Meeting Mandy at a networking event was a stroke of great luck for my business. I was beginning my sixth year of operation and felt like I was losing steam with sales down 5% the previous year. I wasn’t a new business anymore and I felt I had exhausted my contacts and my inspiration. Mandy was so excited about the technology I offer and clearly had the intelligence and experience to be of great service to me. With Mandy’s help and insights, I contacted people on my chicken list. That led to successes which spurred me to work with more focus. She taught me how to find the “low-hanging fruit” and increase my sales with minimal effort. In a year that has seen job loss and foreclosures, my business has increased 15%. I’m happy for the gains and am excited for the future as my newly honed skills become solidified. If your business isn’t quite where you want it to be and you’re not sure what to do about it, call Mandy. I recommend her enthusiastically, without hesitation or reservation.

Perhaps the greatest lesson Mandy taught me is to look inward, to trust myself. Having a vision has never been my problem. I am a big picture person. For me, the challenge is having the confidence to go forth – and the commitment to take action. From my first coaching session with Mandy, I began taking steps toward achieving new heights in business.

Working with Mandy was a smart move I made to grow my business. As a new business owner I needed to start from the basics. Mandy helped me to hone my business story/message, reach out for speaking engagements, find ideal clients, price my services and much more. Mandy not only kept me focused on my goals while supporting me when I bumped into road blocks, but she was there to remind me, each week, where I am now and where I want to be. This was priceless since I (as many other people) tend to “forget” my goals and where I want to take my business. Mandy sure knows how to help small business owners build there business. If it wasn’t for her guidance and support, I would probably still feel stuck and unsure of the right direction for my business. Now I’m much more focused, results driven and clear about how to take my business to the next level and generate the income I desire!

I am setting up a completely new business in a new field. I am a business “virgin”. I knew I wanted and needed business coaching. Initially I was attracted to Mandy because of her obvious and compelling honesty and no nonsense style. She is clearly passionate about what she does but in my view passion alone is not enough. There has to be purpose and professionalism in the passion – and Mandy has all of these qualities – and more. Mandy has excellent coaching skills – she is a great listener. But she doesn’t stop there! She really encouraged me to think big, to go as far as I think I can, to think of other ways to draw in clients and develop a client base. It is exciting and creative to work with Mandy. But above all what I am grateful for has been Mandy’s great coaching and ideas in the arena of planning and scheduling and on pinning everything down with clear, well structured, well thought out schedules and plans. Mandy provides the framework for me to work with. This has focused my efforts, lead to less time wasting and more action. Also I find Mandy to be an excellent role model. She is clearly very organized herself and has worked on developing great systems to run her own business. She is very generous in sharing all sorts of useful contacts and ideas. I have still got a long way to go but I feel confident that thanks to Mandy Schumaker’s solid foundations I will have a good chance of achieving my goals. Without this support I would not be feeling as optimistic as I do, nor as determined, nor as well equipped for the hard work that lies ahead.

Mandy has been a true asset to our business. Her contagious, and positive energy helped breath new life into our insurance agency. With Mandy’s help, we were able to set clear expectations for our staff and have identified key traits to look for in new employees. Mandy also helped us to create a company culture that not only attracts, but retains excellent talent.

I’ve been fortunate enough to benefit from Mandy Schumaker’s consulting on two critical areas of our business: human resources: specifically how we motivate and inspire our team, and ongoing leadership coaching for all members of our management team including myself. Both have made a significant positive impact on our business. The leadership coaching is one on one and has offered unique opportunities for both skills development and problem solving with each of the members of the team. The Human Resources workshops and action plans have impacted how we interact with our teams, measure performance and communicate with our team members. I could not be more pleased with the results and plan on continuing our investment with Mandy. I am abundantly grateful for her insights, experience, candor, and advice. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a strong, experienced consultant, coach and mentor. She is the best!

Mandy has been immensely vital in the development of my business in the past 6 months. Before working with Mandy, I wasn’t always comfortable pushing myself into places I knew I “should be” in my business, because it is difficult to move outside one’s comfort zone.   I also struggled with identifying my ideal clients and how to most effectively market to them. After working with Mandy I have a much clearer picture of who my ideal client is, which has allowed me the ability to market directly to that person in a most efficient and effective way. Mandy has been really impactful in taking me from a place of “can’t, don’t want to, this isn’t for me” to “this is where I should be, I can, and I want to”. This is a wonderful win-win situation for myself and my clients. If you know you need the push to really stretch your comfort zone and grow your business, working with Mandy will most certainly do that for you!

