When Melissa Emler started bidding on RFPs to grow her event management business, she looked through a variety of opportunities and thought, ‘We could definitely do that.’ But after a year of trying to figure it out on her own, Melissa wasn’t winning contracts. And the frustration of losing left her playing small. Today, Melissa has changed her approach. She has identified the differentiators that set her organization apart and started seeking out best-fit opportunities for her business. Melissa is Owner of Modern Learners, a company that’s designing the future of learning by building community, content and events. Prior to Modern Learners, Melissa enjoyed a traditional career in education, serving as a special education teacher, principal and Statewide Systems Coach for Universal Design for Learning. On this episode of the podcast, Melissa joins me to discuss how her proposal responses have changed since she started working with The RFP Success Company and why she only bids on RFPs in her team’s niche. Melissa walks us through the process of ‘shredding the RFP,’ explaining how it helped her uncover Modern Learners’ unique value proposition—prioritizing community over course content. Listen in for Melissa’s insight on using aggregators to identify opportunities and learn how investing in the right support helped Modern Learners leverage focused bidding for the win! Key Takeaways  How Melissa transitioned from a traditional career in education to entrepreneurship How prioritizing community over course differentiates Modern Learners from other organizations in the event management space Melissa’s journey to finding opportunities for Modern Learners through RFPs How Melissa’s RFP responses have changed since she started working with the RFP Success Company What it means to ‘shred the RFP’ and how it helped Melissa identify her team’s differentiators How Melissa is developing a strategy for networking before the RFP drops Why it’s worth it to invest in support to help you respond to RFPs Why Melissa only bids on RFPs in her team’s niche that they already have systems to execute How Melissa’s mindfulness around the capacity of her team impacts which RFPs she bids on Melissa’s experiences using aggregators to identify opportunities How the event management space evolved before, during and after COVID (and how that changed Melissa’s approach to finding business) Melissa’s commitment to the process of bidding on business with RFPs Connect with Melissa Modern Learners Modern Learners on LinkedIn Melissa on LinkedIn Email [email protected] Connect with Lisa  Lisa’s Website Lisa on Twitter Lisa on Facebook Lisa on LinkedIn The RFP Success Company on YouTube The RFP Success Company on LinkedIn Subscribe on iTunes Email [email protected] Resources Hopin altMBA Change School Wisconsin Procurement Institute Forecasting the Future of the SLED Market on The RFP Success Show EP111 RFPSchoolWatch Book a Call with the RFP Success Company Dare to Be Influential: Maximizing Your Positive Influence While Still Being True to You by Lisa Rehurek The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek The RFP Success Institute