Introducing Catey Hill, Author of Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less & Saving More

Here’s a smart girl, Catey Hill (Money Editor for New York Daily News Online and former Forbes Financial Marketing Manager) who knows what she wants (shoes mostly) but she’s wise enough to set limits and boundaries to keep her finances in check.  Luckily for the rest of us she’s written a book to share her strategies and tips to help other women in their 20’s-30’s take control too.  Catey covers spending, credit cards, student and auto loans, saving, investing, buying a home, and more. She teaches with a I’ve been there/big sister approach and offers exercises and worksheets to help her readers.

I recently met Catey on Twitter and was delighted to learn about her newly released book, with a catchy title “Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less & Saving More”. I thought many of our readers would resonate with the subject of Catey’s book, (it’s 0n my Amazon wishlist) and enjoy learning more about why and how she wrote her book.

Congratulations Catey for publishing your book and for her publisher for moving mountains to get it in the stores before Christmas too…way to go! Best wishes with your book launch and all the opportunities ahead.

Enjoy getting to know Startup Princess Catey Hill!

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Current Residence (City, State): New York, NY

Education:
- B.A. in Psychology, Business Minor from Tulane University
- M.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin

Professional Background:
-Author, Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less & Saving More (Sterling Publishing, $14.95)
- 6 years of professional marketing experience, including working as the Financial Marketing Manager for Forbes
- 6 years of professional writing experience, including my current position as the Money Editor for the New York Daily News online

What you wanted to be when you grew up: A veterinarian (but as it turned out, I faint at the sight of blood!)

What you are: Writer (a pretty blood-free profession, so I’m doing OK).

Brief Summary of your Start Up: I’m an author and I’m pleased to share my first book, Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less & Saving More.

Company Website: www.ShooJimmyChoo.com

What inspired you? Watching other women go through what I did – spending to much, not saving enough, feeling intimidated by money management and investing – and realizing that there was not a personal finance book that truly spoke to women like me (those of us who know we’ll never give up gorgeous shoes or much-needed beach vacas but still want to get out of debt and save more).

How long have you been in business? 3 years

How did you fund it? Currently, I work as the Money Editor for the New York Daily News to supplement my income as an author (what can I say, I love new shoes, and I can’t afford them on my author salary alone!).

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? My girlfriends

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Association of Women in Communication, LinkedIn

Current Business Challenge? I’d like to help even more women manage their money in a savvier way.

What are you doing about it? I’m working with the New York Junior League on a free seminar series, and I hope to partners with other organizations to do something similar.

Favorite motivational quote: Just do it.  (OK, it’s a Nike tagline, not a quote, but I love it! It’s simple, concise and inspirational.)

Family? Jay Robert (partner);  Mouse, the cat (yes, she’s family!); Carey and William Hill, parents; Susie Hill, sister; my girlfriends.

If so, how do you balance family and business? I block out “no-work” zones on my calendar at least twice a week and go have drinks with the girls, see a movie with Jay, have brunch with an old friend, etc.

Favorite book? Anna Karenina

What do you do to relax? Reading, writing and wine (what can I say? A nice glass of Savingnon Blanc after a hard day of work works does the trick!)

What do you want to change most about your world? Time – I need more hours in the day.

What are you most proud of? My book, Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less & Saving More, and my relationships with my boyfriend and friends.

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses?
1)    Don’t be intimidated by managing your money!
You can spend less, get out of debt and save smartly.  Ladies, if I – the girl who can’t spend an hour without scouring the eBay for the latest Prada bag and who refuses to wash her hair with anything other than Kerastase – if I can do it, so can you!
2)    Start taking control of your finances today!
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll have the money you need for your dreams.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? Bankrate.com – when in doubt about almost any financial issue, they’ve probably got the answer.

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Emeralds and diamonds.  Green is the color of money – and we all know I love money – and diamonds, in addition to being a girl’s best friend, are elegant and classic.

Thank you, Catey!

How to Give Your Opinion with Love

It’s amazing the life lessons that are connected to our projects.  I’m not so great at giving my opinion with love, or so I’m told. Often when I share my opinion it comes off as “truth” rather than my opinion so you can imagine it’s a trait that doesn’t work well in close relationships.  I’m aware of this weakness and have been seeking for ways to improve, but it wasn’t until my friend gave me her opinion with love last week that I truly got the picture. I’ll explain… Read more

Sharifah Hardie’s Radio Interview of Startup Princess Founder Kelly King Anderson

Sharifah Hardie interviewed Kelly King Anderson, the Founder of Startup Princess on her Blog Talk radio show Ask Sharifah on June 29th. Enjoy listening to the one hour interview about how Startup Princess was started and what’s next on the horizon. Please note that half way through the show there was a technical difficulty, so there is a pause for a few minutes, but hang on because we resume our conversation.  Sharifah Hardie is a new Fairy Godmother for Startup Princess and we’re excited to have her! Follow Sharifah on Twitter @asksharifah

Announcing the AGENDA for The Startup Princess Academy- DISNEYLAND

We’re delighted to announce the Startup Princess Academy DISNEYLAND Agenda! We’re thrilled that we have Startup Princesses attending from California as well as Vancouver, Canada, Utah, Chicago, and Colorado! If you haven’t already signed up it’s not too late! We’re taking registrations until APRIL 10 and EXTENDED the low price of $225 until that time (or 2 for $400). Note: Infants are welcome at the event, but we will be recording.