My entire attitude about my business has changed since I met Mandy. More importantly my attitude about myself has changed as well. I was never able to say "No" to my clients, charities, or anyone that asked for a favor. I put everyone before myself. This left me working 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Mandy taught me how to value my personal time while remaining responsible to my clients. The shift for them has been a little difficult, but the 6am and 10pm calls have stopped. I now select the organizations to which I donate my time, I have set office hours, and I make time for my friends. I am healthier, happier, and much more productive. Now I am excited about my work and I truly enjoy my time with friends and family without my former guilt. I cannot say enough about Mandy's insight, humor, and genuine dedication to understanding each client's individual needs.

When I asked Mandy if she was comfortable coaching two owners who were just launching their company, she said she was up for the challenge. I have a high D type personality and have very high expectations of people and Mandy exceeded my expectations! I feel that Mandy gave my partner and I the tools to work with each time we met, to keep us focused on our vision.

I thought she was by far the best speaker! Very professional, subject matter related to everyone and she was so personable.

I recently took an amazing seminar – “How to Overcome Your Fear of Sales and Get More Customers NOW!” – lead by Mandy on behalf of Maine Center for Enterprise Development. In a very clear, concise, and interactive method, Mandy presented some very valuable take-away tips to help attendees with their business development strategies. I was fortunate to have a follow-up session with Mandy where she quickly grasped my business development obstacles. In a very empowering manner, Mandy worked with me to develop a strategy that I felt I could stick with. I highly recommend Mandy to entrepreneurs and executives who need a coach to help them with their business challenges.

It is my belief that at any conference, regardless of venue, people attend for education and to revitalize their energies so they will have a new vitality to their work performance.   Mandy Schumaker is the perfect speaker to make an audience do a self-inventory and rejuvenate their spirits.  She motivates her audiences to set new goals and feel optimistic and confident that achieving them is well within their capabilities.  Mandy is passionate about helping people perform at their highest level.

My company, HOMER, an ed tech start up based in New York engaged Mandy as a Leadership Coach for our executive team a little over a year ago. Since that time, Mandy has received universal positive reviews from every one of our Managers. Her coaching has had a measurable impact on the team's ability to have direct conversations, create structures for accountability, and think strategically. All of which has positively impacted company performance. Coaching has been one of the most worthwhile investments HOMER has made to date.

Before working with Mandy, I was ready to give up a bunch of long time clients because I was feeling overwhelmed with my workload. Since working with Mandy, I have not only regained peace of mind enough to stick with the clients who have been loyal to me, but also the confidence to take on even more work without feeling stressed. With her constant support and fresh ideas for solving old problems, I met my previous challenges head on: I got my bookkeeping in order; regained focus and excitement for the direction I wanted to be heading; found clarity concerning my work relationships. I am ever so grateful to Mandy for her careful listening and her easy ability for solutions. She helped me listen better myself to my own needs and dreams for my business and reminded me of my favorite part of having my own business—getting to be the creator! Thank you, Mandy.

Our SPRF (Southern Public Relations Federation) annual conference is an event that I look forward to as a PR/Marketing and Sales Executive. The conferences have always had outstanding speakers and the 2012 conference was no exception.  The most inspirational speaker this year was Mandy Schumaker. Her delivery, passion and knowledge are second to none. Mandy spoke at the mid-point of the day and she was perfect! I walked away feeling like I had more focus and clarity with regard to achieving my full potential.  Mandy “gets” it and any organization or company that can bring Mandy in to speak at an event would be exceptionally fortunate.

What I love about Mandy is that she combines practical business knowledge and accountability with a deep understanding of what makes people tick. Not only has she helped me move my business forward in many ways, she has also helped me to get out of my own way. Since working with Mandy, I have developed better business goals, created a newsletter, started doing speaking engagements, and am in closer contact with my ideal clients. Mandy has also gone out of her way to be available and support me when I needed a little extra help or a little bit of a push. She is always positive and ready to listen to what I have to say, giving encouragement and practical advice. I could not have come this far without her.

I invited Mandy to speak at a lunch and learn hosted by PROPEL, the young members network affiliated with the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce. Mandy was incredibly receptive, and tailored a presentation to fit our audience. Speaking on the subject of multiple generations in the workplace, her presentation was interesting, informative, and of great value to the four generations of audience members. I very much look forward to working with Mandy again, and recommend her highly.”

I had grown so complacent with my ten year old business and was generally running out of creative steam. Mandy was just the shot in the arm my business needed. I am now holding myself and the people around me accountable. I found leads I didn’t know I had, hired a new sales person, and best of all, my sales are going up.  Before I hired Mandy, I had the feeling that my business was slipping away…. Now it’s: get out of my way or keep up. I’m going to hire Mandy again in four months to make sure I stay on task!  Thanks Mandy, for your insight, intelligence and generous spirit. You really know how to motivate.

