Gina Bell’s International Association of Women in Business Online (IAWBO) has turned one year old, and she’s giving away gifts!

Up for grabs is a Virtual Gift Bag for Women Entrepreneurs with over $1,300 worth of goodies — but you can get them all free right here:

http://www.PRinYourPajamas.com/giftbag

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Organizing your own contest, or sponsoring one, is a good way to generate publicity for your business.

Find a cause you believe in and is consistent with your business, and look for a way you can support those who are excelling in it. It doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of effort.

As you can see from the Business Baby Shower contest, the event is an excellent opportunity for exposure for everyone involved–from the organizers, to the sponsors, and the winners.

In the meantime, here are the results of the first ever Business Baby Shower Contest.

Business Baby Shower Contest Winners Announced

Barrington, NH –The Business Baby Shower, a new contest celebrating entrepreneurial moms and all they do to birth and grow a successful company while balancing family life, recently announced their first-ever winners: Robyn Pellei of ViveVita, LLC (1st place), Lori Sawyer of LS-Fitness, LLC/Mommy Moves (2nd place) and Carolyn Carter of CaitiMac Creations, LLC (3rd place).

The Contest, which was launched as a partnership between The Mom Entrepreneur and Corporate Mom DropOuts, ran from January 1 – April 30, 2010. Its goal was to create awareness of mom entrepreneur companies and their products and services. Participants completed an application process and submitted a two-minute video  of their business for consideration by an esteemed panel of judges, which included Tamara Monosoff of Mom Invented, Stacey Kannenberg of Cedar Valley Publishing and Andrew Morrison of Small Business Camp.

Each winner received a prize package worth thousands of dollars of products and services as well as media coverage and support from over 20 media sponsors.

“A friend told me about the Business Baby Shower Contest, and I entered because I was intrigued and inspired by the prizes,” said 1st place winner Robyn Pellei of ViveVita, LLC (www.vivevita.com) who started her business in 2008. Her North Carolina-based product company provides practical solutions for common parenting challenges. Pellei, the mother of nine children, was frustrated by problems that she encountered in her own hectic life – such as keeping track of which cup belonged to each of her kids – so she started making cup and bottle labels to identify family members’ drinks.  Now, she’s creating other products to solve a variety of daily problems that parents encounter, such as keeping track of multiple children in public places.

“I am thrilled to have won and I’m especially enthusiastic about the business coaching, Web help and public relations guidance,” Pellei added.  “I entered the contest because of the prizes – they were all so relevant for mom entrepreneurs like me.”

Second place winner Lori Sawyer of LS-Fitness, LLC/Mommy Moves (www.mommy-moves.com) used her personal training background to start several stroller classes per week back in 2008, after the birth of her first child. Since then, she’s expanded to offer more stroller classes, private and group personal training, boot camps, Pilates classes and a running program for moms.

“All of the prizes that I won through the Business Baby Shower Contest will really help me grow my business,” said Sawyer, a New Jersey-based mom entrepreneur. “”I’m excited about the resources, contacts and advice that I’ve won, which will help me reach my professional goals, including expanding my classes and adding new fitness and nutrition-themed products.”

Carolyn Carter of CaitiMac Creations, LLC (www.CaitiMacCreations.com) located in Indianapolis, IN, was the 3rd place winner. She started her business in 2007 when her oldest child was six months old. At the time, her baby daughter was carrying around a blanket, and Carter needed something to help keep the “lovey” off of dirty floors.  When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, she developed her own solution, the Clingy Cord. When people stopped her at the grocery store and the mall to ask where they could buy one, Carter knew she had a great idea for a business. Her products, including Clingy Cords, a savvy accessory for children who love to throw their sippy cups, bottles, blankets, pacifiers, and toys onto the dirty floor, have grown in popularity, mostly through word-of-mouth among mothers.

“The Business Baby Shower Contest was a great idea, great concept and great opportunity for mom entrepreneurs like me.  I really appreciate the variety of prizes, especially the marketing and advertising services that will help me get the word out about my company, and help me take my business to the next level,” Carter explained.

