An original way to get some excellent profile for yourself and your business is to enter awards.

By going through the process of a business awards program, you can learn so much about yourself and the psyche of being a soloist – all while letting the judges, sponsors and readers of the publicity that you’re on the scene!

Here’s how:

• Going through the application process can make you stop and deeply search your soul on why you are in business, what your are trying to do and what your major achievements have been. 

• Explaining – often in tight word limits – what you have accomplished can be a real bonus in your ability to speak concisely about your business directions. If you’ve read my previous articles on elevator speeches, and communication toolkits, you’ll be able to see how the hard work of those can pay off handsomely in accurate statements about your work.

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• Doing all the financial calculations and ratios can give you an unprecedented knowledge about your performance from a bean counter’s point of view. Absolutely invaluable in your business plan of you’re ever going to go to the bank or investor.

• Standing up in a crowd and speaking to an application, or speaking with a judging panel is real character-building stuff. It can be like an interview for your own life – exhilarating stuff!

Even if you don’t submit your application, or even if you don’t ‘win’, the process is sure to be illuminating. You can feel like a winner, just by having your application accepted. If you progress through the system, it’s a bonus. Winning? Well, that’s just simply grand!

Becoming a finalist in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards Small Business Owner category exposed me to previous winners and their award-winning approaches to business. It put me in touch with other business owners who gave me extraordinary compliments and honest advice. I was honoured and touched to be a part of such stellar company.

We all felt that we were small fish in a big pond and it turned out that the pond is filled with us small fish, all making our own waves.