Michelle Dunn

       
Michelle Dunn has over 18 years experience in Credit and Debt collection. She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, publisher, consultant and the Editorial Advisor for Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert Newsletter.  
 
Michelle started M.A.D. Collection Agency in January 1998 and ran it successfully until she sold it in December 2004. She owns and runs Credit & Collections.com, a nine-year-old online community for credit and business professionals with over 850 members. She is the mother of two teenage boys and enjoys cooking, snowmobiling, and reading. Michelle is originally from RI and has lived in New Hampshire for 18 years.

Talk about sacrifice.  When you start your own company, you sacrifice your personal time, money, and effort in every way. Michelle has tried to sacrifice only her own time and not her children's time, by building and working at her business when they were in school, sleeping, or visiting their father. That way she could be there for them when they were home, or awake.  Michelle has sold everything she owned to finance her business and the publishing of her books. She believes in herself and her success so she is not afraid to do this. 
 
Michelle has had a great impact in her industry, showing women and men that they can start their own business, and helping them to do it. She created Credit & Collections.com, which has helped the industry to grow and learn.  Her books, networking group, and website have helped her and others to be more successful. On a personal level this has been very satisfying for Michelle. She is happy to share her knowledge of what she has learned so others can be successful in this industry using the tools she can share. She had to research, create, and flounder through everything herself. Now she is able to provide that information to others so they can skip wheel reinvention and become successful quickly.

When she started her collection agency in 1998, debt collection was a field dominated by men. She joined the American Collectors Association when there were only 3 other women-owned agencies. Michelle joined and created networking groups for women in business, and served as the President of the Digital Women's New England Chapter for Women in Business.  She could not find much information or help from others at that time so she created Credit & Collections (www.credit-and-collections.com), her own community for business people in the credit and debt collection industry. Dunn created a website to go along with it and an email discussion group. She still moderates this group and financially supports the website to network and help promote her members. She pays for everything and offers this as a free service to anyone.  She has managed this group for 9 years and there are now over 850 members. It is a highly regarded group, and she receives many thank you notes and emails from people who join, because it provides just what they are looking for. Debt collection is still dominated by men, but Michelle realizes that she has created many more agencies owned by women who have bought her books, joined her group and those she has personally mentored. 

Michelle has tried to teach and help women, who have children and want to work but be there for their families, to realize that they can start a business from home. She tries to help them with marketing and promotion by including their information in her newsletters and on her websites for free, thus giving them advertising and exposure. She has sent free copies of her books to women who could not afford them. She will do anything to help a woman be successful and feel independent and proud. She thinks our children learn by our actions, so if they see their mother, creating and surviving by having her own business and working around her children, hey see an empowered woman who puts her children first and foremost but can also be a success. 
 
Michelle has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, PC World, Home Business Magazine, Home Business Journal, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, Professional Collector, Credit & Collections Risk, NH Business Review and in the books Home Based Business for Dummies and Shameless Marketing for Brazen Hussies. She was a featured guest on (NPR) National Public Radio and has been in many newspapers and magazines nationwide as well as on the CBS Early Show.  She has many published articles and 7 published books to add to her list of accomplishments.  Michelle has written a book for Entrepreneur Press titled, “The Ultimate Credit & Collections Handbook, the check IS in the mail” as part of their Ultimate Series, which will be released in August 2006.

Dunn was a member of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce for 8 years and a member of The American Collectors Association for 9 years. She received a Certificate of Achievement from Credit Management Services for outstanding debt collections. She has a certificate of achievement from Dun & Bradstreet for Financial Analysis and Debt Collection.  Dunn created and has been a member of Credit & Collections.com for 9 years.  She has given speeches about debt collection and credit polices to business owners everywhere ands she will be teaching non-credit courses on debt collection at Plymouth State University. She is also a member of The New England Booksellers Association, The Authors Coalition, New Hampshire Writers Project, the National Association of Women Writers and the International Women's Writing Guild.  
 
She petitioned Governor Jean Shaheen for National Credit Week, and received a plaque and award from the governor’s office. She has been named an Expert Author by Ezine Articles. She recently received a positive review from Writer's Digest on her book Starting a Collection Agency, and is publishing a second edition to be released in May 2006.

Michelle Dunn is an outstanding representative of the business community in NH. Her entrepreneurial spirit, rugged individualism and resilience have made her a success in this community. She has managed to combine the roles of motherhood and business to an extraordinary level. Her drive and commitment separate her from any competition. She is a remarkable and unique woman who has found success through hard work and dedication. She does it all with a smile and a positive attitude about life.