Now that the news has sunk in a little bit, I can start to think
rationally again.
Yesterday, we found out that Tykes Tights had got through to
the final of the Mumpreneur UK awards.
It is the first award that we have ever entered and I didn’t think for
one minute that we would get this far.
Finalists were due to be announced on Wednesday and I spent
most of the day refreshing my twitter and facebook feeds for updates only to
find out that due to the larger numbers of applicants, results day would now be
Friday.
So, yesterday, back to refreshing every few minutes until I
saw a twitter post saying that finalist emails had been sent out. I kept looking at my phone for the green
flashy light to tell me that I had a new
email. I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t
come. Afterall, out of all the small
businesses in the country, it was unlikely that I would be recognised on my
very first attempt. I wasn’t
disappointed as it was kind of what I was expecting. I had looked through lists of previous
finalists from 2011 and 2010 and recognised a lot of names and companies –
people who had really made their mark – it was quite daunting.
A little later, I fired up the laptop. Seems my email and my phone aren’t talking to
each other properly as there, in my inbox, was an email from Mumpreneur
UK! Shock, excitement, confusion, panic –
I think I went through a whole range of emotions in those first few minutes.
The email explained that over 1200 businesses had applied
for the awards. That’s a lot of
application forms to go through! There
are 9 categories and 8 finalists have been chosen for each category. Tykes Tights has made it to the ‘Best
Mumpreneur Product’ category which is primarily for mums who have invented
their own product (another reason I didn’t think we would get this far) but is
also for mum’s who have brought a unique product to market.
Now we have a month to wait!
Good news is that I get to go to a fantastic conference next month,
listen to some inspirational women and pick up lots of information and
advice. All this will be washed down
with a lovely 3 course meal and the day will end with the award winners being
chosen and prizes being given out. Can’t
wait!
I have now got to submit some paperwork and sample products
to the judges. I have to tell them why
Tykes Tights deserves to win. I need to
impress the likes of Jo Elvin (Editor in Chief of Glamour magazine) and Vanessa
Gold (MD of Ann Summers).
No matter what happens on the day, whether we walk away with
an award or not, I am completely honoured and overwhelmed at having got this
far and that Tykes Tights has been recognised as one of the top mumpreneur
companies in the whole of the UK!
Boy’s tights rule!
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