Last week I went to the Best Business Women Awards knowing I was a finalist for Best Coach.  

But I came home with two awards. And I’m still not sure it’s completely sunk in.  

Over the years I’ve gone through phases of entering awards, and phases where I haven’t bothered at all.  

In fact, the only reason I entered these was because they’d been highly recommended to me through people I trust in the F:Entrepreneur and Small Business Britain communities.  

They’re national awards, and importantly for me, they’re not decided by votes. Every application is independently assessed and scored by three different judges.  

So being shortlisted for Best Coach already felt like a pretty big deal.  

Then on Friday night, I won Silver for Best Coach.  

I was absolutely delighted.  

And I thought that was that.  

By the end of the evening I was actually sitting at our table, half thinking about heading off to bed and half making an Instagram Reel, trying to remember who I needed to tag.  

Then I heard my name.  

I looked up and there it was, in enormous letters on the screen.  

ERIN THOMAS WONG 

I turned to Gina from Create Visual Aids, a long-term Cocooner who was sitting next to me and had just won Silver in her own category.  

We just stared at each other.  

I think I actually said, “Do you think I need to go up?!”  

Turns out, yes. I did.  

So I made the very long walk from the back of the room to the stage, completely dumbfounded, to receive a Special Recognition Award for the impact of my work over the last 18 years.  

And that one got me.  

Because this year has been hard.  

There have been plenty of moments when I’ve questioned myself, my business and what I’m doing.  

And when you work for yourself, there isn’t necessarily someone sitting next to you saying, Look at what you’ve built. Look at the difference you’ve made. Keep going.  

Sometimes we have to find ways of creating those moments for ourselves.  

And I think that’s one of the reasons awards can be so valuable.  

Yes, they give you credibility. They give you something to talk about in your marketing. They can open doors, create PR opportunities and help other people understand the value of what you do.  

I saw that happen in real time on Friday.  

People I’d spoken to earlier in the evening came back over after the Special Recognition Award and looked at me differently.  

Wow. You’ve been doing this for 18 years? 

It made me realise how easily we can forget that other people don’t automatically know the depth of our experience or the impact of our work.  

Sometimes we have to put ourselves forward so that other people can see it too. 

And here’s the slightly witchy-woo part of this story...  

At the beginning of this year, I did a New Year ritual where I wrote down the things I wanted to call in for the year ahead.  

For seven nights, you randomly pick one and burn it without looking at it.  

Whatever is left on the eighth day is the one that is yours to make happen.  

Mine was:  

To be nationally recognised for my work. 

I’d completely forgotten about it until now.  

And no, I don’t think writing something on a piece of paper and putting it in a jar magically makes it happen.  

But I do think there’s something powerful about naming what you want and then being willing to put yourself in the way of it.  

Because I still had to enter the awards.  

I had to fill in the application.  

I had to talk about my achievements.  

I had to put myself forward for judging.  

And perhaps that’s the bit I want you to take from this email.  

Where are you waiting to be noticed instead of putting yourself forward? 

Maybe there’s an award you keep thinking about entering.  

Maybe it’s a speaking opportunity, a podcast, a collaboration, a piece of PR or something else entirely.  

You don’t have to wait for somebody to tap you on the shoulder and tell you that you’re ready.  

Sometimes you have to raise your own hand.  

As for me, I’m going to do my best not to rush straight past this moment onto the next thing.  

I’m going to let it soak in.  

And then I’m going to make the most of it. There are press releases to send, a winners’ reception in London to attend next month, judges to meet and two rather lovely awards that deserve to be talked about.  

Because putting yourself forward doesn’t stop when you win. You have to let yourself own it, too.