EXCERPT

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this eBook to my friends and colleagues of the West Tennessee Writing Project. I owe much of my writing skill to the training I received from Margrethe Ahlschwede and the rest of the wonderful teachers that make the WTWP such a success!

~ Kristi Sayles

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Note From the Author
Kristi Sayles

The Training Oasis, Inc.
An Interview with Anne Thornley-Brown

The Wizzard of Wizzard Software
Armen Geronian

From Bodyguard to Businessman
Ben Neumann

From Delivery Boy to Business Owner
Gary Pool

Gaye Martin
CEO of Black and White Secretarial Services – Australia

Josh Team
The High Tech Teen

How Currant Media Was Born
Julie Disman and Mike Jacobs

Kimber Faeth

Mike Atkinson Says
Get Your Free Vacations Here!

Sean Atkins
Designing His Way Through College

Teddy Hickox
He Earned a Brand New Four-Wheel Drive
in Only Ten Months

Thor Christianson Found the Solution
Commercial Lease Solutions

Troy Olson
Networking the Law

Wanda Loskot
No Such Thing as Failure, Only Temporary Setbacks

Yankz!
The Million-Dollar Idea (Bill and Stephanie Curet)

Meet Kristi Sayles

THE TRAINING OASIS, INC
An Interview with Ann Thornley-Brown

Anne Thornley-Brown is a fascinating businesswoman! She was born in Jamaica, went to school in Illinois, and now resides in Canada.

I spoke with Anne about her business and her life both before and after the dream of owning her own consulting firm had become a reality.

K.S.: Tell me about The Training Oasis, Anne.

A.T.B: My company, The Training Oasis, Inc., is a management consulting firm for rapidly growing high technology companies. We specialize in out-of-the-box strategies for bottom line results. We help CEO's and executives build their teams in order to take advantage of the opportunities of high growth. Our three main areas of focus are:

- executive development
- behavior-based interviewing
- accelerated learning

Our approach is highly customized. For some clients, it involves designing and facilitating executive development sessions and retreats. For others, I facilitate team building or problem solving sessions. With some clients, I establish a long-term partnership in which I use a range of strategies such as conducting behavior-based interviews to help them add the right players to their team, designing and facilitating accelerated learning programs to help new and existing team members "hit the ground running."

K.S.: Do you consider yourself a success?

A.T.B.: Like any other business, The Training Oasis has had its ups and downs, but through it all, God has been good. One thing is sure, I could never have done it without Him.

I started the business full time, three years ago. I had been working full time as a management development specialist for a wireless communications firm and freelancing to test the waters before going out on my own.

I enjoyed the work I was doing, but like so many entrepreneurial types, I found the politics brutal.

During my annual review and coaching session, I was open about my career goals - to have my own consulting firm. My boss suggested that we might be able to work out a win-win scenario. Together, we developed a business case to out-source my role and that's how I got my first contract as a full-time consultant.
From there, I've used many approaches to marketing:
- ads in directories and training newspapers
- speaking at conferences
- direct mail (colorful postcards from The Training Oasis)
- gift bags jam packed with some of the items we use when we facilitate sessions (stress balls, slinkies, oversized post-its, scented markers, etc.)
building a web site with 2 virtual newsletters