I am very excited to announce I have been nominated to be the 2009 Canada’s Mom Entrepreneur of the Year!

*pause* I know, huge.

This prestigious award has been awarded to incredible Canadian Mom Entrepreneurs who I aspire to have as mentors and is sponsored by Savvy Media Inc., Today’s Parent, Enterprising Mom’s Network and Joe Fresh Style, just to name a few.

I was more than surprised by this honour and would very much like to win this award for a few reasons. I would like my kids to see that others have selected “mom” for an award for her work in her business and for them to see that it is possible to be successful with your children AND your business. I also would like to win so that the award prize ($15,500) can be invested into our Brands for a Better World program which benefits others!

I need your VOTE to win and it looks like I have some catching up to do as voting began in May and ends in August. (Yikes!)

Top Votes=Mom Entrepreneur of the Year

All you need to do is take 2 seconds (literally) to click on any link in this email and go to my nominee Mom Entrepreneur of the Year profile and click on SUBMIT YOUR VOTE NOW.

I would also ask you to please forward this email to all the people you know who would kindly support me by voting. THANK YOU!!!!

For those of you who have not met me, below are the highlights of my nomination profile:

WHO IS: Sandy Gerber, 3 DEGREES WEST Design & Communications

-Single Mom, Lindsay(7), Jack(6)
-Partner, Successful Brand, Creative and Marketing Agency
-Child Mentor, Kidstart Mentoring Program
-Author-Mom By Design (Design the Motherhood you REALLY Want)
-Bridges To Community Volunteer (Home Builder in Nicaragua)
-Weekend To End Breast Cancer Top Fundraiser
-Artist, Published Poet and Karaoke Fan
-Kid at Heart

AWARD PLANS:
“I would celebrate accordingly – with my kids (a first time ever in Disneyland for the three of us!) and with my business partner (in developing our Brand For a Better World Program which gives to others!)” ~ Sandy Gerber

To vote: http://momentrepreneuraward.ca/MomBio.aspx?momID=362

I sincerely thank you for your time and your consideration.

Cheers,
Sandy

So, if you read my last post, you’ll understand that I just couldn’t possibly avoid one more post about our success at the BEST OF 604…….

I just saw the overall voting results, and I have to share that we are honoured to have been in the TOP 3, for all categories we were nominated in!!

This is both great encouragement and feedback from our audience to keep us blogging on topics that are relevant to you, your brands, your marketing, your websites, to help you achieve success. We appreciate your continued support, and could not be amazing without it! So let us know what burning questions you have about these topics so we can continue to help!

You can send us your branding, marketing and web questions, by leaving a comment below. Thanks again!

How often do you celebrate (and by celebrate, I mean share) your company successes?

Admittedly it is something that Sandy and I didn’t used to do all that well. A lot of the time we were so production focussed on the “what’s the next task” that we would forget to stop when something BIG happened (ie. we launched a new site or brand; we won an award; we got a kick a** testimonial from a client) and congratulate one another AND announce it to those around us. We’re definitely now leaps and bounds ahead of where we were at a few years ago and committed to getting better!

So what does celebrating success have to do with your brand and giving it a boost?

Simple: PEOPLE LOVE TO SHARE IN YOUR SUCCESS, THEY WANT TO HEAR ABOUT GOOD NEWS!

Think about it, there is so much negative news driven at us through the media, especially right now, that you WANT to hear something positive, right? Whether it be from your family, your friends, your network, your suppliers, even your competition (or co-opetition - which I would like to see more of - but that’s a tangent I won’t jump on right now) you want to know there is good going on around you. This is all because like attracts like, progress breeds progress, and success encourages success.

So………by sharing your successes (by blog post, TWITTER post, Facebook post, LinkedIn post, eNewsletters, handwritten cards, emails, etc. [*hint* did you get that those are all FREE or LOW COST ways of marketing] ) positioned in an appropriate manner (ie. stay away from the ego “it’s all about me!). You are:

• saying that we are proud of what we do
• building the credibility of yourself, your brand, your company
• (by congratulating others on their wins and efforts) encouraging good sportsmanship and community
• staying top of mind to your network with your announcement
• showing gratitude and thanks for the opportunities you are given
• story telling and building on your brand story
• sharing your happiness/positivity with others
• positioning yourself as an expert in your field

And all of this is a part of building and boosting your brand.

We’re feeling pretty darn proud of our baby this morning! The blog your are reading just won runner up in the “Best New Blog” category at the BEST OF 604 Awards last night!! And considering our blog is just a baby, just over a month old, I consider that a HUGE accolade!! Thank you to all those who showed their appreciation for what we post here by voting!

I also want to shout out to Miss 604, Rebecca Bollwit, the creator and godess supreme of making this recognition platform and event happen. Great job girl! And thank YOU!

I had this fleeting moment at the inaugural event last night when Miss 604 was presenting the awards……
It was a flash forward to 5 years from now, where everyone in the room (plus oodles more new bloggers) is sitting in a swank Vancouver hotel’s ballroom, room a-buzz with excitement, as the Best Of 604 has become renowned as Vancouver bloggers’ Academy Awards. Rebecca steps up to the podium, pauses, takes a long looks around the room and smiles, “Wow, I remember 5 years ago when this all started at a basement pub on Granville Street……” It was one of those moments where you know something is just destined to be great!