Women in Business Stevie Awards Deadline is August 1st for Saving $24 on Your Entry!
July 31, 2007
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Today’s Magic Wand: Apply before August 1st (for the $24 off deadline; it’s $75) to get considered for a Stevie Award, great recognition and exposure for WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS and WOMEN IN BUSINESS!
Here are the categories you can apply for:
Best Entrepreneur
Best Young Entrepreneur
Best Executive
Mentor of the Year
Lifetime Achievement Award
Best Canadian Entrepreneur
Best Canadian Executive
Best Entrepreneur in EMEA
Best Executive in EMEA
Best Asian Entrepreneur
Best Asian Executive
Best Latin American Entrepreneur
Best Latin American Executive
COMPANY/ORGANIZATION CATEGORIES
Best Overall Company of the Year
Most Innovative Company of the Year
Best New Company of the Year
Fastest-Growing Company of the Year
Business Turnaround of the Year
Employer of the Year
Technology Innovator of the Year
“Women Helping Women” Award
Woman’s Business Association of the Year
Community Involvement Program of the Year
PRODUCT & SERVICE CATEGORIES
Best New Product of the Year
Best New Service of the Year
MEDIA & MARKETING CATEGORIES
Website of the Year
Company Brochure of the Year
Blog of the Year
Online Advertising Campaign of the Year
Communications Campaign of the Year
Marketing Campaign of the Year
Start Up Princess Discusses Significant Milestones for Year 1 (Part 2)
July 30, 2007
Here’s Chapter 2 of Our Start Up Princess Fairy Tale (for Chapter 1, click here)
A significant introduction (thanks to Nancy Cadjan) and interview was Heather Ledeboer of Mom4Life (now a Fairy Godmother for us). Heather emailed her clients and vendors and shared the interview with them, plus invited them to become members and be considered for a featured article. Until we interviewed Heather I could accommodate most requests for features, but once her interview was published we were swamped with requests and many new members so a shift occurred where now we no longer have to solicit members and have daily inquires from a variety of women entrepreneurs to interview at anytime.
Start Up Princess Profile Pages (found on right of site, left column, names of women entrepreneurs are listed alphabetically by first name) these became more important for us as we started to grow since we could offer most women entrepreneurs their own profile page, a chance to tell their story and be linked to from our site, a bit of free PR and low time commitment from us since it is a standard form, win-win. We find most women entrepreneurs are anxious to share their answers and it’s interesting to read how everyone’s answers and experiences vary so much.
In October 2006 Seth Godin wrote about me and an email l I sent to him regarding my “theme song” as an entrepreneur with a post originally called Start Up Princess (the URL title tag still says Start Up Princess) then he changed the title of the post to be called “What’s Your Theme Song?”. It literally as my “BIG Blogging Break”, validation, and a pure miracle. I remember seeing hundreds of links coming in and screaming on the phone to Janet about it. I felt like I was on Oprah–it was so awesome. I will be forever grateful for that link and post because the link brought over 1200 referrals and helped us to gain respect from national bloggers and entrepreneurs who learned about our site and consequently introduced themselves and contacted us. Even months later I will meet people and they will say that they learn about our site from Seth. 
Thank you forever, Seth! (It was awesome to meet Seth in person in May 2007; he’s even MORE amazing in person)
The same week that Seth featured us we started to get interest from companies who wanted to sponsor our site…and even an investor told me that he wanted to give us $5000 to develop the site because he saw so much potential, but I wasn’t willing to give up 30% of the company. This experience was critical as I realized there was something here and maybe I should pay more attention to Start Up Princess as a viable company, not just as my hobby. Read more
Is it REALLY Possible to Work 4 Hours A Week and Live the Life of Your Dreams?
July 29, 2007
I’m sure you’re well aware of the hype around Tim Ferriss‘ nationally best-selling book, The 4 Hour Work Week; I keep hearing about it from different people so I decided to investigate a bit this weekend. No, I didn’t buy the book yet–but after watching several interviews of Ferriss, I’m certainly intrigued. Aren’t YOU? If anyone needs to figure out how t
o run a 200 person company (like Ferriss does) on 4 hours a week, it’s us Women Entrepreneurs! What amazing lives we all live that suddenly become even MORE productive, MORE rich, MORE adventurous, MORE enjoyable, and LESS stressful!