“As a mom entrepreneur myself, I’ve found that starting and growing my own business was very similar to the process of birthing and raising my children. There’s a lot of love, dedication, commitment, hard work – and occasional frustrations – that go into both,” said Lucinda Cross, of Corporate Mom DropOuts, co-founder of the Contest. “We’ve created a forum that recognizes and honors the unique challenges that go into simultaneously raising children and ‘birthing’ a business.”

Winners of the 2010 Business Baby Shower Contest will receive support and guidance over the next several months from the founders as they receive all of their prizes and media coverage from sponsors.

“We work extensively with mom entrepreneurs and are continually inspired by their creativity, innovative ideas, tenacity, exceptional multi-tasking and ability to balance their careers and families,” said Traci Bisson of The Mom Entrepreneur, co-founder of the Contest.  “The Business Baby Shower celebrates all of these wonderful attributes and has allowed us to highlight and honor some really amazing women.”

For more information, please visit www.businessbabyshower.com.

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I think the theme for me in January was “creating” and “cleaning up”. I spent a lot of time creating systems, teams, content and starting a couple of PR campaigns for high-profile entrepreneurs. I also got to look at my business with fresh eyes and decided a bit of clean up was in order – so a few products are getting retired.

Since February is the love month, if you have a Mom-related business, product or expertise, you’re going to love this sale.

http://prinyourpajamas.com/mom-media-list/

Until February 28th, you can buy the Mom’s PR Media Lists at 50% off. You’ll also get a bonus “How to Be a PR Maven” tip book to help you maximize using the media list.

I’m doing this because these lists were compiled in 2009, and I don’t want to update them anymore.  Of course, you could compile your own list of journalists who are interested in Mommy matters. But why spend your precious time doing that when you can get a Mom’s PR Media List right now at this incredible deal?If you’re at all interested, do grab the list of your choice now, because I’m pulling these lists off the market — forever.

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Although I’ve been working with very large companies for years, once I had my own children, mompreneurs and smaller businesses took over my heart. Starting and running a business is hard enough under any circumstances, having toddlers afoot wanting your attention and love while you’re trying to close a deal takes an infinite amount of patience, resourcefulness and grace.

The Business Baby Shower Contest runs from January 1 – April 30, 2010 and “celebrates entrepreneurial moms and all they do to birth and grow a successful company while balancing family life.”

The three winners who will be selected in May by a panel of judges will receive “thousands of dollars worth of media exposure for their business from Media Sponsors as well as gifts, services and bonuses from Contest Sponsors.” The first 200 entrants get a copy of my Mom’s PR book for free.

If you’re a mom entrepreneur, find out more information and enter the contest at www.businessbabyshower.com

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On Twitter today, @unmarketing asked the question, What’s a good definition of PR?

If I give you the textbook definition or what PR people say to each other, I’ll just confuse you. Which is probably why when I ask most entrepreneurs about startup PR, they give me a blank look. They know it’s important, but can’t really explain why. Many don’t use this secret weapon in building their business because there’s always been an aura of mystery around getting PR.

I think this is a simple definition of PR:

PR builds awareness and credibility for your company, product or service – which is critical for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Awareness is built by sharing company news or information through your key influencers (let’s say reporters and bloggers), in order to reach customers, potential employees, joint venture partners, investors and anyone else who needs to know about you.

Credibility is built when the reporter or blogger writes about you in the paper, magazine or blog because they are an objective third-party reviewing and hopefully, singing your praises.

The resulting action is that people go to your website or store to evaluate the information for themselves, and perhaps join your company, pitch you on a potential partnership, invest as a stakeholder or buy your product or service. The resulting actions would depend on what your PR messages are, and how it’s delivered.

I hope that helps in lifting the PR mystery!

Anyone else care to share their thoughts on what PR is?

