Big stuff..

Ok so... I've been working like a dog for the past 2 weeks on this HUGE project at work. We went to a client a few months back with an idea to go national... and staff all of their locations from our home office. Piece of cake since we already staff 9 of the states now and barely break a sweat doing it. Unbeknownst to us, they took our idea and ran with it... except they invited everyone else to bid on the contract (OUR IDEA) and left us out of the loop since we're just a tiny little staffing agency in Tulsa, OK. We found out 2 weeks ago what was going on because the head of the company in our region found out we weren't included on the bid and insisted we be included since we're the ones he wants to have the contract. THANK GOD FOR HIM!

We were in the top 16 since it was our idea and all, but this company - let's call them OS, who was heading up the project for our company - WB, took us out of the running when they cut down to the top 8 because they thought we were too small to handle a project of this size. They went ahead and sent us the RFP (request for proposal) and gave us 5 days to get it back to them since it was already a month past due for everyone else who bid. Everyone else had like 3 weeks to do their RFP!! OOOHHH MY!! That was a huge RFP and it took all of us on the project the entire 5 days to complete it. We worked all through the night and even worked through the weekend. We got it submitted in the nick of time and were invited to give a presentation on our model yesterday in KC.

We had 1 week to get our presentation together after they accepted our RFP and again, worked every night and all through the weekend making it perfect. Once we were confident on the material we held mock presentations Mon and Tues and had our other staff members attend and try to shoot holes in our presentation. That was so helpful!! The cool thing is - the more they tried to shoot holes in it, the more confident we became. We always had an answer. And it was always a perfect answer. I admit I was nervous going into it because I knew a large percentage of the questions would be directed at me since I would be managing the majority of the project if we get the bid. AS would manage about 20%... I get the other 80%. eeeekkkk!!! lol

Anywho... we were told that appearance was highly important to these people so I instantly panicked. What the hell do you wear to a presentation like this?? I didn't want to look stuffy in a suit, but couldn't go all cutesy-girly either. So.... the coolest thing happened!!!!! The big cheeses' wife, CR, took AS and I to Dillard's to get us outfits!! We felt just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman!! We were in the large dressing rooms while CR and the ladies in the department went out and found us all sorts of outfits to try on. They were throwing things at us left and right. What didn't look good on AS was thrown at me to try on and vice versa. Once we found the perfect looks, she took us down to shoes and repeated the same process. And of course you have to have accessories so she took us there and picked out the perfect things... and WOOHOO! We looked fabulous. Of course I would have rather had AS's dress, but she tried it on first. HA! That was probably the most fun I have ever had shopping for clothes. Of course it helped that we didn't have to buy anything. Makes things so much easier :) And CR is a total fashionista!!!! We told her from the beginning that we would be no help - she would have to pick everything out. And she did great!

So... back to the RFP. Boss man rented a private jet for us to take to KC. We couldn't take the chance of being delayed on a regular flight (which would have taken us down to Dallas before heading up to KC - so stupid how that works)... and didn't want to feel rushed. The meeting was too important to risk any kind of mishap. Turns out, the plane was cheaper to rent than if he had purchased 4 normal plane tickets. Who would have thought?

All 4 of us, me, AS, boss man #1 and boss man #2 all pulled our cars up next to the plane on the runway!! Left our keys inside and the workers moved our vehicles into the hanger when we took off. I took a zillion pictures while on the plane. It was so cool! :) I've never been in a private plane before. It was a 4 seater with a spare 5th seat in back and behind that was the bathroom. HA! Our little pilot man was great! Smooth take-off and smooth landing. There was every kind of drink you could think of and lots of snacks at our disposal. We didn't even have to fasten a seat-belt. I of course did because I was flying backwards and didn't want to end up in my boss's lap when we took off.

When we arrived in KC we stepped off the plane and had 2 ladies from the executive travel agency standing there to greet us with our rental car just a few yards away. We followed them back to their hub where they had drinks waiting and let us use their conference room to relax. They got a map for us with exact directions to our meeting place for the proposal so we took off a little early to make sure we knew exactly where the place was.

The proposal started off a little rocky. Boss man had the slide show on his MAC and it wasn't compatible with the projector they had. He did bring his projector just in case... but it still wouldn't work!! UGH!! It was the coolest slide show ever! So we had to use the handouts instead. Thank goodness they were just as awesome :) Kinko's is the bomb!! We went through our proposal and it went perfectly!! They asked the exact questions we wanted them to ask and we had the perfect answers every time. When the meeting was finished the Executive VP told us how great our proposal was and how thankful he was that we were there. YAY!! That was HUGE. The funny things is we had no idea he was the VP until we got back on the plane and looked at his business card while rehashing the entire presentation. HA! They told us they would narrow their choice from the 5 that presented down to the top 2... WHICH WE ARE!!!!!!!!! :) YAY!!!!!!

The plane ride back was great... so much more relaxed since we knew it was out of our hands at that point. The men drank their little bottles of nastiness while AS and I had wine :) YUM! When we got back to Tulsa all 4 cars were lined up... and the plane pulled up right next to them!! How flippin cool is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anywho...

We should find out in a week or two if we got it or not. The scary thing is... if we don't win this I don't know what's going to happen to our company. Losing the business we have now to someone else would be devastating!! So... keep your fingers crossed! :)