Before I go any further I have to say that Tim Ferriss (age 29) is truly inspiring because he’s creating the life he wants to live– every inch of it, on every continent, with every Tango step (yes, he’s a Guinness Book of World Record holder in the most Tango spins in a minute (37!), see the video on Regis and Kelly). He’s been a actor on a hit Chinese Soap Opera, competed in multiple sports in different countries, speaks 6 languages, lectures at Princeton, and has a company with 200 employees in San Jose…(and ladies, if you want to know… he’s single too).
I’ve read a few reviews about the book that say it’s fine for businesses “without competition” to outsource (one of his major premises is to hire people who you can pay less than you earn to be “you” essentially–to send your emails, to take your calls, to do your errands, to sell your products, etc. so you only handle the absolutely essential tasks. Tim has around 20 of these people that work in Canada, India, and Hong Kong), however some argue that those of us who have to compete day to day to get business and keep it, then it won’t work. However, I’d bet Ferriss would argue that they just need to find stellar people whom they can trust to keep things moving along. He says even people with a bootstrap budget can afford to outsource.
From what I gather it appears that Ferriss isn’t saying that it is REALLY possible for every single one of us to live like he does (essentially doing business from wherever he pleases and working on a very minimal basis), but he’s challenging us to THINK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN CUT OUT AND WHO WE CAN HIRE TO FREE US UP so we can enjoy life more and only do what is absolutely essential.
Want to know more of his philosophies? Ferriss also is dead set against “information overload” and checking email in the morning. He suggests creating auto-responders to your email (but not for ecommerce/sales; you need to hire a rep for that) that says something like “thank you for your email, I check my email twice a day at 11am and 4pm” or if you can, just once a day or even once a week! He also is anti-Blackberry’s (and iPhones, I’m afraid) where you can check email 24/7 and believes that the car should be time away from clients and work…it used to be that sacred space where people could transition from home to work and work back to home without the two interfering–personal time. Sounds good to me. What about the commute time from bedroom to livingroom? (hahaha!)
He’s also supports “Single Tasking” where you are focusing on one project at a time. One study he referred to in his interview was from Kings College where they did a test and someone who was multi-tasking stored 6 points LOWER than someone who was stoned!! Yikes. I’m a die-hard, addicted multi-tasker…but I will be the first to say that I’m at my best when my kids are asleep and I’m alone focusing on one task. Perhaps it would be smart to just give “the 4 hours a week” a whirl and cut out all of the extra stuff I try to do while they are running around me in the playroom.
Ferriss advocates creating “dreamlines“…figuring out what life would be like for you at your IDEAL and making steps each day, week, month towards those goals. You can download a free dreamline template here.
Today’s Magic Wand: Tim Ferriss’ would love our tagline at Start Up Princess, Make a Wish, Make it Happen, he writes:
Consider the question: What would you do, day-to-day, if you had $100 million in the bank? If still blocked, fill in the five “doing†spots with the following:
1 place to visit
1 thing to do before you die (a memory of a lifetime)
1 thing to do daily
1 thing to do weekly
1 thing you’ve always wanted to learn
Ferriss says it really IS possible to live the life of your dreams and work minimally and STILL get great results! I’m up for trying…anyone out there want to try with me? Let’s read the book and figure out how to do it!
Do What You Were Born To Do
July 26, 2007
Today’s Magic Wand: If you haven’t heard of the “frog who will turn into a prince”, Paul Potts the humble cellphone salesman from South Wales who has stunned Britain with his outstanding voice–you have got to watch this You Tube video. The amazing thing is that Paul has never made any money singing professionally (unless you count a karaoke competition 9 years ago) and had not performed since 2003 when he competed. Seeing Paul’s dream come true will make you believe more in yours too…and if you like Paul’s audition performance for “Britain’s Got Talent”, then you better watch the next two rounds too. You might want to grab a tissue.
Listen to what Paul won: £100,000 and a Sony BMG contract, plus a chance to perform for the Queen. His debut CD was released last week.
Dreams do come true! Do what you were born to do.
Exceeding Your Customer’s Needs and Expectations Every Time
July 26, 2007
The following post was written by Fairy Godmother Heather Ledeboer mom of two and owner of Mom 4 Life, a website that offers 100% mom invented products for mothers and babies. She is passionate about customer service and strives to implement above average service to everyone she comes into contact with.
