Meet Vanessa Brown- Blogger, Internet Marketer, and Entrepreneur

It’s been a pleasure to watch Startup Princess Vanessa Brown of our Salt Lake City Chapter grow and develop her multiple businesses-  INeverGrewUp.net (blog), MomsMakeMoneyBlogging.com (membership site to learn to make money with a blog), and AKickIntheBuzz.com (social media marketing company). Vanessa’s organized, resourceful, innovative, and inspiring– a true bootstrapping, “get it done” business owner who demonstrates that it’s possible to make money doing what you love. If you’re on Twitter be sure to follow Vanessa @inevergrewup

Enjoy getting to know Vanessa!

Hometown: Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Texas, Arizona, Utah (we moved quite a bit)

Current Residence (City, State): Salt Lake City, Utah

Education: ‘The School of Hard Knocks‘

Professional Background: I have the cliched resume of dead end, no-brainer jobs, sprinkled in with a few nanny jobs that I loved.  Everything changed when I started working for myself and since that has happened I’ve been a writer, blogger, marketer, and consultant helping to promote my own products and those of local businesses.

Brief Summary of your Start Up: Two years ago after having my second daughter I was starting to feel very stuck and empty inside. For my 5^th wedding anniversary my husband bought me two years of website hosting fees and told me I should write about something I love, which is what INeverGrewUp.net is. That is when I found the blogging world and soon knew that this was it! Nine months later after learning the social media world I put together for a few good friends (the owners of the restaurant Blue Lemon) a blogger event and signed them up for Twitter, the reponse was huge. My name for social media marketing spread like wildfire so I started my own company, AKickIntheBuzz.com. About six months ago emails, facebook messages, voicemails, neighbors popping by asking me how to start a blog and make money with is started pouring in everyday. Three months ago I launched my MomsMakeMoneyBlogging.com online membership site where I teach women through a seven month program how to make money with their blogs.

What inspired you? My husband.  When my daughter was born he decided to make his career dreams come true by starting his own business and he did it successfully. He helped me to realize my potential and how to be successful with it.

How did you fund it? My only cost was the design of the sites (averaging $100 each) and my $4.95 monthly hosting fee! I have never spent any money on marketing and have not needed to spend big bucks and instead have been doing things like press releases to gain free press, link building in many different ways, by word of mouth, affiliate programs, article marketing, etc.

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? I am still looking for “my mentor” although I have a great group of fellow blogging friends that I learn from and bounce ideas off of.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Startup Princess and luckily I meet a lot of Utah business owners through my husband’s line of work.

Current Business Challenge? How to continue to get my name out there for my online membership site, MomsMakeMoneyBlogging.com where I teach my members how to make money through their blogs. My membership numbers are growing every month but I am looking for it to grow quite a bit more!

What are you doing about it? I started an affiliate program that has been quite profitable for the affiliates but also in gaining more leads. I have a button they put on their site with certain coding that gives them 50% of the sale per month that I get off of every lead. So it is very profitable for both of us.

Favorite motivational quote: “You’ll wish you would have tried harder when you realize who you really are.” –Henry B. Eyring

Family? Husband, two daughters (two and three) and two dogs!

If so, how do you balance family and business? Recently my husband and I decided that he would take off Mondays from work so I could spend the whole day working. Every other Tuesday my mother helps me with my girls so I can meet with clients. Then I spend 2-4 hours per day Tuesday – Friday working on whatever I did not finish. I am quite a stickler with my schedule, swear by time mapping my week and when I don’t the whole family suffers! When I am with my girls, I don’t do work, I just enjoy them and I love it.

Favorite book? Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

What do you do to relax? Reading, wasting time on Facebook and Twitter, cooking with my family, hiking with my girls, we try to be outside most of the day.

What do you want to change most about your world? I want to become more financially stable, we are a self employed family and even though we have been so blessed I would love to feel more stable. We are working towards owning a house in Spain soon and living there three months out of every year.

What are you most proud of? That I am more and more getting over my fear of meeting new people, speaking in public and that I have created three successful companies in the past two years.

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Believe in yourself, believe in what you can become, take a deep breath and put yourself out there. Don’t hold back, don’t live a life where you “wish” you had done this or that.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? The book Time Management from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule and Your Life by Julie Morgenstern. It is a must read and will be such a huge help to you.

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? It would have none, it would be even more simple than my thin fake silver wedding band but even more beautiful. It would be made out of the things my girls and I use to make “fairy houses” up in the mountains; twigs, wild flowers and pinecones.

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.