Women of the Year Nominations - by March 31, 2010

Distinguished Woman of the Year Award
PO Box 356 Grand Haven MI 49417
Nomination Form
Each year, Counterpart sponsors the presentation of the Distinguished Woman of the Year Award, which recognizes the volunteer service and leadership of one special woman in our community.

Criteria The Nominee must:
• Volunteer at a policy-making level in the Tri-Cities Area
• Demonstrate outstanding achievement in her profession
• Be a leader in the community and maintain high personal and professional ethics
• Reside or work in the Tri-Cities Area

Nominations Nominations for the Distinguished Woman of the Year Award must:
• Be submitted using this form
• Be accompanied by a letter of support in each category:
1) Volunteer work,
2) Professional accomplishments, and
3) Personal qualities
• Additional letters of support are welcome
• Remain confidential (part of the fun is surprising the nominee at the banquet!)
• Mail to Counterpart, P.O. Box 356, Grand Haven, MI 49417
• Digital copies of the completed form and letters of support may also be

mailed to
wendy@bodenomics.com
• In order to quality, all nominations and support material must be received by no later than March 31, 2010

Award Process The Distinguished Woman of the Year Committee will:
• Review all nominations and select the award recipient
• Contact the nominator to inform him/her of the successful recipient
• Work with the nominator in planning for the award banquet to take place at the Spring Lake Holiday Inn on May 5, 2010.
• The award recipient will be announced at the banquet.

Please provide the following information about the nominee (continued on the back):
Nominee's Name ___________________________
Address _____________________________________________________________
Place of employment ____________________________________________________
In letters of support, please discuss how the nominee demonstrates the following:
1. Volunteer work: Active in volunteer work at a policy-making level (e.g.,
school, hospital, non-profit, elective or appointive office). The Woman of the Year directs and shapes her community into a better place in which to live and work.
2. Professional accomplishments: Outstanding achievement and excellence
in her profession or business characterize the Woman of the Year. Colleagues endorse her and recognize her superior abilities. She may have received awards in her field. She is imaginative, creative, and innovative in her workplace. She maintains a high degree of professional ethics, and embodies qualities of leadership, responsibility, fairness, and integrity.
3. Personal qualities: The Woman of the Year is aware of her obligation to
herself, family, and society. She exemplifies a high degree of personal ethics. She is a caring and concerned person whose outstanding character, spirit, and mind are an example for all. Please list any personal obstacles she had to overcome to attain her goals.

Please provide us with your contact information:
Name ________________________________________
Address ______________________________________
Phone _______________________ Email ______________________________
Thank you for participating in the 2010 Distinguished Woman of the Year Award!

For more information about Counterpart, please visit www.counterpart.mysite.com.
Questions?
Please contact Chairperson Wendy Schweifler, 616-566-1437
or wendy@bodenomics.com

For the Inventor - And It's Free!

Here is an opportunity for all inventors to have your product evaluated for free by the Eureka! Ranch. This organization created by Doug Hall who received grant money from the Federal government to make it easier for inventors to reach the market with their idea. Currently only about 2% of the patented ideas ever make it to the market.

This service is being offered to those with subscriptions to Inventor's Digest, so unless you missed it or do not have a subscription, I've included a link below. If you are remotely interested, I would suggest a quick response as this service is free to the first 250 respondents, and you must sign up before September 30, 2009.

About a year ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Doug Hall, and have used his evaluation system through an Idea Translation workshop. The evaluation process is very worthwhile.

Click here for details:

Recognize an Inspiring Small Business

Reported in the Holland Sentinel, an article by Ben Veversluis reports that a small business in Holland, The Peanut Store has been nominated for a National Contest and will be considered for a $100,000 prize if we get the vote out.

Read the article below:

Click Here


Register on Shine A Light (http://shinealight.ivillage.com)

Click on nominees and find Holland Peanut Store (View Nominee Profile)

Last time I checked the Peanut Store was in second
place only 20 votes behind the leader!!!!