Businesses don’t want you! Well, most businesses don’t. Sure, they want your money, they will take your orders and they would love your referrals, but they don’t want YOU. Taking care of you and your needs as a customer beyond your order involves time, follow up, research and money. What takes a business from good to great is an investment in you, their customer. It is my opinion that it is this extra stretch of time and effort that often takes the true success stories in business and makes them something worth talking about.
So how do you become one of the exceptions in business and push yourself beyond your competitors? In concept, it is simple: focus on meeting and exceeding your customers’ needs. In practice, it takes work. Let’s take a closer look at how you can create something worth talking about in your business by focusing on the anacronym of Y.O.U.
“Y”=Your customer is your life-blood. Let’s face it, without customers you would be done, right? Do your customers know that? They should! Think of ways to tell them how important they are. Everyone likes to feel important, appreciated and needed; here are some examples of ways that you can make sure your customers know they are appreciated:
On the phone: After they call for information or to place an order or to complain about a problem, always end the call with your appreciation for their business and support.
With their order: Include a note of thanks and an offer to contact you if there is anything more you can do to help.
On your website or in your store: Post a visual sign thanking them for their business.
With follow-up: Provide a follow up call or send a postcard or email shortly after they give you their business thanking them.
“O”=Others decide how good you are. Sure you love your company and are convinced that you offer the best service or products. However, people don’t care nearly as much about what you think of your business as what their friends have to say about it. Focus on each and every customer, viewing them as a friend and working to gain their satisfaction and support. Ask them for feedback and implement their suggestions. If you get lazy in this area it will show. Letting just a few unhappy customers leave your store can quickly unravel all that you have worked to build up in the way of a good reputation. This is where the hard, consistent work of making every customer a satisfied one will come to reward you.
“U”=Until you sacrifice, you will not succeed. I believe that true customer service is really about sacrifice. You must be willing to sacrifice in a few key areas:
Time: It takes time to respond to each email, phone call or complaint personally, promptly and with sincerity! Do it! Your customers will notice the difference and appreciate your efforts. Go out of your way to exceed their expectations. If you don’t have the product they need, help them find it from someone else. If they don’t understand something, offer to walk them through it. If they need something quickly, offer more than one option to get it to them on time. This kind of sacrifice will leave an indelible mark in their minds and over time can create a fierce loyalty to your company.
Money: You must be willing to sacrifice some of your immediate profits to make customers happy. Offer a refund if they are not satisfied, a discount if you make a mistake and give gift certificates toward future orders to keep them coming back for more. The profits you will lose by doing this is simply an investment in the long term health and growth of your business. If you are trying to make each dollar count, wait to upgrade your printer or fax machine. Customer service is NOT the area to pinch pennies.
The beauty of offering great customer service is that you have a built-in guide to help you help yourself! I encourage you to take some time to view your business from an outsider’s perspective. View yourself as the customer and meticulously scrutinize each area of your experience as a customer with your business. Look for ways to improve what you already have in place and implement things that you are currently overlooking. I am convinced that if you truly focus on the concepts of Y.O.U., everyone will benefit and you will have a business that YOU would want to support!
Grant Your Start Up Wish Wednesday: How Auctioneers Find Clients
July 25, 2007
On our 1st Birthday we announced that we would grant *5* women entrepreneur’s wishes… the interest and response was great! We had many wishes submitted and we’ll we’re going to start a series on Wednesdays called, “Grant Your Start Up Wish Wednesday” where we will feature a different woman entrepreneur’s wish each week. Wish requests ranged from “how do I get more traffic on my site?” to “how do I sell my self-published book?” to “what do I need to do to launch a non-profit?”
The first woman entrepreneur we’ll feature is new member, Start Up Princess Sway Hodges who has recently earned her Auctioneer license in Orlando, Florida in June 2007 and requested mentoring in the industry…while I’m not an Auctioneer… I have a friend, Kevin Gallagher owner of Utah Auto Sales whom is an Auctioneer and I was able to learn some tips that may be beneficial to Sway as she launches her career.
Kevin & his wife, Annetta Gallagher recommend young Auctioneers like Sway Hodges start NETWORKING:
- Introduce yourself to every charity, school church, boy scout group in your area, offer to auction their event for free or a flat fee of $50 to get your name out, have your cards available at the event
- Talk to the auction houses and see if you can apprentice, learn, fill in, help out, etc.
