As the founder of VisionOne, Michelle Bonahoom is passionate about working with mid-market business owners to increase their value, in preparation for sale, strategic acquisitions, and transferring to the next generation of leadership. She has worked with over 100 different companies, as they prepare for key critical transitions. Over the past 20 years, Michelle has accumulated diverse experience as a business owner, private investor, consultant, and advocate for mid-market companies who are seeking to stabilize, achieve added value, achieve high performance results, and leave a legacy for the next generation. Michelle has a BS in International Business, an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Private Equity, and has earned an integrated set of value growth certifications in mergers & acquisitions, strategic development and execution, performance management, and positive and organizational psychology. This broad set of experience and credentials has proven to be critical, when working with business owners to successfully turn-around, grow and transition their businesses. Michelle is passionate about giving back. She invests in her community through non-profit board service and through teaching leadership, entrepreneurship, and self-discovery through her church and as an adjunct professor for several community colleges. Michelle is also a local chapter leader of the Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors. She loves to spend her free time with her family, reading and dreaming, and advocating for emerging leaders.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Michelle’s dad
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I didn’t actually set out to be an entrepreneur. My late husband saw an opportunity and jumped in with both feet and out of fear, because I was working for corporate America at that point, out of fear I knew that he didn’t necessarily have an attention to detail. And so I jumped in with him and within a matter of 12 months we had about 35 employees. And so I kind of fell into entrepreneurship but what I learned from that real quickly was that who I was”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses Book by Eric RiesFavourite Quote:
“Be the Change You Wish To See in the World.” Mahatma Gandhi
Recommended Online Resources:
“find your group of people or your tribe of people, find the associations that speak your language, talk to your customers and your trusted advisers and local economic development professionals and leverage the resources that they have”
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“number one add value through your strengths. So find what you are really really good at and start to give it to the world, to your customers, to your employees. Learn how to receive through your weaknesses. So learn what you are not good at or what you are may be not great at and start to ask others, whether it’s other companies that can help you or employees or even customers and then serve through your fears. The greatest way especially through this time of uncertainty, a lot of us are in a place living in fear and uncertainty and the way to get out of that, because you can’t be rational or objective when you are in a place of fear, the way to get out of that is to serve through your fears. So whatever you are afraid of go and serve somebody else through that”…[Listen for More]
More About Michelle Bonahoom:
Vision One High Performance Group
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“It’s going to be hard, but hard does not mean impossible.” Unknown
Other Quotes From the Chat with Michelle Bonahoom:
- “if I would have known that whole concept around being intentional with aligning your strategy, your culture and your governance that would have helped along the way because what I’ve learned through that is that it really business in making decisions as an entrepreneur really doesn’t have to be that hard. If you can show up and be who you are and align to the heart of why you exist and you can put the right formula to your business you are going to be successful regardless of what the business is or what the industry is”
- “define what is success for you because what’s successful for me is not necessarily is not necessarily success for you. And you do that by understanding why, your purpose, why are you here, what is it that you are aiming towards, what’s your vision, and then what are some of the values that you aspire to live by. And when you know that and you can align to and deliver that, that’s success in my opinion”
- “I believe that if you see a problem you need to be the answer to the problem. And so I have lived my life looking at the areas that I see that need to be changed and finding ways to intentionally engage in solving those problems”
Leave a Reply