AGENDA:

Friday April 17

Hotel Check-in 3:00 PM or later (For those Staying at the Disneyland Hotel)

4:30 PM – Meet in lobby of Disneyland Hotel

5:00 PM – Welcome Dinner in Downtown Disney (TBD) (* this event is optional, intended to honor the speakers and get to know each other, cost is the price of meal, RSVP to us)

6:30 PM until Midnight! Disneyland! (purchase your ticket through our event link before April 17th for just $38 4-midnight) Read more

Use 15 Minutes Every Day to Grow Your Business

Fairy Godmother Erika Wilde of highly successful drop-shipping floormat business (featured in Real Simple last year!) Stop Dirt, writes: As a kind-of early New Years resolution to myself, I started last fall to dedicate 15 minutes a day to “pro-active” work on my business.

I spend hours every day taking care of the business “must do’s” that are time sensitive. With the demands of kids, church and the lure of my other hobbies, I found myself working only “in the business” and not working “on the business.” I was not spending enough time proactively growing my business.

So I committed myself to 15 minutes a day, dedicated solely to proactive work on my business. Not re-active work like answering emails, processing orders, or making price quotes. But proactive work on new projects that will expanding my existing business.

Many days my 15 minutes turn into an hour. But other days, when my patience and energy is thin, I tell myself, “It’s only 15 minutes.”

Here’s how I’ve made it work:

1.    Throw every plan, task, dream or scheme into a master list. And I mean everything. If an idea pops into your mind, add it to the list.
2.    Break each item on the master list into manageable 15 minutes jobs.
3.    Each day, pull up your list and choose a project.
4.    Let a larger task remain unfinished. There is always 15 minutes tomorrow.
5.    Don’t go to sleep until the 15 minutes are done.

Here is an example pro-active tasks I’ve done on 15 minutes a day:

1.    Research one competitor’s web site and product line.
2.    Make one extra phone call.
3.    Look at the day’s web analytics and compare to the previous week.
4.    Write one more “FAQ” or short article for my website.
5.    Update or “freshen up” one page on my website.
6.    Edit one photograph to make it work better online.
7.    Email one supplier with a quick thank you note.
8.    Solicit a couple of repeat customers for product reviews.
9.    Search online for one related product to add to my line.
10.  Start work on a press release.
11.  Add internal web links on keywords in one article.

Then there are the really big items on my to-do list like, “Make new color chart for Classic Carpet mats” and “Re-build Grand Impressions logo mat page,” which will take at least an hour. So I tackle that project on a night when I have more than 15 minutes to devote.

It’s been amazing what a big dent I’ve made in my very, very long to-do list with only 15 minutes a day. With just 15 minutes a day, I find myself being more inventive, more motivated and more receptive to flashes of business inspiration.

Video Clips from Provo Startup Princess Lunch & Suntweet

What a whirlwind of events this past week…I’ve been trying to capture some of the great people attending events. Enjoy these short fun/casual videos:

Provo Lunch speaker, Tara McCausland, Life Coach, Allison Czarnecki, Petit Elefant and April Atwater, Sweet Life in the Valley

Suntweet sponsor, Jeremy Hanks co-founder of Doba and Kelly King Anderson, Startup Princess talk about Launchup.org

Suntweet panelist, Jyl Patte of Mom it Forward and April Atwater of Sweet Life in the Valley



Kelly King Anderson, Founder of Startup Princess on Cover of Utah Business Magazine

Wishes do come true!  Many thanks to Utah Business for this incredible opportunity and exposure. I’m honored to be featured. The photo shoot was a lot of fun, enjoyed being the “princess” for the day. Many thanks to photographer Brandon Flint and art director Spencer Henderson of Utah Business, they were fantastic to work with. Utah Business is a 22 yr old publication with state-wide distribution available at Barnes and Noble, Costco, grocery stores, and more.

The article is about how entrepreneurs often change directions and it’s for the best. Jeremy Hanks of Doba and David Ludlow of Bullfrog Spas are also featured in the article.

The piece discusses my journey of how I initially started a princess retail business but along the way decided to focus on Startup Princess, which was the right fit for my family’s needs. It doesn’t mention it but another reason for the decision to grow Startup Princess was because there was more traction here than getting the funding required to grow the other business. Glad I decided to grow this one, our community is magical.

