Small Business Advocacy Contest -- Washington, DC Area Bizniks

The Contest: Between now and January 31st, as you are out and about, find as many anyone-can-post community bulletin boards as possible in the Washington, DC Metro area -- VA.DC.MD.

The Prizes: Great prizes, including publicity! And public recognition for lots of small businesses!

The Details: At ALLABOUTYOUniversity.com

The Background: Small businesses, especially solopreneurs, as well as the general community, have relied for years on a fundamentally staple advertising tool ... the community bulletin board.

With the influx of big box stores and franchise businesses, the community bulletin board has rapidly been disappearing. While many franchise owners and managers have a big heart for the community and would like to put up community bulletin boards, they are often vetoed by their franchise's corporate management.

The logic of corporate management is to ensure a uniform quality of look and experience throughout its franchise locations. The result is no bulletin board at all, or an often too-small bulletin board that requires a manager's approval to post anything. And you might notice that even when there is a bulletin board, it's often located near the restrooms or, worse yet, entirely out of the traffic pattern of the business.

This contest is designed to help save and revive the concept of the valuable community bulletin board and to reward active, community-oriented small business owners.