A Cyberhotflash Moment!

Running a Cyber Race

I woke this morning in a mid-life, hormonal funk.  I spent the past several days trying to get one of my humorous articles to win a contest...and then got stomped in the last six hours by some stupid guy who wrote an article on changing out his septic tank.  

Can you believe it?!!!!  I mean I can believe that I didn't win...but beat out by an article on septic tank removal!!!!  Give me strength!

I really wanted to win this cash award because I need the funding to publish my books and launch my CyberHotFlash web site.  Money is tight, like everyone else, but right now it is so tight that you can hear the money squeak when either my hubby or I pull out our wallets...our checkbooks just laughs at us!

So...with this smallaa.com contest idea in mind, five days ago I launched "The Vote for Amy's Article" campaign.  I came on Fabulously40, Facebook, Stumble, all the other web sites I write at and made the plea to vote.  I also e-mailed every friend and family member in my address book.  This was not an easy thing for me, because I hate asking people to do anything for me.  I hate asking for money, which is the main reason why the majority of my writing and my coaching ends up being for free!  I haven't wrapped my mind around my worth yet...I am working feverishly on it.

But...when I came across this web site, I thought: "Now, this is something I can ask people to do for me...it won't take much time and it is cost free to the person I am asking to do it!"  What a stellar idea?!!!

I feverishly went to work.

By, Monday I began to worry that all my friends in cyber-space were ready to strangle me for all the reminders and posts...but my numbers were up and I was beating the pants off the septic tank man!  I kept on plugging!  I was going to win this thing...the $10,000 dollar check was as good as being in the bank...I thought!

In the meantime, my college-aged daughter was doing everything she could to make sure her Momma won the contest.  She e-mailed all her friends (all 800 of them), posted the link at her Facebook page AND MySpace...then hopped in her car and went over to the college and jumped on every computer in every computer lab AND the Library to register a vote...then got her closest friends to do the same on their pages and their computers.  My high school aged daughter kept on coming to me saying: "Do you really think this is legitimate mom?  It almost seems to be too good to be true."  She had planted the first see of doubt in my mind...I started to wonder the same thing.  I stopped checking the tally so much.  I left this up to my daughter in college.  She called every half hour letting me know what the two tallies were...I don't know if it was more painful for her than it was for me.  She was having a hard time with the idea that her Mom was losing her battle.

By dinner time, Tuesday night, it became very clear that I was losing my battle.  The septic tank man had pulled ahead. There was still hope though...I stayed within 15 votes of him for a few hours...but then in the final threes hours his vote tally increased with amazing speed.  I was eating his dust...his septic tank dust!

I told my daughter to stop checking, as I was no longer checking.  She apologized profusely for not being able to help me bring in the win.  I told her to not apologize...she had done everything that she could...I greatly appreciated her efforts.  The fact that she had such confidence in what her mother did as living was more than any win in a contest...it was priceless!

At midnight, I couldn't stop myself from looking one last time...I had been beat...whooped would be more like it...whooped by a septic tank man!  

I went to bed thinking that I had let everyone down...even myself...silly thoughts...but I had them.

Lessons I have learned:

•My daughter is the best kid in the world.  She is extremely supportive of what her mother does.
•I have many great friends (cyber or otherwise) and family who were willing to take the time to vote. I feel loved and appreciated.
•I need to start listening to my OneCoach Coach and John Assaraf/Murray Smith and start putting the same efforts in High Impact Items that will truly bring forth revenue.
•My worth is not based on how many stars or votes a person receives.

Most importantly...never run a race with a septic tank man...you'll get crap all over you when he blasts past you!

PS  I LOVE YOU GALS!!!!!!!  Thanks for your support.