- Go to estate sales and introduce yourself to the organizing group, volunteer to do an estate sale for a lower rate
- Organize an event where you can practice your skills with your family reunions, friends, etc…demonstrate to everyone you know what you can do so that they will think of you when they need an auctioneer
- You may even talk to the livestock and county fairs if you want to auction animals…
- Join Business Groups, Associations, Networking Clubs to get your name out in the community
- Recognize that it will take time to work your way into the industry, but then your jobs will start to come by referrals
More Ideas from Start Up Princess for Marketing/PR Sway’s new business as an Auctioneer:
- Get a simple website on the web with a video clip of you auctioning or at least put up a video on You Tube and link to it on your website
- Start an email list of anyone who expresses interest in your skill, send out a newsletter quarterly with photos of you auctioning at different events
- Send out a Press Release locally in your area that you have launched your new career, pitch a story to the journalist about being a “mom auctioneer” and how you’re unique
More about Start Up Princess Sway Hodges, Auctioneer:
Previously to choosing a career as an Auctioneer, Sway Hodges owned and directed a Pilates studio for a five years. After having children she decided to find a different business that offered more flexibility than her studio did. In getting to know Sway I’ve found her to be a very uplifting, inspiring person. I love her cheery emails and kind nature. She said she hopes she can help non-profits raise funds for their benefit auctions…I hope she can too! Sounds great!
She writes:
Auctioneering became my secret desire when I saw my first male auctioneer at a local auction house in Memphis about 10 years ago. I loved the energy, the mesmerizing vocal speed and the fun auctioneering style the auctioneer used to command the sale. I left with such an impression that I had to find out how someone becomes an auctioneer. I looked it up, but felt I could not pursue another career where I had to leave town to study. It was a dream.
Zoom forward to April of 2007 when I discovered that here in Orlando existed a well known and NAA, (National Association of Auctioneers) respected Academy for becoming an auctioneer. I was finally able to pursue my dream and I went for it. Strange as it may sound the first time in class we had to bid call in front of everyone, I stood up and deep inside I was overwhelmed with a feeling of; you were meant to do this, go for it.
As a woman in the auctioneer field I also feel a great sense of responsibility to be the best that I can be, so that I can inspire other women. I am so excited about my future business; in need of a mentor and hoping that with practice and persistence I will one day mesmerize the audience, too.
***If you live in the Orlando, Florida area and would like to contact Sway Hodges regarding her auctioneering business, please contact her via Start Up Princess. 
Are you a woman entrepreneur in need of a Fairy Godmother? Please contact us for mentoring and brainstorming for your start up.
Start Up Princess Named Among The Daily Must Read Blogs for Entrepreneurs
July 23, 2007
Today’s Magic Wand: Business Credit Cards‘ blog, Bootstrapper posted their Daily 100 Must-Read Blogs for Entrepreneurs and Start Up Princess was honored to be among the group! High profile blogs as well as ones I’ve just discovered today… You’ll enjoy the list…check it out.
3 Strategies for Creating and Building Your Company’s Brand
July 23, 2007
When you’re building your company, you’re also building your brand. Starbucks, Little Miss Matched, Google... built their brands once upon a time. Now it’s your turn!
1. Develop Your Mission Statement: Before you decide what company “clothes” to wear (logo, identity, style, colors, etc.) you need to first define who you are and what you are striving to accomplish. Creating a company mission statement will help. I recommend that your mission statement be short enough that every member of our company can memorize it and it can roll off the tongue easily and simply. For more on how to write a business mission statement click here.
2. Tell Your Story Now that you’ve figured out your mission statement…you’re ready to develop your story. When I say “tell your story” I don’t mean tell us how your company started. I mean, enroll us in your story and tell us why we should care. It may be simple like Little Miss Matched, they are on a mission to encourage creativity–and advocate, life’s fun…don’t worry about matching your socks.
Seth Godin’s article, Brand as Mythology is very interesting because he mentions how people will “use a Dell computer” but they “are Apple” (culture). Think of children’s brands that sell toys centered around a story or a film (Thomas The Tank Engine, Disney Princesses, Star Wars Figures). Think of fashion brands that sell accessories around an emotion or lifestyle (Coach, Tiffany, Juicy Couture). Think of magazines they generally sell their stories centered around a concept/attitude/lifestyle (Real Simple, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic). Seth sums up saying that there is a “spiritual” connection–there is some reason why we feel drawn to the purchase ultimately it’s how we feel.