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I’m so excited to be on the same speaking panel as Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist, marketing guru and my professional crush! Too bad it’s virtual and we are skyping in from different parts of the world but it’s a honor nonetheless. Thanks to @riasharon for putting this all together!

I will be on at about 8:40pm to talk about getting PR for mompreneurs so join the party in your PJ’s from home for laughs, live music, entrepreneurial tips and get a chance to win my book PR in Your Pajamas for Entrepreneur Moms!

See you there!

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You cannot ‘buy’ PR in a newspaper or magazine. You cannot have the reporter say exactly what you want them to say. That is advertising. Both PR and advertising are important in the marketing of your business, depending on what stage your business is at.

The difference between PR and advertising is that PR builds awareness of your product or service which is critical for startups and entrepreneurs, and advertising supports the brand when it gets known.

With PR you get:

• Free Placement
• Less, or no control- a journalist can write what they want no matter how you position your story
• A story that runs only once or twice (exceptions are when a newswire picks up the story)
• Credibility because it’s viewed as a third-party endorsement
• No guarantees and it can be time-consuming

With Advertising you get:

• Paid Placement
• Complete creative control
• Your ads will run as often as you’re willing to pay
• Savvy consumers know it’s an ad, and tend to be skeptical
• A guaranteed date the ad will run and it’s easy if you have money to spend

PR builds credibility, Advertising builds visibility. What’s cool about getting PR is because it’s written by a journalist, there’s instant credibility and other people become more interested. If you’re a small business, it can turn you from a nobody into a somebody who can compete against a bigger business.

For a small business owners, entrepreneurs or moms just starting out, just know that a thousand dollars is not a very big ad budget – it might afford you a small ad in your local newspapers or magazines for example. But the same money spent on PR if you get hits in several newspapers or magazines, can mean the equivalent of 5 to 10 times the advertising cost in those publications.

PR can be time-consuming and with no guarantees, but well worth the effort. If you’ve been successful with your PR, please share with us what you did and what it’s brought to your business.

For more tips on how to do PR or if would like to explore doing PR yourself, you can check out my ebook for entrepreneurs, moms and small businesses.

“Elena, I loved it!…YOUR BOOK WAS THE BEST AND THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON I HAVE LEARNED SINCE I STARTED MY BUSINESS.”

Natallia Antanovich
Organic by Nature
(Editor’s Note: Those capital letters, written by Natallia. More testimonials here)

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It started tragically with my father’s sudden death. My dad was a cowboy entrepreneur, he had no processes in place, and closed deals on the strength of a handshake. I wouldn’t recommend this style, but I sure learned a lot.

Below, I share 5 lessons I’ve learned for mompreneurs and small businesses, from 5 different companies that I’ve been involved with.

Lesson #1: BUSINESS IS ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Here I was, at that time 27 years old and suddenly stepping into a man’s business – selling car paint to customers like Honda, Toyota, BMW – all the major car manufacturers. You can just imagine how ridiculous it was because we had no idea about marketing and entrepreneurship. My 20 year old brother and I went around with a briefcase with nothing inside, meeting all our customers and telling them nothing will change in their service and experience with us.

Now I don’t know if everyone felt sorry for us, but you know what? They gave us a chance. We made a lot of mistakes, but they kept giving us a chance and eventually (with a lot of help) we even sold the company at a profit. If my father hadn’t had such strong business relationships in place, everyone would have abandoned us in the beginning and we would have lost it all.

How are you building relationships and customer loyalty?

Lesson #2 – FOCUS ON YOUR NATURAL GIFTS

So 11 years ago, after selling my father’s company, my husband and I move to Canada. Although I had lived and worked in the US, in the UK and in Asia, I could not for the life of me get a job in PR, which is my background. Again, kicking and screaming, I had to start working for myself and took on PR clients.

