My Own Schedule Makeover Part I

When I started my first business in 2005, I had a completely haphazard schedule and would answer e-mails after going out with friends and stay up until 2 a.m. finishing projects.  This led to almost constant feelings of stress when working and guilt when not working.

Something had to change. Read more

Introducing Allison Czarnecki of Petit Elefant and Social Luxe Lounge

I met clever mom, visionary, fashionista, event planner and professional blogger  Allison Czarnecki of Petit Elefant early January 2009 via email.  When decided to meet up for lunch we realized that we lived in the same neighborhood! How fun is that? Quite a rarity to find a cool blogging chick in your backyard.  I’ve enjoyed reading Allison’s blog this past year and getting to know her better. Here’s a few of my favorite recent posts by Allison: her post after Touchpoint about Heather Bailey and running for Blogteam President, her tribute to her Grandpa, eyeshadow post on Design Mom, and about meeting “Nie Nie” Stephanie Nielson.

When I met Allison she impressed me with her ambition to take things up a notch in 2009 and it’s been a joy to see her  over the past year do just that!  This year has been a whirlwind for Allison– lots of conferences, traveling, blogging events (Mom 2.0, Blogher, and TJMaxx event…to name a few).  She spent 3 weeks on the road with her family this Summer sampling wonderful hotels, excursions, restaurants, and more and sharing them with her readers at Petit Elefant and if that weren’t enough she also was one of the masterminds behind the highly successful Social Luxe Lounge at Blogher where they had over 700 attend and attracted top sponsors such as Swiffer, Kodak, Lego and more.  Allison has boundless energy, vision, determination, and is inspiring to watch.  She is super talented forming partnerships with key individuals and companies to make her wishes come true. -Kelly King Anderson, Startup Princess Founder

Enjoy getting to know Allison!

Hometown: Orem, Utah

Current Residence: Spanish Fork, Utah

Education: Bachelors of Science, Behavioral Science/Psychology

Professional Background: Copy writer, odd essayist here and there. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years.

What you wanted to be when you grew up: a marine biologist, or a photographer for National Geographic. It was sevens.

What you are: a writer, editor, fashionista, mama

Brief Summary of your Startup: I’m the founder and editor of an online family lifestyle magazine, which basically means I get to stay home with my kids while I write. I focus a lot on travel, home and garden, crafts & recipes, and style. It’s so much fun it should be illegal.

Company Website? http://www.petitelefant.com (also check out her blogher mega-event  Social Luxe Lounge)

What inspired you? I’ve always wanted to write for a magazine, and this way I get to stay at home and do it in my pajamas. Oh, and I’m the boss.

How long have you been in business? Two years.

How did you fund it? It was free. Started out as just a simple blog, now it’s a business.

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? Nope.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Not technically, no, but I attend a lot of networking events including Startup Princess, and travel to blogging conferences where I meet a lot of other people who are successful at writing professionally.

Current Business Challenge? Having enough time in the day to follow all my ideas to fruition.

What are you doing about it? Sleeping less.

Favorite motivational quote: This too shall pass.

Family? Married to the love of my life, two kids, a boy and girl.

If so, how do you balance family and business? I think balance is a farce, I feel like I’m on a flying trapeze at all times.

Favorite book? A separate peace.

What do you do to relax? Take hot baths, go running, listen to great music, get together with girlfriends, read a book, watch a good movie.

What do you want to change most about your world? My world? I’d like to change the perception of stay-at-home moms. If people only knew!

What are you most proud of? Being a parent while managing a successful business; it’s no small task.

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Have a very clear mental vision of what you’d like to accomplish with what you’re doing, and hold on tight when things get hard. Oh and get a good lawyer.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? Other women in business. Priceless advice.

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Sapphires, they’re my birthstone.

Thanks Allison, you’re an inspiring Startup Princess!

Early Bird Registration Available Now for Startup Princess Image & Media Academy *SAVE* $150!

