Meet Kim Flynn, Founder and Owner of Fabulous Living and Tutoring Connection

We have so many great speakers lined up for this year’s Touchpoint Conference in Utah, one of which is the business-savy and extremely likable Kim Flynn of Fabulous Living and Tutoring Connection. Kim, who is also one of our very own Fairy Godmothers, will be speaking on, 5 Steps to Organizing Your Business From the Ground Up. Don’t miss your chance to learn from Kim and our other speakers on September 24th! We hope to see you there! 

Hometown: Suburbs of Atlanta

Current Residence: Cedar Hills, Utah

Education: BA Brigham Young University

Professional Background: I taught English for 3 years before starting Tutoring Connection at age 24. Ten years later I started Fabulous Living, inspiring, in-home classes for women.

What you wanted to be when you grew up: An English teacher

What you are: A woman, a wife, a mother, a business owner, an author, and a speaker.

Brief Summary of your Start Up: After having my first baby, I started tutoring kids in my own home. The business grew, and pretty soon I had 5 different tutoring “stations” set up all over the house. We had cars parked up & down the street all day long, so we switched to an at-home tutoring format: our tutors now go to the clients home. We now have up to 20 tutors, and tutor up to 150 children per week in reading, math, and specialized subjects.

Fabulous Living started when I wanted an in-home personal trainer and a personal stylist, and I figured other women would want the same services. Fabulous-Living.com now offers in-home training and image consulting in Utah County, as well as video and on-line classes in a variety of subjects available to everyone!

Company Website? www.TutoringConnection.net and www.Fabulous-Living.com Twitter @kimmo29

What inspired you? My Dad. He was always thinking up new business ideas when I was growing up. His latest idea is a tilapia farm!

How long have you been in business? 10 years

How did you fund it? I grew it organically, never needing a loan or any more than $100 in start-up funds!

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? Heather Madder is my business coach extraordinaire. www.heathermadder.com

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Utah County WEB, and Startup Princess, of course!

Current Business Challenge? I just restructured and let the woman go who has been running my business for me for three years. It was time to progress, but it was a very painful decision!

What are you doing about it? Choosing to make the hard decisions when they need to be made, even when they are personally painful.

Favorite motivational quote: “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.” — Ezra Taft Benson

Family? I have a fabulous hubby, and four kidlets ages 10 – 2.

If so, how do you balance family and business? I work two days a week from home with a babysitter. I involve my kids in my business choices, decisions, and lessons learned. They know that business is a key purpose and mission in my life, and I encourage them to develop and find their own.

Favorite book? Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, E-Myth by Michael Gerber, Why Our Children Can’t Read by Carmen McGuinness, A New Earth by Eckart Tolle

What do you do to relax? Tinker in my garden, scrapbook, take a bath, and read anything non-business related.

What do you want to change most about your world? I want to show women that they can LIVE. I am committed to strengthening marriage.

What are you most proud of? I am proud to be a teacher, in many different settings.

What advice would you like to offer other Start Up Princesses? Take that first scary step in the dark, and then another, and then another. Pray for guidance. The Lord wants you to be on the path that you want to be on!

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? Books, books, books.

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Anything but diamonds. My socially conscious sisters would not approve!

You’re Invited! Startup Princess UT County “Dress Your Body Type and Clothing Swap” – April 8, 2010

We’re thrilled to announce our first event in 2010 for the Startup Princess Utah County Chapter! Please join us  Thursday, April 8th from 7pm-9pm at the Tahitian Noni (333 West River Park Drive, Provo, Utah), for an evening of inspiration, networking, and fun for Dress Your Body Type and Clothing Swap!  This exciting event will feature clothing designer and personal stylist Mindy Batt of Fabulous Living.  With more than 10 years in the fashion industry, Mindy will teach Startup Princesses how to dress their body and lead an exciting clothing swap!  For more information on  Fabulous Living, visit them online at www.fabulousliving.net.

