Enterprise Nation - Fund 101

Last month an amazing project came to my attention.  It's called Fund 101 and is run by Enterprise Nation, an organisation dedicated to helping start up businesses.  I found out about Enterprise Nation through the founder, Emma Jones, and her book "Working 5-9: How to Start a Successful Business in Your Spare Time", which is, as you will know if you're a regular reader, what I've been doing with my jewellery for the past few years. 

Fund 101 was set up to help small businesses start up, or grow their business, by applying for a grant of up to £500.  This is kind of amazing, as it's so difficult for businesses, especially small ones, to get any kind of funding.

I was sadly too late to apply for last month's funding, as once their monthly total available has been reached, the application process and voting is temporarily closed.  But when it opened again today, I was ready with my application!  I'm applying for funding to buy proper sealed containers to store and heat my acids and chemicals, as they're pretty expensive and I've never been quite able to afford them.  This is what I'm after:

At the moment, I'm using ancient slow cookers to heat chemicals.  They're not sealed and all the lids are rusty, so they let all of the fumes out into my workshop and into my poor little lungs!  Also, the acid condensation gets all overy my hands when I need to use the chemicals, which definitely does my eczema no good at all!

Anyway, I've made my application and it's now live on the site.  Exciting!!!  I dithered for ages which picture to use between this one:

And this one:

...but went with my little winged skate in the end, as it's so "me"!

So, here is my application:  http://www.enterprisenation.com/funding-applications/lauren-grace-jewellery/

Please, please go and vote for me!  You do need to register on the Enterprise Nation site, but it only takes a minute and they promise not to spam you with loads of emails, it's just so they can make sure each person only votes once. 

To say thanks, if you leave a comment when you vote, you'll be entered into a prize draw (drawn by random number generator), the winner of which will get their choice of either a silver winged skate necklace or a silver bumblebee necklace.  That's got to be worth a couple of minutes of your time, right? 

Thank you so much for all your help!