We have a new website!

www.m5entrepreneurs.com

A course for agricultural entrepreneurs

Welcome to the M5 Academy of Entrepreneurs courses and community. Brian and Mary Heffernan spent years in the business world in Silicon Valley before becoming cattle ranchers six years ago. They built a new model from scratch to raise and sell their ranch raised meats directly to customers all over the country by selling online and shipping.

This course includes everything they’ve learned to build and grow a Small Business from Scratch, especially in the agricultural arena - from formation and branding to social media and shipping - in an easy to follow online course with video modules as well as companion workbooks, links, downloads and an online community of like-minded entrepreneurs to offer support, discounted rates and guidance along the way. Complete with practical information and resources to take your business to the next level no matter what stage of business you are in and the tools to do it efficiently and cost effectively.

Mary and Brian are passionate about empowering entrepreneurs with the the tools to build and grow successful businesses from the ground up and to inspire agricultural business owners to fulfill and continue to grow their small business dreams and find profits quickly. They offer live Q&A sessions in the community and are active in the platform daily to help guide and answer questions.

We offer two options to join us - either beginner or advanced!

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BEGINNING BUSINESS BOOT CAMP

A jam-packed course to learn the basics to launch a profitable business in as little as two weeks or 15 lessons. Includes how to find a niche, identify profit margins that make sense, creating a logo and brand, building a website and much more. This course applies to ANY business in any arena, including but not limited to agriculture.

Participants report this course is the BEST place to start and worth it’s weight on gold! Self-paced to access for 12 months and includes a Boot Camp community for ongoing encouragement on your path to profit in your own business. This mini course does not include the nitty-gritty on online sales and shipping, that is in the Small Business from Scratch course.

THE BEST PLACE TO START - COURSE STARTS THE SAME DAY YOU ENROLL!

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m5 SMALL BUSINESS accelerator

SMALL BUSINESS - SOCIAL MEDIA - SELLING & SHIPPING

An in-depth full course covering everything involved in building a brand, growing a business, using social media to finding profit, and building an ecommerce business with applicable advice for selling and shipping online. Three modules of online video and audio lessons, Companion Workbooks, homework assignments and resources. The course is self-paced, and also includes the M5 Entrepreneurs Community forum for questions, advice and support.

YOU CAN DO IT!

AN MORE ADVANCED COURSE - STARTS THE SAME DAY YOU ENROLL!

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SMALL BUSINESS from Scratch

A roadmap to entrepreneurship including everything from entity formation, creating your niche market, insurance, funding, employees and payroll, licenses, building your own website, learning to create your own marketing materials in adobe, growing a brand and building a strong PROFITABLE business from scratch!

INVESTMENT

complete small business COURSE ~ All 3 modules ~ $2500

Small Business & Social Media ~ 2 modules ~ $2200

Small Business ONLY ~ $1900

Social Media ONLY ~ $975

Beginning Business Boot Camp ~ $699 (first session, only $399!)

*PAYMENT PLANS WILL BE AVAILABLE during April Complete Course enrollment!

TESTIMONIALS

from some of our course participants

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“Simply put… this experience was SPECTACULAR! Mary's Small Business from Scratch course is the perfect way to jump-start your business. I always knew I wanted to be a small business owner someday but never had the tools or knowledge to say GO. After this class I can say I now have what I need to go all in! Mary's teaching style and kindness helped me feel comfortable to ask the questions and participate in all of the discussions and EVERYTHING was covered. Her passion for small business and small business owners shined through in every way and gave me the tools and confidence I needed. I will be forever grateful to Mary and her team for this course.”

Eddie & Niki Hammerich / High Sierra Sheep Co / California

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“Mary has an energy and passion for agriculture and small business which fueled us during this intensive course. I was surprised yet impressed with the pace of the course and the quantity of relevant content, this is what made the investment worth it. Not only did we cover everything a small business owner in agriculture should know, there was an immediate sense of camaraderie within the group. The way Mary presents all the material and shares her own story, made everything seem more attainable. Learning creative ways to get started selling our product, creating a website myself, designing our first business cards and banners and ordering them from Mary’s suggested companies (which arrived two days after I returned home!) as well as looking to the future and developing shipping methods and insight into hiring and employees - it was all invaluable as we grow our small business!”

hannah neeleman / ballerina farm / kamas, Utah

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“Mary and her team are so awesome! I walked away feeling motivated and refilled with valuable tools to add to my tool box. I would definitely recommend this course to others! For where my business is now and where I plan on growing, this course touched on everything that I could possibly need to know and included skills I can develop for at least the next two years or more.”

