As entrepreneurs, Shamara Cox and Terry Dove-Pittman became intimately familiar with the challenges that come with creating and running a thriving business. After each found success in her individual endeavor, Cox and Dove-Pittman decided it was time to join forces and pay it forward.
“Sometimes when you take that plunge of entrepreneurship, you don’t realize there are a lot of pitfalls and obstacles. That can be a difficult road to walk by yourself,” Dove-Pittman said. “So we said why don’t we start a company that insulates people. If they want to start a business, we can shield them as much as we can from those pitfalls and give them the tools so they can step around what we had to go through.”
That’s the idea on which the women founded The Merit Group (TMG), a full-service strategic planning, business development and brand communication firm.
Over the course of about two years, TMG has grown from a two-person team to a staff of 14 people who serve a variety of clients.
“We have really two types of clients,” Dove-Pittman said. “We help emerging entrepreneurs, so if you just have an idea and a dream, we can take you from A to Z, from LLC formation all the way to value perception structure and target market segmentation. Or we work with what we call our innovation clients, and those are clients that already have a business. They don’t need help with structure and foundations, but they want to go to the next level, or roll out a new program or they want to get into a new market or expand their market share.”
Like many of their innovation clients, the leaders of TMG recently decided to take their business to the next level with a new program: The Merit School of Entrepreneurship.
“We have been working on the Merit School of Entrepreneurship for about a year. Shamara and I saw that even though we do one-on-one sessions with our clients and we get very in depth into their life and into their business, there’s only so much we can teach in one-hour sessions eight to 12 times,” Dove-Pittman said. “So there were some things we wanted to go more in depth in and be able to give our clients tools and techniques.”
The first block of classes for the new program begins Feb. 2 and runs through late June, with the year’s second session running mid-July to early December.
Classes cover topics ranging from nonprofit development and brand building to leadership styles and social media strategies. Students will learn from successful entrepreneurs and experts as well as learning some tried-and-true practices from Cox and Dove-Pittman.
“These are things we know have been applied and have gotten a direct result of success. We’re not giving you textbook knowledge. We’re not giving you pedagogy. We’re giving you actuals to say, ‘If you do this, this result will happen,’” Dove-Pittman said. “These are in-depth things people, once they leave the class, can take and apply to their business tomorrow, and it’s going to get them results.”
In addition to being available to TMG clients, the classes are open to others who don’t currently work with TMG’s one-on-one consulting model. Dove-Pittman said the school can also serve as a resource for people who want to start a business but can’t afford TMG’s full services.
“We want to walk them through that process through classes. If they take a class they can do it themselves with some guidance,” she said.
The classes are limited to 12 students to ensure each enrollee receives personal attention throughout the course. The classes will be held in-person, but will also be webcast for students who can’t physically attend.
Dove-Pittman has big hopes for the new entrepreneurship program, but she said more than anything, she and Cox just want to help people.
“Because we are women of faith, the most important thing for us is that God has put something in us that we love to do and that is our passion, and that thing is so needed out in the community. And we get to do that and, God bless us, actually get paid to do that,” she said. “For us, that is the most rewarding (aspect), that we are being used to help other people reach their destination and to see their purpose in life.”
For more information or to enroll in The Merit School of Entrepreneurship, visit themeritgroupindy.com.
