Today we’d like to introduce you to Sunny Nunan.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
The Admin Awards was inspired by my Mother, a career Executive Secretary. I was working for a Dallas-based media company in the mid 2000’s when I realized that of all of the business award programs in the city there wasn’t a one that recognized the backbone of every organization lucky enough to have them — administrative professionals.
Certain there were similar programs in other cities in the U.S., I began my research with the intent of replicating one locally however was unable to find a public recognition program for admins anywhere in the U.S. Coming up empty again and again, even as I began to look globally, I was shocked that this community had gone unrecognized for so long, having had a personal glimpse of the phenomenal impact an administrative professional can have on an organization in so many areas.
Unsuccessful in gaining the support of the organization I worked for at the time in convincing them a program like The Admin Awards was long overdue and would be a financial success and not tangential to their core business, I was not given the green light to launch it.
I ultimately left that media company in 2009 to start my first company, Core24 still in existence today but couldn’t get the idea out of my head for a recognition program for this community of corporate unsung heroes. As a “creative”, many ideas come and go, but it’s those that linger and get you more and more excited as time goes by that you can’t ignore. I also felt like every experience in my life had prepared me for this moment and that I was no doubt about to follow what I felt was a strong calling. The Admin Awards was an idea whose time had come and I knew if I didn’t launch it somebody else would– but not with the heart and soul that I knew it deserved and that I knew I would put into it.
I had dozens of meetings with admins and executives alike as I worked to formulate an effective plan and structure for the program that would serve both communities which I felt was critical to our success. We needed to not only create a program where admins would feel honored and celebrated but a tangible recognition platform that would also give executives and coworkers an effective platform for recognizing outstanding admins and enable them to show their appreciation in meaningful way.
Once I had the structure and strategy in place, I then approached one of the country’s most beloved former admins, Colleen Barrett who began her career as a secretary to Herb Kelleher, the Founder of SWA asking if she would give us the honor of naming the program’s most prestigious award in her name, The Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence. Within an hour of receiving “the ask” via email from a no-name entrepreneur, she enthusiastically responded with an enthusiastic YES and instantly validated the long-overdue nature of an admin recognition program.
Over the course of her five-decade career, Colleen became President and COO of the airline showing that the sky was truly the limit for admins whose unique perspectives, competencies, employee advocacy and heart were of tremendous benefit to their organizations and would pave the way for whatever role they aspired to serve. Much of what we experience on Southwest is a direct result of Colleen’s leadership and belief that if you put your employees first they take care of the customer and how leading with love can enable an organization to reach unimaginable new heights.
With Colleen’s endorsement we were not only ecstatic to have the support of such a beloved, high-profile business leader but additionally, the pressure was officially on to deliver an extraordinary experience that succeeding in honoring her legacy in addition to the deserving community of administrative professionals doing amazing work.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Launching a company is one thing – scaling one is a whole different ball of wax.
When we set out to create The Admin Awards the initial goal was to create an annual recognition program in Dallas, Texas. Once we saw the impact the program had on the hearts and minds of administrative professionals, their executives, coworkers, family members and company culture, we knew that this program needed to be in every major city across the U.S. Two years after launching in Dallas, we made the decision to roll out a separate program in Fort Worth. With significant demand in Tarrant County for a dedicated program of its own, we also recognized that it would be an excellent test market for determining our ability to replicate the program in other markets given the market’s size and close proximity to our HQ. In 2014, after the program’s successful execution we confirmed the program’s scalability and with even stronger results than our inaugural year in Dallas. This gave us the confidence we needed to begin our national launch of two new markets a year until we were in every major market across the U.S.
The Admin Awards is currently operating in seven markets including Dallas, Fort Worth, Silicon Valley, Denver, Houston, San Francisco and South Florida. While we have our go-to-market strategy down and systems in place, launching a company is a very different experience from scaling one.
The ability to scale a company is also largely dependent on your ability to automate workflow and create systems that save time, money and reduce the likelihood of human error while also determining what to outsource and what to keep in-house. While there is no shortage of resources in both areas (employees and contract services) claiming to be the magic bullet, trial and error is an inherent aspect of growth and while painful, really necessary in the pursuit of continuous improvement. Whether it’s a CRM, email automation tool or project management software you’re utilizing, you always have this feeling that there’s got to be something better out there that the big companies are using. Along the way I’ve learned that’s often not the case.
Additionally, anyone trying to scale a business with little to no external funding finds the path exhausting and at times overwhelming from a financial perspective. We made a decision early on to not take on a major outside investor because I wanted the freedom to always put people and our pursuit of creating something truly extraordinary over short-term profit. Every penny we make goes into launching new markets, buying new systems, event inventory, hiring new staff etc. and at times you wonder if this is financially going to pay off one day because right now it hurts. And the crazy thing is, no entrepreneur wants to admit this because so many perceive the financial struggle as a form of failure but the reality is, so many entrepreneurs struggled silently for decades before hitting the headlines which those on the outside mistaken for overnight success. Everyone talks about the struggle once they’ve “made it” but not during it. I’m telling you its hard, scaling a business without a big nest egg. But it’s also liberating to know we’re doing this on our own without any investors breathing down our necks wondering about things like why we spend so much money on food at our events when rubber chicken is just fine or if it’s really necessary to spend as much as we do on our custom-made awards. Yes, it is. It is necessary. All of it.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about The Admin Awards – what should we know?
The Admin Awards is the first and only awards company in the U.S. that publicly recognizes the invaluable contributions of administrative professionals.
Referred to by attendees as “the Academy Awards for Admins”, The Admin Awards succeeds in creating a powerful and unique experience for those that participate in the program from the call for nominations through to the awards gala.
While The Admin Award is a competition in nine unique award categories including the program’s most prestigious award, The Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence, it is also a celebration of every administrative professional and the powerful relationship that exists between them and their executive counterpart(s).
Our relentless attention to detail and creating an unforgettable experience is evident in survey ratings that are as high as 91% Excellent, Five-Star with as high as 98% of survey responders rating the program as Excellent – Very Good.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Not one quality really, but a few.
First, I think my passion for this program and tremendous belief in what we’re doing has been important to our success.
Creativity would be a close second. We do things very different compared to traditional business award programs which has given us a tremendous edge over our competition.
Grit and determination. We’re a sponsorship property that is constantly competing with programs like NASCAR, golf tournaments, football games, CEO award programs and a long list of other traditionally male-focused sponsorship properties which means we have to be smarter, faster, more creative and more powerful if we’re going to get the attention shifted to our platform by sponsorship buyers.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4207 Herschel Ave.
Dallas, TX 75219 - Website: www.adminawards.com
- Phone: 972-498-1755
- Email: sunny.nunan@adminawards.com
- Instagram: adminawards
- Facebook: adminawards
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
