Wow, what a couple of days! I mentioned briefly earlier that I won a business award, but I didn’t really understand the magnitude of what I was getting myself into.
I’m confident it’s the best business decision I’ve made yet.
Yesterday, the five of us Micro to Millions awardees had the opportunity to meet each other, the founder of Count Me In, and our contact with Count Me In. I found out that we had been chosen from hundreds of applicants. (!) They walked through our award package with us… a $5,000 loan if we want it, about two and a half months of business coaching, access to the whole network of award winners and finalists, mentors, and PR opportunities. I really enjoyed meeting my fellow awardees. They’re in widely different industries with such varied experience. I’m in awe of each of them. One has a new product on the market, licensed with Crayola. One makes the most beautiful paper flowers for weddings and businesses. One has a successful technology company, and one is creating completely organic textiles for interior designers, with production around the world.
We also had the opportunity to watch the Make Mine a Million $ Business finalists rehearse their 3 minute presentations. And get them torn apart by the Count Me In gurus. I enjoyed watching how all of the finalists offered input and helped each other, taking notes for each other. Listening to all of these amazing women talk about their passions, the growth they’ve had so far, and their plans to make it to a million dollars in revenue in the next two years.
The founder’s dream is to have one million women business owners with revenue over a million dollars in 2010. What a goal!
Today I was blessed to have my one and only staff member, Carol, with me for the main event. When we arrived, we were greeted with a continental breakfast and a $20 Starbucks gift card. We heard some fantastic speakers: Anne Levinson, an owner of the Seattle Storm, Bob Drewel, Governor Gregoire, and Nely Galan, who was on Celebrity Apprentice. We also heard from a fantastic business coach, Simon Sinek, who really got us all thinking about why Apple and Southwest Airlines are such successful companies.
One of the most fascinating parts of the day for me was watching the finalists make their presentations. After watching last night’s rehearsals, I had an idea of what they were going to say. But several of them just blew me away. They took yesterday’s criticism to heart and improved their presentations by leaps and bounds.
We Micros were presented our awards at the very end (but just before the Make Mine a Million awards). Nely Galan introduced each of us and read the 50 word bios we provided, and provided a word of encouragement to each of us. We had our photo ops with Nell Merlino, the founder. Of the 16 finalists for the main program, 8 became awardees, but even the finalists receive coaching and other assistance.
I can’t wait to hear from the photographer and see the pictures she got. Carol took a few pictures, but our camera really wasn’t the best for something like this. I forgot to mention we each had a professional photo shoot yesterday as well, so it’ll be fun to see how that turned out too.
It was such a tremendous opportunity to be involved in this event, and to get a taste for what the Make Mine a Million $ Business finalists go through. I expect to be one of them in the next few years, but it’ll take a lot of hard work to get there. I’ll admit I’m scared to death… accepting coaching, stepping out of my comfort zone, taking calculated risks, are all required to get from here to there. But with the help of the Count Me In community, business coaching, and the love and patience of my family, I believe I can do it.
Thank you for your support thus far! Let’s make a million!
