Following is a plea from Nell Merlino, founder and president of Count Me In and Make Mine a Million $ Business. The goal of MMM$ is to bring one million women business owners to $1 million gross revenue by the year 2010. Some lucky women also receive grants and support from the program sponsors such as Cisco Systems and American Express. I plan to contribute $10 as soon as I finish this post. I challenge all my Girlfriends to match that contribution and show the world how powerful we are as a group.

As you all know Nely Galan has been competing on The Celebrity Apprentice to raise money for Count Me In. The women’s team on the show is not winning.  “But,” as Nely said at our Los Angeles event last week, “sometimes when you win you lose, and when you lose you win”.  In response to criticism from “Mr. Trump” that the women’s strategies aren’t as effective as the men’s, Nely is changing the rules and focusing on what she really wants to win: $250,000 for her charity, Count Me In. 
This Friday, February 8th Nely will be appearing on NBC’s Today Show to announce she is personally donating $25,000 to Count Me In, and is leading the charge to independently raise $250,000 by tapping into the network of women who are supporting each other in business growth.  I invite every member of our community to join in this effort by making a donation $10 or more by midnight on Thursday, February 7th so that we can announce the amount we have raised on the Today Show Friday morning.  This is a unique opportunity for Count Me In to represent the strength of our nation-wide movement on national television.

To participate, please go to www.countmein.org/apprentice and click on “Contribute”. 

In Gratitude,
Nell Merlino