To participate in the Clothing Swap, please bring clean items of clothing to exchange for another fabulous clothing find.  If you bring three pieces, you’re entitled to swap for three pieces.  Any leftover clothing will be donated to charity.

The cost of the event is $15 for pre-paid attendees (by April 7th) or $20 at the door.  First time guests are free!  To pre-pay please use the Paypal button below. Thank you!

Special Thanks to our Utah County Chapter Sponsor:

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Introducing Kim Flynn, Serial Entrepreneur and Startup Princess Fairy Godmother

What a pleasure it’s been for me to get to know Kim Flynn, one of our newest Startup Princess Fairy Godmothers sharing wisdom and inspiration! Kim’s also in our Utah County Royal Court helping to organize our events here, love her energy and vision. Talk about a bright and talented woman- WOW. Kim just blows me away because she’s the mother of 4 and owns not just 1 business but 3 (Tutoring Connection, Fabulous Living, and Real Estate) and consults as well. How does she do it? Kim has figured out how to start companies and let them manage themselves, she’s teaching me a lot about organizing and setting up systems so you can spend more time overseeing a business and not running one. Here’s a couple of her recent posts for Startup Princess. Enjoy getting to know Kim.

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Current Residence: Cedar Hills, Utah

Education: BA, English Education, BYU

Professional Background (brief, please): Taught jr. high & high school English before starting a tutoring business.

What you wanted to be when you grew up: English teacher

What you are: Business Owner, at-home mom of 4, wife to luckiest man in the world

Brief Summary of your Startup: I started tutoring out of my home, and it grew out of control! We had 5 tutors at a time set up all over my house & cars parked up & down the street. The neighbors started to complain, so we moved to an office location. After almost 10 years of business, we started Fabulous Living, a division of Tutoring Connection that provides in-home classes for women. We currently offer a Kick Start to Fitness class and a How NOT to Dress in Utah Valley class.

Company Website?
www.tutoringconnection.net
www.fabulousliving.net

What inspired you? My dad is an entrepreneur extraordinaire wannabe— and he would be if he didn’t have a day job. As a kid, I grew up hearing about all the businesses he wanted to start. (One of his most recent is opening a tilapia farm).

How long have you been in business? Almost 10 years

How did you fund it? We grew the business internally—I probably spent $50 of my own money to start with my first client.

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? No—but I cherish lunches out with friends who have a similar business spirit as mine.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Startup Princesses, of course! I also belong to Utah Trading Center.

Current Business Challenge? Marketing Fabulous Living in a different way than I have done for the past 10 years! I always did door-to-door marketing for Tutoring Connection, and in this economy it just isn’t cost effective.

What are you doing about it? I read Guerrilla Marketing & am going through it & implementing each marketing idea that I can do one by one. It is extremely labor intensive.

Favorite motivational quote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson

Family? 4 kids, age 9 to 9 months.

If so, how do you balance family and business? There is no such thing as “balance.” We are always searching for a magical place where work doesn’t run into family time and family time doesn’t run into work. It isn’t going to happen—we are only given 2 hands and 24 hours a day, so something has to give. A stay-at-home mother of 4 without a business doesn’t have enough time to get the laundry done, house cleaned & kids nurtured beautifully every day. Throw a business on top of that, and you are just going to have to accept that some things won’t get done. For me, the hard part is making sure the intangible duties of motherhood (looking my kids in the eye & giving them my attention) get priority over the tangibles (checking business duties off the to-do list). This is a huge challenge for me.

Favorite book? Fiction—Pride & Prejudice ; Non-fiction—Bonds that Make us Free

What do you do to relax? Read a junk (read—not a business) magazine in front of the fire

What do you want to change most about your world? I want to show women that they can give themselves permission to be more.

What are you most proud of? My marriage

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Just do it. Don’t spend one more minute researching. Take that step into the dark, and then another . . .

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? Books in general

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Anything but diamonds. My culturally responsible sister would not approve.

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