Introducing Kara Herron, Author of “Incredible Women” Blog

We are pleased to introduce Kara Herron for this week’s interview. She is an individual who knows that life’s greatest joys are called family and good friends, especially during hard times.  Being an “Incredible Woman” herself as a breast cancer survivor, Kara is sharing other women’s stories on her new blog, Incredible Women. We hope you enjoy getting to know this fabulous lady!

Current Residence: Highland, Utah

Professional Background:  I’ve worked for some great companies – Dream Dinners, Cherish Bound, and others, that are smaller companies, started by the most amazing women.  It’s been fun helping grow those companies, and it’s given me the desire to have my own business.

What you wanted to be when you grew up: Hmmm… well, for the most part, I just pictured myself married, with kids.  I wanted to be a stay at home mom.  But, the desire to be the owner of a business was buried deep within me – my parents both owned several businesses, and I love being a part of those.  So, I really wanted to stay home with my kids, AND own a business.  That’s a hard thing to do, right?

What you are: I’m a happy wife and mom, who wants to make a difference in the world.  I want people to watch me and know that I have great kids, passions that I’m willing to work for, and that I spend time helping others, if I can.

Brief Summary of your Start Up: Well, I’ve got two things I’m working on at the moment.  One of them is fueling the other.  My first passion is my Cherish Bound business.  I am a national leader in this company that helps people find their stories, and share them with others.  I love helping people gather their memories and photos and make beautiful, heirloom-quality books for their families.  And I’m very good at making those books, too!!!  This business is helping me to pull in money, so that I can take the time to build my other passion…  Incredible Women!  After going through a horrible year and a half of battling breast cancer, I wanted to show my gratitude to the amazing women who helped me so much.  I started a blog called Incredible Women, where I feature a different woman each week.  I’d love to be able to not only heap praise on wonderful women, but help my family out financially with this blog.

Company Website? My Cherish Bound business blog is www.boundtobecherished.blogspot.com and my Incredible Women blog is www.reallyincrediblewomen.blogspot.com.

What inspires you? Helping others to be happy, and to realize that they are special is what inspires me.  Both my Cherish Bound business, and my Incredible Woman blog help me do that.  Also, the people I surrounded myself with inspire me tremendously!

How long have you been in business? I worked for the corporate office of Cherish Bound for about a year and a half before my cancer diagnosis.  I took time off to take care of myself, and then decided to work from home.  So, I became a consultant, and I’ve been doing that for about 7 months.  My Incredible Women blog was started about the same time – 6 months ago.  I’ve featured 27 women so far.  It’s been a wonderful highlight of my life.

How did you fund it? When I decided to become a Cherish Bound consultant, I actually took $500 from our savings and put it into my own business account.  I decided that I’d use that money to set everything up.  I bought business cards, office supplies, and made a few sample books with that.  Before long, it was gone, gone, gone.  Luckily, my time and effort paid off, and it wasn’t long before my account filled back up.  I used some of that money to pay for a special blog design for Incredible Women.  That’s the only thing I’ve had to pay for with the blog, but I think it was a BIG thing.  I wanted it to look professional and to catch peoples’ attention, and I think my designer did a great job.

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? Oh, wow.  I’ve got a few, I think.  Carol Rice, the owner of Cherish Bound, has been a mentor for awhile.  She believes I can do anything.  My sister, Kris, has also been someone who I can bounce ideas off of anytime.  She supports me in whatever I desire to do.  Kelly Anderson, Founder of Startup Princess has been a great help in pushing me towards understanding that Incredible Women can really become a business someday.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Not currently, but I’ve got a whole list of groups I’d love to associate with.  One of my goals this year is to find the groups that will be most helpful to me, and make the effort to join and participate.  I believe that groups of people can make a huge difference in the world.

Current Business Challenge? With the Cherish Bound business, my constant challenge (it never goes away) is to find customers.  Owning your own business, especially a sales business, means you have to generate your own income.  If I don’t make money one month, it’s my own darn fault.  I do love it when customers come to me.  That’s happened with about 4 people this week – these are people that I know I can help, because they found me!  With Incredible Women, my biggest challenge is finding women to feature.  I’ve got a long list of my own, but I really want to feature other women, too – those who I don’t know.  So, my challenge is to get my readers to nominate women they know.