I am so thankful that I found Mandy Schumaker and Higher Performing People. To have someone with Mandy’s experience and professionalism focused on my business has been amazing, empowering and transformative. Since working with Mandy, I’ve been able to work through many of the roadblocks–mental and otherwise–that were preventing me from moving forward and succeeding in the way that I wanted to and that I knew was possible. Now I’ve been able to better focus on income-producing activities, make better long-term decisions and take more risks. With Mandy’s help I’ve been able to: -Meet more ideal clients and like-minded business professionals who are ‘playing a bigger game’ -Identify weaknesses in my business model and focus on the fundamentals, leading to a healthier business -Put myself ‘out there’ in a bigger way, reaching out to prospects and networking in more effective ways.”

I booked Mandy to be the keynote speaker for our regional Women’s Networking Forum. Not only did she captivate the audience of more than 65 women, but she was engaging and informative; providing a smart perspective along with ways to set realistic goals. Mandy’s presentation on “Asking for What You Want” was full of energy as well as opportunities for meaningful conversation. One of our attendees said, “I thought it was wonderful and informative! I’m talking with my General Manager to possibly have Mandy come in to speak with a group of our employees!” I highly recommend Mandy to anyone or any group who would like to challenge their current ways of thinking and focus on positive personal change.

With Mandy’s support, I was able to reach deep and recognize how my interpersonal interactions and communication style impacted my effectiveness as a leader. I attribute many of my successes and accomplishments this year to the highly effective coaching I’ve received.

Working with Mandy is one of the smartest – and most cost effective – decisions I made in starting my business. It’s not hard to make mistakes in getting any new business off the ground, but Mandy has helped me to avoid the costly ones and has kept me focused on the things that will help me to grow my business faster. People think they can cut corners and not hire a coach or that they can’t afford one. That’s absolutely the wrong way of looking at it. The money I have saved by working with Mandy far exceeds the cost of working with her, She has saved me so much more money than her fees have cost. Mandy is the best investment I could have made. And more than just saving me money, Mandy is a knowledgeable, supportive and a very effective resource, who genuinely cares about my success. I highly recommend her as a business coach!

I’m an artist and am so absorbed in the details of creating each piece that I didn’t make the time to run the business. With Mandy’s coaching I have been able to organize my studio practices, increase productivity, better anticipate deadlines, and look ahead to opportunities in the coming years. I may not be her typical client, but the expertise and enthusiasm that she applied to working with me have made an incredible difference in how I approach the business side of art.

Many sole proprietors fail because they try to survive in isolation, too proud or close-minded to admit that an outside perspective could help improve their confidence, focus or profitability. I knew better. I knew I needed Mandy Schumaker. Mandy has been a tremendous partner, a confidant and a mentor. She’s expert at recognizing the roots of the impediments I encounter and holds me accountable as we navigate past them. Mandy knows when a small business owner needs a boost or when they need some tough love, not because she’s read it in a book, but because she’s personally experienced it all before. Since I started working with Mandy, I’ve never been happier professionally and I’ve more than doubled my client base. She’s been an irreplaceable resource to my company and I could not recommend her more.

I’m so grateful for Mandy!  She’s given me a new focus and direction for Star Polisher that feels really, really good!  I’m so excited about my business again and inspired to make the commitment and go forward! Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Mandy has helped me set important goals, take practical steps toward achieving them, and better organize my freelance science writing and editing business. For example, within a month of our work together, I renegotiated a contract at rate that better reflected my years of experience as a science writer. Mandy was available and supportive every step of the way and helped me better appreciate my skills, worth and the caliber of my work. At the same time, she has helped me organize my business in ways that better serve my clients. Thanks to Mandy’s practical planning suggestions, I’m less frazzled and better able to set realistic goals and meet multiple, intense deadlines. I think what sets Mandy apart, however, is that she is a profoundly gifted listener and a creative problem-solver who is also high-powered, smart, good-humored and kind. That is a rare combination. In addition to helping me set practical goals for my business, Mandy is also helping me take steps toward achieving a dream: a book that has been in the gestation process for several years.

As an entrepreneur working from home and a busy Mom to three young boys, I found it difficult to juggle multiple demands on my time and carve out a schedule that allowed me to stay focused and productive with my business while keeping my life in balance. Before working with Mandy, I lacked clearly defined short term goals, targeted revenue generating activities, a workable schedule, and an accountability partner. I was scrambling to keep up with all the aspects of my business and experiencing frustration despite my hard effort and time. After working with Mandy I know precisely what needs to be done to achieve my financial goals, have a flexible but defined schedule and have developed habits that help me stay on task despite distractions and challenges. Mandy’s Daily Accountability Reminder is a great tool to plan your day and get started in the right direction. Mandy is a gifted business coach who thoughtfully helps me confront my biggest fears and challenges, and motivates me to take action to successfully to achieve my goals. I highly recommend that by working with Mandy you will be amazed by the personal and professional transformation!

She knows business and has practical suggestions to help me in places where I struggle, and gives me confidence to keep moving forward. Mandy helps me confront my biggest challenges, keeps me focused and helps me achieve the goals and vision for my business!