Erin Dancy / Kattle Squared Co / Canada

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“I had high expectations going into this course, I can honestly say it exceeded that mark. The most important lesson I gained from Mary during this workshop was to own who I am, and put my ideas into action without expecting perfection. My 80% is still better than most people’s 100% and I just need to make it happen. Prior to this course, we had so many marketing ideas, but many of them seemed unachievable in a short period of time. Post course, we have already started revamping our website, drastically improved our Instagram profile, we have started compiling recipes for our cookbook, searching for more swag favorites and above all we are crafting up creative ways to market and sell our products. This course was the boot camp we needed to push us to the next level, while being the confidence builder we needed to believe in our story.

Kerissa Jenkins / covey rise farms / ohio

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“This small business course is one of the best investments I have made in my business.  Mary is extremely knowledgeable and offers great suggestions and insight to help you take your business to the next level.  Whether you are just starting out or are an experienced owner, you will gain un-matched knowledge on foundations, marketing, branding, and everything involved in owning a small business.  It is clear that Mary has a passion for helping others succeed.  I find myself muttering several times a day that "Inspiration has an expiration." (a quote by Mary) when I don't think I have the energy to keep going on whatever I am working on.  She truly empowers you to fell like YOU CAN DO IT.” 

Jess May / Sunset View Creamery / Odessa, NY

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Mary's You Can Do It workshop has been a total eye opener for me. The experience went above and beyond what I expected. I have always believed that with passion and hard work, you can do whatever you want in life; however, Mary is able to build off that momentum by putting in front of you the necessary tools to build a brand, sell a product, and most of all, tell your story.  Her e-course takes so much of the guesswork out of it and puts real life learned lessons in front of you.    

Leah Beckman / beckman grass revival / Jasper, indiana

About Us

About mary & Brian

MARY'S STORY

Mary has always been passionate about small business and has started over 20 small businesses in her lifetime. She loves to find a need or a niche and to create a business to fill it, taking an idea and turning it into a viable business, creating a logo and refining the model, building a pricing structure and website and putting it out there in the world.  She has always done everything on a shoestring and been a one-woman show to make it all happen. She is also passionate about sharing this knowledge with others to help them build and grow their own successful small business!

BRIAN’S STORY

Brian grew up in farming and always wanted to follow in his Dad’s footsteps but there wasn’t a place for him in the business. On the advice of his father he went to law school and became a big firm attorney. When he and Mary were expecting their first child, he left the big firm life to start his own boutique law practice. As their family grew, he and Mary started working together to open more small businesses, combining their complementary talents and backgrounds to build, run and manage all aspects of the businesses together.

THEIR STORY

Five years ago, Mary and Brian decided to change the course of their life and give up everything in a busy Silicon Valley lifestyle to move to a dilapidated ranch in far Northern California with their four daughters (yes, they are all named Mary too). They sold their businesses in the Bay Area and started from scratch. Knowing they would need an innovative model to sell their ranch raised meats to make a living ranching in a first generation operation, they spent the first year and a half trouble-shooting a direct-to-consumer model shipping their dry-aged, premium meats to customers anywhere in the country. They use social media to tell their story and connect with customers allowing them to truly “know and trust their rancher.”

Today, they raise beef, pork and lamb and sell their products at at Shop Five Marys.com. They ship over 12,000 pounds of their meats by-the-cut to customers all over the country every month.

They offer on-ranch experiences like summer Cooking & Cocktails Retreats on their property and a Guesthouse in town to host visitors, as well as their Farm Store in downtown Fort Jones.

They also restored the historic restaurant and bar in their town, sharing their meats on the menu with locals in their community and visitors from all over in Five Marys Burgerhouse.

And now, they are so excited to share all of this knowledge with you in this Small Business from Scratch course and in each module.

We hope you’ll join us in this Course to jump start our own small business!