A Makeover

If you subscribed to this blog over the past few years, you’ve probably noticed that, like dinosaurs, opposable thumbs and my dog’s ability to counter surf, it evolved.

• What started out as my personal space to collect my business thoughts turned into my place to announce that I was going out on my own, leaving my then-full-time job…
• What was the place to talk about my freelance services turned into my company’s website… back when I had my own marketing and fundraising consulting service company, The Leone Company… for a hot minute…
• Then, you probably noticed that posts stopped.  (There’s no link for that. Weren’t you paying attention?  You can’t link to silence!)

I didn’t disappear as much as join forces with The Best Medical Business Solutions, a medical business consulting company, focusing on the cosmetic and aesthetic industry, that I run with my father.  (You can read our story, and see a super adorable photo of me and the-man-everyone-thinks-is-my-much-older-husband-but-is-really-my-dad here.)

And so this site forwarded to that site for a few years.

Now, though… I’m ready to take back the reins.  I still love what I’ve built at The Best Medical Business Solutions, so heck no, I’m not switching career paths.  But I do write… a lot… for other publications (you can see all sorts of samples on my business’s website here).  But with the start of 2016, I’m craving the ability to use the instant sense of wit and tales of reality that I’ve built and collected over the years.

So, with THIS makeover, you’ll see glimpses into my ridiculous life, packed with stories about daily personal life as an entrepreneur, the amazingly hilarious conversations I have with my 91-year-old grandmother named Babcia, and whatever else comes to mind.

If I’m being honest, so far, I have five stories written about Babcia and zero about entrepreneur life, so, be prepared.  She’s amazing.

Not what you signed up for originally and looking to unsubcribe? I totally understand.  Finding out that this blog is EXACTLY what you didn’t realize you needed in your inbox?  AWESOME!  Subscribe away at the link in the right hand column on the website

Either way, be prepared.  Awesomeness awaits.

2013 Central Michigan University Alumni Awards

This past weekend, my family, friends, fiance and I traveled to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.  If you would have told me when I graduated in 2005 it would take eight years to get me back to town, I would have laughed.  I had a passion for the school that helped shape me, and certainly loved everything about it.  But alas, life gets in the way, and college grows more and more distant after graduation, despite the life lessons used to enhance your future.

But this year, I was meant to return.  This year, I’ve been awarded Central Michigan University’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

Entered into the competition earlier this year, I found out I had won while I was on a work/play trip to Tucson visiting one of my best friends in May.  Ecstatic to have a reason to go back to my old stomping grounds, I gladly accepted.  (It’s hard not to when they pay for airfare, hotel and car rental, after all.  More than half of my college roommates would go on to drive back into town for the evening.)

What followed I’ll show you in photographs, which includes portraits taken at the event, a few family snapshots, and, of course, shots at the football game the next day.  Yes, I was even announced on the field and allowed to shoot a t-shirt out of a gun.

 

And with that, thank you to everyone that came out to support me!  Now, if only I could think of additional awards to apply for…

Back in Touch

It’s a struggle every solopreneur deals with, and something I’ve discussed time and time again: the battle of working IN your business and with your clients while still working ON your business.

I raise my hand in guilt.

I’ve had a full load of clients, including Edible Orlando magazine, Orange Appeal magazine and the Florida Film Festival.

You may remember that, two years ago, I left my position there as the Director of Development and Community Relations to start The Leone Company.  (If you don’t, here’s the blog post where I announced it.)  When the position opened back up again two months ago, I was honored to be asked to help on an interim basis while they regrouped and reestablished the department’s needs.  Old habits die hard when it comes to working with the local arts groups and a great group of people!

With that, know I also serve as a partner and the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for The Best Medical Business Solutions, a company my father founded two years ago.  (More information on that business here.)

And so, back I come, to try and make every effort to once again bring relevant content to this site through the blog.  I’m not perfect.  And I go against any advice I would give my own clients about regularly blogging.

But, through all of its transitions over the past TWO years, I am, indeed, The Leone Company.

Follow me on Twitter: @marashorr and @theleoneco.

Follow The Leone Company on Facebook here.

Learning to Disconnect… and Reconnect

In just over a week, I’m going on vacation, a wonderful cruise to the Bahamas. (Shameless plus: VacationsToGo has the best deals around!)  Not only am I looking forward to spending some time in the sun by the water with a fruity drink in my hand (and yes, I plan to eat pizza at midnight!), I’m looking forward to disconnecting from technology for four wonderful days.

In a world where we are all constantly connected, spending a long weekend without texting, e-mails, Facebook postings and LinkedIn messages seems like something that at first may take a bit of getting used to.  But I’m looking forward to reconnecting, taking photographs, snorkeling, laughing out loud (in a non-LOL sense) and fighting the urge to check my e-mail with every 5 minutes of downtime that presents itself.

In the past few months (well, years, if we’re being honest), I’ve become addicted to my career, and although I don’t know that this will ever change, I’m looking forward to teaching myself how to reconnect with loved ones again.

Welcome!

In all truth, I created this blog months ago.  I’ve spent the end of summer, fall, and now the beginning of winter, trying to fine-tune it, making sure the graphics, layout, and even biography section were just right.  Admittedly, I think and rethink almost every decision.  But in talking with a friend last week, I realized that I just need to take the plunge and make my first post.  So, with the advice of the wise Heather Whaling, owner and president of Geben Communication… Let’s get the first post up, and then on with the good stuff!

In this blog, I look forward to sharing all sorts of great concepts, tidbits and thoughts that I come across on a daily basis as the director of development and community relations of the Florida Film Festival and Enzian, Central Florida’s only full-time, non-for-profit alternative cinema.  I look forward to connecting with other great minds.  But at this very moment, I look forward to the fact that this first post is up, and from here on out, I can get on with the “good stuff!”