As many of you have heard/read/seen, what have you, the Iowa Lakes Corridor’s annual Dream Big Grow Here competition is currently underway. For the last several weeks, business owners and entrepreneurs have been submitting their business dreams to the DBGH contest. Fifteen entries in total were submitted during the allotted time, and voting commenced shortly thereafter.
Why am I telling you all this, you might ask? Well, the participants are now seeking your votes! This part of the process is extremely critical because without your support and participation, the contestant’s dreams could, quite possibly, not become a reality. All the hard work and dedication these fine businesses possess throughout the year will be recognized at this year’s Business Recognition Luncheon on November 20th.
Here are the steps you need to take in order to cast your vote for the entry you feel is worthy of the $5,000 award.
1. Visit DreamBigGrowHere.com
2. Choose the region in which you’ll be casting your vote. In this case, select Iowa Lakes Corridor 2013.
3. Click the “Vote” tab to review the submissions. Automatically, the entries will default to alphabetical order. You also have the option of listing them in order of the voting leaders.
4. Read each submission, watch their video, check out their Facebook page, etc. This will give you a better indication of which business or entrepreneur you think is the clear winner. Sidebar: this will take a little bit of time, but well worth it.
5. There’s nothing left to do now but vote! Can’t decide which one to vote for? I’m in the same boat; there are so many candidates that deserve to win that I can’t select just one winner. There’s good news! You are allowed to vote one time EACH day. This means you can either vote for the same entry the next 6 days or you can cast one vote each day for a new submission each time. I’m choosing the latter.
Voting will be open until November 12th at 5 p.m. So far, 4,360 votes have been cast. You don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to support our local businesses and entrepreneurs. The top 5 vote-getters will present their business plan during a pitch-off on November 19th to a panel of judges. The winner of the pitch-off will be announced at the Iowa Lakes Corridor’s Business Recognition Luncheon and will go on to compete at the state level for an additional $10,000.
Ready…Set…Go VOTE! (After all, you only have 6 days left).
Check out the rest of the blog here!
- Alexa Guessford
