Enthusiastic Startup Princess Orange County, CA Chapter Launches

On Monday Jan 26th 40 women gathered in Ladera Ranch to launch the Startup Princess Orange County Chapter, our FIRST one outside of Utah (and my home state). Initially we hoped to get 20 women there, so we were pleasantly surprised. And can I say the OC Startup Princesses are soo TALENTED! BRILLIANT! BEAUTIFUL! INSPIRING! GENEROUS! and FUN! We are so blessed to find the jewels of OC women entrepreneurs.

I loved meeting all the new Startup Princesses and conducting the event. Ciaran Blumenfeld was made a Fairy Godmother at the event for all of her contributions to other women in business and her success as a fashion designer (her previous company was sold in 250 boutiques!) We networked all night in small groups, had wonderful giveaways (including 3 memberships to the chapter) and took applications for the chapter presidency “Royal Court.” We had 10 people apply so we’re thrilled to see the interest level and volunteers (I haven’t selected them yet). Membership for OC is just $149 for 7 more mtgs in 2009 and also includes discounts to larger Startup Princess events in Anaheim, SLC, and NYC.

Three cheers to Monique of Wow Design who sponsored decorations and put together a stunning party!!  BEAUTIFUL clubhouse, magical decor, delicious food too!

Here’s a video of us pre-guests with Monique making the final touches:

Can’t wait to hear about their next event in February…kind of sad I can’t be there myself! Luv these women!!

The Organizers, Plus an Interview with Debbie Savage of Baby Emi (we’re missing Jamie Dadant in the video, bummer!)

Many thanks to Debbie Savage, Jamie Dadant, and Carrie Lundell for encouraging us to launch a group, bringing food and inviting their friends. And much love to Ciaran Blumenfeld who set up the club membership at Ladera Ranch so our group can meet there and connected us to Monique and other fabulous women. Enjoy our videos!!

Meet some of the Startup Princesses of OC!

Were you there? Leave a comment by clicking on the title of the post. Happy to hear from you!

Video Clips from Provo Startup Princess Lunch & Suntweet

What a whirlwind of events this past week…I’ve been trying to capture some of the great people attending events. Enjoy these short fun/casual videos:

Provo Lunch speaker, Tara McCausland, Life Coach, Allison Czarnecki, Petit Elefant and April Atwater, Sweet Life in the Valley

Suntweet sponsor, Jeremy Hanks co-founder of Doba and Kelly King Anderson, Startup Princess talk about Launchup.org

Suntweet panelist, Jyl Patte of Mom it Forward and April Atwater of Sweet Life in the Valley



Get to Know Vicki Winterton, Professional Organizer

Vicki Winterton is a professional organizer and focuses on helping individuals and businesses tackle paper, space and time. She’s built a successful business in Utah and enjoys working one on one with clients as well as acting as a consultant to help clients understand what they can do to make progress with their organizational goals. Vicki serves as a mentor and Startup Princess Fairy Godmother and recently was on a panel at our annual conference, Touchpoint in Utah last Fall. There’s another opportunity to hear Vicki this Friday in Provo, Utah. Vicki will specifically be discussing how to tackle YOUR personal and professional space to improve productivity, topics many of us could really benefit from to grow our businesses and help create more balance in the home.

Please enjoy getting to know Fairy Godmother Vicki WInterton!

Hometown: Myton, Utah
Current Residence: Provo, Utah
Education: B.S. from BYU
Professional Background: Professional Teacher, Corporate Events Director, Direct Salesperson, and Professional Organizer
What you wanted to be when you grew up: A background singer for a famous musical performer
What you are: Professional Organizer / Productivity Trainer
Brief Summary of your Startup: Began business in 2007, tripled clients in 2008, plan to triple again in 2009
Company Website? www.organize-utah.com
What inspired you? An Oprah show question inspired me to start, the question was, What are you passionate about?
How long have you been in business? 2 years
How did you fund it? Self funded
Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? Julie Morganstern
Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Organizing Specialist/Show co-host, www.theorganizedwomanshow.com , member National Association of Professional Organizers, founding officer, NAPO-Utah, member Faithful Organizers, Facebook
Current Business Challenge? Finding those who are ready for real help in Organizing their Paper, Space, Time & Computer Data in either their homes or business offices
What are you doing about it? TV, Radio, Local Newspapers, Presentations
Favorite motivational quote? If something is barely worth doing, just barely do it.
Family? VERY supportive hubby and 3 terrific children
If so, how do you balance family and business? Very well.  Balance is my specialty!
Favorite book? Organizing from the Inside-Out by Julie Morganstern
What do you do to relax? Lunch with friends
What are you most proud of? My logical mind
What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Learn to prioritize EACH day by drafting 3 lists of 3.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? My Calendar and my Action File