Click the blue box that says "Endorse Story" now. This will cast your vote for a local establishment.

You must vote before: September 13th. (Judges will pick three finalist); then new voting will begin between September 24 - October 16th.

Here's Something for the Inventor

Here's something for the inventor, brought to my attention by an inventor, Deb Tacoma, inventor of the Freedom Wand.

"Yakaboutit" was created by an inventor to showcase products made by inventors. The online site provides opportunities for inventors to gain exposure to their products by pitting their products against another product for rating, review, and sales. The inventor of "Yakaboutit" sells your products through a daily competition. By purchasing the product online you are voting for the product. So you are competing for "Purchase attention". This site is used to help an inventor become noticed. Created by an inventor for inventors, the only way to be featured on this site is to submit your product for review. This site only carries products created by inventors and independent entrepreneurs. The phrase "are you an inventor or an entrepreneur" separates the 2% who do something with their patented ideas from the 98% who never move beyond the paperwork.

You provide pictures, describe your product, tell your story, write about yourself, and add any random thoughts you feel are relevant. Your selling price determines products that you might compete against. At midnight (Eastern Standard Time) a new competition begins and the results from the prior day are revealed.

Whether you are an inventor or just someone who wants to learn about the newest products entering the market place, this site is for you. By the end of the year, you've gained exposure to 730 new products, one of which will be reward the grand prize of The Most Yakable". You can sign up to be notified about what the next day's competition will be by joining their email club.

On Saturday, September 5th, Deb will be featured on this site with her revolutionary product the Freedom Wand, a product she invented after breaking her back. If you know someone who could benefit from her product, please cast your votes by purchasing her products on her featured day. Her products will continue to be sold on this site after the competition is over.


Good Luck Deb! To learn even more about Deb, her invention, and her business, visit her website at http://www.freedomwand.com/

We Are Not Alone

Did you know that there are 10.6 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. which generate $2.5 trillion in annual revenue?


In January - March 2009, StartupNation held a contest to name the top 200 leading mom businesses in the U.S.


StartupNation is a free service which was started by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs providing advice and making connections for women in business. They teamed up with VerticalResponse which is a provider of email and direct marketing services for businesses to help them manage their own marketing campaigns. These two ventures put together the contest to highlight these top 200 women's business.


This was not a contest that I was aware of until after the fact; however, by combing the web, we may be able to assist one another locate these type of services, and/or contests that can stimulate our business growth.


If any of you are currently using the Internet and have "stumbledupon" a good site or service, please be sure to post comments so that we all can become better informed.


A link to the post regarding the contest mentioned above is listed below. Since this was considered a first annual, maybe some of us would like to participate next year. Wouldn't it be great to boast of a local business-women who has been named on the top 200 list? It appears that there are about 5 Michigan businesses represented on the top 200 list. When browsing the winners, you may even find a business owner with whom you might want to network.

Bringing Women Together for Growth and Jobs

The following article was posted authored by Michael Chin, KickApps and is very relevant in today's economy when we are all looking for ways to stimulate the economy through our business connections.


An organization called "Count Me In" http://www.countmein.org/ which is a leading non-profit organization creating a community for women entrepreneurs to support one another has joined forces with "Kick Apps" http://www.kickapps.com/, a social media platform, and launched a new online community for women to compete in a race to reach revenue goals for their companies. This race is called "Make Me a Million Business Race or (M3RACE).


I don't know how many of you are projecting your 2009 revenue goals, but maybe you would find inspiration in joining a group allowing you the opportunity to compete for $100,000 cash prize. http://www.makemineamillion.org/


I can only imagine that most women find it difficult to set personal business goals when growing their business; however, without goals to create the motivation to strive for something bigger or better, what will drive the forward motion. We all know that "FEAR" can create a roadblock to forward motion; setting goals might help us jump the hurdles that propel us toward our "first" finish line.


See the link below to this fascinating article and see if you want to join in to make 2009 revenue goals more achievable through networking.


http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20090506006031/enhttp://