We're finalists!!!!!!!

So a couple of weeks ago, we were reading Creative Tampa Bay's e-newsletter and came across an interesting contest: Present the Perfect Pitch, win a $250,000 ad campaign.

Malcolm Out Loud, a Tampa-based marketing and ad agency, was offering two $250,000 ad campaigns to two companies with the best marketing pitch. The catch? It cost $300 to enter. If we did it by the following Monday. After that, it cost $500 to enter. Everyone who entered would get $3,000 in ads.

We talked it over. "Scam!" "No way!" "Not for real!" "Waste of money!"

... But a $3,000 ad package could help us.

... If we wait and decide to enter later, it costs $200 more.

... and what if we won?!?!!?

We went for it. Yes, it was risky, but we did a little background checking first. We called the media partners they had listed, and confirmed the contest was for real. We called the marketing agency and asked lots of questions.

The application was five questions, about 250 words each, if I recall correctly. They wanted to know what our business was all about, and, as you all know, we LOVE talking about LocalShops1, so we had no trouble with that.

We submitted the entry, paid through PayPal. And then we panicked. What if just wasted $300? In the grand scheme of things, $300 isn't a lot. But it's money we could have used elsewhere, or, better yet, saved.

Yesterday we got a call, telling us we're among the 10 finalists. Which means we get to present LocalShops1, to a panel of judges and an entire audience, at Raymond James stadium next Thursday evening.

No video, no audio. Just us, talking about what we love.

Please wish us luck. And if you have any suggestions, let us know in the next few days. E-mail us through LocalShops1.com.

Thanks. We're all in this together, right?

Ester