SBDC 2019 Bussiness Award Nomination

OURO LLC

I am so very proud to share that OURO LLC, the business I started in 2018, was nominated for the  Small Business Development Center  2019 Business Award.  I was honored to be nominated along side Jeff and Jennifer Herbert, founders-owners of Superstition Meadery in Prescott, who were awarded the 2019 National Small Business Persons of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in Washington, D.C.

 Please read my nomination below by Jeri Deniston,  Director of Yavapai College Small Business Development Center.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart Jeri Deniston for your amazing expertise, guidance, love and friendship. 

You made it all possible!

2019 SUCCESS AWARD NOMINATION

Ouro LLC Maria McGonigal

In one year Maria McGonigal has started from nothing to create a Soul Coaching business which reflects the passion and wisdom to which she has dedicated her life. She has grown from someone who taught yoga classes at Yavapai College to a professional coach who integrates deep soul searching, awakening the senses through taste, sight, sound and spiritual expression, and other modalities into her trainings.

Late in 2017 she sought assistance from the SBDC at Yavapai College working initially with Richard Hernandez and later with both Jeri Denniston and Roger Totten to understand how to launch and grow a professional soul coaching business. Roger assisted her with setting up her LLC, registering her tradename, and understanding how to manage the financial aspects of her business. Jeri has worked with her to create her website, social media marketing, event landing page, and email marketing plans to promote her expertise and launch her first workshop training. She continues to coach her on workshop development and expansion.

With Jeri’s coaching, Maria created an exemplary website using the Wix platform, which accurately reflects the type of professional coaching and training she provides. It is inviting, informative, and looks as professional as a website developed by a professional web designer. Her clients have told her, the website was the factor that made them choose her training program over others.

One of her recent students gave this testimonial: “I found EXACTLY what I NEEDED when I chose Miss Maria McGonigal! She teaches from a place of experience of continually doing her own inner soul work. She unabashedly forged into the deep and repressed corners of our humanness. All the while, she held us in safety as we delved into our recesses and began healing and building. Maria’s use of blended modalities, years of experience, and eye for beauty lead to a unique learning aimed at expanding our minds and opening our soul!”

In October, she held her first 8-day Soul Coach Practitioners Certification workshop, based on the intensive training she invested in herself over the past few years. The in-person workshop held at her home in Prescott was followed by a 28-day online course to complete the practitioner certification. In all aspects, this was a success, proving to herself and her students that she is a master instructor with the ability to impart her knowledge and wisdom in a safe environment conducive to deep revelation and learning. From a business financial aspect, it was also very profitable, encouraging her to prepare for the next workshop which she will complete in late March 2019.

Maria has already received inquiries from someone in Virginia, and others in Portugal who want to sponsor her to lead similar workshops and trainings in their areas. She is working with the Yavapai SBDC team to prepare the proper sponsorship agreements, documentation, and processes to promote and lead these workshops globally.

We are proud to nominate Maria McGonigal for a 2019 Success Award. She exemplifies the dedication and determination an entrepreneur needs to start and grow a business from scratch.

Visit her website at Maria's website to gain insight into what she has created in one short year.