After the first year, I had one person working with me. After 5 years, I had an international PR agency with about 20 contractors working on various projects for clients. By focusing on my natural gifts such as business development and creating winning teams – the things that I am good at, enjoy doing and bring me energy – my business took off. I also look for this when hiring people. For my team members, I work with those writers who love to write, graphic designers who love to create and publicity people who know how to do PR and love talking with the media. It sounds simple, but I can’t tell you how many people out there do what they do because they “have to” or tell me they can do “anything”. They have no passion for it, and it shows in their work. When each member of your team focuses on their talents, everyone is happy and your business thrives with ease.

What are your natural gifts?

Lesson #3 – BE PASSIONATE

In university, I had considered getting a psychology degree so it’s funny how life brings me back full circle. I stumbled onto the coaching profession and now I am passionate about coaching women and entrepreneurs who want to make both money and meaning in their lives.

Are you passionate about what you do? If you’re doing something for money, when times get rough – and it will, passion and belief in what you are doing will get you through. My coaching is my business that makes the least money, but I need to have it in my life. The fulfillment it gives me allows me to work on the other businesses with renewed energy.

Whatever you are doing now, ask yourself, would you be doing what you are doing if you made half the money? If not, what do you really want?

Lesson #4 – DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MISTAKES

I’m a recovering perfectionist, so this is especially difficult for me. But don’t wait till your product or service is perfect. Just do it, learn from your mistakes and move on. When we started an e-commerce business a couple of years ago, we had numerous challenges – the glue we used turned out to be inferior so our packaging fell apart in the mail, our stocks ran out, we had a very clunky back end and manual logistics, we even tried vacuum packing our clothing product with a machine designed to vacuum pack food to save on costs! We tried a lot and laughed a lot. And we learned so much that we wouldn’t learn if we weren’t willing to make mistakes and just go for it.

Despite all this, we were getting PR in local and national media. We were profitable in the first quarter, and one of those media hits attracted a buyer for the company less than a year after launch.

So, what’s the biggest mistake you are willing to make, in order to succeed?

Lesson #5 BUSINESS IS ABOUT PROFIT, NOT REVENUE

Finally, I know lots of us start businesses to have the freedom and flexibility to enjoy the lifestyle that we want. However, you are still running a business. Don’t get dazzled by people building companies in the millions of dollars (they are probably also millions of dollars in debt). If your revenues are $50,000 and your profit is only $5,000, you need to take a serious look at your business model and why you are doing what you’re doing. My dad started his company with $2000 and grew it to seven figures. I’ve started companies with $2000 – $5000. It doesn’t have to be fancy, you just have to have a customer!

Check on a daily basis whether you are on the right track when you prioritize your work day using the 80/20 rule – did you know 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts? Stop reacting, and start planning.

You can work on long term goals, but also ask yourself – what’s the fastest path to money today?

I’d love to hear what key lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur, so do leave a comment and share.

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Whether you are a parent or not, I invite you to support the work of www.12for12k.org which is raising money for Stop the Silence – a nonprofit that focuses on the heartbreaking work of dealing with the sexual abuse of children.

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in the US alone affects one-third of girls and one-sixth of boys by the time they are 18 years old. Although many countries have not yet conducted the research to identify the extent of CSA, we do know it is a worldwide pandemic and that prevalence rates have been identified as high as 60 percent in some places, and as low as 2 percent in others. As a mother, even 2% is too high, and something I cannot even bear to think about.

Unfortunately, most CSA is never reported (due to shame, fear, stigma, and other factors). Many suffer in silence for most of their lives and deal with severe depression and anxiety. We all privately or publicly know survivors who have not only survived, but thrived; it has taken work for them to get there.

Stop the Silence has a three part mission to stem this epidemic. They are committed to exposing and stoping child sexual abuse and help survivors heal worldwide. The charity’s overarching goals are to:

1) help stop child sexual abuse (CSA) and related forms of violence;

2) promote healing of victims and survivors;

3) celebrate the lives of those healed.

www.12for12k.org has made it their mission to raise money for this worthy cause during the month of February. I will support them and ask all Mompreneurs and anyone else who reads this blog to do the same. Even $10 can help.

Please join me, spread the word if you have a blog or by email, and make a difference in the life of a child.

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