Here’s a quote from the article:

Why Don’t More Women Compete in Business Plan Competitions?

Recently I went to review business plans for the first ever Home-based Business Plan competition at BYU where I am a volunteer Advisor. For the past 8 months we have tried to reach the women students at BYU and get them excited about competing for $5000 cash and sharing their awesome business ideas in this contest. Today we read the plans submitted and there was only 1 from a female student. This was incredibly discouraging to me because they are the primary reason we started this competition!

We had several events leading up to the competition deadline and I spoke at a few of them… there were a lot of women there, even 2 weeks ago at my lecture “How to Write a Business Plan for Beginners and Procrastinators” the room was packed, standing room only, and there were at least 20 women there… so yes! I’m discouraged with the turnout for the competition largely because for me, being a participant/competitor is what started my FIRE in business… I loved the excitment, the networking, the mentoring, the opportunities. I’m also frustrated because we have hundreds of Startup Princesses who would LOVE that kind of money and probably can’t qualify for any college business plan competitions right now.

So I brainstorm… what stops the women from competing??

Perhaps the key factor in getting the business plan done for students is that it just seems “hard” since they’ve never done it and if they aren’t a business student, they don’t know where to begin. I was at this place when I started my first one, so I know how it feels. We tell them to use Palo Alto Business Plan software and provide it for FREE… I used that to do my first one.

Another factor may be they need more mentoring, yes… large group events are great, but perhaps they don’t know that they can get one on one help with their business plans at the Center for Entrepreneurship at BYU or they can get help at the Small Business Development Center.

I’m also guessing that the financial end of the business plan may be intimidating for women who are unfamiliar with how to create a balance sheet or represent their financial projections in a spreadsheet. This was also me! I had never done that before so again, getting help was critical for me.

Another problem could be lack of confidence in their idea. While they may want to do it, they may not think it is good “enough” to compete with it.

Where do we go from here? How can we increase the female applicants?

First of all, it’s the first time BYU has offered a Home-based Business Plan competition so it will take time for students to learn about it and want to participate, based on the success of the first one, I’m sure our numbers will increase overall.

I feel that we need to get into the colleges that have a heavier female population and give out fliers, see if we can get them excited about the opportunity

BYU already has a women entrepreneur lecture series (Here is mine from last Fall) however, the class was attended by a lot of Freshmen who may not be ready to actually dive into writing a plan at this stage of their college career. So, we need to reach the juniors and seniors, the MBA students… where are they and and how do we get them to see what they’re missing?

What ideas do you have?

Featured Interview: Celeste Gleave Founder of Fyvestar, Inc.

The following article was written by Startup Princess writer, Jessica Cryer.

Celeste Gleave is the President and founder of FYVE STAR, Inc., a company started in her spare bedroom in 1991. The company started out as a small chemical supplier to local businesses. The first sale was a gallon of hand cleaner to a window installer. Celeste made the sale, picked up and delivered the product. She was excited, but with the motto “no job too difficult, no task too great,” this was only the beginning.With her attention to detail and multi-tasking spirit the company began to grow and is now the sole source supplier to the United States military for runway and aircraft deicers. The company sells to military bases all over the world and now has a long term contract with Homeland Security. But with being known as a “serial entrepreneur” deicing products are only one part of what FYVE STAR, Inc. offers. The company has expanded and now handles general contracting projects and even publishes the Utah Preservation Magazine, the premiere magazine of the division of state and history. FYVE STAR, Inc. continues to outsell their previous quarter earnings proving a record year in 2007 and a promising year in 2008. There is a reason Utah Business Magazine named Celeste in their April 2007 issue as one of the “30 Women to Watch.” Celeste was also a Utah 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year nominee.

Enjoy these Magic Wand tips from Celeste Gleave, Founder and CEO of FYVE STAR, Inc!

The best way for me to de-stress is to take some me time for myself, meaning- exercise, YOGA, gardening, art projects.

Staying organized is something that I am very well known for. I go by the book, I am never late for an appointment, I don’t like for people to sit at my desk and rearrange things, I have one way and that’s my way. Those around me know that is the only acceptable answer.

Communication is KEY. When you run 3 companies, things tend to overlap. There must be a very clear line of communication. Control is a major issue. You must always be in control of what is around you, or at least have the access to control.

One tip that I would give is never let anyone see you appear to lack control of your environment. People see you as a strong, positive, outgoing, IN CONTROL individual, and they believe in you and will follow you. When you let your guard down, people around you notice that and you could become very vulnerable at that moment. Timing and environment is essential. Don’t get me wrong, its nice to relax and have fun, but when you are in a work or professional environment ALWAYS put your best foot forward. DO NOT let people see a weak side of you. They will remember that.

You can’t get to the top if you have people holding you down. Help people move up with you and when the time comes they will be there to push you over the top.