About the 2008 StartupNation Home-Based 100

Welcome to the one and only ranking focused on you – the outstanding unsung heroes of our economy – home-based entrepreneurs.

The second annual 2008 StartupNation Home-Based 100 will once again rank the best performing home-based businesses across America in ten distinct categories.

This year’s categories are:

• Best Financial Performers
• Most Innovative
• Boomers Back in Business
• Greenest
• Yummiest
• Wackiest
• Grungiest
• Recession Busters
• Most Slacker Friendly
• Most Glamorous

Building on the fanfare surrounding last year’s winners, the 2008 competition has the makings of an even bigger celebration of contestants, and ultimately, finalists who will claim their place among the 100 winners.

What Winners Win

First off, the publicity is priceless. We know that awareness and driving traffic to your business is one of the biggest challenges for any business owner. Winners of the Home-Based 100 find themselves at the center of a media storm that includes recognition on national and local TV, radio, in newspapers and magazines, and on some of the largest, most influential websites on the web, MSN and StartupNation among them.

In addition, contestants can use the competition as a way to engage their website visitors, email database and business contacts with exciting updates and activity about your progress as a contestant. By encouraging them to vote for you and support your quest to be a winner, you provide them with an engaging and fun way to participate in your success. This can help you create deeper loyalty and affinity, which ultimately can lead to business opportunities and increased revenue.

Lastly, being named a winner and displaying the digital winner’s emblem on their website and in their emails will not only be a source of pride for them, but also will add immense credibility to their site, brand and business. It’s a huge achievement to be selected from among the millions of home-based businesses, and contestants’ customers will recognize and respect this immediately.

Selection Process and Important Dates

The number of votes accumulated by contestants has a big influence on the opinions of the judges who will ultimately select the winners. Popular voting remained open up through October 31, 2008. StartupNation and a panel of judges who are each passionate about home-based business will be deliberating over the best of the best. Winners will be announced in mid-November, 2008.

The judges’ decision-making process will be influenced by the following factors:

• How well your business fits the category (or secondary category) for which you entered
• The quality and completeness of the description about your business and the case you make for it. Your passion, achievements, creativity, integrity and/or humor may be instrumental factors depending upon which category(s) you entered
• The popularity of your entry based on number of popular votes received

The popular voting will culminate in announcement of the Top Ten Highest Vote Getters winners along with other winners (see last year’s Highest Vote-Getters).