We are delighted to announce that Early Bird Registration is now available for our upcoming Startup Princess Image & Media Academy Nov 12-14 in Sundance, Utah. By registering early you can save $150 and there’s additional savings if you register with a friend. You don’t want to miss out on this exclusive retreat, at a gorgeous 8700 sq ft luxury cabin with industry experts in Image & Media- Starley Murray, Danielle LaPorte, Summer Bellessa, and Cherie Burton, with discussions on web design by Sarah Bray. If you haven’t already seen our video and downloaded the PDF with the event flyer, agenda and my Pre-Media checklist, go take a look! Just think- three days to work deep on image and media training, concluding with headshots by a top celebrity photographer Russ Dixon. There’s pricing with and without lodging (for locals). All rates include gourmet meals, all trainings, headshots and more.

Attended Touchpoint? PLEASE Grant our Wish and Take our Quick Survey!

We have a little wish…please give us your feedback, we’re already planning Touchpoint 2010 so if you could tell us who you want to speak, what topics you want to have, etc. we’d love you for it! Click Here to take the survey, Thank you!

Deseret News Article on Startup Princess, “Women Get Tips on Starting Business”

Many thanks to reporter Lois Collins, Deseret News who attended our recent Startup Princess Touchpoint conference and wrote a great article:

Women get tips on starting business

Feel fear but do it anyway, keynote speaker advises

October Startup Princess Chapter Event for Utah County

Join us!

UTAH COUNTY:

Vision Board Workshop ‘Personal Purpose, How to Create and Use a Vision Board’
Bring magazines to use and share to create your own vision board. Presented by Michelle McCullough and Kelly King Anderson of Startup Princess.

Thursday, October 29th
7:30-9:00 p.m.

333 West River Park Drive
Provo, UT 84606

Tahitian Noni Building, Provo

Refreshments and poster-board provided
$15 pay by paypal Kelly (at) StartupPrincess (dot) com or bring a check

Come enjoy a great message, workshop and networking.

Join Kelly King Anderson for Free Teleseminar on Pre-Media Planning Thursday 9/24 7pm MDT

Please join me for our second teleseminar pre-Startup Princess Image & Media Academy this Thursday, Sept 24th at 7pm MDT. I’ll be talking about pre-media planning and preparation, you can download my PDF on the website here.  In the past 18 months I’ve been on two magazine covers and featured or included in another 9 magazines, plus I’ve been a guest on numerous tv, radio, and podcasts. I hope to share a few insights that I’ve learned with you, please listen in!

Here’s the call details:

Call: (712) 775-7300
Participant Access Code: 600073#

NOTE: Please do NOT announce your name when prompted if you join the call after 7:05pm we’ll be recording it and it disrupts the call, use *6 to mute yourself on the call and eliminate background noise, thank you!

If you’d like to hear last week’s call with Cherie Burton, (it really was amazing and inspiring!) here’s the details:

call (712) 775-7399 Access Code: 600073#

Craft a Killer Press Release + Win a Free Press Release Book

Janet Meiners Thaler of NewspaperGirl and a Startup Princess Fairy Godmother has just published her first book on press releases and is giving us a chance to win one here!

I often assume that everyone knows what a press release is. Yet I’m surprised how often people don’t. Most of all, they fail to think of a press release as a marketing tool for their business.

A press release is an announcement to the media that is interesting enough to merit attention. Or, put another way, it’s announcing something new about your business.

But on the Internet a press release is more than that. Read more

Lessons on Beauty & Balance by Cherie Burton

I’ve been enjoying soaking up light and wisdom from Cherie Burton.  Cherie was my personal image coach in 2008 and she will be one of our Speakers at our upcoming Startup Princess Image & Media Academy Nov 12-14 in Sundance, Utah.  Last week we hosted a call with Cherie on Image & Beauty, if you would like to listen to it, call (712) 775-7399 Access Code: 600073#  I also attended a class she taught on Balance in her home on Saturday.  I feel so empowered from her messages I wanted to share some of her great insights with you. (This painting is so stunning of a woman “awakening”, see her butterfly wings? see the full image here)  Read more

Meet Alexandra Tornek of So Smart! Productions

Alexandra Tornek of So Smart! Productions is a great example of using your education and passion to create your own business. Her company, which makes educational products for children ages birth to Pre-K, reflects her years of working with infants along with her passion in artistry. Alexandra shows that when you combine your passion with a keen eye for seeing an opportunity, you will find great success. We are pleased to introduce you to her!