What are you doing about it? Well, with a business like Cherish Bound, I have to constantly be contacting people.  I email, send cards through the mail, talk to people wherever I go, etc.  I also think that following up with current customers is a must.  I’m always contacting customers who have already made books – I talk to them about their experience, make sure they are happy with the process and their book, and then make suggestions for new projects.  I also have a business blog, where I offer ideas for books.  As far as Incredible Women, I’m a little stumped on ways to get people to nominate women.  I’ve got a place on my blog that makes it easy to nominate someone.  I mention it every once in a while on the blog.  And I talk to people about it.  It’s slowly starting to work.  I also follow up in this area, too.  I emailed people who have nominated women, and try to keep in touch through the whole process.

Favorite motivational quote: I’ve got a few.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: “If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”   I believe this can be applied to our businesses, and also our families – I don’t force my kids to do anything, and I don’t just give them a list.  I show them, by example, what a good life is – what happens when you are a good person – and they want that.

I love Winnie-the-Pooh, and I’ve got a card hanging in my office that says, “I’ll never not remember you… ever.”  This is an important quote, because it helps me remember why I’m trying to help people share their memories and photos.  No one ever wants to be forgotten.  It is also a quote that helps me remember why I started the Incredible Women blog – I want those important women in my life to know what an impact they have on my life, and that I’ll never forget the things they do for me.

Family? Yes, I’ve got a wonderful husband, Rick, who works very hard to give our family the things we need and want – and just happens to really love his job!  I have 4 sons…

Grant, who is 22, is a student at the University of Utah.  He is studying Architecture and Business and Japanese.  He served an LDS mission for two years in Fukuoka, Japan – something I admire him greatly for.

Michael, who is 19, finished up his first year of college at Utah State University, and has been living at home for the last 8 months, working full time to save money for his LDS mission.  He will find out where he’s going to serve in 2-3 months. I’m really excited for him – leaving your family to serve other people for two years is an incredibly hard thing to do.

Alex, who is 15, is in high school, and is working hard to get good grades (he has some very hard classes), and in his “off” time, he is trying to get his drivers’ license.  Yikes!  He is also close to getting his Eagle Scout.  He plays a mean guitar. He’s a great kid – one of the funniest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Matthew, who is almost 13, is my youngest.  He is in Jr. High.  He plays the saxophone.  With 3 older brothers, you can imagine how he’s had to stick up for himself!  He works hard at school (hardly ever needs help), and scouts.  He is a great kid.

If so, how do you balance family and business? It’s a little easier for me to do this, now that I’m a stay-at-home mom again.  I worked outside of the home for about 6 years, and it was tough.  My husband helped out a lot.  He still does.  The last year or so, while I was so sick with chemo treatments, and had so many surgeries, my kids have helped out so much.  I don’t think any mom can do it all by herself.  That’s why we teach our children to help out, and cope without us a little bit. All of my kids know how to cook, and do their own laundry. Which is good – someday their wives will thank me!

Favorite book? Oh, why did you ask me this question?!  There is NO WAY I can give you just one.  I’m a big reader.  If I could, I would read all day! Ok, I’ll just tell you my most recent favorite… A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. Unbelievably good book!  If you want a list of good books (I don’t read bad books), go to my personal blog…www.mystorymoments.blogspot.com.  You can find a link to my favorite books on the left sidebar.

What do you do to relax? Not much. I’m happier if I’m busy.  But, when I do relax, I mostly sit under a fluffy, down comforter, and read, read, read.  I also love to sit and listen to my little family of comedians – they are all so funny, and laughing is very relaxing!

What do you want to change most about your world? I definitely what to be an advocate of early detection in breast cancer.  I want to help women who can’t afford mammograms to get them.  I would love to be a public speaker – to share my story, and help women understand the importance of staying current on tests, and knowing their bodies.  And also help them understand how important it is to focus on taking care of yourself, not just your family.  That’s my focus right now.  I have a breast cancer blog, where I’ve recorded my story – I want it to be a place where others can go to understand what is happening to them and to get information.  So, that’s something that I’m working on right now.www.foobbabe.blogspot.com

I’m also on the board of a foundation – The Four of Hearts.  This foundation was started by 4 of my nephews, to give back to the people of Guatemala – the country where their baby sister is from.  We do lots of different fundraisers.  We are trying to get the funding necessary right now, to take a group of teenagers to Guatemala this summer, to help at an orphanage. It’s a wonderful opportunity that I’ve been given – working with these teenagers, who would rather go door, to door raising money, than play video games!  Our website, if anyone is interested, is:  http://www.four-of-hearts.com/

What are you most proud of? Hands down…. My children.

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Be persistent.  If you have a dream – make it come true.  Work hard.  Don’t let others tell you it can’t be done.  And, when you’ve become a success – help others.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? My laptop and the internet – it’s my key to the world.

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Diamonds, of course.  Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.  No really – they are! (I’ve been trying to convince my husband of this for… forever!)