Me & FedEx

Everyday since January 16th I have been emailing, texting, calling and posting messages asking people to vote for A Jolie Design.

I completely appreciate and am humbled by the response I have received thus far. I have to say that I am one person that is very uncomfortable with social media. I watch what I post, I limit what I say because it simply isn’t my thing. This competition, needless to say, takes me completely out of my comfort zone.

The FedEx Small Business Big Grant competition was forwarded to me by a friend. It was not the first time I had heard to the competition, but this year is the first year I’ve been able to compete. Even the application freaked me out, I sat and stared at it for about an hour, it took an additional hour for me to fill out. The questions seem so simple but to answer them in 500 or so words was not. I got it done and impatiently waited for two days to hear if my application had been accepted….and started to buy my nails.

I’m a workaholic so I check my emails all day everyday! Not that this is the best practice BUT if I don’t respond quick enough the job may be given to someone else. So with that being said, I try to stay on top of things. I clearly got the message that I got in the competition as soon as it hit my mailbox. All I read was the first line, ” Your small business grant contest submission has been accepted” I skimmed the rest, saw a link to forward to clients, friends, etc and quickly copied it. I logged off my email and logged into Facebook and wrote my first post asking for the support of my followers on my business page (posted it) then went to my personal to write a post to my friends (posted that). I then went, all excited to go re-read the email…there I found that reading…is fundamental. SO I was not supposed to share the link until January 16th when the competition started EEEEK! I quickly went back to FB and deleted both posts and answered a few messages

where some good friends saw my post and were concerned that they couldn’t vote.

I bit my nails another couple of days while I anticipated what would happen when this competition went live. Then once it started I realized that this is a marathon and not a 100 meter sprint (using my high school track knowledge lol). I now have no nails as we are almost half way into the competition and daily I feel I face my fears as I try to take to social media to solicit votes.

A Jolie Design has grown every year since I started almost four years ago. I have to be honest and say that going into this year I didn’t know if I wanted to continue or quit. But I’m no quitter, and deciding to stick it out has been the most rewarding. I have had two events so far and am working hard at trying to win one of these grants. But in the process I’m learning to use twitter (I’m a beginners beginner at tweeting) Facebook (I’m almost not nervous everytime I click post now) and Instagram (I think I’m a hashtag guru). I’m marketing myself and building my brand that I love, all while trying to make my vision even bigger and brighter!

I just want anyone reading this to know my back story and to know how big this competition is to me! I know that not everyone wins and I’m okay with that. BUT I will continue to push for A Jolie Design up until February 23 and far after (you just won’t see my daily solicitation…well at least not in the same way)!!!! I truly from the bottom of my heart, appreciate all the support I have received this far! Please continue voting and spreading the word because it does….take a village and no A Jolie Design is an island

http://smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com/Gallery/Detail/6c4acd44-8250-449a-aa93-2319902e56c0/

Sincerely,

-No nails “J”