Mothers Work: A Book Review
November 15, 2006
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Today’s Magic Wand written by Start Up Princess Jamie Bird of MiniMeBabyGear:
One of the best inspirational stories for mompreneurs is Mothers Work by Rebecca Matthias. Fellow Start Up Princess Heather Ledeboer recommended it, and it is a wealth of information on how to start and maintain a business. Around the time she got pregnant with her first child, it was impossible to find professional maternity clothes. Realizing this might be a need for other working pregnant women, Matthias launched a 4 page mail-order catalog. Her first try at the catalog was a bust- she spent $10,000 and only received $3,500 in orders. Where a lot of us would give up and try something else, she still believed maternity clothing was a great product and retried her catalog idea.
Despite a rocky start, Matthias gradually turned this mail order catalog into a maternity clothing empire. All of the major brands- Motherhood, Mimi Maternity, A Pea in the Pod- she owns them all. Her three mantras are to “think big”, “focus”, and “never give up”. Helpful, easy to read notes at the end of each chapter detail pitfalls and things she has learned along her journey. If you have big dreams and are looking for a guidebook, this is a great tool to help your business along.
You can buy a used copy on Amazon for only 80 cents!Â
Start Up Princesses to the Rescue
November 15, 2006
Since I’m in “midterms” trying to wrap up the One Heart Bulgaria benefit CD “Courage to Shine” as well as preparing for the holidays (like the rest of you!) and my business, sweet & charming’s pre-launch/proof of concept Nov. 29th, I’ve asked our community of Start Up Princesses and Fairy Godmothers to help with posts. We’ve received an amazing response and you’ll enjoy several posts for the next couple of weeks from them! This will be great for us all to hear some others advice and ideas! Enjoy!!
Midterms
November 15, 2006
Yesterday I was at BYU Bookstore and I overheard a couple of college students talking about their midterms…and I thought, I’m preparing for my midterms too…only mine isn’t going to be graded with a letter grade, rather graded by reaction to my brand, concept, and ultimately–sales.
I’m cramming right now for sweet & charming’s proof of concept/pre-launch holiday events November 29th (Lehi), Dec 1st (Orem), Dec 6th (Springville) and Dec. 9 (Spanish Fork).
I’ve been very busy, staying up way too late, and I’m tired, but I’ve made a lot of progress and I’m so excited that after nearly two years of plannning, I am FINALLY going to show private audiences a glimpse of our concept. If you live in Utah County and have young children ages 3-12, I would like to invite you to attend one of our events. Please contact me for official details and to be a part of the magic!
Need Prints in a Hurry?
November 14, 2006
Today’s Magic Wand: www.overnightprints.com; I just printed 250 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2) full color postcards double sided with UV coating for$59! Very pleased with their free samples, so I hope they turn out well…great deal. The only frustrating thing was uploading our file, there is no “upload file here button”, oddly enough it was under “products”. We had to call for help.
Producing a Benefit CD
November 12, 2006
About two years ago at one of our One Heart Bulgaria board meetings I volunteered to find a producer to compile a benefit CD as a fundraiser. I had a few friends that I thought would take it on, however, in the end…it was me. No, I’m not a producer and didn’t have any prior experience putting together a compilation CD before, but I knew a handful of talented recording artists and have a music/performing background. With the help of wonderful musicians, friends, and a very supportive board, we’ve nearly accomplished our goal!
A photo of my dear sweet orphan friend, 
Annabelle from Nadejda orphanage in Sofia (she is one of my reasons I was so dedicated to this project). Thanks to Deborah Dushku Gardner for taking this photo on our trip in 2003 with some photo shop work by Justin King on her shirt. This photo will be included in the CD insert.
Tomorrow after much sweat and effort, it is going to be mastered and then duplicated! Hurray. We have a great album called, “Courage to Shine” and it will soon be a major fundraiser for our organization. Mindy Gledhill, April Meservy, Sam Payne, InsideOut, Stephanie Smith, and several others have donated wonderful songs that will inspire, uplift, and make you want to dance! The CD is available for $14.95 and will be ready Dec. 1. If you would like to support Bulgarian orphans and enjoy a great CD, please email Deborah <at>oneheart-bg.org to pre-order. We are also looking for websites to sell the CD.
This is how we produced “Courage to Shine”:
1. NETWORKING. I asked my #1 contact to donate a song and then I asked her who else she knew who would donate a song. She gave me a list
Need a Photo?
November 12, 2006
Today’s Magic Wand: Recently I found the PERFECT photo for the cover of the One Heart Bulgaria benefit CD, “Courage to Shine” from www.istockphoto.com and it only cost $5. I called the company because I thought there was a mistake. I explained to them that we wanted to use the image for 1000 benefit CDs that would be sold and wanted to know the price. They confirmed, $5–that is unless I wanted to produce more than 500,000! I guess we’ll settle at only producing 499,999 copies. Great. Amazing!
Working In The Rain
November 12, 2006
It rained lightly all day. Rain’s wonderful when you’re writing blog posts, not so good if you’re doing sprinklers. Lucky for me I only had to be outside for a little while telling our crew details, however, for them…they had a choice. I expected them to say that they’d come another day or quit after an hour or so, it was cold, it was wet and muddy…I would have quit. But not this crew. They were committed, they were there for the full day, even an extended day-11 hours. They worked hard and are nearly done. I was impressed! It made me think: Do I have that kind of commitment for my start up? How will I act when it starts to rain? I hope I also wow my customers, no matter how hard it gets.
Real Stamina
November 11, 2006
Fairy Godmothers Carrie and Danielle’s wisdom:
“It’s not easy being green.â€
- Kermit The Frog
Being true to yourself is not always easy. For fear of not being accepted, we tailor our personality, mince our words, and carve our opinions to fit in. It takes courage to be real – and it takes stamina because if you want the best out of life, it will demand the best of you time and time again.
When you choose to be real, there will likely be tough choices and 11th-hour changes. There will be misunderstandings, uncomfortable silences, and sometimes, there will be isolation.
THIS WEEK: Ask yourself when it is that you feel like giving up. What discourages you, or tempts you to doubt that sweetness is on the way? Now, write down three remedies for discouragement…lunch with your best friend; a visit to church; a night out dancing; warm soup, eaten in silence. Do just one of those things this week to keep your stamina strong.
What’s loved becomes mighty.
Free Conf Call Friday by BusinessWire VP
November 9, 2006
Start Up Princess is sponsoring a Free Conference Call:
PR 2.0: PR Tips, Tools and Strategies That Will Help You Get Noticed Online†by Laura Sturaitis, VP New Media Development, Business Wire
Just Muddle
November 9, 2006
Today’s Magic Wand: Last night I heard an amazing speaker, Janene Baadsgaard author/mother of 10 speak about balancing life. She shared a story of when she felt that she was losing control and felt incapable of “handling life” she told her husband in desperation, “I can’t handle it. I just can’t do it anymore” and he replied, “who says you have to handle it? Is that a rule? I don’t “handle life”, I just muddle.”
Instantly Janene felt relief and when she told herself to just muddle through the moment instead of “handling it”, suddenly it was easier and no one ever notices the difference. I looked up the definition of “muddle” and part of it says, “improvise”, isn’t that what we do anyways? I just improvise how to handle life…so I suppose I’m really good at muddling already. So muddle with style and give yourself a break.