3. Develop the Style of Your Brand Personally I think it’s far easier to figure out your mission statement and your story than it is to get your style right. Most start up companies take this part far too lightly and throw together a logo without much thought or research because they have a friend who is a graphic designer and they are anxious to get it done and get to business.
Create a file of every image you can find that “tells your story.” Search magazines, websites you like, think about songs you love, etc. What colors express your story well? What style font? What images do you feel drawn to? Take time to do this step. It may take a few weeks, don’t rush–this is an important step. After you’ve compiled your file, narrow down your search to your top 5 images and likely you’ll see a common style/look that you’re drawn to. You may want to consult with Fairy Godmothers Carrie and Danielle to help you “communicate what you do in all you do” or another brand development company at this critical stage.
Next you’ll be ready to start developing your logo and identity…TAKE YOUR FILE to a professional graphic designer whose portfolio represents a similar style to what you are trying to create. (You may have to search a while to find the right person, but it’s worth the hunt.)
Today’s Magic Wand: Set 30 minutes aside to consider your company’s brand. If you’ve already written your mission statement, review it; does it need any changes? Do you have it memorized? If you haven’t written one yet, then brainstorm about it and follow these tips.
Dreyer’s or Edy’s? Why Have Two Names for the Same Product?
July 20, 2007
At the end of Main Street, USA at The Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld, Florida is the “Edy’s Ice Cream Parlor.” At the end of Main Street USA at Disneyland, California the same shoppe is called, “Dreyer’s Ice Cream Parlor” I was confused…did Dreyer’s change names to Edy’s? I wonder how many other customers wonder the same question.
The answer is NO, Edy’s=Dreyer’s. While I enjoyed my delicious ice cream sandwich
( made with another strong classic brand… Nestle’s Toll House cookies), I considered the motivation for Dreyer’s 
to have a second name, Edy’s (in the east). Motivation? I perhaps one reason is their competitor, Breyer’s. The name is too close for comfort, so they are experimenting with a different name. Or perhaps they purchased Edy’s and kept separate names for branding purposes in their respective regions. I really don’t know. But why not choose one name to strengthen a national image? Isn’t that a headache to maintain 2 websites? It seems like it would be. What about a national ad campaign in a magazine? It seems it would be hard to compete when you have to promote two different names…a challenge Ben & Jerry’s certainly doesn’t have to deal with.
Here’s a couple ways they maintain two brands: The reason I realized that Edy’s might be the same as Dreyer’s is because they have the same style: the same font, logo, same brown and white stripe identity gave me the clue that Edy’s might be the familiar Dreyer’s brand. This was essential!! If they had changed their name AND their logo/identity it would have been an added challenge to their loyal customers to recognize whether they are on the west or on the east coast.
Interesting, but I really dont’ see the point of maintaining two names in the long run it seems it will hurt them. Does anyone out there know the answer why they would keep the names separate?
Today’s Magic Wand: If you covered up your company name and logo on your business card, would someone else be able to recognize your brand?
Mattel’s Efforts to Strengthen The Barbie Brand and Promote Girls’ Dreams
July 18, 2007
New member, Start Up Princess Stacey Kannenberg (referred to us from Fairy Godmother Ponn Sabra, thanks!) wrote about Mattel’s new site for parents, We Believe in Girls on her first post on her new blog. She wrote a nice post about Mattel’s new site and what 
Barbie has meant to her and her family over the years. One of her girls, age 6 said “Barbie can be anything…a pilot, race car driver, a princess, a cheerleader..” That is essentially the message that Mattel is sharing on their site, We Believe in Girls.
Mattel realizes that the media has been hard on Barbie over the years… so a strong campaign to promote girls’ dreams and what they can achieve is a good move for them. Also, they are, in a sense competing with themselves with American Girl, a brand they purchased in the 90’s that now leads the doll fan community with their flagship stores in LA, Chicago, and NYC–each with their own cafe, doll hair salon, and theatre! The dolls are educationally-based (each doll has her own book) and not fashion-based so they’ve gained a lot of respect from parents.
Regardless of how you may feel about Barbie..she’s been here for decades and Mattel’s PR Team’s committed to ensuring her future is bright. They have done a great job on the site with inspirational videos that leverage the Barbie brand to share a positive message. I just wonder what their traffic is like over there…will they create an active community? Will parents really visit there and discuss their childhood Barbie memories?
Today’s Magic Wand: Question to Ponder: What does the Barbie brand teach us about marketing and how to tell a story? What story are we telling with our brands (or not telling)?