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Blue Sapphires

Meet Tara McCausland, Joy Quest Coaching

Tara McCausland, Life Coach will be speaking Jan 23rd at the Provo, Utah Startup Princess lunch, please join us! Michelle McCullough Startup Princess Business Development Manager writes the following about Tara:

I love it when fabulous people from my past resurface and enter my life again.  I met Tara eight years ago when she had been elected Girls State Governor for the State of Utah.  If you don’t know what Girls State is, let me just say it’s a big deal, and being elected Governor is the highest position.  Tara’s leadership and love for others made her successful as Governor then and I’m confident that these same talents continue to make her successful in her current role as life coach today.  Now, she balances her new coaching business (in operation for only five months) while raising her first child and is enjoying the delicate balance of running a startup and raising a family.  Come meet Tara in person at the Startup Princess lunch in Provo on Friday, January 23rd, details here.

Name: Tara McCausland

Hometown: Mapleton, Ut

Current Residence: Salt Lake City, Ut

Education: B.S. Family, Consumer, Human Development from Utah State University; Certified Life Coach through Mission Ignition Inc.

Professional Background: Before becoming a coach, I was employed with the Utah Youth Village as a Families First Specialist where I taught at-risk families life skills. 

What you wanted to be when you grew up: A concert pianist. However, when I was a junior in high school, practicing a 21 page concerto for several months rid me of that aspiration. I also realized that I was far too social to spend my college days behind a set of ivories. I’d probably have gone mad before long. What you are: I’m a life coach and speaker. Through a relationship of trust and accountability, I help people whip their personal and professional lives into shape so that they can do all and be all they can be.

Brief Summary of your Start Up: After leaving the Youth Village, I realized I wanted to continue to help people succeed in their personal and professional lives, but I wanted to be able to do it from home so I could be with my son. I heard about life coaching and decided that was the perfect fit for me since I could continue to help people and work from my own abode. Within a month of learning about coaching, I’d signed on with a coach to become certified and here I am – the owner of my own coaching business, Joy Quest Coaching. I love it! How long have you been in business? A whoppin’ 5 months.

Company Website? www.myjoyquest.com

What inspired you? My love for people and my desire to help them succeed was the primary motivation for getting into coaching. When I worked at the Youth Village, I loved watching families grow together and make positive changes in their lives. I found the work difficult, but incredibly rewarding and, to be honest, a little addictive. I get a serious high from watching people realize solutions to problems and find more joy in their lives.

How did you fund it? You’ll laugh, but it was actually student loans that funded my business venture. My husband is a grad student in Physical Therapy at the University of Utah and we just took out an additional loan to pay for my training. Yes, I have an amazing husband to allow me to do that. Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? No, but I’ve had many people cheering me on from day one. I’ve found that incredibly motivating during this process.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? BNI (Business Networking International). BNI is all about word of mouth referrals and in the coaching business, that’s the very best kind of referral (and Startup Princess!)

Current Business Challenge? Getting my name out and establishing myself in the coaching world.

What are you doing about it? As I already mentioned, I joined BNI.  I am also writing and posting articles on the web (Knol, Ezine, and Article Base) to help me get my name out and to build credibility. I am also actively looking for opportunities to speak in a number of different settings, again, to establish credibility, give me more experience and to get my name out.

Favorite motivational quote: Never, never, never give up. –Winston Churchill

Family? I’ve been married for almost 4 years to my high school sweetheart (note: he was my sweetheart, but I wasn’t his sweetheart till after we graduated☺). We have a 10 month old son named Rockwell. He’s a bundle of hyperactive joy.

How do you balance family and business? I capitalize on nap times and bed times when the little man is snoozing. Planning is a big one, too. I’ve found that if I plan my days according to my priorities, I’m much more likely to accomplish what needs to be done.