Hometown: Miami, FL

Current Residence: West Chester, PA

Education: BS, University of Pennsylvania; MS and doctoral work, University of Miami

Professional Background: I worked for many years as an infancy researcher at the Mailman Center for Early Childhood Development, and the Touch Research Institute, which pioneered studies on massage and infants. I am also an artist, and come from a family of professional artists. After working as an infancy researcher, I co-founded So Smart! Productions, which develops early educational products for ages birth to Pre-K. It combined my skills as a fine artist, graphic artist and research work with infants.

What you wanted to be when you grew up:

A scientist.

What you are: The Co-Founder and CEO of So Smart! Productions

Brief Summary of your Start Up: So Smart! Productions started in 1997. Parents began to discover that their young children were attracted to the television, but there were no appropriate programs available for this age group. We created a company at the time called The Baby School Company (now So Smart! Productions), and produced an animated video titled So Smart! Sights & Sounds. It won a number of national parenting awards and gained quick distribution into top toy store chains, and it was a big hit with young families, as well as educators and caregivers. Young children loved it, and parents loved it too, because it was so engaging and interactive and such a unique platform for discovering new things.

Company Website?

www.SoSmart.com

What inspired you?

Working as an infancy researcher, I saw how babies were naturally attracted to the television, which we used in many of our studies to gauge babies’ preferences. I spent a lot of time listening to parents and their experience at home with their children around the television, who many times were watching programs that were not appropriate for their age, and so I thought, what a great opportunity to provide something useful with this medium.

How long have you been in business?

We founded So Smart! Productions in 1997.

How did you fund it?

With our savings.

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)?

My mom. She worked as a sculptor and was a single mom. I learned from her the art of balancing work and family.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups?

We have a large network of contacts from being in the industry for so many years, and are involved with Penn, where my husband and I went to school.

Current Business Challenge?

We are launching a new series, So Smart! Baby’s First Word Stories. Our challenge will be to get people to try it. Based on the focus groups we have tested so far, we know that once they watch this new series, they will love it. We’ve always benefited by tremendous word of mouth.

What are you doing about it?

We have joined forces with the largest independent DVD distributor in North America, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. This will give us a level of distribution and marketing reach well beyond what we have ever had before. It is exciting for us to move to this next level, and reach parents in such larger numbers.

Favorite motivational quote:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Family?

My husband and business partner, Scott, and I have two wonderful children, Matthew age 10, and Kaely age 5.

If so, how do you balance family and business?

It’s a challenge. We make sure that we set aside ample time for family, and flex our schedule in certain areas to accomplish this. For instance, we have dinner at home as a family most days of the week, and after the kids are in bed, many times we go back to the computer to finish projects.

Favorite book?

As a mother who works in children’s media as a profession, I have to say the “Frog and Toad” series by Arnold Lobel. He writes sweet, clever stories that make you laugh.

What do you do to relax?

Work on my garden.

What do you want to change most about your world?

More time in the day!

What are you most proud of?

The testimonials we receive from parents and grandparents telling us how much their children love our products.

What advice would you like to offer other Start Up Princesses?

To find something that you are passionate about, and have a skill. If you can find that combination, then the rest is perseverance, and believing in yourself.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)?

Adobe Illustrator.

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

Cherries, raisins and M&M’s.

Would you be interested in being a Fairy Godmother and writing articles or speaking at Startup Princess events?

Absolutely.

What business subjects would you feel comfortable mentoring in?

Most aspects of creativity-based businesses.

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