has been featured on CNNFn, The Weekend Today Show, and Fox News. Matt Lauer, if you are out there, she’s happy to join you on the couch at the Today Show as well. A self-proclaimed clutz, she is less likely to be seen on Dancing with the Stars with Tom Bergeron.
Nancy’s best known for her expertise in distinctive marketing, her mentees share that her biggest impact comes from her own life experience. Her philosophy of “viewing crisis’s as opportunities and overcoming your obstacles to create exactly what you want in your life” – ensuring your business is in balance and is in connection with your personal goals and values is something she strongly believes in, because she’s experienced it first hand.
seeing only opportunity…
In the Spring of 2005, Nancy experienced a near fatal and fast-acting form of liver failure. Within one week of entering the Boston-based hospital, she had received a new liver and underwent extraordinary measures to save her life. In late 2006, Nancy made an unprecedented comeback that was thought to be impossible by medical standards. That said, Nancy believes that having an attitude and viewpoint of will and determination with strategic and tactical planning, you can get through life’s challenges and is the most important key to bringing a business owner their ultimate health, wealth and contentment in life and in business.
reinventing…
She created the huge hit, www.SuddenlySingleNow.com – Adventures in Reinvention – dedicated to helping women (and men) who have suddenly found themselves single find love, fun and happiness again.
Nancy grew up in Central, Massachusetts, and moved to Boston to go to college and stayed and lived there through her 20s. She currently lives with her three small children in historical Concord, MA, home of Walden Pond – as well as the original home to great historical figures and authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.
Nancy loves independent films and attending Sundance and other Film Festivals. She enjoys live theater and is currently learning how to cook. When she’s not in Concord with her family, she’s likely visiting family members or friends in California, or vacationing in cities in Europe or on a beach in the Caribbean solo or with her friends.
