Moving Forward

Time to get busy.  It is as simple as that.  Rob can only do so much and that leaves me.  Something has to be done, I am way to big a fan of eating!! What could be a great opportunity, has presented it's self, so I am going to try my luck!  There is a significant road race in Clarksville that has yet to figure out how to make money or sell sponsorships.  They have a good committee, but of course everyone is uncomfortable asking for money.  Which is where I come in.  

You see sponsorships are not donations, they aren't handouts.  You figure out what your demographic is.  In this case, who will be racing and who will be cheering the racers on.  And then you approach companies who want to be in front of that demographic.  When they partner with the race, they have placed themselves strategically in front of their ideal customer and showcased that they have a common interest with that customer.  It is a win win all the way around!  But you do have to be very strategic about who you ask to partner with your event.  Otherwise you waste too much time on meetings and presentations where "no" will surely be the answer.  

We all know that I have no time to waste.  I feel good about 3 days a weeks, so those days need to be filled with successful meetings, building strategic partnerships.  I hope that everything will work out.  Goodness knows the extra money will be helpful!

So time to put my sponsorship pants back on and go gang busters!  Hopefully I will also be able to get some things working for Feld Entertainment, not to mention moving forward with the 2011 SouthNashDash!

It is clearly time to move forward!

An Ideal Day

I have been "retired" for a month and 3 days now. Today is the first day that was even close to what I had hoped for. I took Isaac to school, came home and worked on a couple of projects for 4 hours, cleaned the house for 3 hours and then went back to get Isaac. Then I made dinner, Isaac and I ate and I had the kitchen cleaned up by 7 pm. Now that is a great day!

I just wonder how many of those I will actually have??

The first project I worked on this morning was for Feld Entertainment in conjunction with Werkshop Marketing. I am helping them get people to attend a reception prior to the Disney On Ice Toy Story 3 show. We will hopefully fill the room with potential sponsors for any of the many Feld shows. It should be a lot of fun!

The other project I am working on is for Giandi's Catering. I reached out to multiple event planners and venues today, as well as companies who order catering for meetings. My goal is to grow the Giandi's brand. They currently stay busy with events, but they do a ton of smaller events and only a few large events. We want to get them doing more larger events and fewer small events. With the help of Shannon, I have gotten their Facebook page and Twitter page up. Hopefully this will help continue to grow their brand. There are a lot of great caterers in Middle Tennessee, but it is the few that market themselves and grow their social media, that will rise to the top. So my goal is to help Giandi's reach the top. The owner is fantastic and I love working with him. He is in the process of hiring a new chef and I am excited to see what possibilities that will bring to the menus! We are getting close to Christmas party season, so I hope to have tons of parties booked by mid November!

Not to back track, but the Menchie's SouthNashDash went wonderfully! I had a great team working on it with me! Rob, Shannon Harris, Sheri Ferguson, Drew and Lacey Williams all helped prior to race day and the people that helped on race day were amazing! Especially Rob and I's parents, they were total Rock Stars! My mom and dad showed up at 6 am and set up registration, cut bagels, bought and delivered ice, took pictures, took care of Menchie man, I could go on forever, but needless to say, I am so grateful for their help! Rob's mom, helped all day as well, especially helping keep track of the kids while my mom took pics. We ended up having a bit over 230 runners/walkers. The bands were great and the vendor tables were awesome! I learned a few things to make next year better...We will end earlier, we will give away door prizes between songs rather than between bands, we will let everyone start at once, and we will offer chip timing, for an additional charge. All in all, I think the day went well, I delegated well and I think I had things organized efficiently. An unintended compliment I received was "I haven't seen you all day" The reason I liked it was because it meant that people didn't have to come to me for every little question. I had people in the right spots that could answer any questions as they came up! Huge thanks to Shannon Harris, Derek Robertson (who collected 2 boxes of shoes for Soles 4 Souls), Rob and I's parents, my wonderful and patient kids, Kathy Niznik, Sheri Ferguson, CK and my amazing husband, Rob.

This Saturday I am going to do the Women's Half Marathon Music City. It started as a challenge for Shannon as well as myself, 6 months ago. I wasn't feeling great, and hadn't worked out in months, and she was doing random things here and there. So I asked her if she would do this half with me. At the time, she would pretty much max out around 2 miles. We have since spent every Saturday morning together (with a couple of exceptions), walking and running. The weekend before SND, we went 13.1 miles, so I know we are ready. I have committed to do this whole race with her at her pace, and I am excited about it! And just so that we don't lose momentum, we have both signed up for the Race for the Cure in a couple of weeks, she will do another 1/2 marathon with her sister in Tempe and then we will do the I Run For the Party 1/2 in mid November as well. Then I told her we can take a winter gym break! If you are not impressed by her progress, then you need to read her blog, Run Phatty Run, it is so funny! She says out loud what every beginner runner has ever thought!

Well, I am going to relax away the last couple of hours of this Ideal Day!