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Once Upon an RFP Receives 2022 Best of Villa Park Award
Villa Park Award Program Honors the Achievement
VILLA PARK November 8, 2022 — Once Upon an RFP has been selected for the 2022 Best of Villa Park Award in the Consultant category by the Villa Park Award Program.
August 22, 2022, Once Upon an RFP turns four years old. Since 2018, we’ve blossomed from a one-woman operation to a rapidly growing team of proposal consultants, communications coordinators, marketing specialists, operations gurus, and program managers.
Small Business Toolkit (SMB Toolkit) is the one-stop-shop for businesses that work with Government and Big Corporate.
Designed for solopreneurs, SMB Toolkit will take you from chaos to done. We offer services ranging from anchoring established businesses to a complete overhaul for your brand and company.
Maximizing readability consists of helping your readers find and comprehend information efficiently. Whether writing blogs or responding to bids, it is crucial to keep your readers in mind and adjust accordingly.
RFPs and bidding processes are lucrative options for small business owners seeking stability. But first, what is procurement, and how can these processes help small businesses?
Want to take your laundry list of to-dos from chaos to done? We offer comprehensive support for RFPs, proposal professional training, and business certifications.
If you’re not quite a social butterfly, you might be a social moth instead.
The business world expects entrepreneurs and working professionals to exude confidence and charisma. Being anxious, shy, and introverted is too often looked down upon. However, we can actually leverage anxiety, shyness, and introversion to create meaningful, affirming connections.
Finding joy in your profession is the key to long-term success. But what happens when you lose sight of your priorities or dread each workday?
Proposal myths are rampant in the industry. From misunderstanding compliance to overestimating pricing, let’s set the record straight.
Why should small businesses invest in diverse certifications?
This is a common question we receive, so we thought we should address it and end the confusion once and for all!
Amid burnout, overwhelm, and frustration, it can feel impossible to find balance. In this instance, it is vital to take a step back and assess where you might be experiencing an imbalance.
Whether you are interviewing via Zoom or conducting virtual client meetings, your background, lighting, and camera angles can affect how others in your meeting perceive you. In the before times, how we dressed or styled our hair changed others’ perceptions. In present times, our virtual setup can have a similar effect.
It’s all too easy to create an unproductive work environment while working from the comfort of your own home. A little self-care and a workspace free from distractions will boost productivity and enhance your remote work experience.
Working from home can be isolating. Long days without human interaction can make you feel lonely, frustrated, and uninspired. We’ve compiled ways to boost interaction and productivity to combat isolation.
With remote work comes much more freedom than in-office work. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a consultant, or a full-time employee, staying on track with tasks and deadlines can be difficult.
“The Great Resignation” has been a thing for a while now. We think it’s time to call it what it is: a talent crisis. It impacts every industry, including proposals, and there’s more than one cause.
Whether for holidays, birthdays, or as a thank you, here is a list of gifts to surprise and delight the proposal writer in your life!
If you are a small business owner looking to grow your client portfolio, a Signature Proposal might be the best next step in your business process. But what is it?
We at Once Upon an RFP often like to joke that RFPs covertly run the world. They really are the best kept secret. Billions of taxpayer dollars filter through procurement processes and result in the exchange of goods and services.
As a small business owner, you likely understand what it means to wear many hats and that your unique set of competencies are what drives clients towards your specific business.
Are you searching for a proposal consultant or simply interested in becoming one? What makes a good proposal consultant? In short, the ideal proposal consultant combines their expertise with the following 4 traits to provide high-quality deliverables to their clients.
Are you having trouble engaging SMEs or struggling to assign tasks to disinterested team members? Are you missing project milestones? You may be a victim of the proposal bystander effect.
“Agile is defined as “quick and well-coordinated in movement” and “marked by an ability to think quickly.” How, then, do we become agile in our careers and finances? We can expand our options by exploring what it takes to become a consultant using the skills we have mastered in proposal management.”
“For 23 years Caryn Kent Dean has worked as a proposal writer and manager for corporate and government bid opportunities. She has been a proud member of the APMP for six years and supports the APMP Greater Midwest Chapter as a chair for the consultants virtual networking group.”
Thank you so much to the Proposal.Works Podcast for bringing on Once Upon an RFP founder Caryn Kent Dean to discuss the importance of strategy and why strategic business and proposal management always triumphs over chaos.
Writer’s block strikes at the most inopportune times. In a field governed by compliance and stringent deadlines, there’s no time to be struck down by writer’s block when you’re writing a proposal. Here are our top tips to keep your project on track.
When pursuing a bid opportunity, it is of the utmost importance to plan – for everything.
How do you land an interview for your dream job? Build a rockstar resume.
Building your business and stabilizing your revenue may seem like a daunting task. Responding to public sector RFPs offers you the chance to gain experience while leveraging your position as a small business.
Does your organization have a Proposal Content Library?
If so, does it have the information that you need when you need it?
Is it formatted consistently to play nicely with and flow into your templates?
Do you have a team that nurtures it?
Does it reflect how amazing your organization is?
Does it help you win business?
Transform Your Proposal Story: My husband and I have a great proposal story, but that’s not the kind of proposal stories I’m referring to. Every
One of the most common questions we are asked as kids is: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
If you asked me at any point between when I started to talk and when I completed my Master’s in Library and Information Science, I would not ever have put together the words Proposal and Writer.
Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
Is this ever so true as when you are working towards a deadline, such as for an RFP response? I feel this from all of the perspectives: Client Relationship Executive, Sales Executive, Proposal Manager, Proposal Writer, Subject Matter Expert (SME).
RFPs in focus: defining winning. Linkedin Instagram Facebook How are you defining winning? Winning is ubiquitous in business talk. And we hear it in so
Last week Caryn Kent Dean, founder of Once Upon an RFP, attended the Association of Proposal Management Professionals Greater Midwest Chapter (APMP-GMC) Symposium in Chicago.
Welcome to the Once Upon an RFP Blog! We are so happy to have you here.