My “Sally Field moment” as a woman business owner

The U. S. Small Business Administration named me a Women in Business Champion of the Year, and I’m mighty pleased.

As you may be able to commiserate, there are the dog days as a woman business owner (or just a business owner) where–like the tree-in-the-forest riddle–I wonder: if I stop doing what I’m doing, would anyone notice?

And then there are days of validation.

On Wednesday, April 27, I’ll be accepting the SBA’s 2011 Women in Business Champion of the Year Award.  This award celebrates the work I have done over the past 15 years, specifically for women business owners. And I’m told I beat out stiff competition, too (heh, heh)!  The judges evaluated my work in public policy and advocacy (while on the board of NAWBO-NYC), informational outreach (through my column and blog on WomenEntrepreneur.com, as well as social media notice on Twitter), education (speaking to many women’s business groups). Not only did I win the hotly-contested award for the New York District, but also I won for the entire region (II), encompassing all the districts in New York State, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

To misquote Sally Field, “You like me! You really like me!”  🙂

It hasn’t quite sunk in yet–although I’ve shelled out a nice chunk of change for new dress, haircut, and jewelry. But I couldn’t have done it without an amazing team of advisors and colleagues including:

• My strategic coach, Dawn Fotopoulos of BestSmallBizHelp.com, who encourages me to dream on a Divine scale, while obeying the principle “simplify, focus, leverage.”
• My social media guru, Lena West of xynoMedia, who showed me that yes, Twitter can be used for business advocacy, not just reporting on “I’m eating a ham sandwich”
• My colleague, Rosemary Bova of Bova Enterprises, who encouraged me champion women business owners through public policy and organizational service
• My nominator, Elisa Balabram of WomenandBiz.com, who gave me a platform as an article contributor, and joins me in the quest for multiple streams of revenue.
• My colleague, Rochelle Lisner of Dynamic Business Growth, who pushes me to engage audiences, not just orate
• My husband, Joe Carr, who was a catalyst in getting me to see that my 12 year business model and partnership was broken beyond repair … and who gave me the courage and unconditional support to trash it and start fresh.

I’m also grateful to some wonderful clients to thank for letting me join their team.  Special thanks go to Kathy Canfield Shepard of Canfield Design Studios and Elizabeth Carpenter of Oriens for supporting the nomination.

I’ll be sure to share photos after the event (once I can figure out how to upload them). Thanks for celebrating with me!

Tagged as: sba, sba awards 2011, small business week, women in business champion