Recently, on the evening of March 10, The Greater Lansing Business Monthly, along with our sponsors, presented the 2010 Entrepreneurial Awards of Greater Lansing. Honestly, this is one of the most rewarding evenings of the year for us and especially for me personally. It is such a great honor to be able to present these awards to such hardworking, talented people within our community. This is the sixteenth year that we have presented the awards and we have now recognized nearly 160 people—and it never gets old because there are always new and exciting stories to tell.

Many of these stories are about people who have left lucrative careers to follow their dreams of owning their own business.  They have given up salaries, health insurance, 401(k)s and many other benefits, often putting their family’s future at risk to begin these ventures. They make many sacrifices to start their own businesses, but when they received recognition like this from their peers, it makes it so worthwhile. Most of them are astonished even to be nominated for an award, let alone to get to accept one in front of 270 people.  There are often cheers, tears and speechlessness on this special evening, but that is what makes it so rewarding.

Events like these never come off smoothly without the help of many. First, I must thank the sponsors, for without them, we would not be able to put on such a successful event. I must also thank the judges. They have the difficult task of weeding through all of the nominations, selecting finalists and then narrowing them down even further to determine the actual recipients. This takes a lot of time and effort on their part and it is very much appreciated. Thirdly, we always have assistance with our events from our partners at the Radisson Hotel Lansing, Event Depot and Smith Floral—they always make sure we look good. And last, but certainly not least, Chris Holman and Paula Cunningham for their wonderful job of emceeing the evening, and to my coworkers, Sarah, Jennifer and Jena, for all their help in preparation for what was a fantastic evening.

In closing, I also want to thank the mid-Michigan area. The Entrepreneurial Awards program has shown us one very important thing, that this is a wonderful area to start a business. We are fortunate to have so many organizations fighting for the assistance and rights of small business owners, supporting their efforts on a daily basis. Again, our heartfelt congratulations to all of this year’s award recipients; we hope you enjoy reading their stories.

Respectfully yours,

Stacy A. Adado