Favorite book? I have lots of “favorites”, but based on the fact that I’ve read it the most times, I’d probably have to say Pride and Prejudice. What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic.

What do you do to relax? Go on walks with my family. I also love to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie with my husband.

What do you want to change most about your world? I want to help people see the abundance of opportunity around them and the tremendous potential that lies within each of us to achieve our dreams.

What are you most proud of? My incredible family! I have been blessed with a phenomenal set of parents, wonderful siblings, and a husband and son who treat me like gold.

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Don’t ever forget the power of the persistence effect.  If you persist, success is imminent. History is evidence of that fact.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? I’m not sure you can call him a tool, but I’d have to say my husband is my favorite resource for comfort and encouragement. If ever I’m feeling discouraged, he’s always there to pick me up. He’s my biggest fan!

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Diamonds. I know, I know. Very creative, huh?

Thanks, Startup Princess Tara for the interview!

Why Twitter and How to Add Value

Last week I had the opportunity to speak about Twitter, my beloved social network (yes, Facebook fans, love it more than Facebook). Here’s a video from the presentation at What’s Up Down South, St. George, Utah. There’s other great social media presentations by the co-presenters on our You Tube Startup Princess channel.

Kelly King Anderson, Founder of Startup Princess on Cover of Utah Business Magazine

Wishes do come true!  Many thanks to Utah Business for this incredible opportunity and exposure. I’m honored to be featured. The photo shoot was a lot of fun, enjoyed being the “princess” for the day. Many thanks to photographer Brandon Flint and art director Spencer Henderson of Utah Business, they were fantastic to work with. Utah Business is a 22 yr old publication with state-wide distribution available at Barnes and Noble, Costco, grocery stores, and more.

The article is about how entrepreneurs often change directions and it’s for the best. Jeremy Hanks of Doba and David Ludlow of Bullfrog Spas are also featured in the article.

The piece discusses my journey of how I initially started a princess retail business but along the way decided to focus on Startup Princess, which was the right fit for my family’s needs. It doesn’t mention it but another reason for the decision to grow Startup Princess was because there was more traction here than getting the funding required to grow the other business. Glad I decided to grow this one, our community is magical.

Here’s a quote from the article:

3 Startup Princess Events for January!!

Whoohoo! Our wishes are coming true! We’re thrilled to offer three great opportunites for Startup Princesses/women entrepreneurs this month in Orange County, California (Ladera Ranch) and 2 Utah events. Please join us if you’re close by!

Here’s a link with the details, note that the fabulous new ORANGE COUNTY, California group’s first event is FREE! We’re pleased to offer a deal for our new Startup Princess chapter, can’t wait to meet you all. Many many thanks to Ciaran Blumenfeld of Francie-Pants for all of her efforts to get the group started!

Bummed you can’t come to an event? Please join us at our new Tweetworks group online!

Plan an Informal Business Lunch at Home + Meet Allison Czarnecki, of Petit Elefant blog

Recently I met Allison Czarnecki of the very popular blog, Petit Elefant via email and we discovered that we’re neighbors. We decided it would be wonderful to get together for lunch and since we both have young children hosting a lunch at my home seemed like a much better alternative to McDonald’s playland. This video shows of how we planned our simple meetup plus you can learn how Allison’s been so successful in working with sponsors to get giveaways for her blog (her big Christmas one was 2 microwaves from GE and generated over 1000 comments!) Note the middle segment and my bouncy camera work, sorry but it was too funny to delete, Enjoy!

Acknowledge Mistakes With a Sense of Humor

I wanted to share a great post by Fairy Godmother, Holly Buchanan, marketing to women expert. Holly writes openly about how she handled a slightly embarrassing moment in front of a client and what she learned from it, it’s great! Go Holly, Go!

Get to Know Kelly King Anderson, Founder of Startup Princess

Fairy Godmother Sarah Bray of S. Joy Studios and MaTweeps, (a new fantastic blog focused on interviewing Twitter Users) interviewed me and I wanted to share it with you. I loved the questions she asked me, but they were very challenging, especially trying to be concise. I spent hours figuring out how to answer the one about how to be a rockin’ mom and entrepreneur because it’s the most difficult task I have before me each day, take a look at how I answered and if you’d like, please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

Next Page »