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Loraine McCall Wins $5000 at BYU Home-Based Business Plan Competition

April 2, 2008

I am a very proud Fairy Godmother today… perhaps my most proud moment as a business mentor. Today reinforced why I do what I do, and why I’ve chosen, “Empowering Women to Fulfill their Dreams in Business” as my Mrs. Utah competition platform.

Two months ago I taught a standing-room-only class on “How to Write a Business Plan for Beginners and Procrastinators” at BYU and then encouraged them to pitch their business ideas to each other, I wanted them to network, get over fears, and share their ideas. Loraine McCall was the first to raise her hand and she wowed us all by her courage and strong business idea and ability to communicate her vision in less than 2 minutes… I gave Loraine a Startup Princess magic wand that day as a symbol of her “magic” and encouraged her to compete in the Home-based Business Plan competition this term. I knew she would have a great chance because of her original idea, however I knew it would be a challenge for this young mom, busy Spanish Translation major, (born in Puerto Rico, raised in New York), to find time to write a business plan in less than 1 week besides other commitments, etc, but Loraine did it, she entered the competition and was one of the 4 selected to the finals.

Yesterday I met with each of the teams and reviewed their presentations and gave them ideas and feedback. Each of the teams have solid concepts and companies destined for success, however, to be honest none of them were ready for today’s event, so I gave it to them straight–I told each of them what to focus on and rework to “make it happen” and it was very rewarding for me personally to see the results of our mentoring sessions–they each worked very hard to be prepared today. I LOVE LOVE LOVE mentoring, particularly in early stage business when ideas area fresh and execution is uncertain, offering suggestions, discussing marketing plans, and possible partnerships, etc.

Today when I watched the students as an Advisor/Mentor for the competition (not a judge) along with Faculty Advisor, Kim Scoville (a Fairy Godmother too) I couldn’t be more pleased with the confidence, revised powerpoints, and high-level, professional, national-competition quality presentations of each of the teams! WishCraze is going to “own” social shopping on the web for “Tweens” youth ages 8-14 and beyond… check it out, make a wish gift list of your own!, and Realty Solutions has a great lead generation company for agents affiliated with ReMax.

Loraine of Hand in Hand, “Heroes in Training” wowed us with her passion, her ability to share her vision to empower the lives of young children and has developed a product that when patented will be a wonderful gift for children! I nearly cried through all of Loraine’s presentation because of how far she came and I knew in my heart she was the winner… and the judges agreed (even though I really didn’t have a “say” in their decision).

She’ll receive weekly email/phone mentoring for six months from me, as Startup Princess is a sponsor of the competition as well as $5000 from BYU Founders of the Center for Entrepreneurship to get her business off the ground!!

I couldn’t be happier for her and this exciting new venture. Loraine has a 16 month old baby and is a very dedicated wife and mother, this will be a perfect opportunity for her to create additional income for her family while remaining at home. Loraine represents the “Home-based Business Plan” ideal winner perfectly, she has a strong, creative and original business concept which can be developed in a flex-schedule/home life style with promise of strong income for years to come.

Today there was some discussion for making the BYU Home-based Business Plan competition a national one where college students all over can apply, wouldn’t that be incredible!?

I love being a part of the Center for Entrepreneurship at BYU, where my love for business began in 2005 when I was a competitor and semi-finalist at BYU, and then won 2nd place nationally at Wake Forest’s national MBA competition while I was a grad student in Theatre, so I was much like Loraine, foreign to business, without business classes/experience. Perhaps that’s why I cried today…close to home. I know how hard it is to pull off a great presentation while you’re a mom and while you’re so new to the field.

Congrats to Startup Princess, Loraine! She’ll be a local celebrity around BYU’s Marriot School of Business now… she deserves it.

Written by startupprincess · Filed Under News, Uncategorized 

  Startup Princess is an international network committed to empowering Women Entrepreneurs by offering resources for women in business to support, mentor, collaborate, learn from, and inspire one another. In 2006, after struggling to raise funding for an initial startup business venture, Kelly King Anderson recognized an important market niche existed for reliable resources educating women desiring to start and grow successful businesses, thus Startup Princess was developed.

Successful women entrepreneurs understand that for every business venture, they are in charge of creating, organizing, developing, managing, and assuming all the risks associated with their enterprise. That can seem quite intimidating but as other women business owners will tell you, it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it! Success is within your grasp and Startup Princess is here to help.

First, join as a member of Startup Princess and start building a solid foundation. Membership entitles you to a listing in the Startup Princess Online Directory where we list women owned businesses. You’ll also access exclusive content like articles, videos, and audio straight from your email inbox. Coupled with feature interviews, discounts on events, networking connections, and press opportunities, your Startup Princess membership will give any woman entrepreneur a great start for her business!

Then, take advantage of Touchpoint, our annual business conference for women entrepreneurs. Practical planning meets sky-high inspiration at this high-impact event for women business owners to network and develop their approach to business with wisdom and creative direction from other women entrepreneurs across the country.

Need a little help taking your business to the next step? Wish you had a fairy godmother like Cinderella offering you a helping hand? Now you can! Startup Princess is the home of Fairy Godmother Consulting, volunteer mentors sharing tips and insights to bless the lives of other women entrepreneurs.

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