What Makes Your Business Special?

As I’ve told folks on Twitter, I’m a judge in American Express OPEN’s “Big Break” program, a Facebook promotion that is offering five worthy small businesses a chance to fly to Facebook HQ and get a complete “business makeover,” as well as $20,000 in cash.

As someone who has started five or so small businesses, I know the power of a helping hand at the right time, heck, I know the power of just organizing oneself to enter a contest like this. Just doing the work of communicating why your business is worthy of support from someone else is an exercise that can yield benefits all on its own.

And every one of us knows a small business that we love and want to support, I know about ten, in fact. I’ve been telling them about this program, and encouraging them to sign up. I hope you will do the same.

But time is running out. The deadline to enter is this Friday, May 20th.

Entry is fairly straightforward and simple – a three part questionnaire, a photo upload portion, and contact information. The entry questions are listed below:

“Tell us about your business. What makes you excited to come to work every day?”

“How do you envision Facebook impacting your business?”

“How could a Big Break help your business and your customers?”

25-30 semifinalists will be narrowed down to 10 finalists, followed by 5 community-chosen winners. The prize is as follows:

• 10 finalists, as determined by judging, will:

• Be filmed and have a video created by American Express for use in community vote

• Receive $2,500 in Facebook ad credits

• 5 winners, as determined by community voting, will each receive:

• A trip to Facebook headquarters for a two-day Facebook business makeover

• $20K to grow their business

• Opportunity to appear in OPEN Facebook webisodes

As most of you know, American Express OPEN Forum is jointly produced by my company, FM, but I’m promoting this program because I believe in it. So if you run a small business, or know and love someone who does, encourage them to apply!